Chapter 96: Chenarus's Assassin (3)
The alarm bell rang from the temple entrance. It was a warning that something bad had happened, telling people to get up.
The first thing the guard at the temple entrance, who had confirmed the corpse, did was run quickly.
After all, the just departed imperial guards commander had visited the temple. Of course, it was a loss for me.
People who had been sleeping were busily getting up all around. I couldnt turn back now anyway.
Today, I had to kill the bishop. The only fortunate part was I had made it near the bishop.
And that his room was rather secluded.
Whats going on?
5 seconds after the bell rang, the bishop opened his door and asked. The sacred knight guarding him shook his head.
Were not sure yet. Should I go find out?
No. The news will come soon. It would be fortunate if its just an insignificant infidels intrusion, but who knows what else could have happened.
Right. Dont worry. Well be vigilant!
The bishop nodded at the loudly answering sacred knights resolute expression. Then he closed the door again.
Click- I heard the sound of the door locking through the Winds. The sacred knights didnt seem to have noticed.
I was carefully approaching. Since two sacred knights were guarding the door.
Winds focuses on the bishop. The bishop immediately heads to his desk and then feels around underneath it.
Huh?
He moves the rug under the desk and lifts the floor. It was his emergency escape.
I wouldnt have imagined that. Since I was surveilling the entire area, I hadnt examined the room closely.
Moreover, his judgment is quite quick.
Realizing something was wrong with what happened after the commander left, he immediately chose to flee rather than rely on possibilities.
His judgment to flee without hesitation was rather sharp. He probably thought it was the imperial intelligence.
Time is
Originally I was going to deal with him in the room and then immediately escape but its different if theres an escape route.
It would take time for him to slip out through that hole.
Should I kill him and then escape?
It was ambiguous. I had to go back out the way I came in since there were no windows in this temple.
The reason for the lack of windows was religious.
It was a temple venerating the Light God Lu Nuada. The intent was to seek light while in darkness.
Though of course, the bishop wouldnt have imagined seeking the real God of Darkness unknown to the temple people.
Even so, mana lamps were lit here and there. I sped up and smashed the nearby magical mana lamps in passing.
I felt the sacred knights confusion.
Huh?
Wh-who is it?!
Two opponents. I drew my sword in the darkness. I stomped the ground hard, putting strength into my legs.
All my sounds were controlled.
Unable to properly adapt to the darkness yet, the sacred knights couldnt respond properly.
At wind speed. Before one knight could even draw his sword, I cut his throat.
Gah!
Here!
The knight behind had drawn his sword but still couldnt grasp where I was.
I stabbed right into his chest. The knight who tried to call for help convulsed briefly and then collapsed.
2 seconds. The time it took to deal with two sacred knights. I didnt worry about the last shout.
Since I was controlling sounds in the vicinity.
I used Winds to open the locked door and threw the knights corpses inside.
After locking the door again I immediately headed for the escape route.
He cant have gone far. As fast as possible.
I lifted the rug and opened the entrance straight away. There was a ladder but I just jumped down.
The depth was about 3m. The tunnel I landed in was barely wide enough for one person to move through.
I dashed down to the ground ceaselessly. The bishop was running ahead of me. He doesnt know Im pursuing him.
It was a distance I could catch him in 40 seconds. He wasnt an especially mighty figure.
A narrow tunnel. Not the best place to run but a genius-level sense of balance assists me.
Soon his back came into view.
10m distance. The wave of magic grazed me. It was his domain. The bishop looked back.
!
His vastly widened eyes and gaping mouth showed his shock. He immediately stretched his hand toward me.
From there, darkness rose. It was black magic. At the same time, I threw my dagger.
The flying dagger and the beam of darkness barely grazed each other as they passed.
With the narrow space, evasion was difficult and the black magic was tremendously fast.
Gah!
I urgently twisted my body but the magic skimmed my left forearm. It was intense pain despite having Winds on.
I gritted my teeth and endured it. My dagger was embedded in the bishops neck.
Blood poured from the ripped wound in spurts. The bishop collapsed limp like a cutstring puppet.
I ran despite the pain. I grabbed the dagger stuck in his neck and simply slashed across it.
A red line was drawn above his neck. The convulsing neck didnt look very pretty.
No time.
I immediately searched him. Nothing came out. I didnt have the leisure to check for a body tattoo.
Winds was conveying the commotion outside to me.
Might there be something in the study? For now, I had no choice but to trust the imperial intelligence.
I deliberated in the tunnel stretching in one direction.
Should I go forward or retreat?
I couldnt discern the end of the tunnel with Winds. Waiting would be more dangerous.
What was at the tunnels end? A devil worshiper hideout? Or outside the capital?
Was moving forward the right judgment? If I retreated I had to be prepared to encounter people.
Either held risks. What I had to do was minimize those risks.
And factor in my injury.
I turned my body back. At least now I knew the temple interiors geography and who might approach.
With my mask on, briefly running into them wasnt an issue.
I ran back up the tunnel. The two corpses lying in the study welcomed me.
The clamor was now nearing the bishops room.
I need to change my escape route.
There was the route I had planned during infiltration but the situation was different now. I didnt panic.
After all, plans die the moment you engage in operations.
I quickly thought it over. I had to move the moment I saw something, even if it wasnt perfect.
Suddenly something flashed through my mind.
I focused on the Winds. The mana within me surged in waves. The moon within shone brightly.
And at the same time, darkness visited the temple. All the mana lamps existing in the temple were shattered.
The convenience of magic becomes a disadvantage when the magic disappears.
Whether taking out the mana lamps from storage or lighting unused torches.
Either way, it would take Lu Nuadas followers quite some time to find light.
The average time to adapt to darkness is 15 minutes. Above-average knights take 4 minutes.
I had to slip out within that time. I dashed across the ground.
A sacred knight who had come to the bishop Yoroffs room was right in front of me. I ran past his side.
Though I blocked my sounds he seemed to sense something off, looking left and right while shouting.
Whos there?!
But before he even finished speaking I had already rounded the corner. I controlled the sound so no worries there.
The pain from my arm was excruciating. Because it was black magic. It would likely last quite a while.
I ran gritting my teeth.
I slipped by several more people. Around 2 minutes had passed and some who saw me appeared.
Who are you? Its Merkin!
Adapting to darkness probably only shows vague figures. No worries since I wore a mask too.
I just followed the escape route I had drawn up.
With people bustling around naturally I had no thoughts of leaving through the front entrance of the darkened temple.
I slipped out through the back gate.
It was a bright moonlit night but no one was there. I immediately raced over the wall and left the temple.
I climbed straight onto the roof of a nearby building from the wall.
At the roofs edge I had grabbed onto, the vast full moon welcomed me.
Phew. I let out a deep breath and turned my body.
However it turned out, success I guess.
Lights were now being lit in Lu Nuadas temple. People holding torches were visible here and there.
My heart thumped rapidly. Though I had considerable combat experience
It was my first time moving so dangerously alone, without any support or preparation.
And the scream of a follower who had confirmed Bishop Yoroffs room burst out.
[Chenaruss Assassin]
-Bishop Yoroff and the imperial guards commander were assassinated. The commanders corpse was found in an alley outside the temple, and the bishops in the emergency escape of his room.
The next day. It was the headline of the newspaper I unfolded upon returning home after my shift ended. I entered the house still holding the paper.
-Its not odd for the commander, known for outstanding faith, to visit the temple. But the time is the issue. Why did the commander visit the temple at dawn?
The assassination incident decorating the entire front page continued on pages 2 and 3 as well.
Page 1 stated facts and pages 2 and 3 had considerable speculation about the reason.
-Its confirmed he met Bishop Yoroff but the content of their conversation is unknown. Why did they meet at dawn? It remains a mystery. The reason for the assassination is also likely related.
-Lu Nuadas temple was also bewildered. Because Bishop Yoroffs room originally had no emergency escape. Why did the bishop make an escape the temple people didnt know about? Where the escape leads is currently under investigation.
Of course, there was talk about me too, though it was conjecture.
-The assassin is presumed to possess considerable skill. The commander died without even drawing his sword. The two sacred knights guarding Bishop Yoroff also show little signs of resistance.
-That the temples mana lamps all broke simultaneously is nearly unbelievable. Meaning the assassin excelled in might and was a mage of tremendous level.
To be honest I also felt relieved. My mystic looked like magic from the outside.
I had expected it when killing the bishop but of course, the previous assassination targets were also related.
-There is suspicion Count Pueto and Sir Levetto who died the same day were also the assassins doing.
-A mage who could break that many mana lamps simultaneously could also drop a chandelier, and make the intoxicated Sir Levetto
-The imperial guards stated they hoped for tips on any suspicious individuals witnesses may have seen, no matter what.
Though the article came out today, the talk really started yesterday afternoon as rumors spread by word of mouth.
Phiri came straight to me asking if I had heard anything. I evaded saying I knew nothing.
Anyway, quite detailed facts were written even though it was the newspaper managed by the imperial family for an incident that would normally be kept secret.
Well, I could make some deductions from the lack of devil worshipper mention for an incident of this scale.
Its unbelievable for the imperial intelligence to not know.
Theyre controlling information. Perhaps even the emperor doesnt know about the devil worshippers.
The Chief of Intelligence of Haisen also had things he didnt tell the king.
Moreover, the probability was high that the imperial intelligence had intentionally created the devil worshippers.
Rather than reveal their shame, theyre trying to resolve it themselves.
In truth, if the emperor knew of their existence in this state he would have immediately used them in the struggle over succession.
He would have watched to see who subjugated them first.
The empires Chief of Intelligence or someone under him is greatly involved.
The intelligence service would want to tidy things up quietly. Though it already seems quite late.
I understood the Chief of Intelligences position.
Would the Chief of Intelligences life remain intact if the emperor learned of this? The answer comes to mind considering that.
In fact, in the game, this information didnt exist on the continent until the devil worshippers revealed themselves.
This it might not be bad for me to expose the bastards identity.
I just have to create some incidents and inform the emperor. It might actually improve the situation.
The words of someone awarded the Imperial Founders Medal wouldnt be easily ignored either.
Since the devil worshippers would try to approach me anyway, I could use that person.
Hmm.
I maintained a composed expression and focused Winds. The intelligence services surveillance hadnt been attached yet.
One of two situations. Theyre outside or currently lack the resources to invest in me.
I didnt want to miss this opportunity.
I have to kill those on my candidate list one by one while being vigilant.
I thought this was also why system messages didnt pop up.
Despite the difficult assassinations, the lack of news meant this world judged my assassinations werent over yet.
Anyway, this assassination brought considerable profit. Though the empress issue is quite heavy, its better than not knowing.
No ideas on what to do immediately came to mind for now. Phew. I should ponder it for a while.
An assassin appeared.
I heard.
It was what Erendil brought up the next day during swordsmanship lessons. She looked at me silently.
The atmosphere felt unpleasant.
Was it you?
Author's Thoughts
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