The Lazy Boy Is, In Fact, the Strongest and Most Brutal Assassin. - Chapter 32: Shining Droplets.

Shining Droplets.

Once Il’s figure vanished from sight, Shia quietly turned toward Rimrim.

“Hey, Rim-nee-san.”

“Y-yes? W-what is it?” Rimrim involuntarily straightened her back, and Shia smiled at her. The eerie, ghostly aura that had surrounded her just moments ago—after Peter’s death—was now gone.

But that made it all the more terrifying.

Shia now exuded an intimidating, unidentifiable aura, like a female mantis after having devoured her mate. It was as though she had transformed into something monstrous.

Of course, Rimrim was no novice. Even though she was a B-tier assassin from the “Night Dwellers, Nocturnal,” she could easily kill without leaving a single scratch. After all, Shia was just a young girl who had never taken a life.

But this wasn’t about that.

Shia now carried an unsettling kind of power, as though defying her would result in having her soul devoured. Rimrim couldn’t help but twitch her face in unease as Shia quietly closed the distance between them, until their noses were almost touching. Then, Shia whispered softly:

“Thank you for keeping quiet about the money.”

“Y-yeah…”

“To make that child happy, I do need at least a little bit of money… right?”

That child…

“So, Shia, what are you planning to do from now on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have the money, right? Shouldn’t you buy yourself back? If you’re still interested in that man, I don’t think you need to stay a slave.”

“Heehee… Rim-nee-san, you really don’t get it, do you?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“I just want to make that child… my master… happy. So, if you end up liking my master too, I’d be happy about that.”

“Y-You’re an idiot! T-There’s no way something like that would happen!”

“Heehee, you don’t have to hide it. It would be strange if you didn’t. I think it will happen eventually. Well… even so, I’m the only one who’ll be by that child’s side until the end, though…”

A chilling sensation ran down Rimrim’s spine as she forced a strained smile. Deep down, she wanted to run away immediately, but she was supposed to take care of Shia tonight.

I’m definitely not going to be able to sleep tonight…

Rimrim thought to herself, wishing she could strangle that scumbag who had fled.

***

Three days had passed since then.

Il and Nisha stood on the street in front of the barracks, watching as Bodoin’s wife and child left the house to begin their journey.

“…Sorry.”

There was no lie in those words. All he could do was apologize.

Il gently stroked the head of Bodoin’s daughter, whose face was swollen from crying. She didn’t respond, only sobbing quietly.

“You’re not to blame, it’s alright. He was a soldier too… We always knew this day might come.”

Bodoin’s wife, perhaps trying to comfort him, smiled sadly as she spoke those words.

Silent, with his lips pressed tight, Nisha spoke up in place of her brother, asking the wife a question.

“So… what will you do now?”

“Hmm… maybe it’s for the best for this child. This town is dangerous, and it’s been getting worse. For now, we’ll go stay with her grandparents in the countryside. We’ll rest for a while and then figure out what to do next. What’s best for her, you know…”

“…I see.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan.”

And so, mother and child began their journey.

The wife didn’t look back as she walked away. The daughter, holding her mother’s hand, kept glancing up at her—perhaps watching the droplets shining in her mother’s eyes.

“Onii-chan, let’s go inside.”

Nisha gently urged Il, but he stood there, staring down the street, his gaze following the path the mother and child had taken.