Vol 2 Chapter 39 – Jobs and Professions【Exile to the Empire Arc】

After that, the former noble departed following negotiations with the guild. However, unease lingered in Roy’s mind. A noble who’d enjoyed prosperity until now had fallen from grace and was working an ordinary job to raise his sole surviving niece… Normally, he should harbor hatred—wouldn’t he? But would he really let the target of that hatred slip away so easily?

Roy felt an odd sense of foreboding about how readily the man had backed down.

An hour later, Roy’s group arrived at a cabin in a forest a short distance from the village to complete their quest.

“Roy-san, the quest was to ‘Defeat 3 Red Snakes,’ right? Are they really in this cabin?”

“…”

“Roy-san?”

Yukino peered at Roy’s silent face. For a moment, he looked like a scolded child hanging his head, but Yukino, who’d been with him since the start of their journey, immediately recognized this as Roy’s thinking expression.

“There’s something… isn’t there?”

“Yeah. Red Snakes are D-rank monsters that inhabit caves. I’d assumed there’d be a cave right next to this cabin.”

Sophia and Sarina, sensing something, readied their spears and entered combat stance. Then Sophia voiced a question.

“Even if we were lured out, that former noble had already left when we accepted the quest, hadn’t he? Could he really pull this off?”

“Huh? …W-what do you mean!?”

“We’ve been… trapped—”

Before Roy could finish, an arrow came flying. After deflecting it with his holy sword, he deployed a formation to protect Yukino and Palco.

Sarina asked Roy a question.

“I get the feeling you’re the target, but if so, the Black Knight’s not behind this, right?”

“Right. All the arrows that came flying at first were aimed at me… which means the client’s probably watching from somewhere in this forest.”

People like this won’t be satisfied until they actually see my corpse and the process leading to it.

Roy addressed everyone.

“Everyone, I need your help. I know this sounds soft, but I want to neutralize them without a single casualty.”

Everyone reacted as if to say, What else is new?

“The arrows’ trajectories were straight, not arced. So Manabu, randomly place your Stone Walls for me.”

“Understood! Boss!”

Stone walls appeared one after another. After Manabu created about 15 Stone Walls, his magic power ran out. As a precaution, Manabu and Palco waited behind the wagon while the other members hid behind the stone walls until the arrows stopped flying.

“Looks like they don’t have enough people to surround us. They’re all coming from the direction of the forest entrance.”

“So assassins are next?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah. Unlike High Goblins, they’ll use cunning attacks, so be careful.”

“You’re one to talk.”

Sarina said that precisely because he’d been her enemy before.

After the attacks ceased, only the sounds of nature could be heard, and the surroundings felt quiet.

“Roy-san, how did they turn this quest into a trap?”

Yukino, waiting in the rear, asked Roy.

“That man and I were taken to separate rooms by separate staff members. The only explanation is that the staff member who took him was in on it.”

“No way! I thought the guild was completely neutral and wouldn’t tolerate any corruption?”

“Remember what the people at Rakan Village’s guild said? Most are like that, but there are some bad apples. I just didn’t expect to run into one this quickly.”

At that moment, a small pebble fell from above Roy.

“Yukino!”

“Kyaa!”

Roy reflexively tackled Yukino. Where Roy had been standing, a masked assassin now stood with a dagger thrust into the ground.

“Yukino, don’t look away for a second. Show even a moment’s opening and you’re done for.”

“…U-understood.”

A staring match continued between them. Smoke screens had already been deployed, obscuring vision. From the presence he sensed, Roy could vaguely tell the other members were each engaged in combat.

“Were you hired by that noble?”

“…”

“Silent treatment, huh? Then I guess I’ll have to kidnap his niece and question her!”

“Silence! You are a man who must die here! We shall avenge that gentleman’s sorrow!”

Got him. I didn’t expect them to take the bait, but to think they’d still serve him loyally even after his downfall. Except for exceptions like me, assassins basically don’t talk.

From that conversation, I learned they serve either his brother or the man himself.

“You may be an assassin, but you’re a failure as one. You just blabbed your master’s information. You’re probably working to earn money for your master, right? Amateur. As your senior, I’ll send you on your way.”

“Uh, Roy-san, you never actually worked as an—”

“Yukino—I’m cutting your meals, got it?”

Yukino pressed both hands over her mouth as if to say Hauuu!

The assassin lowered his stance and began preparing something. Roy stored his holy sword in the dimensional space and drew a dagger.

Amid the tension between them, the enemy moved first.

“—Die!!”

The assassin suddenly closed in, moving as if crawling along the ground. Swift and zigzagging—it was the Assassin job skill, Snake Cutter.

A dagger skill that confuses the eyes and slashes the throat at maximum speed. Roy stepped back and dodged it.

The enemy followed through with a somersault kick, sending dirt flying.

“Tch… The pros really do have a diverse skill set.”

There was already a smoke screen, and now a double blinding with kicked-up dirt. When the dirt settled, the enemy had vanished.

“Yukino, leave this one to me.”

“Huh, are you sure?”

“Like I’d lose to someone who just switched from waiter to assassin! More importantly, don’t go near the stone walls, got it? You’ll get your throat cut.”

“Hiii! …R-roger.”

Right—the enemy hasn’t fled. He’s just hiding behind one of Manabu’s stone walls.

Roy placed his hand on the ground and extended his own shadow. After reaching one stone wall, he merged with that wall’s shadow.

“Not this one.”

After repeating this procedure for five minutes, Roy noticed something and returned his shadow.

“Yukino, dodge right.”

“Y-yes!”

Roy vaulted over the domino-like stone walls from above and executed the same attack the assassin had used on him earlier.

“—!”

The enemy, surprised, barely dodged Roy’s attack. Then close-quarters combat with daggers began. The smoke screen had already dissipated, and all the other assassins had been defeated by Sarina and Sophia.

The reason the fight was dragging on was because Roy had sealed away his holy sword and was fighting with a dagger.

The battle that seemed evenly matched gradually tipped in Roy’s favor. Though they were exchanging dagger strikes, Roy had Shadow Edge. Since this was shadow enchantment, even in the same exchange, the advantage went to Roy.

After about five minutes, the assassin’s dagger broke, and the battle ended when Roy landed a strike to his body.

Among the enemies, some had the Swordsman job but worked as assassins, but the only one who was both an Assassin and an assassin was the enemy Roy had fought.

Roy deliberately drew his holy sword and pointed the blade toward high ground.

“Tell your master this: lens reflection gives away your position. …Hey, you guys realize it wasn’t really me, don’t you?”

At Roy’s words, the assassin glared while pounding the ground.

“You could never understand! The despair of having your everyday life suddenly destroyed! If you hadn’t come to this village, the master could have kept forgetting!”

Roy had experienced the same thing. There was no way he didn’t understand. But Roy had no right to say so. There were countless people who’d had similar experiences.

Everyone finds their own way to come to terms with it. And they must find that on their own.

“So you can forget, I’ll leave right away. Tell your master this: there won’t be a next time.”

Roy drew the Soldier’s Bow he’d borrowed from the royal capital, nocked an arrow, and released it. The arrow traced an arc and struck at the feet of the former noble on the high ground. The man’s face contorted in terror as he tumbled backward, then dove into his carriage and drove away.

Vol 2 Chapter 40 – The Man and Roy【Exile to the Empire Arc】

Roy left the assassin group where they were and began the journey home. He figured once they left, the assassins would somehow manage to escape their bonds—that was his reasoning.

On the way back, Yukino asked Roy from inside the wagon.

“Roy-san, by any chance… did you capture them alive thinking about the niece?”

“Yeah… If I killed that man, I’d just create another person like me. Of course, the people I’ve killed so far had families too, but ultimately, I just didn’t want to.”

“Roy-san really is kind.”

“Wrong. I’m just… a hypocrite.”

Hearing that, Yukino grasped both of Roy’s hands as if enveloping them, despite being inside the wagon.

“Even false virtue is virtue. It’s far better than hurting people deliberately! Besides, Roy-san thinking about a small child is wonderful, you know?”

“…I-is that so?”

Feeling Yukino speak with a beaming smile, Roy felt his heartbeat quicken slightly. The others agreed with Yukino and nodded. During the ride back to the village, Roy scratched his cheek in embarrassment at that ticklish sensation.

Roy’s group reported to the guild that the quest had been fake. He thought they wouldn’t be believed, but surprisingly, they accepted it readily.

Actually, the materials containing information about Roy’s quest had been switched, and the issuer of the quest was listed as an unknown, fictitious person. Though it would be discovered immediately upon investigation, the simplistic method lacking any planning might have revealed their desire to take down Roy as soon as possible.

The receptionist apologized profusely and gave them a substantial reward. Substantial, though slightly less than what they’d received for the High Goblin. With this much, they could relax for about two days in the next village.

“Really!? Um, breakfast is included too, right?”

“Yeah, let’s take it easy in the next village. Even if it’s my family’s grudge, it’s my responsibility too. We’ve been busy lately, but I was thinking it’d be nice to take a break sometimes—”

“Yaaay!”

Yukino must have been so happy she interrupted Roy’s words. Even Palco, the coachman, slowed down and turned around.

“Anyway, let’s leave quickly.”

We shouldn’t stay here. If it remains visible, surely that anger will flare up again… Everyone seemed to feel the same way, and with no objections, they were able to leave the village by evening.

This might be the first time they’d arrived and departed on the same day. They’d have to push Palco hard, but today they’d keep moving until they reached the next village. Of course, since they were taking turns practicing as coachman, Palco would get to nap during breaks.

As Roy was preparing preserved food with Sarina, Sophia sat down beside him and offered to help.

“Weren’t you bad at working inside a moving wagon?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? I also… want to be close…”

Just as Sophia said that, the wagon jolted heavily. As a result, her last words didn’t reach Roy.

“Did you say something?”

“Never mind, it was just talking to myself. M-more importantly! The next village is famous for blacksmithing, so why don’t you buy some throwing daggers?”

Roy felt puzzled by Sophia’s forceful topic change, but decided not to press further and went along with the conversation.

“True. My collection became completely useless all at once during the High Goblin fight. You wouldn’t understand, Sophia—the dilemma of collecting, throwing, and losing…”

“I don’t care. If you hate losing them, just throw your holy sword or retrieve them.”

“You don’t get it, with your flashy magic spear blasts. That satisfaction when it goes whoosh through the air and thunk into the target.”

Both Sophia and even Sarina, who’d been working silently, sighed, unable to understand Roy’s thinking.

While having such cheerful conversation, the gloom that had been lingering gradually faded.

Later, when the sky began to brighten, Palco called out to Roy and the others napping in the wagon.

“Boss… I mean, Roy sir! It’s visible now.”

“You’re calling me ‘Boss’ in your head, aren’t you?”

“Ah, hahaha… You just seem like you’ll do something big someday. I can’t help calling you that… Well, anyway, look at that!”

Where Palco pointed was bright—brilliantly illuminated in a way unthinkable for a village.

“What’s that?”

“The blacksmith village of Simute—the village where blacksmiths die from overwork the most.”