Vol 2 Chapter 19 – The Only Person I’ve Ever Met Whose True Strength I Can’t Even Imagine【Vol 2 – The Succubus Knight Order】

Just as I was about to stand up, solemn music began playing and the King entered along with Princess Shion.

I regained my composure and questioned in a hushed voice:

“—What exactly is going on here?”

“It’s simple. Being a crown prince is suffocating, and more importantly, I’m a woman. I can’t have children even if I marry a lady, and I can’t exactly marry a man either.”

“I think there are plenty of ways to fake it, though?”

“Sure there are, but I’ve got other problems piling up too. —Ultimately, no matter how I struggle, I’m fundamentally an obstacle to the current royal family. There’s no doubt I’ll eventually be killed.”

“That’s probably true.”

“That said, I have my professional pride, so I’ve decided to only assassinate when it’s a commission or retaliation. But at this rate I’m slowly being cornered. …In that deadlocked situation, I saw Master, and it hit me like a bell ringing in my head. ‘That’s it—I’ll have Master kill me!'”

I understood what Nagisa was getting at.

A certain grand ducal house in a neighboring country had set Nagisa up as their son for an assassination spree, riding a winning streak all the way to usurping the throne.

But they had no intention of making a hired assassin the actual crown prince and heir to the throne, and Nagisa knew too many secrets to be banished.

In other words, it was definitively clear that Nagisa would be killed sooner or later.

So how could Nagisa avoid being killed by the royal family?

The answer was simple: get killed by someone else first.

“So you want me to pretend to kill you?”

“I appreciate how quick you are. Plus, I’m constantly under surveillance from the shadows, so the fact that I’m actually a woman has already leaked back to the homeland. So as soon as they’ve prepared a replacement, I’ll be promptly disposed of. In other words, I’m out of time.”

“Preventing the assassination and counterattacking… that won’t work either?”

“It won’t. Honestly, I’m completely specialized in offense—my defense is hopeless.”

When training assassins, all resources are thoroughly devoted to taking down the target.

Nagisa could probably assassinate almost anyone in the world, but in a head-on fight, it was questionable whether she could even beat an average knight.

For reference, Shion could take on the entire Royal Guard and win unscathed.

Truly worthy of being my student. “Truly my student,” for short.

“…Got it, I’ll cooperate. It seems like Shion making a fuss back then started this whole thing, and I’m the one who taught her after all.”

“Not at all—you’re a huge help. I’ve been thinking about this plan for a while, but finding a collaborator was difficult.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. After all, if I seriously resist, I can at least take most opponents down with me. But I can’t kill my collaborator, and if I don’t resist I’ll be suspected… On that point, Master, no matter how hard I try to kill you with everything I’ve got, I won’t leave a single scratch, right?”

“Ah, I see… even for Shion, doing it without injury would be tough.”

“Right. I’m terrible at holding back, and Shion’s acting is awful for someone at the political center as a princess. That’s why even though I’d been thinking about this plan, I’d given up on having anyone to ask—but who’d have thought someone like you really existed in this world!”

“Well, thanks. But you’re praising me pretty highly without even seeing me fight?”

“You can’t become a first-rate assassin if you can’t see through an opponent’s strength at a glance.”

“That’s probably true.”

“Master, you’re the only person I’ve ever met whose true strength I can’t even imagine.”

The specific plan came together smoothly.

Actually, Nagisa had apparently been planning for every possible scenario for years.

According to Nagisa, “It’s like a princess pining for her prince on a white horse,” said with an embarrassed smile.

Though the content was far too ominous for that.

Well, anyway, we reached an agreement.

We wrapped up our meeting while paying extremely close attention to our surroundings, and just then the first match was about to begin.

The vanguard battle: Succubus Knight Order vs. Royal Guard.

“Well then, might as well have you commentate on the matches. That’s why I called you here, after all.”

“That’s just the official reason, right?”

“Even if it’s just the official reason, there’s no way I’d pass up the chance to monopolize Master’s commentary. Plus, I’m genuinely interested in the Succubus Knight Order.”

“Oh?”

“According to the information I gathered beforehand, the Succubus Knight Order is led by Demonbane Princess Knight Shion, but aside from Shion, their abilities should be a notch or two below regular knight orders. But from what I glimpsed yesterday, I couldn’t believe that at all.”

“I’m happy to hear you say that. —So with an assassin’s eye for observation, how far do you think the Succubus Knight Order will advance?”

“That’s easy.”

Nagisa raised the corner of her mouth slightly.

“Victory. Complete victory without a single loss through all the matches, I’d say.”

The moment Nagisa said that, the Colosseum erupted in massive cheers.

At the center of it all was a Royal Guard knight slammed into the outer wall and unconscious.

And a female succubus knight standing there stunned at the fact that her single strike had easily sent the Royal Guard knight flying.

Unprecedented Victory

After that, the Succubus Knight Order continued their winning streak and, just as Nagisa prophesied, achieved an unprecedented complete victory without suffering a single defeat—or even taking a single hit.

And so.

That night, while the excitement over the completely unexpected upset still hadn’t faded…

Crown Prince Nagisa of the Sebas Empire, who had been visiting, quietly vanished from the public stage.