Chapter 70: Pandora: Unfilial Daughter, Kneel! (Patreon)

"Sss!"

Everyone in the little room sucked in a cold breath at once!

Who was out there, and how terrifying were they, to open with a demand for the lives of every Royal Selection candidate?

Not even a Sin Archbishop should have the nerve for that. The Sword Saint would certainly protect every candidate, after all. Sin Archbishops were a blight on the whole world, fearsome enough to have wiped out a few small nations, but they still couldn't beat the current Sword Saint.

And honestly, how thick was this woman's filter on Felt? Asking Felt to take a job like this?

Anyone who didn't know better would think Felt was one of the three strongest people in the world.

Ricardo muttered under his breath, "Suspicion cleared, we're safe. Ha ha, Miss, looks like we can reach a conclusion now. Whoever put out that contract outside, it's definitely not one of our camps."

"I believed that from the start. No one here would stoop to something so low and despicable." Sword Demon Wilhelm van Astrea nodded. He meant every word.

Ram frowned. "But if that's so, who's behind it?"

Emilia was tied to Lord Roswaal L. Mathers's goals, so Ram was bound to protect her. Now someone was actually trying to assassinate her, and Ram could not afford to let her guard down.

Julius's mind stirred. "Could it be the Council of Wise Men?"

"Impossible," Crusch said, shaking her head. "The Council of Wise Men might have the nerve to target a single candidate. But hiring someone to assassinate every candidate at once? Even if they all went mad, they wouldn't dare be that mad."

"It's actually pretty easy to guess."

Al scratched his helmet and spoke in a low voice. "Think about it. Who's the kingdom's old enemy? The kingdom has no head right now, no emperor, and the Council of Wise Men is clinging to its old ways. Who benefits most from that?"

"You mean… the Vollachian Empire?"

As everyone knew, the Kingdom of Lugunica and the Vollachian Empire had fought each other more than fifty times, big and small, with countless skirmishes in between. Only in recent years had relations held steady, thanks to the new emperor, Vincent, being something of a pacifist. No fresh conflict had broken out.

If it was them, then they might well be capable of something like this.

If the Empire were caught red-handed, they'd be in the wrong and would suffer for it. But if they cleaned up the loose ends, what could the kingdom do? Swallow the insult, that was what.

After all, the world had long restricted the kingdom's Sword Saint from leaving the country. With him unable to act, if the Kingdom of Lugunica and the Vollachian Empire went to war, the odds of the kingdom losing were very high.

"Right, right!"

Seeing that someone was following his line of thought, Al's eyes lit up. He nodded again and again, rubbing his hands in excitement, thoroughly egging them on. "I say that Vollachian Empire should've been finished ages ago. So here's the plan: we've got a legitimate reason this time, so just send the Sword Saint to level the Empire."

"If anyone objects, they can take it up with the Dragon Sword! The kingdom's totally in the right this time, so it'll be hard for anyone to pick a fight!"

Thwack!

"Ow!"

"Al, do you want to die?"

Priscilla's fan jabbed Al soundlessly and drew blood. Her eyes narrowed. "You were always a clown, but now you're ugly beyond measure. Hold your tongue."

She knew Al had suffered hardship over in the Empire. For some reason, Al was easygoing about almost everything, but if he got the chance to kick the Empire while it was down, he certainly wouldn't mind.

But she would not allow it.

Whatever else, Vincent was her brother, and her foolish foster sisters, the ones who had betrayed her, were still over there. If the Sword Saint really went, the whole Empire would fight to the last drop of blood, and those two would naturally die with it.

Hmph.

If those two were going to die, it would be on the day she took a whim to go back and reclaim the imperial throne that rightfully belonged to her, and the decision would be hers. She had no intention of leaving them to someone else's disposal.

Anastasia giggled slyly. "Ah-re, ah-re-re~ Miss Sun Princess, reacting like that, could it be you've got some special tie to the Vollachian Empire, hmm?"

"I have no habit of confiding private matters to outsiders. Besides, when it comes to foreign lands, does a Kararagi with her cards laid face-up like you deserve to discuss this with me?"

Priscilla snorted. Anastasia just shrugged. Both of them took some damage.

Emilia spoke carefully. "Um, to find out who's behind it, we only need to ask the person outside, right?"

She was really, I could just cry.

She'd said "ask," not "interrogate." In her mind, even if the other party refused to talk, and even if it involved her own life, the worst they'd do was keep the person locked up with good food and drink so they couldn't go out and try to kill her again. Any other methods simply did not exist.

Crusch nodded and settled the matter. "In any case, Sir Al has a point. By any measure, the Vollachian Empire is the most suspect. Let's list it as the first possibility for now."

"By the way, does Sir Natsuki have any thoughts on this incident?"

Crusch turned to Subaru Natsuki with some expectation, but Subaru was only now coming back from his surprise. "No, nothing… It's just that we have to question her properly, no matter what. But you all heard it, right?"

"She said she'd kill you four and Felt, so her targets are obviously the Royal Selection candidates. Which means who the fifth one is, I think we don't need to guess anymore."

That was one of the things he cared about, but it took up maybe a tenth of his attention, since none of it was news to Subaru.

What bothered him most was that the client outside had said she also wanted to kill "Pan-something." What else could Pan-something be?

The only name he could think of was Pandora.

Someone was actually trying to kill his wife? How dare they!

He could put up with a lot, but threats against his family and friends were not on the list. He couldn't stand the thought of Felt and Anna being assassinated, so someone going after the one ranked first in his heart, his very own Pandora, was out of the question!

Outside the small room, Felt was stunned. She stood there in a daze for a long while, then looked at Elsa with an expression that said "Are you out of your mind?" and glared right into her eyes. "Wait, you came to hire me to kill these people?"

"That's right." Elsa smiled bewitchingly. "So, which one will you take?"

"Take my ass! Take, take, take your sister! Do you even know I'm Felt, you bastard? I'd be killing myself? You are un-fucking-believable!"

Pfft!

She spat on her, viciously.

Felt couldn't hold it in any longer. If she didn't vent, she was afraid she'd choke to death. Seriously, who was this lady? She came all this way to hire her and didn't even know who she was?

This woman was nuts!

"Huh?"

Hit with a face full of spit for no reason, Elsa failed to dodge an attack for the first time in her life. Her eyes swirled in bewilderment for a moment.

Wait, what was this?

Roswaal had promised her that as long as she followed his instructions and strategy, there would be no problems, and the contract would definitely be accepted. But now, could someone please explain what it meant to hire a person to kill herself?

The problem was, given how confident Roswaal had been, it didn't look like he was deliberately messing with her.

No, something had definitely gone wrong somewhere.

She had to go straight back and confront Roswaal, viciously.

"In that case, the contract is terminated—"

"—That's not for you to decide!"

Elsa had barely sensed something deeply ominous and was about to bolt when, before she could even finish her sentence, the door of the small room behind her was kicked off its frame and sent flying. A huge crowd poured out with a crash.

Subaru Natsuki led the charge, shouting sternly, "Be smart and confess everything right now, and you'll be spared the pain. Otherwise, I'll show you what cruelty really means!"

"My, how naughty."

A cold light flashed in Elsa's eyes. Without another word she drew her twin blades, the ones made for gutting people. Her thoughts raced as she weighed the odds that Roswaal had set her up on purpose. "Is this how you treat a client, ambushing me with so many people?"

It was as if a single command had sent three hundred axemen pouring out.

If it had been an ambush of ordinary elites, they'd have been nothing but speed bumps to her. But right now she could smell death!

That old man, the white-bearded one, was probably very strong. She couldn't afford the slightest carelessness. One lapse and she might get hurt.

Still, if it were only the old man, it wouldn't matter. One-on-one, he couldn't keep her here, and a duel between them could go either way, fifty-fifty or maybe forty-sixty.

But adding the others changed everything. There was the purple-haired knight, the woman with the blazing-red fan, the green-haired swordswoman, the woman who looked like the rumored half-elf and was probably Emilia, and the dog-kin, no, was that a wolf-kin?

Then there were the one-armed helmeted man, the little beastkin girl, the pink-haired Oni, and the huge beastman Old Man Rom, who was standing right in front of her anyway. Those four were clearly weaker than the first group, but in this situation, every extra person was one more chance of her being held here.

Every one of these people was a rare master. She wasn't afraid of any of them one-on-one, and she wouldn't be certain to lose. But if just two of them joined forces, she would be doomed.

And that wasn't counting the one who had led the charge.

The black-haired boy in clothes she'd never seen before.

He didn't carry the scent of blood, and the threat she sensed from him was not as great as from those masters. But there was a feeling. It was as if, if she ever angered him, this black-haired boy alone might be able to wipe out everyone here, and that was not funny at all.

Setting aside whether that sense of him was only an illusion, even if it was, these people together, with no other trump cards and relying purely on the strength in plain sight, were enough to beat the crap out of her own mother.

Even though her mother was a fearsome Sin Archbishop, if she didn't bring all her beloved children, including Elsa and Meili, and dared to face this many masters alone, then dying only three times in ten minutes would already count as impressive.

Even if she brought all her beloved children, unless they set an ambush in advance and struck first on favorable ground, the situation would likely go like this: at first, their side would gain a brief upper hand by combining their strange abilities, but they'd be seen through quickly and taken down one by one. In the end, Mother would still die three times in ten minutes, until she couldn't die anymore and was completely finished.

Honestly, Elsa was curious now. She'd traveled all over for years and met plenty of masters. For instance, back when she'd assisted Meili on her first mission, they'd run into one who cut off one of her arms, and it had taken a great deal of effort to win.

So her understanding of her own strength was quite clear. Looking at the whole world today, she could not say she was a hundred percent certain to rank in the top fifty, but to be modest, she was at the very least safely within the top sixty.

What kind of nest had she stirred up today, to flush out so many masters all at once?

"Curious who we are, hmm?"

Anastasia giggled prettily and playfully, her hands clasped behind her back and a look of perfect innocence on her face. "Weren't you looking for us? So you're in luck today! Everyone, little ol' me included, is right here, see? So, how about it, want to complete your task?"

How devious!

Everyone, Subaru Natsuki included, was about to burst out laughing. The vixen nickname Priscilla had given her was not wrong in the slightest.

"Oh my, don't stare at little ol' me like that. I'll get shy, you know?"

Anastasia smiled and took off her hat. "It's because I never get a chance like this. Ricardo, Mimi and Julius are all excellent, but having this many masters gathered on my side is a first for me, and what a sense of security it is… Don't you think so, Natsuki-kun?"

In a way, this woman hid nothing at all. She preferred talking to Subaru Natsuki, when before she'd always talked to her own camp first.

"You're not wrong, though it's pretty cheap… Mm, but I like it anyway!"

Subaru Natsuki puffed out his chest with a smug hum. Who didn't like crushing every enemy with stat superiority and a numbers advantage?

Surely nobody would skip the easy mode and insist on suffering and getting wrecked every day, right? No way, no way!

Hearing this, Elsa understood at once. "So that means… I see. I never thought I'd run into something so novel. Hehe."

Crusch stepped forward. "So, will you surrender peacefully?"

"Unfortunately not. I'd love to see what my own guts taste like, but I don't enjoy being slaughtered one-sidedly. If you can still pull my intestines out after I resist with everything I have, I'm sure that would be delicious."

Elsa licked her own hands and smiled bewitchingly. She kept her will to fight at all times.

Well, except when she was facing Mother.

"Enough of this nonsense. I have no interest in a twisted, filthy hag who defiles my beautiful world. Take her down quickly."

Priscilla's reprimand made it clear she couldn't be bothered to act herself. Al, standing beside her, obeyed and drew his blade to charge. With a swish, Elsa beat him back, and she nearly opened his guts.

Sword Demon Wilhelm and Ricardo each shook their heads and advanced from the left and right. The clang of clashing steel rang out at once, and Julius moved in right after them.

In an instant, without anyone else needing to step in, Elsa was struggling badly. Cold sweat ran down her forehead under the pressure, and cuts quickly spread across her body.

Felt giggled. "Heh heh heh, how pitiful."

She had no sympathy for an evil person trying to kill her. She wished Elsa were suffering even more, clapping and cheering the whole way, and she even made Old Man Rom laugh.

Subaru Natsuki sighed in sympathy too. Usually it was three heroes ganging up on Lü Bu, but Elsa's lot was Lü Bu against three Lü Bus. "Pitiful" didn't even cover it. No one had it worse than her.

Lü Bu against three Lü Bus wasn't even the worst of it. The worse part was that a whole crowd of Liu, Guan and Zhang, plus Zhao Yun and Dian Wei, were waiting here for her. If she showed the slightest chance of a counterattack, everyone would pile on.

"Thank goodness."

But after the sighing, Subaru Natsuki let out a breath of relief.

Emilia asked curiously, "Thank goodness?"

Thank goodness for what?

"Thank goodness she came looking for Felt. With her skill, if she'd planned it and sneaked in for a night attack when we weren't expecting it, I'd honestly be a little scared."

Scared that she'd have taken everyone down.

Luckily, that possibility no longer existed.

"Now that you mention it, you're right…" Anastasia patted her small chest, her eyes curving into crescents. "So today is everybody's lucky day here, hmm?"

But the thing that made her happiest was that Natsuki-kun had been worrying about her all along, wasn't it?

"—Are you kidding me!"

Elsa wasn't afraid of death, but she was a professional killer. How could she let the other side flirt and joke around while she fought in earnest in her own field?

Don't flirt in front of me!

Elsa parried left and right, straining to block the attacks, and roared, "You, big boy! Give me your name!"

"Me?" Subaru Natsuki pointed at himself. He had no idea what had made Elsa suddenly so furious, but he wasn't afraid. "I don't change my name wherever I go. Subaru Natsuki, right here. If you've got a problem, break through Julius and the others and come at me, and I'll fight you one-on-one!"

Yes, a whole group of us, one-on-one with you alone.

"Is that so? Boy, I'll remember you… You'd better pray you can stay surrounded by these people for the rest of your life, never sleeping, never alone. Otherwise, watch out, because one day you'll fall asleep and never wake up!"

Ambush and assassination were Elsa's specialties. Head-on combat made her formidable too, but being impossible to guard against was what made her truly terrifying.

More than Roswaal's commission, what she wanted now was to cut open Subaru Natsuki's guts and see how this boy would keep laughing in front of her then, showing no respect for her professionalism, no respect for her profession!

To reach that future, she had to escape now!

It wasn't fear of death. She just had to kill Subaru Natsuki before she died, and she had to have this guy's intestines!

"Wait, no!"

Swish, swish, swish!

Elsa knew full well that these people wanted her alive for interrogation. So she deliberately did the opposite and threw herself onto the blades of Wilhelm, Ricardo and Julius, catching them off guard and forcing them to deliver a fatal blow.

Julius and the others went pale and hurriedly pulled back, all of them thinking Elsa was beyond saving, and their guard slipped.

At that very moment, Elsa, whose body was undying and regenerated in an instant, shot out and sprinted for the door.

"Oh no—"

It was the same "oh no," but this time it came with more regret.

Fortunately, Subaru Natsuki hadn't relaxed for a moment. He had secretly instructed Emilia to do something. Elsa leaped to the door and kicked hard. With a crack, it wasn't the door that broke, but her leg.

Everyone was stunned. "What just happened?"

It had all changed too fast, leaving them dizzy.

Priscilla thought of something at once and glanced over. "I see. So you used the half-elf's magic?"

"Mm! Shopkeeper had me set it up secretly from the start!"

Emilia smiled brightly. Before they came out of the small room, Subaru Natsuki had quietly told her to calmly use her ice power to freeze a thick layer of ice over the outside of the doors and windows, in case of any accident.

Now that careful arrangement had paid off, and she was delighted. It was the first time anyone had needed her, and she'd lived up to expectations and done exactly what she'd been asked.

"Well, this is really…"

Elsa smiled bitterly. Losing in raw strength was one thing, but she'd never dreamed that someone as good at scheming as she was would fall to someone else's scheme.

And she had thought that of everyone present, Subaru Natsuki and Emilia carried the least scent of blood, the most innocent air about them, so even if they had strength, they'd probably be the two easiest to deal with.

Who could have guessed? She had used a fake death at the peak of cunning to slip away and trick Julius and the others, only to topple at the last moment to the combined trick of Subaru Natsuki and Emilia.

So sly!

—Just then, bang!

The door, coated in thick ice, was kicked off its frame and flew. The red-haired Sword Saint, the Dragon Sword on his back, burst in from outside. "Sorry, I heard sounds of fighting in here. Excuse me!"

Without a doubt, he had come to report the good news about the Bowling Ball family and the Council of Wise Men to Subaru Natsuki. He had only arrived now because he'd had work today.

The moment he arrived, he shattered the glass heart of someone who had just been crushed.

Elsa: "?"

She looked at her own leg, which had broken on the spot when she kicked Emilia's thick ice door and now couldn't move, then at the Sword Saint, who was completely unscathed and wore an utterly innocent look.

Did the gap really have to be this big? Ah!

I'm one of the top fifty in the world, damn it! Top fifty! And one of the top three assassins, one of the top three mercenaries in the world!

Did she really have to get slapped in the face three times in such a short time? Three times!

She wasn't fragile, really, but being humiliated again and again specifically in her own profession was almost like being tortured by Mother.

"Yo, Sword Saint, perfect timing."

Subaru Natsuki flashed a gleaming white grin and raised a hand in greeting. "You're just in time for the good part. Well, if we'd missed it, it could've been a huge nightmare."

The Sword Saint looked at Elsa, pinned down and unable to move under Crusch, Mimi and Ram, and figured that was probably what Subaru meant.

But the next second,

Subaru Natsuki gave a light chuckle and weighed the badge Crusch had left on the table. "Good, if the Sword Saint's here too, he can see it for himself. Felt, catch."

Felt had no idea what was going on and caught the Royal Selection badge on instinct.

Light flared at once, too bright to look at.

The fifth Royal Selection candidate, forged!

What do you do when there are only four candidates and the Royal Selection can't begin? Simple: just grab a fifth person!

Felt stood there with a completely blank mind!

…

Meanwhile.

Roswaal was on his way to the Royal Capital on horseback.

"This isn't right. Teacher's Authority is omniscient-level, her prophecies can't be wrong. Why has the Book of Wisdom broken down for no reason all this time?"

Roswaal, flying along on his journey, kept frantically flipping through his battered book.

He was completely numb.

He had made many arrangements based on the Book of Wisdom, but for some reason it had stopped showing anything lately.

Before it turned into a purely blank book, it had flashed a few names one last time.

[Subaru Natsuki, Felt, Anastasia, Crusch, Emilia, Priscilla, Pan, Pan, Pan……—Mom? You're not dead?!]

Then it froze, crashed, and went completely blank.

In four hundred years, this had never happened.

If not for his deep loathing of the fake Teacher, the fake Echidna, inside the Sanctuary, and for being unable to enter to take the trial anyway, Roswaal would have gone to ask her what on earth was going on.

Without the guidance of the Book of Wisdom, how would he use Subaru Natsuki to revive Teacher?

This was not something to be careless about. So, after some guesswork, he'd sent the Bowel Hunter to the Royal Capital with an extra assassination task first, and after tidying up on his end, he began heading for the Royal Capital himself.

For some reason, though, for the first time, the road to the Royal Capital felt endless. Luckily, it seemed he wasn't far now.

Just then, a white bird flew past, bringing a delicate and graceful sound.

"I say, Roswaal L. Mathers is not four kilometers from the Royal Capital. He is in his own domain, just about to set out for the Royal Capital."

"Time to head to the Royal Capital and find out what on earth has gone wrong! Huh, but why does the road to the Royal Capital feel so long this time? Never mind, it must be my imagination!"

His face resolute, Roswaal set out from his own domain again, for who knew which time, starting from zero.

Roswaal was still on his way to the Royal Capital on horseback.