Chapter 3 – Assassin and The Narrow-Eyed Man

March 28th, 2023

Arienne’s security is second to none in the entire continent.

Of course, it can’t be perfect though.

Even in Arienne, shadows exist.

And some of the residents of the underworld hidden in the shadows make a living by doing illegal things.

Rendall was a resident of Arienne’s underworld.

Special operations, interrogation, and assassination. 

That was his main line of work. Rendall had been marked by some underworld figures as an “outstanding skilled expert” and had never failed a mission even once.

But now, he was on the run from the assassination scene, having missed his chance to kill the target after stalking them for a long time.

‘Damn it, who is that woman?’

A third party had intervened. 

The woman, who possessed incredible skills, had not only prevented Rendall’s assassination but was also pursuing him. Rendall was trying to lose her by taking rare and complex routes while avoiding people.

Then, he encountered a passerby in an alley. The man had an endlessly light atmosphere and a naive impression, just like the atmosphere around him.

It was easy to imagine him excitedly chattering about himself somewhere else. Rendall decided it was better to eliminate him with a little effort and time than to ignore him and go on.

“Oh, the weather’s really nice today~”

The man said, showing his back in a carefree manner. Rendall threw his dagger towards his vital spot and aimed to take him out cleanly, as he had a pursuer on his tail.

It was within his field of vision.

He had completely erased any signs of hostility to prevent the other person from being on guard.

However, the dagger missed its mark.

“He dodged…?”

The situation didn’t seem intentional on the man’s part.

Just as the dagger was flying towards him, the man happened to fall forward.

“Of course, I had to dodge! How could you throw something like that? Are you trying to kill me!?”

And there was his flustered appearance.

It was hard to believe that the man had dodged the attack with his skills alone.

He was just lucky.

But why did this uneasiness remain?

Perhaps it was because of his feelings.

Rendall shook off his thoughts.

The skilled woman who had failed to kill him was now in pursuit.

There was no time to hesitate.

This time, for sure.

-Swift

Rendall approached the man with his footwork.

“Uh, what, what is it! Why are you coming closer!? Stay back!”

The man took hurried steps backwards. It was a meaningless struggle.

The man did not show any particular movement to escape from his skilled footwork.

“Don’t come any closer!” 

“…”

But something was strange. There seemed to be no sign of the distance between Rendall and the man narrowing at all. Rendall was displaying the skillful moves of an assassin, while the man was just stumbling back in a daze.

“Stand there.” 

Randal said irritably, his patience wearing thin.

“Why are you doing this to me?! Please! What did I do?!” 

The man responded, still bewildered.

It was a pathetic reaction, which only served to increase Rendall’s extreme annoyance. It was as if he was being pushed around by this clueless fool.

“This is ridiculous-“

Finally, Rendall couldn’t take it anymore and charged towards the man.

Finally, the street narrowed.

First, that detestable face.

How should I deal with that sneering face with those narrow eyes that seemed so annoying?

-Shh!

Rendall’s sword drew a clean line toward the man’s face.

It went in.

Rendall was certain.

This street.

That posture.

There’s no way he can escape.

“Heek!”

But he couldn’t feel anything in his hand.

Unexpectedly, the man who barely dodged the sword with an awkward, unsteady posture screamed.

“…”

“Heek!”

“What the hell!”

“Aaaahhh!!!”

“Damn it!!!”

Rendall swung his sword fueled by anger.

Every time, the man skillfully evaded the sword with an unreasonable posture. 

The process repeated several times. It was far from the one-sided murder of a civilian by an assassin. 

There was a human who was irritated by an annoying bug and a bug that struggled to survive. 

At first glance, it seemed like Rendall was the one struggling.

“…!”

At that moment, Rendall’s posture collapsed.

He had lost his balance by forcefully chasing the man’s movements that didn’t make any sense.

“S-Save me!!!”

The man took advantage of that moment and quickly distanced himself.

“Phew…! I thought I was going to die for sure…!”

“…”

Rendall didn’t understand the situation.

Did I collapse because I couldn’t follow the movements of that insect-like guy?

‘Because of that guy’s ridiculous movements?’

Rendall was confused.

At that moment, the man continued to speak.

“By the way, why are you doing this to me? What did I do to make you so obsessed with killing me? And, weren’t you in a hurry to go somewhere? Can you afford to waste time like this just because of me, who has nothing to do with it!?”

The man’s words were correct. 

Rendall had failed to assassinate the target due to the intervention of a third party, and the skilled woman was chasing after him.

“Even if I can, I’m still not going to say anything!? If you just let me go, I won’t tell anyone that I saw you. Can’t we just call it even now?”

If Rendall wanted to avoid the difficult situation as originally planned, it would be better to give up on the man and run away now.

“It’s not my business.”

But Rendall didn’t care anymore. 

He didn’t give up on the assassination because the woman who had interfered with his plans was too powerful to handle. 

It was just a matter of mismatched payment for the level of skill he was up against.

As an assassin, Rendall had always thought in a strictly utilitarian way. But at least for now, his way of thinking had changed.

“I just have to kill you and that woman too.”

He wanted to kill the woman who had interfered with his work and then run away.

While doing so, he came across a fly-like guy in front of his eyes and engaged in a foolish game of tag.

The consecutive failures left a scar on the assassin’s pride.

The cold-blooded assassin scattered his killing intent around instead of hiding it.

“…”

Did he become scared of his killing intent?

The man with narrow-eyes stared blankly into the air.

However, the focus of his sight seemed to be looking somewhere.

Not at Rendall, but it seemed like he was looking at something that was floating in a corner of his vision.

He opened his mouth soon after.

“Is the name of the woman you just mentioned from ‘I have to kill her too’, Drin Lebringer?”

“What?”

Rendall didn’t know the name of the woman who was chasing after him.

But the man’s reaction…

“Ah, I see. You were her colleague. No wonder. You were doing a crappy performance to kill time while she was coming here. Yeah, that’s what it was.”

Based on the man’s reaction, Rendall guessed a relationship between them and narrowed his eyes darkly.

“When she arrives, what were the two of you going to do to me? Interesting. It wouldn’t be bad to play along with you guys, as you wish, but- something more interesting came to my mind. Right now, I’m going to wait for her arrival after severing the tendons in your legs. Then, I’ll play with the girl who will be left alone in front of you, unable to do anything, and torture her until she begs me to kill her, whether it’s from her mouth or yours. How does that sound?”

The damn laughter lines carved into the man’s face that didn’t show any signs of disappearing seemed to have diminished slightly. 

Rendall smiled with satisfaction. It was a feeling of finally breaking free from the sense of being dragged down to the level of someone like himself.

“To be honest, the truth is that the two of us have no relationship whatsoever.”

“No relationship at all – hahaha, I’m sure.”

“Yes, no relationship at all. But… I don’t think I can just leave you alone to harass her.”

“Wow, you have no relationship? Then why… hmm?”

At that moment, the man let out a deep sigh.

“That’s why you should just leave.”

Rendall looked at the man in confusion. 

He suddenly seemed like a completely different person. 

Was it just his mood?

No, it wasn’t just his mood.

Right now. The man had his eyes open.

The sharp, arrow-like golden eyes, which had been hidden in those half-closed eyes, revealed themselves and turned towards Rendall. 

In an instant, Rendall felt as though a giant snake had coiled around his body and was about to strike. The man’s demeanor, which had been light and carefree just a moment ago, suddenly became oppressively heavy. 

It was ominous.

Rendall felt as if the man had become someone else entirely, and he spoke.

“She’s the main heroine.”

“Main heroine…?”

“Yes, the main heroine. The moment you said you were going to torture her, a quest was activated. I’m supposed to stop you.”

The man muttered some cryptic words.

“By the way, just in case you were wondering, there’s no need for you to resent me for this. I was planning on going all the way anyway.”

The man chuckled dryly.

When he had his eyes closed, he looked weak, but now, with his eyes open, he seemed to be laughing at him.

-Thud.

The two of them drew closer together.

This time, it was the man who moved towards Rendall.

Unconsciously, Rendall took a step back.

“Haha, this. Am I the tag this time?”

The conversation ended there.