~ Chapter 138: The den of assassins ~

[Shanteya’s point of view]

The carriage came to a halt to the joyful relief of the horses.

Knock! Knock!

The driver knocked two times on the roof and then called out to us, his passengers.

“We’ve arrived in Damerka.”

I remained seated and waited for the mother with her two young children to get out first. This wasn’t my personal carriage, I just paid the driver to bring me all the way out here from the border just like the other passengers did.

“It was a pleasure talking with you, Madame Shanteya. May the gods watch over you.” the woman showed me a kind smile and her two daughters bowed their heads to me before they climbed out.

“Likewise, it was a pleasure to be able to chat with you, Madame Sillora.” I replied with a smile and a bow of my head.

The woman before me was neither a merchant nor a noble, she was a peasant who was returning after a visit to her family. For the sake of learning more about this land, I posed as a wandering adventurer intent on sightseeing and tasting the local cuisine.

The latter did not interest me as much as I pretended, but it didn’t hurt to keep an eye out for any interesting recipes and seasonings. I was certain that whatever I managed to bring back both Tamara and Yung Mai would be pleased and quickly figure out what to do with them.

The journey from the border all the way here took a week, and during that time I had enough time to question the driver, the passengers, and various other individuals we came across when we stopped at a Traveler’s Inn.

It was this way that I found out many interesting facts about this country. For instance, the King was an individual who didn’t care how the peasant population lived and ignored most of the wrongdoings of the nobles. In fact, everyone knew that he rarely left the palace, he often wasted taxpayer money on useless things foreign traders brought to him. Just recently, he spent almost 10000 goldiettes on what he believed to be an incredible artifact. The description of this so-called artifact made me cringe a little. It was one of the golden spheres with drawings carved on it, which Illsyore exchanged years ago for the local currency in Aunnar Kingdom.

If this was indeed the same item, then I pitied the fool for buying it and praised the merchant for being able to sell it for such a ridiculous price.

After those three got out of the carriage, I climbed out as well. The moment my foot stepped on the ground, I noticed the lack of paved roads. My eyes then went to the nearby guard who was digging his nose.

Disgusting... I thought and tried not to let it show on my expression.

“Did you enjoy your trip, Madame?” asked the driver.

“It was pleasant and uneventful.” I replied with a nod.

“I told you that we weren’t going to meet any pesky bandits! Hahaha! Us poor folk aren’t worth their time, ya see.” he showed me a smile and then got off his seat.

“It appears so. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to go look for an inn to stay at.”

“Try Muldar’s Inn. It is down the main road, right before you enter the market. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you. I’ll go take a look right away then.”

With a nod of my head, I left the driver to tend to his horses.

When I approached the city gates, the guards took one look at me and then went back to what they were doing.

The security here sure is lax. I thought as I walked past them.

The first thing I noticed when I entered Damerka was the architecture. The rooftops were similar to those Illsyore called European style, but both the doors and windows had beautiful arches, which I never saw before either on Allasn or Thorya. There wasn’t any glass on them, just a wood cover. The walls lacked Magic Energy enchantments, and they had a carpet hanging out as a decoration. The drawings were different in design, but from what I could see, most of those down the main road used the same colors: black, blue, red, and green, while barely a few had either white or yellow mixed in.

Is this some way of differentiating between castes? I wondered.

The Lundrara Kingdom used a caste system to organize its population. The lowest caste was the Saratu, the equivalent of the slaves, then it was the Tamur or peasants, followed by Shivas or merchants. After the Shivas were the Masaru which were the equivalent of nobles. The royal family in this case was part of the Shinji caste. They were the chosen ones, beloved by the gods and worshiped by their people, or... so they wanted to pretend.

If someone wanted to become a citizen of this country, they would start out from the Tamur caste, and they would never be able to go over Shivas in their lifetime. Their children, however, were a different matter. It was interesting that a noble of a foreign country would never become part of the Masaru caste unless the King himself declared it so.

Thus, saying that I was a humble Tamur right now wasn’t a lie when considering this country’s laws.

As I continued to walk towards the inn the driver told me about, I noticed that what several other travelers told me about the Lundrara Kingdom was true. The streets were dirty but not only filled with feces and garbage, which hurt my sensible nose, but also with beggars. The stench of this place was almost unbearable to me, but the people who lived here didn’t seem to have any problem with it.

While traveling, I learned to greatly appreciate the sewer system added by Illsy on Illsyorea. The humblest house on our island was the equivalent of kingly luxury in this country. Speaking of which, the people here never even heard of the little island that suddenly caught the attention of all the major political powers. Telling the locals I was from Illsyorea was always met with a confused look.

Compared to Devmazur Merchant Collective or Rezalia Kingdom, this place had a predominant number of human slaves as opposed of those from other species. El’doraws, elves, dwarfs, and draconians roamed freely here in quite the big numbers. It appeared that they were the majority here, which could explain why the human guards didn’t bother questioning me when I entered the city.

While I was walking towards Maldur’s Inn and looking around like a curious tourist, I also kept an eye out for any possible Phantom Rage lookouts. The ones present here were a bit sloppy when it came to their work, and it wasn’t that hard to find them in the crowd, but I continued to act as though I didn’t notice their presence.

According to the driver and Madame Sillora, the woman who traveled with me, the Vasca family was located in this city, Hermandez Vasca presumably wouldn’t have placed the Phantom Rage den too far from this place, especially if he was intent on keeping his noble facade.

There are three of them, but only one of them is watching me. I don’t think they know who I am, so maybe this is just a routine check? I wondered.

Back when I was still a Fledgling in the Phantom Rage and was sent out to spy on other people, doing routine scout checks was one of my jobs. I was usually ordered by my Trainer to keep an eye out for anyone I thought was interesting or out of the ordinary. If these individuals were ordered to do the same thing, then I popped up to them as someone interesting. Well, I was an albino el’doraw, this alone was enough to make me stand out in the crowd.

Now then, I wonder what I should do next? I thought when I finally spotted the sign of Maldur’s Inn hanging above the entrance.

I could either wait patiently inside my room or go out for a bit of sightseeing. I chose the latter as I could use this time to get to learn the streets a bit, and if by chance I were to lure some members of the Phantom Rage to come after me as a potential target for whatever they had in mind, then I would find myself a good lead on where to find their hideout.

Regarding this matter, I knew for a certain that my target was somewhere within the Vasca family house. They were all part of the Masaru caste, so if I were to charge in knocking down their guards left and right, chances were that Hermandez would deny any involvement with the Phantom Rage. Since I did not know the location of his hideout, he could also think that his minions would opt on trying to save him from a potential hostage situation.

All of this led me to one conclusion: I had to catch the rat in his own den or else I would risk failing my entire mission.

Knowing this, I decided it was best to lay in wait, calmly preparing for the moment when I would get to bare my fangs and strike back.

The moment I stepped out of the inn for my walk, the lookout man who had been following me all this time went inside the inn. I found this to be a bit odd at first, but then I remembered that when I had assumed the Rank of Doll, I often bribed and paid numerous individuals regarded as Assets within the guild. These individuals either took the roles as our informants or made sure to look away when we were planning to do something that was not quite legal. This lookout man was either a very inapt Ant working for the guild, or an Asset hired by an Elite or an Ant. The more adept assassins of the guilds would have been the Dolls, but those individuals had no reason to target me. If they did, then a male el’doraw would have already tried to seduce me. That was how they worked.

Within this Lundrara Kingdom, I saw no reason why anyone with a rank higher than Elite would make a den.

I moved away from the inn to see if anyone else tried to follow me, but after walking for a couple of minutes, I sensed no such individual. At the moment, there was no one tracking me.

Curious... I thought, but instead of turning around, I proceeded with my sightseeing.

By walking around until the sun had set, I was able to hear a lot of things. Several Masaru families were involved in illegal slave trading, one of them owned an illegal gambling den, and the markets were currently flooded with goods provided by a certain Shivas. The guards did not bother breaking up fights when it came to the Saratu or the Tamur castes. Prostitution was present in all shapes and sizes in this city, and surprisingly enough, it had the backing of the Vasca family.

During this sightseeing tour of mine, I was also able to confirm one other thing. While draconians and dwarfs were indeed present here, they were very few in numbers. I estimated at most 100 in the entire city. Also, it appeared as though most people here confused me for a fancy elf wearing makeup, which I found to be a bit unexpected.

When I returned to the inn, I did not notice any visible change in the innkeeper. There were no suspicious fellows among the clientele either, so I assumed that the lookout from before simply came in to see what sort of info he could find on me. Either this or I managed, to my own shame, confuse one organization’s spy with another.

If that were the case and Nanya were to find out, I was certain she would use it to make fun of me. At the very least, I could find peace with the thought that the prankster demoness was far away from the Sorone Continent, most likely causing some sort of unprecedented chaos on the Demon Continent.

As I relinquished such thoughts from my mind, I retreated to my room and set up a [Detection Barrier]. Although it was called a ‘barrier’, it didn’t block the intruders from stepping within my room. What it did was set up an area similar to Illsy’s Dungeon Territory ability, which could detect and then silently let me know of their approach. Learning this skill first allowed me to learn and better understand the [Dungeon Heal] skill, with which I could heal a Dungeon’s territory when it came under attack by another territory or outside force. All of Illsyore’s wives knew it, especially since Anette and Kormian were Dungeons as well.

I planned on going to sleep and waiting until the next day to actually go hunt for the location of the Phantom Rage, but not even an hour after I turned off the lamp in my room, the [Detection Barrier] let me know that there were two individuals outside my window and another three behind the door.

So they came... I thought and then listened to see what they were planning to do.

With my Magic Armor up and wearing the enchanted clothes Illsyore made for me, my opponent had to be someone of Over Supreme rank just to scratch me. Even then, it would have been doubtful if they could finish me off in one hit. Such opponents would attack me with everything they had and most likely annihilate this entire city in the process of doing so.

Thus, I waited patiently for my prey to sneak inside my room.

“Ssh! She’s sleeping.” whispered one of the two who entered through the window.

Are they really part of Phantom Rage? They aren’t even communicating through hand signs to keep everything as quiet as possible. I thought.

Click!

The door was unlocked from outside and with a low creak it was pushed open. Three individuals entered the room. They were looking at my bed.

“This is her. The new target that came in the city.” said one of them.

“What a foolish woman to come here alone.” another one snorted.

“So, who is she?” someone asked.

“Who cares? Soon enough, she’ll just be one of the many slaves of the Masaru Vasca.” the fifth one said.

A slave? Hm. I thought and then I opened my eyes.

“Huh?”

The one closest to me noticed my change, but before he could say a word, I got up and grabbed him by the neck. I twisted my hand, and a crack was heard. Upon releasing my grip, his body fell limp to the floor. In the blink of an eye, I then thrust my fist into the chest of the one on the left. The impact broke several of his ribs and caused inner bleeding, but I caught his body by the leg, stopping him from smashing into the wall. Jumping from my bed, I then landed with my toes on his neck, crushing it and stopping him from calling out for help.

My eyes then caught the remaining three. They reached out for their weapons, but in that split moment, I got in close and struck them with my fists right in the pit of their stomachs. The second strike was with my clenched fingers right in the apple of their necks. Before they felt the shock of my attacks, I moved towards the third one, who I assumed was the leader. I grabbed his hand and twisted it behind his back while pushing him face first into the floor.

The attack was so fast they did not know what hit them. One of them was unconscious, probably dead. One of them was certainly dead, and two others were on the ground struggling with their crushed necks, gasping for air.

“Now then... How should I kill you?” I said as I pulled out my dagger and pressed the cold blade to his cheek.

“Hiii!” he screamed as a wave of cold sweat washed over him.

“Phantom Rage. Where are they?” I asked him.

“I-I can’t tell you!” he said.

“Can’t or won’t?” I asked as I scratched his cheek, drawing a few drops of blood.

“Can’t...” he replied trembling.

He’s cursed. I thought.

“Then I’ll let you keep your life.” I said and then I got up and let him go.

“Huh?” he blinked surprised when he saw me.

“Run back to your lair now. Run back to your boss, well... if you can make it that is.” I showed him the blade of my dagger in the light of the two moons Lunaris and Lunoria.

The latter, which had the color of blood gave off a very threatening feel.

“Hiii!” the man screamed in fear and quickly jumped out the window.

I looked out and then jumped after him. The other four did not matter to me. The hunt had finally begun.

While he ran on the ground through the dark jumbled alleys of Damerka, I followed him from afar with the help of the [Tracker] skill. He could try to hide underground or behind a thick wall, but it was impossible for him to escape the eyes of this useful magic.

Every couple of turns, he would stop and look back, trying to see if I was still following him, but he wouldn’t be able to detect me. Hiding from someone with his ability was far too easy for someone like me.

In the end, the man did as I had expected, he ran straight to the hideout of the Phantom Rage, which was located right behind the Blacksmith’s shop. A black iron arched door was all that kept intruders outside. No guards or guard beasts to scare off curious onlookers, just one piece of bolted metal. If it was me, I would have tried to lead my would-be tracker on a fake run, not go straight for the guild’s hideout.

After he went inside, I jumped down on the ground and approached the entrance with a step that made no sound. From within the Storage Crystal I retrieved the dagger Illsy made for me. The easy to grip handle was covered in a unique material developed by him, which he called ‘plastic’. The blade itself was pitch black in color and made out of several layers of thin plates inscribed on the inside with meticulous enchants. While a master blacksmith would question the durability of the design, it was a fact that this weapon was one meant to be used by Over Supremes, making it practically indestructible when used against anyone other than them.

Now then. I thought as I poured a drop of Magic Energy within the dagger and activated one of its enchants.

The edge of the blade was coated with a thin layer of plasma that glowed purple in color. While for a stealth fighter the scent and light it gave off weren’t ideal, by the time the enemy took notice of it, their life would be forfeit.

I pointed the tip of the blade at the life sign behind the metal door and then pushed it forward. The plasma edge cut through the black iron like a knife through butter. A groan came from the other side and then I pushed the blade down and pulled it back. The next cut was on the lock.

After I heard the metal cling from the metal pieces that fell on the other side, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The man who was guarding it had fallen face first on the ground with a deep searing cut that went from the center of his back all the way down his spine to his pelvis. The bleeding had been stopped by the intense heat of my blade.

He must have been leaning with his back against the door. What a fool. I thought as I walked around him.

With steps that made no noise, I went down the tight corridor. The door was connected to a passage that went deep underground, and my ears could pick up the distinct sound of several individuals having a chat about their recent captures.

Slavers? I wondered as I carefully approached them without making even the smallest sound.

When they came in sight, I dashed towards them. The plasma edge was hot and my movements precise. In a single flowing motion, I decapitated both of them.

I didn’t need to look back and check to see if I didn’t miss by any chance, just hearing the two thumps when their heads rolled on the floor was enough.

These vermin had no idea what was coming to them.

Thus, I proceeded with my silent but deadly assassination of each and every individual roaming free within this den of criminals. I moved in like a shadow and my dagger cut faster than they could make a sound. Heads rolled on the floor and hearts were pierced in a blink of an eye. In each chamber I entered, I was like the wind, they merely saw the door opening for a moment and then they died.

Not even someone with the rank of Phantom could move and kill like I did, but I had to admit, this place was surprisingly big for something built underground. Since the moment I stepped through the entrance on the surface, I managed to kill about 50 people, several of them had the markings of Phantom Rage members.

In the end, I caught up with the man who sneaked up in my room. He was knocking at a big door in the deepest part of the den. At that time, I slit the throat of a nearby guard and pulled his body into the shadows.

“Master! Master! I have urgent news!” the man called out.

“What?” the door was opened, and someone answered.

“Master Hermandez, the woman the lookout told us about, she...” the man was not able to finish his words as his head fell back and then rolled on the floor.

When I heard that the individual he was talking with was called Hermandez, I immediately assumed that he was my target. I moved in, killed the man standing in front of him and then kicked the one called Hermandez in the chest.

“Gah!” the man groaned as he was tossed back, slamming into his desk.

I deactivated the blade of my dagger and absorbed it within my Storage Crystal, then I entered the room, calmly stepping over the dead body of the man I had just killed.

“W-Who? Who are you?” Hermandez asked as he got up, holding a hand to his chest.

“Unimportant.” I said as I entered his room and looked around.

This place was filled with all sorts of items that were probably worth a fortune each. There were maps hanging on the walls and coffers of gold lined up on display to my right. The most peculiar of things here was probably the mural on the ceiling which appeared to have been stolen from some temple. It had a giant coiling dragon in the form of a snake with long whiskers on its nose and holding a jade sphere. In front of him, standing on the peak of a mountain were three men with squinted eyes like Yung Mai’s and wearing long exquisite robes. Unfortunately, the rest of the mural had been destroyed, and I could not make out the rest of the image or what message it was trying to relay.

“An interesting place you have here.” I said as I walked up to one of the maps.

On it, I could see the three continents Allasn, Thorya, and Sorone with a big circle surrounding them.

“Where did you get all of this?” I asked him.

“Why should I tell you?” he spat.

I looked back at him and then calmly shot a [Compressed Air Ball] at his right leg. His Magic Armor shattered from the impact and his bones broke with a nasty crack.

“AARGH!” he screamed in pain.

“Where did you get all of this?” I asked again.

“Ugh... I-I collected them from various targets of mine. If you want them, you can have them.”

“Hm? Since when does the Phantom Rage allow the plundering of the possessions of one’s targets?” I asked as I turned my eyes back at the maps.

They were not as good as the ones made by the cartographer Cairen Talcaea, but they would have been worth quite the pretty goldiette on the black market.

“H-How do you know that?” he asked.

“I was also a part of this infamous guild. Well, that’s in the past now.” I replied in a calm tone of voice as I continued to look around, but there was nothing that caught my eye.

Maybe I’ll just take everything before I go? I wondered.

“T-That’s impossible. The curse... It wouldn’t have allowed you to do so.” he retorted.

“That old thing? It’s easy to take off if you know how.” I shrugged and then turned to look back at him.

“What?” he was showing me a surprised look on his face.

“Well, enough of that. Let’s talk about your little hideout in Cordina Kingdom.” I showed him a smile.

He gulped as a wave of cold sweat washed over him. The pain in his leg didn’t seem to be bothering him that much now.

“W-What h-hideout?” he asked.

“Don’t make me repeat myself, mister Hermandez Vasca, or I will break that other leg of yours too. Now, if you do not answer my questions truthfully, I’m going to tip the Phantom Rage on its location, and you don’t need me to tell you what they would do next now, do you?” I asked him.

“N-No.” he shook his head.

“It seems like we’ve come to an understanding. So, in exchange for me keeping this little secret of yours, I’m going to ask you to tell me the location of the den of your immediate superior.”

“What?” his eyes grew big in surprise.

“You heard me and yes, I understand that this would trigger your curse. Still, you are aware you would die either way, right?” I showed him a smile.

“Ugh... The location... something like that...” he said as he made a complicated expression.

“Come on now, mister Hermandez, I don’t have time to play around with you. Either you tell me the location or I’m going to find it out some other way it’s the same thing, the only difference is that if you tell me, your hideout remains a secret.” I told him.

“Ugh...” he contorted his face as he struggled with his decision.

I gave him a moment to think about it and then created a small fireball in my right hand.

“Well?” I asked.

“Risteza City State. There’s a bakery in front of Tamulus’ Inn. The entrance is behind a fake wall to the left of the oven in the back. I don’t know the layout there very well, but it’s a bigger place than mine... The boss there is called Robertian Barg. That’s all I know, I swear!” he declared.

“That’s good enough.” I said with a nod and then shot the fireball at his head.

The explosion killed him on the spot.

“Now then! Let’s clean up this place!” I said with a smile as I started to loot the den of everything I thought could be of value, including the strange mural on the ceiling.

Once I was done, I left the same way I came in, but this time, I saw no reason in taking the carriage all the way to Risteza City State and pretending to be a normal citizen.

“It’s been a while since I used my full speed.” I said as I jumped up on the rooftops and then started to run towards the gates of Damerka City.