## Chapter 194 – 194. Assassin
#194. Assassin
“…”
The moment the word “compensation” left my lips, Elisabeth froze completely.
The atmosphere shifted 180 degrees.
It was hard to believe she was the same woman who had been fondling a strange man’s junk just moments ago.
“Surely you haven’t forgotten already? About the kiss, I mean.”
“I-I know!”
So, even if she’s got a messed-up personality and is a total pervert, is she still a woman at heart?
I didn’t expect her to be this embarrassed over a mere kiss.
Elisabeth’s eyes, fixed on me, trembled more than ever, as if to confirm that it really was her first kiss.
“…Perhaps you need gold?”
“I have plenty of money.”
“T-Then, how about a title…?”
“What would a mage need with something like that?”
Truthfully, it’s a bit tempting.
Receiving a territory and managing it like a simulation game wouldn’t be so bad.
But since I’ll be returning to Pelledeia to become royalty anyway once everything is over, why bother?
“…Ah! Then how about a matchmaking meeting with a baron’s daughter? Of course, she’s not as good as me, but she’s so pretty that everyone in high society knows her…”
“Stop it. Do you really think those kinds of offers will work on me?”
I took a step towards Elisabeth.
In that instant, a look of bewilderment flashed across her face as she desperately tried to escape the situation.
“W-Wait a minute! You’re too close…!”
Backing away, she was soon cornered against the wall.
At the same time, her red eyes, filled with obvious unease, turned towards me.
“Isn’t it a bit late to be talking about personal space when we’ve already seen everything?”
Who was it that was using their status to toy with people just a moment ago?
Her face, which had shown no shame before, was now flushed with a deep blush.
“Surely the great Princess Elisabeth of the Nivia Kingdom wouldn’t go back on her word…”
“F-Fine! I get it! I’ll do it!”
“You promised?”
Having secured a second confirmation, I turned around with a satisfied smile.
“W-Where are you going?!”
Elisabeth called out in a trembling voice as I headed towards the window.
“Please wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Stepping over the shattered glass shards that littered the windowsill, I leaped out of the shop.
Immediately, I used the building’s exterior as a foothold and headed for the roof.
The building’s walls crumbled like a cookie, but that wasn’t my problem. The princess would compensate for it anyway.
Reaching the roof in one swift motion, I faced the strong wind and looked east.
A dot-like figure was leaping across the rooftops, trying to escape.
“They’re pretty fast.”
It was the assassin who had been observing the situation from outside the shop.
It wouldn’t matter if I let them escape, but since I’m getting my first kiss out of this, I should at least finish things properly.
[Thought Acceleration]
The hair that had been fluttering in the wind calmed down.
I closed my eyes and focused on the flow of mana.
The distance between the guy and me is about 800m.
This is the first time I’ve ever tried to snipe with such precision at this distance.
‘It’s not that far, though.’
Blue mana transformed into a lightning bolt brighter than the dazzling sun, taking the form of a spear. I aimed for the very center of the fleeing target.
Time moved again, and I grabbed the spear shaft.
Normally, I would have used mana to launch it, but today, I wanted to throw it myself.
For the record, I’ve never learned how to throw a spear.
But instinctively, my fighting spirit surged, and the muscles throughout my body swelled.
[Unburdened Body of Lightning]
All my senses heightened, and I knew instinctively how to move.
In my expanded field of vision, I even had the illusion that the distant target was right in front of me.
Thump!
I supported my body with my toes and twisted my waist.
Rotating my shoulder, I threw the spear towards the target.
[Lightning Spear]
The lightning-formed spearhead tore through the air as it shot forward.
The strong wind and the flashing sky naturally drew the eyes of passersby towards the heavens.
Kwarumble!!
Soon, thunder echoed under the cloudless sky.
It was because the mana, which had been compressed to the extreme for accuracy, was released. Screams rang out from various places as lightning suddenly struck.
Only after confirming that the spearhead had pierced the assassin did I withdraw my fighting spirit.
If I had missed, I was planning to run after them and catch them.
‘Good thing I hit.’
A game of tag with an assassin in the middle of the capital? That would have been a pain.
Anyway, it was an unexpectedly good result, even though I didn’t expect to hit them in one shot.
“Is it thanks to martial arts?”
In any case, it was a somewhat encouraging result.
But as soon as I did it, worries followed.
Not only did I use that much power in the middle of the capital, but the building struck by lightning had its roof collapse.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no casualties, but it was something that could easily become a problem if someone wanted to make it one.
‘Well… the princess will take care of it.’
I was a little worried, but I had the justification of protecting the princess and dealing with the attacker.
Who would say anything about using a little magic to save royalty?
I’m trusting that Elisabeth will somehow handle any explanation issues that arise.
‘If worst comes to worst, I’ll just burn down part of the capital and run away.’
After roughly managing my mana and fighting spirit, I went back down and entered the shop.
At that moment.
Thwack-
A small dagger, flying from the darkness, pierced my palm.
It was strange. The barrier was clearly still active.
But the dagger touched me as if to mock it. As if it ignored the barrier altogether.
I pulled out the dagger stuck in my palm.
The pain was minimal. I’ve come too far to start squealing just because a hole was poked in my palm.
I could feel a faint residue of mana from the dagger.
‘A magic tool?’
And a high-grade one with an enchantment powerful enough to pierce my barrier.
No matter how you look at it, it was too much effort to put into just a dagger.
If the same enchantment had been engraved on a sword, its value would have exceeded billions more.
But by engraving it on a dagger, its value was reduced to one-tenth.
What a waste of money.
“Are assassins these days carrying stuff like this?”
While I was distracted by the dagger, dozens of throwing weapons surrounded me and flew towards me.
Clang!
Of course, they were all blocked by the barrier and fell to the floor. This was largely due to the fact that they were ordinary throwing weapons without any enchantments, though I had also increased the barrier’s output.
Beyond the darkness, I could see a faint figure.
There was no need to guess their identity. They were probably part of the same group that attacked Elisabeth earlier.
But they were definitely different from the six I had dealt with earlier.
Mainly in terms of skill.
‘If they’re skilled enough to avoid my mana detection and senses, they’re among the top-tier B-ranks, which means they’re probably around the upper level of Aura Expert in this world?’
Even when I focused mana in my eyes, I couldn’t see the inside of the shop properly.
It was as if the darkness had settled.
‘An ability?’
An ability, referring to the power gained upon awakening.
Most Hunters operate based on their abilities.
The guy hid in the abnormal darkness, constantly changing his position and throwing throwing weapons.
The throwing weapons imbued with mana boasted speeds comparable to bullets.
Of course, they weren’t much of a threat thanks to the barrier.
‘Annoying… should I just blow up the whole building?’
There was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be another dagger that could penetrate the barrier.
No matter how much I increased the barrier’s strength, there might be an enchantment engraved on it that could still pass through.
But I didn’t know Elisabeth’s location, so I couldn’t just blow up the whole building. If she got caught up in it, her life would be in danger.
The only good thing was that I couldn’t smell any blood anywhere.
Maybe the goal from the beginning wasn’t assassination but kidnapping.
“You’re really a high-maintenance princess.”
Mana surged.
If the darkness created by the ability was annoying, I could just overwhelm it with light.
I modified the formula for light magic, sacrificing stability and only increasing the power foolishly.
With this, it wouldn’t matter if Elisabeth got caught up in it.
Of course, in the worst case, she could go blind, but I could fix that with divine power.
“?!”
Sensing that something was amiss, the assassin’s movements changed drastically.
Bang!
Abandoning the method of hiding in the darkness and throwing throwing weapons to restrain me, they began to attack directly.
The daggers in both hands relentlessly pounded on my barrier.
It was such a heavy barrage that I wondered if they were hitting me with blunt instruments.
“…Are you really an assassin?”
Only a few seconds had passed, but the barrier was already cracking. Their strength was so great that it was hard to believe they were an assassin.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the barrier broke.
But I had no intention of just watching it happen.
In the first place, a few seconds was more than enough time for me.
The guy’s downfall was that he rashly stopped restraining me and closed the distance.
Just as I was about to deploy light magic to deprive him of his sight and finish him off with a sword.
“Stop!”
A familiar voice echoed through the shop.
The gazes of both me and the assassin turned simultaneously towards the voice that should never have been heard.
“Tina! What are you doing!”
There stood Elisabeth, as if to show off.
***
After the situation was sorted out, we had a three-way confrontation.
“…A bodyguard?”
“Yes.”
After hearing the whole story, I looked at the woman who was bowing her head to me.
“I will accept any punishment for disrespecting the benefactor of Princess Elisabeth.”
Her name was Tina, and she was Elisabeth’s personal bodyguard.
Elisabeth had slipped out of the castle without her knowledge, so she had been running around the capital looking for her. She had accidentally sensed my mana and traced it back to this place.
Apparently, my mana had leaked out when I was defeating the assassins who had invaded the shop.
‘…To think she could detect that.’
The title of royal bodyguard was well-deserved.
She was wearing a tight-fitting latex suit, and judging by the curves, she was definitely a woman.
The fact that Tina was a woman was more surprising than the fact that such clothes existed in this world.
The power of the daggers she had been using to pound on my barrier just moments ago was hard to believe for a woman.
‘Is she a beastkin? I can’t tell since her face is covered.’
If she was a beastkin and not a human, then the force she had just shown made sense.
Their innate physical abilities surpassed those of humans.
“Well, there was a misunderstanding on both sides, right? You don’t have to worry about it.”
“But…”
Tina trailed off.
“Is it really okay when blood is dripping from your palm like that?”
Elisabeth wrapped a bandage around the wound, which she had gotten from somewhere.
Of course, it was a mess because she had never done it before.
“…How gracious.”
“S-Shut up! It’s my first time!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
In any case, I could stop the bleeding with mana, and I’d be healed quickly if I drank a bottle of holy water later.
“…But what’s your name?”
“Pardon?”
“Your name! Your name!”
Why are you suddenly getting angry?
I was troubled in front of the princess, who was increasingly losing her composure and becoming violent.
Should I tell this woman my real name?
This might just be a one-day encounter.
It’s better not to create any unnecessary problems-
Tug.
While I was lost in thought, someone gently tugged at my sleeve.
“Is it hard to tell me…?”
It was Elisabeth.
Her pleading eyes were trembling slightly.
‘…Well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. It’s not Earth, after all.’
It’s tiring to calculate the pros and cons of every single thing.
And it’s awful to think that the connections you make will be the starting point of problems.
“Kang Hyun-woo.”
“…Kang Hyunu?”
“Kang Hyun-woo.”
“Kkang Hyunu.”
“…”
“Pfft!”
When I stared at her, Elisabeth finally burst out laughing.
As expected, she was deliberately mispronouncing it.
“That’s a weird name.”
“Is that what you say to the benefactor who just saved your life?”
Is this why pink-haired people are no good?
“…Well, whatever. It’s not like you saved me for free.”
Only then did her flushed face come into view.
And I realized.
That her strangely violent attitude was a kind of smokescreen to hide her embarrassment.
“W-What are you looking at… Aren’t you going to take your compensation…?”
I struggled to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out.
If I laughed here, this princess might really explode.
“Of course, I have to take it. What do you think I was working so hard for, even getting a hole in my palm?”
“…”
Just as I was about to approach her, who was fidgeting as if there was an earthquake in her eyes.
“Hyun-woo-nim.”
Tina, who had been standing next to me and watching the situation, opened her mouth.
“I apologize for being rude, but I have a request.”
“?”
“The compensation that Princess Elisabeth promised, could I please take her place in providing it?”
At that moment, Elisabeth’s brow furrowed.
