Everyone’s eyes turned toward me.
But this time, I wasn’t speaking without thinking.
As I’d just been going over the original story in my head, something had caught my attention.
It was still nothing more than a theory, but…
I’d developed a hunch about the relationship between the Blood Ravens and Marquis Direan.
The Blood Ravens were an assassin group that had disappeared twenty years ago.
And the marquis had distinguished himself on the battlefield twenty years ago, too.
Wasn’t that timing rather suspicious?
“Do you have another suggestion?”
“Yes.”
Gathering my courage, I spoke again.
“According to what the intelligence unit leader said earlier… the Blood Ravens disappeared nineteen years ago, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“And you suspect they only pretended to leave the Empire and continued operating in secret.”
“That’s right.”
“So I was thinking about what major events happened around the time they ‘disappeared’ twenty years ago.”
After listening to my carefully worded explanation, Rashak seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding.
“You think the war twenty years ago was connected to the Blood Ravens going into hiding?”
“Because the timing overlaps.”
I took a breath before continuing.
“There’s something else that seems strange to me. According to the intelligence unit leader, even after the Blood Ravens went through an internal conflict twenty years ago, there was still a group of people led by the former leader’s son, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then why didn’t they continue operating as the Blood Ravens? Why go to the trouble of pretending to disband the assassin group?”
The intelligence unit leader also fell into thought.
Pierce was the one who interrupted to ask,
“Wouldn’t there have been a reason to do that?”
“Can you think of any?”
“Well, first of all, it’d make their work easier, wouldn’t it? Having no name attached to them would be useful for assassinations, too. Maybe they decided to pretend they were all dead while they were at it.”
“But if they all pretended to be dead… they wouldn’t be able to accept any commissions. An assassin group still needs to make a living.”
Pierce muttered, “Well, that’s true, too.”
“So… while I was thinking about why they would pretend to go into hiding, I suddenly wondered whether it might have something to do with the war.”
Any war brought chaos with it.
When urgent reports came in every day, an internal conflict within a single assassin group wouldn’t even make the news.
No one would pay much attention if the group went into hiding and disappeared, either.
The Blood Ravens had taken advantage of precisely that.
Or, more accurately, someone behind them had…
“Someone might have commissioned the Blood Ravens to do something in conjunction with the war.”
At Rashak’s words, Pierce asked,
“A commission?”
“‘Disappear’ from the world under the pretext of an internal conflict, then help me win the war. In exchange, I’ll provide everything you need, including the funds to rebuild your assassin group.”
After finishing, Rashak turned his head toward me.
“…Is that what you’re trying to suggest?”
“It’s o-only a theory.”
My nervousness made me stammer, but inside, I wanted to cheer out loud.
Yes, exactly! That’s precisely what I was thinking!
“Those who distinguished themselves in the war are the most likely suspects.”
“Then… were their achievements not really their own?” Pierce asked.
Rashak nodded.
“That’s right. They secretly manipulated the assassin group, then pretended they’d won through their own strategies and tactics.”
Rashak lightly tapped the table, drawing everyone’s attention to him.
“The war twenty years ago began with a preemptive attack by the Serenos Archipelago Alliance. Their naval forces easily ravaged the Empire’s coastline. But after one particular battle, the tide of war shifted rapidly in the Empire’s favor.”
“……”
“A naval battle so remarkable that it was even included in textbooks.”
“The Battle of the Black Strait…”
As the intelligence unit leader murmured those words, understanding dawned on everyone’s faces in the meeting room.
Pierce nodded vigorously.
“That explains it! I remember the adults saying something suspicious about Marquis Direan back then. That gambler suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started acting like a competent commander!”
“Before the naval battle, they could have disguised the assassins and smuggled them onto enemy ships. Then, if they killed the enemy commanders during the battle, the forces that had lost their chain of command would quickly fall apart. And if the enemy ships sank, there’d be no need to investigate the bodies, either.”
Everyone nodded at the intelligence unit leader’s calm analysis.
“Marquis Direan has a grudge against my father, too. He still believes my father is the reason he lost influence in central politics.”
Rashak wore a bitter smile.
“We have no evidence at all, but everything does fit together rather suspiciously.”
“Then we just need to find it.”
Mr. Fidel, who had remained silent throughout the discussion, finally spoke up.
“I’ll send an assassination unit to infiltrate Marquis Direan’s estate. If they’ve been working together for twenty years, there must be at least one record of their dealings.”
A full-scale war that would cause casualties even among their own people.
Or a mission to find the mastermind and discreetly eliminate that person alone.
The latter was overwhelmingly more efficient and effective. Mr. Fidel’s confident eyes made it clear that he was certain of this.
Everything was unfolding just as I’d predicted.
Except for one thing.
“Um, about that infiltration mission…”
I spoke again, this time with extreme caution.
“Could I be the one to go…?”
The meeting continued until around closing time.
“…Everyone, carry out your assigned duties. In particular, the intelligence unit must keep a close eye on Marquis Direan’s movements.”
“Yes, understood.”
At Rashak’s casual wave, everyone got up and left.
Only two people remained: Rashak and me.
“Shall we head home, too?”
He stood up as he spoke, and I nodded before quietly following him.
However, we didn’t exchange a single word after that.
Not when we returned to the office, and not even while we rode the carriage home together.
But the moment we arrived at his house—
“So.”
Without even entering the living room, he looked down at me with a slight frown.
“Why are you so insistent on going yourself?”
It wasn’t so much displeasure as it was confusion and discomfort.
His gaze seemed to ask why I would willingly go somewhere so dangerous, as though he simply couldn’t understand it.
“You can just stay somewhere safe. You said you’ve never even fought properly before.”
He was right. Just imagining myself fighting made my heart pound.
But… infiltration wasn’t fighting.
If anything, it was the best way to avoid a fight altogether.
Wasn’t the whole point of infiltration to hide?
And more importantly…
I know where the evidence is hidden.
I’d seen it in the original story, during Nadia’s recollection: the secret compartment in Marquis Direan’s study.
That memory remained vivid in my mind.
In other words, if I were the one to infiltrate the estate, I could get the job done faster and more efficiently than anyone else.
But if I explained all that, he’d inevitably ask, How do you know that? So…
“Do you mean you don’t trust my assassination unit?”
“N-No! Of course not!”
“Or are you trying to tell me you’re a genius at infiltration?”
I cautiously gauged his reaction before lowering my gaze.
“I-I’m not exactly a genius…”
Shock washed over his face.
“You’ve actually done it before?”
“A little, in the past…”
“When?”
“Since I was young…”
“Be specific. Where have you been sneaking around, and how far did you go?”
I hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“At first, it was just about getting out of my room. Whenever my mother got really angry… she often locked me in there. Without even giving me a sip of water.”
“……”
“I felt like I was going to die of thirst, so I started sneaking out through the window. At some point, it became part of my daily routine.”
“……”
“So I suppose you could say I’ve been sneaking into the Count of Brent’s estate since I was a child…”
Even under normal circumstances, I’d tried my hardest to hide and move around without making a sound so I wouldn’t run into my parents.
Whenever I did, they’d criticize everything, from the way I dressed to why I wasn’t in my room studying and what I was doing there instead.
You could say that every moment of my life had been an infiltration mission.
“What else?”
“When I was training with the Knights…”
“You infiltrated the knights’ building, too?”
“Well… I wanted to know what they thought of me. I didn’t want to go home, either…”
Back when I was training to become a knight, I’d been truly desperate.
It was painfully obvious how much worse my parents would treat me if I earned the label of failure.
“And besides, I wasn’t good at fighting. No… I was practically incapable of it. So… I wanted to develop some other skills, at least.”
“……”
“I’ve always been good at concealing my presence, and I’m good at climbing walls, too… So I thought I’d combine those two abilities and develop them as much as I could…”
“So you secretly infiltrated the knights’ building, altered your scores, and managed to last three years?”
“I didn’t alter anything! I swear to heaven!”
“Then what do you mean by saying you infiltrated the place but didn’t alter your scores?”
“I’m not that bold… I really just… secretly watched them…”
Rashak let out a hollow laugh.
“Honestly… your way of thinking is impossible to understand.”
He brushed back the hair that had fallen over his forehead and muttered,
“So, to sum it up, hiding has always been much less frightening to you than confronting people, and since you’ve lived that way, you’re confident in your ability to infiltrate places?”
I knew it sounded strange.
Some people might ask, Isn’t hiding somewhere terrifying, too?
But I’d genuinely lived that way.
I’d failed at many things because I lacked courage.
If that was the case, I wanted to excel at least at the things that required relatively little courage.
That had been my life’s goal.
As long as I can slip out quietly, everything will be fine.
It was what I was best at. And I even knew exactly where the target was.
I was the most suitable person for this mission.
And… I also want to repay the debt I owe him for saving Renoa at my request.
I parted my lips again.
“I’m the one who suggested that Marquis Direan might be behind everything. So… I want to take responsibility.”
“……”
“The Blood Ravens targeted me, too… so I’m already involved in this matter, whether I like it or not.”
Rashak looked at me and let out a deep sigh.
“Even my assassination unit has never infiltrated the knights’ building. It’s not that we’ve never had a reason to assassinate a knight. It’s simply too dangerous. We didn’t want to get caught and give the knights an excuse to come after us.”
“……”
“And yet, you went in and out of a place like that as if it were your own home. I’ll admit that your abilities are impressive.”
He looked down at me with a sharp gaze.
“But you’re not going alone.”
“What?! But…”
“I’m going with you.”
I blinked rapidly in surprise, and he raised one corner of his mouth.
“What? Are you going to say you don’t trust me now?”
“But, Boss…”
“What about me?”
Under his irritated gaze, I hesitated before answering honestly.
“Y-You’re too big… so I don’t think sneaking in together would work very well…”
Rashak’s eyes widened in disbelief.
It was the second time he’d been shocked.
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