"Rest assured, Lord Glück. With my brother and me working together, this journey home is utterly safe. Just like that band we drove off this morning—they were no match for us brothers at all."
"That's what I think too. Even if a horde of monsters came out of nowhere, we'd have a way to deal with them. Driving off monsters is our old line of work, after all."
The twin warriors traded remarks back and forth. Though a bit noisy, it livened up the atmosphere inside the carriage considerably.
"I'm just a little bothered by those bandits who fled when we came this morning. There was a subtle sense that something was off."
Glück wore his usual cold, dull-eyed, fish-like expression. A man who was taciturn about anything beyond handling business, he muttered the words for no apparent reason.
"My lord, you're worrying too much. Our priority back then was defending the carriage. After a brief exchange of blows, they were no match for us at all."
"They just ran a bit fast, that's all. I suppose they had some sense of coordination and a sharp eye for trouble."
Glück had a clear measure of these two brothers' strength. To cut across a forest teeming with monsters relying on the two of them alone—though there may have been an element of luck—these two were surely warriors no less than first-rate. "I hope it's just my imagination."
"Grandpa, don't worry, you've still got me."
Denn slapped his chest and showed off the sword at his waist. He too was a warrior who had learned a thing or two.
"It'll definitely be fine, Father."
Lektire offered a smile tinged with a little weariness. After this long day, she really was tired. Though her illness had healed, her body still tired as easily as before.
As if every last flag had now been raised—
Atop a hilltop not far from the carriage's path, a night-vision telescope flickered for an instant in the refraction of the brief moonlight, then vanished.
A presence that had melded with the night gradually revealed his outline. Wrapped in tight black clothing, only a pair of dim, cold eyes showed.
"Surrounding environment—confirmed. Escorts' strength—confirmed. Macht is not among them—confirmed. Weise's leader Glück—confirmed. Conditions met. All units—execute the order. Operation begins. Clean them all out. Leave no trace."
The cry of a small bird sounded from the place where he had vanished.
In that instant, in the thickets on either side of the road there came faint, creeping movements, like the crawling of snakes and insects. Shadows, one after another melding into the night, began to move—like two great black hands reaching from behind toward the carriage rolling along the road.
A thin streak of silver light flashed. The coachman, who had been humming as he drove the horses, collapsed foaming at the mouth before he even knew what had happened.
The horses let out a whinny and tried to break free of their reins and bolt. Two shadows slid out from either side of the road, black canvas suddenly blotting out their field of vision—two poison-tempered blades.
The horses' necks twisted at once. Supported by the two dark shadows, they lay flat on the ground, snorted two feeble "pfffts," and dropped dead on the spot.
"Where did these robbers come from?!"
At that moment the carriage door burst open. Feeling the carriage shake, one of the twin warriors charged out first.
But before his blade could even fall upon his foe, a sudden rain of arrows pierced him—along with the carriage behind—into a pincushion.
"Gah—! How is this possible? There were clearly only two presences..."
Again, two poison blades slit his throat. The warrior who had been praising himself only moments ago died just like that, with such ease.
Even with that powerful physique, struck by more than a dozen poisoned arrows, he could not move in the slightest.
The warrior who forced himself to keep from falling at last collapsed to the ground with a "thud," without the least resistance.
The shadows kept their silence from start to finish.
At this moment, more and more shadows emerged, surrounding the entire carriage.
Like a ship upon the waves, run aground on unseen black reefs and then encircled by the murky seawater.
It was a suffocating gloom, a killing blow struck from out of the light.
It all happened in just a few seconds.
Inside the carriage—
"Cough, cough—Lord Glück, I'll hold them off. The rest of you, hurry and flee!"
The twin warrior who had stayed inside the carriage had nonetheless pressed everyone down to the floor.
"No... the warrior, my lord... that..."
Lektire looked at the arm pierced through by an arrowhead, and at his shoulder, his back, his abdomen—wounds in more than a dozen places.
"Don't worry about me—I'm just going to keep my brother company, that's all. The rest of you must be careful... cough, cough, cough... those fellows are master killers, and their weapons are all poisoned. Whatever you do, do not let yourselves be wounded."
The twin warrior already felt his head spinning and his vision swimming. With the corners of his eyes going black and his bloodshot eyes, he slowly rose to his feet.
"I'll draw their attention and clear a path for you..."
"I will remember your sacrifice. If I make it back alive, I'll write this into the history of Weise!"
Unlike Denn, who had already fallen into panic and rage, Glück remained calm even in such a plight.
"You... truly are a remarkable man. My lord, I don't have much time left. When you're ready, give the order at once."
"Mm." Glück gave the warrior a nod and seized hold of Denn, who was about to rush forward on impulse.
"Denn, take up your sword. Protecting your mother now rests on you."
Hearing his grandfather's words, spoken as though facing death without flinching, Denn hurriedly turned and helped up Lektire, who was trembling and weeping.
"I'm sorry, it's all because of me... if I hadn't insisted on coming..."
Having fully grasped the situation, Lektire wept without stopping. Frail as she was now, she no longer knew what to do, teetering on the brink of collapse.
"Now is not the time to discuss whose fault it is—there's no more time to hesitate! All of you must survive!"
Glück had forgotten how long it had been since he last shouted like this—that passion which had died utterly after his defeat in the contest over the Imperial Capital, ever cloaked in cold cruelty.
He picked up the sword from the ground. Unlike the despair of his encounter with Macht, now he craved hope.
"Go!"
At his command, the one remaining twin warrior charged out first, with Glück and Denn—supporting Lektire—following close behind.
Though he had long since prepared for the worst in his heart, the moment he saw those shadows lurking everywhere—
The warrior gave a wretched, bitter laugh. "Looks like... this time we're in trouble... Really, if only my brother were still here..."
The corpses on the ground had already been dragged away by the earlier wave of shadows, vanishing into the endless night.
Glück gripped his sword tightly. He recognized them—before him were the shadows of the Northern Empire, shadows worthy of the name, warriors of the shadows.
Just like the many legends still passed down—shadow warriors who had once served as the hidden guard supporting the Emperor, and who, after rumors of their total disbandment, were reorganized into a unit aimed against Mages.
Every one of them was a master of fighting against humans, fighting against Mages, and well-versed in assassination—far surpassing that batch of killers he himself had once trained.
Under the directives of that supreme commander, an assassination had been launched against him—the disobedient noble.
____
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