The Wicked Woman

They walked through the cold night, just the two of them.

Even bundled in winter clothes, the tips of his fingers and toes were going numb.

Their breath hung white in the air. The exposed tip of his nose was turning red.

"Walking around at night like this, we're going to get frostbite."

"True. Oh, if that happens, I can heal you."

"I appreciate the thought, but I'd rather not get frostbite in the first place."

"Yes."

Elza replied with her usual smile.

A fair amount of time had passed since they'd started living together, but he still couldn't quite tell what she was thinking.

They arrived at the guard patrol branch closest to the shop.

Everything around it was pitch-dark; only the patrol building itself was lit by lantern light.

He knocked on the door and waited.

There had to be at least one man on night duty.

The door opened slowly, and a young man poked his head out.

He'd probably been warming himself by the hearth. His face was flushed.

"What happened? Something wrong?"

"I'm Yohane, from the tool shop. I was delivering a liquor order to a tavern and found a bunch of men tied up inside. Thought I should report it right away."

"… At this hour?"

"I'm afraid so."

Elza shoved Yohane aside.

She grabbed the young man's right hand in both of hers.

The man clearly wasn't used to women. That alone was enough to fluster him.

His already-red face deepened to crimson.

"H-hey. Your hands are freezing, let go."

"We run a tiny little shop, you see. If we don't make deliveries late into the night, we can't make ends meet."

"That's rough… Even on a night this cold."

The man shot Yohane a pointed look.

Elza was a beautiful woman. The priest robes suited her, but what she was wearing now suited her just as well. He probably wanted to say: Don't drag a woman like this around in the middle of the night.

No, buddy, the woman you're getting all lovey-dovey over swings a mace with monstrous strength.

Just as Yohane thought that, Elza's left foot came down on his right.

"Ow!"

"You were thinking something rude just now. I can tell by your face."

"Your imagination."

Once the man's sympathies were engaged, he didn't question Elza and listened to their story.

The bound men naturally raised some questions, but since Yohane was playing the angle of a chance discovery, he kept things vague on that front.

The guard had been thoroughly charmed.

Convenient, but was that really okay?

Thanks to Elza, they'd convinced the guard patrol without arousing suspicion.

The man woke his colleagues, and they geared up to accompany them.

He'd dragged them out of bed at this hour. He'd send over something warm to drink and some liquor later as an apology.

They arrived at the tavern Finn had cleared out, guard patrol in tow.

The entrance was open. They went in, lanterns raised.

The man Elza had charmed took point.

Inside, just as Finn had described, bound men lay strewn about.

Some were conscious but couldn't move.

That even assassins couldn't escape spoke to Finn's thoroughness.

"They're definitely tied up. Who the hell are these people? Do you know anything?"

"Not a thing. I was just asked to deliver liquor."

The moment he said that, a stack of papers toppled off the desk.

"What was that?"

"Looks like a bundle of parchment fell. Let me see…"

One of the guards picked up the fallen papers and began reading.

The sleepy expression on his face changed in an instant.

"These guys are connected to a wanted group. Look at this."

He held the papers up for everyone to see.

Written on them was internal intelligence on an organization called Partilgar.

Evidence of their crimes was laid out in neat detail.

… The timing was too perfect. Too convenient.

Finn's handiwork.

She'd set things up so once the guard patrol arrived, everything would fall into place on its own.

Thorough follow-through. He had to admire it.

He glanced sideways. In a blind spot invisible to the guards, Finn was giving him a thumbs up.

The discovery of a half-dead Partilgar executive below the hidden staircase at the back triggered a call for reinforcements, and the situation snowballed.

The investigation and prisoner transport stretched on until morning. As the first on the scene, Yohane couldn't leave early.

The whole affair was officially chalked up as a major bust by the guard patrol.

The bound men? An internal power struggle, they figured. Case closed.

With the wealth of intelligence recovered on Partilgar, the decision was made to call in Kingdom reinforcements for a coordinated sweep.

An underworld organization was nothing but a thorn in the Kingdom's side when it came to public order.

If they could crush it, they would.

The guard Elza had wrapped around her finger had shared all of this.

The man probably shouldn't be sharing that kind of information, but free intel was free intel.

What would happen if the man found out she was a slave?

He might end up holding a grudge.

Best to let this fade out quietly.

"Was I helpful?"

"Very. I couldn't have pulled that off on my own."

"I have a fair sense of how to get people to open up. I was a priest who listened to people's troubles, after all."

"Is it really okay to use that for this?"

"Oh, I wouldn't call it misuse. Besides, I'm not a priest anymore. I'm a slave now. May as well use every tool at your disposal."

"Fair point."

The guard patrol finally released them. Yohane looked up at the sun, already well above the horizon.

The light was warm, but the air still bit cold.

His sleep had been cut short.

Work could wait. He wanted to go home and crawl back into bed.

"Finn. I know you're there. Come out already."

"Everything went perfectly. They won't be able to do a thing for a while."

Finn grinned a wicked little grin, chuckling to herself.

She seemed delighted that a rival organization had taken a blow.

The assassin business had its own headaches, apparently.

"First move goes to us. Let's wrap this up before the year's out."

"You seem to be enjoying yourself."

"Of course I am. You're covering expenses, right? And I'm expecting a nice payout. It's not every day I get to go all-out like this."

"Hmm."

More expenses incoming. Of course.

But he understood Finn's capabilities well enough.

She'd wrapped up this whole mess in no time at all.

"Oh, and Finn-chan? Let me fix that leg."

"Hey, don't say that, you idiot!"

Elza directed her healing miracle at Finn's right leg.

She'd apparently been nursing an injury.

"Way to ruin a perfectly cool exit…"

"No need to tough it out like that."

"Shut up."

He took the slightly miffed Finn and headed back home.