Starting the Rat Hunt

Princess Tianis and Lady Anatia. The safety of these two is of utmost importance.

My current position exists because of them.

Not that I'm attached to my position, but I've unexpectedly grown to enjoy working with them.

Thanks to Lady Anatia, the unreasonable demands have been considerably toned down.

"If they're in danger, I want you to protect them. I'm not an expert, so I'll leave the method to you."

"Mm, got it."

"But your safety comes first. Don't do anything reckless."

"You really haven't changed at all. Well, considering you took me in when I was covered in wounds, I guess that's to be expected."

Finn lightly tapped Yohane's chest.

I could tell it was to hide her embarrassment.

"If you'd been naive enough to say 'don't kill them,' I would've knocked you flat."

"I already know that the underground trade deals in life and death. I don't want you to stain your hands with blood, but…"

"I've been taking it easy at your place, but I haven't gone soft. Besides, I told you, didn't I? The skilled ones have all gone to the Empire. Second-rate assassins who leave traces behind are no match for me."

"Should we tell those two?"

"The duke's daughter might be fine, but the princess can't act. It's easier for us if she's used as bait. I'll come back once I've secured their safety."

"Bait…?"

Finn quickly disappeared.

It seems she'll protect the two from the shadows while eliminating assassins.

There's nothing I can help with in this matter.

If anything, getting involved would only get in the way.

"Did you notice, Alexia?"

"No. I couldn't detect any traces. Maybe Finn sensed something that only someone in the same profession would understand. But I did feel something unpleasant."

"Ah, I felt that too. Like a sticky malice, if that makes sense. Finn-chan is sharp."

"I see… We have no evidence, and it would be difficult to explain to the princesses that they're being targeted. Let's leave this to Finn. If anything happens, we can say it was under my orders."

Let's proceed quietly with work for a while.

 

＊　＊　＊

 

Now then.

Finn infiltrated the royal castle, licking her lips as she moved from blind spot to blind spot.

Though there were guards and soldiers, none of them noticed Finn.

You'd think at least some sharp knight would glance her way, but there was no such sign.

Well, she was confirming their line of sight before moving silently through places no one would ever think to look, so it was only natural.

To spot Finn, you'd need magic or specific training.

(The castle's security is nothing special. They've grown complacent with peace.)

And this was during the day.

Even without Finn's level of skill, assassination at night would probably be easy.

No wonder even dimwitted nobles would get ideas.

(Being too skilled has its downsides too. I just had to open my mouth.)

She could have pretended not to notice, but her pride wouldn't allow it.

The skills she'd acquired to survive gave her a certain confidence.

She couldn't take a comfortable nap with something nagging at her.

Besides, those two young ladies were valuable to her employer, Yohane.

Better to keep them alive.

For Finn, who had nothing, nobles who were born with everything were beings she could never get along with.

Being used by such people had always been stressful.

She'd been looked at with disgusting eyes when accepting jobs before.

That's why working under Yohane felt comfortable.

So much so that she'd chosen to settle down, something she'd always avoided.

So, well, she'd do her best.

First, she infiltrated Princess Tianis's room.

She'd been looking sleepy during the meeting, and as expected, it seemed she was taking a nap.

There was one maid attending her, but she had no training and didn't notice Finn entering silently.

Finn got behind the maid and quietly knocked her out, then sat her in a chair.

Then she looked at Princess Tianis's sleeping face.

It was an innocent face, completely at ease.

She didn't wake up even when her cheek was poked. Her sleep was deep.

Finn gently moved her finger to the princess's neck.

Her index finger stopped at the carotid artery.

Just a little pressure and this girl would die.

(Lucky for you that he's on your side.)

She pulled her finger away.

She didn't care for the daughter of royalty, but the power of life and death was in Finn's hands.

She decided to be satisfied with that.

Now to examine the traces she'd found.

As expected, something had been planted in the room.

Curse-type magical tools.

She disabled them all. Without the magic stones, these things were just ornaments.

They were probably meant to cause Princess Tianis to weaken and die once activated.

This should prevent any "suddenly dead" scenarios for now.

All that remained was to crush whoever discovered the tools had been disabled.

The window area had also been tampered with.

The lock had been modified so it could be opened from outside.

It was the most basic trick, but was the Kingdom really so short on capable people that no one noticed this?

She used the lock mechanism to set up a trap.

Now anyone trying to enter through the window would lose their fingers.

"Ahh, this is fun. There's nothing better than crushing someone's schemes and making them meaningless."

Reading the opponent's thinking and completely shutting them down.

This was what made Finn excel as an assassin.

She couldn't match Alexia in power, and Azu surpassed her in physical ability.

She didn't have Elza's healing powers, nor Orleans' extensive knowledge.

Even so, Finn didn't consider herself inferior.

(I can just picture him crying tears of joy.)

The princess's room was done. She pressed the maid's pressure points to wake her up and left the room.

The maid would think she'd been dozing off.

As for Anatia… her maids were guarding her properly.

Unlike Princess Tianis, Anatia's maids also served as bodyguards and had proper countermeasures against assassins.

Anything planted in her room would be quickly removed.

Even for Finn, infiltrating that room would be impossible without going all out and accepting the risk of being discovered.

(I was going to teach her a lesson for making eyes at him, but hmph. Not bad.)

Now then.

Time to take out the foolish rats.