Chapter 73……………..
Honduras Jewelry Shop — Manager’s Office.
I opened the door and walked in without knocking.
The Count of Honduras had just about shoved a whole pie into his mouth when he froze and frowned.
“How rude of someone to barge in… D-Duke?!”
I walked over slowly and gave him a look.
At that, the foolish-looking Count of Honduras jumped to his feet and scooted off the sofa.
“Ah—please, have a seat!”
“Hmph.”
He gave me the seat of honor and slid down to the edge of the sofa, watching me nervously.
“Would you like some pie…?”
“Count of Honduras.”
“Yes?”
“How many times has this been?”
“…Pardon?”
“I asked how many attempts this is.”
“…….”
“You’re not pretending not to know what I mean, are you?”
A chill ran through me for a moment. Had I been mistaken?
The Count of Honduras answered sullenly.
“Eleven times.”
Well, at least I hadn’t been wrong… but—
‘Are you insane? Eleven assassination attempts?!’
Even I, used to Adrian’s vicious streak, couldn’t make sense of that.
Now I understood why Leonhart reacted so strongly to Adrian.
“There’s no time. Get to the point. I’m cancelling the contract.”
“W-what?! B-but—”
Before the Count could blather on with excuses, I slammed the table.
Bang!
“How many failures is that now? If they figure out who’s behind this, do you plan to take responsibility?”
“I never reveal my clients. That’s my method. Isn’t that why, Duke, you hired me in the first place?”
“I didn’t say that because I suspected it already!”
“Huh? Who… who suspected—?”
“Who else? That person has caught on to a degree!”
Color drained from the Count’s pudgy face.
“W-what has that person… how much have they discovered?”
“Roughly they’ve traced it as far as the middleman.”
“T-then the middleman is me!”
“That’s why I’m cancelling the contract. If you try one more time you’ll be in danger. Do you understand?”
“Th-this can’t be… What am I supposed to do now?”
The Count of Honduras let his shoulders slump in utter despair.
‘I pushed him hard enough. Time to try calming him down,’ I thought, smiling inwardly.
“You couldn’t succeed, but you did put in the effort. This time I’ll help you.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“I’ll buy the entire jewelry shop. Take that money and go hide down in the provinces.”
“Hide for the rest of my life?”
“Or would you rather live openly and have that person kill you? To be clear, if this business is exposed, only you die. I’ll have a way out.”
“Yes… I understand.”
“Bring me the sale papers right away. And once you get back to your mansion, pack and leave immediately.”
The Count, who seemed ready to follow orders, suddenly brightened and smiled broadly.
“Oh! No need for that! All our problems will be solved tonight!”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been failing so much I couldn’t even face the Duke… I scolded them and said I’d never hire them again.”
‘You meant the assassin guild,’ he added quietly. Then, pride swelling on his face, he continued:
“But that seems to have spurred them on. This time their top-ranked operative is taking the job.”
My heart dropped.
But the Count chattered on, oblivious to the mood.
“He’s a renowned authority over there. They say his skill is ghostlike—he’s never failed even once.”
“Never failed?”
“Yes. I wanted to hire him myself, but you’d have to find him first. He works alone; even guild members don’t know his whereabouts.”
“So he’s… now?”
“That’s right! We finally got through to him! Isn’t this a sign the heavens are helping us? That’s why I handed you that note!”
“……”
“If they succeed, I won’t have to hide, and the Duke gets rid of his thorn. A perfect ending, isn’t it?”
“Perfect…? You’re crazy!”
“Ugh!”
[Rian, calm down. Leonhart’s a Sword Master.]
[Yes, Rian. No matter how ghostly that skill, an assassin can’t beat a Sword Master.]
[Hmph. Is that so? What if the assassin sneaks up and attacks when he’s asleep? Is a Sword Master invincible while sleeping? Do they even sleep with their eyes open?]
Lately Leonhart had been directing construction work and was short on sleep.
So once he collapsed, he wouldn’t notice small noises or movements around him.
‘Right — last time he didn’t even stir when I escaped from the cage…’
My unease surged. I jumped up and shouted.
“Stop them right now!”
“What? But success is right in front of us—”
“Can’t you hear me? Tell them the contract’s been cancelled immediately!”
“T-that’s difficult. He usually can’t be contacted until the job is done…”
“Damn!!!”
I snapped, and the Count of Honduras clutched his head with pudgy hands and curled up as if to shrink away.
“Okay, okay, I was wrong! Please spare me!”
“Shut up.”
“Eek!”
I knew Adrian would eventually cause a big trouble like this… but not like this.
I bit my lip and then asked abruptly.
“How did you know they’d try to kill him tonight? You said you can’t reach them until the job’s completed.”
“When I placed the request, I set the operation deadline as today… D-Duke? Duke!”
I hurried out of the jewelry shop.
I met Leonhart at dusk.
I approached him as he was checking blueprints and giving orders to the workers.
“The slope over there doesn’t match the plans. Match the step heights to the blueprints—”
He trailed off mid-sentence and turned.
“Duke?”
“You were here all along, Your Highness.”
“What is it?”
I couldn’t say, “An assassin’s trying to kill you tonight. I’m the one who ordered it.” So I used the prepared excuse.
“As an adviser, I’m also supposed to inspect the site.”
“Today isn’t a scheduled inspection.”
“What’s it hurt to come anytime? I’m not going to dig or haul the stones myself. I’ll just look around and go when I’m done, so don’t worry about it.”
“Fine… be my guest.”
Leonhart paid me no more attention and went back to his work.
I followed him at a steady distance.
Leonhart was busy and didn’t even notice me tailing him, but Eshir was extremely uncomfortable. He kept glancing at me and looked like the workers were dying from discomfort.
I pretended to survey the site out of sight.
[Rian, I don’t sense anything odd nearby yet.]
[I’ve set a wind barrier. If someone with killing intent passes through, I’ll sense it.]
[Which idiot assassin tries to approach a Sword Master while scattering killing intent? They’d hide their scent like crazy.]
[Ah, that makes sense. Should I lift the barrier and shield Leonhart?]
[Dammit, there are approach paths from every direction… this is a headache. Leave it. The gnome and I will stay close to Leonhart.]
As the Salamander said, we couldn’t let our guard down outdoors.
We didn’t know from which direction an assassin might strike.
‘They might be disguised as one of the laborers.’
I glared suspiciously at the workers and their faces went pale.
Those who had stripped off shirts because of the heat began hurriedly putting them back on.
Finally, unable to stand it, Eshir jabbed Leonhart in the side.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“You should take care of the person behind you first.”
“Behind me?”
Leonhart glanced over indifferently, then his eyes widened when he saw me.
“You’ve been following me this whole time?”
“Me? Why would you think that? Not at all.”
“Then why… Ah, do you need someone to guide you?”
“Oh, that would be lovely. It’s so big here I didn’t know where to start.”
“Eshir, guide our guest.”
“Understood.”
…Damn.
Eshir came forward and bowed politely.
“The construction site is divided into five sections. I will guide you starting with section one. Please this way, Your Highness.”
“No, I want to look over this way.”
“That would be… section three, which Your Highness is currently looking at?”
“Is that not allowed?”
“It’s not that it’s forbidden, but there’s nothing to see there. It might be uncomfortable watching the workers.”
I’d already seen enough of men’s sweaty biceps and glistening chests during the Demon King’s expedition. Men were just lumps of stone to me.
“I’m not uncomfortable at all, so stop fussing and do your work.”
“How can I not be concerned—”
Just then Leonhart folded the blueprint and tucked it under his arm.
“Eshir, show the Duke section three. I’ll go to section five first. Let’s meet there when we’re done.”
“T-then I want to go to five too!”
Leonhart, Eshir, even the workers looked at me.
I naturally turned my face away to avoid the stares.
“Hmph, suddenly I’m curious about section five. Eshir, will you show it to her?”
Leonhart stared at me for a moment and sighed deeply.
“Be honest. If you have something to say, I’ll hear you out.”
“Actually… I do have something to say.”
“Go on.”
“We… uh…”
“We?”
I forced a casual smile.
“Would you like to spend the night together?”
