Chapter 47: Volume 3 - CH 10

The first day of the Martial Arts Festival ended soon after. On the way back to their rooms prepared in the imperial palace, they walked down the main street with street stalls and vendors on both sides. Crowds of people were around them, making you realize once again that the Imperial Capital Luos was currently in the middle of a celebrative festival.

“We have money, so they can just buy something.”

Lieze and Urza were excited as they looked at the dubious products in front of them, with Seran throwing in an exhausted comment. In fact, Kyle and his group had enough money to fully buy up hundreds of these stalls.

“I said the same thing, but they don’t want to needlessly waste money.”

With anything absolutely necessary, they would buy it with excessive wealth, but the women’s group was hesitant to buy any luxury.

“Like a housewife. Doesn’t hurt to do a frenzy buy once in a while.” Seran said, loving to waste money.

“You can say that again. Saving is a virtue, but sometimes you need to treat yourself, like I do.” Shildonia argued, both her arms full with food from the stalls.

“Treating yourself like a true glutton.”

“There are things important out there. Eating a lot will supply me with mana, and I can act separately from my main body more.”

Shildonia’s appearance that she had right now was pretty much like a phantasma created from mana, which stopped her from getting too far from the gemstone in the sword. However, by converting food into mana, she could supply herself longer. In other words, the more she ate, the more freely she could act.

“My range of possible actions opens up, and I can walk around to individually buy stuff from the vendors.”

“So your gluttony still takes utmost priority…To think that this was the legendary [Magic King], really.”

“Calling people legends is an accessory added after my existence, so it’s not my responsibility to uphold that image,” Shildonia said and went back to raiding more food stalls.

Like this, everyone part of the group enjoyed the festival in their own way, and when they reached a church of the Goddess Cairys, Lieze wished to take a quick detour there. Seran had no interest in this sort of thing, Shildonia was busy stuffing her cheeks with food, and Urza, a believer of the Spirit Goddess Moona, decided to wait outside for Lieze and Kyle to return.

The chapel was large enough to fit several hundred people, and as it was opened for the normal believer, countless people were present at this very moment. At the front altar stood a large statue of the Goddess of Earth Cairys, showing a peaceful smile, looking down on the believers visiting her. Goddess Cairys was the goddess most revered in all of humanfolk, and Lieze often visited the small shrine back at their hometown, so she was a faithful believer. Like many others around her, she was praying vigorously. Most likely, she was praying for the safety and success of the group’s travels. Engraved the wall next to it was a short sentence, acting as a prayer towards the gods, which stated ‘O Heavens, please watch over us’.

“Please watch over us, huh…” Kyle muttered with complicated feelings, as he watched Lieze from a distance.

He may not be as passionate as Lieze, but both he and Lieze were believers of the Cairys faith. However, ever since he returned to the past, started his second life, he never prayed once. The Gods of Light created the world, building humanfolk with humans as their starters. That is what the legends said. Surely, these gods exist. In the thousands of years since the history of humanfolk started, they surely have shown themselves in front of the people. The faint lingering strength of the gods was gathered with faith, which could grant miracles in the shape of holy magic.

This faith has become a natural part of human lives, and there is never an end to prayers. However, the gods merely watched over their creation, and generally don’t intervene with what is happening on earth. It was the same even during the ‘Great Invasion’. No matter how much humanfolk prayed, no matter how much they screamed for salvation, there were no answers from the gods. Amidst the horrors of the ‘Great Invasion’ many cursed the gods who did not offer any help, casting away their faith.

“Are you not going to pray, Kyle?”

“I…I’ll skip on it today.”

Naturally, Kyle hadn’t thrown away his faith entirely. The recovery holy magic had helped him many times, and many of his allies stood firm in their faith. However, it would probably take a bit longer for him to be able to genuinely pray. As he left the chapel with Lieze, he turned around one more time.

“No matter the hardships that may await us, we will overcome it with our own strength. However, I can go without the whole trial and tribulations, so please be a bit more gentle this time around.”

Kyle didn’t pray, but instead showed his determination, with a bit of an idle complaint thrown at the statue of Cairys.

Right as Kyle faced forward again, a cold shiver ran up his spine. It was hard to put into words, but it felt like it was glued to him, a very unpleasant feeling. This chill immediately vanished again. In a rush, Kyle turned back, but the statue was smiling still, and only other believers, as well as priests of Cairys, were around him.

“What’s wrong?” Lieze seemed like she didn’t feel anything, just tilting her head at Kyle’s odd behavior.

“N-No, it’s nothing…”

It was a bit too strong to just be Kyle’s imagination. Kyle feared that maybe he angered the goddess, but he suddenly spotted a certain individual in the corner of this view.

“Sorry, something urgent came up! You go back to Seran and the others, Lieze.”

“Eh? H-Hey!?” Lieze tried to stop him, but Kyle simply chased after a person mixed in the crowd.

He could only see her for a moment, but that was undoubtedly Minagi.

Minagi’s clothes had changed drastically compared to when he saw her. She now wore a worn-out skirt, a large apron on top of that, wearing clothes that made her mix in with the average citizen, holding a woven basket in her hands. She had her hair tied up in a simple, indifferent fashion, looking like a waitress. More than anything, the atmosphere she gave off was completely different from before.

Her expression and gestures before resembled that of a royal and noble lady, but now she walked without a dignified fashion, acting as the billboard girl of a bar. Just because of a bit of acting, her entire impression changed completely, and without Kyle’s perceptive gaze and previous knowledge about her, you probably wouldn’t recognize her. However, her inborn beauty was difficult to hide, and even now she looked like an alluring girl.

Was that presence just now Minagi after all? No, I don’t think she’d manage to give off such a presence…Not to mention that she probably hasn’t caught on to me either…

Kyle followed after the girl, and right as he hid in the shadows, another voice called out to him from his back.

“What are you doing?”

“Woah!? S-Shildonia, huh…Don’t surprise me like that.”

Standing there was Shildonia, her hands full with food as always.

“Tailing someone? To think you’d chase a young girl around…Oh? That woman, I feel like I’ve seen her before…” Looking at Minagi who took a peek inside a stall, Shildonia tilted her head.

“Do you know her? She’s the one we met during the banquet, naming herself with a fake name Rona. She’s also…”

“Ohhh! Yeah, I remember now! What a skilled disguise.”

“You know her?”

“Indeed. She was quite formidable, so it left a strong impression on me.”

“Formidable? In what way?”

“During that banquet, I was aiming for some high-quality food which was running out of supply, and she skillfully snatched it from me. Grabbing the best food in the most efficient way without standing out, using no unnecessary movement, I couldn’t help but admire her, despite her being my enemy.”

“She was just grabbing food, there’s nothing skillful about that…” Kyle suffered from a headache, putting one hand on his forehead.

“Well, I’m still far more skilled than her. I managed to grasp more food than her in the end. She probably caught on to what I was doing. She seemed calm on the outside, but she surely resented me deep down.” Shildonia showed a grin. “Well, I guess it was a draw in the grand scheme of things. A satisfying battle, truly.”

“What were you two doing…”

Kyle had never once realized that such a fierce battle was happening behind the scenes of the banquet.

“What I cannot forgive however is that she not only ate at that banquet, but even took food with her. That’s just bad manners,” Shildonia pouted.

“T-Took food with her…”

Kyle truly was concerned about what Minagi was up to, as he looked back at her again. She seemingly didn’t buy anything from the stall, and started walking again.

“A-Anyway, I need to talk with her, so tell the others for me.”

“Indeed, leave it to me. I’ll tell them exactly what you’re doing.”

Kyle felt worried at the odd phrasing Shildonia chose, but he couldn’t afford to lose Minagi, so he continued the tailing.

With lots of people around, he managed to continue following Minagi without being caught in the act. Minagi approached the slums, heading to what looked like a shared residential district. She seemed to be living there, as she headed into a poor-looking home in the corner of the area. Kyle checked his surroundings, erasing his presence, and then clung to the wall. He carefully put his ears against it, trying to listen in on the conversation and sounds from inside.

“Haaa…Only leftovers today, huh. Before, I could at least enjoy the meals from the banquet for the past few days…”

It was, in a lot of ways, a depressing monologue to have.

***

After that, the negative monologuing continued along the lines of ‘I can’t keep living like this much longer…’ or ‘I guess accepting it all on my own was too much…’, overall dampening the mood a lot. From the sounds of it, she was low on money. Judging from the word leftovers, she must be working at a food place to earn some money on the side.

What is this about? Did she fail at her job? But then why would she sneak into the banquet like that…?

After guessing what situation Minagi was in, Kyle then heard the rustling of clothes. She was probably in the middle of changing now. Now that it had come to this, Kyle started to feel guilty.

I’m basically like a pervert now…I know where she lives, so I should temporarily fall back, I guess.

With these thoughts, Kyle moved back from the wall, but his leg got caught in something. Looking down, it was a fine thread barely visible. He probably was lucky that he didn’t trip over that when he first arrived. Evidently, a naive thought of ‘There’s no way this worn-down place would have any traps’ was a severe mistake on his end. By the time he however caught on to this, it was already too late, and a bell rang from the inside of the home.

That being said, Minagi’s actions following that surprised Kyle even more. The wall was immediately destroyed with her own knives, and she appeared in front of him. She held blades in both hands with a dual-wielding style. As she was in the middle of changing, she now wore only her underwear. As expected of Minagi, her proportions were a feast for the eyes, and definitely something Kyle would enjoy if not for this current situation.

However, when he felt genuine killing intent from Minagi, and the shivers racing across his body, even this foolish thought was banished from his head. At the same time as he felt nervous, he also was oddly happy. All the regret he felt before was blown away, as he realized that this reaction, as well as seriousness from Minagi was exactly how he had remembered her.

But, I can’t just be happy here…Now, what to do?

With raw strength, Kyle surely was stronger than her, but it wasn’t in his best interest to fight Minagi here. If she saw a risk of losing, she would most likely escape, and then definitely aim for his life later on. More than anything, he didn’t want to strike down a former ally of his. He had enough of that after his battle with Zentos. Luckily, nobody was watching them right now, so Kyle saw a chance to defuse the situation.

How do I get out of this…Maybe I should drop her name?

Minagi herself seemed flustered at the fact that the invader was the person she ran into at the banquet. Seeing this, Kyle acted first.

“Wait, Rona…Or, should I say Minagi.”

With her true name being thrown around, Minagi was even more bewildered.

“I don’t plan on fighting. I heard about you from Souga.”

“Wha…!?”

Now that Kyle even added the name of Minagi’s former teacher, she was at a loss for words.

***

“…Have a seat.”

Kyle sat down on a chair. After she changed into proper clothes, Minagi put down some warm tea on the table. After their initial contact, Kyle suggested that they calm down and talk things out, to which Minagi surprisingly agreed, now offering him tea. Minagi naturally was cautious of Kyle, looking at him with a sharp gaze, probably like she was about to leap at him and kill him. The name of Souga seemingly worked wonders.

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“Thanks.”

Minagi was a skilled poison user, so it was dubious whether this was safe to drink, but Kyle didn’t hesitate. After taking a sip, Kyle spoke up.

“…Your teacher Souga came from an island to the East of the continent, where he learned assassination techniques, and became a…what was it called, a shinobi? Either way, only those with significant status and fortune even know of their existence, yes? I think he should be around 60 now? He has a scar on his face that stands out a lot, which he suffered when he was young.” Kyle talked about Souga, who had been one of his allies just like Minagi.

“He’s your teacher, and the person who raised you, yeah? He didn’t have any children, so he took you, an orphan, in, and raised you as his disciple. When you were young, you went to a mountain called Mt. Shumin, and you fell off a cliff when you were eight, which is where you got injured, yes? The scar of that is still visible on your abdomen.”

Right now, gaining Minagi’s trust was the most important, so he told her all the information he could remember.

“S-So Souga told you about all of that…” Minagi seemed confused, as these were all things only she and Souga should know.

“Yeah, he’s pretty weak against alcohol, right? When he was drunk, he let it all out.”

During the ‘Great Invasion’, Souga had kept his location hidden, only dragged out by Kyle against his will. Well, his age was one problem, but the strength he brought was undoubtedly real. Knowing that Minagi trusted Souga from the bottom of her heart, Kyle guessed that simply using his name would do wonders, and it worked even better than he had anticipated. If there was one problem, it would be that Kyle and Souga did not know each other during this time yet.

If Minagi had any opportunity of contacting Souga, and confirming this, Kyle would be at a dead end, but luckily it didn’t seem that way. Rather, it felt like Minagi was hoping for more stories about Souga. That’s why Kyle had to supply. Luckily, Souga was easy to talk to, and one he could form a contract with. There was a good chance he could explain everything to Souga and sweep this under the rugs.

Either way, I need to talk to Souga first before she confirms anything…

However, it was evident that he at least gained a certain level of trust now. Minagi’s caution had lessened, or so Kyle felt at least.

“Were you…told to come here by Souga?” After a brief silence, Minagi awkwardly asked.

It’s like she was a young child terrified of being scolded.

“No, not at all. I happened to hear about you from Souga, but it’s a coincidence that we ran into each other here.”

Kyle felt a faint discomfort from her attitude. She seemed relieved after hearing his words.

“That being said…you’re in a bit of peril right now, yes?”

Just as Kyle judged from the outside, the inside of the home was run-down, the broken wall covered with a blanket…It was pretty much an emergency situation.

“It’s clear that you’re low on money…So, Souga told me to help you out in case I ran into you.” Kyle explained, but Minagi stayed quiet. “Won’t you tell me what’s going on?” Kyle asked, feeling that he might be able to drag out her information by using Souga’s name.

“…But, you know who I am, right? And, you are the hero of Zilgus.”

“That doesn’t matter. I have a debt with Souga, so of course I’d help his foster daughter with anything I can.”

Minagi seemed happy at being called Souga’s daughter, and reluctantly explained the circumstances.

Among the long history of shinobi, Souga was exceptionally talented, and he always thought about which request to pick and which to pass on, but he was still a famous celebrity. However, after reaching the formidable age of 60, he started to lose more and more of his skill and strength. As Minagi was always with him, that was more than obvious to her as well, and she thought of herself as the one to inherit his name. However, Souga himself only saw her as an assistant, evaluating her below average, which started to fuel Minagi’s heart with anger more and more.

At that time, a crucial request came in that would take at least one year to fulfill. Souga evidently was not pleased with that, and since he also wasn’t feeling too well at the time, he rejected that offer. That’s where Minagi went and accepted it, leaving behind only a letter, and headed to the Galgan Empire.

“The details of the request were to approach the hub of the Galgan Empire, gather information, and then assassinate the designated individual.”

“…And who is that?”

“I have yet to be informed. It can pretty much change on the spot, but it probably must be someone from the imperial family. It was a mouth-watering reward, so I went through my necessary preparations, and snuck into the imperial palace, but then my mission was canceled…or rather, the client disappeared.”

“Don’t tell me, the client was…” Kyle had an awful idea, and asked.

“…King Remonas of Zilgus, yes.”

Kyle tried to keep calm on the outside, but he held his head on the inside. Naturally, Kyle felt guilty for killing Minagi’s client like that. Her target probably would have been Eldorand. As long as Eldorand died right after Remonas, it would have been a big hit for the Empire.

I see, so the one to assassinate Eldorand was Minagi…Guess he at least had some brain in his head.

Kyle remembered King Remonas, and sighed in disbelief.

“Well, did you receive any advance payment?” Kyle felt awkward, and asked.

“I used most of that for the sake of my preparations…If anything, I’m in the red now. I had planned to pay up everything with the reward…because I figured I’d be able to succeed with the mission.”

Seems like she did some thorough preparation at least.

“So the reason you snuck into the banquet the other day…”

“T-That was…Since I already got myself a fake identity…I figured I might as well get my money’s worth. Lessens my expenses for food as well.” Minagi explained with a bashful expression.

“Um…So you interact with me because…”

“Ahh, I thought that any possible connection would help me later on.”

“Ah, right…So, right now you’re working in order to repay your debts…”

Minagi nodded with no strength in her gesture.

“Yes…I didn’t have the courage to face Souga.”

It was quite admirable that she didn’t use her own skills for her own right.

So, she stuffed herself during the banquet, and is fine with taking food home? That’s a weird part to be conscious of…Well, it’s better than grabbing garbage.

At the very least, it won’t be wasted food or used as leftovers in the trash can.

“I see, I get what’s going on.”

“So…I have a request…”

“You want me to keep this a secret from Souga, right? Don’t worry, I don’t plan on telling him.” When Kyle explained with a gentle tone, Minagi seemed relieved from the bottom of her heart.

She wanted to show off to Souga, so having him see her like this is surely something she would want to avoid. Well, Kyle didn’t even know where Souga was, so it’s not like he could snitch either way.

That being said, normally I would meet Minagi in three years…so she feels like a different person.

The Minagi Kyle knew held absolute confidence in herself. Whether it was royalty or the king himself, she would undoubtedly assassinate them, holding pride in her work as a dignified woman. Before, when she had her weapons ready at the arrival of Kyle, she possessed dignity and strength compared to before, but now she looked like a drenched puppy discarded on the side of the road. What was most surprising for Kyle however was that she would explain her circumstances this easily even though the other person was simply an acquaintance of her foster father.

“…Let me just confirm. Did you ever manage to fulfill a contract all on your own in this kind of work?”

Minagi faintly shook her head.

So during her first job, she managed to assassinate the most promising prince of the Empire, which started her path to become the world’s greatest assassin?

Kyle couldn’t help but admire that, and at the same time realized why she acted the way she was right now.

I only know the confident and strong Minagi, but now she’s broken completely…I know that people change a lot in three years, but she’s no joke.

This made Kyle think. His former ally ended up in poverty like this, not to mention because of his own fault, so he couldn’t just sit still. That being said, she wouldn’t just accept the money for nothing. In order to bring the money to her, there was one efficient method.

“As a return for keeping silent…I have a bit of a request myself.”

“Request?” Minagi seemed dubious.

“Yeah…Though it’s more like a favor. I wonder, do you know that I’m participating in the Martial Arts Festival? In fact, my victory was pretty much decided as a promise between the two countries.”

“Wha…is that true?”

“That’s why I thought I might as well get myself some money.”

Of course, his victory wasn’t decided at all, and he was rich enough to not worry about some small change, but there was no need, to be honest here. He took out ten Zaales gold coins that equaled about 2000 Gadol, and Minagi’s eyes opened wide the moment she saw that.

“Use all of this money to bet on me. I have four more matches left, so once I win, it’ll be ten times the amount of that.”

Every match had its own round of bets, and you even could bet on the overall winner. As the arena management also received donations from royalty or businessmen, you could mostly get refunds on your bets, which is another reason what made it so popular. So, if Rockert had won during the first match, they would have gotten their bet multiplied by 1.3x, the people who bet on him got 5x the amount back.

“The pay for this request is half of the money gained from the bets. You can even personally bet yourself.” Kyle smiled.

Minagi was bewildered because of this sudden development, and teared up a faint bit while thanking Kyle.

“Well…thank you…” Minagi must have realized that this request solely came into place to save her.

Kyle was met with a fresh feeling from a familiar person, and continued with a smile.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been in Souga’s care after all…That’s why I want to help you.”

That actually wasn’t a lie, as Kyle was often saved by Souga and Minagi. Though he decided to ignore the fact that Minagi was still an assassin.

Not like I can argue much after killing the ruler of a country for my own personal reasons.

Kyle figured that having Minagi gain confidence would help him in the long run.

“…I may have more errands later down the line, so I’ll count on you then.”

There may come a time when Kyle could be forced to assassinate someone, so that would be the best time to have a favor repaid.

“Got it. If there’s anything I can do, just tell me.” Minagi responded with a clear voice.

The shadow covering her face had disappeared, and the light returned to her eyes. She was a bit closer to the Minagi Kyle knew. At the same time, he realized that now he had gained another reason that forced him to win the festival no matter what.

After this incident, Minagi declared that she had another job at a night bar, and pretty much kicked Kyle out. Upon returning to where the rest of his group were waiting, Lieze and the others captured him with a smile, squeezing all possible information out of him as he sat prostrating himself on the ground. Any weak excuses were immediately seen through, and since he didn’t have any matches the following day, this lecture continued deep into the night.

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