While Wolf and Anna passed their time in blissful awkwardness, a noose of conspiracy tightened around Wolf’s neck. In the backroom of a certain exclusive establishment, nine men gathered to discuss how to deal with the person who threatened them just by existing.

“He took the mission yesterday, so why is he still in the city? What’s he doing?” Count Baskerville, one of the nine conspirators, asked impatiently.

“My sources say he visited a bunch of jewelers and eventually bought a ring,” the imp-like old man said.

“It seems there’s something going on between him and that bastard Hook’s daughter.” The blonde fatty, Marquess Hiragino, gave more details. “I don’t have the details, but if he bought her a ring it can only mean one thing. She’s no different from that whore mother of hers who spread her legs and allowed a heartless bastard money lender to join the ranks of nobility.”

Almost everyone in the room cursed in agreement with the Marquess. Edwin Didot had taken a lot of land from some of these people when they failed to settle their debts in time.

“If you ask me, that whoreson would sell his daughter and wife in a package if it meant his son-in-law was a Count. Filthy commoners buying their way to nobility—” a Count surnamed Caslon wanted to curse more, but a soft knock interrupted him.

A man walked into the room. He looked like an Albert, or maybe a Jenkins.

“Noble sirs, I bring news,” the chief battler and majordomo politely bowed as he spoke. “That Wolf bastard has left the Mage Academy and seems to be on his way out of the city.”

“Excellent, please make sure your men are ready for him, your Lordship,” Count Caslon laughed heartily and said to Marquess Hiragino, causing the latter to frown with displeasure.

***

While the high nobility discussed their plays and ploys in the backroom of a brothel, Wolf really had left the Nobles’ District. Since it was a Sunday, he had a stop to make at a certain trash-filled alley.

He naturally went to see his big brother, in a desire to feed him, and maybe brag a bit. Who knows, South might even have useful advice. Or so the childish youth misguidedly believed.

After pondering on his blasphemous thought, even Wolf realized that hoping for good advice from the vagrant was foolish. Other than when discussing technical matters, it was better to ignore South’s insane ramblings.

Wayde was a more reliable conversation partner. Doubly so, if the topic was Anna. The only thing Wolf could expect to come out of South’s mouth in that case was the word ‘whore’. Multiple times per sentence.

Still, Wolf cheerfully entered South’s junk alley. He marveled at the fact how the alley became practically a palace for meals with Matilda and then became a dump in seconds after the young woman left.

“Hey Big brother!” Wolf greeted, “I have something important I think I should tell you!”

South beamed a cheerful smile. As if he hadn’t seen Wolf in ages. “What a coincidence, Little brother! I also had something I had to discuss with you. It’s an extremely important and delicate matter.”

Wolf was stunned. This was the first time South actually had something important to discuss with him. And what could he possibly say that’s delicate?

“You go first, what is it?” the boy foolishly said.

“I’m running low on toilet paper, so I need your help.” South said with a perfectly straight face.

This single sentence killed Wolf’s desire to talk. It nearly killed his will to live, let alone anything else.

“Here. You prepare these for cooking. I’ll make some toilet paper for you!” Wolf grumbled, and tossed a small sack of vegetables over to his big brother.

Originally there was supposed to be roasted trout to go with the veggies, but after raising such a topic, no meat for South.

***

Wolf’s great mood went down the toilet. But no matter what South said, it couldn’t stay down for long. By the time Wolf left the slums he was already thinking about the party scheduled in half a year’s time. The exam, which was noticeably sooner, hadn’t even crossed his mind yet.

Wolf was so lost in thought that he even failed to notice that the sun had set. As a Seventh Order Sword-Sage, he could easily walk for a day and night without resting. And with Wolf’s perception and elven heritage, navigating in non-magical darkness wasn’t that much different from walking in broad daylight, at least as far as perceiving his surroundings went.

It was only in the middle of the night that the boy realized what he was doing.

He laughed like a madman and decided to just keep on going. He’d already enchanted his speed, and if he walked day and night he would reach the area where the assassins’ lair was by the evening of the next day, assuming he didn’t feel like resting.

Once the sun rose, Wolf settled down to meditate for a while. Even as he sat down, Wolf had the same feeling which kept bothering him for some two hours now. Someone was watching him. He was already used to people watching his moves in Silver City, which is why he hadn’t openly visited Cornucopia once since he’d enrolled into the Mage Academy.

The feeling always disappeared once he left the city. He was too fast for people to catch up, and without a crowd, he would immediately notice spies. At least that’s why he thought these people gave up as soon as he’d left the city proper.

However, now someone was observing him from a distance. It wasn’t a scrying spell. Those had a different feel to them.

Sitting, Wolf fully awakened his senses and looked into the distance.

Hooves which he couldn’t hear with his normal perception now thundered in the distance as they crushed the grass and twigs, making wet, crunching sounds.

The rider had binoculars, and as soon as the man noticed Wolf make a break, he pulled on his reins. The beast stopped its trot and greedily gasped for air.

Wolf closed his eyes and suppressed his senses as his and the scout’s gazes were about to meet.

He was afraid that if they locked their eyes for a moment, the man might realize Wolf was watching him, just like he was watching Wolf.

He’s wearing an enchanted camouflage cloak. I can sell that for some forty to fifty gold.

With such thoughts, Wolf closed his eyes and started preparing spells. He’d refreshed a pair of Subtle Living Puppets and was about to do a Subtle Alter Memory, when he suddenly felt a faint murderous intent lock onto him.

“It’s like I thought,” the Mental Aspect said. “They are on a mission to kill me, just like I’m on a mission to hunt them down.”

Then he pursed his lips in disappointment. “A pity. Assassins described in the novels can perfectly suppress their murderous intent, but this guy is about to attack from a distance.”

Wolf opened his eyes, fully awakening his senses. The pair dressed in black were a dozen meters away from him, both with a throwing dagger in hand.

Even though Darkness and Silence had their faces covered, their tight clothing revealed them to be women.

As soon as they saw Wolf open his eyes, the daggers whizzed through the air. One aimed at his heart, the other at his gut. Despite attacking from a distance, the assassins charged Wolf, preparing for a melee.

*Clang! Clang!*

The daggers struck and ruined an army-sized pot, which appeared in front of Wolf, obscuring the youth from the assassins’ sight.

Using his cover, Wolf dashed to the side. He didn’t have enough time to cast Subtle Swiftness. Instead, he circulated Internal Energy through his legs, enhancing his speed more than enough for this situation.

In a flash, he appeared before the nearer woman. In the distorted flow of time Wolf experienced because of his awakened senses, he clearly read the woman’s eyes. Confusion, disbelief and finally fear, then terror of a manling about to die.

Emotions flashed in rapid succession as Wolf swung his silver-hilted sword in an upward cleave.

The attack wasn’t even a maneuver, just pure physical strength combined with a burst of Internal Energy. Wolf bisected the woman before she got to scream. Her blood fountained, but Wolf collected it into his Ring of Holding out of habit so as not to get splattered.

Unlike usual, Wolf got serious from the get-go. These women were professional assassins, not amateur bandits. They knew how to fight and focused on lethality, so he couldn’t mess around with them.

Not to mention that a longer exchange would give them and the scout more time to flee.

Just as Wolf had expected, as soon as the other assassin saw the fate of her colleague, she turned around. She was fleeing at her top speed before the two halves of Silence’s body even hit the grass.

Wolf paused for the briefest of moments. He took in the slow appearance of shock on the scout’s face and knew that the man would take time to react.

Unfortunately, the assassin was running away from him, giving the scout a greater chance to escape. Just in case, Wolf started casting Subtle Swiftness as he followed Darkness.

He immediately noticed that the woman moved through the shadows whenever possible, but it took him a couple of moments to process the fact that she actually moved faster in dark areas.

Shadow Sword-Sage? Wolf realized after a moment.

In his memories, he had a vague impression that something like this is the unorthodox path which one should avoid. Specialization always resulted in a dead end. Given enough time and effort, you could emulate all the abilities a specialized Sword-Sage used, without hindering your future growth.

The woman really was fast. Slightly faster than Wolf even. However, as soon as Subtle Swiftness kicked in, the chase ended.

Wolf caught up in ten seconds. He was ten steps behind the woman when he saw a glass vial flying towards the center of his torso.

He was about to swing his sword to smash it, but then realized there were a dozen scenarios in which that would be suicide. Then, he thought about storing it into his father’s Ring of Holding, but decided against it. He had an irrational fear it might damage the indestructible item.

Wolf twisted his body and jumped to the side, breaking his stride and dodging the suspicious glass container.

The vial flew next to Wolf, who continued his chase.

*Boom!*

The ground behind Wolf exploded in a shower of earth and alchemical fire.

Wolf heaved a sigh of relief. If he had blocked that vial instead of dodging, he would’ve ended up seriously injured.

Darkness didn’t even turn around. She knew her trick had failed. The youth’s murderous intent was still locked onto her.

She’d only bought herself a couple of seconds by throwing away fifty gold coins, but that demonic boy was still on her heels.

Which motherfucker claimed this boy was a Mage? she cursed inwardly. If I get through this alive, I’m going to kill the fuckers in charge of intel.

“Fuck!” Darkness cursed aloud and spun around.

She had no choice. Wolf was faster no matter how much Internal Energy she burned to glide through the shadows, so the only thing left to do was face the little demon head on.

She held a dagger in her right, while another vial appeared in her left.

Darkness thought she’d surprise Wolf, and maybe somehow kill him with this unexpected move, however her eyes went wide.

The youth wasn’t surprised one bit and his movement exploded with an even more ridiculous speed. He swung his sword at her gut and she barely dodged, twisting her body and tumbling to the side as Wolf shot past her.

She was certain she’d safely evaded the attack, and yet her left arm fell to the ground. The vial of green liquid shattered, and the woman stared at it in terror.

Despite the pain she must have felt, Darkness didn’t let out a sound. Wolf thought it was because of her iron will, but in reality, seeing that vial shatter a mere step away left the assassin paralyzed with fear.

A cloud of vibrant green miasma rose from the blackened remains of her arm, which had already rotted and shriveled up.

The next moment, Darkness regained her senses and tried to flee, but it was already too late.

The assassin made half a dozen steps, then collapsed.

Seeing how fast her body was rotting, Wolf whistled.

That’s quite toxic, he thought. And sending a pair of Fifth Order Sword-Sages to assassinate me. How extravagant.

Wolf wasn’t a fool. There was no way this was a mission for a lone Fourth Order Mage. A Sixth Order Mage might not be a match for a Fifth Order Sword-Sage, unless he came prepared or had enough space between them.

***

Mossi watched all of this play out with a slack jaw and his mouth wide open. He lowered his binoculars in disbelief.

What kind of monster did they send us to kill? he wondered. How could you hope to kill something like that without sending an army? He didn’t even use a single spell.

The scout thought he had to warn his lord. He fumbled to take out a clay Far Voice from an inner pocket, when he felt that something was off.

Wolf appeared above the man. Mossi was about to scream into the token, but Wolf’s sword swooshed so fast that the seasoned man only caught a blur. He heard a dull thud before feeling a sting from his arm. He looked down, and to his horror, saw half his arm on the ground. The blood was spurting from the stump, but he barely felt any pain.

While the scout screamed in shock, Wolf cast Subtle Living Puppet on him. With the man turned into a puppet, Wolf took out a healing potion and sprinkled it onto the stump. His captive would’ve bled out in a couple of minutes otherwise.

Wolf asked some questions, but Mossi didn’t know too much. Which was fine. Wolf was only interested in the names and he got one. Marquess Hiragino. Apparently one of the weakest nobles of his social standing.

Wolf wasn’t one bit surprised. Someone had already sent an assassin after him a few months back, and he guessed it was this Hiragino fellow and his conspirator friends. Even though Wolf didn’t know who the Marquess was in cahoots with, that knowledge was just one Living Puppet away.

If Marquess Skia knew Wolf pinned that attempt at murder on another Marquess without him having to do anything, he would’ve laughed merrily while sipping a fine red.

As for Wolf, little changed for him. His hit-list in Silverhound duchy grew by one more name. The young man believed he wasn’t going around making enemies. In fact, he believed he was keeping a low profile.

With a mildly frustrated sigh, Wolf decapitated the scout, then looted the body. Wolf then went to the first assassin, cursing his own lack of attention, and picked up two halves of the head, as well as all of the woman’s belongings.

As for the second body, Wolf had to wait about half an hour for the green mist to clear out before he could do anything.

Whatever toxin the woman used, it was horribly corrosive. The head was unrecognizable and her bones turned to jelly. With some disgust, Wolf packed the malformed ball into a tent canvas using Mage’s Hand and then placed the package into his Ring of Holding.

Unlike the first body, which Wolf had thoroughly searched, he just took Darkness’s Ring of Holding, again using Mage’s Hand.

Then he threw the disgusting thing into a fire and waited. Once Detect Poison stopped showing the sickening miasma, Wolf took it out with a poker and unceremoniously plopped it into a mug of water.

While Darkness’s ring cooled down, he checked Silence’s. Inside, he’d found some one thousand gold coins and an assortment of utility items. Wolf couldn’t quite estimate their value, but there were half a dozen glass vials the likes of which the other assassin had thrown at him.

The contents of Darkness’s Ring of Holding were more or less the same as Silence’s. Wolf grinned as he checked his earnings.

This was a very profitable mission, he thought happily. In less than a week, I’ve earned two thousand gold pieces in cash, another two thousand in Rings of Holding, probably five to ten thousand in miscellaneous goods, as well as two hundred student credits. Maybe I shouldn’t kill that Marquess? Who knows, he might throw some more money my way.

The only thing Wolf was dissatisfied with was how useless spells were when you were the one being ambushed.

I need to start preparing Instant Swiftness, but that will lock up a Sixth Order spell slot, he thought with a frown. He would need to unlock his second Mind Hall to get more tapestries for his spells, but that would likely take years.