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Mount Garank was a rocky mountain in the southeast of the Garnet Empire. There were no ores to mine, nor any medicinal plants to harvest—only monsters like rock lizards and stone apes could be found there. As such, nobody ever visited the place besides eccentric martial artists wanting to train.
“I wonder if they’ll really show up...” Caim said. He was waiting for the assassins at the mountain’s peak with his companions. They even had planted a flag to show their position, which also served as a provocation. “Using your name and telling them to come kill you... Doesn’t that make it way too obvious it’s a trap?”
“I think this will work,” Millicia answered. She had dressed well to suit her status as a princess when she’d gone to the Adventurers’ Guild, but now she was wearing an outfit more suited for horseback riding. “What Rozbeth said made me realize something. The assassins’ greatest enemies are not you and the others who are acting as my guards.”
“Then who is?”
“Their fellow killers,” she declared. “Usually, they are forbidden to steal someone else’s target. But now, they have invoked the ‘first come, first served’ rule. Right, Rozbeth?”
“Indeed,” Rozbeth nodded. “The instant I failed, this job became a free-for-all to see who would get the reward. Such are the ways of the assassin community.”
“So, the thing they fear most is that someone else will kill me and take the reward first,” Millicia continued her explanation. “They are not comrades but rivals, and they are cautious of each other. So by challenging them, I am forcing them all to act before someone else does.”
If Millicia had stayed in hiding, the assassins would have scattered, each of them competing to see who would find her first. But Millicia had exposed herself instead, making sure they all knew where their objective was. The competition had now changed from a hunt into a race to see who could reach her first.
“Naturally, I am sure they are aware this is a trap. But if they don’t want to lose to their fellow assassins, they have no choice but to walk into it.”
“I think it’s a good plan,” Rozbeth said, approvingly. “And it isn’t just about being first. Assassins are a pretty prideful lot. They tend to have an artisan’s outlook, always wanting to perfect their techniques, and the ones taking a difficult job like this are particularly so.” Rozbeth unsheathed one of her knives, flipped it into the air, then caught the tip of the blade between her fingers. “For assassins who are absolutely confident in their skills, a provocation from their target is humiliating. After all, she’s throwing down the gauntlet, telling them where she is and challenging them to kill her. Anyone who would give up here would never have taken the job in the first place.”
“Meaning they’ll definitely show up. Man, assassins are twisted,” Caim commented.
“They trade in people’s lives. What did you expect?” Rozbeth shrugged indifferently.
Anyway, it suited Caim just fine that their enemies would show up on their own. He would gladly fight all comers.
“Mmmh!”
“I see them!”
Lykos and Lenka signaled.
“Here come the assassins!” Caim looked down at the figures climbing the rocky mountain, their number gradually increasing. Their plan was working. “Well then... I wonder how many are gonna make it to the top.” Caim’s lips twisted into a savage grin as he glared at the incoming foes.