The clanging of blades reverberated through the air. In the next moment, the assassin went flying. He hit the deck of the ship twice as he tried to recover his footing, but Dion chased after him! He prevented the assassin’s recovery with a swift kick to the shoulder.
“Ack!” The assassin’s back slammed into the ship’s mast, and he let out a pained scream.
“Huh? I think we’ve met before. In the former Clausius domain, right?”
“‘I am so humbled to have been remembered by the Great Sage’s sword!’ Is that what you want me to say?” The assassin stumbled to his feet. “You’ve got a surprisingly good memory,” he teased with a taunting grin.
Dion twisted his lips into a sneer. “Just barely.”
“Barely what?”
“That I remembered you! You’ve got mediocre strength and no wolves. You’re really a plain Jane. Remembering you was hard work.”
“You bastard!” Furious, the assassin thrust the tip of his blade at Dion.
“Then I guess this is the continuation of that battle, Serpent shaman. But you better work hard if you want me to remember it!” Dion leaped forth before he had finished those words and swung his blade down on the assassin.
However, the assassin blocked the strike with his own blade—seemingly without trouble. For a moment, even the assassin seemed puzzled, but then he began to laugh triumphantly. “What is it, Dion Alaia? Can shaky footing damper even your blade? You’ll regret the day you decided to fight me at sea!” Their swords were locked, and the assassin sneered at Dion.
“You probably won’t care since I doubt you’ll want to do it in the first place, but you really could never be a blade of our little princess.”
“Huh?”
“She’s rough with her vassals. She’ll drag me to the forest, then the ocean, then the plains, and then force me to fight two against one in the ruins of some castle. Her swords don’t get to pick their battles, which means a coward like you who always needs a land advantage just wouldn’t be a good fit.”
With that, Dion thrust his blade once again, piling on his body strength to push into the assassin. He was forced one step back, then two...
“Agh! Y-You...!” The assassin was starting to panic.
“I just thought running around this boat would be dangerous! Dang, I’m glad I got you cornered so quickly.”
With each step the assassin took backward, Dion took a step forward, their blades still locked together.
“Ack! Y-You...!” This time, the assassin decided to make his move. He thrust his blade forward with all his might. Then in the next moment, he pulled back with everything he had.
Dion swung his blade in an attempt to chase after him, but the strike only grazed the assassin’s forehead. He didn’t seem to mind the pain at all as he took a huge leap backward.
“So you forced some distance between us. That’s not a bad call, but...you quit quite easily for a friend of that Serpent’s. You got a personal grudge, or something?” Dion was staring right at the assassin, who now stood at the bow of the ship. He shrugged his shoulders as if he saw through the assassin’s murderous gaze. “Assassins need to know when they’ve failed and when to run. Your half-assed measures are what’s gotten you here. Some assassin you are.”
A single drop of blood fell from the man’s forehead. The bandana around his forehead fluttered and fell to the floor...revealing a black eye tattooed on his forehead.
“That’s...preposterous...!” bemoaned someone behind Dion. King Nestori was staring at the assassin with wide eyes.
The assassin picked up his bandana and reaffixed it to his forehead. “I see... I suppose I did lose my composure. I’ll be heeding your warning, then.” He immediately backflipped into the sea.
And Dion...didn’t chase after him. “It would’ve been nice to catch him here, but that’ll be difficult. He seems like a good swimmer.” Dion had given up on chasing the assassin the moment he had put distance between them. He had tried taunting the other man, but he unfortunately didn’t bite. “He’s got more composure than I was expecting. But jeez, things would’ve been easy if I could’ve taunted him into a blade-swinging rage...”
Under these circumstances, there was no guarantee that he was only facing one enemy. It’d be difficult to defend against arrows fired from afar, which meant he couldn’t afford to leave King Nestori’s side.
It was one of Dion’s very few weaknesses. While he could easily fight two-against-one, he couldn’t fight one-against-one in two places at once.
Dion grimaced. “Damn, I feel like I’m getting worse at making these calls. It seems like that little lady’s death at the castle was a bigger shock than I thought.”
Dion chuckled at himself while the ship carrying him and King Nestori quickly headed back to shore.
The boat had finally arrived at the harbor, and Mia let out a relieved sigh as she watched Ganudos’s soldiers run up to the king. Dion never disappoints! He managed to protect the king, which means it’s time for me to take over.
Mia needed to take advantage of the king’s gratitude to gain a chance to observe the island of the Visalians. But for that, she needed a good explanation—a perfectly sound one that would explain why Dion was there, and there couldn’t be any holes.
I hear the king of Ganudos is not one to take lightly. One misstep and he’ll be saying we were the ones who sent the assassin! I need to give him a believable story.
Despite these thoughts, Mia was feeling perfectly calm, for she had already thought of the perfect story while lazing around in bed the night before! That’s right, everything had gone according to plan, which meant Mia was feeling relaxed and confident!
First, I’ll have Orania...
“Father!” She cried out as she ran toward the man.
Mia followed. First, I’ll introduce myself. I need to make a good first impression, after all! Hmm... I suppose it would be fine to say I’m Orania’s friend?
But the moment Mia was pondering this, she overheard the conversation between the king and his soldiers.
“I’ll send a pursuant immediately,” said the man who seemed to be their captain.
“No, don’t!” The king suddenly raised his voice, but immediately shook his head in regret. “There is no need.” He spoke those words slowly, as if confirming them to himself.
“But Your Majesty, we can’t just—”
“I know who the culprit behind it must be. Chasing the man who carried out the crime is pointless.” His words were slow and majestic.
“The true culprit? And who is that?”
The king gave a grave nod. Then, he suddenly looked toward where Mia stood... Wait, Mia?
“Orania. It was you, wasn’t it?”
✦ ✦ ✦
