Chapter 548 - Life in the Capital, Ursa, Assassin, Day 15 –

My name is Ursa.

Mother Hakuren and father Hiraku’s daughter, Ursa.

No more, no less.

-0-

I am now living in the capital of the demon king’s kingdom.

I’m with little brother Alfred, little sister Tiselle, Asa, Metora, and my exclusive butler Earth.

At first, Nutt was supposed to come with us instead of Tiselle but I managed to make Tiselle take her place.

I apologized to Nutt but Nutt also has the same opinion as me so she cooperated.

It will be hard for me and Nutt to hold Alfred down.

For Alfred’s sake, she even asked Alfred to convince father to replace her….

Alfred, on the other hand, is confused but he still managed to convince father.

And we managed to get the desired result.

If it is Tiselle and me, we can hold Alfred down.

-0-

Or so I thought because Tiselle is always absent as she goes to the royal castle every day.

I told Tiselle her role but, could she have forgotten it?

That’s possible.

Asa and Earth are also not here so the firepower is obviously insufficient.

Metora is strong but she’s not strong to suppress him if that happens.

There’s no choice but to make sure that won’t happen.

I have to make sure that Alfred won’t get out of my gaze.

Then, I also noticed assassins.

Five of them?

In terms of strength, they can be considered as weak.

However, who knows if they can use poison.

I won’t get my guard down.

I had Metora take care of them.

Those five assassins are hired by the Dalfon Company.

There’s no way I’ll trust the assassins’ words so I’ll leave them to Tiselle.

She’s the best in that aspect.

That’s what I want to say but these are assassins.

Who knows why they are here?

However, I feel their bloodlust.

There’s no doubt that these are killers.

It looks like they are different from goningumi and not the information gatherer type.

Their target is not only me but also Alfred.

I won’t forgive them.

-0-

I worked hard for the next three days but it’s useless.

I still lack information.

It’s frustrating.

But I did not rampage.

I’ve grown.

I asked Uncle Glatts to support me.

「We arrested a couple of suspects.」

Great.

The bloodlust around also disappeared.

But, why are they targeting us?

「Ah, it’s hard to say but it looks like they found out that you are related to Lulushi-san.」

「Mother Loo?」

「A little while ago, she treated a certain member of the royal family of a certain country. It seems like the hostile forces are retaliating.」

「They’re using us to retaliate?」

「Targeting Lulushi-san to retaliate is too unrealistic, don’t you think?」

「And targeting children is realistic?」

「If you target children, even if you fail, you surely would have dealt damage.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. Lulushi-san would be worried if she knew you were being targeted, wouldn’t she?」

「She’s be enraged and likely charge at the opponent’s country.」

「That is already expected but I feel like I should report this to the village. Do you know what that means?」

「Why don’t you just hide it? You won’t need to worry about anything then.」

「If you’re saying that seriously, all I can say is that it is the worst thing that I can do.」

「Yeah, then, how about saying that we didn’t notice that they were assassins?」

「Are you going to eliminate them all?」

「Yeah. If that case, mother Loo would think that I’m only exaggerating and she won’t think it is necessary to go to the other party’s country.」

「That would be great but….hmm」

「We want to live in peace but we don’t want to be protected by many guards.」

In order for that to happen, I should be fully recognized by both mother and father.

Otherwise, what’s the point of leaving the village and coming here?

「Please, Uncle Glatts. I won’t go on a rampage and will properly consult you.」

「…..Okay. However, it is impossible for me to send a false report though I’ll report that it was you who noticed those assassins. At the same time, I’ll also convey your plan. I’ll also tell her to calm down.」

「How about father?」

「Well, it’s up to Lulushi-san.」

「I don’t want him to worry.」

-0-

Perhaps the result of Uncle Glatts’ report, the high elf Rigune-san became our guard.

Rigune-san is mother Ria’s mother.

For that reason, I’m supposed to call her grandma Rigune but I can’t say that.

Though Rigune-san is now our guard, she doesn’t appear before us.

She’s protecting us from the shadow.

But sometimes, she eats with us.

If Rigune-san is at our house, Gol-ani and the others often come.

They are learning bow from her as well as essential knowledge for adventurers.

I’m studying with them too.

As for Alfred, is he interested in adventurers too?

I almost blurted out that it doesn’t suit him but….I didn’t say it.

Father said that I should be careful with my words since I might hurt others.

-0-

I was not careless.

It was the enemy who had a good plan or two.

A few hours ago, an unfamiliar monster came out from the north forest so Rigune-san and Gol-ani’s group were called by the adventurers guild.

Rigune-san tried to refuse since she’s guarding us but I got interested in the unfamiliar monster so Alfred and I insisted on going.

I, Alfred, Rigune-san, Gol-ani, Sil-ani, and Bro-ani, the six of us left school and was traveling at a meadow towards the north forest…..

We were ambushed.

About 30 thugs attacked us.

But they are not Rigune-san’s match.

She beat them out.

We can’t leave these thugs alone but we can’t kill them too.

Because of that, Gol-ani, Sil-ani, and Bro-ani brought them back to the royal capital.

And when we were wondering what to do next, about 30 thugs showed up again.

They are not Rigune-san’s match.

However, Alfred and I no longer have guards.

That’s their goal.

A man with a grumpy face showed up.

He looks like a merchant.

He doesn’t look like a thug so I didn’t pay attention to him but he threw daggers at us.

Six daggers.

Three for me and three for Alfred.

I can evade them.

However, Alfred can’t.

Because of that, I caught the three daggers coming toward me and threw them to intercept the three daggers going to Alfred.

Success.

At the same time, a dull pain ran on my flank.

A seventh dagger?

It was stuck in my flank.

Alfred screamed.

It’s okay.

This is nothing.

「Alfred, run!」

「Understood!」

Alfred fled.

To be honest, neither Alfred nor I received education in how to deal with what’s happening.

We were only educated to remain on the scene and scream if we wanted to.

We were educated not to be a hindrance.

Now, the opponent is strong.

He’s different from those thugs.

However, even if I can’t beat him, I can still do something.

Once Rigune-san knocks out all of the thugs, we’ll be sa…..

I heard a scream that I don’t want to hear.

When I looked in the direction of the scream, there was a group that’s ambushing the fleeing Alfred.

And Alfred was pierced with countless of arrows released by the enemies.

………

I was not careless.

It was the enemy who had a good plan or two.

I failed.

I should reflect.

I ignored the merchant-like man in front of me and called out to Rigune-san who’s dealing with the thugs. We have to run away with all our might.

We have to leave this place as far as we could.

Alfred will surely get angry.

Did Alfred die from being pierced by countless of arrows?

Alfred should be fine with an attack of that level, right?

Look, Alfred’s body is getting blurry.

Atomization.

Any physical attack won’t work.

He’s a cheat.

However, he can’t attack in that state.

But even if Alfred can’t attack, it doesn’t mean he’s helpless.

Alfred’s shadow spreads in an unnaturally wide manner.

And shadow warriors came out from there.

And they indiscriminately attack.

Once upon a time, when he did this in the village, Alfred was scolded by father.

Since then, he had sealed it but given his current state, that won’t matter.

「What’s going on?」

I answered Rigune-san’s question.

「Alfred atomizes when he gets attacked….he still can’t control his atomization state well so he fell to a frenzied state when atomizing.」

The shadow warriors that came out from Alfred’s shadow attacked the group that ambushed Alfred.

The shadow warriors are not so strong but they are infinite….there’s no end to them.

In addition, they attack indiscriminately and don’t care about anyone but Alfred will surely remember this later.

If we suddenly approach, we will surely be attacked.

What should I do?

I especially asked Tiselle to come with us for this but she’s not here.

How regretful.

Ah, Rigune-san, that’s useless since arrows are not very effective against shadow warriors.

It will be more effective to beat them up than shooting them with an arrow.

The shadow warriors are now attacking the merchant-like man.

The merchant-like man is defeating shadow warriors one after another but shadow soldiers are being created one after another.

He was immediately drowned by a wave of shadow warriors.

I want to say serve him right after what happened to my flank but….

The thugs that Rigune-san was dealing with earlier are also being swallowed by shadow warriors.

As they struggled to cope, Alfred made another move.

He stopped creating shadow warriors and casted a magic circle.

「What’s Alfred doing?」

I explained to the worried Rigune-san.

「Ehto, he’s calling someone who he contracted with.」

「You mean he’s summoning? Who is he calling?」

「I don’t know but….I wish it is someone I could talk to.」

Alfred, who is in a frenzied state, called the name of his summon.

A shadow appeared in the magic circle he made.

I called it out too.

「Kuroichi!」