The Tale. 15:48

Through the forest beside the Saikanan Highway, where light snow drifted down, a band of figures was racing along without a sound, yet at a terrific speed.

Some ran on their own feet, some flew by magic, and others rode their familiars, all of them chasing the black ball that led the way.

Their name was ‘Purple Dual Rings’.

An assassin group rapidly rising to prominence in the underworld of Hamejika, the Golden Continent.

Every one of them was highly capable and highly skilled.

Winter had withered the undergrowth, true, but they had been running over the forest's treacherous footing for hours now, and not one of them was a weakling gasping for breath or whining.

Even Evil Sword, who had only joined this morning, was superhuman enough to keep up a conversation on the run, still looking perfectly at ease.

“Um, Ambitious-san! I have a question!”

“What is it? Feel free to ask.”

Ambitious looked away from some kind of document he had been reading while running and turned a smile toward Evil Sword.

Though he was running with his head turned fully sideways, he dodged trunks and leaped over thickets without slowing his pace one bit.

Evil Sword, on the other hand, apparently hadn't mastered that yet; he stole the odd sideways glance, but mostly kept his eyes on where he was going as he talked.

“This request...... why are all of us taking it on!?”

To kill a black-haired, black-eyed cursed child, a vagrant...... a girl called Emi or something...... that was the request they had received this time from this so-called valued customer.

The request form had stated that she was a reasonably skilled opponent...... but even so, the target was someone not even ten years old.

Short Warp and Big Lady, in particular, were outstanding experts, as even the inexperienced Evil Sword could tell at a glance.

Evil Sword just couldn't see how this job could be hard enough to need every member of ‘Purple Dual Rings’ who could be spared, those two included.

“There are several answers to that question.”

Ambitious didn't seem to find the rookie's question a bother at all; he raised an index finger and began to answer with care.

Of course, all while racing through the forest.

“First of all, this request goes out of its way to stress that we kill the target ‘without fail’. To the client, it seems, the target is a sworn enemy they want dead no matter what.”

“So that's why we all set out...... to make certain of it?”

“Exactly...... and this time, the reward on offer is big enough to let us do it. All the more reason, then, for us to go all out as an organization. We do have a witness along, after all.”

Ambitious said the last part quietly, with a glance at the darkness spirit leading the way.

Then he abruptly put away his innocent prankster's grin and made his face serious.

“That is the sincerity an assassin organization owes, and I believe it's also the right attitude for answering the feelings put into a request.”

“Answering the feelings......”

“Evil Sword, if you're going to work as an assassin of ‘Purple Dual Rings’ from now on, I'd very much like you to become an assassin who can ‘empathize with the client's feelings’. Only when we can do that can we be first-class assassins who make a contribution to society.”

“Empathize with the...... client's feelings......!”

Assassination is a contribution to society.

Hearing Ambitious's philosophy, the same one he had laid out in the interview, Evil Sword squared his shoulders in earnest, even as he kept running through the forest.

Until now, he had lived as he pleased.

He had killed, and lived, just as he liked.

But from now on, it would be different.

At least until the moment he made them his nourishment, he had to be a fine assassin...... in other words, a working adult who made a contribution to society.

That was his responsibility as an adult......!

Ambitious smiled with satisfaction as he watched Evil Sword listen to him with a serious gaze.

Then, after hopping over a thicket, he raised his middle finger beside his index finger and began on the second answer.

“And second...... are you familiar with the tale passed down in the underworld, ‘The Mistake of the Dark Dragon’?”

“No......”

Evil Sword answered, his face turning red.

He was a murderer, but he hadn't had that much involvement with the underworld.

Naturally, he knew no such tale, and he felt he could hardly escape being called ignorant.

But Ambitious didn't scold the abashed Evil Sword in particular, and went on with the story.

“This is a tale about the fall of ‘Dark Dragon’, an underworld organization at the height of its power several hundred years ago. Once upon a time, ‘Dark Dragon’ had a certain enemy. A man known as Jirosan. ‘Dark Dragon’ had destroyed his home village, so he had sworn revenge on the organization......”

What Ambitious was telling was a dark saga...... the kind never told in the world above!

Evil Sword strained his ears seriously so as not to miss a single detail.

“At first, the leader of ‘Dark Dragon’ made light of the man and sent his low-ranking grunts at him as assassins, one at a time. But after desperate battles, Jirosan defeated every one of them and grew stronger. At this point, the leader still felt no sense of crisis; it's recorded that he said things like, ‘Hmph, low-ranking members are only ever small fry...... it troubles me not if they die’......”

“In other words, the leader was downsizing by using up the grunts as disposable assassins!?”

“No, I think that's probably not it......”

Ambitious gave a wry smile at Evil Sword's skewed interpretation but continued the story.

A thick branch came at him from the front, so he ducked under it.

“Next, the leader sent his fairly strong executives as assassins. The executives certainly had high combat ability, but they had problem personalities and big egos...... in other words, they couldn't coordinate or cooperate. And so, once again, they attacked Jirosan one at a time. But Jirosan, who had grown through his battles with the grunts, narrowly defeated them......”

“Coordination and cooperation......”

The words slipped out of Evil Sword without thinking.

That was likely something Evil Sword, who had killed people as a solo murderer until now, was not good at.

Even the executives of an underworld organization at the height of its power die if they can't coordinate or cooperate.

A terrifying story...... but that is probably how society works.

As a rookie assassin...... in other words, a new working adult who must now navigate the rough seas of the underworld, Evil Sword had to acquire the ability to achieve things by joining hands with others—namely, cooperativeness.

The reason why everyone in ‘Purple Dual Rings’ who could move was deployed for this killing request...... perhaps it was to teach Evil Sword cooperativeness as a working adult.

Understanding this, Evil Sword felt deeply grateful to Ambitious and secretly bowed his head while leaping over a small stream.

Their positions had shifted a little; Ambitious, now running ahead of Evil Sword, didn't notice and went on with the story.

“Every time an executive was defeated, the leader just piled on excuses, refusing to face reality, saying things like, ‘Hmph, he was only ever a man who became an executive through connections,’ or ‘Hmph, he was only ever trash whose only redeeming quality was his sword,’ or ‘Hmph, he was only ever a man who worked his way up from an office job’......”

“Eh, an office worker was sent as an assassin? Isn't that strange?”

Evil Sword had blurted out that objection with a new working adult's fresh perspective, and Ambitious nodded emphatically.

“Exactly, it's strange. By then, ‘Dark Dragon’ had been driven so far into a corner that they had to send out office workers as assassins. As an organization, they were already on the brink of annihilation.”

Evil Sword felt a little sorry for the office-worker executive dragged into battle just because the organization was on the brink of annihilation.

“And at last the leader sent in his strongest aide as an assassin, but by then Jirosan had grown so much that even that aide was no match for him. With all his comrades fallen, the leader himself held on, transforming all the way to his third form...... but in the end even the leader was defeated, and ‘Dark Dragon’ was annihilated. It's said that the leader's corpse had every one of its extra arms and legs broken, and no longer looked remotely human. A gruesome tale.”

“............”

The fall of an underworld organization that had been living its golden age...... a dark history the history books of the world above would never tell.

Faced with the transience of a world where even a mighty organization must fall, where all that flourishes must decline, Evil Sword fell silent in spite of himself.

“Fugo! Fugoooo!”

A large boar that couldn't read the room attacked, so he casually sliced it to death.

Blood splattered.

His mood improved slightly.

“Now then, Evil Sword, ‘The Mistake of the Dark Dragon’ is a tale rich in lessons...... so tell me, what exactly did you learn from hearing it?”

And here, Ambitious, running ahead, looked back over his shoulder and put the question to Evil Sword.

Through a forest full of bad footing and obstacles to begin with, Ambitious kept right on going, running backward at ultra-high speed.

......He was unmistakably a master.

He was being tested.

Evil Sword sensed it intuitively.

He had to understand the context and give the correct answer.

This was his chance to show he was a subordinate worth having.

Here, the importance of cooperativeness didn't feel quite like the answer.

Why were they all going out together?

This tale had to be a more direct answer to that question.

“Um, ‘Dark Dragon’...... sent assassins at Jirosan one at a time. That was why the assassins lost, and why Jirosan grew stronger. In other words, ‘Don't commit your forces piecemeal’, is that it?”

Hearing that answer, Ambitious smiled with satisfaction and nodded!

And with the motion of nodding, he avoided a large tree branch looming overhead!

As expected of a master!

“Exactly right! I knew you were clever! As far as the budget allows, crush the enemy with everything you've got! Holding back your forces when you don't know what could happen in the field is what fools do. And giving it your all, in proportion to the budget, also ties into empathizing with the client's feelings. We of ‘Purple Dual Rings’ never bend on that stance, no matter what.”

Ambitious puffed out his chest and spoke proudly.

Watching Ambitious run backward, his face brimming with confidence, Evil Sword truly sensed the man's pride in his work.

And grateful for the luck that had let him join an organization whose Representative was so professionally minded, he too began, somehow, to feel proud of ‘Purple Dual Rings’.

And here, the darkness spirit slowed down.

In other words, they were nearly close enough to see the target with their own eyes.

The assassins exchanged glances, erased their presence, and began to approach the target while slowing down slightly.

Evil Sword also gulped and followed suit.

【Jirosan】

In the underworld, the whole of “Jirosan” seems to have been handed down as his name, but he was probably “Jiro-san,” a reincarnator who for some reason went by his name from his previous life.

He was surely the protagonist of some story.

【The Mistake of the Dark Dragon】

A tale passed down in the underworld.

The lesson is ‘Crush the enemy with full strength while they are still weak’.

But many evil organizations, for one reason or another, fail to put it into practice, and perish.