Just Before. 16:03

(What is that thing......)

Hiding among the forest trees—which were somewhat unreliable as cover, with only a few withered leaves clinging to their branches—Evil Sword caught his breath as he watched the target of this request...... a girl named Emi walking along the highway.

Perhaps that same bewilderment was shared by every member of ‘Purple Dual Rings’.

The girl was a black-haired, black-eyed cursed child.

He had heard that much beforehand.

Sure enough, just as the advance information said, her hair and eyes were a revolting color, and that had to be the target, Emi.

(But, what the hell is with that outfit......?)

That was the problem.

The girl was...... so to speak, clad in murky black rock.

She cut quite a peculiar figure: a rugged, spiky ball of rock with arms, legs and a head popping out of it.

On that murky black rock, a rusty red surfaced now and then and sank back again.

It was a ghastly sight, one that filled you with a vague dread just from looking......

“Dark Spiky Rock Man......”

Someone murmured softly.

“Oh, Dark Spiky Rock Man......”

“Dark Spiky Rock Man......?”

“Dark Spiky Rock Man......!”

Everyone repeated the words one after another.

“Hmm, I see...... Dark Spiky Rock Man, eh......”

Even Ambitious, a hand to his mouth, gave a snort and murmured it too.

Who knows what he ‘sees’.

Everyone was bewildered and confused...... but Big Lady alone was a little calmer than the rest.

“It's possible she's a rare species who drifted here from the Fantasy Continent, like me.”

Hence, she put that guess into words.

“I see, a rare species......”

“Is that the reason for her high combat ability and the high reward......?”

“Should we try to kill her with her shape as intact as we can? If we had her stuffed, wouldn't she fetch a good price?”

The members of ‘Purple Dual Rings’ found Big Lady's guess convincing, and came to share the understanding that ‘that girl is a rare species, a Dark Spiky Rock Man’.

And after that, they stopped mentioning the girl's appearance.

When it came down to it, that girl was their target, and what mattered was killing that thing.

Her appearance didn't matter at all.

“Hmm, a stuffed specimen, eh. But, well, there's no need to overthink it this time. We've been offered a ridiculously high reward. Wanting more than that would just be greed.”

As he said this, Ambitious raised a hand to quiet the others, who had all started talking at once.

They had been talking in voices quieter than fallen leaves rolling kasa kasa across the ground, but now even those whispers died away, and the windless forest was wrapped in silence.

Only Ambitious's voice reached the ears of the assassins.

“Now then, let the operation begin. Everyone, take your positions.”

Short Warp, Smooth Stan, Big Lady, Monster Master, and Evil Sword.

Nodding at those words, they began to move while erasing their presence.

Those left behind were the darkness spirit and Ambitious.

“Now then, watch closely, witness. We always do a perfect job. Of course, this time will be no different!”

Ambitious puffed out his chest and declared this to the black ball floating in the air...... the darkness spirit.

“............”

In response, just as before, the darkness spirit uttered no words.

......It just went on floating there, light as air.

◇ ◇ ◇

Having taken his position, Evil Sword leaned out from a tree trunk and stared at the target, his heart pounding.

This was partly due to the tension before his first job, and partly due to the joy of knowing he would soon see someone die—and that he might be the one to kill them.

When he first heard the story, he had thought that killing a cursed child was repulsive.

But look at him now; once the target was right before his eyes, that feeling of repulsion was completely painted over by his desire to kill!

Just as he'd thought, this line of work was Evil Sword's true calling.

That was how he felt.

In the plan they had settled before setting out, Big Lady would attack the target first, doubling as the decoy.

It was a dangerous role, crashing head-on into a target nobody knew anything about, but when Ambitious gave her the order, Big Lady accepted it without a single word of objection, her cheeks flushing red.

Because she was...... in love.

And if Big Lady could finish off the target, all well and good; if not, the organization's strongest man, Short Warp, would launch a surprise attack with his special ability.

According to Ambitious, by this point the kill had about an eighty percent chance of succeeding.

But in the unlikely event that Short Warp's surprise attack failed through some fluke, Monster Master and Smooth Stan would finish off the target with a simultaneous attack.

Evil Sword's turn would come only if the target managed to endure even that.

In that case, he would reveal himself before the target and cut the opponent down.

......In other words, if one looked at this plan calmly, Evil Sword was all but certain never to get a turn this time, and his job as the rookie could be taken as watching and learning.

The chance of his expert seniors botching the job was extremely low, and if Evil Sword's turn ever came, it would mean he was fighting a powerful enemy who had beaten all the others, every one of them stronger than he was.

Normally speaking, there was no way he could win.

If it ever came to that, Evil Sword would surely be better off running away.

But Evil Sword did not notice that fact.

Due to the exhilaration before his first job and his desire to kill, he was no longer calm.

(Ah...... I can't wait to kill! You feel it too, don't you, ‘Soul Devourer’!)

A thread of drool hanging from his mouth, Evil Sword lovingly stroked ‘Soul Devourer’, which was rattling kata kata in its sheath.

Incidentally, as Smooth Stan and the others had seen at once, that sword was no demon sword but a perfectly ordinary mass-produced piece, and the kata kata came only from Evil Sword himself shaking.

“DROP, DEAD, YAAAAAAAAH!!!”

Big Lady's deep, gruff roar rang out.

This was the signal to start the operation.

Evil Sword, too, swept ‘Soul Devourer (Fake)’ from its sheath, toughened his body with 【Body Strengthening】, and broke into a twisted grin.

“NOW, IT'S TIME FOR A CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY!!!”

His spirit soared!

His magic power surged!!

His murderous intent boiled over!!!

In that state, Evil Sword took a step forward.

Without meaning to, he had put too much force into that step, so it came out rather stiff.

Evil Sword smiled wryly in spite of himself.

But that, it could be said, was his unmistakable first step as a new working adult.

The slaughter...... begins!!

If you return to Chapter 224 from here, you can enjoy the battle scene once more.

【Dark Spiky Rock Man】

A coined word for the looks of the mysterious cursed child girl, which apparently fit a little too perfectly.

【Rare Species】

Judging by Big Lady's way of speaking, it seems there are people called that on the Fantasy Continent.

And it seems Big Lady's massive physique is derived from her species.