“What do you think?”
Raul, Vice Commander of the Special-Grade Mercenary Company <Red Serpent>, scratched his beard.
A commission request lay before him.
“What did it say?”
“A commission to assassinate someone from Messiah’s direct bloodline.”
“Is the client insane?”
James, Raul’s direct subordinate, shook his head.
“I thought it must be something serious since they sent a commission directly to the Vice Commander, but it turns out they’re just a lunatic.”
“Just?”
Raul let out a dry laugh at James’s words and tapped the bottom of the commission request.
“I’ll show you. Take a look.”
“Huh? What, is there something special written on the request…… Wait.”
The moment James saw the commission request, his face visibly stiffened.
“A Platinum Seal?”
“The highest of all client ranks. And throughout the history of <Red Serpent>, there has only ever been one person capable of granting this Platinum Seal.”
“……The Commander.”
“Right. That man who deserted on his own and hasn’t shown his face since.”
Raul pressed his fingers against his forehead.
“Know what’s even funnier? This commission request was sitting in my room.”
“What?”
“I’m saying I didn’t receive it through the normal channels. This ‘client’ secretly came here and left it behind.”
“……!”
James’s eyes widened.
“W-Wait. Vice Commander, is that true? There shouldn’t be anyone in <Red Serpent> more sensitive to presences than you.”
“……Exactly.”
Raul frowned.
“Not only did they secretly infiltrate <Red Serpent>, they had both the skill and the nerve to evade my notice and leave a commission request behind.”
“U-Um…….”
“Aren’t you curious? About what kind of person they are.”
Raul grinned as he spoke.
At that moment, James unconsciously averted his eyes.
Raul was a formidable man reputed to have stood beside that legendary ‘Commander’ of the mercenary world and completed countless commissions alongside him.
‘He hasn’t changed.’
James swallowed dryly as he looked at Raul.
“Vice Commander, that Platinum Seal…… is it really genuine?”
“Who knows? It looks real at a glance, but that isn’t what matters.”
Yes.
What mattered was that a commission request bearing the ‘Platinum Seal’ had appeared in his hands without him even noticing.
“It’s one of two things. Either this client has some connection to the Commander, or some clueless rat is impersonating him.”
“What…… are you going to do?”
“I’ll go.”
Raul’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“Shouldn’t I personally find out which one it is?”
“You’re going yourself?”
“Of course.”
“Urgh.”
James realized instinctively.
There was no stopping the Vice Commander when he was like this.
“……Do you even know where to go?”
“They were kind enough to write down both the date and location of the meeting.”
“…….”
It was incredibly suspicious.
‘Ah, fuck. We’d be better off ignoring it.’
But James quickly gave up.
What was the point of racking his brains when it was obvious he couldn’t stop him?
“I’m only asking just in case, but you have no intention of listening to your strategist, do you?”
“No.”
“……Goddamn it.”
James quietly closed his eyes.
Life as the strategist of a Special-Grade Mercenary Company was hard.
***
“They want to meet.”
“Is he actually insane?”
At my words, Deckard slapped his forehead and shook his head.
“How did you give them the commission request? And how did you receive their reply?”
“I went in and came back out. They caught on quickly enough and left a note on the table.”
“……You went all the way there and came back?”
“Yes.”
Deckard squeezed his eyes shut.
Then he covered his face and screamed.
“Aaagh! Again! When! Exactly! Did! You! Sneak! Out! Of! The mansion?!”
“I came back, didn’t I? Have a drink, Sir.”
“Why don’t you understand that coming back isn’t the probleeeeeem?!”
Deckard flailed around as he wailed.
“No, more importantly, there’s no way I wouldn’t notice you leaving. What in the world did you do?”
“I just went there and came back secretly.”
“You simply walked out and back in, yet neither I nor any of the family’s knights noticed?”
“I suppose that’s what happened.”
“Aaagh! AAAAAAAGH!”
Deckard squeezed his eyes shut and screamed again.
It was quite entertaining to watch.
After rolling around for quite some time to vent his frustration, Deckard finally caught his breath and stood before me.
“How in the world is something like that even possible? I don’t understand.”
“Have you never seen a genius before?”
“Even geniuses have certain standards. Young master, you are completely outside those standards.”
“Hmm.”
“You may not realize it, but for me to describe someone like this is extraordinarily rare.”
Deckard sighed after saying that.
“……Well, yes. I suppose it’s about time I got used to it. Let us simply assume that you might be the greatest genius in all of history, one who could blaspheme even the gods.”
It was a compliment that somehow wasn’t a compliment.
“Anyway, things are going according to your plan. So when are you going? Just don’t tell me it’s tonight…….”
“It is.”
“Ah, please.”
He looked ready to cry.
“We don’t even have time to prepare! No matter what, the other party is the Vice Commander of a Special-Grade Mercenary Company!”
“I’m the third son of a Grand Ducal House.”
“Ah. Right.”
Deckard accepted that surprisingly quickly.
Of course, accepting the fact did not mean he accepted my argument.
“Even so, that does not change the fact that it is dangerous, young master. No one knows what might happen.”
“Sir, think carefully yourself. If we simply sit still, won’t the First Wife kill us anyway?”
“…….”
“Sir, Schubert isn’t keeping quiet right now because he doesn’t hate me. He thinks I’m already a fish he’s caught, so he’s simply leaving me alone.”
And that reprieve would not last much longer.
It wouldn’t be long before Schubert realized that the curse wasn’t working.
“We have to do something if we want to survive.”
“That…… is true.”
Once I said that much, Deckard could no longer argue.
He looked at me with a complicated expression before sighing.
“……How did you forge the Platinum Seal? It should not be something one can simply counterfeit.”
“That’s a secret.”
“I expected you to say that. Well, I am hardly in a position to complain when I have things I am hiding from you as well…….”
Deckard spoke with exhaustion written all over his face.
“I certainly understand that you are desperate. Even so, this could be dangerous, so I will accompany you to the meeting place.”
“Were you planning not to?”
“Ah, come on.”
Deckard grumbled and ruffled his hair.
“……Damn it. It has been a while since I had to put my skills to use.”
“Your skills?”
“My face. My face. We cannot allow them to identify who we really are.”
As he spoke, Deckard began manipulating his face here and there.
“I learned a technique for situations like this. It is called Disguise Art, a skill I learned on a continent across the sea.”
“Ah, that…….”
Deckard narrowed his eyes slightly at my response.
“Do not tell me you can do this too. Please. Seriously.”
“I could.”
“Damn that talent of yours.”
At my simple answer, Deckard ultimately covered his face with both hands.
***
Night fell, and I immediately slipped outside with Deckard.
“Let’s go, Sir.”
“Haa…… Well, yes. We should.”
Deckard’s face looked completely different from his usual appearance.
Of course, the same was true for me.
“By the way, how in the world did you learn Disguise Art?”
“I learned it from a book in the family library.”
“That book could not possibly have covered Disguise Art in its entirety.”
“I tried it anyway, and it worked.”
“Oh, for…….”
Deckard pressed his fingers against the corners of his eyes with a newly exhausted expression.
“What kind of ridiculous talent is this…….”
“Isn’t it about time you just went, ‘I guess that’s how it is~,’ and moved on?”
“It is.”
Deckard answered with a sullen expression.
“But every time I try to get used to it, you show me something new.”
“Well, that’s true.”
I couldn’t think of anything to say against that.
Before long, we arrived at the agreed meeting place.
It was an ordinary house with nothing particularly suspicious about it.
“A secret branch of <Red Serpent>.”
“You know it?”
“I worked as a mercenary for a while when I was younger. <Red Serpent> stood at the very top of the mercenary world.”
Deckard answered casually and opened the door.
At that moment, a blade shot toward his neck at terrifying speed.
SWISH—!
Deckard looked coldly at the blade aimed at his neck and lightly flicked it aside with a finger.
“Tsk.”
TIIING—!
The blade snapped cleanly in half and spun through the air.
At the same time, Deckard seized his attacker by the neck and hurled him down.
CRASH—!
The table and chairs shattered.
Deckard paid no attention to the sound and calmly looked at me.
“After you.”
“Hmm. Shall we?”
I calmly followed the path Deckard had made and stepped inside.
The first thing I saw was a middle-aged man staring blankly at the shattered table.
‘Shiny.’
He possessed a truly impeccable head.
“Greetings, renowned Vice Commander of <Red Serpent>.”
“Are you the client?”
Raul, Vice Commander of <Red Serpent>, stared at me in disbelief.
“So…… you, who look barely ten years old, are the client who sent a commission to assassinate that ‘Sigmund Messiah’?”
“Yes.”
Raul rubbed his gleaming head.
It contrasted wonderfully with his thick beard.
“This is driving me insane. I didn’t expect this. Then…… did you have the knight over there deliver the commission request?”
“I did it myself.”
“Enough joking.”
“No, I’m telling you, I did it.”
This man really wouldn’t believe me.
I lightly snapped my fingers.
CLANG—!
“Kgh……?!”
At that moment, a mercenary who had been hiding his presence in the corner suddenly sprang out.
“You seem quite skilled at concealing your presence. I suppose that’s <Red Serpent> for you.”
“……!”
Raul’s eyes widened at the sight.
“Now, will you believe me?”
“What the…….”
I enjoyed his reaction as I found an intact chair and sat down.
“Shame there’s no table. Sir, I told you not to go overboard.”
“My apologies.”
Raul looked back and forth between Deckard and me before letting out a dry laugh.
“Ha. What in the world…….”
“Neither of us has much time, so let’s get straight to the point.”
I immediately moved on to the matter at hand.
“First, yes, I am the client who sent the commission request bearing the Platinum Seal. Of course, it wasn’t a ‘real’ commission request.”
“I didn’t expect you to openly admit that you forged it.”
“If I hadn’t used a method like that, we wouldn’t even be sitting here right now.”
“That is true. But…….”
Raul frowned.
At the same time, a threatening pressure began pouring from his body.
“You impersonated the Commander of <Red Serpent>. Are you aware of that? The Platinum Seal…….”
“Belongs only to the Commander. Yes, I know.”
“You’re bold. Are you confident you can handle <Red Serpent>?”
“I wouldn’t have come otherwise.”
Raul’s face twisted further at those words.
I paid it no mind and continued.
“However, there won’t be anything for me to handle. I’m about to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
“……What?”
Raul growled.
“I can’t listen to this anymore. An offer I can’t refuse? Who the hell are you to dare say something like……!”
“The Commander’s whereabouts.”
Raul froze.
The moment I mentioned the ‘Commander,’ his body stiffened.
And Raul wasn’t the only one caught off guard.
But I pretended not to notice and continued.
“Isn’t that what you came expecting? After seeing that Platinum Seal.”
“…….”
“Maybe you could find the Commander. Or perhaps the person who sent the commission request was ‘someone’ connected to the Commander’s whereabouts.”
I casually crossed my legs.
“That’s why you came, isn’t it? Even though you never had any intention of accepting the commission itself.”
“……!”
“Anyway.”
With those words, I folded my arms and raised my head.
“This time, I’d like to give you a ‘real commission.’ Would you care to hear it?”
“A real…… commission?”
“Yes. The commission is…….”
I slowly studied Raul’s expression as I continued.
“To find a girl named Flora.”
“Flora?”
At that moment, Raul’s expression twisted.
And it wasn’t only Raul.
CRACK.
Though he showed nothing outwardly, Deckard’s fist clenched tightly.
“How do you know that name……?!”
“Is there some problem?”
“Of course there is! That’s……!”
Of course, I knew exactly why Raul was reacting like that.
“Because Flora is the daughter of the Commander who died a long time ago?”
“You know even that?! Then why in the world……!”
“Because.”
What I was about to say was the true reason I had arranged this meeting.
“That person is alive.”
“……?!”
Silence fell over the room.
Amid that silence, I looked Raul directly in the eyes and spoke.
“Will you accept the commission?”