In truth, Lloyd did not know much about the assassins of this world.
He merely assumed that they would be similar to the Assassins of the original world he knew.
And his assumption proved correct.
‘Just as I thought, the assassins of this world are no different from Assassins.’
Was it because those affiliated with the Institute, including himself, had practically monopolized high-level dungeons?
Lloyd and his comrades had been forced to endure countless attacks from Assassins sent by other groups.
To get straight to the point, not a single Assassin who had attempted to kill Lloyd or his comrades had returned alive.
They had either been killed by Lloyd or his comrades during their missions, or bitten down on poison capsules hidden where their molars should have been and taken their own lives.
Then the assassins of this world would likely be the same.
“I can’t just let him die as he pleases.”
As he spoke, Lloyd approached the assassin and removed the mask covering his face.
A somehow familiar face was revealed.
He had definitely seen that face a few times in the castle recently.
“So you were the assassin after me.”
At this point, the assassin’s identity was of no use to Lloyd.
He had no intention of letting the man leave alive anyway.
Using telekinesis, Lloyd forcibly opened the assassin’s mouth.
Just as expected, there was poison where one of his molars should have been.
“Assassins think alike, whether in this world or the other.”
Muttering that, Lloyd pointed into the assassin’s mouth with a finger.
“Grrr-!!”
Realizing what Lloyd intended to do, the assassin tried desperately to resist, but it was useless.
In the end, the poison hidden in place of his molar floated up and emerged from his mouth at Lloyd’s gesture.
Lloyd then flung the poison far away.
The assassin’s means of killing himself had now disappeared.
It was time to begin the interrogation in earnest.
Lloyd released the telekinesis around the assassin’s mouth so that he could answer, then asked, “Let me ask one more time. Who hired you to kill me, and why?”
“……Do you think I’ll answer?”
As though he had expected that response, Lloyd let out a low sigh and moved his hand.
With a sickening sound, one of the assassin’s arms bent in an unnatural direction.
“Arghhh!!”
The assassin screamed at the tremendous pain shooting through his arm, but Lloyd paid him no mind and asked again.
“Who hired you to kill me?”
“Urgh.”
Yet the assassin still refused to answer.
Without waiting any longer, Lloyd immediately broke his other arm.
“Argh!”
“Your legs are next. You’d better answer quickly if you don’t want your legs broken too.”
Fear and despair flashed across the assassin’s face, but even after both of his legs were broken, he refused to answer until the end.
“Persistent, aren’t you? Fine. I still have your fingers and toes.”
For a long time, the assassin’s screams echoed through the empty first floor of the Monster Tower, where no more monsters appeared because the boss had been defeated.
***
The assassin was far more persistent than Lloyd had expected.
After breaking his arms and legs, then his fingers and toes, Lloyd healed him with recovery items and repeated the process.
Even so, the assassin refused to answer until the end.
Eventually, Lloyd was the first to grow exhausted, so he took the assassin outside the dungeon.
“L-Leader!”
“Young Master Lloyd!”
How they had found out, Vector and Martin were waiting in front of the Dungeon Gate.
“What brings you two here?”
“T-Today, I was especially worried about you, Leader, so I came to check on you.”
“I was also feeling uneasy, so I was patrolling this area and came by. But……”
Martin trailed off and lowered his gaze to the floor.
A strange man lay there with his eyes rolled back, convulsing as his limbs, fingers, and toes were all grotesquely bent.
Judging from his clothes, Martin could tell that he was the assassin who had been after Lloyd, but the horrific sight made him frown involuntarily.
“……Did you torture him yourself, Young Master?”
“Yes.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“He must be very well trained. He refused to answer until the end.”
“Rather than having you trouble yourself, Young Master, would it not be best to report the assassin’s attack to the House?”
Lloyd considered Martin’s words for a moment before shaking his head.
“No, there’s no need. At least the people trying to harm me, I want to deal with personally.”
By now, Martin knew Lloyd’s personality well, so he did not bring up reporting it to the House again.
“Then what do you intend to do now?”
“I need to make that assassin bastard talk no matter what, but first I want to rest for a while.”
As he answered, Lloyd sat on the edge of the plush bed and pressed firmly between his brows.
At that moment, the door flew open and Cotton entered.
It seemed he had not slept properly for quite some time. His eyes were sunken, and dark circles hung heavily beneath them.
In his hand was a glass vial filled with a transparent liquid.
“What is it?”
“Have we not analyzed all the poisons used on you, Young Master? So, I made an antidote that can neutralize as many of the poisons we have analyzed so far as possible.”
“That’s remarkable.”
Lloyd’s weariness vanished at once.
He had wondered why Cotton had not been seen for a while, and it seemed he had been making an antidote during that time.
“It may not be necessary right now, but I thought it would be good to prepare it in advance. However……”
Cotton looked back and forth between Vector and Martin, who stood beside Lloyd, before asking, “What are Sir Vector and Sir Martin doing here so early in the morning?”
At his question, Vector and Martin both turned their eyes toward the assassin lying on the floor.
Following their gazes, Cotton turned his head. Only then did he discover the assassin’s horrifying appearance.
Startled, Cotton dropped the antidote from his hand.
“O-Oh, no!”
At that very moment, something astonishing happened.
The glass vial, which should have struck the floor and shattered to pieces, stopped in midair.
The vial that had stopped in the air slowly descended to the floor.
Having failed to see Lloyd use his ability, Cotton stared at the vial with wide eyes.
‘How can something like this happen? It definitely fell from up high, yet it does not have so much as a crack…….’
Then Lloyd’s voice reached him.
“Is the antidote all right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. The antidote is unharmed, but……”
“Is something wrong?”
“N-No, it’s nothing.”
Cotton decided that it had merely been lucky enough not to break because it fell onto the carpet, and that he had seen it wrong due to his exhaustion.
“Anyway, judging from his clothes, he looks like an assassin…… Could he be the one who was after you, Young Master?”
Lloyd nodded and told Cotton everything that had happened so far.
From the assassin’s attack last night to the fact that, despite torturing him, he had been unable to learn anything.
After quietly listening to Lloyd’s story, Cotton cautiously spoke up.
“Then why not use a truth serum?”
Lloyd asked in a surprised tone, “You can make something like that too?”
“Of course. Magic Scholars produce not only artifacts, but various potions as well.”
“A truth serum…… That’s a good idea. How long will it take to make one?”
At Lloyd’s question, Cotton adjusted the monocle over his right eye and answered confidently.
“A truth serum will take no more than half a day.”
Cotton said that he would make and bring the truth serum by no later than before lunchtime, then returned to his laboratory.
***
That afternoon.
As promised, Cotton returned with the truth serum.
“I made it in a hurry, but it should be sufficiently effective.”
“Good work.”
After briefly acknowledging Cotton’s efforts, Lloyd forced the truth serum down the assassin’s throat.
The assassin no longer had even the strength to move, so he had no choice but to swallow the truth serum without putting up much resistance.
Gulp.
Only after confirming that the truth serum had gone down the assassin’s throat did Lloyd ask his question.
“Who ordered you to kill me?”
Ordinarily, a truth serum would not have worked on someone as well trained as him, but his mind and body were now both in tatters from Lloyd’s torture.
The assassin, who had maintained his silence through the pain of every bone in his body being crushed throughout the night, finally began to spill everything about his client.
“Ugh…… Th-the client was Olivia von Bled. Countess…… Bled.”
The moment he finished speaking, Martin let out a sigh.
He had considered the possibility that the Countess might be behind the assassin, but he had never expected it to be true.
He was now Lloyd’s knight, but he had lived in House Bled since childhood. He could not help feeling conflicted.
‘Even so, trying to harm Young Master Lloyd…… I can never forgive her.’
Even if she was the Countess.
While Martin was thinking that, the interrogation continued.
“Why is she trying to kill me?”
“At…… first, she had no intention of killing you. She only wanted to use a poison…… that removes magical power and return you to your days as an incompetent…….”
“Then why did she change her mind and decide to kill me instead?”
At Lloyd’s question, the assassin slowly answered in a slurred voice, intoxicated by the drug.
“I…… persuaded her. I told her we should deal with you for certain, rather than use something like poison…….”
“Was anyone else involved besides the Countess?”
“No.”
“What guild do you belong to?”
“……The Jackal Guild.”
Having received that answer, Lloyd drew his sword and cut off the assassin’s head in a single stroke.
Several days had passed since the assassin died at Lloyd’s hands.
The Countess was going mad with anxiety day after day.
‘What the hell is going on? Why hasn’t that bastard shown himself?’
The assassin, who had regularly reported to her, had not appeared for several days. Meanwhile, Lloyd was still walking around as though nothing had happened.
What was more, Lloyd would occasionally give her a meaningful smile.
‘Could Lloyd have gotten him……?’
But she soon shook her head.
The assassin she had hired for a vast sum possessed remarkable assassination skills, enough that even knights at the Intermediate Sword Expert level could not handle him.
‘Even if Sir Martin is with him, there’s no way he could deal with that man…….’
She decided that she would contact the Assassin Guild as soon as day broke, then tried to sleep.
But perhaps because it continued to weigh on her mind, she could not fall asleep easily despite being exhausted from several days without proper rest.
As she closed her eyes to force herself to sleep, she heard the window rattle open.
“Who’s there!!”
Startled, the Countess pulled out the dagger hidden beneath her pillow and glared toward the window, but there was no one there.
Only the curtains fluttered in the wind.
“It must have been the wind.”
With a sigh of relief, the Countess got out of bed and closed the window.
‘But was this window open?’
Tilting her head in confusion, she turned to return to bed. At that moment, she sucked in a breath and collapsed where she stood.
Someone was there, staring at her.