「THE NEXT DAY — BASTION OF PHALANX, G6'S OFFICE」
G6 sat behind her desk with the book Lord Earl had given her as payment for intruding on her training open in her hands.
Her eyes remained on the page, but her mind was nowhere near it. She had skipped her morning training again.
Hmm. Ever since I woke up in this body, it has been a mess.
A far cry from my old life.
Exhausting.
Just to spend a few hours outside this gilded cage, I need a perfect alibi.
She had not turned the page in nearly twenty minutes.
Instead, she was mentally reconstructing the route from the Bastion to the Utility Magic Department, calculating the likely traffic through the palace grounds and estimating how long they could remain outside before someone noticed that her afternoon lessons involved considerably less Utility Magic than advertised.
Her calm expression concealed her irritation. A prisoner with permission to leave was still a prisoner; the permission merely came with better scenery.
But no one can stop me. I will do this my way.
G6 closed the unread book and stood so abruptly that Tina and Lilia looked up from the separate desks they occupied in the corner.
"Lady Reise?" Lilia called in confusion.
G6 crossed her arms.
"What time is it?"
Tina glanced toward the small enchanted clock among the office furnishings.
"Nearly a quarter to one—"
G6 slammed both hands against her desk, making Lilia jump.
"Where the hell is Edmund? It is almost time to leave."
Tina slowly lowered the document she had been reviewing.
"Why such a rush? Do you like Utility Magic that much?"
Suspicion had begun creeping into her voice.
G6 turned her back on them and stared through the tall window at the sprawling palace grounds. Stone roads wound between trees, and distant roofs appeared through the greenery.
The city lay far beyond the enormous royal estate, too distant from the Collegium to be seen from here.
"Mind your own business, Tina."
"The entire Bastion is in a rush for the knight recruitment," Tina replied, adjusting her glasses. "Paperwork from Sanctum and Omnia has been postponed in favor of posters, application records, and notices that must be distributed throughout the kingdom."
G6 did not turn.
"That is why I trained you for three days, is it not?"
Tina's mouth tightened.
"Stop whining and do your job," G6 continued. "I am paying you extra."
"The Collegium is paying me. I am merely taking over your duties."
Tina remained polite, though her tone grew firmer. G6 finally looked over her shoulder.
"I didn't come here to stick my face in paperwork."
"You must take responsibility for what you asked for."
G6 turned fully, a dangerous glint entering her grey eyes.
"Stop getting on my nerves, Tina."
Lilia quietly reached across the gap between their desks and caught Tina's hand. Whether it was a warning or a plea, Tina understood enough to look down at the small fingers covering hers before returning her attention to G6.
"Forgive me if I crossed the line, Lady Reise."
Her voice softened. Nagging her already frustrated mistress was clearly accomplishing nothing.
The office door opened, and Edmund stepped inside.
"Lady Reise, would you like lunch before we—"
"No."
The answer came quickly enough to stop him at the threshold. G6 was already moving toward the door.
"Let's go. Tina, Lilia, I have informed Brenda you will join her in the cafeteria. Take your meals with her."
"Thank you for your kindness!" Lilia said, brightening.
Tina remained suspicious.
"Please ensure you actually go to the Utility Department."
G6 dismissed the warning with an irritated wave, gathered enough of her dress to walk faster, and swept into the corridor. Edmund watched her leave before looking toward Tina.
"Please ensure her work here is handled well. We would not wish to draw the Queen's attention."
"Of course," Tina answered with a sigh.
He offered a polite nod and hurried after G6. Once the door closed, Lilia continued watching it for several seconds.
"Lady Reise was worried we would be left out if she was not here."
"She ordered us to eat with Lady Brenda," Tina pointed out.
"Exactly."
Lilia nodded happily, drawing a reluctant smile from Tina. Their mistress remained harsh, cold, and difficult, yet she was becoming increasingly considerate in ways that always sounded like threats.
G6 was halfway down the corridor when Edmund caught up.
"Lady Reise."
She did not slow. Edmund increased his pace.
"Lady Reise, there is no need to race through the Bastion."
"I disagree."
Ahead, Lord Earl and Lord Keith emerged from another corridor on their way to Prince Dio's office. Lord Keith spotted her first, his face immediately brightening.
"Reise! No breakfast with you this morning! Or dinner! Earl worked me to death!"
Lord Earl gave him an irritated glance before addressing G6.
"How are you? You have missed two morning sessions."
She walked directly past them without a greeting or so much as a glance. Both men stopped and watched her continue down the corridor.
"Did she not hear us?" Lord Keith asked.
"My voice was loud enough to carry," Lord Earl replied dryly.
Edmund hurried past, pausing only long enough to bow.
"Please forgive Lady Reise. She is merely in a great hurry."
He immediately resumed his pursuit. Lord Keith watched him go, then looked toward the disappearing sweep of Reise's dress.
"I miss playing with Reise."
"She is not your toy," Lord Earl said sharply.
"I never said she was."
"You repeatedly behave as though she is."
Lord Keith pressed a hand dramatically over his chest.
"Such accusations."
Lord Earl continued toward Prince Dio's office, leaving Lord Keith to follow.
「BASTION OF PHALANX — PRINCE DIO'S OFFICE」
They had barely reached the door when it opened. Prince Dio stepped out, and Lord Keith nearly walked into him.
"Where are you going?"
"To Reise's office. I have something to ask."
"Get inside. She is long gone," Lord Earl said, moving around him.
Prince Dio looked down the corridor. Neither Reise nor Edmund remained in sight; only distant personnel carrying stacks of recruitment documents moved between the offices.
Lord Keith slipped inside.
"Yes, it is your fault."
"How is it my fault?"
Prince Dio turned slowly toward him, but Lord Earl had already entered without invitation. The Prince followed them back into his own office and closed the door.
"What is this unmannerly attitude? Have you forgotten who I am?"
"You are the Prince," Lord Earl answered, settling onto the sofa.
"And my cousin," Lord Keith added cheerfully.
Neither looked remotely intimidated. Prince Dio regarded them for another moment before returning to his desk.
"Did she already leave?"
"Yes. In quite a hurry," Lord Earl replied.
"She did not even bother to answer me," Lord Keith complained, sinking farther into the cushions. After a moment, he added, "And it is your fault."
Prince Dio's patience visibly thinned.
"Again—how?"
"The Queen must be the one who instructed her to take up Utility Magic," Lord Earl said, crossing one leg over the other. "To become a more suitable wife for you."
"I was told she chose it herself."
Lord Earl gave him a flat look.
"Why would someone like her ever take an interest in something meant solely to benefit you? It is clear how much she defies you."
"Perhaps Reise cannot admit it was Her Majesty's order, so she claims it as her own will," Lord Keith suggested with a solemn nod. "Think back to dinner. Someone like her would never willingly stay in Utility."
Prince Dio's brows drew together.
"Why do you both keep insisting Reise no longer has any interest in me?"
The question silenced them for approximately half a second before Lord Keith smiled.
"We know it hurts, but you must accept it."
Prince Dio's eyes narrowed, which only increased his cousin's delight. Lord Earl, unfortunately for him, remained serious.
"If you feel frustrated that your fiancée does not like you, then perhaps you now understand how she felt all this time."
Prince Dio offered no answer. The words struck somewhere unpleasant, though he had not suddenly decided he wanted Reise's affection. Her indifference had simply become impossible to ignore.
For years, her anger, jealousy, longing, and resentment had followed patterns he understood. Now, every expectation failed. She ignored him when he anticipated confrontation, mocked him when he expected embarrassment, and walked away when he assumed she would remain.
He looked toward the office door. He had intended to ask her something, and now he would have to wait again.
"Oh."
Lord Keith's wicked smile drew the Prince's attention back toward him.
"Nothing," Lord Keith said, his smile widening.
"Keith."
"Absolutely nothing."
"Do not encourage him," Lord Earl advised with a sigh.
Prince Dio leaned back in his chair, his irritation undiminished.
「UTILITY MAGIC DEPARTMENT — PRIVATE SUITE」
By the time G6 and Edmund reached the Utility Magic Department, afternoon traffic through the palace grounds had settled into its usual rhythm. Felicia greeted them at the entrance.
"Welcome back, Lady Reise. Sir Edmund."
"Good afternoon," Edmund answered.
G6 gave a curt nod. Everyone here already understood the arrangement, sparing them another lengthy explanation. They went upstairs, and the moment the common-room door closed, she entered her preparation chamber.
Within minutes, the outward appearance of Lady Reise Worthon had disappeared again. G6 folded the noble dress and set it aside, replacing it with black cargo trousers and her long-sleeved cropped combat top.
Boots, a choker, and silver rings completed the familiar clothing, while the five small seamless hoops returned to her ears, with the communication and storage artifacts blending naturally among the jewelry.
Her rose-gold hair reached her waist, its upper portion secured in the same compact braided arrangement while the rest fell loose down her back.
She put on the tinted eyeglasses and dark cap before looking down at Lord Earl's ring.
Her fingers hovered over it briefly, then removed it.
Useful as it was, an item repeatedly associated with Reise Worthon could become an unnecessary identifier while she operated as G6 Arcadia.
She placed it safely beside her other noble jewelry.
I will regret that if this body starts complaining.
Probably.
Still better than being recognized.
When she returned to the common room, Edmund had already transformed into Eddie. His open-collared white shirt sat beneath blue suspenders, and black cargo trousers carried practical utility straps. Fingerless gloves, a dark cap, and multiple silver piercings completed the disguise. Their cloaks waited nearby.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Obviously."
G6 pulled the heavy cloak over her shoulders, leaving its deep hood lowered for the moment. They left through the rear route and began the escape procedure, which followed much the same pattern as the previous day.
The carriage took them back toward the Main Palace route. At the secluded staging point, they checked their adventurer equipment once more before approaching the heavily controlled gate.
G6 disappeared from ordinary sight beneath Eclipse-Step's concealment.
She remained physically beside Edmund, walking step for step along the road and through the checkpoint.
The skill hid her passage from the guards rather than transporting her from one location to another.
This time, no Sensory knight stopped them.
Once they cleared the gate and reached the concealed staging area beyond it, G6 released the skill. Her horse waited there. She mounted immediately, and she and Edmund rode toward the Capital.
「CAPITAL CITY — ADVENTURERS' GUILD」
They left their horses beneath the same broad oak outside the Capital and entered on foot. By the time they reached the Adventurers' Guild, the hall was already busy.
G6 leaned against the wall beside the task board with her arms crossed, her patience deteriorating while Edmund examined one notice after another.
"Hmm… nothing suitable nearby."
Her gaze settled on him from behind the tinted lenses. Edmund felt it and began searching faster.
"Eddie!"
Liam approached from the reception counter.
"What are you looking for?"
"A task not too far away. Perhaps an hour's ride."
"Perfect! Here."
Liam snapped his fingers, returned briefly to the counter, and retrieved a newly stamped notice from beneath a stack of fresh requests.
"A small goblin nuisance in Oak Village."
Edmund accepted the notice and scanned the details.
"Oh, forty-five minutes by carriage."
Liam blinked.
"A bit odd for adventurers to take a carriage, is it not? Do you fellows not usually walk or hitch a ride?"
Edmund hesitated for only a fraction of a second.
"Of course! We were thinking of hitching with a merchant. My niece is recovering from injuries; the ride is easier."
Liam nodded.
"Well, it is yours. Odd to see goblins so close to the Capital. Best an A-Rank team checks it out."
"Thank you, Liam."
"It is nothing. I held it back, knowing you two would return. Good luck!"
He smiled and returned to the reception desk. Edmund held the notice toward G6.
"Shall we?"
Her eyes passed over it once.
Location. Reported number. Nearest settlement. Direction. Forest boundary. Enough.
"Let's go."
She returned the paper, and they left the Guild, retracing their route through the Capital and out beneath the main archway. Both horses remained beneath the oak where they had been tethered.
Edmund checked the tack while G6 untied her mount. Within minutes, they were in their saddles, their dark cloaks still covering their adventurer clothing and their deep hoods raised against the sun.
Edmund took the lead.
At the Capital's outer checkpoint, a knight raised a hand.
"Adventurers?"
Edmund presented both Guild cards. The knight examined the A-Rank credentials for Eddie Saiden and G6 Arcadia before handing them back.
"Alright. Be careful."
His expression grew grimmer.
"That serial killer is still at large. The Daily Gazette reported another victim this morning."
G6's attention sharpened.
Is that the one they were talking about last time?
She stored the information, though it had no apparent relevance to the goblin mission yet.
"Understood. Thank you for the concern," Edmund replied.
The second knight signaled them through.
Beyond the walls, the road opened onto vast green countryside.
Fields rolled beneath the afternoon sun, woodland covered the distant hills, and small settlements appeared as clusters of roofs between farmland and roads.
Once the Capital fell behind them, Edmund gave his horse more rein. G6 followed, and their mounts accelerated from a trot into a canter.
Warm wind caught the edge of her hood and dragged it backward until the fabric rested against her shoulders. Her waist-length rose-gold hair streamed behind her.
For a brief moment, G6 closed her eyes, feeling the wind against her face and the rhythm of hoofbeats beneath her. T
he open road lay ahead, with no palace walls immediately surrounding her, no court to endure, and no schedule visible from here.
Freedom was in the movement itself rather than the destination. Every pounding hoofbeat carried her farther from the gilded enclosure where she had awakened and deeper into territory she had never seen, scarcely read about, and could not predict.
That uncertainty should have been dangerous. G6 loved it.
The horse responded to every movement of the reins and shift of her weight, becoming a partner, an engine, and a means of escape. Her mouth curved as she considered how much better this was than tea parties.
She felt… free.
Or so she thought.
They shortened the forty-five-minute journey considerably without pushing the animals hard enough to exhaust them before the return trip.
When Oak Village appeared beyond a bend, G6 first noticed its silence, then the absence of people.
They slowed before entering.
"G6, let us find the village chief," Edmund said, surveying the settlement.
She nodded. They dismounted and led the horses between modest houses with firmly closed doors.
No children playing outside, and only a few animals moved through streets that bore little resemblance to the Capital's lively thoroughfares.
"Stop right there!"
A man's voice came from behind them. G6 and Edmund halted without reaching for their weapons.
"Now, turn around. Slowly."
They turned to find several villagers blocking the street. Pitchforks, axes, woodcutting tools, and a hunting bow filled their hands.
None of the weapons were military equipment, but they could still kill someone careless.
"Take off your hoods."
G6 and Edmund lowered them. The villagers looked between their dark cloaks, unfamiliar clothing, and expensive-looking horses while Edmund kept his hands visible.
"A-Rank adventurers from the Capital's Guild."
"Oh! Sent by the Guild?"
The older man at the front visibly relaxed and turned toward the others.
"Lower those."
They obeyed. He stepped forward.
"Forgive our hostility. We mistook you for bandits. The cloaks, you see… and it is rare for adventurers to arrive on horseback. I am Johan, the chief of Oak Village."
"Eddie. This is my partner, G6."
She acknowledged the chief with a short nod. Both retained their cloaks with the hoods lowered, and Johan continued to look vaguely uncomfortable around them.
Whether their clothes or G6's silent inspection of everyone nearby disturbed him more was difficult to determine.
"Bandits?" G6 asked. "Isn't this the first village outside the Capital?"
"It often happens when knights are sent on expeditions," Johan answered with a sigh.
"But raids typically occur five towns out, not the first," Edmund pointed out, frowning.
"You are right."
Johan looked toward the road.
"But bandits have grown bold. The fourth town was attacked recently. They only stole goods and supplies, thankfully. We have just formed a defense in case they reach our village."
"Hmm… bizarre," Edmund murmured.
"More bizarre are the goblins appearing here now," Johan continued, his expression darkening. "The first village outside the Capital. It has never happened."
His gaze shifted toward the distant forest.
"Our hunters are being kept from the woods. We depend upon that forest for game, herbs, wood, and forage. The creatures have become unusually aggressive."
"We will investigate on our way."
G6 had already approached a shaded tree. She secured her horse before looking back at the chief.
"Ensure our horses are watered after they have cooled."
"Of course."
Johan hesitated.
"Please, take care. The goblins are… unusually aggressive."
"We will handle it," Edmund assured him.
G6 removed her cloak. Fighting inside the long, heavy garment would be idiotic, so she folded it and stored it through the Dimensional Vault in her earrings. Edmund did the same before they headed toward the forest.
Chief Johan remained beside the horses. When another villager whispered something, he immediately silenced him. Whatever those two were, he was relieved they were walking toward the goblins rather than away from them.
「FOREST OUTSIDE OAK VILLAGE」
The atmosphere changed almost as soon as they passed beneath the trees. The village had been quiet, but the forest's silence carried none of the reassurance of peace.
A dense canopy softened the sunlight into shifting patches across the ground. Ferns and thick undergrowth filled the spaces between ancient trunks, and everything looked alive. Nevertheless, something felt wrong.
G6 walked several steps ahead, scanning for disturbed ground, broken branches, tracks, and movement in the undergrowth. Edmund remained close enough to cover her flank without crowding her.
"The palace's security seems inefficient. Bandits ravage towns the moment knights look away? Flawed system."
"A matter of logistics and privilege," Edmund replied, stepping over a fallen branch. "Every registered town has a teleportation tool. Natural mana from the surrounding land supplies roughly half of what the device needs, while the remaining half must come from a single activator."
G6 glanced toward him.
"For most commoners, that personal portion alone can consume practically their entire reserve," he continued. "What is merely an exhausting expenditure for a noble mage may leave an ordinary commoner completely drained. For that reason, the tools are not something villagers can safely use whenever trouble appears."
"Then how do they ask for help?"
"Each registered town has an emergency rune linked to Sanctum. When activated, the corresponding town rune there illuminates and signals that assistance is being requested."
He stepped over a thick root.
"The village itself does not need to send someone through the tool merely to report danger. Once Sanctum receives the signal, the appropriate personnel can be dispatched. Besides, villages are quite a distance from town, including the first five villages outside the Capital, which we thought were safe."
G6 gave him a flat look.
"Is that so? And you said this kingdom is to be abundant."
"Economic abundance does not make distance disappear," Edmund replied with a sigh.
She offered no answer.
"More often, a single knight group is dispatched," he continued. "All nobles. Their combat affinities are usually powerful enough to drive bandits away."
"Combat affinities. Common ones?"
"Lightning is common among combat houses," Edmund answered after a moment's consideration. "Transmutation is particularly useful in alchemy and material work, while Verdancy governs plant life."
"Verdancy? Vines? Thorns?"
"Precisely. Vines, roots, thorns—anything involving the growth and manipulation of plants."
He glanced toward her.
"Sensory Affinities are also highly valued among scouts and trackers. You encountered the problem yourself yesterday."
G6 remembered the knight at the palace gate.
"Many of those families have traditional professions associated with the Collegium," Edmund continued. "Sensory and Lightning users are particularly useful within the Bastion."
"And Earth?"
"True Earth affinity remains the inheritance associated with House Nocturne."
That was more information than the romance novel had ever bothered to provide.
The damn story could describe Prince Dio's eyelashes for half a page but apparently had no room for military logistics.
G6 mentally reorganized what she had learned.
Lightning: artillery. Transmutation: support and logistics. Verdancy: area denial and crowd control. Sensory: recon.
Different terminology served functions she already understood.
"So response time is slow because they wait for a specific 'affinity group' to be available? Inefficient. A standard rapid-response unit should be cross-trained for versatility."
"A pragmatic perspective," Edmund said. "But here, one's magic is tied strongly to bloodline and social function. Flexibility is not always valued as highly as specialization among the nobility."
"It is a weakness. A system that prioritizes pride over practicality is vulnerable. These bandits seem to have identified that."
"An astute observation. And one becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss."
Edmund's expression grew serious as he lowered his voice.
"Ordinary bandits generally avoid territory this close to the Capital. Repeated incursions suggest either unusual confidence or information they should not possess."
"So, there is a snake in the palace?"
"The possibility remains open."
He sounded far from pleased.
"Many nobles are dissatisfied with their allotted domains. However, I am certain the Three Pillars are not involved. Their houses form too much of the kingdom's foundation."
Edmund stepped around another root.
"If someone is deliberately exploiting deployment schedules, suspicion would more reasonably fall somewhere among the Upper, Mid, or Low Court Houses."
"Who would have thought? Even your courtrooms have a class system."
G6's short, mocking laugh faded when a rustle came from ahead. Edmund stopped before he could reply, and she halted at the same instant.
The sound was too isolated and deliberate to have been caused by wind.
Their eyes met, ending the conversation.
Edmund touched the artifact at his ear.
"Dimensional Vault."
Silver shimmered faintly, and a sword settled into his hand. G6 touched one of her own earrings and retrieved her twin daggers.
The matte-black blades rested along her forearms, slender and predatory, with needle-like points suited to precision rather than brute-force cleaving.
Fine crimson enchantments traced through the metal with a faint, dormant glow. They were unmistakably an assassin's tools.
Edmund noticed the slight change in her expression as she held them, a look of recognition and comfort that suggested she had found something familiar at last.
Rather than continue along the forest floor, he looked toward the canopy.
"Speed."
Mana circulated through his body as the Physical Enhancement spell took hold. He pushed off the ground and caught the lowest branch, using the temporary enhancement to carry himself into the trees.
He had cast the spell normally, without a system window or the mysterious activation that accompanied G6's skills. Its conventional recovery interval remained a restriction he had to respect before casting again, regardless of his proficiency.
G6 ascended differently. Wind gathered beneath her feet, and Reaper's Ascent lifted her in a controlled rise until one boot touched a thick branch. She stabilized herself immediately.
<
Her vision sharpened until individual leaves and minute grooves in the bark separated clearly. Farther ahead, a shifting shadow resolved into branches disturbed by weight rather than wind.
She scanned left, right, and forward without locating the cause. Then the unease she had been dismissing since they entered returned with enough accumulated evidence to demand attention.
The sensations she had learned to associate with natural mana were absent.
There was no subtle vibration beneath her skin, no faint tingling in her chest, and no pressure from the dense vegetation surrounding them.
The palace gardens overflowed with it, and even ordinary clusters of plants produced a recognizable response.
This forest should have been overwhelming. She felt nothing.
G6 pushed off, letting Wind carry her between branches until she crossed Edmund's path and landed directly before him. He stopped.
"What is wrong, my lady?"
"I have been meaning to say this, but I was not sure until now."
She looked into the trees, her voice lowering.
"There is no mana here."
Edmund frowned and regarded her for several seconds.
"That is impossible. We are standing in the heart of a forest. Life is mana."
"That's why I did not jump to conclusions. But I am sure now. This forest is dead."
Her gaze swept over vegetation that appeared perfectly healthy.
"As I have observed, my body reacts to concentrated mana. I feel a tingling sensation in the palace gardens. Here, surrounded by all this, I should be buzzing with it. Yet, I feel… nothing."
She paused.
"It is dead silent here."
Edmund examined their surroundings again. The trees stood tall, their leaves were green, and insects still moved among them. When he looked for birds, however, he found almost none.
His expression tightened. The forest appeared alive in every ordinary sense, but G6 could distinctly perceive natural mana.
If she detected none here, then whatever was happening exceeded either of their present understanding.
"I recall our conversation," Edmund said quietly. "Natural mana should be abundant here. If your sensitivity truly detects none at all, then something in this forest is suppressing, draining, or disrupting it."
He looked toward the depths ahead.
"I cannot say which."
Neither could she.
No premature conclusion.
Only data.
G6 adjusted her grip on the daggers.
"Let's move swiftly. And keep to the high ground."
She pushed off the branch, and Reaper's Ascent carried her upward and forward. Edmund followed through the canopy without casting Speed again. His conditioning and practiced footwork were sufficient for the controlled jumps, and he had no intention of exposing the true extent of his Physical Enhancement over a routine goblin mission.
Another rustle below interrupted their silent advance. G6 stopped, her enhanced vision following movement through the undergrowth.
Several green-skinned creatures with pointed ears emerged between the roots, dressed in crude leather and carrying weapons. More followed them, then enough others to make the initial cluster seem insignificant.
So, these are goblins… They are smaller than I imagined. About Lilia's height? Pathetic.
"Eddie. There."
Her whisper reached him through the Whisper of Gale she had been maintaining between them. Edmund changed course, and they met on a thick branch overlooking a shallow depression.
Goblins occupied almost the entire visible area, extending through the trees in clusters far larger than a scouting party of five or ten. Some carried crude blades and clubs, others held bows, and several wore scavenged armor tied awkwardly around their bodies.
"Those are the goblins?"
"Yes."
Edmund's expression darkened.
"The notice was issued after three days of confirming their presence. But this is no small nuisance."
G6 continued counting. Her enhanced perception separated the moving mass into sections, allowing her to distinguish the front line, flanks, archers farther back, and smaller groups concealed behind trunks.
"There are approximately a hundred of them."
"A hundred? In the village right outside the Capital?" Edmund asked in disbelief.
"If you sound like that when you have been doing this secretly, how do you expect me to answer as someone doing it for the first time?"
"Right…"
He looked toward her glowing eyes.
"Can you manage that without overusing a sub-skill? Sustaining such precise perception is draining."
"I could do this with my eyes closed."
<
The faint light in her eyes disappeared. Edmund exhaled.
"Let us proceed."
He lowered his voice further.
"Lady Reise, please be cautious. We cannot allow you to be compromised here."
"To succeed in a mission, you only worry about the target. Everything else is a distraction."
Edmund's mouth tightened at the deeply unhealthy philosophy, but arguing was difficult when she was already dropping from the branch.
Reaper's Ascent slowed her descent enough for G6 to land silently behind the outermost cluster. Edmund came down on the opposite side several paces away.
They divided the horde between them rather than blindly entering its center, with G6 taking the left flank and Edmund the right.
The first goblin never saw her. Her left dagger slipped beneath its jaw and drove upward before the creature could make a sound. As she withdrew the blade, her right hand was already moving toward the second goblin.
It turned too late.
G6 rotated around its outside shoulder, keeping its body between herself and the creatures ahead. Her other blade crossed the exposed side of its throat in a short, controlled cut, and blood sprayed as she released the dying creature before its weight could slow her.
The third raised a crude sword. G6 stepped inside the arc, letting its weapon pass behind her shoulder while her dagger struck through the gap beneath its ribs into the heart. She withdrew and turned, moving past as the goblin collapsed.
The others finally noticed. One shriek tore through the forest, followed by another as the horde surged toward her.
G6 smiled.
Edmund saw it from the opposite flank. The expression bore little resemblance to Lady Reise's polite smile or the bitter smirk she used to mock people.
Something older and sharper had surfaced, and although this might genuinely be her first encounter with goblins, nothing about the way she killed suggested it was her first real battle.
When several creatures crowded the same approach, she used Reaper's Ascent in a short forward burst.
Wind propelled her across several paces before the nearest goblin finished raising its club.
One dagger entered the side of its neck as her shoulder rotated, allowing the second blade to reverse into the eye of the creature approaching from her right.
She briefly released the blades as momentum carried the bodies aside, then recovered both handles before either corpse struck the ground.
Another goblin lunged. G6 pivoted away from the knife aimed at her abdomen, caught its wrist against her forearm, and stepped behind its planted foot.
Pulling the arm across the creature's center broke its balance, bringing it forward onto the dagger she drove into the base of its skull.
By the time the goblins surrounding the first cluster understood what had happened, more than ten lay dead.
She had not decapitated or theatrically butchered them; she had killed each where doing so required the least effort.
Edmund watched for half a heartbeat.
Every movement displayed experience that should not have existed within Reise Worthon's body.
This was far beyond the work of a noblewoman who had recently learned to fight, and beyond what he expected from an ordinary professional adventurer.
A goblin rushed him, forcing his attention back to his own flank.
Edmund intercepted its crude blade near his sword's guard, turned his wrist to force the weapon outward, and stepped through with a pommel strike to the creature's face.
As it reeled, his blade entered beneath its sternum. He withdrew before the next attacker reached him.
Another charged from the left with an axe.
Edmund shifted one foot backward, letting the weapon cut through empty air before striking across the exposed neck.
He was faster than he allowed himself to appear and more precise than his A-Rank registration required. Like G6, he had something to hide, so he kept his performance within believable limits.
Confusion spread through the horde. The front-line goblins rushed them while those behind struggled to draw their bows without hitting their own.
G6 identified the archers before the first arrow left its string. It came from behind her left shoulder, and she moved half a step, allowing the shaft to pass beside her ribs.
A second followed from farther right. She lowered her center of gravity and let it cross above her shoulder just as the goblin ahead charged with a short spear.
She caught the shaft between her daggers. The force drove against Reise's weaker frame, sliding her boots two inches through the dirt before she stopped resisting.
Stronger than it looks.
Rather than contest its strength, G6 redirected the spear outward, stepped around the point, and cut across the goblin's wrists. The weapon fell, and her left dagger followed into its throat.
Another arrow approached over the dying creature's shoulder. She released it and used a short upward burst of Reaper's Ascent, letting the arrow pass beneath her boots.
For a fraction of a second, her position above the melee exposed the whole field: the archers, the back line, Edmund, and the remaining clusters.
She changed direction with another controlled push of Wind and landed three paces farther back, beyond the two goblins rushing toward her expected landing place.
One looked up in confusion. Her dagger entered its temple, while the second received the other blade beneath its chin.
This is fun.
The thought surfaced before she could stop it. Then she realized she had no desire to stop it.
Warm blood struck her cheek, and the scent of iron filled the air.
Something within her that had spent weeks trapped beneath gowns, etiquette, lessons, dinner tables, political expectations, and constant observation finally settled into place.
She understood targets, angles, weapons, movement, and consequences. Despite the different body and world, the work remained familiar.
Here, she was Akira Gemstone—G6, the Reaper—rather than Lady Reise Worthon performing another assigned duty.
Her smile widened.
Across the clearing, Edmund witnessed something approaching pure happiness for perhaps the first time since Reise's change. It disturbed him more than any of her cold threats had.
"G6! ON YOUR REAR!"
Three goblins had broken from the rear cluster. One carried a heavy axe, and the others rushed beside it with short blades.
G6 read Edmund's line of sight before looking behind herself. His angle told her where the threat approached, and she moved as the axe swung horizontally toward the back of her ribs.
She bent forward and planted a hand against the ground, allowing the weapon to pass over her back. Using that hand as a pivot, she kicked both legs upward and rotated through a tight cartwheel over the second creature's knife.
Her boots landed facing them. The third goblin lunged, but she stepped back beyond its reach as the axe wielder recovered and raised its weapon again.
Too many bodies had aligned behind it.
G6's grin sharpened. Wind compressed around one hand without a spoken chant or conventional delay.
WIND BLADE!
Her arm cut through the air, releasing a compressed arc that struck the axe wielder first and continued through the creatures behind it. Flesh and crude armor parted beneath the Wind before its remaining force dispersed against the trees beyond.
The surviving goblins froze for one fatal second. G6 moved into them, and Edmund advanced from the opposite side.
Panic replaced aggression. Several attempted to flee, but G6 used the terrain rather than chasing each individually.
A short burst of Wind carried her diagonally between two trees to cut off one route while Edmund closed from the other side, forcing the creatures inward.
The remaining archers could no longer fire without striking their own. One tried anyway, sending an arrow into another goblin's shoulder.
G6 almost laughed.
She slipped behind the wounded creature and killed the archer beyond it with a Wind-assisted throw of her dagger.
Crossing the distance while the weapon was still falling, she caught its handle before it touched the ground.
The final cluster broke. Then the last goblin collapsed, and the fighting ended with an abruptness that made the returning silence feel unnatural.
Edmund withdrew his sword and surveyed the depression. Bodies littered the ground, blood soaked into moss and roots, and leaves trembled in the disturbed air.
Already, the forest seemed to be reclaiming the same oppressive quiet they had encountered upon entering.
He checked the timepiece beneath his clothing.
"Seven minutes."
G6 looked around at the corpses, her expression flattening.
"Too short for fun, considering the travel time."
Edmund stared at her. They had killed nearly a hundred goblins in seven minutes, and she was disappointed.
Looking over the field again, he could distinguish most of her kills from the brutal destruction caused by Wind Blade.
The daggers had struck throats, hearts, eyes, and the base of the skull, each attack chosen to stop its target as quickly as possible.
All died instantly, Edmund thought.
That precision disturbed him more than indiscriminate savagery would have. Most of those deaths had involved neither rage nor desperation, and he had seen no hesitation. She had simply executed them.
His gaze found her leaning against the large tree they had used during their approach. Blood marked her face, hands, and forearms, and a dagger rested loosely in each hand. She looked almost relaxed.
You are no ordinary noble, Edmund thought.
He had known that already, but now the distinction was clearer. Her body might still lack conditioning and her magic remain unstable, yet whoever had trained her had created someone capable of killing with terrifying efficiency.
The old question returned: why did witnessing it deepen his loyalty rather than weaken it?
Edmund had no answer. Perhaps it was because she had never pretended to be harmless with him, or because he had seen how she acted when violence was unnecessary.
Beneath her cold practicality, she repeatedly protected people while insisting she did not care.
Whatever the reason, fear was not enough to make him abandon her.
G6 looked down at her daggers. She wiped each blade against the least-soiled section of a fallen goblin's clothing, inspected the edges, and returned them to her Dimensional Vault.
Edmund put away his sword and retrieved a clean towel and canteen. When he approached, his manner belonged to her butler again rather than Eddie the adventurer.
"Here, Lady Reise."
"Thanks."
She accepted both, opened the canteen, and drank without sniffing the water, testing it, or asking where it had come from.
Edmund noticed. The gesture would have meant nothing to almost anyone else, but he recognized the trust in what she had neglected to do.
As G6 wiped the blood from her hands, he turned toward the bodies.
"I will gather the evidence to confirm the task's completion."
"How?"
"By their ears."
He produced several cloth bags. G6 looked toward the nearest corpse.
"Why not take their heads? It is more definitive."
Edmund paused before looking back at her.
"Because the Guild receptionists have repeatedly objected to adventurers depositing severed heads on their counters."
She stared, but his expression remained perfectly serious.
"Apparently, ears are considered the more civilized proof."
"Reasonable."
A slow smirk spread across G6's face. Edmund sighed, knelt beside the first goblin, and began the unpleasant work of cutting off its right ear. He placed it in a bag before moving to the next body.
G6 remained against the tree as an ache began spreading through her shoulders and thighs, accompanied by a faint pull around her knees.
Compared with her first weeks in Reise's body, the discomfort was negligible.
This is great. I do not have the ring that helps with fatigue, but I feel only a light ache, light tiredness. I have truly improved in this body.
She flexed a hand without encountering a violent tremor or the threat of collapse. Her training was working.
Reise's body was not becoming Akira's, but it was growing stronger, better conditioned, and more capable of surviving what G6 demanded from it.
The tool was becoming sharper and more useful.
Her satisfaction faded as the silence returned to her awareness. Even after the fighting, surrounded by living trees, she still sensed no natural mana.
G6 raised her head toward a forest that looked perfectly alive. That was the problem.
Several paces away, Edmund continued collecting ears. Above him, leaves moved in the ordinary wind. Insects crawled across bark, and roots disappeared beneath healthy soil. Everything appeared to function, yet the sensation that should have surrounded her remained completely absent.
The goblin mission had succeeded, but it was no longer the most important discovery of the afternoon. Somewhere within the forest, something had created a void where natural mana should have been, and G6 hated unanswered questions.
Their earlier conversation added another possibility she could not dismiss.
Bandits were advancing closer to the Capital, goblins had appeared where they should not have been, and someone might be exploiting military deployment patterns.
The events could be connected, but she had no evidence and would not pretend otherwise. For now, the possibility remained alongside everything else she had observed.
G6 narrowed her eyes toward the deeper woods.
A predator had finally been released beyond the palace walls, but something in this forest had been waiting long before she arrived.
It had her attention now.
—To Be Continued…—