In a certain ruin, enveloped in deep night darkness, multiple presences had gathered.
Several figures clad in black robes surrounded the area, and at the center of the circle stood three individuals.
One of them was the black-clad assassin, now with her mask removed, her face exposed.
She maintained a blank expression, suppressing her emotions.
"I heard you failed?"
The one who hurled these words at the black-clad assassin was one of the three.
A young man sat in a luxurious chair ill-suited for the ruin, legs crossed, looking down at her. He wore a suit equally out of place in this derelict setting.
However, the young man's expression held a sinister quality that wouldn't hesitate to use violence if necessary—that part was fitting for the ruin.
"I apologize."
"Apologizing is something even a child can do! What? The famous 'Silver' of the underworld can't even take care of one arrogant brat!?"
"With all due respect, his strength is not something to be underestimated as mere child's play..."
"What?! First an apology, then an excuse?! Don't you dare brush aside your own incompetence!"
The young man dismissed the assassin's apology and advice with irritation.
He had served as the leader of Zolgia's human trafficking organization—or rather, had served.
However, with Zolgia's sudden death the other day and the organization suffering devastating losses, he had lost credibility and was cast aside by the Asmodeus faction of the Old Maou Faction—those who called themselves the True Maou Faction.
"Damn it! Everyone looks down on me! What penalty clause?! Those greedy Devil bastards!"
When he learned that Kurosaki Renya was the cause, the young man bore a grudge. Having lost much of his wealth, he took the black-clad assassin's protection target hostage to save on expenses, forcing her to accept the assassination request for free.
'And yet they're keeping Zolgia-sama's pleasure halls running!'
The pleasure halls that Zolgia had operated, where various beauties and girls were enjoyed according to various tastes, were still being maintained by other Old Maou Faction members.
Including the place where the women he had gathered were kept.
That only further infuriated the young man.
He blamed Kurosaki Renya for all of it, his resentment festering.
"Fufu."
The one who laughed at such a young man was not the black-clad assassin.
It was the third of the three.
A Northern European beauty with long silver hair and clear blue eyes.
Bound by magic, stripped down to her underwear so she couldn't escape, she was a captive who looked nothing like one, carrying herself with dignity as if she had nothing to be ashamed of.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. I just thought you were a small man, that's all."
"What did you say!?"
Laughed at for being small-minded, the silver-haired beauty's words struck the young man's pitiful pride—he who had served as the head of an organization, albeit a crooked one, for many years.
The young man stood up, approached the silver-haired beauty with heavy footsteps, and grabbed her by the throat with full force.
"Ngh..."
"Talking back so boldly! I could kill you, you know! Or even sell you into prostitution! Don't forget that I hold everything over you! Do you want me to have the men here gang-rape you!?"
"Heh, heh... If you can, go ahead and try."
"What did you say!?"
"You say you hold everything over me, but that's my line. Don't forget that the only reason you're still safe is because of my existence."
"Wh-what...? —Hii!?"
The cold words and gaze from the silver-haired beauty, who showed no fear, made the young man feel anger and, more than that, a sense of unease—but only for a moment.
A killing intent as cold as absolute zero slammed into him from behind, making him fall on his rear. He looked over his shoulder.
There, the black-clad assassin hadn't moved from her spot, but was radiating an icy killing intent.
She was making it clear, more effectively than words ever could, that if he did anything more to the silver-haired beauty, there would be no mercy.
True, taking the silver-haired beauty hostage might have made the black-clad assassin a pawn.
But at the same time, it was a double-edged sword.
The guarantee of the young man's own safety also depended on the silver-haired beauty's existence.
If anything happened to her, the black-clad assassin would undoubtedly have killed everyone present without hesitation.
"W-wait! Wait! It's a joke! This was all a joke!"
Perhaps his last shred of pride had been blown away; the young man stood up and directed a servile smile at the black-clad assassin.
"Understood. But there will be no next time."
The assassin withdrew her killing intent, but the coldness in her gaze remained unchanged.
That alone sent chills down the young man's spine and into his very core.
'I-it's fine! If anything happens to me, this woman, hailed as the 'Second Coming of Freya,' will die! She'll die even if anyone other than me tries to release her! The power of life and death is in my hands! 'Silver' doesn't want her to die, so she can't defy me!'
The young man repeated this to himself like a self-suggestion.
But he didn't realize just how much that guarantee depended on another.
The black-clad assassin was obeying precisely because she didn't want the silver-haired beauty to die.
If she were killed, or if something terrible happened to her, the one who would die in that instant would be the young man.
In other words, the young man's own life and death depended on the silver-haired beauty's existence.
The one who understood this was the black-clad assassin—and...
'What a truly boring man.'
The silver-haired beauty herself also understood.
She had even considered provoking him into harming her, thereby freeing the black-clad assassin—but that had been prevented by the assassin herself.
'Fufufu. I'm sorry.'
The black-clad assassin cast a gaze that was both reproachful and worried, and the silver-haired beauty responded with a look of her own.
With just that, the two understood each other's intentions. They were truly connected.
"A-anyway! There won't be a next time! Next time, make sure you properly dispose of Leonhard Pheles!"
The young man put up a brave front, covering up his earlier humiliation.
"Yes."
The black-clad assassin nodded obediently, but everything was for the sake of the silver-haired beauty.
But at the same time, there was hesitation.
What had happened to Zolgia was his own doing. To kill someone without fault, just to protect someone precious...
No, before that—
With this hesitation, the black-clad assassin couldn't see herself killing Kurosaki Renya.
She didn't want to kill him, but she wanted to protect.
As the black-clad assassin agonized over being torn between the two, the young man gave out one order after another, trying to cover up his disgrace.
"Alright, next time it won't just be 'Silver'—you're all going out! Anyone who gets results will be given the women from his Servants! I've heard they're all beauties and cute girls! You'll have plenty of fun!"
"Ooh!"
Pathetic as he was, the young man still knew how to provide incentives, so the men had no complaints about following him.
That was when it happened.
"Do you really think there will be a next time?"
A voice, accompanied by a thunderous crash.
The ruin's wall exploded outward, scattering debris and dust.
"Wh-what!?"
Coughing and waving away the dust, he managed to clear his vision. Through the hole in the wall, a single figure stepped inside.
A young man with black hair and blue eyes.
The one he desperately wanted to kill—
"Leonhard Pheles!?"
Leonhard Pheles. Also known as Kurosaki Renya—appearing right before his eyes...
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