The capital, Veneto, Artisan’s District.
A street lined with top-tier artisans who deal in luxurious ornaments made of jewels, metal, glass, and more—a veritable mecca of extravagance, even by the standards of the continent.
“I’ve really picked up a tough mission.”
Vigo spoke up as he stepped onto the street.
“Is this your first time dealing with the Empire’s public security?”
“No.”
At Sien’s question, Vigo shook his head.
“When I first faced those guys, Mikhail godfather was still alive.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
No matter how deep the hours of the night, this city never truly sleeps. The same could be said for the Artisan’s District.
That included not only the Nightwalker Family, who operated in the shadows, but also their enemies in the Republic.
“And you? Isn’t this your first time dealing with them?”
“Why do you think it’s my first?”
“Well…”
She was only just fifteen, after all.
Vigo almost said it, but instead burst out laughing. He, more than anyone, knew the absurd talent young Sien had displayed.
Of course, Vigo was right. At least, for the Sien standing here now.
Yet, in all the long history of this continent, no Assassin from the Nightwalker Family had ever slain more of those men than Sien—not even the family head, Ryla.
“Twelve Lord Inquisitors, including Cardinal Aquinas.”
“Yes. I killed them all.”
“Don Sien, and Don Bigo.”
A voice echoed from the darkness just then.
“Sir Lynch.”
A shadow knight, who had arrived ahead to complete the mission, revealed himself to Sien and Vigo.
The Assassins of the Nightwalker Family also had to run on two feet and gather information when needed. Still, most of the time, it was the shadows who served as their ‘eyes and ears’, doing legwork and handling odd jobs.
“My honored Nightwalkers, I greet you.”
Beside the shadow knight was a man with a deathly pale face.
“I’m Bocelli, chief artisan of the Artisan’s Guild!”
“Enough with the introductions. Tell us the situation.”
“Y-Yes! As I reported to Your Grace, the Duke of Nightwalker, three months ago, that man arrived here carrying a personal letter of recommendation written by our guild’s top master artisan.”
“Three months ago, huh.”
At Sien’s comment, the chief artisan bowed his head again and continued.
“The man who wrote that letter personally vouched for his skill and credibility. In fact, he had mastered secret cutting methods and crafting techniques that only those taught by our guild could possibly imitate.”
“And where is the guild’s chief artisan who wrote the letter now?”
“He established a branch of the Artisan’s Guild in the Commercial Quarter of the Holy Romanius Empire’s capital. He’s the branch manager there now.”
“He’s probably dead by now.”
Sien replied flatly, and Bocelli’s face turned ghostly white. Sien was not surprised. That was simply their way.
“Is the man still in the guild’s workshop?”
“Y-Yes! He’s currently rushing to finish a ruby-cutting job that must be done by dawn—he’s still in the workshop—”
“That’s all I need to know.”
Before he could continue, Sien shook her head.
“Sir Lynch, your report.”
“Six shadow knights are taking turns in pairs, keeping him under surveillance. As he said, since he entered the workshop, there hasn’t been any suspicious movement.”
“Everything’s ready and waiting.”
At Sien’s words, Vigo shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“Let’s take care of this quickly.”
***
The Artisan’s Guild workshop.
A man in formal attire stood inside.
He paid no mind to the Nightwalker Family’s Assassin behind him, absorbed in meticulously carving a piece of ruby through his monocle.
“You arrived later than I expected.”
The man spoke without even turning around, as if he had foreseen this outcome from the very start.
“You expected us to come?”
“No one in this world can deceive the eyes and ears of the Nightwalker Family.”
“If you knew that, what gave you the nerve to sneak in here like a rat?”
“There are things a rat must do.”
“Was it you who swayed Chairman Zaccani and connected him to the Grand Duke Grandel’s house?”
The man sneered as he carefully cut the edge of the ruby.
“I am a tool of God.”
His hands moved with extreme care and delicacy, as if wary of scratching the gem by accident.
“A tool cares nothing for its own well-being. It does not fear breaking or being destroyed.”
The square-cut ruby in the man’s hand soon took on a beautiful hexagonal form.
“Just as the knife in my hand does not fear losing its edge or breaking.”
Schring.
At the same time, Sien shifted her grip on the dagger in her sleeve.
Clang!
The man’s carving knife met Sien’s ‘Royal Executioner’ head-on.
“So fast…”
Vigo swallowed, watching the narrowing distance. But what surprised him even more was Sien’s composure, calmly matching the ambush without the slightest flinch.
Of course, Vigo was no longer the inexperienced novice he’d once been. Now, he was a true Assassin of the Nightwalker Family.
So he recalled what his godfather Mikhail had taught him. It was obvious what he had to do.
“[Spider’s Web Stance]—”
Not the standard swordsmanship of the Nightwalker Family. This was a unique style used only by the Puppet Master, Mikhail, and taught solely to his heir, Vigo.
Zaaak!
At that moment, aura poured from Vigo’s sleeve and wove through the room like spider silk.
A web of death that left nowhere to move.
“There’s nothing for me to gain by jumping in now. I’d only get in the way.”
So he widened the distance, focusing on supporting Sien and covering her with the deadly spider web.
Tak!
Even without words, Sien instantly understood Vigo’s intention.
And that was precisely what made the Nightwalker Family’s Assassins so fearsome.
A unique bond—a kind of psychic resonance known as —formed among those who had completed the Nightwalker Family’s baptism.
An invisible connection, stronger than blood, that made them family as Assassins.
There was no need to coordinate tactics beforehand, no need for a hundred words or gestures. Even as the situation shifted second by second, not a word was needed.
They simply understood.
“Spider’s Web Stance is specialized for confining the enemy’s movements indoors. It’s not really suited for direct combat.”
But for cover and support, there was nothing better.
While Vigo pinned and trapped the foe, it was Sien who would strike the killing blow.
Two against one.
Sien dashed through the crisscrossing webs of death, stretched from floor to ceiling, pillars to tables, covering every corner of the room.
Clang!
The sound rang out.
What the man now held was no longer an ordinary carving knife. Nor was it the sword of an imperial knight or a cleric’s mace.
It was the same kind of dagger Sien held in her hand.
At the man’s feet, an ominous magic burst forth in a swirl of sinister energy.
“Fifth-Order Lethal Poison Cloud,”
A fifth-order magic of the Poison School, which kills by drawing blood from every pore the moment the cloud is inhaled. So gruesome and inhuman that it was forbidden by the imperial church in the name of the faith.
And yet, here was a servant of the church brazenly wielding that forbidden magic.
That was their way.
—The official title: Holy Romanius Empire, Congregatio Inquisitionis, Department of Public Security.
Guardians who protected the Empire’s faith and order from every heresy and evil that spread through the world.
Assassination, kidnapping, threats, torture, persuasion—they used any means to keep ‘order’, just as the Assassins of the Nightwalker Family justified the ends by the means.
“Sien Nightwalker.”
Dodging the poison cloud, Sien widened the distance and steadied her stance. The man, watching Sien, smiled.
“Now I can finally be sure.”
“Sure of what?”
“That your talent is no lie.”
“In you, I sense a potential threat to both the Empire and the church—one even greater than the Mother of Assassin.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
Sien sneered coldly.
“You’re not leaving here alive anyway.”
“Of course.”
Drip.
Blood flowed from the man’s nose and mouth in the very next moment, a result of the poison cloud he himself had unleashed.
“I never expected to from the start.”
“What…”
Vigo gasped at the sight, but Sien was unfazed.
“So rather than struggling and helping you grow, I’d rather simply collapse here without giving you any experience at all.”
“So you never intended to fight me yourself?”
“Arrogance is the worst sin a human can commit, brother.”
Even as blood streamed from his eyes and ears, the man spoke calmly.
“That’s why a servant of God must always be humble.”
“Is that so.”
“And with the Puppet Master Mikhail’s heir personally using the ‘Spider’s Web Stance’, my chances of victory are hopeless.”
“How do you know that name…?”
“I told you—we’re the Empire’s rats.”
The man sneered at Vigo’s astonishment.
“Rats are everywhere in the world.”
Just as the Nightwalker Family’s eyes and ears exist everywhere in this world.
That was the end of conversation. So too, the fight ended there.
No flashy clash, no last-minute rampage.
As blood drained from every part of him, the man’s body collapsed in vain.
Sien knew all too well the monstrous power held by the Empire’s public security, the Lord Inquisitors. The man knew that too. Yet he was certain he could never defeat Sien. And so he refused even to become food and experience for her by fighting a losing battle against such a strong opponent.
Even though his chance of victory was not zero.
That fact alone sent an involuntary chill through them.
“Is that…it?”
“Looks that way.”
Vigo withdrew the web of death draped across the room.
It was an unexpectedly anticlimactic end, and yet, for that very reason, left a bitter aftertaste. Vigo felt the same.
“Who’d have thought he’d give up resistance. Then why didn’t he just kill himself from the start?”
“He wanted to see it with his own eyes.”
Sien replied.
“If he had judged we weren’t a threat, he would have risked everything for a joint suicide.”
“Usually, it’s the opposite.”
When something is truly dangerous, you avoid touching it. On the surface, that might seem odd.
A courageous knight would fight to the death to cut off a threat, even sacrificing themselves, hoping their bravery would be remembered and praised for generations. That was the knight’s honorable way.
But this man was different. He cared nothing for honor, didn’t wish for his deeds to be remembered. He didn’t mind being a tool for his goals, measuring the situation with pathological humility and caution.
That was what truly made them terrifying.
“They really are unnerving people.”
Sien gave a bitter smile at Vigo’s comment. He was right.
“They’re a breed completely different from us by nature.”
Leaving the corpse of the fallen imperial agent behind, Sien spoke.
“Our mission is over.”