Chapter 37: Assassination?

He handed me a small crystal from within his robes in response to my question.

What he gave me was a relatively ordinary memory crystal, a tool commonly used by mages to store important memories.

When I infused it with mana to activate it, it displayed detailed instructions and demonstrations on things like basic greetings, how to have a conversation, and how to comfort someone in sorrow.

But wait, weren’t that young man and woman assistants at Lord Medluf lab?

I vaguely remembered meeting them before and being uncomfortable with how stiff their demeanor was.

And yet now, their acting was so natural and gentle.

Just how many times had they done this for it to seem so effortless and free of embarrassment?

“Medluf comes by sometimes and leaves these.”

He said.

Only then did I realize it.

Lord Medluf has been continuously teaching him about emotions and how to express them—and what I was seeing now was the result of all that effort.

Sure, there were still some awkward bits, but considering what he used to be like, it was almost like looking at a completely different person.

The same could be said for the two people in the crystal simulation.

I handed the crystal back to him.

The series of shocking moments had been overwhelming, but it was finally time to get to the point.

“What’s going on? Where’s Lowell?”

He was looking for Lowell.

He must not have realized I had come alone.

“I came alone today. I need to ask you for a favor.”

An awkward silence briefly settled between us.

I wasn’t used to talking with him, and I guess I waited, hoping he might say something more.

But all he did was quietly stare at me, as if urging me to just get on with it.

“Assassins targeted me. I don’t know the details, but it seems to be the work of the High Assassin guild.”

He didn’t react.

Yes, this was the Baglos I knew.

I went on to describe the red-haired man’s appearance and methods.

Even if he followed orders without emotion, lacking emotion and lacking knowledge were two separate things.

Baglos knew the underworld well—he had been a part of it.

If this red-haired man had any reputation or skill, Baglos would likely have heard of him.

He listened silently as I spoke.

When I finished, black mist began to swirl around his body.

“Follow me.”

Leaving just those words behind, Baglos cloaked himself in the shroud of night and dashed off.

“W–Wait! Baglos!”

Of course, he didn’t stop just because I called him.

He was already flying out of sight.

“Eril! After him!”

I quickly climbed onto Eril’s back.

The night shroud was clearly meant for rapid movement, but it also ensured I wouldn’t lose him.

There was no way I could lose him.

The real issue was that I had no idea what he was planning.

Eril swiftly took to the skies, and we sped up, chasing the trail of black mist.

Only a few seconds had passed, yet the distance between us had already grown.

“…This wasn’t part of the plan.”

My original plan had been to calmly explain the situation to Baglos, ask him to handle things, and then return to Lowell.

I was curious about why they targeted me, but since Hailer was already dead, I had no further obligations.

I believed Baglos would take care of things once I left it to him.

But before I even finished talking, he told me to follow him and just ran off.

That wasn’t like him at all.

“Not explaining anything… yeah, that’s more like him.”

I wanted to cut him off and ask directly, but given his speed and the thick forest, it wouldn’t be easy to block his path.

“Eril, let’s close the distance.”

Closing the gap was the first priority.

I didn’t know how far he intended to go, but if I wanted to stop him at a good spot, I couldn’t let the gap grow any more.

As I gripped Eril’s feathers tighter, she sped up.

Because of the trees, all we could really see was a portion of the night shroud, but overtaking the black mist wasn’t difficult.

“Alright. Now what?”

Should I fly close to the treetops and shout at him?

It could work.

My throat might suffer, and it definitely wouldn’t be elegant, but it might get his attention.

“Want to breathe fire?”

We could have Eril breathe fire ahead of him.

Or just fire at the black mist we could see.

Baglos wouldn’t get hurt by that, and at worst, some trees might burn—it was worth trying.

But Eril didn’t go along with my reckless idea.

She must have sensed the hesitation that still lingered in my heart.

Starting fires is always easy… putting them out is another story.

“…Alright. Then let’s keep going like this until we’re out of the forest.”

Beyond the forest was a plain.

Out there, it wouldn’t take much effort to block his path.

After about 20 minutes, we finally emerged from the trees.

The black mist was clearly visible, rushing across the plain.

“Good. Let’s stop him here.”

At my signal, Eril accelerated and landed in front of the mist.

Facing that swirling darkness head-on was terrifying, even knowing it was harmless.

“Baglos! Stop, just for a moment!”

My voice wavered a little, but not enough to stop the message from getting through.

The mist dispersed, and Baglos stood there, looking at me.

There was no annoyance or confusion in his eyes—just calm acceptance of my request.

“Baglos. You need to explain what you’re doing first.”

“I know that guy. High Assassin guild. I have an informant in a nearby city.”

“Yeah. I figured. But why did you tell me to follow you?”

I had a rough idea of how he would handle things.

What I didn’t understand was why he had to bring me along.

Was there any reason I needed to be here?

“I’m just going to help.”

…What?

My mind went blank.

What was that supposed to mean?

“Baglos, hold on—what do you mean you’ll ‘just help’?”

I forced myself to stay calm and asked again.

As expected, even with Lord Medluf’s training, he clearly hadn’t gotten this far yet.

“Lowell told me not to assassinate anymore. I can’t kill.”

Ah.

That’s right.

I remembered now.

After the Great Battle, Lowell had ordered Baglos to stop acting as an assassin.

It may have been more of a request from Lowell’s point of view, but to Baglos, it was practically an absolute command.

Of course he would obey.

“Baglos. This isn’t an assassination.”

But to think he would take this as a simple assassination request… I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why?”

He truly seemed not to understand the difference.

“Baglos, I was attacked. And it doesn’t seem like this will be the end of it.”

I tried to explain calmly, but he cut me off.

“Assassinations have nothing to do with the reason. Whether it’s for profit, for personal safety, or for ideals — the reasons vary, but they all want the same thing: the death of the target. It’s something like that.”

I felt like I’d been struck in the head.

“No…”

I was at a loss for words.

How one defines the act of assassination may differ depending on the person, time, and culture, but right now, Baglos understood assassination through the lens of his past actions.

And indeed, what I was asking him to do wasn’t much different from what he used to do.

No — it wasn’t that it wasn’t different.

The method itself was definitely assassination.

“…Baglos. I didn’t mean I want him dealt with secretly.”

Even to myself, the words sounded like a pathetic excuse.

If not in secret, was I suggesting filing a public investigation with that country?

And to this ridiculous excuse of mine, Baglos simply showed pure curiosity.

“Do you want to eliminate the entire High Assassin Guild?”

The High Assassin Guild is closely connected with high-ranking officials and nobles in each country.

If we were to handle this publicly, we’d have to launch a proper investigation and formally accuse or demand justice for the red-haired man and everyone involved in this assassination, using either my or Baglos’s name.

And if we did that, the fire would inevitably spread to the entire High Assassin Guild.

Even if not all of them would be punished, it would surely cause significant turmoil within each country, and no one could easily predict just how far the ripples would reach.

The current global political climate is extremely unstable, like walking a tightrope.

Many regions still haven’t recovered from the damage of the last great war, and they remain vulnerable to external threats.

Anyone with even a little knowledge of history or politics knows how such internal chaos has been exploited in the past.

“It’s not that.”

I gave him a firm answer.

He had asked purely out of curiosity, and if I didn’t make things clear in moments like this, he often became quite confused, as he had in the past.

“…Yeah. You’re right. So how do you plan to help me?”

“I’ll catch them. You deal with them.”

It was a surprisingly simple solution.

That he could circumvent an anti-assassination order in such a way was both a relief and somewhat concerning.

“So that wouldn’t be considered an assassination?”

I asked without thinking.

I immediately regretted it — what if he changed his mind?

But Baglos’s reply was unexpected.

“You’re my friend. You’re Lowell’s friend. Lowell would understand too.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise.

He also recognized how absurd this workaround was — and that it technically went against Lowell’s orders.

Yet even so, he was saying he would help me.

“…You’ve really changed, Baglos. Lowell and the others would be so happy.”

During the last great war, Lowell and all our other comrades had felt deep sorrow and pity toward him.

Baglos was the result of a forbidden human fusion experiment in chimera creation — a horrifying and inhumane act that, according to Lord Medluf’s examination, had used a child barely old enough to walk.

His very existence was a tragedy, and without free will or emotion, he had followed orders blindly… until even his master abandoned him.

His existence brought deep grief and compassion, especially to Lowell and Lauti.

When Lord Medluf first revealed Baglos’s examination results, Lauti had wept in silence for a long time.

If she, and Lowell, Aegina, Lord Medluf, and Orcan could see Baglos now, they would surely be overjoyed.

They would truly celebrate the fact that he had finally gained the chance to choose his own life and live it.

But in that moment, rather than feeling pure joy or congratulation, I first felt ashamed of myself.

I, too, had felt pity for him and harbored deep rage toward the one who performed those vile experiments.

And yet, I had always been skeptical about him gaining free will and emotions.

Emotions, by nature, are unstable and imperfect.

There are positive ones, like joy and happiness — but there are also negative ones like sadness, anger, envy, jealousy, and desire.

And unfortunately, in most cases, the effects of those negative emotions are far deeper and more powerful.