The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

After her meeting with the chancellor, Silica left the main building and headed towards her research office in the annex.

“Oh right! I forgot to check.”

Suddenly remembering something she might have left behind, she turned back and entered the main building, heading towards the research materials room that only faculty members could access.

“It should be here somewhere…….”

The more she tried to find it, the more elusive it seemed, and her memory of its location was fuzzy today.

Fumbling with the books, trying to guess the location, she eventually stopped at a certain spot.

“……?”

In the densely packed bookshelf, there was one space uniquely empty.

Where there should have been something, there was nothing but swirling dust.

“Are you looking for this?”

A strange voice came from behind her unexpectedly.

Silica hastily turned around.

“Oh, uh, that is… You’re Cyan, the student, right?”

The owner of the voice was Cyan Vert, who had just come from a long conversation with the chancellor.

In his hand was a red hardcover book.

“This area is restricted to students, how did you get in? Everything here is important research material and shouldn’t be tampered with carelessly…….”

Cyan simply smiled mysteriously without saying a word.

“Could you… return that? It’s essential for the research work I have to do today…….”

“Oh yes, of course. I should return it to you.”

Cyan extended the book to her without any hesitation.

“Thank you, Cyan, I…….”

Silica’s eyes shook intensely at the thin texture she felt at her fingertips.

What she had grabbed was not the thick red hardcover, but a thin piece of black paper.

“Isn’t this what you were looking for, Teacher Silica? Or should I say… Clan Leader Silica?”

“…….”

A tumultuous silence, like the calm before a storm, engulfed the space.

Then, the gentle look in her eyes vanished, replaced by a gaze filled with murderous intent and bloodlust, revealing itself to the world.

“What are you?”

* * *

Silica Nigrity.

An academic instructor at the Royal Academy.

She was one of the educators recognized by everyone in the academy, regardless of whether they were students, instructors, or even superiors, based on her bright personality and excellent teaching skills.

However, that was just a disguised identity.

If her real identity, unknown to students, instructors, or even the chancellor, were to become known to the public?

The Royal Academy might be closed the very next day.

Who could have possibly predicted?

In an academy filled with the continent’s renowned nobles, that the leader of an assassination organization hunting nobles would be an instructor…

Her previously clumsy appearance had disappeared without a trace.

Now, only an assassin stood before me.

“’It’s hard to say that you’ve seen the secret letter, the evidence is too scant. How much do you know?”

The black paper hidden in a hardcover book was a type of secret letter used within the organization for confidentially exchanging information.

Other members within the academy would gather information from their respective areas and hide it here, and she, the leader, would take it.

Of course, since it’s written in code, it wouldn’t be a problem if others saw it.

But even if one knew the content of the secret letter, they could never know the fact that I had just spoken out loud.

Not Silica ‘the teacher’, nor Silica ‘the member’, but Silica ‘the leader’…

“I won’t beat around the bush. Please make your judgment on the report.”

A picture is worth a thousand words. To answer her question, I released the sealed energy of the mist.

‘…!’

The black mist that escaped from the collar began to engulf the surroundings and gradually started to spread throughout the entire library.

Silica’s expression changed for a moment as she quickly grabbed my collar.

The spreading mist quickly dissipated.

“That’s enough. It would be troublesome if it spread any further. There are quite sensitive people here in the academy.”

After securing even the buttons, she then smiled brightly and said,

“Shall we move to another spot?”

Silica’s private research room was located in the annex of the Academy.

It was filled with various magical tools, swords, scriptures, and numerous other items revealing traces of research, but all were merely decoys.

She really is unparalleled in the art of disguise.

Silica was sitting in the corner, brewing tea for me.

“You seem calmer than I expected?”

“I’m just pretending to be calm. There’s no point in outwardly showing that I’m shocked.”

“You really are different on the inside than you appear on the outside.”

“Take that as a compliment.”

She smiled and handed me a cup of tea.

The color was deep and slightly reddish, indistinguishable from ordinary black tea, but… something unsettling was added to it.

“Why did you put poison in it?”

“It’s not deadly poison, so don’t worry. It might just cause some of your internal organs to leak out a bit.”

I couldn’t help but exclaim at her brazenness.

I knew it, but it was still an astonishing level of audacity.

“Well, since it seems you won’t be drinking the tea, shall we start the conversation?”

Silica leaned on the table, facing me with a bright smile.

“There’s not much to talk about, is there? I’ve already shown you who I am through my actions.”

“Ho ho. I was expecting it, but you’re much more bold than you look. Do you want to say ‘I’m also a Mist~!’ right in front of me now?”

“Do I need to prove it further?”

She burst into laughter.

“Such black mist can be easily created with magic. Plus, we’ve conducted an attribute test together today, haven’t we? A 92% darkness attribute… With that level, you could turn a bright day into night, not just create mist.”

“Didn’t you see my magic grade? It’s just 1-star.”

“You’re underestimating the academy’s instructors too much. Did you think I wouldn’t know that hiding is a specialty of the darkness attribute?”

She was not easily convinced.

I nonchalantly drank the tea she offered.

“…!”

“It seems you’ve brewed the tea leaves for too long. Please make it lighter next time.”

To me, who has been consuming the blood of demons, such poison is merely like slightly bitter water.

She maintained her poker face to the end.

“During the year I was on the front lines, the empire became quite tumultuous. Everywhere I went, people clung to me asking if I needed bodyguards. It was quite chaotic.”

“It seems you didn’t actually hire any, given the rumors. I heard you were accompanied by only one knight?”

“Technically, even he was just a coachman.”

Now, it has become a seed.

“Hmm, quite confident, aren’t you? You had a coachman but no knight… Does that mean you didn’t need anyone to protect you?”

“If the spear isn’t pointed at me, there’s no need to carry a shield.”

I countered with a relaxed smile.

Although it might seem like a pleasant conversation filled with laughter at a glance, it’s nothing more than a false play.

I can see it.

The barbed-wire-like vigilance hidden behind her murderous smile.

At this point, I decided to provoke her a bit more.

“Has Mist really resumed its activities?”

“What activities~?”

Silica asked, feigning ignorance.

“The purification operations. There hasn’t been a successor revealed yet, has there?”

In the brief moment between 0 and 0.2 seconds, two reactions occurred on her face.

Her eyebrows twitched at the mention of purification operations,

And her eyes fluttered at the mention of a successor.

Ordinary human eyes would never catch such a moment, but mine did.

“…”

Did I provoke her too much?

The barbed-wire-like vigilance shattered, and now the sharp will to kill hidden within started to reveal itself, along with an ominous aura of mana emanating from her body.

“Didn’t you say there are many sensitive people here? Are you planning to kill me here?”

“Do you feel the spear pointed at you now?”

“I won’t pick up a shield, though.”

If a spear is pointed at me, then I too will simply lift a spear.

In the cramped space of about ten square meters, two killing intents arose.

It didn’t take long for these energies to collide head-on.

Crash!

The table flipped over, and her hidden black dagger flew towards me.

Clang!

I too drew my Kaeram from within my clothes and countered her attack.

Silica still had a murderous smile on her face as she spoke.

“I wonder what you mean by purification operations… May I ask?”

Attack first, ask later, is it?

“Seems like you’ve got the order a bit mixed up, don’t you think?”

Purification operation.

Although called the foremost assassination group on the continent in name and reality, within Mist, they do not refer to their activities as assassinations.

They are merely cleansing the dirty and ugly aspects of the human world to make it a bit more prosperous.

It’s not an act that transcends the ethical boundaries of humanity.

…Or so they say, but it’s just a euphemism.

Unless they’re fanatical zealots obsessed with religion, why bother calling it a purification operation when it’s simply killing?

In fact, the members themselves know how cringeworthy the expression is and do not hesitate to use the word assassination when among themselves.

I conveyed all the information I had just explained directly to her.

Silica, laughing like a madwoman, sheathed her sword.

“I really don’t know what to make of you. You’re not even a speck in my memory, yet now, I can feel his power and our traces within you.”

“I’m glad you recognize me now.”

Thinking the storm had passed, I lowered my sword with relief.

“Which means I have to kill you even more….”

“…?”

I quickly picked up my sword again.

Her swordsmanship, now even more ferocious with killing intent, charged at me once more.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The strikes were more forceful than before.

“Isn’t this proof enough?”

“No, it’s sufficient! You definitely carry our traces….”

With a murderous smile, black mist started to rise from between her clothes.

“But I don’t know you. There can’t be a member of Mist I don’t know. That means you’re an existence that shouldn’t be.”

Hmm, it seems I was too complacent.

Our leader is more stubborn than I thought.

“You should think wisely. If you make a mistake, your life as an instructor could end.”

“And you should worry about yourself. You’re in a situation where your life could end, aren’t you?”

She’s not a woman to be swayed by such vague negotiations.

To be honest, my body is itching for action.

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt such a worthy opponent’s killing intent.

Not the petty demons or weak humans, but the killing intent of a true assassin.

How can my body not react to such a precious killing intent?

However, I’m not a fool to abandon my plans for the sake of immediate desires.

“Didn’t you have a second question?”

“A second question?”

Silica’s eyes wavered once more.

The second word that had previously elicited a reaction from her, following the purification operations.

“Struggling to extend your life by even a second, or are you trying to buy time?”

“Just to clarify, only the two of us know that I’m here with you right now. There’s no one coming to help me.”

“I’m also clarifying, no matter what you say here, you’re not getting out alive. Even if you were the successor…!”

“The successor, you say?”

“…?”

Silica’s lips momentarily tightened into a straight line.

“You would kill the successor?”

As the leader of a group that follows Aer, the word “successor” is something she can’t simply ignore.

Whether my words are true or false, once I’ve mentioned it, she cannot kill me on the spot.

“Do you think I’ll believe that?”

“If you’re curious, why don’t you check?”

I showed her the black gem embedded in my Keram.

The power of the magic sword and the magic stone filled with Aer’s energy.

The leader of Mist couldn’t possibly fail to recognize it.

Her expression turned grave the moment she saw the gem.

With a smile, I said,

“Please take me to your hideout.”

(To be continued)