The Sword and The Shadow

The fourth night was quiet as usual, but Leguna couldn't be busier. There was one thing that came as quite a surprise to him. According to the past three days, he had thought that Sartre's banquet would have rather impressive guests, but most of those attending that day were small-time guild owners.

Don't nobles look down on small business tycoons like this the most? Why would Sartre strike up a relationship with them?

Leguna could only explain it away with Sartre's mother being from a similar merchant guild like that. It wasn't surprising for them to have connections with other merchants.

But that was only his initial theory. Not long after, he noticed a slight problem.

Even though it wasn't apparent, Leguna could notice that quite a number of these people were quite well trained. Their footsteps were light, yet stable. Even though they didn't radiate impetus waves, Leguna knew that techniques to hide them like Wayerliss's weren't that uncommon. Not showing any sign of them didn't mean that they didn't have impetus.

The thought of that gave him goosebumps. He swept his surroundings carefully and saw Sasha sneaking glances at him pitifully, as if she wanted to say something.

Furrowing his brow, he quietly made his way there.

When Sasha saw him approach, she initially tried to run, but for some reason, she didn't.

"What's up?" he asked carefreely.

"It's… it's nothing…"

She lowered her head guiltily.

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"I… I'm not!"

"You definitely are!"

He knew that something was up from her expression. His gaze cooled and he tried to approach her.

"Big Brother Jaehart, run!"She could no longer hold it in and pushed him aside.

Those words were the last piece of the puzzle. It was no wonder Sasha had been avoiding him lately, and the guests seemed to be formidable people. They all had impetus!

And there was only one reason: he was exposed! They were there to capture him!

All the realizations flashed through his mind in an instant. The next second, an arrow shot towards the back of his heart at an odd angle.

He could avoid it!

But he didn't, whether intentional or not. Sasha and Leguna were in the arrow's trajectory. If he did evade it, Sasha's head would be shot through!

He hesitated for a fraction of a second upon that realization before jumping forwards. Even though Sasha had sold him out, he couldn't feel an ounce of hate for her. After all, he did wrong her in a way. And what she did didn't merit the punishment of death.

"Aaaaah!" Sasha shrieked, thinking that Leguna was leaping at her for her betrayal.

She was only a powerless girl. How could she avoid him in time? She was pushed to the ground by Leguna before she heard his pained groan.

Goodbye, Mother! was the first thought she had when she fell to the ground. She felt her palm touch a warm liquid. That's definitely my blood, right? This baddy Dark Requiem definitely cut open my throat like they said he would.

But the next second, she felt something odd. Apart from her sore back from the fall, she didn't feel anything else.

Leguna stood up and his left arm was hanging limply. That was where the arrow had struck and the impetus infused in it cut off part of his arm muscles. But it wasn't a fatal wound. Those people actually didn't coat the arrow in poison. Perhaps they were afraid of harming Sartre or some other high-status guests there.

After making sure the arrow wasn't poisoned, he summoned a shadow dagger to cut the arrow in two. Having something stick out of his body like that would get in the way of his fighting.

The Stokians that swarmed him weren't in a rush to attack either. They slowly approached and encircled Leguna and Sasha.

"I didn't expect this, truly, I didn't… I thought being able to collect the famous Dark Requiem's weapons was lucky enough. I didn't think they came packaged with Dark Requiem himself! I dare say, it truly is a pleasure to have you here!" Sartre said from first floor's stairway.

He was a decent-looking man in his fifties, but his attire and graceful movements made Leguna feel like puking.

He couldn't be bothered to deal with Sartre. What he cared more for was the female assassin dressed in a tight, dark-red suit behind him with one eye covered up. Her figure was bombastic and could stand toe-to-toe with Vera's.

The woman seemed to know exactly which buttons to push to get men raving over her. She put her supple, yet slender figure in full display and even the slightest twitch of her body caused men's eyes to be glued to her.

Though, Leguna wasn't paying that much attention to her figure. Given that he was surrounded by beauties like Annelotte, Eirinn, Vera and Innilis, he had been immunized to such temptations. And given their temperament, he wouldn't dare risk their wrath by being charmed either.

Instead, he was more concerned about the sense of danger she conveyed.

The power she hid was terrifying. Leguna wouldn't have even taken note of her if he were the slightest bit less observant.

Behind her dazzling figure hid her terrifying abilities. She was able to perfectly fuse the polar opposites of high and low profiles. She definitely wasn't a normal person.

According to his information, the only female assassin in Stok that fit the bill was One.

One was the codename she bore in the assassination department of Stok's intelligence agency. Unlike the bureau, Stok's agencies didn't register their assassins by name and instead refer to their members with numbered codenames.

The number they got, on the other hand, depended on their achievements.

It went without question that the number one was only reserved for the strongest in the department. One was the most powerful assassin under the employ of Stok!

By the time he realized that he couldn't help furrowing his brow. One was definitely savage and harsh, but the information he had about her was too less.

All he knew was that she was a woman who had killed Goldeagle's previous commander during the first war. Leguna didn't know how old she was, whether she was a gifted, or the kinds of unconventional abilities she had.

Leguna felt a little frustrated at the thought. She was the epitome of a professional assassin. Even though she was that powerful, she managed to keep a low profile. Yet, even though Leguna didn't really want a name for himself, Arikos made it so that everyone on the streets knew who he was. Is he trying to make me an assassin idol or something? What do I do now that I've met the real deal?

He couldn't help cursing Arikos a few more times in his head. It wasn't really his fault, though. While his namesake was quite famous, it was Saron who discovered the extent of his abilities. As Leguna wasn't able to wipe him out, he allowed Saron to report his abilities to Stok and make it wide and known.

One wasn't too surprised to see Leguna notice her. She took two steps forward with her waists swaying along with her short, black hair.

"Only two kinds of people can easily notice my presence," One whispered with a coarse, but seductive, voice not unlike Gahrona's. "The first is a sensitive person."

"And the second?"

The pain on his wound hurt quite a bit, and the shivering Sasha was tugging on his left hand and causing it to hurt even more.

The hell? Do you want me to die from pain or blood loss? You're doing it on purpose, are you? To avenge your father and brother? I just taught you how to resist and you use it on me? Is it karma or something?

"The other kind…"

Her eyes slanted as if she was smiling as she stretched lazily, the sight of her curves accelerating the rate of Leguna's blood loss. She groaned.

"The second… are perverts."

Leguna was speechless.

"Well, this was all I prepared today. I was in too much of a rush, you see. If you think I've looked down on you, I apologize."

She bowed gracefully, her breasts jiggling in her tight skinsuit as if they were bunnies trying to break out of their bindings.

"I wouldn't mind being underestimated. At least, it'd be easier on me."

The moment he finished, his figure vanished before the eyes of everyone present.