The streets of Langite slowly died out. The rush of the merchants vying for sales and the commotion of the common people as they tried to do their daily routines was now relatively tame.

A young man walked among the small crowds. He wore simple clothes and basic leather armour. Even though he was an adventurer, it seemed that he’s rarely ever ventured far from the town. The smell of alcohol lingered in the air where he passed by.

“...” His breathing got slightly laboured. Perhaps it was because he had been walking for a good while now.

As he passed by dozens of people- there was something slightly off. His adventurer companion was nowhere to be seen, even though in most cases he’d be accompanied by at least one person.

“...” A cold sweat ran down his cheek.

Aside from that, his face also seemed slightly pale. Though, that may be because of the orange light that tinted the sky. He held his head down as he walked down the streets.

“-sorry ma’am, we’ve sold the last of the-”||”-oi, it’s that man from earlier-”||”-move out of the way, supplies are-”||”-premium quality ingredients at half price-”||”-there should be a fresh batch coming in tomorrow ma’am-”

Every now and then, Reonold glanced behind him. It seemed like he was looking for someone- or something.

“...”

He looked for the Rats that he found earlier. Though, even as he kept glancing behind him, he couldn’t find a single one. Indeed, not a single person was following him. Seeing as he intentionally went around in circles more than a couple of times.

If it was earlier in the day, it was still possible to lose track of people who were tailing him. Though, the sparse crowds meant much fewer faces to look at.

“I guess they did go after that moron” he whispered under his breath.

That moron- he referred to his friend. The adventurer that was accompanying him earlier. The adventurer the he had left behind.

Of course, survival was something that only those who want it can actually achieve. Or so Reonold believed. Survival of the fittest at it’s most base.

“...”

Though- even so. He had known that man for a long time. A long enough time that simply doing what he did with almost no regrets felt- unnatural.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Inside the guild hub, a man holding what looked like a logbook and a piece of parchment was sitting down. At his table, a handful of hooded men were chugging down entire pitchers of cheap alcohol. They all chattered among themselves.

“-oi did you see that beautiful lady that was with-”||”-shuddup ye moron, that’s his lady, if you even talk about-”||”-masked man? That eerie lil son of a-”||”-that was our vanguard-”||”-are ye serious, those two were the-”

Though, the man holding the logbook didn’t participate in their frivolous conversations. Rather, he simply sat as he drank his own, more expensive, beverage.

Around them- the buzz of the other adventurers was prevalent. One by one, more and more adventurers entered the hub. Many of them looked rugged and tired. They all headed towards one of the receptionists.

Others looked cleaner and seemed unfamiliar with the place. They were travelling adventurers- though- even if they are called adventurers, they don’t exactly do much adventuring.

It was nearing the end of the day. Adventurers had mostly finished their quests and were turning them in. At the end of the day- many of them gathered at tables and drank their fill. They shared stories with one another-

“-what wus that one’s name-”||”-I told ye, we encountered a Rathal-”||”-you sure it wasn’t just a Rathia-”||”-really, we couldn’t even find a single nirnroo-”||”-oi, can I ‘ave another pint of this-”||”-Kazuma! Aqua!?... agh- why do those two have to leave us here-”||”-Megumin, can’t you use any teleportation spell-”||”-I refuse. Explosion magic is the only-”

A few moments pass as a hooded man passed by.

“...”

It didn’t seem like anything happened, though in that moment, the hooded man had passed a piece of parchment to him.

“...”

About as discreet as one could get, he opened the parchment and used his logbook to hide it from plain view. Acting as if he was reading from the logbook itself. The hooded men at his table didn’t pay much attention either to the sudden change in his posture.

S;; pg yjr ;ppdr rmfd jsbr nrrm frs;y eoyj. Er’tr ,slomh ditr mpe. - what looked like drunken scribbles were written inside it.

The man had a slight grin form on his face for less than a split second as he tore apart the piece of parchment. The others on the table had laughed for one more time before they all turned their attention to him.

In reality, that drunken scribble was simple code. It wasn’t uncommon for such things to be used by people trying to do things discreetly.

The man leaned forwards as he placed his logbook onto the table. In reponse, the others placed down their drinks- and pitchers.

“It’s time to move.”

With that single sentence, a handful of the men on the table stood up and left. The ones who stayed simply kicked back and relaxed.

A few moments pass before the man slowly stood up and took his logbook.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

The sky slowly grew darker. Reonold walked through the slowly emptying streets of Langite.

“...”

Once again, he glanced behind him every now and then. Though, nothing of note met his eyes. Thus, he kept walking.

It seemed that he knew exactly where he was going- and he did.

Before long, he reached a small clearing in the town. A frozen waterfall was visible. Langite wasn’t exactly a massive town that it’d take a few hours to get from one side to the other. But it still took him this long partly due to walking around in circles earlier.

At one point, he even went outside of the town.

“...”

Reonold looked around the frozen waterfall as he warmed his hands. Though- on closer look it wasn’t a waterfall but rather a wall based fountain. A fairly large one. The area around it seemed to be a small courtyard or garden. Though, nobody was around and the area seemed to be closed off, or at least fairly well isolated, from the streets.

This was supposedly the place where Ragna, his elder brother, had told him to meet in case of any emergencies. Though, it was obvious that there was noone there aside from him.

“...”

The moonlight illuminated the area. It looked as if the area glowed- Rather- it did glow as the moonlight shined on the frozen fountain. It was calming- mesmerizing.

“...”

As he was about to sit down- a figure emerged from across him. It felt- unnatural- eerie.

As befitting of an adventurer, Reonold immediately brandished his weapon. It was accompanied by the area around him distorting for less than a fraction of a second. The low pulsing sound of a Catalyst could also be heard.

He had activated his Catalyst.

Though, he didn’t do anything else aside from stay on guard. That was because in front of him, a figure wearing black plate armour was barely visible. In his head, perhaps it was his brother-

The plate mail from a distance did somewhat resemble what his brother wore-

Until the figure moved into full view and the moonlight finally revealed it.

Unlike Ragna’s hulking armour that stood at least a head taller than even the tallest people that Reonold knew, the figure in front of him wore slim armour jet black armour. Not to mention it didn’t look like it was made by any armour smith.

What looked like tiny fragments of it fell off from different parts of it every now and then. It looked as if it was slowly crumbling into nothing. Though, before it could- those areas seemed to grow back.

“W- Who goes there!?”

“...”

No response as the figure kept walking towards him.

“I’m an adventurer- Gilligan.”

A lie.

“...”

At this point- Reonold’s body trembled slightly. Ever so slightly that even he hadn’t noticed it. A cold sweat ran down his cheek.

“State your name before-”

“Relax, my name is Shizu.”

A chill ran down his spine as he heard that name. The same name that Ragna had warned him and everyone else about. The name of the person that Ragna had left to deal with.

In that instant, Reonold took a few steps back and glanced at his surroundings. Perhaps it was a trap. He knew that Shizu had a companion. Though, glancing around him only confirmed what he had known since earlier. That there was almost nobody there.

“Shizu- you’re the one from the hub aren’t you? What are you doing here?”

“Is it wrong for me to be here?”

“No- Not at all- but that’s not what I meant by that.”

“Well- hard to hold a conversation when you’re pointing that blade at me- in town none the less.” The figure raised one hand and gestured to the area around the two. A weird emphasis added to her last few words. “...”

Indeed, Reonold had kept his blade pointed towards Shizu. He promptly sheathed his blade. “... I- I apologize.”

“That’s better.”

It was true- brandishing a weapon in a town was an extremely rare occurrence. Even the town guards and army rarely ever had to raise their weapons in a town.

“So, what are you doing here?”

Shizu tilted her head slightly. She acted like Reonold should already know why she was here. With a few steps, the space between the two slowly shortened.

“Simply checking on you”

“On me?” Reonold glanced around the area once more. “What could you possibly mean by that?”

“Nothing in particular. It’s as literal as you could take it.” Shizu bowed her head. “Mr. Reonold” she added while she was still bowing. Like a cordial gesture- albeit seemingly a mocking one.

At her words, another chill ran down his spine. He clearly said his name was Gilligan when he first spoke. It was also true that it was the first time he had ever met the figure in front of him. So- how- he probably thought. How could she possibly know that- his mind kept proding for answers.

A gentle breeze blew. Though- gentle as it was, it felt like air infused with frost thanks to winter night.

A few seconds pass. It was a very silent moment. Silent enough that it felt as if the only thing that could be heard was their breaths.

“...”

“Surprised?”

“...N- no. That’s-” Reonold stuttered. A cold sweat ran down his cheek.

“Well, don’t blame me for it. I’m simply doing what I’m told.”

“...”

Shizu turned her head away towards the moon. “Well- it seems that I didn’t really need to though.”

A weird sentence. She came here on her own- yet now she’s saying that she didn’t need to. To Reonold, it didn’t make any sense. Or- it shouldn’t have.

Out of nowhere, blood splattered onto the ground.

“..!?”

Though, Shizu hadn’t moved a single inch as she gazed at the moon still. Only after the fact did her head slowly turn towards Reonold once more.

A few moments ago- Reonold was standing on his two feet. Now- his legs had given out. Blood dripped from his nose and the side of his mouth. From nowhere, he began coughing up blood.

“...”

Of course, he never noticed it. But it was clear to Shizu from the beginning. His veins were faintly showing through his skin with a much darker colour than normal. Cold sweat kept visibly dripping down his cheeks. His skin was much paler than normal.

“P-...”

He swayed back and forth and had problems focusing his eyes. On top of that, a deathly chill had slowly embraced him- though, the temperature around the two didn’t change.

He gathered all his willpower and lifted his head. With clenched teeth, he simply stared at Shizu, who was slowly walking towards him.

“How does it feel” she said as she sat on the ground in front of him. “Miserable isn’t it?”

A wheezing breath was audibly coming from Reonold. “W- Wh- How… What do you wa- want” his voice was much weaker than before.

“...”

Shizu simply stared at Reonold.

“Please- S- Save me- I’ve done nothing-... I’ll give you-...”

One after another, Reonold kept saying seemingly random things. Of course- that was simply because he knew exactly what was happening to him now.

Poison. A familiar kind of poison to him. A kind of poison that he had used many times before.

But, how or why didn’t matter to him at that moment. Only that he needed to get the antidote by any means. Be it by playing the victim, the innocent or the framed. Even bribery was an option. Though, his words couldn’t easily carry his blunted thoughts across well, and instead, came out more as pitiful bargaining for life.

As he stared at Shizu with his blurring vision, she grabbed a small pouch from her back and emptied it’s contents onto the ground in front of him.

He couldn’t see what it was- but he didn’t need to. Just the vague view of it was enough.

“...”

Dozens upon dozens of adventurer I.Ds. One would think that they were fake at first glance- but they were real. One thing that all of them had in common- the owners were all ladies. All of them were younger ladies too and their rankings were low. New adventurers perhaps. Another thing that they all had in common were bloodstains and small notes on the back of the cards.

-Great fun, though she broke after-||-promised to spare her lover if she-||-the silent type, though she began to scream once-||-killed her lover anyway-||-forced her to watch as her sister-||-obedient after the first-

Less than a few moments pass after emptying the pouch’s contents before Shizu grabbed Reonold’s head and immediately slammed it down onto the ground.

“!?”

She held it down onto the ground as small areas around the two began to distort. The faint sound of Catalysts could also be heard by that point.

“How does it feel to suffer. If I could- I’d gladly make you suffer for the remainder of your life- but I can’t” her voice was much more agitated than before. “Though- letting you live might be too merciful of me in and of itself.”

She let go of his head and stood up. It wasn’t visible to him, nor could he turn his head anyway, but beneath her mask. A cold glare was directed towards him.

With a sigh, she walked past him, dumping the empty pouch onto his back.

“P- please-...”

“...”

“I don’t want- don’t want to die-”

“...”

“I’m-... sorry-”

“...”

“Brother- help-”

At this point, Shizu was now far enough that Reonold’s silent whimpers couldn’t be heard. Behind her, Reonold kept turning his head slowly and crawled on the ground.

“I don’t want to be- I don’t want to be alone anymore- Please-...”

It lasted for a while- much longer than what that specific kind of poison should’ve lasted.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Once Renold had finally stopped moving and his visible breath finally disappeared, two hooded men appeared and began to clean up the area. They were the Rats of the Thieves guild. Of course- they were tailing him since the beginning- but the effects of the poison made it near impossible for Reonold to actually concentrate, even though he thought he was.

Shizu- Cyrille- walked away. As she did, her armour had slowly crumbled. Fragments broke off as if it was shattered and disappeared into the wind, revealing her white coat underneath. Her bloodstained sleeve was still there, however.

As she finally reached the boundary of the area, she passed by a hooded man. The same man from in front of the guild hub that encountered Reonold earlier. In his hand, a small syringe-like weapon with an empty vial.

He glanced at her as he played with a gold coin with his other hand.

With a single nod, she passed by and went through the walls and gates, through the alleys and small road, before finally reaching the main streets once again.

Just across the street, a masked figure with furious glowing eyes stared at her. Made even more eerie that it was already night.

“-what is that guy with the mask doing-”||”-don’t get near, he looks dangerous-”||”-mommy, mommy, look, it’s the-”||”-excuse me, out of the way! Coming through-”||”-bummer, I couldn’t finish my quest today so I need to go out again-”||”-those… eyes-”

Even the people that passed by sometimes commented on it. Of course, Cyrille knew exactly who the masked figure was. Arke.

In an instant, her cold and heartless glare subsided into a more neutral smile as she waved at Arke before walking towards him. All while Arke simply nodded.

“Everything went well I assume?”

Cyrille nodded. “It wasn’t exactly the most amusing thing you’ve ever asked me to do- but not the worst either-”

Of course, it was obvious that Cyrille didn’t like it. Though she hid her displeasure with a bland smile. Even if she didn’t like it- it was something that needed to be done. Or at least that’s what Arke would like her to believe.

“I’ll take that as an okay” Arke responded as the two walked down the street. “Next time, you can just tell me if you’d prefer not to do it and switch with me instead.”

Cyrille chuckled after a moment of pause. “We both know that you won’t let that happen anyway.”

“True.”

“Well, what about your end- everything went well too?”

Without looking at Cyrille, Arke simply kept walking forwards. Not that neither of them needed to watch out for other people as the streets were already sparsely populated. That, and it was obvious that people were avoiding the two.

“Which part?”

“The receptionist” Cyrille said as her expression turned more serious and genuinely concerned. “You managed to sneak her past the others safely?”

Only at that point did Arke actually turn his head towards Cyrille. “Of course. No problems at all. The Thieves Guild’s men don’t even know of her.” He turned his head forwards once again. “There’s no need to worry. She got out of town safely, as we agreed on.”

As we agreed on-

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Earlier- at the outskirts of town. The sky was tinted red as night quickly approached.

Though- something was slightly off. A woman was running across the forest outside of Langite. She wore what looked like a uniform fit to her size exactly- given that she could run fairly easily. Her hair was in a mess. Her clothes were smudged in different areas with dirt. Parts of it were torn open, presumably from getting snagged on trees or the like as she ran.

Her face was familiar- that was because she was the receptionist that Arke and Cyrille had talked to.

As she ran- she kept looking behind her. As if prey looking for where it’s predator was. Even so- she still kept up a fairly quick pace. With adrenaline pumping through her veins- of course she could.

She ran- but, as she neared the edge of the forest- something became clear. She ran towards Langite. Even though she was supposed to escape from it.

In fact- looking at it, it made little sense as to why she’s on foot as opposed to on a horse with luggage. Surely she must’ve had something valuable to bring with her- even if she was forced to flee.

“No- This can’t be *pant* happening!”

Her breath was visibly laboured as she ran through the forest. But before she could reach it’s edge. Before she could see Langite in it’s entirety. A black entitiy had walked into view from behind one of the trees.

In an instant, she tried to stop herself, but the snow on the ground made her slip, landing on her bum.

“ *pant* *pant*” She stared at the figure in front of her.

The dark grey armoured figure stood in front of her. It’s two glowing eyes seemed to stare straight into her soul as it simply stood there. It was obvious who it was- Arke.

“W- we had a deal!”

“...”

Arke walked towards the lady as she pulled herself backwards, away from him. But before should could go much further, what looked like black pillars slowly formed behind her- stopping her.

“Wait! We had a deal! You’d let me leave Langite safely in exchange for that information. You agreed didn’t you!?”

Arke paused. “I did.”

A glimmer of hope seemed to shine in her eyes. But before she could open her mouth, Arke grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air with a single hand.

It wasn’t obvious in the darkness- but small strands of black material had entangled itself around Arke and held him back. Presumably to stop him from falling forwards due to the relatively unstable ground.

“Ack-” the receptionist grabbed Arke’s gauntlets as she struggled to breath. “W-... wait- ack-”

Before she could finish her words-

“I did agree to let you escape the town safely” Arke turned his head away, seemingly glancing at Langite behind him.

It was true. She had a horse and luggage with her and she did managed to escape town safely. Though, right now that horse was nowhere to be found.

“And you did escape town safely. You got far enough at least- I held my end of the bargain.”

A cold response. Calculated. But that was the extent of their deal. Arke had followed it through to the end- Down to the word.

“Now that you did- I see no point in letting a loose end like you live. Unfortunately- you never bargained for your life.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened. She shook her head frantically, trying to open her mouth. Perhaps she wanted to beg for mercy. Perhaps she simply wanted to curse Arke. No matter what her goal was- it didn’t matter.

In that moment- Arke grabbed her mouth with his other hand and held it shut as a jagged bolt flew towards her from above, impaling itself into her.

Her muffled screams could only faintly be heard as the bolt dug itself deep into her back.

“Mphgp!? Mhgp!?”

It must’ve been painful. She struggled as much as she could, kicking, scratching, punching- whatever have you. But it didn’t seem to affect Arke as his mask simply stared at her with it’s unchanging expression.

Another jagged bolt.

Then another.

And another.

Another.

…

After a few minutes of struggling and a dozen or so jagged bolts, the receptionist had finally stopped struggling. Her eyes were blank. Crimson blood dripped onto the snow beneath her.

Arke released his grip as she fell to the ground. At the same moment, the material that entangled itself around him had fragmented and disappeared. For a moment, his mask’s glowing eyes simply stared at the lifeless body in front of him.

“...”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

As we agreed on-

The two walked down the emptying streets. Cyrille glanced at Arke.

“I see- well that’s good. You may seem like a cold and calculated guy- but I knew that you genuinely cared about others.”

Silence. No reaction from Arke at all.

“Not that you don’t look like that kind of person! I- I mean, y’know” she immediately followed up her words. “It’s just that-”

In response, Arke simply tapped his mask. “I know what you mean.” He walked towards the guild hub.

Cyrille chuckled.

“Plus- I always keep my word-”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Far from Langite- on the road towards the capital at night.

A dead horse was laying on the ground. Around it, a dozen or so armoured men. They looked like an organized group. Among them- a hooded man was face down on the ground.

His head was pushed down into the ground by a sabaton, a steel boot. Upon closer look, this was the exact same man that the receptionist had sent towards the capital. But now- he was nothing more than a corpse.

His hands were tied behind his back and a black blade was driven through his chest from his back.

The armoured figure that stepped on his head was fiddling with a medallion in one hand. On the other, a parchment that Ragna had signed. After the figure was finished reading, he threw the parchment on the ground, stepping away from the corpse.

The figure turned away. At the same time, the others around him moved as well.

Gripping the medallion, the figure uttered- “It’s time-”