To this, Ainola could only stare wide-eyed as the contact charged forward, heavy sword in hand.
Due to the complete disparity in strength, even with the numerical advantage on the Temple Knights’ side, they had almost no room for resistance against the contact.
And the contact showed no mercy. In less than three minutes, the Temple Knights ambushed here were almost completely wiped out.
The ground, the grass blades, the tree trunks—all were stained with blood.
He was less of an assassin and more of a berserker.
“Retreat… retreat now!”
The surviving Temple Knights, seeing the contact’s ferocity, had no choice but to withdraw for now. It seemed they were going to call for reinforcements.
The contact did not pursue them to the last man, or perhaps, he couldn’t catch all these fleeing knights.
After the battle ended, the contact shook the blood off his heavy sword and spoke.
“Activating the magic formation will take a little time. Follow me.”
***
Meanwhile, Anderson received the report from the Temple Knights and exclaimed in shock.
“What? The unit ambushing the winery was attacked?!”
After listening to the knights’ report, Anderson’s expression darkened.
Ainola was an assassin, but she shouldn’t be the type to go on such a killing spree.
Furthermore, judging from the knights’ descriptions, the attacker was tall and powerfully built—it was hard to imagine it being Ainola.
Yet, at such a time, this incident made it difficult not to suspect it might be some trick or scheme of Ainola’s.
“I’ll head to the winery myself. The opponent is strong, but I can handle it.”
“Be careful, Prince.”
After leaving, Anderson rushed to the winery without stopping.
Although he was a Judgment Knight, his speed was astonishingly fast, not like a knight at all, but more akin to a ranger.
Before long, Anderson arrived at the winery.
Looking at the bloodstains everywhere, he fell silent.
These knights were all killed with a single blow from a heavy sword. Clearly, this wasn’t Ainola’s doing.
However, Anderson spotted Ainola’s footprints on the ground.
‘It seems someone came to take her away. An accomplice from the assassins?’
Anderson drew his knight sword and cautiously entered the winery.
As soon as he stepped inside, a wave of magical energy washed over him, its source coming from the basement.
So, Anderson naturally lightened his steps and slowly made his way down into the basement.
Taking a deep breath, Anderson kicked the basement door to splinters and shouted.
“Don’t move!”
At that moment, Anderson saw a black-clad assassin standing before a teleportation portal.
And this assassin’s weapon was a heavy sword.
Meaning, the Temple Knights outside were all killed by him.
Seeing Anderson at the doorway, the contact immediately sneered.
“Prince Anderson, you’re too late.”
“Where is Ainola?”
There were clearly Ainola’s footprints outside, but upon entering, he found only one person.
Anderson couldn’t help but suspect the other had taken Ainola.
“Hah… That girl is useful to me,” the contact said coldly. “And you won’t be seeing her again.”
With that, he too disappeared into the teleportation formation. Even if Anderson wanted to stop him, it was already too late.
***
Time passed swiftly, and five months went by in a flash.
In a house somewhere in Wording City, Ainola, who had just woken up, was tying up her hair.
Behind her, an expressionless young girl sat at the dining table, enjoying her sandwich.
“Contact, why didn’t you buy me breakfast?”
“No money.”
This girl was none other than the seemingly tall, imposing, and raspy-voiced assassin.
No one could have guessed that beneath that hood was a girl only one hundred and sixty-five centimeters tall.
“Didn’t you just finish a mission last week?”
“Donated the money to the orphanage.”
Unlike her cold-blooded methods, when facing children, the contact presented the image of a very patient older sister.
Including how she usually treated Ainola, it was actually the same.
Perhaps because Ainola was relatively petite?
For these five months, Ainola and the contact hadn’t stopped for a moment, searching for information on the Eye of Wite in Wording City.
Currently, one thing was known: the item was within the Temple Knights of Wording City. Ainola was planning how to steal it.
“Fine, don’t buy it then.”
Ainola grumbled a bit, tidied up her appearance, and headed towards the door.
With her identity hidden, Ainola now wore a nun’s habit, adopting a completely different appearance. Such things were commonplace for an assassin, and Ainola had grown accustomed to it.
She walked onto the street and said to the breakfast shop owner.
“One sandwich and a glass of milk, please.”
“Oh~ Eleanor, you’re up quite early today.”
Eleanor—this was the false identity Ainola had fabricated.
Now, she was an ordinary nun working for the Temple Knights.
“Eating early so I can head over. After the prayers, I’ll come back to rest. I’m on night duty tonight.”
Eleanor took a few bites to finish the sandwich, then gulped down the milk in a couple of swallows, setting off on her commute to work.
As a nun working for the Temple Knights, she naturally had to maintain a certain disguise.
The original Ainola was a cute, silver-haired loli, but Eleanor was a pure, innocent-looking blonde girl.
To emphasize the difference from before, she had specially padded herself with a full three layers.
So, from the outside, Eleanor now truly had quite a figure.
Humming a cheerful tune, she found a random seat in the Temple Knights’ main hall and sat down.
After the priest said a bunch of confusing, incomprehensible things, the group of nuns began to close their eyes in prayer.
Eleanor did the same. She didn’t really understand what the priest was talking about either; she just started praying when it was time.
Accompanied by solemn, sacred hymns, the prayer time ended.
Eleanor then walked towards the courtyard. Holding a broom, she swept fallen leaves while humming a song from her past life, looking quite carefree.
‘Ah~ This kind of leisurely work isn’t bad either.’
Eleanor felt a surge of emotion. Rather than being an assassin, fighting tooth and nail for little reward, it was much better to be a nun.
Although there was no room and board provided, at least the work was easy and safe.
The only real worry was that this was the Temple Knights’ headquarters, the enemy’s stronghold. So, Eleanor always did her best to maintain her disguise.
“This nun, the song you’re humming is quite nice.”
“Of course it is…”
Upon hearing the praise, Eleanor proudly puffed out her chest. But when she saw the person before her, she almost broke character on the spot.
Anderson, clad in knight’s armor, walked up to Eleanor and said.
“I had a friend who used to sing that song too.”