Ainola pulled out her dagger, kicked the corpse aside, and then spoke to Winona, her contact.
“Looks like I arrived just in time.”
“Mm.”
Winona nodded, and Ainola quickly untied the ropes binding her.
“Either way, I saved your life, so about the money I owed before, contact, don’t you think…”
Ainola rubbed her hands together, looking at the contact expectantly.
The latter could only sigh helplessly and reply in an icy tone.
“We’ll talk when we get back.”
“Tch, stingy.”
Ainola puffed out her cheeks.
The contact examined the corpse on the floor, found a dagger among its belongings, and then spoke.
“This guy had an alarm on him. The moment he died, it would alert the assassins outside. You moved too fast, Ainola.”
Winona’s tone carried a hint of an elder’s reproach, but her intention was still to show concern for Ainola.
“Given your skill, there’s no way you didn’t know about such a low-level trick. Don’t be careless next time.”
“Of course I knew.”
Ainola smiled very calmly.
“I knew he had an alarm magic formation on him before I even killed him, you know.”
“Then why did you—”
BOOM!!!
Before the contact could finish asking about Ainola’s reasoning, she felt the entire ground shake violently.
The deafening explosion nearly left Winona’s ears ringing.
“What’s going on?”
Winona guessed this might be Ainola’s handiwork, so she fixed her gaze on the young girl.
“Simple. There was just a little… accident here.”
“You call that explosion a little accident?”
“I only blew up the warehouse where they stored the liquor~”
Ainola had planted some explosives there when she entered the warehouse.
The warehouse was stocked with plenty of strong alcohol, and the dense fumes made for excellent combustible gas.
So when the explosives detonated, the alcohol vapors ignited instantly.
Combined with the relatively enclosed space, the blast was essentially on par with a city-destroying spell.
As for the alarm?
Heh.
Ainola just wanted to laugh.
She’d blown up both the people and the tavern.
Who cared about the alarm?
The dead?
Hearing this, Winona couldn’t help but feel a chill of fear.
“Aren’t you afraid of dying? If the blast had been too powerful, it could have taken us both out too.”
“Relax. I never do things I’m not sure about.”
Ainola shrugged, a playful look on her cute little face.
“See? We’re still kicking, aren’t we?”
“…”
Winona was speechless for a moment.
She only felt that from now on, she should stay as far away from Ainola as possible.
At the very least, she shouldn’t take on missions with her.
“Anyway, let’s get out first. The flames shouldn’t have spread here yet.”
“Alright.”
Ainola helped the limping Winona back up to the ground.
After they left the basement, Winona looked behind her.
The once lavish tavern was now nothing but a sea of flames.
The tavern’s main door had been tied shut with an iron chain by someone, and it rattled faintly, as if someone was slamming against it from inside.
That reinforced iron door, originally meant to keep enemies out, had also been firmly locked by Ainola, turning it into a coffin lid for these Moon Shadow Society assassins.
The irony was truly laughable.
“Good thing the basement exit was outside the tavern…”
Winona patted her chest, but Ainola said indifferently.
“I told you, I don’t do things I’m not sure about. I blocked the basement entrance too. No one inside should be getting out.”
From what Winona knew, this assassin hideout had at least thirty people in it, including elite members of the Moon Shadow Society.
And yet, in Ainola’s casual words, they all died in the flames.
Apart from the assassin who had interrogated her, none of the others even knew how they died.
The only thing they might have known was that this fire was set by the Red Sparrow.
“We’re assassins. A little ruthlessness is pretty normal, isn’t it?”
“By the way, why haven’t you joined an assassin organization? With your skills, even the strongest assassin group in the Glory Empire—the Fearless Alliance—would hire you at a high price.”
Faced with Winona’s question, Ainola thought for a moment before replying.
“Can’t help it. I like freedom. I don’t like being bound by anything. Just like my codename—I just want to be a carefree, very free little Red Sparrow.”
After hearing Ainola’s answer, Winona considered it and then said.
“Don’t forget, you’re being hunted by a certain Prince right now. Don’t let him lock you in a cage.”
“How could that happen? As long as nothing unexpected comes up, there’s no way that guy will catch me.”
As they spoke, they were also moving to a safer location.
The explosion had made too much noise.
The Temple Knights would definitely come to investigate.
Though Ainola wasn’t afraid of Anderson chasing her, she didn’t want to run into him either, so it was better to clear out quickly.
“Oh, right. The key should still be in the tavern, right?”
Ainola asked Winona beside her.
“If it is, that’d be perfect.”
“It’s not. The key was probably transferred somewhere else by the Moon Shadow Society. They have a lot of strongholds, so I don’t know where it ended up…”
Winona sighed and said, “Without the key, getting into the Shrine is going to be a real pain.”
Seeing Winona’s troubled expression, Ainola slowly pulled a spare key from her pocket and said with a smile.
“Look what this is.”
“The key?!”
Winona was stunned and asked in confusion.
“How did you do that? This key should… No, that’s not right?”
The girl looked closer and noticed obvious differences between the key in Ainola’s hand and the one she had seen before.
The most striking point was that this key looked much cruder, and the gem in the middle was missing.
“I understand.”
“As expected of a top assassin from the Fengting Association. Clever~”
Ainola put the key away and explained, “Before I gave you the key, I already had a spare made in advance. So we can still proceed with the original plan.”
Looking at Ainola’s slightly proud smile, for some reason, Winona felt a complicated emotion rise in her heart—like a new wave pushing the old one aside, leaving the former stranded on the shore.
This girl was only 17, not even an adult yet, and her mastery in the field of assassins was terrifyingly impressive.
“No wonder you were so confident when you took on the Prince assassination mission. I thought you weren’t afraid of death, but now it looks like you really might have what it takes.”