The two girls tidied up a bit, then sat on the grass, looking at the tavern blazing in the distance. Ainola spoke to Winona.
“The Moon Shadow Society is definitely going to blame this loss on you, so we need to find a new safe house.”
“Our old little shack is already in shambles. No way we can live there anymore.”
Ainola felt a bit dismayed. She barely had any money in her pocket, and now she had to move.
Wasn’t that just adding to her worries?
“For safety, I suggest we split up from now on. You focus on finding the Shrine’s location, and I’ll continue investigating the Moon Shadow Society’s trail. They definitely won’t let us go.”
Winona caught her breath, then stood up and said.
“My identity will be updated accordingly. Yours will remain as is for now. Remember not to expose yourself.”
“Oh?” Ainola looked at Winona suspiciously and asked.
“Are you planning… to split up?”
“…Yes.”
Winona nodded, then dragged her injured leg and stumbled off into the darkness.
As for Ainola, after thinking for a moment, she suddenly remembered something and said.
“Wait? Then where am I sleeping tonight?!”
***
Anderson had been busy lately.
On one hand, he had to track down Ainola. On the other, the assassin organization in Wording City was far from peaceful.
He hadn’t even had time to rest when he heard his subordinate’s report.
“Report, Chief Justice! There was a huge explosion at a tavern in the north of the city. According to our investigation and search, that tavern was a base for the Moon Shadow Society.”
Hearing his subordinate’s report, Anderson rubbed his temples and asked.
“Any civilian casualties?”
“We don’t know. The fire destroyed too many traces. We can’t even determine the identities of the deceased, or whether there were any civilian casualties.”
“Alright, you may withdraw.”
Anderson stood up helplessly, then rushed to the tavern’s location without stopping.
When he arrived at the destination, he saw that the Temple Knights had already cordoned off the area. Many unaware citizens were gathered outside the perimeter, watching.
“What happened?”
“No idea. Sounds like the tavern’s warehouse exploded and burned everything down?”
“Come to think of it, there was a tavern here? I never knew that before.”
The citizens buzzed with chatter. Anderson pushed through the crowd and asked the person in charge.
“Reinhardt, what’s the situation here?”
“Report, Chief Justice. Among the rubble of the warehouse, we found traces of explosives. This appears to be a man-made explosion.”
After listening, Anderson fell into thought. If it wasn’t an accident.
That meant someone had made a move against the Moon Shadow Society.
But the Moon Shadow Society had many enemies. Under normal circumstances, finding the perpetrator would be nearly impossible.
However, Anderson thought of someone who had frequently been opposing the Moon Shadow Society lately.
Though it was just a guess, Anderson felt there must be some connection between this explosion and Ainola.
Anderson walked through the already extinguished ruins, trying to find any clues.
But the traces of fire were far too thorough. After searching for a long time, all he got was a layer of ash on himself.
After about half an hour, persistence paid off. Anderson suddenly spotted a very familiar object among the debris.
It was a key. Though the key was burned pitch black, it gave off a sense of déjà vu.
“This is… the key to the Shrine?”
Anderson frowned. He never expected that the key he had lost would appear here.
More importantly, this key had been stolen by Ainola.
So why was the Holy Hall Key here?
Could it be that the Moon Shadow Society had commissioned Ainola to steal the key?
Or did the Moon Shadow Society snatch the key from Ainola?
There were far too many questions, and Anderson had too few clues. It was hard to sort out the relationships.
But one thing was certain: the Moon Shadow Society might know where Ainola was.
With that thought, Anderson’s eyes sharpened, like a confused jungler who suddenly found the target for a team fight.
“I was just wondering how to catch that lousy assassin, and you Moon Shadow Society members deliver yourselves to me.”
For Anderson, if he couldn’t catch Ainola, couldn’t he at least deal with the Moon Shadow Society’s assassins?
The bigger the target, the easier to find. Compared to that slippery Ainola, the Moon Shadow Society was relatively easier to track.
Anderson walked out of the ruins and said to the person in charge, Reinhardt.
“I leave this matter to you.”
“Yes!”
Reinhardt gave a knight’s salute and watched Anderson walk away.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ainola found a small blanket, sat down under a bridge, set up a tent, spread the blanket over herself, and settled down to sleep.
“Hey!” Spark finally couldn’t stand it anymore and asked.
“Don’t you think this is a bit pathetic?”
“What else can I do? I don’t have a place to stay.”
The previous rental room was already completely ruined, and Ainola didn’t dare go back.
Because the rental was destroyed, if she went back, the landlady would demand money for repairs.
So after thinking it over, wasn’t it just a matter of putting a small blanket under the bridge and letting others say whatever they want?
“I dare say, you’re definitely the most miserable assassin I’ve ever seen.”
“Ah, there’s no help for it. That’s how it is for a lone assassin. And I’ve slept under bridges before.”
Ainola didn’t mind. If anyone with bad intentions showed up, Spark would wake her up.
More importantly, Ainola rarely entered deep sleep. At the slightest sound, she would wake up immediately.
After all, that was basic assassin training.
“Goodnight then. Don’t forget to keep watch for me, okay?”
“Alright. If someone comes, I’ll wake you up.”
Ainola lay down in her sleeping bag, slowly closed her eyes, and under the urging of drowsiness, drifted into dreamland.
Some time later, just as he was about to return to the Temple Knights, Anderson suddenly noticed a small tent under the bridge.
“A vagrant?”
Curious, Anderson climbed over the railing and jumped down, landing at the bottom of the bridge.
Drawing closer, he saw that the tent was very new, not like something a vagrant would own.
So he lifted the tent flap and looked inside…
And there, under the moonlight, Eleanor—awakened by Spark—and Anderson stared at each other with wide eyes.
The scene was rather awkward.