The street suddenly fell dead silent.
The pedestrians below looked up in shock, casting terrified glances toward the roof. Seeing the assassin's mutilated body, their screams caught in their throats.
"...I'm fine, thanks," Su Cheng said slowly.
She pondered his previous position for a moment. "So if I had fallen off the dragon-eagle, you really could have caught me?"
That speed was comparable to teleportation!
And over a distance of at least a hundred meters!
Su Cheng raised a hand to wipe a tiny speck of blood from her face.
The trajectory of that sword strike from moments ago still seemed to burn on her retinas.
It wasn't just pure speed or strength; it was a terrifying energy born from accumulated battle aura, something that transcended the laws of physics.
She had never seen a truly powerful warrior fight in earnest before. This was certainly an eye-opening experience.
Kai had been looking down at the assassin, but upon hearing this, he gave her a helpless look. "Yes, otherwise I wouldn't let my team members take such risks—"
He paused. "Though I also believed you could handle it yourself, whether by using magic to deal with the crisis or comprehending the use of battle aura at a crucial moment."
He kicked the assassin off the roof. The mangled body crashed into the middle of the street, splashing a glaring patch of crimson.
The surrounding pedestrians couldn't help but scream again.
The leather shop owner had long since come out of her store, staring dumbfounded at the scene.
Su Cheng, still under the effect of Wind Step, jumped down as well and handed her a few silver coins. "...Sorry for dirtying your building."
The terror on the owner's face instantly dissipated by more than half, and she smilingly said it was no problem.
A moment later, Su Cheng realized that these people weren't afraid of the corpse, but rather that she and the commander would continue killing people here.
Iron Cage Town was bustling and lively, situated on a major traffic route. With so many mercenaries passing through, the locals were used to all sorts of fights, and fatalities were not uncommon.
The assassin was still lying on the ground, groaning and writhing in pain. Having lost his limbs, he could only squirm like a maggot.
An ordinary person would have bled to death long ago from such injuries, but it looked like he could survive a while longer.
Su Cheng stared at the assassin's face, searching her memory for a long time before confirming she had definitely never seen him. "I don't know him."
"Neither do I," Kai shook his head slightly, "But Camus will have a way."
Su Cheng raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but roll up her sleeves, preparing to drag the assassin, but for a moment she didn't know where to grab him.
Kai stood to the side watching silently. Seeing her pause with a hesitant look, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Su Cheng looked a bit embarrassed. "I want to grab his collar, but I'm afraid he'll bite me."
Kai: "..."
He bent down and grabbed the assassin's head. His large hand, wrapped in tanned leather, easily covered the skull, and then he lifted the constantly trembling body.
The assassin's wails and curses were crushed within his palm.
Su Cheng had wanted to ask if they should keep a lower profile, but she could only watch helplessly as the commander walked across two streets, dangling the bloody assassin the entire way.
Until they ran into Sasha at an intersection.
"...Hmm," the vampire crossed his arms and looked at them. "I don't know him either."
He had obviously sensed what happened earlier from afar, as his face showed no surprise. "Let's go."
As soon as he spoke, Camus emerged from the bookstore across the street, carrying a few old books in his arms.
The blood mage frowned at the assassin and the dripping blood on the ground. He casually stowed his books away without asking too many questions.
Su Cheng originally thought they would take the assassin outside the town, but unexpectedly, the group headed to the nearest tavern.
The owner behind the counter was about to speak, but Sasha tossed over a handful of silver coins, and the owner immediately busied himself with counting the money.
Two waiters also hurried to grab rags and mops to clean up the blood trail.
"...Someone from the Assassin's Guild."
They picked a large empty room upstairs at random. The moment the door closed, Kai threw the man onto the floor.
The assassin lay face down, trying to roll over.
Sasha stepped on his lower back and used a sheathed dagger to pull back the clothing on his back, revealing a bizarre sword blade totem.
"So, who is the glorious target?" The vampire chuckled. "I bet it must be a certain noble God-Favored."
Su Cheng wanted to retort, but she also felt it must be herself. If the assassin's target had been their entire group, his strength was far too lacking.
Even if she wasn't entirely clear on the true capabilities of her teammates, they were, after all, the commander and core members of a B-rank mercenary group. Their public identities were right there for all to see.
She couldn't help but look at Camus. "Can you get it out of him?"
The blonde man snapped his fingers.
Sasha took a step back.
The assassin screamed loudly in agony.
Blood spurted from the wounds on his limbs, weaving thousands of crimson threads in the air.
Su Cheng smelled a strong, metallic stench.
The surrounding temperature rose sharply. The blood seemed to ignite, sending waves of searing heat rushing toward them.
The blood threads surged and buried themselves into the assassin's body.
The roars in his throat abruptly ceased, replaced by the crunching sound of his teeth shattering.
The red threads drilled into his eye sockets, scalding his sclera into fine bubbles until his eyeballs shriveled into charred, hard lumps in the intense heat.
He convulsed violently, his back arching into a terrifying bow, his spine emitting crisp pops like firecrackers as it twisted.
"I'll talk—I'll tell you everything—"
The assassin wailed in agony. "But I don't know the employer's identity—they just told me to come here in advance and wait—"
He chaotically confessed everything he knew.
The Assassin's Guild had a long history, existing for thousands of years. As a result, it had long developed various mission models and many ways for clients to keep their identities secret.
The contract this man took fell into that category. He claimed the employer provided the location and an approximate time, along with a general description of the target's appearance.
—Although the target's hair and eye colors were not particularly conspicuous, the employer specifically mentioned that the target was very beautiful, so beautiful that it was quite rare.
And a wind mage.
With these points, it wouldn't be easy to make a mistake.
Su Cheng pondered for a moment. "Are you the only one? Did that person only hire you to kill me? Or do you not know?"
The assassin was tortured to the point of a near breakdown, answering whatever was asked. Hearing this, he both nodded and shook his head. "Only me, there's only me here—the others went elsewhere!"
Su Cheng was taken aback. "You're the only one guarding Iron Cage Town? The others went elsewhere to intercept me? Or did they go elsewhere to kill someone else?"
The assassin nodded continuously. "Someone else, to kill someone else. They were all orders placed by the same person. I have a friend in the guild who told me. He said the employer was in a hurry..."
Su Cheng roughly understood. She asked a few more questions, then sat aside to think.
"Anything else you want to say?" Camus said flatly. "If not, we'll kill him."
Su Cheng looked up. "You guys don't have any questions?"
The blood mage shook his head coldly, glancing at the endlessly screaming assassin on the floor.
The latter had already begun begging them for a quick end.
Camus flicked his finger. The skin at the severed stumps of the assassin's limbs rapidly turned black and festered. The muscles, as if burned by an invisible fire, visibly withered and melted away.
His waist, abdomen, and chest were quickly eroded by an inexplicable force, turning into a puddle of bloody water on the ground in the blink of an eye, leaving only a head with a lingering expression of fear.
The air was filled with a nauseating smell of burning and the stench of blood.
"This should be a wanted criminal," Sasha said in a brisk tone. "You guys can take him to the town hall and try your luck."
Of course, taking him actually meant taking his head.
"...I know."
The three men looked at Su Cheng at the same time.
"It should be Countess Gauler," she spread her hands. "She suspects that I killed her son. Of course, she isn't certain. Because she has made too many enemies, she probably sent out several assassins at the same time to kill those she considers to be suspects."
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "So, did you kill him?"
Su Cheng: "...The one at the entrance of the Magic Guild."
Kai nodded in sudden realization. "Oh, so it was that time."
Sasha narrowed his eyes and looked them up and down. "What kind of shady little secret do you two have now?"
"A big secret that at least several hundred people saw," Su Cheng said in exasperation. "Although no one knew it was me who did it... well, at least the vast majority of people didn't know."
She briefly recounted her contract with the Count's son, only omitting her agreement with the God of Contracts.
"Oh, so you guessed he was going to make a move on you, and if he died from breaking the contract, it would free up a spot for you?"
Sasha said with great interest, "I really couldn't tell. Do you care that much about which academy you go to? Or is it that you don't care, you just found that guy an eyesore?"
Su Cheng shrugged. "I don't care which academy I go to. If the people from Cross Star directly assigned me to the Academy of Blades, I wouldn't say anything. If that Count's son hadn't kept calling me a peasant and instead gave me a large sum of money, I might have just given up the duel. If he hadn't broken the rules and fought me fair and square, I would have taken the match seriously and accepted the outcome. But there are no 'ifs'."
If the Count's son didn't have that kind of personality, she definitely would have thought of other ways and wouldn't have targeted him.
As for Countess Gauler herself, after losing her son, since she couldn't be sure who the real culprit was, it wasn't surprising that she simply decided to eliminate all the suspects in one fell swoop.
After all, everyone saw the scene in front of the Magic Guild. A normal person wouldn't think it was the work of a God's Favored, but would rather think it was some kind of curse acting up.
For details, refer to Murong Yue's cannon fodder junior schoolmate.
"She probably thinks there are two kinds of people who could have killed her son: one is their family's enemies taking the opportunity for revenge, and the other is someone who could gain tangible benefits from it, like me."
Su Cheng concluded, "But there should be some other thoughts too, like 'Why should my son be dead while you get to go to school perfectly fine? Even if you didn't kill him, you have to be buried with him'... something like that, probably."
The other three men didn't make a fuss about this, nor did they express that it sounded strange.
Judging from their expressions, they had probably seen a lot of this kind of thing.
"Well, it's a common practice among human nobles," Sasha said lazily. "It's not surprising that she could guess you would pass through here..."
Traveling from Jinpo City to the Imperial Capital, Iron Cage Town was almost a must-pass location. Even if one was following the Cross Star Academy's team, they would stop here for supplies.
Su Cheng had just asked about the time; the assassin set off a day earlier than her and also rode a magical beast over to wait for his prey.
For the assassin, he had to consider the possibility of her leaving with the Cross Star Academy, as well as the possibility of her setting off early on her own.
Anyway, the deposit alone was a large sum of money. The assassin felt it was worth waiting a few extra days, so he set off on the very night he received the mission.
Su Cheng calculated the time. "...The news of the Count's son's death reached home, and the Countess must have started placing orders right away. Moreover, that guy just now said the employer was in a hurry. Does that mean she is pressed for time?"
Thinking about it more carefully, she had previously encouraged the people from the Church to investigate them. Had they found some problems now?
That family never did any good deeds to begin with; they definitely couldn't withstand an investigation.
But if it was now, how many days had it actually been?
Since when was the Church's efficiency this high?
Or was the Archbishop doing her a favor again? Specially urging them to move faster?
Su Cheng touched her pocket. "Right..."
Wait.
She rummaged through her coat pockets and found that the gilded box from earlier was gone.
Su Cheng: "?!?!"
Could it have dropped during the fight?!
She jumped up and was about to rush out. "I lost something..."
Before the other two could react, Kai caught her, spreading his hand to show her the small box in his palm. "Looking for this?"
"Yes!"
Su Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I lost it on the street!"
"Indeed," he smiled slightly. "I saw this fall out of your clothes."
Su Cheng was very happy. She was just about to reach out and take it when she suddenly remembered that this was originally meant to be given to him.
Her brain short-circuited, and somehow, she just blurted out, "Since you picked it up, it's yours."
"Hmm?"
Kai was also a little surprised, never expecting her to say something like this.
He blinked, a hint of astonishment appearing in his beautiful golden eyes. "It's mine?"
"Yeah," Su Cheng said, biting the bullet. "Okay, it was actually bought for you, although you might not lack it, or maybe you have other similar items?"
Kai glanced at her. "Can I open it?"
"It's yours anyway," Su Cheng put her hands behind her back. "Do as you please, no need to ask me."
That exquisite gilded box, which she could hold in one hand, looked even smaller in his palm. He could easily flick it open with his thumb.
Even so, Kai earnestly raised his other hand and quite solemnly opened it, revealing the crystal-clear bottle inside.
"Oh my..."
Sasha had been watching from the side. Seeing this, he sniffed. "I was wondering why there was a faint scent of dragon blood. So it's this thing."
The silver-haired young man sighed with feigned sorrow. "It seems that in your heart, you only remember him as the sole person who uses cold weapons."
Su Cheng glared at him with a dark face. "Are the daggers on your body really not just decorations? When have you ever pulled them out?"
The vampire smiled back at her. "Perhaps it's just that we haven't spent enough time together..."
"Have you forgotten, Sasha," the Captain spoke calmly. "When she first met us, she really liked my sword."
He gently patted Su Cheng's shoulder. "You didn't find a greatsword you liked in there, I guess?"
Su Cheng: "!"
Su Cheng nodded vigorously. "Captain, you understand me..."
That was exactly how it was!
She just had a sudden whim to look at greatswords, and only because she couldn't find a suitable one did she think the maintenance oil was nice and bought it in passing.
It wasn't like she went into the shop specifically for this!
Although it wasn't a big deal, having the bastard vampire say it like that made it feel very strange.
Kai looked down at her. The young girl's face was full of relief, as if she already considered him a kindred spirit, and was staring intently at him right now.
His reflection almost filled those beautiful amber eyes.
The man's fingers gripping the box twitched slightly, but ultimately, he made no further move, simply closing the lid.
"...Thank you," he said earnestly. "As for a weapon, if you're willing, I can help you pick one out once we reach the Imperial Capital, or even forge one for you."
Sasha glanced at him. "Do you even have suitable materials?"
"I can always find some," Kai said thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll pull out a couple of... dragon bones."
