* * *

“Have you all gathered some information? Even if it’s just a rumor, please tell me any information that is even remotely related to the Shadow Envoy.”

Cadel, sitting on the bed, took a bite of an apple and looked around at the subordinates filling the room.

Shadow Envoy.

When Cadel first said the name of the subordinate he had hidden away, all of his subordinates reacted with skepticism. They checked several times whether the connection between the Shadow Envoy and Cadel really existed, were horrified that he might be hearing the story from somewhere, and were worried that he might change his mind at any moment and kill everyone.

This was a good example of how people perceive the Shadow Envoy in this world. Cadel and Lydon seemed to be the only ones who could not fully realize his notoriety.

“I grabbed them one by one and asked them, and they just looked at me and ran away. I thought about freezing them all because it wasn’t funny, but I held back. Isn’t that great, darling? Can I get a compliment?”

Lydon laid back on the floor, observing the peach he had taken out of the paper bag. With the [Wings of Illusion] on, he took on the appearance of a young man, wingless and slightly shorter than his original height.

Cadel had asked him to change his appearance so as not to give away his identity, but it was an insincere change indeed. With his mythical beauty, he must have been noticed.

“Van and Lumen? Any luck?”

At Cadel’s question, the two men exchanged glances. Then they silently shook their heads, saying they hadn’t gotten any information.

“The people of Dunkelhai are tight-lipped, Commander. All they say is ignorance is bliss……. I guess there’s nothing we can do about it. We should give up looking.”

“Are you really so uninformed, Leader? If the Shadow Envoy promised to join, you should have known his next destination. We can’t find out what’s going on in this case. We’re stuck.”

Van and Lumen continued unnecessarily, emphasizing the fact that they had not received any information. Without even looking at Cadel properly, their eyes were fixed on areas such as his philtrum and ears, and they even slightly lowered their heads, unable to withstand Cadel’s staring gaze.

Seeing the two like that, Garuel made an involuntary huff and hurriedly covered his mouth with his fist. Cadel caught a glimpse of Garuel, who was struggling to hold back laughter, and felt a little dumbfounded.

‘Why are they so bad at lying?’

It was the demeanor of those who knew and withheld information. Cadel ended up laughing lightly at the petty side of his subordinates, who were usually dignified and trustworthy.

He set down his half-eaten apple, alternating between Van and Lumen.

“Guys, you seem to have forgotten what we have here.”

When Cadel lightly glanced at his chest, the members’ eyes moved. There, a pendant with a red gem carved into a diamond shape was shining softly.

It was a part of the power that Kunra shared before they left the mountains. In other words, the ‘Blessing of the Scarlet Dragon’ was materialized. Unless it was a special occasion, Kunra did not reveal himself but simply protected Cadel and the Knight Order with a part of his power.

“You’ve experimented, right? The Scarlet Dragon’s ‘scale armor’ is impenetrable to most attacks. No matter how great an assassin Shadow Envoy is, he can’t even shatter the Scarlet Dragon’s scales with one blow. He wouldn’t even attack us in the first place.”

At the intent behind Cadel’s words, the complexions of the two men who had been telling lies that wouldn’t work darkened. Cadel kindly drove a wedge between them.

“No. Well, if you’re that scared, drop it. I don’t want you guys to be freaking out about a new member and not be able to do anything. For your own peace of mind,…… I’ll give up”

I am truly sorry, but for the sake of all of you who are cowardly, I will stop recruiting the infamous assassin. Cadel, who said that, watched in real-time as Van and Lumen’s pride was cracked. And after exactly 10 seconds.

“……Come to think of it, I might have heard something pretty good.”

“Are you like that too? I also happened to think of some relevant information.”

Slowly, Van and Lumen broke their secret promise to each other. Beside them, Lydon rolled a peach seed, which he had just finished eating, in his mouth.

“Hmph, aren’t you both so stupid? If you heard something, say it from the beginning. How pathetic!”

* * *

The information Van and Lumen had brought back was of great help in pinpointing the location of Yozen Vardikta. Cadel’s eyes were thoughtful as he considered their story.

“Five families are gathering whatever guards they can find.”

“Mason, Docker, Parillian, Honta, and Keinstein. These families are embroiled in several scandals, and if their move is indeed to prepare for the Shadow Envoy’s assassination, there’s a good chance that the scandals are true.”

Garuel’s words reminded Cadel of the conversation he had with him before crossing the mountain range.

“Strictly speaking, he kills trashy nobles, but only he knows the criteria, and I’ve heard he’s quite popular among the commoners, as he usually targets the lesser nobles.”

Rumors of the Shadow Envoy’s return to Dunkelhai were enough to make those five families cower and increase their escorts. They seemed to think they had what it took to be his target.

It was unfortunate for them, but it was an opportunity for Cadel.

‘It would be a lot easier to find Yozen if he was so specific about who deserved to die. However, if Yozen does not appear in any of those five families…….’

At that point, he really had no choice but to give up. Yozen was clearly a coveted talent, but Cadel couldn’t stay in Dunkelhai and ignore the main quest to recruit him.

‘Even though I don’t like it, I have obtained the power of Kunra. I’m not that desperate to recruit a knight.’

It was an insurance policy of sorts. Finished with his thoughts, Cadel stood up as if he’d made up his mind.

“Good, we’ve got five candidates, so we’ll take one family each.”

“What? Let’s take it one family at a time…….”

Cadel said to Van, who was looking like he couldn’t believe it.

“Let’s pretend to be a mercenary for the first time in a while.”

The Scarlet Scales Knight Order was a major force in the Empire that emerged from the shadows with a great deal of fanfare, but their rise to prominence was not without its facelessness. It was hard to tell who they were based on their features in the newspapers, especially when they were out of uniform.

‘At least these five families did not attend the last appointment banquet.’

Garuel’s information was authentic. So there was little risk of revealing to their targets that they were the Scarlet Scales Knight Order.

The problem was Lydon, Lumen, and Garuel, three men whose presence broke through the Knight Order. Lydon could use the Wings of Illusion, but the other two men were the problem.

They were nobles whose faces had been seen in many ways, and even Garuel was a deceased man who had been pronounced dead. Even with a mask to cover their faces, there was no escape if their employer, suspicious of who would protect them, demanded that they remove their masks.

Cadel’s troubles, then, were ended by the exhortations of the parties.

“Who do you think I am, Leader? I’ve learned the tricks of the trade. If they suspect me, there are many ways out, so don’t waste your time worrying.”

“That’s right, Knight Commander. If I have to, I’ll use my demonic energy to threaten them with a curse if they unmask me. That’s all I have to do to play the black magician role you’ve assigned me.”

They promised that their identities would never be discovered, and that should such a crisis arise, they would prioritize concealing their identities.

The Knight Order then dispersed to their respective houses, with Van taking on the Mason family, Lumen taking on the Docker family, Lydon taking on the Parillian family, Garuel taking on the Honta family, and finally Cadel taking on the Keinstein family.

‘It’s said that the House of Count Keinstein pays the highest commission fee. Competition will be fierce.’

Cadel relaxed the muscles at the corners of his mouth as he turned toward Count Keinstein’s mansion, the location of which he had already known.

When he arrived in front of the mansion, he saw a sizable crowd gathered, and he didn’t have to ask who they were.

As Cadel blended into the crowd, a few men’s eyes focused on him. No one spoke to him, but he could hear them whispering among themselves.

“Does that guy seem to be a magician? He doesn’t have a sword and he’s small.”

“What? Magician? Damn it, why are magicians getting in the way, they make a good living without requests like this.”

As expected, they were all mercenaries assembled to escort Count Keinstein. Cadel waited, ignoring the gossip of the men as they grumbled about the magician taking their place.

His legs grew numb from the lack of a place to sit, but fortunately, it wasn’t long before the mansion’s butler appeared.

“Let’s all come inside.”

Cadel stepped through the mansion’s gates, swept along by the huddled volunteers. The butler gathered them in the manicured front yard and then disappeared into the mansion. The next to emerge was the Keinstein family’s bodyguard.

The massive man, built like a bear, swept his stern gaze over the assembled group, then spoke in a hard voice.

“I am Chelsea Auston, the bodyguard of the mansion serving Count Keinstein. You are about to take a simple test. Magicians, move to the left, the rest of you to the right.”

After a moment of silence at Chelsea’s words, the applicants soon took their places. Unsurprisingly, the number of people on the right was overwhelming, and on the left, there were only nine magicians, including Cadel.

‘It might be easier to get in than I thought.’

Because he was in a position to hide his identity, he could not show all of his abilities. He expected that acceptance would be difficult as there were so many applicants.

‘I had forgotten that magicians were a rare setting in this world.’

After splitting up, Chelsea called for his men and sent them to the magicians, while he moved to the left. It was as if they were going to take the test separately.

A knight named Han, who stood on the magicians’ side, handed them each a marble the size of a human head.

“This one is called a ‘magic stone’. It’s a stone that sucks in mana and absorbs it, and it changes color based on the concentration of the mana it absorbs. You’ll want to match this stone to red.”

Cadel gave a small nod, surprised at the heft of the stone in his hand. He thought they were going to challenge the magicians to a duel, but it turned out to be a rather uneventful test.

‘Even though I’m looking like this, I’m a 7-star magician. Matching the color of stones is something that can be done just by talking in my sleep.’

But if he matched the colors too quickly, it would stand out. Cadel paused and watched the others work.

The eight magicians were carefully channeling their mana, none of them immediately producing red, but green, yellow, and black. It was clear that black was the least desirable color, as Han gave each magician who made it an unflattering glance.

‘……Is it harder than I thought?’

After several minutes of waiting, no red appeared. Cadel was beginning to doubt the difficulty of the test, and Han noticed that he still hadn’t channeled his mana.

‘If it’s that hard, I’ll have to give it a try.’

Since he couldn’t just throw a bunch of mana at it, he thought he’d try a small amount of it first.

‘My mana attribute ratio is now…….’

Just last night, he had taken the last of the [Potion of Circulation] to change his attributes. Currently, his attributes were Fire, Wind, and Darkness in a ratio of 4:2:2. Normally, his Darkness would have been 1, but thanks to the Darkness Grimoire he had asked Mamil to decipher in the past, he was able to maintain the proper ratio.

‘Hmm, let’s just use Wind for now.’

Darkness would be conspicuous, so if he was going to go with it, Wind with a low ratio and decent attributes would be better. Thinking it over, Cadel channeled a small amount of wind mana into the magic stone. If it didn’t change the color too much, he would gradually increase the amount.

But such worries were useless. It wasn’t because the magic stone immediately turned red.

“……!”

As soon as the mana was poured into the magic stone, a crack appeared, and it split in half without Cadel having time to do anything.

“Ah…….”

Cadel had a perplexed expression on his face as he held the half-cracked magic stone in both hands. He belatedly wondered if he needed to hide the magic stone somewhere, but it had already caught the examiner’s eye.

Han lunged at Cadel’s sweating form and snatched up the magic stone that had been broken in two with his surprised face, both his eye sockets and nostrils flared.

“You, you passed! You will pass immediately!”

What did it mean to pass immediately? Cadel was almost dragged into the mansion, leaving behind the burdensome stares of the other jaw-dropped magicians