“What’s it like to kill someone?”

Yozen’s head snapped around at the dry question. No further words came from the questioner, only the diligent flipping of papers.

Yozen stepped in front of him, his gaze meeting Cadel’s. Cadel’s heartbeat remained steady despite the proximity of the notorious assassin.

“Is there someone you want to kill?”

“Well. There is someone I’d like to see disappear forever in front of my Knight Order.”

Yozen reached out and cupped Cadel’s face, his fingertips touching the soft skin that trembled under his touch. He traced the contours and inferred the expression. A shallow breath of mild panic.

“Nothing much.”

“You can say that because you’re used to it. It must have been different the first time.”

“The first time?”

“Even an assassin has a first time.”

Yozen tilted his head as if reminiscing for a moment, then removed his hand from touching Cadel’s face, and spoke in his usual matter-of-fact voice.

“It’s refreshing, like a layer of filthy oil has been lifted from the world.”

It was a very assassin-like answer. If you can’t make that kind of impression on your first kill, you don’t have the talent. After a moment’s thought, Cadel gathered up the papers he’d been reading and placed them on the desk. Then he looked at Yozen, who stood close in front of him.

“It doesn’t matter where your target lives, does it?”

“I usually pick from Dunkelhai, but I don’t care.”

“What is the Mainue Kingdom?”

“I’ve killed a few.”

Shaking his head slightly, Cadel unconsciously reached out and fiddled with the buttons on Yozen’s uniform. Currently, he was dressed in his Knight Order’s uniform, rather than his usual jet-black robes. Cadel had taken Yozen’s measurements himself, as Yozen didn’t like to be seen in public, and Cadel’s fears of getting the wrong size had been unfounded.

Personally, Cadel thought Yozen looked better in the black robes than the pure white ones, but the combination of proportions had its own charms.

“Yozen, do you know Froch Dominic?”

“I know.”

“What do you think of the Marquis?”

“He’s Lumen Dominic’s father.”

“If you take Lumen out of the picture, what’s your thoughts?”

Catching the hand that was fiddling with his own buttons, Yozen gently stroked the back of Cadel’s hand, which had fallen away from his uniform, and he chuckled low.

“Someone worth killing.”

“……Hmm. Really?”

“He’s not a target yet, there are plenty of dirtier pigs out there, and I’m way overdue.”

“I see.”

“Is he your target?”

He felt strength going into his clasped hands. Cadel took a short breath and then smiled brightly and pushed Yozen away. He naturally released his hands and stood up, passing Yozen and saying regretfully.

“I don’t think I’d feel exhilarated by killing people. Sure, I’d love to kill him, but…… that would complicate things too much.”

“You can ask me to do it.”

“I told you I’m not going to make you do that.”

“Even though it’s not a big deal to me?”

“That’s right.”

Cadel cut him off firmly, and Yozen didn’t ask anymore. Just because he didn’t get his hands dirty didn’t mean he wasn’t responsible. Cadel wasn’t about to add another responsibility to the many that weighed on him.

“I’ll do it my way. To prevent that man from meddling in Lumen’s life, I will completely extinguish his influence.”

“……I’m curious to see how you do it. I look forward to it.”

I look forward to it. He didn’t mean to tell me that he was going to watch me take on Froch Dominic, right? Cadel turned around with a growing sense of unease, and sure enough, the Yozen he’d been talking to earlier was nowhere to be seen.

“……Can’t you at least say goodbye on your way out?”

One would think he was a madman talking to himself. With Yozen’s stealthy disappearance, leaving no trace, Cadel lay in bed with a heavy sigh.

As he rubbed his heavy eyelids idly, his blackened vision flashed back to the pile of problems that had been piling up.

Froch Dominic, of course, the summit in a few days, the forthcoming main quest, the outbreak of the Demon War, information about the demons to be dealt with, and…….

‘……How is Van doing? Maybe I should have asked Yozen. ……No, no. If he needed help, Yozen would have told me first. Van’s doing fine.’

Since regaining consciousness, he had kept himself busy, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Van. Whenever he closed his eyes, a system window would pop up, telling him that Van had left, trapping him like an iron cage. He wished Van all the happiness in the world and hoped that he would remember him, if only for a moment.

‘With Van gone, there’s now a spot open in the Knight Order.’

The Demon War is upon them. It was not a quest that could be faced with one man short. With Van gone, it was only right to bring in a new knight. Rationally, it made sense.

But Cadel couldn’t bring himself to bring in a new member. There was no knight he wanted to bring with him, and he didn’t want to let a new knight take Van’s place. With Kunra’s blessing, he could only hope that one knight’s place would be filled somehow.

“……Forget it, I’ll think about this later.”

How could he think of bringing in someone new just because Van had been gone for a while? Displeased with himself, Cadel rolled over and buried his face in his pillow.

People couldn’t take on everything at once. One thing at a time, starting with what was at hand. That was the order of things.