Chapter 267 – Assassination Family Raven 3 (21)

After simple ID verification, I entered Stemore.

It was much bigger and more crowded than the village I visited yesterday, so I thought I could get a lot of information, but I was still concerned about the sound of footsteps coming from outside.

Thud…

I heard that there was a problem in Edburnil’s territory, but this phenomenon is also happening in Stemore, which is a little away.

Has Shahemoth, the demon of mirage, settled down between the two territories? With that in mind, he headed towards the center of the village.

The lord’s castle was located a little to the west of the center, and the remaining areas were mixed together without any special distinction.

“There’s Stemore’s Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Let’s go before we leave here. We came too fast.”

“Yes. After all, when it comes to information, it’s a bar, right?”

Seche turned straight in the direction of the bar he found on his way.

I grabbed Seche’s shoulder and made him stop.

“It’s still too early for dinner, so why not visit the temple?”

“Ah. That’s right. Wouldn’t it react differently if it were a temple?”

We went around Stemore and found a small goddess temple.

It’s a little smaller than the Spada I visited last time, but it doesn’t seem to have a temple of Celestialism.

As I entered the open entrance to the temple, I saw a slightly younger-looking priest dozing off in a chair.

Thud…

After listening to it a few times, the sound of footsteps that no longer bothered me woke up the nun who was dozing in surprise.

Shaking her body vigorously, she woke up, rearranged her disheveled pink hair, positioned herself, and closed her eyes.

“We didn’t see it, right?”

“Hey priest?”

“Yes. I am listening.”

With her eyes closed, the priest answered my question.

“Even if you close your eyes and give up seeing, that thing outside will continue to move.”

After hearing those words, the priest gently opened his eyes.

The unique pink hair of the priests of the Goddess Church was identical to that of the priests seen in Teib Village.

But is it different that the eyes contain fatigue and resignation? The priest looked at me with helpless eyes and said.

“Then what should we do? The Kingdom of Thembus and the nobles of Stemore are blocking the dispatch of additional priests and paladins.”

“Is that true of Edburneel too?”

“Yes. It’s all the same. I don’t know why I have to suffer by being dispatched here.”

The priest who said that looked at the statue of the goddess in the temple.

“If this goes on, any remaining faith will disappear. There are demons moving around like that outside, but they think it’s someone else’s problem and don’t think about solving it. They even refuse to receive help. No, the Holy Kingdom can just ignore it and send the paladins, right? So, Raven. Even if a high priest becomes like that to a family assassin, you can’t say anything.”

I poured out words to the two of us who were seeing each other for the first time, as if I had touched a dragon.

Considering that he mentioned the assassination of a high-ranking priest, which is difficult for a priest to talk about, it seems like he is furious at the Holy Kingdom, but one possibility came to mind.

“Priest, have you ever had any contact with Temple Chief Gwenna Harp?”

“Gwenna Harp? Who?”

When Seche next to me questioned the name I was hearing for the first time, the priest turned his eyes from the statue of the goddess and looked at us and said.

It was a face that felt different and passionate, as if it had fallen into emptiness like before.

“Close the door. Cyan Raven.”

Seche and I closed the door to the temple, and the priest stood up, walked forward, and stood in front of me.

I didn’t feel small when I was sitting down, but I was quite short.

“Lord Gwen said there was a possibility of an assassin coming, but I didn’t know she would bring another woman. Can I tell you who she is?”

It seems that Shrine Leader Gwen contacted the temple in Stemore, knowing that I would head to Edburnil as the shortest route.

It’s small enough to be called a temple and only has one priest, but it’s easy to move around if you have someone who cooperates.

“That’s right. She’s experienced something related to the devil like me, and she’s a woman I can trust.”

“Can you really kill the demon who is believed to be Shahemoth, the demon of mirage?”

“I’ve killed a devil once, so I guess I can kill Shahemos too.”

“Really? What should I do with the request fee? From what I heard about the Raven family, I think it’s mine. Do you want to take it now?”

The priest said, pointing to his neck with both index fingers.

An ordinary member of the Raven family would not hesitate to cut off that pure white head, but recently I have strayed far from that.

“I think a pure nun’s body would be enough.”

Wouldn’t it be more enjoyable to do it if there was a reward like that?

“Ha. I’d rather take her life. I can’t believe you’re asking for such an ordeal.”

“What? Are you not satisfied with me?”

The priest sighed slightly and glared at me, and Seche next to me poked my side with his hand.

“It is more satisfying as an assassin to cut down a demon than a human who does not resist. And I think that is the maximum commission fee a priest in charge of a small temple like this can pay?”

“That’s right. Haha. Shrine Commander Gwen said she would be different from other Ravens, but it seems to be true.”

The priest who said those words took off the coat he was wearing and hung it on a chair, but inside he was wearing casual clothes, so it was hard to think that he was a member of the Goddess Church unless he had pink hair.

“Then, there are other clients besides me. Should I go find them? If I say that to that person too, I might get into big trouble? Um… No. I should tell them.”

The priest spoke something we couldn’t understand, something he only knew, and gestured for us to open the closed door and come out.

The priest who locked the temple door with a key began to walk ahead, and Seche and I looked at each other’s faces for a moment and decided to follow.

The place where three people with slightly different hair colors – the pink-haired priest, the red-haired Seche, and the black-haired me – arrived at foot was a luxury inn.

It had a clean exterior and was full of security guards around the building, but I thought it was worth it when I saw the inn was full of gold decorations.

I think it would be better to think of it as a luxury hotel rather than an inn?

The priest went to the reception desk without hesitation and spoke to the waiter.

“Would you please tell the guests on the 5th floor that Hayley is here?”

“Yes. Please wait a moment.”

An employee attempted to make contact with a communication device placed at the reception desk.

“Haley is here. Yes, I understand.”

Even if it’s just a single building, they use magical communication tools. After a short communication, the clerk told us.

“You can go up to the 5th floor.”

When I walked up to the 5th floor, which could be said to be the highest floor, there were knights in armor guarding the entrance to the room.

“Is there someone high up?”

Seche must have been thinking the same thing as me as he whispered in my ear.

As we got closer, the knights stood up and stopped us.

“You cannot enter with weapons.”

“Eowyn brought the person she was waiting for, is that so?”

“No matter what Hayley says.”

While the knight, priest, and Hayley were having a brief scuffle, a woman’s voice was heard from inside the room.

“I don’t care, so let me in. Do you think you don’t trust me?”

“I understand, princess.”

The driver opened the door without giving me and Seche time to react to the word princess.

Standing in the room was a woman with brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing armor like a knight.

“Welcome, Hayley. And the one I’ve been waiting for.”

*

I came out of the living room, which was so clean that it was hard to find even in the Raven and Crow families, and Seche, Hayley, and Princess Éowyn sat facing each other.

A maid came and served tea and refreshments, then bowed her head and walked out of the living room.

“Eowyn Thembus, the princess who is fourth in line to the throne of this country. I got to know Haley while investigating this case.”

Hayley is smaller, so it seems like Princess Éowyn is her younger sister.

“So who is the person she was waiting for? That man?”

“I don’t even know who that woman is.”

“I am Seche from the Yurisian Empire. I am a silver level adventurer and will soon become gold level.”

Princess Éowyn nodded at Seche’s self-introduction, but she did not seem very trustworthy.

Hayley seemed to be wondering why I was hanging out with a silver-level adventurer.

“Then, who are you?”

“Cyan Raven.”

“Huh…? Why is the Empire’s assassin here? Is the person Haley was waiting for an assassin?! Are you telling me to purge the foolish Abamama and her brothers who refuse to ask for help from the Holy Kingdom and take the throne for me!”〈 Br〉

The princess turned her head very quickly and came to a strange conclusion.

‘Is this how you react when you see someone from the Raven family?’

Seche didn’t react this harshly because I told her about the female talent, and she said she would follow me.

However, seeing Princess Éowyn continue her thoughts like that, I could clearly see what the original image of the Raven family assassin was.

A person who can infiltrate the kingdom, kill the highest authority and the next three successors, and escape. They seem to think that a person who can do such a thing is an assassin of the Raven family.

Of course, it is possible if you get the information from the Royal Castle properly.

“He didn’t come to assassinate the person you think he is. That’s right. Should I say he came to assassinate the devil?”

“Why did you bring such an assassin to me?!”

“I heard the commission fee is for sex with me, so I want to split it with you. It’s unfair to pay it alone.”

“Eh? Sex… Su?”

Seche and I were also taken aback when we heard Hayley’s words, but Princess Éowyn, who was involved, slowly blushed and grabbed Hayley’s cheeks and said,

“Sister, are you crazy? You are a priest and I am a princess! Purity is more expensive than other people’s!”

“Shouldn’t you have sacrificed something too? That way you can show off to your family.”

“So you’re telling me to sacrifice my virginity for show? To that assassin?!”

“No, to kill the devil.”

When Éowyn heard those words, she stopped shaking Hayley’s body.

“If you can’t stand the sight of a ruined kingdom not cooperating with the Holy Kingdom and watching people disappear, so you sacrifice yourself to an assassin from the Raven family to kill the devil, isn’t that a good act of rebellion?”

“That’s…”

“I think that’s a hotter rebellion than a timid rebellion like a princess knight.”

“Still…”

“Princess, can you use sword techniques? Xian will teach you that as a bonus.”

Seche suddenly added a strange condition, but Princess Éowyn shook her head slightly as if she couldn’t use sword skills yet.

“Isn’t the weight set sufficiently at this level?”

‘I don’t know what it is, but there’s nothing to lose, so let’s just stay still.’

When I came in, I said one name, and the princess came in with me.