20: Assassin

Julius faced Emilinne and tried to take the ribbon and ring out of his pocket but suddenly felt uncomfortable and stopped.

“Julius-sama? Is something wrong?” Emilinne asked curiously.

“Lady Emilinne, get behind me.”

Julius had suddenly stopped moving and he moved her behind him. He now stood on the opposite side of the lakeshore.

“Who are you? Show yourself.” Julius said and looked towards the tree.

Three men wearing black clothes appeared from behind the tree.

The three men all wore hoods and Julius couldn’t make out who they were, but he was certain that he didn’t know them.

The hooded figure in the middle of the three spoke to Julius without revealing his face. He spoke with no accent and it was hard to read his emotions from his voice, “You’re Julius Rosenberg, aren’t you?”

“I am the firstborn of the Rosenberg House, Julius Rosenberg. But who are you?” Julius asked but received no reply from the man.

Instead, all three men looked at each other and nodded.

“There’s no need for you to know. No need to know anything at all. All you need to do is die by our hands.” As they said those ominous words, the three men had drawn daggers from their cloaks.

 “Ahh?!” Emilinne, who was standing behind Julius, was frightened by their words and weapons.

“How dangerous.”

But Julius didn’t hesitate and drew his sword which he readied at almost the same time as the men. He had had his sword positioned from the time he’d asked for their names.

Julius could tell from the atmosphere that they weren’t friendly. When the three men appeared the atmosphere had changed to resemble an atmosphere he’d been very familiar with just a few days ago ── the battlefield.

“…………… Ack.”

Julius’s reaction was faster than the men had expected; they were baffled and they hesitated in their attacks.

Julius and the men glared at each other. They were both in the same state.

“It doesn’t seem like we’re acquaintances. Did someone ask you to kill me?”

“I’ve said this earlier. You don’t need to know.”

Julius tried to question them, but his opponents didn’t feel like answering. They bluntly cut him off.

“Dear me, and I don’t even have any land to my name.”

“……………”

The skills of the men was unknown, but Julius didn’t think his sword skills were inferior to theirs.

However, that was only if they faced him individually. Presently, he was faced with three opponents. In addition, he had someone he had to protect behind him. He was at a disadvantage.

Julius felt frustrated, but he couldn’t let this show because he needed Emilinne to feel safe and he didn’t want to give the men an opening.

If he had the chance to strike one of them down first, then he would only have to deal with two of them. He could manage somehow if he was only facing two opponents.

His chance came when ──, “Burururu.”

“?! What the!?”

At that time, the white horse that had been tied to the tree behind the men in black, shook and made a loud noise.

The men turned around when they heard the loud sound. That was a fatal mistake on their part.

“Aah!”

“Argh?!”

Julius didn’t let this chance slip. He approached the man standing on the right as he was looking at the tree and stabbed him in the heart. The man screamed and died instantly.

Julius pulled his sword out and the man flopped onto the floor.

“Tsk!”

The remaining two men clicked their tongue as their comrade died. They exchanged looks and flanked Julius.

Julius concluded that if he moved to defend one side then he wouldn’t be able to defend against the other; so he dodged backwards rather than use his sword to block their attack.

The men held daggers that were light and nimble. If he had repelled their attack it would have been a different, but since he had dodged he could move to attack. Julius used a long sword, which wasn’t light nor nimble, so he couldn’t counterattack if they attacked him continuously.

Julius, however, wasn’t bothered by his predicament. He dealt with their attacks while stepping backwards little by little. He was waiting for the moment when their perfectly coordinated attacks crumbled.

Before long, the moment Julius was waiting for came. The enemies’ intense movements had most likely fatigued them and there was a brief second where their coordinated attack was disturbed.

At that moment, Julius repelled their daggers with the sword in his hand.

And then, he slashed his sword downwards at the man who had delayed his attack.

“Yo-you son of a bitch……!” The man who had been slashed from the upper left to the lower part of his body, shouted in resentment, but Julius didn’t have time to worry about him. He immediately turned himself around and thrusted his sword straight toward the remaining man.

The last man standing was the one who had spoken to Julius while standing at the centre of the other men. He was probably the leader of the other two.

“Now it’s over. You’re the only one left. If you don’t want to die here then tell me who sent you to kill me.”

“I didn’t hear anything about you, but you’re more formidable than I thought you would be. I didn’t think 3 against 1 wouldn’t be enough……”

“If you understand that much, then you also understand that it is futile to resist any further. If you behave while being restrained and tell me about whos pulling the strings, I won’t take your life here.”

Of course, even if Julius didn’t kill him here, the man wouldn’t get away scot free with raising his sword against the son of a noble.

The man shook his head; he probably understood this or he had another reason for not telling Julius.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll refuse. We still have pride, even if we do this kind of work. Apart from that……” The man in black shook his head and refused Julius’s offer to surrender; he dropped the dagger he was holding.

Julius was puzzled as to why the man dropped his dagger when he wasn’t surrendering, then the man suddenly turned to escape.

“I’ll leave you with this advice, don’t take your eyes off the things that matter to you.” He declared and ran off.

“What?! Dammit……?!”

Julius thought that the man would escape, but then he noticed where the man was heading and chased after him.

Julius had killed the first person and was slowly pushed away from the right side of the waterfront while dealing with the two remaining man. Meaning the hooded man was headed toward where he had been at the start. He was headed towards Emilinne who was standing by the lake shore worriedly staring at Julius.

Emilinne was standing by the lake shore while staring at Julius in worry.

“Wait!”

When the realization hit, Julius immediately chased after the hooded man. However his delay in the beginning was too much, he could not reach her in time.

There was nothing he could do if Emilinne were to be taken hostage. He did everything in his power to try to catch up with the man.

Because of this, his reactions were delayed.

 “────!”

“?! Argh!”

Julius thought that the man in black would take Emilinne hostage, but he suddenly turned around and swung his dagger at Julius.

The man in black was here to kill Julius, Emilinne just happened to be present and was unrelated to his mission.

Of course, he could also take her as a hostage if she proved to be useful. However, he couldn’t guarantee that Julius would prioritize her life over his own.

Therefore, he pretended to aim for Emilinne while preparing himself and waited for a chance to attack Julius.

Julius moved to dodge the incoming dagger but it still cut him in his left shoulder.

The pain in his shoulder grew hot and his eyes went red.

“Julius-sama!?” Emilinne turned pale and shouted because Julius was hit and blood splattered in the air.

Julius managed to rely on her voice and he regained his consciousness as it was fading. He mustered up his remaining strength and stabbed the man in black.

“Goahh!”

It was a desperate attack from a wounded Julius but his attack had landed in the man’s throat. The man fell backwards with the sword still stuck in his throat.

At the same time, Julius was also at his limit and he fell face down onto the ground.

His consciousness faded as he listened to Emilinne desperately shouting his name.

Translator: Blushy

Previous | Table of Contents | Next