Seeing that Litt remained unmoved, the assassin could only shake his head.
He slowly raised his hand, thinking that his teammates hiding in the shadows must already be in position, waiting for the signal.
“By the way, I still don’t know your name.”
The girl’s innocent eyes stared straight at the assassin before her.
“…Ronald.”
For some reason, Ronald felt as though he was being seen through completely.
Maybe it was just his imagination?
On the other side, the assassins in the shadows, with chains wrapped tightly around their throats, also saw Ronald raise his hand.
All of their Magical Circuits had been sealed, rendering them unable to even speak.
All they could do was pray.
Pray that Ronald’s hand wouldn’t come down.
Just then, Litt noticed a sudden surge of insect-like skittering noises coming from behind her.
Looking up, she saw countless red dots emerging in the darkness.
Litt knew exactly what they were.
Having partnered with Red for so long, of course she recognized his handiwork.
To avoid exposing herself, she hurriedly retracted the cross, letting the suspended assassins drop to the ground with a series of “bang, bang, bang” sounds.
The loud crashes interrupted Ronald’s gesture.
He turned around to see his companions sprawled awkwardly on the ground.
“What happened to you all?”
Seeing his dizzy and battered teammates, Ronald still had no clue what was going on.
One of the assassins struggled to his feet.
“Bro… could you maybe put your hand down first? I’m begging you.”
“So what exactly is going on?”
“What do you mean what’s going on!?”
Another assassin didn’t bother explaining further, instead breaking into a sprint:
“If we don’t run now, when will we?”
“For real, time to bail!”
In the blink of an eye, Ronald’s reliable teammates all bolted, leaving him alone scratching his head in confusion.
“…What happened? Did they see a ghost? Why are they so scared?”
Now, a problem lay before Ronald.
With all his teammates gone, should he still carry out this mission?
Ronald looked once more at the harmless-looking nun before him.
After a moment of thought, he simply picked up a rope from the floor, planning to tie up Litt before going after that demon girl.
“……”
As Ronald approached, Litt neither dodged nor tried to run, just sat quietly where she was.
“Forgive me for this, Miss Nun.”
But before he could tie her up, he suddenly heard a rustling behind him, like some insect crawling along the wall.
He turned around.
At some point, several silver-white, spider-like mechanical creatures had appeared on the wall.
“What the hell is that?”
Alarm bells rang in Ronald’s mind.
As an assassin, he was highly attuned to danger.
These palm-sized spiders were definitely not to be underestimated.
Could it be that his teammates were frightened off by these spiders?
So, remaining alert, Ronald continued toward Litt, determined to tie her up.
But at that moment, the spiders began to move.
In less than half a second, Ronald watched as all the little creatures scrambled onto his body.
Even though Ronald had been on guard, the spiders were incredibly fast.
It was no exaggeration—he could even see their afterimages.
No ordinary person could react to that speed!
Ronald tried to slap the spiders off, but their numbers kept growing, and they were surprisingly strong.
After a few struggling attempts, he lost his balance and fell straight to the ground.
At the same time, a man appeared at the doorway—it was Red, finally arriving.
He glanced at the rope in Ronald’s hand, then at Litt sitting safely in her chair, and couldn’t help but feel relieved.
However, he was also puzzled.
As a mage, he was very sensitive to the presence of magic.
The residual magical energy in the room felt strangely familiar.
But as he looked around, apart from Litt and the assassins writhing on the ground like salted fish, Red saw no one else.
“I shouldn’t be late, right? Litt, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. This gentleman is a good person.”
“……”
Ronald’s mouth twitched.
Well, good thing he hadn’t gotten rough or said anything insulting just now.
Such a kind nun would probably let him go.
“Is that so?”
The Bloodtracking Hunter Spider could instantly relay everything it saw to Red’s retina.
So even if Litt hadn’t spoken, Red knew what had happened just now.
Though the man named Ronald was an assassin, he truly hadn’t tried to harm Litt.
Otherwise, those spiders would have done more than just cling to him.
After all… every spider on him was equipped with a micro Exploding Magic Array.
Red thought for a moment.
He hadn’t originally intended to let Ronald go.
But just then, Litt spoke.
“Red, just let him go.”
Of course, this wasn’t out of kindness.
She was worried that if Ronald was captured by Red, he might spill something under interrogation.
Better to simply let him go.
Killing these assassins wouldn’t really change anything—the real mastermind wasn’t them.
“…Alright.”
The Bloodtracking Hunter Spiders released their claws, and Ronald managed to climb to his feet, patting the dust off his body.
“Thank you, really.”
At that moment, he was pondering something.
Since he hadn’t run away with his teammates, how could he slip out now without looking completely pathetic?
“Don’t thank me just yet.”
Red hadn’t forgotten why he’d come.
According to Granny, the original plan was for these assassins to burn the place down and take Tessaia away.
A debt is a debt—it must be settled.
“Granny already told me your operation plans,”
Red stared at the assassin before him.
“Where are those Exploding Magic Arrays?”
“Well…”
Ronald scratched his chin, then pulled ten Scrolls and a Smoke Bomb from his pocket.
“Everything you want is here. Kind little nun, hope we meet again!”
“Bang!”
The Smoke Bomb went off, shrouding their vision for barely a second before Ronald disappeared from sight.
Red wanted to give chase, but Ronald ran off at lightning speed, and, worried that the Scrolls might explode, Red immediately shielded Litt behind him and didn’t dare pursue recklessly.
“……”
Yet, the expected explosion never came.
Red picked up the Scrolls from the floor.
The other party had no intention of detonating the arrays—he just wanted to escape.
“Ah…”
Litt wore a guilty expression.
“Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to let him go.”
“It’s fine, just an assassin.”
***
Elsewhere, Ronald, who had escaped safely, reunited with his teammates.
“What happened to all of you? Why the long faces?”
At Ronald’s question, the group of assassins exchanged glances, then quickly handed him a slip of paper.
There was a single sentence written on it.
“Brotherhood assassins, please make sure to keep your mouths shut and don’t talk about what happened tonight, okay?”
Though it seemed like a polite message, Ronald couldn’t help but feel a chill behind his back.
“Who gave this to you?”
“No idea,” the assassins shook their heads.
“When we got back, we just found this piece of paper in each of our pockets.”
“In everyone’s pocket?”
Ronald instinctively reached into his own pocket.
Sure enough, he found a slip of paper as well.
He took it out.
The front bore the same message, but unlike the others, Ronald’s had an extra line on the back.
“You wouldn’t want the Inquisition to come knocking, would you?”