In Hervor, the northern kingdom where most of the territory consists of snowy mountains, there was a city called Ahilant.
A city built in the plains area that boasts a relatively warm climate in Hervor, where the concepts of spring, summer, and autumn don't exist.
A river that doesn't freeze all year round. Lush coniferous forests. Even hot spring water flowing when you dig the ground. It was literally a blessed area.
Naturally, many people gathered there, and Ahilant gradually grew to become one of the largest cities in Hervor.
It wasn't to the extent of rivaling the capital Bern, but it was among the top four.
As such a large city, the number of residents was incomparable to other cities, and the number of traveling merchants or tourists was countless.
A picture-perfect metropolis, you could say?
However, just as stronger light casts darker shadows, the fact that it was a metropolis full of people didn't have only positive meanings.
The fact that entry and exit were active meant it was difficult to properly identify those coming and going and filter out dangerous elements, and the fact that there were many residents meant the number of villains would inevitably be that much larger.
Ahilant's public safety was not very good.
The commercial districts and residential areas where most people gathered were relatively safe, but in the dark back alleys, there were openly established criminal dens full of the poor and thugs.
A high-crime area where if an outsider unknowingly set foot in, they might wake up the next day in a brothel or slave market.
In one corner of such a back alley, there was a tavern called 'The Talon Perch'.
A small tavern frequented by low-quality ruffians, low-ranking members of violent organizations, and drunkards who can't quit alcohol even after becoming poor.
Creak.
With the sound of rusty hinges creaking, the wooden door with knife marks and dried blood stains slowly opened its body.
The Talon Perch welcomed a new visitor.
"Hmm...? What's that?"
A drunk who had been sleeping face down on the table raised his body drowsily and looked at the two visitors entering through the door.
A black-haired girl with a hood pulled over her thick bear fur cloak, and an armored... armored...?
...
'What's with that little brat? No fear at all. Does she know where this is, walking in alone?'
The drunk shook his head and let out a hollow laugh.
A small stature that looked not even twenty yet, and a pretty face briefly revealed inside the hood. She was a girl who clearly didn't fit in with this kind of back alley tavern.
Seeing such a girl coming to a place like this without a guardian, she must be a novice traveler who had never even heard of the notoriety of Ahilant's back alleys.
You could say there's a high probability she'll be found in a brothel for special tastes by tomorrow evening?
Of course, whether the budding traveler becomes a prostitute or not was of no concern to him.
Instead of meddling unnecessarily by warning the girl that this place is dangerous and to go back, the drunk just grinned at the feeling that one more person had joined the bottom of society and just kept drinking from his bottle on the table.
'It's their own fault. Coming into a place like this alone, whatever happens to them...'
"Excuse me, I'd like to order."
'...happens is their own responsibility, right? One of them will be finished by the end of today.'
Not even realizing how his own perception was being distorted and altered.
* * *[ Hilde ]* * *
Phew, it really stinks in here.
As soon as I opened the door, I frowned, barely suppressing the urge to cover my nose at the characteristic stench of a rundown tavern.
The sour smell of vomit soaked into the floor and the smell of blood. The stench of drunkards who haven't washed properly. Even the pungent alcohol scent of strong liquor.
It was fortunate that I had become somewhat accustomed to bad smells from my isekai adventurer life; otherwise, I would have retched as soon as I breathed in.
If I had done that, I would have drawn all the attention of the people around.
Well, the people holed up in a back alley tavern in broad daylight are just drunkards wasting their entire lives on alcohol, so even if I drew attention, it wouldn't be particularly problematic.
Just taking a quick look around the tavern, the only people awake were one derelict grinning as if something good had happened and the tavern owner.
Three or four other men were slumped over tables, dazed from alcohol and sleep, showing no interest in whether new visitors had arrived or not.
Okay, there shouldn't be any particular danger.
I let out a sigh of relief and walked to the counter of the tavern, plopping down on a chair placed there and stating my business to the tavern owner.
"Excuse me, I'd like to order."
"...Ah, yes. What can I get you, customer?"
The tavern owner, who had been looking at Friede with questioning eyes, seemed to finally notice me as he lowered his gaze and naturally addressed me.
The helmet's performance is definitely working.
He couldn't even recognize my existence until I spoke, and even after noticing me, he treated me like an ordinary customer, not even glancing at my obviously exposed cleavage.
It's like a reaction where even while looking at me, he can't recall the concept of 'an armor-clad lemon-haired female knight'.
As expected, it was good that I went through the trouble to search the bottom of the Rhine River to get this helmet in advance.
If assassins or thieves saw this, they would be insanely envious. To the point of rolling their eyes and drooling like mad dogs.
"Customer?"
"Ah, yes. So..."
Urged by the tavern owner, I hesitated a little while recalling the phrase that appeared in the original work.
"One bottle of Svarti Brenniven. Three pieces of unsoured Haukartl. Two plates of smoked lamb."
Then, I recited the phrase from my memory while placing three silver coins on the counter.
"Hmm..."
The tavern owner narrowed his eyes and observed me closely. His expression was openly suspicious. Yet his hand was quickly pocketing the silver coins.
"You're making quite an unusual order. 'Unsoured' Haukartl..."
"I don't like fermented food."
It was certainly an unusual order.
Haukartl is originally a fermented food made by thoroughly fermenting and drying shark meat.
Asking for unsoured Haukartl was no different from asking for unfried french fries.
"Well... We don't have such a dish, but we do have ingredients that can produce a similar taste... I'm not sure if it will suit your palate. Would you like to check it out?"
The tavern owner asked, pointing to the storage room behind the counter with an awkward smile as if troubled.
I nodded. It was the exact response I had been hoping for.
"Sure. It's okay if my companion joins too, right?"
"Of course."
The tavern owner, saying it was fine, slowly opened the storage room door.
I followed the tavern owner into the storage room along with Friede, who was looking around with eyes full of wariness.
Past the first-floor storage room piled high with bottles of alcohol and food pouches, opening the secret door installed on its floor and going down the stairs, until we reached the underground meeting place.
And finally, in front of the metal door of the secret room we arrived at.
"Welcome, customer. Let me greet you again."
The tavern owner turned towards us and greeted us politely, revealing the aura he had been hiding.
No, he was no longer just a tavern owner.
"Welcome. Under the shadow of our Black Eagle. It's been a long time since a client has sought this place."
A well-trained physique without an ounce of fat, hidden under loose clothing.
A faint blood scent, masked by the smell of alcohol but not completely erased.
And even the professional gaze reflexively scanning our vital points, considering how to kill us in one strike.
A thoroughly trained assassin stood before us.
As a member of the Black Eagle Shadow, the information organization and assassination guild that dominates the underworld of the Kingdom of Hervor.
"Thank you for the warm welcome."
I grinned and responded. It was a smile soaked in satisfaction that the knowledge I had matched perfectly.
"Then, can we go in now?"
"By all means."
The assassin nodded slightly and knocked on the iron door of the reception room a couple of times before opening it and letting us in.
* * *
Inside the iron door was dark.
In the dark room with walls on all sides, there was only a desk with a candle on it, two chairs, and a cabinet-like storage fixed to the wall.
How should I put it, it was an interior reminiscent of an old cathedral's confessional. Except for the lack of cross decorations.
A space that looked filthy gloomy and dismal at a glance.
The only person who would use such a space as their study would be a completely deranged serial killer who thinks only about ways to kill people 24 hours a day.
"Hmm, visitors?"
So, I mean guys exactly like this. (So, it's exactly these kinds of guys.)
The man who was sitting in a chair writing some unknown documents lifted his head and looked at us.
A middle-aged man dressed entirely in black, even covering his face with a mask shaped like a black eagle.
He was obviously a madman without a doubt.
How could he see anything with that mask on in such a dark place? The concept was so over the top it was worthy of criticism.
"Please sit down."
"Alright."
I sat down as instructed. Since there was only one chair left, I had Friede stand beside me.
"What brings you to our guild? Are you here to buy information, or to sell it...?"
"Neither."
"Hmm... Then is it 'that' business? That's a bit unexpected. You don't seem to be related to that line of work."
The man's voice lowered a bit.
The fact that the information guild 'Black Eagle's Shadow' also conducts assassinations is top secret among top secrets. His tone suggested it had been a very long time since a guest who knew this had visited.
"It's not that business either."
Of course, contrary to his assumption, I hadn't personally come all this way for an assassination request or anything like that.
"What...?"
The man tilted his head and asked. As if to say, if you're not here to buy or sell information, and not for an assassination request, why on earth did you come here?
I swallowed dryly. If I misspoke here, all the assassins of the Ahilant branch could immediately target us.
"I have a message for the Master. It's fine to deliver it in writing, but I think it would be safer to meet in person and talk."
"...Our Guild Master is not someone you can meet so abruptly."
The man glared at me coldly from behind his mask. It was an answer tinged with killing intent.
"...!"
Perhaps reacting to that killing intent, Friede who was about to draw her sword in an instant barely suppressed her arm, seeing me sitting calmly.
...Phew. That was close to becoming a murder scene.
I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It's fortunate I told Friede about this place's true nature in advance, otherwise the tavern would have become a sea of blood.
"I'm well aware that he's not someone easy to meet."
Of course he wouldn't be easy to meet. No, considering the Guild Master's true identity, meeting him at all would be close to a miracle.
"However..."
I muttered softly as if stalling for time, and gave the man a knowing smile.
Then I said:
"Umbra est una cum omnibus quae sub sole sunt."
-The shadow is one with all things under the sun.
The unnecessarily stylish code phrase that appeared in the original novel.
"...Nemo parvas tenebras effugere potest."
-No one can escape that small darkness.
As if it was a truly unexpected response, the man who flinched for a moment said the countersign in a disgruntled tone.
"How do you know those words... Could you be someone from 'above'?"
His voice became much more polite. It seemed he was mistaking me for a high-ranking executive of the organization.
According to the setting, only they knew the secret phrase I had recited.
"Never mind that. So, I need to meet the 'Master'. Could you pass along the message?"
I brushed off his question with an ambiguous tone that neither confirmed nor denied, and smiling like a woman with a secret she couldn't tell others, I stated my business once again.
"Tell him this... There's someone who wants to meet the 'Lucky One' regarding the status of the 'First One'... That will do. I'm counting on you."
This wasn't a phrase from the original work. Of course not. It was a message I had just come up with.
A secret message to be delivered to the Guild Master of Black Eagle's Shadow.
'I know your true identity, 'Lucky One' Argentir. I have information about your brother Heid's status, so come meet me if you're curious.'
That was the meaning contained in the message.
That's right.
Argentir, the 2nd prince of Hervor, known to the public as a weak and kind man, and a lucky one who would fortunately inherit the throne.
His true identity was the head of the information and assassination guild 'Black Eagle's Shadow' that controlled the underworld throughout all of Hervor.
A man with terribly outdated naming sense and taste in code phrases.
He created this organization when he had just turned fifteen, so perhaps it was an expression he thought was stylish in his own way.