Little Assassin
We’d been sat down on the Headmaster Office’s coffee table. I’m sitting in the middle; Aerith is sitting on my right side; Ferris is sitting on my left side. And then Shishou sits on the other side, and Vice Headmaster Melody sits beside her. It’s all fine up until that point, but what I’m bothered by is
“Is she not sitting?”
“Nn? Ah, Haku is standing behind willingly, so it’s fine. More importantly, it’s been a long time huh, Lightning Emperor-dono?”
Shishou, who says that and looks at me with a smirk. ……what is that all of a sudden.
“What, you don’t know? Lei has become the Hero that saved the country from the goblin crisis. It seems that plays based on Lei are going to start in the theatres as well. And it’s not just that, the incident in the Royal Palace 4 years ago and the battle against the Demon Race in the Papal State recently as well”
Wha, what’s with that! Me, the person himself, wasn’t consulted about anything though!
“By the way, although it was, of course, the troupe who said to make it into a play, it was Alexia and Helen who leaked Lei’s information”
……it seems a little punishment is necessary for those two. Hey, Ferris and Aerith. Don’t sandwich me and talk about going to watch the play! Rather, it’s probably not interesting even if the two of you who were involved go.
“Haa, I will grill the two of them about that later, but was that treatment just now not too much, even though we finally met after such a long time?”
I question Shishou about what happened just now while slightly glaring at her. Shishou is smirking without looking bothered though.
“Whaat, I only did it because I thought that Lei would be able to dodge it. But you didn’t notice it until halfway through, right?”
Shishou, who says and laughs. The young girl called Haku, who’s standing behind, heard that she was allowed to attack under the premise that I can dodge it, and puffed up her cheeks discontentedly.
“Geez, Headmaster is always doing dangerous things! This child too, by right, we have to turn her over to the Kingdom!”
Vice Headmaster Melody, who’s sitting beside her, says such things angrily. I wonder what’s that about?
“This child is an assassin sent over by the Empire. She has been trained in assassination since a young age by the Empire’s behind-the-scenes organization, and she came to kill the Headmaster, who’ll probably be a hindrance”
“And I captured her over there. You know, I hate these parts of the Empire. Their scheme to use and make children, who still don’t know anything, assassinate”
Shishou is unusually angry. Indeed, this young girl is probably not that far off in age from us. For a girl like her to perform an agile attack as she did just now, she’s probably been made to refine her techniques since a relatively young age. As I’m looking at the young girl
“And so, Lei, look after her”
“……huh?”
What’s this person saying.
“It’s a promise I made with this child; I’ll set her free if she can wound Lei even a little, and if she can’t, she’ll listen to me. You couldn’t do it in the end so please listen to me. I’ll only do one thing; please live freely like a girl”
Shishou smiles at the young girl gently; gently like a mother. Vice Headmaster Melody also sighs and gives up. I guess it’s not something uncommon for the two of them.
As for the young girl, she’s looking flustered. I supposed so huh. The way she’d been living until now was being denied, and even if she’s being told to live in a new way, she wouldn’t know how to.
“And the one who’s selected is Lei, you. Since there are lots of women at Lei’s place. I want everybody to teach her how to live as a girl. After all, there’s nobody who can suppress this child’s ability in an ordinary orphanage. Lei’s place will do just fine. Here, go and introduce yourself”
Shishou says to the young girl who’s standing behind her chair.
“……my name is NO.258”
She went silent with just that, but I’m out of words because of the bombshell that was dropped. Ferris and Aerith are also surprised; Vice Headmaster Melody casts her eyes down sorrowfully. Why is her name a series of number.
“What are you saying. Your name isn’t a series of number like that; I gave you the name Haku, right? Use that”
Shishou, who stood up from the sofa, pats the young girl’s head roughly. Shishou gave her that name huh. If that’s the case. I also stand up from the sofa and go in front of the young girl.
“My name is Leivelt・Runwalker. Nice to meet you, Haku”
I hold my hand out to her, wanting a handshake. She looks back and forth at my face and my hand, and what she brought out was, a knife she held in her hand. Hey, that’s dangerous! I grab and twist the right hand that held and swung the knife at me. Indeed, she can’t be left in the orphanage like this. However
“Shishou. I understand the circumstances of this child, but it might be slightly impossible to leave her at my house”
I talk about the situation at my house currently. That, in the house, there are Priscilla and the others who are incapable of fighting.
“Humph, if that’s the case, you can use this”
What she handed to me after saying that was, a boorish bracelet. What’s this?
“That’s a Restriction Bracelet. If you wear that on the target and give them an order, they’ll have to obey it. If they violate it, they’ll be struck with intense pain in their arm”
Shishou takes the Restriction Bracelet that’s in my hand and wears it on Haku’s right arm
“『You cannot attack anybody other than enemies who attack you and Lei』and done”
What’s this person doing!!!!!! In that case, it means, normally, she’ll attack me, right!?
Haku, who was worn that, tries to resist and attacks Shishou with her knife but
“uu!”
I suppose an intense pain struck her arm, Haku holds down on her right arm.
“If you’re going to attack then do it to him”
Shishou points at me while looking and laughing at that Haku. Like I said, why are you teaching her such things! Haku then glares at me with teary eyes. I’ll keep it a secret that I thought her teary eyes were slightly adorable.
“Haku. Like I’ve said it just now, you don’t have to think about assassinations from now on. Here, there’s nobody who will beat you up, nor is there anybody despicable who will purposely drop your meal on the ground. So you can just live as you like”
Haku hangs her head when Shishou says that. She was treated like that huh. But I wonder why Shishou knows about such things?
“……I don’t know what I should do”
“You can just think about that from here on out. And so, Lei, I’m counting on you. In his house, there are lots of things that Haku doesn’t know so you can have him teach you. If you want to attack somebody then just attack Lei only”
……really, this person. What is she teaching her. In this case, I’m going to be attacked, aren’t I. But well, it’s troubling if she attacks the other girls. While I’m scratching my head
“I’ll take your attacks at any time, so come to my house obediently”
I pat Haku’s head while saying. Haku looks slightly startled, but she just lets it be. I guess it’s true that if it’s about living like a girl then my house is ideal. Ferris and Aerith are talking about dressing her up in cute clothes and stuff at the back after all.
It’s because Haku has an adorable appearance. Hair and skin which are white like snow, and a pair of slightly sleepy eyes. ……she’s somewhat like a cat. It feels like she’ll roll up into a ball if I put her in a kotatsu¹1. I don’t have anything like a kotatsu though.
After that, when we sat down and were about to talk again, Haku started standing behind me instead of Shishou. It’s fine, but it bothers me slightly. Well, I’ll know if she tries to attack me, so it’s alright though.
After all, she just shakes her head even when I ask her if she wants to sit.
I told Shishou in sequence about what happened since we went to the Papal State. The Ancient Dragon and Demon Race’s invasion; the medicine Gullek drank and became a Demon Race. The Baron Territory’s bandit problem. And the goblin horde.
Shishou was listening to my story earnestly, and Vice Headmaster Melody was listening restlessly. They were terribly worried about us since we had been exposed to greater danger than anticipated.
“I see. You’ve worked hard huh. Regarding the Baron Territory, Raymond will do something about it, so there’s no problem, but I see, you fought Gilgas huh”
As I thought, she knows him huh. ……come to think of it, I have to talk about that as well.
“I also met with individuals called Levine-san and Hilde-san. Their daughter is currently in my house though”
Shishou looks at me with an exhausted look when I say that.
“Aah, if it’s about that then I know about it. They came and met me previously. Good grief, that idiot couple hasn’t changed since 300 years ago huh”
Shishou who makes a slightly happy look while saying that. As expected, maybe she’s happy.
We chat for a bit after that, and it came time, so we parted with Shishou and the others. In regards to Eclat, she doesn’t particularly mind if she doesn’t inconvenient those around. In this case, I can bring along her from tomorrow onwards.
It seems Haku will also be here today, so I shall come and fetch her after school. It’ll be great if she gets along with Mei-chan and the others though. It was adorable that she was slightly grabbing my sleeve when we parted. I wonder if it means that she’s gotten a little bit attached to me.
While thinking of such things, I finally arrive at my class. I parted with Ferris and Aerith before entering the school building. It’s because we’re on different floors respectively.
And when I enter the classroom, over there
“Shut up! Leave me alone, idiot!”
“Wai, Re, gahaa!?”
was the sight of Dargris being slapped on the cheek and sent flying by Rene with all her strength. ……what in the world happened?
