“A second failure! Just how much do you think I’m paying you all!?”
With a high-pitched, hysterical voice, the woman threw a tea cup at the boy (少年).
At such a close range, the teacup hit the boy’s forehead and broke. The fragments drew blood, but the boy didn’t even flinch.
Feeling uncomfortable from his lack of response, the woman regains her cool.
“I will not forgive a third failure.”
While fixing her hair and calming her disordered breathing, the woman stated coolly. Despite exceeding the age of forty, she’s spends money to maintain her youthful looks. But while her outer appearance remains unchanged, her insides have rotten.
“Acknowledged.”
“If you fail this time, I will cancel my request and hire someone else.”
“With all due respect, there are no better assassins on this continent than our organization.”
“Then why have you failed twice!?”
The boy quietly responds to the agitated woman.
“I can’t make excuses for our predecessor’s failures. But, once we accept a mission, the target will definitely die.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“We swear upon the name VárTeufel (ヴァールトイフェル)” <Devil’s Vow>
Sharp eyes peek out through a gap of his dull turquoise hair.
The woman can hardly believe this boy, the same age as her son, has already become an elite of an assassin organization.
“Fine. I don’t care who you are so long as that annoying hindrance of a woman is gone. However, you cannot leave any evidence behind. If my Lord finds any evidence connecting her death to me, all of this will be for nothing.”
“Of course. We assassins don’t have a habit of leaving evidence behind.”
“Then that’s fine…. Supposing you fail, you better not leave any trace that could lead to me!”
Smiling at the boy silently bowing to her, the woman gave him new information about the target.
“As I recall, there’s a new magician near that woman.”
“A magician, you say. Do you know their identity?”
“Since they arrived so recently I don’t. But, if I heard correctly… they were sixteen years old. How could they be worth noting at that age? I don’t believe you’re as pathetic as your predecessor who lost against a single maid, but can you really compete against a magician with that?”
At the end of the woman’s pointed gaze is the bow and arrow that are placed beside the boy.
The assassin organization VárTeufel rears various weapon masters, and they’re famous for taking down their target no matter who it is. The common oddity among their elite members is that they all use specialized weapons.
Although he has magic power, the turquoise-haired boy was a master of bows and arrows, as he believes that instead of relying on magic, weapons were much more reliable.
However, no one would believe that an archer could defeat a magician.
The prior assassin was a swordsman, but he lost against a magician maid.
It’s natural the woman is worried.
“Have no worries. We, VárTeufel, will definitely bring down our target even if that target were a magician.”
“How happy I’d be if I could trust your word.”
His predecessor failed, so there’s no way she would have confidence in him.
After all, these are assassins, people who murder for a living and amount to little else. In other words, they’re mere ruffians. The woman thought of them to that degree.
If she wanted someone skilled, she would find a knight’s or magician’s protege. However, there’s a good chance of getting the murder traced back to her if she did that. What a frustrating dilemma.
In her mind, she planned that if the assassination succeeds, she would kill the boy to prevent any leaks.
“Well, that’s fine. Once you succeed, you will receive a completion bonus, so please kill that woman at any cost!”
“Understood. If possible, since my predecessor lost it, could I see the target’s photo again?”
“Saying that much, it seems you’re prepared. Here.”
Taking a picture from the dresser next to her, she hands it to the boy.
“Honestly, for your predecessor to have lost the target photo, just what were they doing?”
“They died”
“–eh?”
“To be precise, they were killed as punishment for their two failures. Instead, I will fulfill the request.”
“I, is that so? My condolences.”
With a faltering, slightly frightened voice, the woman responded to the boy who dispassionately said his colleague was killed for their failure.
For the first time, she learned why this boy who seemed to be a substitute for his predecessor appeared.
“Thank you very much. I’m sure that fellow would be delighted with my Lady’s concern from the afterlife.”
Ignoring the frightened woman, the boy concentrated on the target’s photo.
The photo shows a woman with blond hair tied up in a barrette, floating a gentle smile as she has her picture taken. She looks to be in her mid-thirties, but is known to be older.
— A kind-hearted person.
The boy pitied the target a little. But, he’ll do what he has to do.
Even if the reason was this woman’s jealousy, the requests given to their assassin organization must be carried out.
“What is the target’s name?”
“Hannelone Alwei.”
Not sure how I feel about Miss Concubine’s surprise that an assassin organization would kill their own over two failures. Isn’t that somewhat to be expected? Well, she’s just the tutorial boss after all.
Etymology of ‘VárTeufel’:
‘Vár’, the goddess associated with oaths and vows in Norse mythology. In old Norse means “pledge” or “beloved”, etc. It also means “Castle” in Hungarian, but on JP Wikipedia the goddess is what shows up. On German Wikipedia Vár shows up as “castle” first, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A1r
‘Teufel’, which means “devil, satan, demon, fallen angel, etc” in German.
So “Devil’s Vow” or “Devil’s Castle” if you combine two languages huh. JP authors please. VárTeufel.