My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

“How’s that Demon Clan person you met before? You two seemed to get along.”

Rusty really was a member of the Demon Clan, but he was such a good kid it was hard to believe.

He even wanted to become a champion of justice, which put him at odds with Mahiro and his way of thinking.

That might have made him useful, but there was one fatal problem with asking Rusty to guide them.

“I thought you lot hated Lord Lattice Nail… well, sorry, that’s a no.”

I figured these people just didn’t want to make detours.

Thinking that, I met Akira’s eyes and nodded.

I took over Akira’s line and continued the conversation.

“Of course we thought of that. But according to Rusty, he can guide inside the Demon King’s Castle, but he hasn’t really left the Demon Clan territory, so he doesn’t know the outside.”

Akira had asked Rusty earlier whether he could lead us through the Demon Clan territory, so I’d asked when we met not long ago.

When we told him we needed to go to the Demon King’s Castle and asked if he could guide us, he shook his head with a smile.

“I’m what you’d call a sheltered child. Born and raised in the Demon King’s Castle! I’ve never left the castle, never seen the Demon Clan territory! That’s why I ran away like this…”

“Then how did you get this far?”

“That was… I flew here!”

“Eh…?”

It was a strange, incoherent conversation, but it was clear Rusty wasn’t lying.

He really had never set foot in Demon Clan territory.

When I said that, the two who’d objected seemed to accept it.

“So, what are the conditions?”

The hero spoke, and for the first time Akira hesitated.

Crow, meanwhile, looked away and didn’t seem to be listening.

“Ah… that, right.”

Watching Akira go quiet, I saw his eyes shift as he tried to figure out how to dodge the question.

He apparently had no intention of telling the true condition.

“It’s just a small favor. Help with things Crow can’t do anymore because of aging. So we don’t need many people. …No, I can handle it alone.”

Akira said that with finality.

Crow’s expression, somewhere between impressed and resigned, showed he wasn’t lying outright.

He was just skirting the core issue.

“I see. Then we’ll head out ahead. Where should we rendezvous?”

“If that’s the case, how about around here? It’s close to the Demon Clan territory, and yet still within Beastmen territory.”

I listened as the hero and Zeal discussed while spreading a map.

As I eavesdropped, I glanced at Akira; his eyes looked troubled.

‘Forced sleep’ just put someone to sleep — it didn’t solve underlying problems.

It seemed certain now that the reason Akira was sleep-deprived had something to do with Crow’s condition and his demands.

“…Not there.”

Crow, who’d been looking elsewhere, suddenly joined the conversation the moment that spot was about to be chosen.

“Why not? From there we can move at any time, and it’s the closest to Demon Clan territory.”

When Zeal said this, Crow sighed in annoyance.

“…Nope.”

“Huh?”

I reflexively asked what he muttered, and he turned to glare at me so fast it could have made a metallic sound.

People who are sharp-eyed by nature are legitimately scary when they glare.

“Because there’s an old hag there. I don’t want to go.”

I wondered for a moment what he meant by “old hag.” Was he referring to his grandmother?

“Amelia, the ‘old hag’ Crow mentioned is Crow’s mother.”

Akira whispered to me.

I understood then.

But why was Crow’s mother still alive? If Crow was suffering from aging, that would mean his lifespan was nearing its end — his mother couldn’t still be alive.

I looked to Akira, but he was looking at Crow with a wry smile and avoided meeting my eyes.

Akira knew Crow’s mother was alive?

“Besides, there’s an abandoned cabin to the west of there. It used to be a party’s safe house, so it should have various supplies.”

That comment made me snap to attention.

Come to think of it, I’d heard rumors that during fifty years of studying the Demon Clan, several safe houses had been set up to carry out research efficiently.