My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

“…Do you need something from me?”

After that, almost everyone had eaten in silence. I couldn’t even get a chance to speak with my son, so I went looking for a place where I could be alone and headed to the back of the building.

With the population density in this building having increased over the past few days, I was craving the solitude of being by myself.

The heroes would never come near this place unless they were having nightmares, so it seemed perfect for thinking alone. Unfortunately, there was already someone here today.

She was the girl whose mind had been suggested by my strengthened barrier’s illusion magic to “find the person she trusts most suspicious.”

From what I’d watched, that person the girl trusted most was my son.

She behaved suspiciously only toward him.

I don’t see what’s so great about him, but she must have good taste.

The girl who saw me come to the back of the building looked at me as if she’d known I’d come.

The only acquaintance of my son I knew was Zeal-boy.

I hadn’t known the girl’s face until I saw her in the forest.

“Nice to meet you. I am the former princess of Uruk, my name is Ria.”

The girl stared at me with steady blue eyes and gave a most proper bow, a style distinctly royal.

She wasn’t someone who’d lived longer than her natural lifespan like my son.

And yet, she seemed mentally steadier than him.

Perhaps it was because she’d once been a princess?

No, more than that, I frowned at the name.

Come to think of it, when I first saw this girl, my foolish son might have called her by that very name.

At the time I felt nothing, but now that name stirred something in me.

“…Ria, is it?”

“Yes. Lord Crow gave me this name.”

Her answer made me open my eyes.

It was an ordinary name, but it was an important one in our family.

Could it be… I murmured.

“Did he give her that name?”

“Y-yes. Is there something wrong?”

When I asked to confirm, Ria tilted her head in bewilderment. I shook my head.

Judging by that reaction, she probably didn’t know the meaning that name held only within our family.

If it were the son I knew, I couldn’t imagine him naming a child “Ria”—a name that would remind anyone of us—no matter how much honor or money was offered.

Could there be something strange about this girl?

Still, if I told her the meaning of that name or that my son hadn’t taught her, it would probably deepen his rebelliousness.

Besides, I can only converse with him if I’m teasing him; this isn’t the time to tell her things.

“No, never mind. It’s a fine name—I can’t imagine my foolish son coming up with it, though.”

“Yes. I like this name as well.”

She said it plainly, and I found myself smiling for real.

Ah, I wondered if my son felt the same way.

“…Let’s get back to the matter at hand. You looked like you wanted to talk earlier. Do you need something from me?”

She was, in a way, like a grandchild—someone my son had named “Ria.”

No wonder my attitude softened compared to before.

Right now I might even say things I usually wouldn’t.

“Yes. There are many things I’d like to ask, but the thing I most want to hear from Lord Noah is about Lord Crow.”

I nodded, thinking that was obvious.

From her behavior today alone, it was clear she idolized my son.

She observed his actions closely, anticipated his movements and prepared things in advance, and even took it upon herself to serve his portion at meals.

The dark little ones seemed used to it or had simply accepted it as normal, showing no reaction. But seeing it for the first time, I found it strange, of course.

And my son accepted it as if it were only natural.

Bit by bit, both the giver and the recipient were filling in the outer moat unconsciously—I wondered if that was just my imagination.

“This may be rude of me to say, but what do you feel about Lord Crow’s younger sister, your own daughter? Do you think she should just be forgotten as memory fades?”

“Of course not.”

I answered without thinking.

Her question touched a feeling that would never vanish as long as I was myself.