My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

I lay on the bed in the single-occupancy room and stared at the ceiling. The mattress sank a little to accept me, then rose back up.

The room was about the size of a hotel room that would cost over ten thousand yen a night—spacious, and at first glance neat and orderly. The shower and toilet were generously sized. The fact that each person was given a room like this hinted at how large this castle was. The white-themed room, even unused, seemed to have been cleaned and ventilated, so it didn’t feel dusty.

“I thought being an Assassin and working as the hero’s scout would be easy—hero defeats the demon king, then I’m free. I figured it would be easy mode.”

That was if my bad premonition turned out true, but right now I felt cheated. This was full-on hard mode. I couldn’t help muttering aloud, something I hardly ever did.

First I needed to uncover whatever schemes the king and the others were plotting. Maybe it was because I had the negotiation skill, but I felt like I could grasp, even if only a little, what others were thinking. With that camera-like incident in mind, I had to move carefully.

I suddenly realized that if I had gone rogue in the other world, I might have been a professional thief. Snuffing out my presence, sneaking in, instinctively detecting almost all surveillance cameras and moving through blind spots… I could even rob a bank. I wouldn’t, though.

“…Sneaking in is the only option, huh. What a pain. Why me?”

Grumbling to myself, I changed into black garb. The closet should have had outfits for each occupation hung up. Of course, my stuff wasn’t provided since my status hadn’t been checked, so I procured it myself. I snuck into the castle armory with my presence concealed. There were guards and it was nerve-wracking, but I managed to steal what I needed. If I could get back to the other world in this condition, maybe I’d become a bank robber after all.

I’d also taken over an empty private room without permission. There were forty classmates; twelve weren’t in class at noon. That meant twenty-eight had been summoned to another world. With that many people, the castle’s maids—who only looked good on the surface—couldn’t possibly keep track. The cleaning seemed perfect, but there were probably corners where trash accumulated. I judged they wouldn’t notice one more person using a room.

“…Alright, let’s go.”

Dressed in black, I slipped out the window so no one would spot me and headed upward.

I leapt onto one of the castle’s five towers and looked around. I’d liked high places since I was small.

“Whoa… this place is huge. So this is the royal capital.”

From there I could see the royal capital clearly. It wasn’t as dazzling as a nighttime industrial zone, but the city lights were sparkling. I could see a few streetlamps placed near the castle. Other lights weren’t visible from here—probably some kind of light magic in a world with magic.

The technological level seemed about like Japan right after the Meiji Restoration. There weren’t many streetlamps and they weren’t evenly distributed. Too much light clustered in what looked like the city center. In the alleys, you wouldn’t know what was happening—crime would be rampant.

It was night, so there were few pedestrians. Then again, comparing to Japanese cities might be unfair.

I shoved the little information I’d gathered into a corner of my mind and searched for presence.

“…Okay. No one nearby.”

I snuck, presence concealed, into the tower with the heaviest security—probably where the king was.

“Now then, where’s the king?”

Keeping presence concealment active, I tiptoed and listened at each door. I’d heard the king’s voice only once, but that creepy, viscous tone stuck in my head. At first it didn’t bother me, but now it made my skin crawl.

When I reached one door, I finally got a hit. The door was heavy—maybe a study.

I pressed my ear to it and listened.

“Maria, how are the kids behaving?”

“They’re proceeding smoothly, Father. No one has noticed yet. After all, they’re children from a world without magic. They don’t even know how they’ll be used; they’re giddy and sleeping now.”