My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

"...Hm."

I woke up in an unfamiliar place.

"Master, you're awake."

As I sat up and looked around, Night in his kitten form slipped in through the window beside the bed I had been laying on.

His face looked relieved, but also somewhat tired.

"Night, where are we?"

"This is my house."

Although I'd asked Night, another voice echoed in the room.

A familiar voice.

"...Crow."

The black cat beastman blacksmith approached carrying something.

There was no furniture in the room besides the bed — not even a closet.

It was really just a room for sleeping.

"How do you feel?"

"Terrible. How long was I out? And where's Amelia?"

The leftover languor that comes from sleeping a very long time still wrapped around my body.

My head wasn't working properly.

Ever since I was summoned into this world, death had felt like it was always nearby; I felt like I hadn't been able to sleep deeply. And yet now, my desire to sleep had been completely erased.

I must have slept a long time.

As my head cleared, I took stock of the situation.

I put my hand to my forehead.

"Ah, right. Amelia was kidnapped by the Demon Clan, wasn't she?"

"That's right. By the way, Master, you passed out three days ago when you went berserk."

I was surprised at Night's words.

Three days?

When I was younger I had once been hit by a truck instead of a child I was saving, and even then I was only unconscious for two days. That time my body had been between the tires and I was almost uninjured.

This time, I didn't seem badly hurt either — apparently uninjured — and yet I had slept for three days. Strange.

As I mulled that over, I noticed Night had gone quiet, wearing a troubled expression.

"Night? What's wrong?"

I scooped him up and stroked him. He purred like a cat.

I'd heard before that when he transforms he fully becomes the creature he turns into. Even as a black cat, if you stroke a good spot he'll unconsciously purr.

Amelia and I used to waste time with childish games like who could make Night purr first.

"Master is... no, never mind."

He was hiding something obvious, and I wanted to press, but from experience I knew when Night was like this he wouldn't speak until he had made up his mind. So I kept quiet.

When the two of us were silent, Crow dropped what he had been holding onto my knees.

"This is what was requested. Also, the dagger you used — I sharpened the blade. Tell the owner to keep using it carefully from now on."

The dagger borrowed from an adventurer who'd left the front line gleamed like new.

Then he glanced to the other two blades.

"You split it in two? Was I using it too roughly?"

"Well, yes. But you're an Assassin. Daggers are easier for you to use."

The two daggers were covered in pitch black from hilt to edge. When drawn their blades were black too.

No doubt the single weapon "night blade god" had been split into two daggers.

There was a large crack around the middle — maybe that's where it was broken.

From Crow's tone it seemed it wasn't an irreparable crack, but perhaps he split it deliberately because of my profession.

"Also, take this."

He dropped a small box.

I picked it up and stared at it. Night's eyes widened too — he seemed to recognize it.

"Hey, that's..."

"Yeah. It's what you think it is... Open it."

Prompted by Crow, I opened the lid cautiously.

"A ring?"

Inside lay a rugged ring with a blood-red gem set in the center.

Clearly made for a man.

There wasn't a name carved, but there were words on the inside.

"I am the one who guides you."

Moreover, the inscription was in a script not native to this world — thankfully not Japanese, but in English, a language I was second-most familiar with, so I could just make out the words.

It must have been made by a hero from an English-speaking land other than the first generation.

"Of course — a hero. You could read that?"

Technically I'm not a hero, but I answered.

"Yeah. It's not the language of the country we were born in, but it’s from our original world's language."

Crow nodded as if understanding. He'd expected the inscription on the night blade god to be in a different script and thought it would be unreadable.