Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival

Volume 2 - CH 8(2/2)

also a lot of blindspot that no one wouldn’t visit.

「Anya, over here.」

「There is a good hunting place here.」

「Keep it a secret from anybody else okay-」

In order to put the girl into the trap, they passed the first floor of the dungeon where there were many witnesses and guided the girl deep into the second floor.

It was difficult for people with meager combat strength like them to capture their target unharmed, but this time they had sleeping drug. They were putting the drug into her drink bit by bit during break time and meal time. They didn’t put the drug in all at once because there were cases when the target died when they were given the sleeping drug too much at once.

But, although they had mixed the drug once at the lunch and in her tea when they took a break, there had been no change at all with Anya’s condition from the start.

(....Did he put in too little?)

The short haired man glanced at Anya who was following behind him without any vigilance at all.

The red haired man who used bow was the one in charge of administering the poison. He was a playboy but, he shouldn’t be a man who was interested with kid or a man who blundered in his job because of that. But the way the red haired man kept talking t Anya as though to attract her interest irritated the short haired man.

(Don’t tell me, he isn’t getting “serious” with her isn’t he....?)

He wondered if the red haired man was getting too concerned with the girl and failed in administering the sleeping drug.

How serious that man was getting with this girl? The girl was still a child....but, if only he met this girl ten years ago....no, five years ago, then perhaps he would be walking the path as an adventurer under the sunlight instead of being a trivial thief like this.

The man unconsciously averted his gaze from the girl when such thought settled inside his chest, then he saw that the man with shaven head was also making a frown in displeasure while watching the red haired man.

(Don’t tell me....this guy too!?)

The short haired man shuddered at Anya’s “devilishness”. ?Could it be, that the two might be thinking of not selling the girl but monopolizing her for themselves?

Ten years ago....the three who had just left their rural town were overflowing with hope. They were looking toward the future just like those young men who hounded Anya in the guild. However before they realized it....they had given up in living a decent life and preyed on other people.

If those young men could form a party with Anya, they might be able to go to a radiant adventure. But such thing wouldn’t possible anymore for them. Even if dirty people like them stayed together with Anya, a bright future would never come to them.

But was that true? Was that really the case....? It was hopeless with the three of them. But, if it was just one of them?

It still wasn’t too late....it was possible to start over if it was just one of them. Rather than handing Anya to these men who could be so easily led astray by her devilishness, it should be better if it was him who got the chance to start over with Anya.

(Aa....)

When he looked at Anya, his eyes were dazzled by that radiance. His chest tightened painfully just from looking at her. When he looked at nothing else buy Anya inside his hazy thought, the red haired man who was looking at Anya in the same way like him suddenly fell on his knee before falling unconscious.

(What’s wrong....? That guy, did he get punished from having wicked thoughts in his mind?)

The man with shaved head walked toward that red haired man, but he too fell on his knees when he took his first step and his body pitched forward.

(I see....so this guy also got wicked thoughts in his head.)

The short haired man thought that with his hazy mind. These dirty guys tried to monopolize Anya for themselves so they got punished. The god was watching. The god was giving him the chance for a start over.

His chest felt painful as though it was constricted. His field of vision turned dark and he could see nothing else but her. Amidst that, Anya who was shining inside the light reached out with her hand toward her. The short haired man fell on his knees as though to pray to god.

(Wh....at?)

Like that the short haired man fell. He couldn’t comprehend why he was falling. Did they step on a dungeon’s trap without noticing? But it’s fine. With Anya who can use light sorcery here, she would be able to heal him even if it’s poison.

The short haired man stayed down on the ground while reaching his hand toward Anya, looking for help. But, reflected in his eyes wasn’t an angelic smile that would grant mercy. It was her looking down on them expressionlessly with a chilling gaze as she unsheathed a sharp black knife.

Inside a small room in the dungeon, I finished off the three men who can’t move from poison by slitting their throats.

To prove the completion of the request, it should be enough to hand the three’s tags to the client. It looked like I was able to finish them off surprisingly easily, but the cause was that they let their guard down against me. I dressed like this in order to make them careless but, I wouldn’t be able to defeat them this easily if they suspected me even for just the slightest bit.

These three led me to a place where no other adventurer would come on their own, so I can just leave it to the monsters of the dungeon to take care of their corpses. Now then──

*Hyun-!*

A blade was thrown at me from behind. I bent so low as though to crawl on the ground to dodge it. The crescent moon shaped sword passed above me and stabbed into the earth wall of the dungeon.

「....How about coming out already?」

I stood up while calling out to the darkness. There the air slightly wavered and a man appeared as though he was oozing out from the darkness.

「....Strange. I was really confident with my Stealth but, since when did you notice me?」

The one who appeared was the Cruzian youth who taught me a lot of things in the assassin guild, Guy.

Most opponent could be killed easily if they were targeted the moment they were “careless” when they finished their job. I could dodge that attack easily because I was on my guard against it from the start.

「From the church last night.」

「So it was from the start huh-! Uwaa, I don’t have any confidence now.」

「You can be confident. You were hiding properly.」

Even so it wasn’t at Viro’s level. Besides because he was skilled with it, the “shape of human” was properly visible to my eyes.

「Even if I’m told that by a kid....」

Guy scratched his head somewhat in frustration while looking at me with a cold gaze.

「And, how did you sense my attack just now? Even if you noticed me, was it really possible to suddenly dodge after getting abruptly attacked like that?」

「Forget about that. What’s your intention?」

What was thrown at me from behind was a weapon called scimitar that Guy had. I managed to dodge it but, I would die if I was unlucky.

「Don’t tell me, it was “in exchange of greeting”....you aren’t going to say that right?」

「No way.」

Guy grinned and pulled out a second scimitar from his waist. He twirled it on his hand.

「It’s a request from Keira. She told me to give you a painful experience. She can’t move because Dino is keeping her eyes on her, so I’m here in her place.」

As expected, he isn’t thinking of going as far as killing me seeing that I’m a “hostage” against master. No, if it’s Keira then she might try to do so but, that’s why Dino is keeping his eye on her.

「What, ash covered. You ain’t surprised? I was acting as a 『friendly older brother』 really well right?」

「Guy yourself aren’t surprised aren’t you? Did you notice my gender?」

「Ou, you’re completely different when you dressed the part eh. I too would be totally fooled if I didn’t know. Well, ordinary people might not notice it but, even if it’s a kid like you, but when you have grown until that big, those who are sharp enough will still notice. The position of the waist between man and woman is different.」

「Hee....」

I didn’t know that. I’ll use that as reference.

「Even so, you finished the job too damn easily there. It seemed they were also poisoning you, and yet it was them who got killed with poison. Hopeless.」

Guy approached and kicked the thieves’ corpses. He stopped moving just a step away from my range, with the corpses lying between us.

「Even though I gave them really expensive sleeping drug that has no smell and taste, these damn incompetents....-」

With Poison Resistance you can endure poison to some degree, and if it’s sleeping drug then I can guess what is its ingredients somewhat. I wondered how could these guys had such strong poison but, if it was because of Guy’s involvement, it gave me a glimpse at just how serious Keira was.

「Well, you ran out of luck because you are too capable like this. It was your misfortune that you caught Keira’s attention. Even she will be satisfied if you got a big scar on your face, so just quietly let yourself get scarred. Just remember from now that a brat shouldn’t put on air too much. You wanna live long right?」

Guy took a stance with his scimitar and gradually let loose his killing intent. This man’s mana was low, but his status was purely high. He was a troublesome opponent to get into a head-on confrontation with.

「I don’t care about that but....I haven’t mentioned the reason why I wasn’t surprised and could dodge the surprise attack just now right?」

「Hm?」

Guy stopped moving for a bit from my words while taking a stance where he could attack any time.

「You see....」

I strengthened the magic that I have been using the whole time since several minutes ago.

「That’s because I “believe” if it’s that woman, she absolutely will try something.」

「Haa? ....A? A!?」

Guy was about to take a step forward while making a puzzled face when he fell on his knee and raised his voice in confusion.

「W-what? Don’t tell me....poison!?」

Guy glared at me with a bewildered gaze because his feet suddenly can’t move.

「Since when? You shouldn’t have any time to use this kind of powerful poison-!」

Guy too must at least have Poison Resistance if he is an assassin. Even so poison should still work on him if it’s a powerful one, so he should be on his guard against me who used poison. Powerful poison also has strong smell or taste, so it can’t be mixed with food. It’s possible to smear it on weapon, but Guy hasn’t gotten attacked yet.

That was why Guy misunderstood that I gradually administered the poison to the rookie hunters with a way like mixing it into their food.

「Why is my feet can’t move....shit-....」

「It’s the nerve poison that master created. It’s really effective even though you have Poison Resistance right?」

If he has no Poison Resistance, his mind will also become hazy just like the rookie hunters and even his internal organ should stop functioning. Conversely because he has Poison Resistance, Guy couldn’t notice the poison at its early stage.

「If it’s poison then I have been using it the whole time.」

I threw the porcelain jar that I brought with me as spare. The thinly created jar broke in front of Guy.

「This is-!」

「You realized? It’s an insect’s scent gland, but you have experience of sniffing it right?」

This liquid has bad smell but with a faint sweet scent mixed in. I purchased it from the alchemist’s store. It was an item that was made from processed scent gland of a monster caterpillar that it used for marking its turf. In this dungeon, this smell can be found anywhere. Diluted it can become agricultural chemical and undiluted it can also become monster repellant.

I used this monster repellant to avoid the monsters that could get in the way of the assassination. And then──

「If there is a smell this strong, then even poison with strong smell won’t be noticed if it’s spread out thinly....」

「Ash covered....you, don’t tell me」

Guy noticed what I did and opened his eyes wide.

「You are saying that you were spreading poison even knowing that you would also get poisoned!?」

Master’s poison is powerful. It’s not something that can be endured even if you have Poison Resistance. But I know about the poison’s substance.

Even now I have been using Treat the whole time. It won’t have any effect if I don’t understand the poison’s ingredients, and its effect is a weak one that can only erase the poison gradually, but it’s possible for it to treat the effect of a vaporized poison if it’s used immediately. Even so I would get violated by the poison if my focus wavered, and it also caused me to be unable to fight properly, but I staked my life into this gamble and won.

Guy realized that and glared at me in astonishment.

「Haha....are you sane? Using poison that also affected yourself, are you touched in the head huh?」

「I’m aware.」

「....Oi oi, are you serious? You are seriously going to kill me? I was just going to hurt you a little and then consider everything to be water under the bridge you know? Do you know what gonna happen to Serjura by doing something like this?」

「........」

Just like how I’m a “hostage” against master, master is also a “shackle” that binds me. That’s why Dino and Guy are thinking that master and I can’t go against the assassin guild. But──

「Guy, you’re an assassin, and yet you’re....na?ve huh.」

「What....」

I threw another jar at Guy. Thinking that it’s poison, Guy swung his sword with his upper body that can still move. He tried to repel away the jar without breaking it.

*Gashan-!*

「Kuh」

The tip of the pendulum that I threw at the same time with Guy’s sword damaged the jar. It then got smashed by Guy’s sword and the content is scattered.

「It’s not....poison? What’s, this smell?」

「The poison I spread in this room should disperse soon. I can add more but....there is no more need for that.」

「Tsu!」

Guy might notice something too. I don’t attack Guy and backed away deeper into the room. I pressed my back on the dungeon’s wall, used Stealth and folded my arms while watching. Guy panicked and began to struggle.

Ten seconds....thirty seconds....I don’t need to count until one hundred when I heard the sound of ground rumbling. The short-tempered monsters couldn’t even wait until the poison dispersed and approached near.

「Ash covered-! Are you, insane-!? If you do something like this, you’ll seriously turn the assassin guild into your enemy!」

Guy desperately tried to escape from the point where the chemical was scattered, but he couldn’t even take three steps away.

What I first scattered was monster repellent that was collected from monster caterpillar’s scent gland, but scent gland doesn’t just produce scent to drive away external enemy. It will be only at a certain season but, the female also use this scent gland to call for male.

When this liquid that was created from female’s scent gland is mixed with the monster repellant, it will produce an intense pheromone type scent. And then it should call for the males in the dungeon.

This is my “trump card” that I created knowing that this is an insect type dungeon.

「Die in this place.」

It’s pointless even if he used Stealth. It’s only a little bit, but that liquid has definitely gotten stuck on Guy. A lot of monster caterpillars appeared and flooded into the room. They found Guy and he fought back with his scimitar.

Although his legs can’t move, someone as strong as Guy won’t be troubled by mere monster caterpillars even if there are several of them. But, what if dozens of them appeared? Furthermore the poison will circulate even more inside his body the more he moved. The monster caterpillars are also attracted by the smell and rushed closer one after another.

「ASH COVEREDDDDDDDDD-!!」

At the end Guy raised a scream of resentment and threw his scimitar at me. I dodged it and it stabbed on the wall. I used it as a stepping stone and jumped until the ceiling, away from the floor that is going to be crammed with insects soon. I stabbed my hidden weapon on the rocky wall and clung at the corner of the ceiling.

「────....Raa....──」

At the end Guy reached out with his blood covered hand and muttered something.....

While grotesque noise of bone and flesh breaking is resounding, I turned toward Guy and answered his last question even though I don’t know whether he still has any consciousness or life remaining or not.

.

「From the start my “prey” is all of you.」