The Sword and The Shadow

The middle-aged man was actually a beautiful woman.

She was the number-one assassin of the Stokian intelligence apparatus, One.

The reason Leguna could recognize her was from her unique gaze. Her jet-black eyes sometimes seemed rather complex and he didn't know what to make of them. However, she would act really helpless like a pitiful stray dog. The moment he saw her lie that, he would gain the same feeling of nostalgia he couldn't quite recall from when.

It was precisely from the familiar vibe that he recognized the middle-aged man as her in an instant.

"One, huh?" He quietly looked at the person beside him and began to recall more about her.

When he came to think about it, it was a rather weird deal. The first time they met, they were fighting with their all. One wasn't holding back at all and the slightest mistake could cause Leguna to lose his life.

However, their relationship suddenly took a full turn since their private meeting and ever since then, he never took her to be an enemy. In fact, he had a feeling their relationship wasn't a simple one. He thought she understood him thoroughly, perhaps even better than Annelotte, Eirinn and Innilis.

It wasn't a guess, just a feeling. He found it weird how much he trusted it. Even though the number-one Stokian assassin had come all the way to the imperial capital, he didn't expose her.

He didn't know what was going on either. All he did know was the strong feeling that she wasn't his enemy. At the very least, she probably wouldn't try anything funny given that Sasha was with Eirinn and Innilis.

Either way, he didn't subdue her due to that weird feeling and wanted to see what she was up to. One seemed to trust him dearly too and seemed quite relaxed around him, as if she wasn't alert at all. It made him even less keen on subduing her. There was also the little fact that she'd saved his life once.

Just as his mind was thrown into complete chaos by her sudden appearance, they were brought to a large space. It was so wide they could even race there if they wished.

"What weapons do you need?" Harrison coldly asked. He was trying to get a reason to be armed with a weapon he was familiar with. Only with a greatsword could he unleash his full potential.

"I don't need any weapon," the disguised One relaxedly said. She began stretching her shoulders, waist and knee joints. Leguna wondered how she could've altered her figure so much. He recalled that she had a really shapely figure, but she was tight and slender where it counted. Her thighs shouldn't have been so thick.

Harrison couldn't tell how strong One was based on her warm-ups. While he had managed to cultivate his impetus to the 17th-stratum thanks to all sorts of precious herbs and medicines, he neglected his training somewhat due to spending too much time in the brothels. If he didn't use a weapon, he wasn't sure he could deal with someone who just popped out of nowhere like that.

"Well, I see that fighting bare-handed is your preferred way," he shamelessly said before taking his two-meter-long greatsword out of his dimensional pocket. Unlike the normal one he used to spar with his mates, this sword was nothing short of a murder weapon. It was covered with savage spikes and a deep blood groove. The thin layer of rust that covered it was testament to how cruelly it was used.

Leguna had wanted to step up when he saw the weapon to call Harrison shameless or get One to step down and let him fight instead.

However, she turned around. She could always let him know what she thought with a mere gaze, and he could see she was happy, relaxed, and unbothered from her eyes.

'I'm happy you're worried about me, but don't. He can't do much against me. I'll be fine,' was roughly what it translated to. He felt relieved upon seeing her gaze and decided to silently observe.

Eirinn felt her goosebumps rise. Why did that man shoot Big Brother a… seductive look… and Big Brother even seemed to enjoy it… I heard nobles have some weird hobbies… What if… It can't be! Big Brother isn't like that!

One glanced casually at Eirinn. She seemed a little envious and jealous at how she could be by his side proudly like that. She decided she would vent it all on Harrison.

"Big weapons won't give you any advantages," one said in a lecturing tone, "Instead, without impetus, your body will find it hard to manipulate such a weapon. I'll make you understand that soon enough."

Harrison slung the sword on his shoulder and cracked a savage smile. "What nameless pawn dares to lecture me like that?"

In the next instant, he burst forward with great speed. Even without impetus, his body was cultivated and trained since childhood to be in peak performance. Leguna could feel a strong breeze from the moment he kicked off the ground. Harrison then struck the ground and beat up stones and rocks.

Leguna blocked Eirinn behind him and used his impetus to block the rock shards. While those weren't particularly damaging, they could easily injure softer body parts like eyes.

He squinted and looked worryingly into the cloud and dust and prayed he wouldn't see One's body flying helplessly through the air.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. When the dust settled, she was still standing there relaxedly and had one leg stepping on the greatsword. She looked at the infuriated man with a teasing gaze. "Didn't I say you can't easily swing this around without impetus? Looks like you can't even lift it up now."

"Hargh!" Harrison roared. His expanding muscles tore a few holes in his clothes.

Experts there could tell that he had utilized a bit of impetus, but they didn't stop him because of his status. They wouldn't dare offend Geoffrey and Alfreid for an assassin they didn't know after all.

With the help of impetus, he was able to raise his greatsword. However, One merely remained standing at the tip of the sword as if she was weightless. She stood straight and smiled at Harrison.

Wow, what's with her stunning balance? Leguna was quite shocked at the sight. He only just realized One had been holding back considerably when she had been fighting him.

Harrison's face flared even redder with anger.

He yelled and swung his sword around without rhyme or rhythm.

One merely jumped into the air and let him continue swinging it around like a fool.

Initially, he didn't know where one went. Only after two seconds of puzzlement did he look up only to see One falling downwards towards his head with a relaxed look of a prankster. She stretched out her thick palms and grabbed onto Harrison's head.

He panicked when his vision was obscured. The next moment, he felt something cold and slick draw through his throat. By the time he could see again, One landed gracefully on the ground and bowed to him with a smile.

"I suppose that's enough, right? You lost, Harrison." Leguna wanted to laugh at the sight, but he was equally impressed at the lethal skill she showed.

One had used her left hand to block Harrison's vision before curving her arm and landing on the ground with a spiral. In the meantime, she held her right hand out and drew it across his throat.

There was a red line through it. It was plain to everyone that if the assassin had been armed with a real dagger, all Harrison would be able to do was clutch his throat as he hopelessly bled out. Who was that bureau agent and why did he have such impressive skill? Were all agents as proficient as he was?

The nobles broke into a chatter from witnessing One's impressive performance.

She kept quiet and put away the lipstick she used to draw the line on his neck.