Chapter 33

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Shadow's Allegiance
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Nirua was the last descendant of an assassin family that had served the Allojes for generations.

Given their profession, all his distant relatives and close kin had long since died, either on the battlefield or in the shadows.

He didn't resent his profession. He had his own sense of pride in it, after all.

‘Nirua, we live by the grace of Alloje's clear water. We must protect it.’

That was what Nirua's father had taught him.

‘But you must not follow just anyone. …You must constantly question whether your lord is worthy of serving, whether they deserve the loyalty of our Shadow Sword family.’

He always said that a loyal vassal must always doubt their lord.

‘And then Father returned as a corpse.’

They said it was an attack by the Argentas.

It was not long after the previous Duke and Duchess Argenta had died.

‘Something is strange. I have something to look into, so stay put at home.’

His father, who had said that, returned to Nirua as a cold corpse.

While everyone else was enraged, he alone thought differently.

His father had been disguised as a commoner using the Shadow Sword family's secret art of disguise.

After death, there was no way to fix the disguise, so it had mostly worn off when he returned, but Nirua could still tell.

The Argentas killed his father while he was disguised as a commoner?

And it was the Argenta ducal house, in disarray after the Duke and Duchess's deaths?

The young and frail Diello Argenta, who they said couldn't even burn a bug with his flames?

After his father's death, the ducal house became corrupt. They committed all sorts of evil deeds, and he began to feel disillusioned.

Nirua quietly harbored suspicions about Duke Alloje.

It was then that he heard the news of the illegitimate daughter Croire's marriage.

‘I’m sure I never saw her awaken as a Pero.’

The Shadow Sword family's secret technique, disguise, which could conceal magical energy.

Nirua, having mastered it, could detect the subtle magical energy emanating from a Pero.

But Croire Alloje hadn't exuded any such energy, not even on the day she left.

Harboring these suspicions, he finally learned the truth not long ago.

“Gasp, pant…!”

And now, he was being relentlessly pursued.

This was already the third time he had nearly been caught and killed.

He was reaching his limit.

“Stop right there!”

*Like I'd stop just because you told me to.*

Nirua cursed inwardly, forcing his legs, which felt ready to collapse, to keep moving.

The Alloje assassins were tenacious.

Nirua himself had been a part of that group, so he knew better than anyone.

*Am I going to die like this?*

“Just give up already!”

Just as he thought he'd blinked for a fleeting moment.

He was already surrounded by Alloje's assassins.

*Shing!*

The sound of swords being drawn came from all directions.

*Whoosh…!*

Just as he thought the sound of the nearby river was unusually loud.

The Alloje assassins gathered water from the air, forming it into the shape of wolves.

“Ugh…!”

Nirua also tried to move the river water, but to no avail.

He too could use the Alloje ability, but the power of the other assassins around him was suppressing his.

“Devour him without a trace.”

The assassins gestured.

And the wolves made of water began to slowly approach Nirua.

“…”

Nirua gripped his sword one last time.

It was then.

*Awooo!*

The wolves, which had been howling loudly, suddenly turned around.

“Wha-what the!”

The wolves bared their teeth at the bewildered assassins.

In an instant, sharp fangs descended upon them.

“Argh!”

Seven of the ten assassins who had been about to attack Nirua were taken down in a flash.

Yet, there were still ten wolves remaining.

If the one controlling the water died, shouldn't the wolves have returned to being water?

This meant the wolves had a different master.

“…There was someone with such powerful water manipulation on Tilla Pass?”

Just as Nirua muttered this.

“Aaaargh!”

The assassins, who had been the predators, instantly became wolf fodder.

Without a trace, just as they themselves had ordered.

And the ten wolves looked in one direction, their posture as submissive as puppies.

Appearing there was a woman with deep violet hair.

“…Lady Croire?”

*Don't tell me she has water manipulation powerful enough to control all ten of those wolves at once?*

*That can't be right.*

Nirua's eyes widened.

***

As expected, Nirua was being desperately pursued.

“This way.”

When I went to rescue Nirua, guided by the Argenta intelligence agents, the timing was perfect.

*Awoooo!*

The moment the forms of wolves made of water were about to charge at Nirua.

I hesitated for a moment, then steeled myself and raised a trembling hand.

‘This has to be done. For my own survival.’

As I clenched and unclenched my trembling hand once.

My hand flashed with a blue light.

The ten assassins surrounding Nirua seemed to have no doubt that the wolves would tear him to shreds.

But.

“Aaaargh!”

What they were controlling was, in the end, just water.

For me, with my stronger water manipulation, taking control of the water from them was a simple task.

I moved the entire sea; there was no way I couldn't move this much water.

“!”

A startled Nirua's eyes widened.

After lining up the wolves neatly, I appeared before him.

“…Lady Croire?”

Nirua wore a look of disbelief.

Seeing that expression, I was certain.

My current water manipulation ability was incomparably stronger than that of the original Croire Alloje.

Otherwise, there was no way Nirua would be looking back and forth between me and the wolves with such an incredulous face.

Now it was time to let Nirua make his choice.

“Nirua of the Shadow Sword family, correct?”

Nirua flinched at my words.

Then, he bowed his head.

“…Yes. I am Nirua.”

The Shadow Sword family didn't possess elemental manipulation on par with the three great families, but they were unrivaled when it came to the art of ‘disguise.’

Because of this, many coveted their skills, so they lived hiding their identities.

But it seemed he had no intention of hiding it from me. I liked that.

“I trust you know who I am.”

I spread my hands leisurely.

In truth, we were the ones in a hurry.

We needed the Shadow Sword family's disguise technique, after all.

Still, there was nothing to be gained by revealing we were at a disadvantage, right?

Above all, Diello was nearby, his eyes sparkling, eager to see my ‘art of persuasion.’

For some reason, I felt I had to do even better.

“You are Lady Croire Alloje.”

Nirua bowed his head to me.

Yet, I could see he was still wary of me. It was only natural, since ‘that villainess’ Croire Alloje had just appeared.

Besides, he had just been betrayed by Duke Alloje.

He probably thought I was working with the Duke.

I looked at him and opened my mouth.

“Wrong.”

Nirua raised his head at my word.

“I am Croire Argenta.”

Nirua froze at my words.

He had clearly understood what I meant.

Deliberately correcting the surname Alloje to Argenta was an indirect way of showing that I no longer wished to belong to the Allojes.

“I'll be direct. According to Argenta's intelligence division…”

I began to speak slowly.

“You've learned my secret, haven't you?”

Nirua's lips tightened into a firm line.

I could see the conflict in his eyes.

He probably never imagined that Croire herself, of all people, would suddenly appear on the scene and question him about her secret.

“As you know, that's a secret that would be troublesome if it got out.”

At those words, Nirua's eyes flashed for a moment.

“!”

In that instant, a killing intent so strong it made my hair stand on end swept over me.

The Argenta agents next to me seemed to sense his killing intent and were about to react immediately.

“Stay.”

I stopped them by raising one hand.

“Lady Croire, are you truly going along with that plan?”

Nirua asked in the meantime.

I curved my lips into a smile at his question.

It was the question I had been waiting for.

That plan—the fake Pero plan.

He was asking if I was following the plan to use Alloje blood as a tool, if I was, in the end, on the Duke's side.

“No.”

I shook my head lightly.

“I'll say it again. I am Croire Argenta. I have joined hands with the Argentas, and I will use the plan you know of to strike down the Allojes.”

A gentle breeze rustled my deep violet hair.

“I have no intention of being used as a tool and killed.”

At my words, Nirua's eyes gleamed. Of course, it was a different light from the one that held killing intent earlier.

I knew the answer he wanted to hear.

“The power of Alloje should be used to protect Alloje. But a man who would unhesitatingly use his own blood as a tool, even if I am an illegitimate daughter, cannot possibly have the best interests of Alloje at heart.”

Nirua must think the same.

“I do not trust the current Duke Alloje.”

At my words, which were like driving in a final nail, Nirua's eyes widened, just as I expected.

“I've heard the Shadow Sword family is deeply loyal to Alloje. But since Duke Alloje is trying to kill you first, how about you offer your abilities to me, another Alloje?”

I tilted my head up slightly.

“You pledge your loyalty to me, and I will protect you from the Duke.”

“…!”

Nirua swallowed hard.

If I were just the original Croire Alloje, Nirua might have hesitated.

Because her water manipulation was far too weak.

He wouldn't have wanted to bet on a fight with no chance of winning.

“…”

Nirua's gaze shifted to the water wolves I was controlling.

I made the wolves frolic for him to see, then sent them back to the river.

*Splash!*

From a distance, I could hear the sound of the wolves diving into the river.

The closer I got to the water, the more I felt it.

A confidence that I could move that river water on an even grander scale.

I opened my hand.

*Swoosh!*

In that moment, I felt the river's current as if I could grasp it in my hand.

And the water leaped up, taking the form of the dragon in my mind.

“!”

Nirua's eyes shot open. If I focused more precisely, I think I could even carve out scales.

Looking at the dragon's form, I was certain.

My water manipulation ability was growing stronger and stronger.

Nirua must have sensed it too, because he finally bowed his head.

“…If you have need of my humble abilities, I will gladly follow you.”

“Good.”

Success.

I turned to the Argenta intelligence agents.

“Bring Nirua with you.”

Then, I clenched the hand that still tingled with the sensation of controlling the water.

Thinking of that power, so immense it made the great river flowing through Tilla Pass feel like a small stream.