Master Assassin of the Ronan

Chapter 12: The First Trial (6)

“Dear, look at this! The Mayor sent us festival attire! This time, he wants all the citizens to wear it.”

“Hmm, it’s written here. ‘Each person must wear the assigned festival attire during the festival period.’ Well, take a look. How do I look?”

Dorothy, a kind-hearted citizen of Trumbell, was one of the many flower shop owners in the city.

Born and raised in peaceful Trumbell, she had been steadily running the flower shop that was passed down to her a few years ago.

The day she received her festival attire, she tried it on and found she liked it very much.

“But Dorothy, isn’t your outfit a bit different from mine? Why is there red embroidery on the collar at the back?”

Festival day.

Dorothy was very busy.

The flower shop was always bustling during the festival season.

It was the day when Trumbell flowers, with their black and red petals blooming in contrast, were selling like hotcakes.

People enjoying the festival wore the outfits received from the Mayor, with Trumbell flowers pinned on their chests.

A day of drinking, singing, and dancing.

A day entirely opposite to the flower language of the Trumbell flower, which meant “Silence.”

“By the way, doesn’t it feel like there are more guards in this alley this year?”

Selling Trumbell flowers to visiting customers, her husband remarked. Dorothy thought so too.

From the entrance of the alley, where all the flower shops were clustered, an unusually high number of guards were patrolling.

But they couldn’t afford to dwell on such things. Dorothy and her husband busily sold flowers well past noon, seizing the festive rush.

At dusk.

They sold out of the Trumbell flowers they had prepared.

Exhausted, Dorothy sat down on the bench in front of the shop to rest. While she was patting her shoulders, she noticed something odd in the narrow alley across from her.

Two children playing.

One large boy and a girl with her long hair tied back.

At first, they seemed to be playing, but upon closer look, it wasn’t so.

“Are they… fighting?”

It was hard to see because of the shadows, but the atmosphere in the alley definitely didn’t seem joyful.

The boy and girl leapt off walls, swung their arms, and threw punches.

They somehow seemed to be fighting.

“…Or maybe not?”

But Dorothy couldn’t make out the rough movements of the boy and girl clearly.

Their movements were swift and agile.

Then.

“Ma’am!”

Dorothy noticed another boy coming out from beside the alley where the two children were fighting.

“Oh my, oh my!”

The boy was covered in a bright red liquid, frowning as if in distress.

He even looked as if he was about to cry, stirring sympathy.

“Are you alright?”

Dorothy stood up from the bench and walked towards the boy.

Just then, the large boy from the two fighting in the alley began to run toward them.

The large boy seemed to be shouting something, but she couldn’t hear him well.

“Ronan, you little…!”

Dorothy ignored the large boy and approached the crying boy instead.

“Don’t cry, child. Oh dear, what happened?”

* * *

Fifteen minutes earlier.

Until he entered the flower shop alley, Rubin had been tailing Hamil.

To the Assassin Blade Family’s observers scattered around the city, Rubin seemed to be following Hamil to gain clues about his target.

None of them knew that Rubin had been guiding Hamil’s direction.

‘That doesn’t matter anyway.’

In Rubin’s hand was a leather pouch with something bulky inside.

Through the Dark Ripple, Rubin knew this alley had the Assassin Blade Family’s retainers, troops of the Imperial Edict Bureau, and guards from the Mayor positioned in dense formation.

It was certain. The target was here.

‘Kun is here too, isn’t he?’

Around Kun, the Dark Ripple spread faintly and erratically, a sign that the current situation was frustrating him greatly.

‘Judging by the look of it, he hasn’t even solved the riddle.’

Yet, for him to have made it here, he must have crushed what needed crushing and broken what needed breaking.

‘It’s time to end this.’

Since the range of the target was narrowed, there was no need to hesitate any longer.

Rubin initially approached Kun with the intention of diverting his attention.

“Rubin?”

Kun, who had been searching his surroundings for the target, finally met eyes with Rubin. But since they were a distance apart, his voice didn’t carry well.

Rubin moved into a narrower alley to allow Kun to follow.

Kun pushed through the crowd to approach Rubin.

Thud, thud, thud!

He stepped on wooden boxes stacked in the alley one by one.

Rubin could sense Kun getting closer. Using the boxes as steps, Rubin leaped onto the roof.

“Rubin!”

Not responding would make him even angrier.

As expected, an already furious Kun followed Rubin onto the roof.

Facing each other on the roof covered in reddish-brown bricks. Meeting one-on-one after a year.

Rubin knew Kun had been waiting for this moment since he was humiliated and trampled in the pit.

‘He wants revenge on me. But that chance will never come, Kun.’

Kun’s attack began soon after.

Rubin merely dodged the oncoming attacks.

Even his evasive movements seemed unnatural.

“What’s with those awkward moves?”

Because there were too many eyes watching.

“Grrraaah!”

Kun was livid, on the verge of madness as none of his attacks landed.

Occasionally, Rubin would stumble, but it was merely an act to avoid the attacks in a plausible manner.

“Hah… haah…”

Kun, covered in sweat, seemed exhausted, while Rubin remained composed.

“And what’s that?”

Kun pointed to the bulging leather pouch Rubin was holding and yelled.

“Oh, this? Pig’s blood.”

“Pig’s blood? What scheme are you up to now?”

However, Kun couldn’t hear Rubin’s response. Rubin turned his body and began leading Kun again as if he were running away.

Swoosh, slap!

The two of them leapt between buildings.

Kun, driven by intense anger, had long lost his smooth movements.

Each time he landed, the roof’s bricks came loose, tumbling to the ground.

“Are you really an assassin? More like an elephant.”

Rubin taunted Kun once more and leapt down into the alley.

This time, toward where Hamil was.

Neither Kun nor Hamil had expected it.

Seeing Rubin appear before him, Hamil shouted in surprise.

“Young Master Rubin?”

“Hamil, want me to introduce you to a friend?”

Rubin’s playful smile.

Regardless, Hamil checked the ghost rats in his pouch, which showed no reaction to Rubin.

The ghost rats remained silent.

Under normal circumstances, they would be squeaking like crazy.

“Why aren’t they reacting to him?”

Rubin showed Hamil the leather pouch he was holding.

“Pig’s blood. The only way to block a ghost rat’s tracking.”

“Pig’s blood blocks their tracking?”

“That’s not all. This will make me the victor.”

“What… what do you mean…?”

No further conversation was possible. Kun lunged before Hamil could finish his sentence.

Boom.

“Urgh!”

Rubin anticipated Kun’s attack and dodged, but Hamil wasn’t as fortunate. Hamil was struck in the side and slammed against a wall.

“Ugh… Young Master, is that the ‘friend’ you wanted to introduce?”

“They already know each other’s names, don’t they?”

“Rubin, you bastard! What are you doing?!”

Kun dismissed Hamil, as if she were insignificant, targeting only Rubin in the narrow alley.

Kun’s relentless punches.

Rubin continued to dodge, appearing to barely avoid the attacks with clumsy movements.

Watching from beside, Hamil already knew Rubin’s capabilities, so she realized it was all a feint.

The vast difference in skill between Rubin and Kun.

Kun was coming to that despairing realization himself.

“Hamil, are you just going to watch?”

With a playful smile, Rubin angled himself towards Hamil. It was as if he were using her body to block Kun’s attacks.

Barely dodging the attack, Hamil urgently shouted.

“Hey, Kun! You know you can’t win against the Young Master.”

“Shut up! Don’t interfere!”

“No use reasoning with him. I guess I have no choice.”

Hamil launched an attack on Kun, aiming her fist at his thigh. But her opponent easily sidestepped and countered.

Kun’s kick came from the side. Hamil managed to block it, but the difference in strength forced her back.

“Ha, that’s impressive.”

Rubbing the area where she blocked the attack, Hamil adjusted her stance. In the meantime, Rubin leisurely climbed onto the wall and called out to Kun.

“Kun. Watch out for the ghost rats.”

“What nonsense is this all of a sudden?”

No sooner had Rubin finished speaking, ghost rats finally sprang from Hamil’s pouch, homing in on Kun.

She began her counterattack with the two ghost rats.

“I’ve had enough of you. Let’s do this properly.”

“Get out of my way, you runt!”

Now the fight between Kun and Hamil was on even ground.

Watching them from above the wall, Rubin sighed in relief. Good, everything was going according to plan.

Now for the next step.

Finding the target, symbolized by the riddle’s answer, “Silence.”

There wasn’t much time left.

Rubin’s eyes quickly scanned the alley, and he soon spotted something.

A woman sitting in front of a flower shop…!

‘The target!’

As expected, the target was related to the Trumbell flower.

The target of the first selection, the flower shop owner, was sitting on a bench with a tired face.

He just had to approach and remove the mark.

However.

‘Not like this.’

Rubin raised the leather pouch above his head. Then, without hesitation, he opened his hand.

Thud.

The pig’s blood he had been carrying to evade the ghost rats poured over Rubin’s body.

“What on earth…?”

“Rubin, what now…?”

Even as they continued their skirmish, Kun and Hamil shouted in response to Rubin’s sudden action.

Rubin merely flashed them a grin without answering.

The end was near.

Leaving the two to fight, Rubin exited the alley. Then, he slowly walked toward the flower shop owner.

The playful expression on his face quickly turned into one on the verge of tears, as though he had truly been in an accident.

“M-ma’am…”

The flower shop owner on the bench noticed Rubin and gasped, covering her mouth.

“Oh my, oh my!”

Rubin approached little by little.

As the fight’s momentum shifted, Kun’s voice rang out from the other side of the alley.

“Rubin, you sly fox!”

But it was already too late.

Rubin was already in the arms of the flower shop owner. He discreetly reached out his hand. His fingers closed around the target’s red emblem.

Tug.

The meaning of the term “first selection” carried multiple layers.

Rubin knew that the purpose of this trial was to choose from among various strategies for confronting the target.

And the strategy he chose was the safest and most effective, one that no child had yet thought of.

‘Targeting compassion as a way to get closer. This, too, is an assassin’s strategy.’

While he laughed internally, Rubin let out a genuine-sounding sob. .

Holding up the plucked emblem, he waved it gently in his hand.