SSS-Rank Engineer: Only I Can Create Legendary Weapons

Percy raised his Spellbolt and was about to fire at the voice when Thalos grabbed his trigger finger. Gently, of course, with his index and thumb, but it still hurt a lot.

He shook from his father's hands, confused. That didn't sound like anyone they knew, so why did Thalos stop him from shooting?

"What are you doing? Should we wait till she starts casting spells to make the fight cinematic?"

Thalos raised a hand and turned to face the shadows. His grey eyes pierced them and locked onto the voice.

"If you surrender, then come out."

The forest remained silent as they both just stood there. Then, as the moon shed its light on them, a woman walked out from the shadowed trees. She was dressed differently from the assassins.

A simple brown shirt clung to her slim frame, her black hair was buzzed, and her eyes were a striking blue that gleamed under the moonlight.

Percy raised an eyebrow. Her skin was darker than normal; her features were also sharper.

"She doesn't look Cronian."

"Yes," Thalos agreed. "She's from Jaltova. I heard those assassins talking about your family. Are they being held anywhere?"

The woman nodded slowly, eyes tearing up despite her steady gaze remaining on them.

"My name is Dina. I… My sons and I were taken from Goruhi and brought here. I've been working with them for years."

"Strange, right?" Percy said, turning to Thalos. "They must have been very desperate if they kidnapped someone from another country."

"They brought me here to guard something," she answered. "But Frog saw you during the attack they staged with the wolves. They originally wanted to see how strong the spiritmancers with the Caravan were. But the plan changed when they saw both of you"

"Where is Frog?" Percy asked.

"The swordsman cut him in half."

He peeked behind Dina; some distance away there were three corpses on the floor with terrible injuries.

"Damn, you cut him in half real good," Percy said casually. "Is Dina the Rank-3 Spiritmancer you warned me about?"

Thalos nodded; his hand was still on his sword, but there was a strange look in his eyes.

"Did they cut your hair like that, Dina?"

He glanced between Thalos and Dina, confused by the sudden change in topic. It wasn't the best-looking haircut, but she looked okay. Dina's jaw tightened when she heard the question though; she lowered her head in shame.

"It was a punishment."

Thalos nodded and released his sword. Everything seemed to be okay now, Percy didn't exactly trust that she was telling the truth, but he would trust Thalos' intuition.

"Did anyone else know that we were here?" he asked Dina. "Did Frog notify any of your seniors?"

Dina shook her head, glancing back at the carnage that Thalos had left behind. She gulped before answering.

"Sparrow wanted to wait for Viper—our officer in charge—but Frog wanted to use me to surprise the swordsman. But they did send a message with a bird before the fight."

"So they'll come here when Frog and his buddies don't turn up," Percy muttered. "They'll know we were here. Where were you guys going before you saw us?"

"I'm just supposed to be a guard," she explained, looking between them worriedly. "I don't even know what part of Crona I'm in."

"They never talked about where you were going."

Dina took a moment to stare at them. The swordsman looked ready to force out that information if she didn't speak voluntarily, and the kid didn't even care.

"I can't tell you anything that'll make things worse for me. My sons—they… I don't even know where they are."

She slowly started sobbing, furiously wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Whatever mission this is, it's the biggest the Whitemoon has ever taken. I can't mess that up for them."

Thalos' eyes narrowed as he heard the word. "Whitemoon… Hecate said that it was a criminal organisation that she suspected worked for Sion."

"Ouuu," Percy whistled loudly. "That makes things hard, Dina. We need to know what House Eurides is planning, maybe we can wait for this Viper."

Dina shook her head violently.

"No! Please, you have to leave. Just lightly injure me and leave me to explain what happened. If they come I have to reveal your plan or they'll kill my sons."

Thalos and Percy glanced at each other, frowning. It was unfortunate, he could see no way this could work with Dina around.

He raised his Spellbolt and aimed for her head, but Thalos grabbed his trigger finger again.

"Ouch, stop doing that."

"What are you doing?" Thalos said calmly. "Don't kill her, let me. You're just a kid."

"The two dead assassins in the forest would disagree."

Thalos turned back to him with a sharp look of shock on his face. He heard the shots go off, but he hadn't expected the fight to be over.

"Ohh… but still, leave such tasks to me."

Dina watched them as they casually conversed about her death. Something screamed inside her to fight, but she couldn't summon the courage. It was over; there was no point in struggling. Since the day she was taken, Dina knew she would never see her boys again.

She closed her eyes and waited for death, consoling herself with the kind memories of the past.

"Dina, open your eyes. I wasn't even going to kill her," Percy said. When she opened them, they were right in front of her. "I was going to use the Non-lethal shot."

"Then what do we do after?" Thalos asked. The harsh lines on his face faded with interest.

"Easy. We let them come back for her, then we track them to wherever they were going. I have a magic tool just for this."

"Really?"

"It's rudimentary, but we can track them. After we infiltrate their base without anyone knowing and learn their plans. Dina can keep working with them, and we gain inside help if we need it."

She gulped repeatedly like a lost fish before she found her voice.

"You're… you're not going to kill me?"

"It wouldn't sit right with me," Percy answered. "Besides, if we find out where they are keeping your sons, we can personally get them back."

She felt too dizzy to speak, but she forced her eyes to remain open. If they closed, this might all just be a dream. After a second she shrunk down, hugging her body as sobs tore through her.

"I don't know… whether to trust you or if this is all real. But if you can save them, I'll do anything."

Percy smiled, not out of awe at his negotiation skills, but just genuinely glad to see Dina relieved.

"You don't need to do much. We'll handle most things; we just need some information that won't incriminate you for helping us."