Chapter 81. The 8th Prince’s Plan

After taking a break, the meeting resumed.

This time, Tunia began to share information that only insiders of the Black Fang knew.

"It hasn't been long since our guild started its activities in earnest. In fact, the only real fighting force is myself and the younger siblings who have trained with me since we were young."

According to Tunia, it was safe to say that the current Black Fang was mostly made up of teenagers.

No one had expected the Black Fang to be structured that way.

"What about the other guild members?"

"There were a few before, but they disappeared at some point. Thinking about it now, I think my father might have had a hand in it."

Radel also agreed with that opinion.

He was a guild master who had controlled his guild members with curses on their tattoos. It was highly likely that he had eliminated any beings that were a nuisance to him.

"If possible, I don't want to kill the younger siblings I grew up with."

Tunia had no intention of harming the guild members.

If given enough time, she was confident that she could persuade the guild's younger siblings, with whom she had relied on and grown up since childhood.

Her goal was only to subdue the guild master and lift the curse on the tattoos.

"Alright. Then let's go as peacefully as possible."

Radel agreed with Tunia's opinion.

"Does that make sense? If we're going to attack a guild, we have no choice but to fight for real."

Inette asked, dumbfounded.

Once the attack began, they might have to fight all the members of the Black Fang. So there was no way it could be resolved peacefully.

Besides, no matter how young they were, they were elite assassins who had been trained to kill people.

If they came at them with all they had, this side would also have no choice but to go all out.

"Since we're attacking in the middle of the night, wouldn't it be possible to knock them out using the cover of darkness?"

When Gusto gave his opinion, Pirenzo shook his head.

"It's not as easy as it sounds. Those who have received assassination training are bound to have the skill of dealing with an enemy's surprise attack ingrained in their bodies. Especially at night, they are bound to have the advantage."

An idea came to Radel's mind as he listened to Pirenzo's words.

'Do we have to make a surprise attack at night?'

The reason assassins had an advantage over this side was probably because they had trained a lot to move at night or at dawn. If so, he thought it might be better to avoid a time they were familiar with.

Radel boldly proposed.

"Then let's go during the day."

At that, everyone there was surprised.

"What?"

"Did I hear that right? What? What do you mean by that?"

Radel slowly answered Inette, who was asking again.

"If attacking at night is disadvantageous for us anyway, I don't think we need to do that."

"Even so, wouldn't that be too dangerous?"

Armandy argued with Radel, flustered.

"It's true that attacking at night is advantageous for assassins, but it's not unconditionally disadvantageous for us."

"I know, but a surprise attack is supposed to catch the opponent off guard. They would never expect us to come in broad daylight."

Inette nodded as she listened to Radel's opinion.

Hearing it, it seemed to be right.

"...That's a surprisingly good idea."

Above all, the fact that they didn't have to hide like rats appealed to Inette.

Fighting openly from the front was also the way she usually preferred.

The rest of the group also seemed lost in thought.

"It seems okay."

"It might not be bad."

After a short while, some nodded like Inette, and some shook their heads.

Armandy was the latter.

'This is crazy. It's ridiculous. Where are the idiots who go to attack an assassin's guild during the day?'

However, Armandy, who had been desperately shaking his head, also ended up becoming one of those idiots.

* * *

In the end, everyone's opinion was to make a surprise attack during the day.

After checking their equipment, Radel and his group moved to the guild, guided by Tunia.

It was a judgment that there was no need to waste time since it had been decided to attack during the day.

'Are we really going now?'

Armandy fell into confusion as he watched the group set off nonchalantly.

Was he the strange one, or were these members out of their minds?

Armandy approached Pirenzo and whispered urgently.

"You should have stopped him! Do you think this makes sense?"

At Armandy's appearance, who still couldn't accept reality, Pirenzo gave him a look of contempt.

He was a pathetic magician after all.

Pirenzo replied perfunctorily.

"I thought it was a good plan. And don't you think we've already passed the stage of making sense?"

"What do you mean by that?"

When Armandy asked, Pirenzo opened his mouth with a dumbfounded look.

"You haven't forgotten that we were told by headquarters not to interfere in the 8th Prince's affairs, have you?"

"...Ugh."

Armandy's face darkened upon hearing Pirenzo's words.

In fact, the two of them were in the same boat as they were disobeying the orders from the top of the Ability Management Bureau.

When the information that the 8th Prince was being targeted by an assassin's guild spread in the Ability Management Bureau, Armandy, who was in the same status as a student, was given a stronger warning.

He was instructed to focus only on his monitoring mission and not to step in unnecessarily.

He had intended to follow the orders from above.

But even though he just watched from the 8th Prince's side, things kept happening.

The 8th Prince had not only confronted the assassin himself but was also planning to attack the assassin's guild together.

It was no use, no matter how many times he warned the 8th Prince.

Armandy felt truly wronged.

"No, this isn't my will...!"

"Stop making excuses. Do you think I'm here because I like it?"

Pirenzo's face also darkened as he spoke, as if he had recalled some bad memories.

It seemed he would remember for the rest of his life being attacked in the middle of the night, stripped, and threatened by the 8th Prince's group.

Still, unlike his pathetic colleague, he was quick to accept reality.

"Before you argue about whether the plan is right, you should have first thought about whether what we're doing is the right thing to do."

Although it was all perfectly reasonable, Armandy found Pirenzo to be a nuisance.

After all, wasn't Pirenzo, who was speaking so arrogantly, in the same boat as him, being dragged around by the 8th Prince?

"...You talk big. For someone who came here under duress."

As Armandy muttered, Pirenzo gritted his teeth.

"Do you think I'm you?"

"What's the difference? You, a professor, are being dragged around by a mere student."

"Are you done talking?!"

The two of them started fighting again.

It was loud enough for Radel, who was following behind, to hear.

'The colleagues from the Ability Management Bureau get along well.'

The fact that they never stop talking to each other must mean they have that much to talk about.

Radel felt reassured as he looked at Armandy and Pirenzo.

It was a relief that he could recruit two such skilled people.

If it had just been the 1st-years without the two of them, Radel would not have thought of going to attack the Black Fang right away.

'As expected, you shouldn't be picky about the means and methods for a good cause.'

Attacking a professor's quarters in the middle of the night, threatening them with a water pitcher, or reading a secret diary that was forcibly taken out loud.

To do good things, one needed action.

A former successor of the Black Fang and a quite renowned magician from the Ability Management Bureau. Hadn't he gained such a reliable force with a little effort?

Radel resolved to continue doing so in the future.

* * *

Following Tunia's guidance, the group arrived at the base of the Black Fang. It was a remote place, far from the city, with no signs of human presence.

When they arrived and found nothing, the short-tempered Inette grumbled.

"What's supposed to be here?"

Tunia, hearing Inette's words, turned around and gave a short signal.

"Shh, from here on, our voices will be heard over there, so be careful."

"I don't see anything."

Inette blinked and looked around, but there was nothing noticeable.

It seemed that something was different only in Tunia's eyes.

Tunia, as if she had also realized her mistake, first stopped everyone.

It was because she had remembered that there was illusion magic on the guild building to keep outsiders out.

However, Tunia, who had been an insider from the beginning, did not know how to neutralize the magic.

Just then, an alert sound was heard in Radel's ears.

Tiring.

[Illusion magic is interfering with the user's perception.]

[Status Effect Nullification is activated.]

[The base of the 'Black Fang' is revealed.]

A warehouse building that had been hidden by illusion magic revealed itself.

So this is what it was.

Radel, realizing the situation, asked Armandy.

"Armandy, can you dispel the illusion magic?"

"Do you think I'm some kind of archmage? To make everything appear just because you say so."

"So you can't?"

The 8th Prince must not know how tricky it was to dispel an illusion magic cast by another person.

Still, he had to do it. What could he do?

Armandy answered, grumbling.

"Who am I? Of course I can."

And he immediately took out his staff, chanted a spell, and focused his mind.

"Appear."

And so, with Armandy's magic, the hidden base of the Black Fang revealed itself before everyone's eyes.

On the outside, it was a shabby warehouse, and two people who seemed to be guild members were guarding the entrance.

Pirenzo recalled the old days as he looked at the shabby warehouse building, which had not changed.

The Black Fang of that time had also disguised itself as a warehouse building and had its organization in the underground.

"I burned it all down back then, but this is still here."

The last scene he remembered was the sight of the guild burning.

After killing the guild master, Pirenzo had set fire to it and left, thinking that such a guild had no need to exist in the world.

He had never thought that he would visit the revived Black Fang as an academy professor with his students.

Inette muttered next to Pirenzo, who was lost in his memories.

"This is what happens when you don't burn it properly."

"Ugh..."

Pirenzo couldn't help but clutch his heart at Inette's words.

It was a part that was already pricking his conscience.

It was because it seemed that a guild member he had failed to deal with had revived the Black Fang.

"Isn't it not the professor's fault? He was fifteen back then. What would he have known at that age?"

Radel took Pirenzo's side.

Inette also nodded.

"If that's the case, I guess I have to understand. Come to think of it, I used to set fire to the Imperial Knights' quarters when I was fifteen."

"Why?"

"They were arrogant."

Compared to Inette, Pirenzo's case seemed fine.

At least there was a proper reason.

Radel was secretly impressed with Inette, who had set fire to the Imperial Knights' quarters just because they were arrogant.

Inette's eyes lit up as she looked at the two people guarding the front of the building.

"Then we just have to take down those two first."

She was on the verge of taking her hand out of her glove.

Then, Radel stopped her in a calm tone.

"It's dangerous if we cause a commotion because the guild members might all come out at once."

"Then what are you going to do?"

Radel grinned and said.

"We have to lure them."