Absolute stealth. A privilege comparable to an authority that amends the law of the world itself. It hides the user's presence to the point where even the Gods cannot breach it.
It's a pretty exaggerated description coming from the masked man, but Grace cannot deny the credibility. He's practically merged with the environment.
He cannot even feel the wind that passes him.
Before he was out of town, he glanced back. He's not worried about Chiv, that little girl is too cunning now that she gained the abilities of a thief. Especially since this is Axel Town, where even the most deranged man is but a big, mean-looking Adventurer.
With a push, his figure jumped forward, speeding through the road that trespassed the wild. The target doesn't really have any enmity with him, at least not directly. A usual case of embezzlement, he supposed.
It's not enough reason to kill the target. But his job required the man to be killed, or else he will be marked as a 'failure' amongst his peers.
Prior, his ability alone is enough to handle this. After all, his title is not without credibility. The title that he took up as his name.
The Graceful Bandit.
The problem lied in the place the target resided in. A newly infamous town that is known for its notorious reputation and its obnoxious citizens and swindlers at its every corner.
It wasn't supposed to be like that, but recently, the citizens have changed a lot. The reason has yet to be discovered...
It's a town dedicated to a Goddess.
Arcanietia.
With a blur, Grace's figure entirely disappeared, becoming one with the environment.
-0-0-0-
"Ah, Grace, is it?"
As Grace arrived before the gate of Arcanietia, a blue-eyed man with a black bandana mask emerged from the shadow. His sharp blue eyes observed Grace for a moment.
"Yes."
"We want the mission to be completed by midnight. Make sure to meet up with Ms. White after this. We know you'll succeed, so there's no point in reminding you of the possible punishment for failure. I wish you good luck, Grace 'Silver'."
After confirming the mission with a white, w-shaped seal, which flashed in the air through the blue-eyed man's palm like a projection, the man nodded in affirmation before putting up his fist on his heart, to which Grace followed.
"To live."
"Not survive."
With a gesture, the man disappeared. Grace looked around and flicked his finger, turning his conspicuous black outfit into a casual set of clothes. A black shirt, white trousers and a pair of casual boots.
As he walked into Arcanietia, a pair of blue eyes from the nearest tree flashed.
"An assassination mission isn't all about killing... You brought a revolutionary change to our people. But it is still a mystery to me, just how in the world did you do to have that perfect success rate? Even Mistress doesn't deserve the title of 'Grace'."
-0-0-0-
"Do you want a lifetime discount of 50% in my store? Easy! Sign this simple, inconsequential warranty! Let me tell you, when I signed it, my life changed..."
"I was hopeless, having no will to live... But this! This paper changed everything...!!"
This is worse than he thought.
He took a glance at those so-called papers and warranty. They're literally filled with scams intending to make people join their cult. And while they do get the mentioned privileges, it doesn't take away the scamming element from the whole thing.
Arcanietia is always regarded as a town full of fanatics and cultists, but they didn't go so low as to trick foreigners and visitors into joining their cult. Something must have happened here.
"Of course such a thing would occur when I happened to get a mission here..."
It doesn't seem so bad at the surface, but Arcanietia people are a bit... Special. Their rules, in particular, literally forgive those people who have passed the boundary of morals. This particular cult forgives all deeds its believers have done, whether they are rapists, burglars, serial killers...
So one could imagine what sort of havoc and mayhem was brewing within the city, where all 'former' offenders and criminals gathered.
Someone could rape their literal mother and they would be forgiven in the central church with a simple sentence of consent from the priest. It's simply insane for an ordinary person to partake in such a mad custom.
Grace could merge with the crowd only because he is a seasonal assassin. This skill played a major part in his nigh-perfect success rate.
"Hey lady, how about you and me, in that inn?"
"U-Uhm... S-Sir, I-I just turned 14 yesterday..."
"I'll take that as a yes!"
It's insane.
It's absolutely insane.
This town is insane.
Grace simply looked over flatly. Just occasional crimes he'd come across while he incorporated himself into a certain group of people. He still needs to search for relevant information regarding the target.
'Maximus III. Sounds like a pope's name,' Grace muttered, displaying a gloomy and cold countenance along with an intentionally unsheathed knife on his belt. Acting like a suspicious criminal is just a norm in this town, so it's necessary to incorporate with the mass.
At times, he suspects this town was created by a powerful criminal. But the fact that the town's entrance has a caliburn trademark of the Belverg Kingdom rendered that thought. Ain't no way the King would let a bunch of criminals create a powerful force and let them be.
As he walked further into the town, a particular white tower from afar gradually came into sight. The distinguishable grandness of the building easily tells the sighter how important the place was.
Grace sighed. Even when he remained indifferent most of the time, he felt a little bit repulsed by having to come in contact with people who forgave unforgivable misdeeds.
-0-0-0-
"So do you have anything you want to confess?"
A rather simple solution for a confession from a criminal is in a spot they called 'Confession Box'. A simple box where a member of the church would listen inside the chamber of the box while the confessor outside would confess as they poured their heart out.
"I... Killed a church member."
'Well, I technically will."
"W...What?"
"I-I'm s-so sorry. I-It was an accident. I... I feel like I've become a spawn from hell..."
As the surroundings filled with Grace's sobs and tearful words, the church member inside felt speechless.
"I-I... I-It was truly an accident... M-My hands slipped by the ketchup one of my boys s-spluttered out of his oily mouth, the ketchup... I-it was oily! I swear!"
"Sir, do you think this is a place where we play around?"
'No shit?'
"P-Please! I need salvation! I-I need forgiveness from the Goddess! I-I'm willing to replace the member to carry out the Goddess's will!"
"T-This..."
In fact, because of the thin curtain that blocked off the confessor and the church member, the nun cannot see Grace's face at all. If she does, she would probably run.
While his voice suggests that he is very regretful, the green eyes shined with murderous intent. It was risky to admit himself as a killer of a church member.
After all, even a church puts self-interest above all others. However, Arcanietia prided itself in forgiving anyone regardless of the misdeeds they've caused in the past, so it's between self-interest and reputation, both are crucial for a church to go on.
Of course, he could easily use Absolute Stealth for an immediate success, but at times someone who was in the spotlight just acted as a head figure. The mastermind, more often than not would be not mentioned in the mission.
The missions specially given by 'White' are always complicated. So a perfect success rate is almost impossible to achieve. The head 'Ms. White' likes for the members to see more than the surface.
It's the reason he has to gather many sources of information to ensure that he does not miss a single part related to the mission before taking action.
'It's tiring.'
The vixen really likes to play around. Grace gruntled while waiting for the nun to respond.
"Y-You... You cannot be forgiven! Present yourself to the cult this instant and offer your pathetic life!"
Well, there goes the conservation.
Grace's eyes went cold. It's a pity that blood has to be spilt just because of a disagreement between two conversationalists.
Absolute Stealth turned on. Grace easily passed through the box, finally seeing the nun who wore an unholy outfit unfitting for a supposed holy member. And with an efficient, swift motion, the frantic nun is no more.
"Self-interest is indeed above reputation."
He left the chamber as the people around began to notice the flowing blood coming from the confession box after a gurgling scream, with frantic screams ringing everywhere occurred afterwards.
"Might as well take advantage of the chaos."
-0-0-0-
Still in Absolute Stealth, Grace stared at a white door before him in deadpan, acting like the havoc he left behind had nothing to do with him. It's pretentious how the room was marked as 'File Room'. Do they expect him to believe it when the door's handle has obviously been picked many times?
It probably contained some irrelevant knowledge, but just in case he missed something, Grace silently handpicked the door's lock with a skill he learned from Chiv. With a click, the door silently opened.
The room was filled with shelf after shelf to the brim, leaving no room for other things. Having no idea where to start, Grace sighed and felt gratitude for his circumstance.
"If not for this skill I got by tricking a Hunter, I would probably waste half a day searching for the right thing in all of my previous missions..."
With the skill 'Sensor' many signals soon entered his brain. Sensor is a skill that dependent on signals, which heavily count on the stability of the items. So if the objects moved, this skill is practically impossible to utilize.
It could even cause a better-to-die headache if it was forced to sense a moving object, as the brain received such high-paced signals in a short amount of time which is too straining for it.
The frequency depends on the material. Grace hasn't dug deeper into the matter, but he remembered that Sensor gave a higher frequency the rarer the material was.
A moment passed, and soon he felt a particular signal coming from a shelf in a random direction. Keeping a valuable item at the most random of places. A classic trick.
Grace opened the shelf and saw a bunch of scrolls. The titles were various, "The Case of a Man-eating Criminal", "The Betrayal of a Former Rapist", "A Man Who Has Gone Insane by Overdosis of Additives.", etc...
As expected of this town, he supposed. The majority of information contains disturbing cases, and it's just one shelf. Who knows what sort of deranged cases the other shelves have? But it's not what he needs.
As if he already expected it, Grace lifted the 'lids', exposing a specially sealed scroll marked by a peculiar sign of Arcanietia on its ribbon. A simplified picture of the Water Goddess dancing above the waves.
"Reports of the Church's Affairs? Bullshit."
Grace snorted in disdain. With a wave of his hand, the illusion wrap was solved, revealing the real thing. The thing that changed the supposedly holy city to its current state.
"What is wrong with these guys..."
Even Grace, the person who has experienced many things, felt nauseous. The scroll was simple, it only contained a picture along with an intricate explanation about the image.
"Isn't the mission stated it was just some little Crimson Demon who tricked the Church's members to scam so she could get food? Is that Vixen even expected this thing?"
The image contained a being the masked man often discussed with him. The masked man always correlated it with nightmares and disaster. He never mentioned its names, but the image was so horrifying Grace's nightmares from the contract were dominated by the image alone, turning it into one of the worst nightmares Grace has ever experienced.
A monster. An abomination which takes the appearance of a massive, grotesque human head along with the creatures of Hell that poked out of its head. With a pair of glaring, white eyes and a huge bloody smile.
And in this image, it was devouring the world itself. Deconstructing its laws and essence into its own. Along with the disfigured people he recognized as those heroes.
Grace felt a shiver on his spine as he looked through the explanation, "A ritual requiring 100,000 sinners' souls along with a million litres of sinners' blood and the head of a hero to summon the Kretoes. The first step is to lure the criminals through the temptation of redemption. Second, slowly making it the norm. Third, get the Whites to investigate. Fourth, capture the investigator. Fifth..."
Grace stopped reading.
The Kretoes is what they called it.
And the current happenings are all their plans.
But why? Why this being? And is it worth it?
At the end of the scroll, Grace felt his pores exuding cold sweats. A simple reason is what they wanted.
"...One of our leaders has made a deal with a Devil, and for the sake of the well-being of our heritage, we must do what was necessary to fulfil the Devil's terms."
It was silent. Grace turned indifferent, the reason being one of the possibilities he had thought of before. He decided to take a seat at the corner and leaned on the wall.
It's one of these missions again.
He always categorized his missions into three in terms of method.
Compromising, killing, and exterminating.
Compromising is the easiest. He just has to intimidate them with threats beyond humane, forcing them to turn to the authorities. No action is required, just intimidation.
Killing is even simpler in terms of process. He just needs to kill the main culprit.
Exterminating is the hardest.
...He gotta kill everyone and everything involved. A complete, utter massacre. To exterminate every possibility of the case being unsolved by the breakout of factors included because of how dangerous the case was.
By the number of criminals within the city and the steps of the plan that has taken place, Grace knew he had not much time left. It would be too late if he wasted a couple of days sending a letter and waiting for a reply.
So he was only left with a choice.
"A massacre it is."
A pair of green eyes went cold, and blood would be split again. All for a life worth living.
-0-0-0-
Megumin is a not-so-simple girl. Her heritage is the famous Crimson Demon, a race known for its prodigious Archmages, crimson eyes, raven hair and the many inventions of mana that played a massive part in developing the current era.
While her parents may not held important positions within her heritage, her intelligence was the highest among her peers.
So with that intelligence along with the pride that etched itself, Megumin transversed the land of Belverg to spread her greatness, like any other Crimson Demons aspire to be.
...Without permission.
It wouldn't be that bad, right?
In her journey, she took the wrong path and ended up exhausted, hungry and sleepy. Waking up, she followed the path she had taken with haggard eyes and arrived at Arcanietia, a city of fanatics.
Having no other choice, she could only stay for food. Unfortunately, her pocket money was lost, possibly stolen by some animals while she fell asleep in the wilderness.
Having any other paths cut off, Megumin could only turn to the option she only left. Her intelligence. So she offered the central church a method to increase its followers, having to deal with a nun who showed too much interest in girls her age.
It was an exhausting process to survive, Megumin sighed in dismay as she gulped down her drink on a bench near a fountain. It was a usual day in Arcanietia, with the sun shining at its peak, bathing the city in sunlight, the fanatics and swindlers going around, the occasional creeps who would ask her to go to an inn with them, the sudden urge to turn this town into an explosion mess...
"...Umm."
As the hot sunlight came in contact with her porcelain-white skin, Megumin swept the sweat off of her as she took another sip of her drink, only to see a rather distinguishable boy slowly walking into the church.
He has the coolest (coldest) green eyes she has ever seen, with a natural arrogant (indifferent) look on his defined countenance. His auburn bangs fell on his forehead, creating a rather contrasting image with his pale skin. Making a rather pleasing appearance to her eyes.
Megumin could see the defined muscles contracting in each of his moves, as her intelligent eyes also noticed the dangerous vibes coming from him.
Without her realizing it, she could feel the beat of her heart in her ears. The boy is easily her type. A confident person with cool looks and countenance.
And he disappeared just like that, along with the hot sunlight that swayed the image in her eyes. Megumin sighed in disappointment, her porcelain-white skin still turned red on her face.
"I knew it, a boy of my type is too unrealistic to be true. My imagination is going wild because of the hotness here..."
However, a few moments after she said that, she froze.
Horrifying, gruesome screams suddenly shook her ears, coming from the church. The kind of screams she would expect to hear from the deepest part of Hell.
'O-Oh god...'
She could only freeze in fear, her heart sinking further and further the more she listened to the gruesome screams. Without her knowing, a stream of yellowish liquid flowed from between her legs.
Her big crimson eyes turned teary as she remained unmoved. She was mortified by the screams and was too stiff to move.
The people around her also froze, with some ladies turned unconscious and falling onto the ground. Some guy couldn't stomach it and puked in place.
It was truly like a chance to see a glimpse of Hell.
'W-What is going on...?'
-0-0-0-
An: i admit, I was going all out. But I rated it M, so it should be fine.