Vermillion

The wind howled in her ear.

The town was lit by twilight.

The nightscape grew behind her.

A girl covered in black ran.

She ran on the rooftops, tap, tap.

She left behind only the light taps of her footsteps.

A shadow stretched out from her feet.

A fish… A bird… A cat… An arm.

It leaped and swam joyfully.

As it hectically changed its form it showed her the way.

The maiden of twilight 『Kerstin』.

The incarnation of twilight and afterglow, the ruler of twilight.

Aileen followed the spirit"s directions and headed to where Lily was.

Kerstin was a spirit that both manipulated and moved within the shadows.

She was a fleeting being that could only manifest after the light and before the darkness.

Compared to Kei"s contracted spirit, the maiden of wind, 『Siv』, she had little in the way of interfering with the physical world. As her specialty was manipulating shadows, she also didn"t have a way to directly attack, either.

However, that was also why she required such low magical energy and wasn"t particular about catalysts. Her magic had effectively no cost. She was easy to use, but she had her limits. A pure mage wouldn"t find much use for her—but, she was a perfect fit for a ninja that used only auxiliary magic.

"So, she"s here…"

The corner of the Old Town.

Aileen bent over the ledge of the roof and peered down the street, now devoid of people. The shadow that extended from her feet took the form of a hand and pointed to the building across from her.

A two-story brick building overlooked the slightly dirty street. It was undecorated; it looked like a warehouse. Light leaked from various windows on the first and second floors. She didn"t even need to spy to tell that people were there. The first floor in particular, she could hear men"s rowdy and lively voices there from where she was.

She nimbly jumped to the roof. Without even getting a running start, she easily jumped the nine meter gap, landing silently on all fours. Still on all fours, she crept unnoticed to the window like a cat.

Aileen dangled upside down, holding herself by her legs on the ledge of the roof, and looked in through the gaps of the storm shutter.

It"s surprisingly clean in there…

Her first impression of the place was that it looked like no one lived there; it was empty. There was hardly any furniture, only a tasteless wooden floor. In the corner of the room was a small table and chair in which sat a man of delicate features, reading in the desk lamp"s light. In the back of the room she could see stairs that led down. She could also see the swaying shadows of the boisterous men.

The pages rustled as the man turned them. He looked to be the only one on the second floor, and he failed to notice the ninja outside the window. After a while, she decided that she wouldn"t likely gain any new information watching the man read, so she moved away from the window.

She took a grapple and rope out of her bag, hooked it onto the edge, and descended to the ground.

It smelled faintly of alcohol. She got closer. The first floor was noisy. There was quite the party going on inside.

Wait, isn"t that…

Her expression changed to surprise and bewilderment. Inside, seven rowdy men gathered around a table and had alcohol in hand. Out of all the unclean men, she recognized one of them.

—Borris! Why is he here?

He had his arms around some others, red faced from alcohol and laughing loudly with his unkempt, frizzy black hair and wild eyes.

It was without a doubt, the man she saw in front of the workshop a few days ago.

She groaned and leaned against the wall.

Is that a.s.shole part of this too…?

Lily was a smart girl. Montand and Kiska said that she wouldn"t carelessly get caught up in something illegal.

A crime committed by a family member.

She set aside whether Borris really could be called a relative—if he was involved in the kidnapping, then it was unsurprising that Lily let her guard down.

The h.e.l.l is he thinking… Borrowing money and relying on them, and then kidnapping their daughter?!

Her bewilderment began to change into anger. Just punching him once wouldn"t be enough for her. Despite her anger, she didn"t rush in for a frontal attack.

『Kerstin…』 she quietly called the waving shadow at her feet. 『Kie estas Lily?』

The shadow answered her by forming a hand and pointed straight up, using the wall as a screen.

"Unua etago (The second floor)…?"

The shadow waved its hand and then wrote out in cursive,『Neniu.』

"Teretago (The first floor)?"

『Neniu.』

"Tegmonto (The attic)?"

『Neniu.』

"Huh?" She wanted to yell, then where?! But held it back and thought calmly. "Interetago (A mezzanine floor)… A hidden room?"

『Jes.』Kerstin finished writing and gave a thumbs up before returning back to a normal shadow.

She felt a little relief and muttered to herself, "A hidden room, huh…"

If Lily was being confined in a hidden room, then that meant she was still alive. On the other hand, if she was somewhere below ground, Aileen wouldn"t be able to keep calm.

Now, how should I do this?

She folded her arms and thought.

Surprise them and take control of the building?

Avoid fighting and try to get her out?

Beat them all up, get where she"s being held out of them, and then get her out of there…

The thought of personally beating them all up was refreshing. However, after she considered the risks she determined that it would be best to just get Lily out of there.

『Kerstin, mi dedicas al vi ti un katalizilo.』 Aileen took a small fragment of a turquoise jewel and dropped it. It sank into the shadow. 『Vi priskribas la plankon plano de ci tiu domo, kaj vi diros al mi la pozicio de Lily.』She placed both hands on the stone wall. 『Ekzercu (Execute).』

In an instant, the shadow ran along the outline of the building. It was unlikely that anyone inside noticed it.

It slipped into the cracks, under the tables, and even the shadows of the loud men inside.

The shadow stood up in front of Aileen. Jet black lines began to form the floor plans of the building like a 3D animation. It was very difficult to see it in the fading twilight, but she was able to grasp where the rooms and people were.

The plans didn"t reveal anything particular strange about the storehouse layout. On the first floor were the seven boisterous men and on the second floor was the reading man. However, she didn"t see Lily there.

『Kie estas Lily?』

A shadow hand rose from the ground and pointed to the middle of the model"s second floor where a black box had formed. It was right next to the gentle looking man, a small s.p.a.ce in the floor. The hidden room was too small to really be a room. Since it wasn"t drawn out, the black box meant that there wasn"t any source of light in there.

In other words, Lily was confined to a pitch-black room too small to even move around in.

Aileen"s expression turned grim. This was terrible treatment for an innocent child. Her chest tightened at the thought of how scared Lily must be, shut away in the small dark room. Above that, they were drinking and partying, too.

They were the epitome of sc.u.m.

One punch wouldn"t be enough.

Righteous indignation burned in her chest. She scowled at the light that leaked out of the first floor window. She told herself to put off beating them up and controlled her breathing, even though she wanted to break down the shutter and run wild.

Lily"s rescue came first.

She bent over and lightly jumped, using the stone walls of the building in front of her and behind her to quickly jump onto the roof. She took back her grapple and rope and imagined the model that Kerstin made.

The hidden s.p.a.ce on the second floor… I wonder if there"s a way into the second floor.

Like before, she held onto the window and glared inside at the gentle featured man through the gap in the storm shutters. He was probably the one on guard duty for Lily. The nerve he had to unconcernedly read while a young girl was locked up.

Her anger flared up again. A fierce light shone in her blue eyes.

Well, whatever… Let"s do this right.

Aileen calmed herself down.

I"ll just sneak in.

She reached for the shutter"s clasp.

Squeeek.

"Hm?" The man suddenly lifted his head at the faint metallic squeak.

The window"s shutters next to the table were open. The shutters swayed as if blown open by the wind. A gentle breeze stroked his cheek.

"That"s strange…"

Why"d it open on its own? The wind isn"t too strong today, either.

He stood up with his book in one hand, stuck his head out the window, and looked around. The air was calm, there weren"t even any strong gusts.

"Weird things happen, I guess…" He muttered with a slightly worried expression. As if shaking off his concerns, he shook his head and closed the shutters.

Suddenly, his vision was dyed black.

Aileen dropped behind him from the ceiling and wrapped her scarf over his face.

"Hna!?" His mumbled shout didn"t travel far.

As he flailed and desperately tried to get it off of him, Aileen stood in front of him and raised her fists. She used her whole body as a spring and struck him.

Her fists. .h.i.t him in the gut and twisted, forcing him to bend over. The impact was so strong that he was lifted in the air for a moment. He threw up in her scarf. The man fell to his knees and held his stomach, unable to groan or even breathe through the vomit stuck in his throat. His position looked like that of a criminal about to be beheaded—she spun and kicked him with a roundhouse to the temple, and he collapsed like a bowling pin.

"One down…" Aileen muttered coldly at the man on the floor as she lowered her leg.

It may seem totally merciless and inhumane, but for Aileen, this was still holding back. Her physical strength had fallen compared to when it was a game, however she was still able to use her body to its limit. If she had kicked him with her full strength then his thin neck would"ve easily snapped.

"Now, where is Lily…?"

Completely uninterested in the man now, she squinted and began looking along the floor. Kerstin"s 『Search』 told her that the hidden s.p.a.ce was a few meters from the table.

"Here it is…"

She found it right away. There was one place in the floor that had suspicious looking cuts, visible if you looked carefully enough. Aileen stuck the edge of her knife into the crack and popped up the board easily.

Happily, she pried off the board while she thought, this was easy! Only for her expression to suddenly drop from her face.

A metal lid was blocking the way.

Even at a glance it was obviously st.u.r.dy. Its solid build and linked clasps reminded her of a safe. The front of it was all smooth except for a two centimeter hole shaped like a gear. She stuck her fingers in and tried to lift since she had nothing to lose.

"No good…"

It wouldn"t open. As she thought, it didn"t even budge. In all probability, this was the keyhole. If it were a simple enough lock, then as a ninja, she could easily unlock it, but that was impossible with the tools she had on hand.

She stood up silently and lightly kicked the man slumped on the ground to check if he was still unconscious before she rifled through his belongings. The acidic scent of vomit made her wince as she haphazardly turned out his jacket and pant pockets.

Nothing that looked like it would fit the keyhole turned up. She did find a metal key, although it was too big for the hole. She searched the shelves and such in the room, but no key turned up. The man on the floor showed no signs of waking up, but she wanted to ask him about a hiding place for the key. When she removed the scarf his eyes were white and his mouth was foaming. She tried to pinch his nose shut and she tried slapping him, but he didn"t wake up.

What should I do now…?

Aileen sat cross-legged on the floor with her chin resting in her hands and thought for a while. She could use 『Trace』on the lid and find where the key was that way, but then she would be left with essentially no catalysts. Even so, searching everywhere manually was a waste of time.

What to do.

"Gahahaha!"

"Aahahahaha!"

Their thunderous laughter came from downstairs as she was thinking.

Aileen narrowed her eyes and suddenly stood up.

Shiiing, she pulled her saber out from the scabbard on her back.

—If she was going to use sorcery, this way was still better.

Well, it ended up being like this anyway…

She pulled a crystal fragment out of her shirt while she wore a sour look and shrugged. She stared at the waving shadows of the men downstairs, cast by the lamp light.

To check the condition of her saber, she spun it in her hands.

No problems. She swiped downwards in the air, faster than could be perceived.

A small amount of bloodl.u.s.t welled up, but she left it behind. Before she left, she stopped and whispered, "Wait for me, Lily. I"ll save you soon."

Without another moment"s hesitation, she leaped down the stairs.

TRANSLATOR"S NOTES