Vol 1 Chapter 68

Hearing those words, Kapros recalled the story Kran had told earlier about the Masters of Shadows guild. He never thought that the story about the incredibly skilled guild master suddenly declaring his withdrawal, which he hadn't cared about at all, would come up like this.

"Is this about the story where the guild master declared his withdrawal?"

"Declared withdrawal? I told you he was betrayed! Did those cowards spread such rumors?"

Sio shouted, flaring up.

"Well, I don't know about that. I'm just repeating what I heard."

"..."

Sio let out a deep groan and continued speaking with obvious anger in his tone.

"Our guild master was truly the best assassin, worthy of the guild name 'Masters of Shadows'. He single-handedly found the current headquarters and created the guild. But some guild members who dared to be dissatisfied with him incited many other members to occupy the headquarters and spout nonsense about handing over the position. Even after hearing such ridiculous demands to leave the guild he created, the guild master quietly said he would step down, but honestly, does that make any sense?"

At that moment, Kran asked curiously from behind.

"If he stepped down, couldn't you just follow that person?"

"The truth is... he disappeared after that incident, so even those of us who left the guild to find him haven't been able to meet him."

Sio confessed with a gloomy face and sighed.

"In the midst of all this, when I heard that suspicious people were going around trying to contact the guild, how could I not come to check it out?"

Summarizing that story, it seemed that entrusting the task to Kran had been a foolish move, but Kapros decided to put that aside for now. He looked suspiciously at Sio, who was spilling his circumstances much more in detail than expected, and spoke.

"So, now that you know we're not suspicious people, what do you intend to do?"

Sio answered with a sincere expression.

"I don't know what your personal goals are, but you want to visit our guild headquarters hidden in the southern field, right?"

Kapros didn't say anything, but Sio continued.

"I'll let you visit... if you help us reclaim the headquarters."

"Ah..."

Kran's expression wavered for a moment at the direct request for help. No one was as weak to others' pleas for help as he was.

"Why should we do that?"

But Kapros wasn't.

"Why? Is there a better way for both of us to get what we want? ...Besides, now that I've told you this much, if you refuse, you'll be targeted by assassin users the entire time you're here."

"Hmph."

Yu-wan sneered. Kapros's expression also twisted involuntarily, disliking Sio's latter words. What's this about being targeted? This guy is really starting to get on my nerves.

"We refuse."

"What?"

As Kapros answered, looking down with an expression revealing his distorted mood, Sio momentarily made a strange face.

"What you should be doing now is making a request, and what you just did was a threat. If you're that confident in your skills, why don't you just do it yourselves instead of asking others for help?"

To demand help like this from strangers they just met today. It didn't just look bad, it looked extremely bad. He might have thought he was mixing carrot and stick, but it wasn't even funny.

"We won't kill you, so leave."

Kapros was confident in their party's abilities. Unless it was someone like that huge monster of a man they had encountered recently, there would be almost no one who could defeat the three of them. This meant they had nothing to fear even if truckloads of assassin users came to target them. After finishing his words, Kapros released the Hold Person and Fireball spells, and Yu-wan and Kran also withdrew their swords. Sio was looking at Kapros with a dumbfounded expression.

Displeased by Sio's failure to leave and get his act together despite being told to go, Kapros frowned and created a light Lightning Bolt, throwing it to strike above Sio's head.

"Argh!"

Although Kapros had adjusted it not to be too explosive, the impact seemed to be significant as Sio fell backward, singed.

"..."

Seeing this, Kran shuddered, perhaps recalling his own experience of being hit by Kapros before.

"Let's go. It would be better to contact the people currently in the guild again instead."

Kapros kicked the door open and walked out, still feeling displeased. Yu-wan and Kran followed behind. Just as they were leaving the inn, they heard thumping sounds and Sio's shout from behind.

"Wait a moment!"

"Close the door."

As soon as Kapros finished speaking, Yu-wan mercilessly closed the door. A cheerful sound of Sio colliding with the door rang out, quite unfitting for someone with the assassin job.

"I spoke wrongly."

He muttered, his attitude completely different from before.

"Saying that now just irritates me more."

"I'll be honest. Right now, the situation is 100% disadvantageous for us. It's natural since we left for the sake of the guild master, but the guild master isn't actually here. I thought if users with skills like you three sided with us, we could at least reclaim the headquarters immediately, so I got greedy and spoke nonsense in my impatience."

He knelt down.

"Please help us."

"Kap. When he's going this far..."

Kran looked back and forth between Kapros and Sio, not knowing what to do. Yu-wan just looked at Kapros with an expression asking what he would do.

"We just need to achieve our goal. It's troublesome to take sides in a conflict that doesn't concern us, and there's no reason we should."

"The guys who took over the headquarters will never allow other users to visit. But we're different! Whatever your purpose is for trying to find the guild headquarters, we'll help you with everything!"

That's it. Kapros quietly smiled.

In fact, Kapros was just as eager to resolve the quest as Sio was to enlist their help. However, if he showed any sign of desperation, someone as perceptive and good at acting as Sio might quickly treat them like pawns to be used. Adding to that the audacity of trying to threaten them, Kapros had acted coldly to a degree that might have seemed excessive, but he was glad it had been effective. Kran made an expression as if he was seeing a demon when he saw Kapros's smile. Sio, kneeling, couldn't see it.