She might be a wielder of a saintly sword that neither the royal family nor the nobles are aware of.
The people trying to assassinate me probably have some information about me.
And they likely know that both my classmate Iris and my mentor, Instructor Cattleya, are cooperative with me.
Thus, they might come up with plans to separate me from the two, making them wary of Iris and Cattleya.
But with Saffron, she can stay by my side without arousing suspicion.
However, there's a problem.
As Instructor Cattleya worriedly pointed out, it's uncertain whether Saffron can be trusted. The power of Saffron's saintly sword is too effective in combat against others. If she becomes an enemy, it would be terrifying.
The damage if she betrays would be too great.
Still, I have no other choice.
I don't have any abilities.
Therefore, no matter how dangerous the person, I have no other means to survive a crisis than to rely on others with abilities.
I often think,
My bad premonitions tend to come true.
I tried making Saffron, who recently joined us, a maid to take care of my needs.
At that moment, Shion looked at me as if she had seen the end of the world, saying,
"Big brother?"
So, I immediately gave up on having Saffron close to me.
It seems Shion shared the same view as Holly and Instructor Cattleya about me having a young maid around.
Something about making her a mistress or so.
It was a close call. If I hadn't realized before Shion got angry, I might have disappeared without a trace.
For the time being, I decided to make Saffron a maid to look after Shion.
There are already countless maids in the castle who look after Shion, so it's not a significant move.
But,
Saffron quickly learned her role as a maid.
She had changed from her assassin attire to a maid's uniform, which made her look even more innocent for her age.
Her relationship with Shion, whom she was supposed to take care of, seemed not to be bad.
However, I can't understand relationships between women, so I can't really say.
Instructor Cattleya pointed out that entrusting Shion's care to a former assassin might be risky, but,
"Crow, when I see it up close, a hero is amazing. I think you're a hundred times stronger than me. No, even if there were a hundred of me, we'd still lose."
Saffron said something like that, and it seemed Instructor Cattleya's caution slightly waned.
Both Instructor Cattleya and Iris, who both possess a divine sword like the saintly sword, deeply feel how unreasonably strong Shion is.
It's not about logic; it's something they feel.
Compared to other wielders of the saintly swords, her innate abilities are incomparable.
You can compare the sizes of glasses.
And you can understand that a bucket is larger than a glass.
But looking at the vast ocean itself, one might find it presumptuous to even feel its vastness.
From the perspective of the saintly sword wielders, Shion seemed like a genius beyond human understanding.
"Hey, Saffron. In the end, have you never met the client who wanted me dead?"
"Nope. I was a freelance assassin, so I never met clients directly."
Whenever we had some free time, I would chat with Saffron in the courtyard.
One reason was for gathering information.
The other was to get to know her better.
To understand if she could be trusted as a comrade.
"There are assassins who belong to large organizations, and then there are freelancers like me who take on jobs independently."
"If you were working independently, why were you punished?"
"All the assassins in this country receive their jobs from the Assassination Guild. Clients request the guild, and the guild selects and dispatches assassins who seem capable of completing the job. So, the actual assassin and the client never meet directly."
"There's an Assassination Guild in this country?"
"Every snake follows its path. There's an underworld, a world of darkness in every country, I believe."
"So, will you continue to be targeted by the Assassination Guild?"
"Probably. But I think the Assassination Guild would find it stupid to decrease their number of assassins for a kill that won't bring them money. If I keep defeating assassins, they might give up."
"That's quite positive of you."
"If I get killed, then that's that. It can't be helped. Everyone dies, whether they want to or not. No matter how much you ponder, you'll never find a surefire way to avoid it."
It's a common fact, but when someone like her, an assassin, says it, it carries a different weight. However, it's sad to think that such a seemingly ordinary girl had no other source of income besides assassination.
Saffron said she had no other choice.
That means she probably kept killing just to survive.
It's truly sad to think she knew no other way to live in her world.
"By the way, Saffron, how did you come to possess the saintly sword of the divine sword?"
"It was stored in the Assassination Guild, along with various other hidden weapons. When I approached it, it shone brightly. They called it something like 'compatibility' and the guild members gave it to me."
The missing saintly sword of the divine sword was with the Assassination Guild.
Even the divine horse sword, Ramlei, was thought to be just a wild horse.
But the fact that the people of the Assassination Guild, who live in the underworld, possessed the saintly sword means the current royal family is unaware of the missing status of the saintly sword.
Or maybe they don't feel the urgency or responsibility to gather the mostly missing saintly swords.
Most likely, the majority of the remaining saintly swords have been stolen by someone.
And probably by those who intend to use them for their own selfish reasons.
It won't be easy to find all of those saintly swords.
Furthermore, not everyone who possesses them, like Saffron this time, will be cooperative.
Strictly speaking, I'm not sure if I can trust Saffron either.
The path ahead seems fraught with difficulties.
Finding trustworthy saintly sword wielders like Iris and Instructor Cattleya might indeed be impossible.
"I'm getting bored, Crow."
"Huh?"
"This is the first time in my life I've been able to live without doing anything for such a long time."
"You've only been here for two or three days, right?"
"It's my first time living without working for even two or three days."
"You used to work too much. Take a break when you can."
"But I feel like I'm going to die of boredom. Give me some work."
"People don't die from boredom."
"Ah, I wish something big would happen."
"Don't say unnecessary things. I already feel like I'm a troublemaker these days."
"Is that so? Then, I'll look forward to a big trouble."
I don't think we get along at all.
I can't understand someone who feels like dying from boredom, as I want to live a boring life until I die.
"Well, I kind of like this maid uniform. It's more comfortable than it looks."
"It's work attire, after all."
"Speaking of clothes, why do you always wear black? Isn't it more like an assassin's attire than mine?"
Saffron pointed it out, and I looked at my clothes.
Shirt, pants, boots, all in black. Indeed, all black.
But, I wear black pants and boots so dirt won't show.
Every time I go to buy a new shirt, I consider other colors but always end up choosing black as the safest option.
In the first place, I won't look good no matter what I wear, and it's bothersome to choose clothes each time, so black-only is fine.
"Do you, I don't know... have a death wish or something?"
"Huh? Why would you suddenly say something so ominous?"
"Well, if it were mourning clothes, I'd understand. But do you have a reason to always wear black?"
"I just choose black because it's the most neutral. I'm not good with colorful clothes."
"Still, thinking that black is neutral is questionable. Even though it's not my place to say, in nature, there are hardly any creatures or plants that are black. From my perspective, black symbolizes death. It's not a color you should willingly wear."
She seems to be a woman who sticks to peculiar things. Clothing doesn't really matter.