The Reaper Girl’s Midnight Prowl
—Hyuooooooo!
The wind howled past my ears.
At the edge of my vision, wheat fields drowned in the curtain of night streamed backward like a black torrent.
Fast.
Way too fast.
“… Nnngh! This is the best!”
Beneath the skull mask, I let out a cry of delight.
From the ducal mansion to the capital, Aubernil, it was about an hour by carriage.
That was along a properly maintained highway. On foot, especially on the legs of a six-year-old, it would probably take half a day.
But for me now, the very concept of distance was practically meaningless.
Taan!
Every time I kicked off the ground, compressed wind detonated from the soles of my boots.
That propulsion shot me forward like a cannonball.
Ten meters in a single step.
If I stomped down with full force, I could easily soar twenty meters through the air.
It felt like the shackles of gravity had been removed, an overwhelming sense of levitation.
So this was the true performance of the UR equipment, the Sky-Treading Leather Boots.
Mana consumption was still at a margin-of-error level.
Great fuel efficiency, great acceleration, perfect silence.
Wind Spirit King-sama, you’re doing too good a job. Thank you, I’ll gratefully run these into the ground.
Bathing in the night wind, I cut straight across the open plains, ignoring the main road.
Obstacles? Irrelevant.
If a small hill appeared ahead, I just blasted wind to leap, lightly touched its crest, and accelerated again.
The feeling was… yeah.
Like entering a movement-speed cheat code in an open-world RPG and sprinting freely across the entire map with that godlike sense of omnipotence.
“One hour by carriage… Yeah, at this rate, it won’t even take thirty minutes.”
I didn’t even need to check my pocket watch.
The distant lights of Aubernil, once tiny on the horizon, were rapidly spreading to fill my entire field of view.
A stone fortress city, encircled by massive walls.
The colorful streets that had been so lively during the day were now sunk in silence and darkness. Only scattered streetlamps glittered like a spilled jewelry box.
“Alright… now the real show begins.”
Without slowing down, I charged straight at the city wall.
The main gate was, of course, shut tight.
Under the torchlight, I could see two gatekeepers stifling yawns as they stood guard.
A normal intruder would be stopped here, or risk forcing their way past inspection.
But I’m invincible.
I’m not about to do something so crude as a frontal assault.
“... Jump.”
Fifty meters before the wall, I poured my momentum into one decisive stomp.
DOOOOM!
An explosion of wind swirled at my feet.
My body launched straight upward, higher and higher.
Ten meters. Twenty…
Clearing the height of the wall with ease, I reached the peak of the night sky.
Below me were the gatekeepers’ heads, tiny as beans, their defenseless backs completely unaware.
Thanks to Complete Silence, even the roar of the blast never reached their ears.
“Excuse me for intruding.”
I spun once in midair and surrendered to gravity.
My target: the inside of the wall. The roof of a dark, deserted warehouse district.
Hyun.
Slicing through the wind, just before landing on the roof tiles, I fired a reverse burst from the soles.
—Ton.
Without a sound.
Quieter than a cat alighting on a fence, I descended into the city of Aubernil.
No one noticed.
No one looked up.
A flawless stealth entry.
“Heh. Piece of cake.”
Under the skull mask, I curled my lips into a grin.
A black-clad little girl landing on one knee atop a roof, moonlight at her back.
Yeah, it’s a shame there’s no mirror, but I’m definitely poster-worthy right now.
I stood and looked down over the city below.
The main street, bustling during the day, was silent now.
But that was just its public face.
My gamer’s intuition told me…
Even a peaceful city like this had to have a “night face.”
A cesspool where players’ desires swirled, beyond the reach of law and order.
“Now then… it’s hunting time.”
I adjusted the position of the Appraisal Monocle over my left eye and sharpened my gaze behind the mask.
I wasn’t looking for mere fodder.
I wanted exquisite “experience points” that would push my Level 27 status even higher.
And preferably pitch-black villains I wouldn’t feel bad about killing.
I began leaping from roof to roof like a shadow.
With the effect of the Phantom Mask, the nightscape looked as clear as midday.
Drunks having a party in an alley.
Touts standing in front of brothels.
Patrolling city guards.
I appraised them one after another, and passed.
Level 12… just a regular citizen? Pass.
Level 18… fallen adventurer? Looks decent enough. Pass.
Level 25… oh? A guard captain? Strong, but as a duke’s daughter, I can’t exactly hunt down the good guys.
The selection process went as smoothly as picking fresh vegetables at a market.
I ran soundlessly across rooftops, evaluating the “crowd” below.
And then, as I reached a section of the warehouse district near the port…
… Hmm?
My feet stopped.
It was a cargo platform beneath the sturdy city wall, along the massive canal that ran north to south through the city.
By day, it was the main artery of trade ships from the open sea. But at night, once the enormous water gates were closed, it became a place where watchful eyes rarely reached.
In front of a run-down warehouse, one that should’ve been dark, several carriages were parked.
And around them stood multiple men, glancing about warily.
I hid in the shadow of a rooftop and narrowed the focus of my monocle. Through the lens, red numbers rose above the men’s heads.
“Lv 27”
“Lv 28”
“… Oh ho.”
My lips split into a crescent.
High twenties.
That was too high for ordinary thugs. Comparable to seasoned adventurers.
So why were men like that guarding a shabby warehouse in the dead of night, avoiding prying eyes?
At their waists hung well-used longswords, and their bearing carried a distinct killing intent.
From inside the warehouse came the heavy sounds of something being loaded.
Come to think of it…
I vaguely remembered overhearing the mansion’s knights talking with serious expressions.
“Apparently there have been sightings of suspicious people coming and going near the port lately.”
“I hear members of a dark guild are conducting shady dealings…”
Hmm. A dark guild, huh.
Just to be sure.
From my pocket, I pulled out a small portable telescope I’d “borrowed” from the mansion for exactly this kind of occasion.
Adjusting the magnification, I focused on one of the guards.
Under the torchlight, the man wiped sweat from his brow.
In that instant, beneath his rolled-up sleeve, on the inside of his upper arm, I saw it.
A sinister tattoo shaped like a “keyhole.”
Sera-san had once told me,
“If you ever see someone with a keyhole tattoo, absolutely do not approach them. They’re members of a notorious dark guild.”
“Lucky.”
My lips curled upward.
So I could find dark guild members this easily?
And if it’s a dark guild, that means they’re lovely experience points meant to be offered to me… villains I can kill without my heart aching, right?
“Ahaha… jackpot of experience points found.”
I lovingly stroked the hilt of the dagger at my belt.
Level 27 Reaper Girl, Alice-chan.
Commencing extermination of evildoers.
I kicked off the roof without a sound and leapt above my prey.
Until the moment my moon-backed shadow fell at their feet as a death sentence…
Just a few more seconds.
What do you think about this chapter?
