I Hate You the Most in the World!

‘It’s too late.’

Riett looked at the falling lights and thought to herself. At that moment,

⟨No, it’s not too late yet.⟩

A familiar voice echoed in her ears.

⟨Riett, you know the way.”

She knows the way…?

Without thinking, Riett’s hand instinctively moved in the air.

And with a swift wave of her hand,

Clang!

The light fell with a frightening sound next to Riett.

Evan and Lucas, who had been rushing towards her, watched in astonishment.

“Ma-Magician? It must be difficult to use powerful magic without a staff…!”

The shocked voice of the white-bearded assassin was heard.

Riett was equally perplexed.

‘W-What was that just now…?’

In the meantime, the assassin’s eyes gleamed fiercely.

“Well… It doesn’t matter. Even if you’re a magician, it’s difficult to face me, who is a top-class magician.”

The white-bearded assassin swung his staff again.

“It seems like I underestimated you.”

This time, several fire arrows appeared in the air. Faced with a formidable attack, Riett’s mouth went dry.

Then the voice came again.

⟨Riett, remember the sensation from earlier.⟩

The sensation from earlier…?

Riett naturally clenched her fist in a similar posture to before.

At the same time, the white-bearded assassin shot the fire arrows.

This time, Riett swiftly waved her hand. As she stretched out her hand, a tremendous gust of wind blew away the fire arrows.

Boom!

Not only that, the white-bearded assassin was also sent flying and crashed into a wall.

He couldn’t get up quickly from the pain. The magician struggled to reach out and grab his staff, but Riett was faster.

With Riett bowing her head in front of the incapacitated assassin, she raised the staff in his place.

Riett didn’t know much about magic, but she knew that magicians couldn’t use strong magic without a staff.

The assassin looked up. His face showed a sense of despair as he realized his weapon had been taken.

“This is mine now.”

The white-bearded assassin, whose weapon had been confiscated, bowed his head as if giving up.

Looking around, the situation was under control.

Evan skillfully evaded and Lucas seemed to have taken care of the other assassins.

As Riett turned her head again, she saw the white-bearded assassin sneaking away in a corner. Riett walked slowly and stepped on his cloak.

“It seems like we have a lot to talk about.”

* * *

As the magic holding the main building was released, the knights rushed in.

“We heard loud noises from inside. Are you alright?”

In movies, it’s always the case that the police rush in after the protagonist has already solved everything. It was the same now.

“This is a mess…”

The knight surveyed the chaotic house and asked, 

“Are you hurt? Any injuries?”

“No, everyone is safe.” 

It was fortunate that the household staff happened to be away, or there might have been casualties. ‘If they were all at home, there might have been casualties.’

The knights looked at the scattered assassins and the bound white-bearded assassin and asked, “What should we do with them?”

“Take them to the basement of the annex.” 

Riett instructed. It seemed strange that the knights didn’t hand the intruders over to the guards, but in the end, they followed Riett’s command.

As the knights began moving the assassins one by one, Evan and Lucas approached. 

“We were surprised when the light fixture didn’t fall on you earlier.” 

Lucas said, looking at the shattered fixture. Evan added, 

“The movement of the falling light seemed unnatural. Riett, you can use magic.”

Riett was taken aback by Evan’s observation of the unnatural incident. How should she explain this? If she said,  ‘A strange voice has been helping me for the past few days’, they would surely find it strange.

Just then, a knight approached Riett and reported, 

“We have moved all the intruders to the basement of the annex.”

Riett nodded to the knight and looked at Evan and Lucas. 

“Did you hear that? Let’s go and interrogate the assassins quickly!”

Fortunately, Evan and Lucas didn’t ask any further questions. They believed that identifying the mastermind behind the assassins was the priority.

The basement was pitch dark. Riett looked down at the bound assassins. The assassins who had regained consciousness were looking around, realizing they were tightly bound to chairs. They wore a grim expression.

The first person Riett approached was the white-bearded assassin. Riett stood in front of him and swiftly pulled back the hood of the robe he was wearing. Contrary to his assassin occupation, he was an ordinary-looking man. Riett expected to see scars or tattoos on his face, but there were none.

Riett stared at the white-bearded assassin. 

‘You’re not as old as I thought.’

While his long white beard might make him appear old, Riett could estimate his age from his agile movements.

‘And…’

Riett glanced briefly at the young female assassin bound beside him. However, she quickly averted her gaze and asked the white-bearded assassin again, 

“Are you the leader?”

The assassin remained silent.

“I’ll ask again. Are you the leader commanding this assassination group?”

Still, he did not speak.

‘He won’t talk, huh?’

If that was the case, there was another way.

Riett swiftly turned her body and approached the young female assassin, who she had held hostage earlier. Standing in front of her, with an emotionless face, Riett warned, 

“If you don’t answer my question when I ask again, this woman won’t leave here unharmed.”

The white-bearded assassin glanced at Riett, seemingly shaken. However, he quickly composed himself and retorted.

“…. No matter what you do to that woman, my mouth won’t open.”

She wonders if that’s true.

Riett drew out the dagger she had been carrying.

The woman assassin already had a wound on her neck from earlier, inflicted by Riett.

It was just a slight cut, and the bleeding had already stopped.

Riett brought the dagger closer to the woman’s throat. Yet the white-bearded assassin still didn’t open his mouth hastily.

‘He’s quite resilient.’

This time, Riett exerted force on the dagger.

As the sharp blade pressed against her soft skin, the woman assassin tightly bit her lips.

The white-bearded assassin, watching this scene, became visibly uneasy.

When Riett applied even more force, the woman closed her eyes tightly. Her fearful eyes trembled. Blood trickled down from the wound.

The white-bearded assassin could no longer pretend to be calm. His pupils trembled as he looked at the woman assassin.

“Ugh…!”

And the moment a faint moan escaped the woman’s lips,

“Stop!”

The white-bearded assassin urgently shouted.

“I will tell you everything…! So please, don’t harm my daughter…!”

Riett withdrew the dagger.

‘As I thought.’

Riett had sensed their relationship since the battle earlier.

Until she took the woman as a hostage, she didn’t know, but when the white-bearded assassin lost consciousness and fell, her noticeable agitation caught Riett’s attention.

The Assassin’s Guild called Charten only dealt with the highest-ranking assassins, but her emotional attitude was unprofessional. It wasn’t as if situations like this didn’t happen at all during battles.

Observing the noticeable agitation when the hostage was captured, Riett thought that their relationship might be more than just colleagues, perhaps something personal.

So she stabbed her just to test it, and it turned out to be correct.

“Wow, Riett. Where did you learn something like that? You seem more like a villain than me.”

Lucas exclaimed in admiration. Riett shrugged once and stood before the white-bearded assassin again.

“Now, let me ask again.”

Riett stared at the assassin and asked,

“What’s your name?”

“Gahaden.”

“Gahaden, are you the leader of this assassination group?”

“Yes, I am.”

Judging from the other assassins all looking at him before taking any action, Riett could tell that he was their leader. He also appeared significantly more skilled in combat compared to the other assassins.

“Was it Count Terrator who hired you?”

“…”

He bowed his head as if struggling to answer. It was essential for assassins to guarantee the client’s identity.

‘But I don’t have a reason to indulge him.’

Riett drew out the shining dagger once again.

“Should I thrust this dagger into your daughter again for you to answer?”

“Yes, it is Count Terrator who sent us here.”

Phew. Finally, the answer she wanted came out. It felt like a weight had been lifted.

But suddenly, she became curious.

“When did Count Terrator request the assassination?”

They said he didn’t visit the Assassin’s Guild recently. There wouldn’t have been a way to hire without a personal visit.

“One month ago.”

“One month ago…?” 

Riett turned her head and looked at Evan. Evan seemed to be thinking the same thing, with a perplexed expression on his face.

“That was when he first visited Charten.”

If that’s what he meant…

“I misjudged. He… regardless of the impeachment, he was planning to kill Riett no matter what.”

With Evan’s words as the final straw, Riett tightly closed her eyes. She was now at her wit’s end with her villainy. Riett bit down on it firmly and decided.

‘…Just wait, Count Terrator.’

Riett will put an end to his life soon enough.

Then Lucas approached and asked Gahaden, 

“What was that device, the magic scroll?”

“It’s a teleportation device. It needs to be attached to the destination a few days before the actual teleportation for it to take effect properly.”

“And was it because of the magic that the knights couldn’t enter the mansion?”

Gahaden nodded. They had made thorough preparations to ensure the success of the assassination.

Riett picked up on Lucas’ words and continued the questioning.

“At first, the target was only me, but you thought it would be easier to just kill Evan and Lucas since they kept following me, right?”

They had prepared the groundwork in the mansion, and they had to complete the mission before the effects wore off.

“As you said, they were not the assassination targets. However, since they didn’t stay away from me, you had no choice but to change your plans.”

Indeed, Evan and Lucas had been tailing her recently.

“We thought we would win since we had the numerical advantage on our side… But my expectations were shattered.”

Gahaden’s eyebrow twitched.

“What exactly is your identity?”

Now that he asked, they should introduce themselves.

One was like the Prince of the Dark World, and the other was a man empowered by the protagonist Buff in this world.

While contemplating, Gahaden stared at Riett and asked, 

“I’m especially curious about your identity.”

Riett pointed at herself with her finger.

“…Me?”

“At first glance, it seems like magic, but I’ve never seen or heard of anyone who can use such strong magic to deflect my attacks without any staff or incantations.”

It certainly wasn’t magic. The fact that she lacked the talent for magic had already been determined during the magic aptitude test the mister conducted when she was young.

Riett pondered how to respond and deliberately spoke in a cold voice.

“Do I have an obligation to tell you?”

“Of course, if you don’t tell me, I can’t help it, but…”

However, contrary to his words, Gahaden seemed unable to suppress his curiosity. After bowing his head for a moment, he suddenly raised it and asked a shocking question.

“By any chance… are you a Spirit Mage?”