Chapter 11: As Absurd as She is

Behind Anselm, the corridor's ceiling suddenly shattered, and four assassins, draped in leather armor and wielding short, curved blades, descended from the breach. Their cold glint emerged amidst the swirling dust and debris, aiming straight for Anselm's head!

In that instant, despite her back being to the conference room, Sitana's senses were acutely attuned to the impending threat. With no hint of surprise or hesitation, she pivoted, seizing the unconscious assassin she had previously defeated, and hurled him like a projectile into the air, aiming to intercept the descending assailants.

However, these four assassins skillfully evaded Sitana's human cannonball by deftly kicking off one another, using the momentum to land on the corridor walls. From these vantage points, they launched themselves anew, attacking Anselm from various angles.

Again, Sitana roughly grabbed Anselm, her aim to shelter the young noble, who stood a tad taller than her, from the impending threat of several blades poised to sever his head. However, as she pulled him, Anselm unexpectedly capitalized on her force, executing a fluid, ghost-like spin that gracefully eluded her grasp and carried him straight into the conference room.

Sitana was so furious that she felt like she was having a stroke. While raising her dagger to block the first incoming strike aimed at Anselm, she roared angrily:

"What the hell's gotten into you, Hydra? You got traps in there and archers out here! Quit screwing with me and making my job harder!"

Consumed by her wrath, Sitana pivoted on her waist, unleashing a devastating high whip kick upon the airborne assassin, who was left with no way dodge. The impact resonated with a muffled boom akin to a cannon blast, accompanied by the crisp, dense crack of shattered bones, starkly demonstrating the abnormal strength hidden beneath her slender frame.

The struck assassin was nearly folded in two by the force of the blow! Propelled through the air, he slammed into the wall with such impact that he became embedded within it.

The other three assassins were stunned by this strike, seeing a human being thrown like a cannonball and instantly embedded into the wall. What were they facing, a formidable warrior or the embodiment of a demonic beast?

This was clearly just a young girl who looked tender enough to squeeze water out!

"You're up in the air, a sitting duck, and you're spacing out?"

A derisive sneer cut through the air as Sitana's tempestuous fists and kicks rained down mercilessly.

Should these three assassins have attacked instantly with their blades, Sitana's evasions, however skillful, would have been destined to fail, leaving her wounded. However, this remained nothing more than a speculative what-if.

When a weapon-wielding assailant forfeited the critical "distance" necessary to execute their strikes, and the battleground was compressed into the range where fists and feet can reach, and the target was someone like Sitana—a monster endowed with unreasonable combat awareness and strength...

There would be no chance to swing a second blade.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA—"

The girl's snow-white short hair danced wildly amidst her maniacal laughter and violent outbursts. The continuous sound of flesh colliding mixed with her laughter, which was somewhat... frightening to hear.

Sitana's relentless fists and kicks rendered the four assassins unconscious. As she stretched her slender, seemingly boneless form, a symphony of cracking sounds echoed from her joints.

"That felt good... too damn good!"

Miss bodyguard, having unleashed her pent-up fury, exhaled with extreme satisfaction, then raised her foot and delivered a crushing stomp to the assassin's head, her gaze filled with contempt as she looked down upon him:

"With that level of skill, you're no assassin. Get your ass back to your village and stick to butcher some pigs!"

She wasn't trying to insult her opponents; she simply looked down on most people weaker than herself.

Such humiliation of the weak was, for Sitana, a commonplace occurrence.

"Oi, Hydra, you ain't screwing up—Hydra!"

In that instant, Anselm, having walked alone into the conference room, appeared to completely ignore the maid who was furtively drawing a short knife from beneath her long skirt. He proceeded leisurely towards the wine cabinet, his cane tapping the floor, as if oblivious to the unfolding scene. Sitana, catching sight of this, let out a startled scream and swiftly hurled a dagger in their direction.

The wine cabinet's glass shattered, showering Anselm's wolf cloak with fragments. He frowned slightly, brushing away the shards that clung to the fur around his shoulders and neck. From the cabinet, he retrieved a bottle of wine, its opulent exterior cradling a liquid as crimson as blood.

He turned his head to regard the maid, whose hand was impaled to the wooden shelf of the wine cabinet by a dagger. With a gentle smile, he asked, "Where might I find the wine glasses?"

"I swear, I'm gonna snap your legs in half!"

Sitana, seething with anger, dashed to Anselm's side: "If you're itching to throw your life away, don't you dare take me down with you. It'll be on me if you get snuffed out!"

"Ah, Sitana, perfect timing. Could you assist me in locating the wine glasses?"

Anselm held the bottle of blood-red wine up to his eyes for a close inspection, as if he didn't care about what was happening around him at all.

"……"

Sitana's fury, which had barely subsided, was reignited by Anselm in an instant. She took a deep breath, clenching her teeth and snapping, "Can you just act normal for once and not causing me trouble?"

"Causing trouble?"

Anselm raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sitana: "Me?"

"Who else if not you—" With a punch, Sitana struck down the maid assassin who tried to attack again, "—could it be?"

"……Now, no one is telling me where the wine glasses are." Anselm sighed, "Don't cause me trouble, Sitana."

"You—!"

"Ah, right, Earl Hardstone should know—Earl Hardstone, where did you put the wine glasses?"

Earl Hardstone, standing with other nobles in the corridor outside the conference room, was stunned for two seconds, then replied dryly, "In... the lower left cabinet."

"Heard that, Sitana?" Anselm walked towards the main seat at the long table in the conference room with the wine, "Get the wine glasses and come over."

"What the hell does a bodyguard have to do with finding your damn wine glasses?" Sitana fumed, delivering a furious kick to the wine cabinet, shattering several bottles in the process.

"Oh? Now you remember you're a bodyguard?" The young Hydra glanced back at her, "Since you knocked out the maid, it falls upon you to fulfill her duties."

Sitana widened her eyes, "Maid? Are you out of your mind? That woman was an assassin!"

Already seated at the main seat, Anselm seemed as leisurely as if he were still at a banquet, crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair: "I requested her to fetch the wine glasses, and she would have obliged. Her identity as an assassin or a maid is inconsequential to me."

"Also, Sitana, you're too far away from me."

The lazy young noble suddenly swung his cane, which transformed into a hand cannon with the melodious sound of mechanical functioning. Without so much as a glance, he aimed towards his upper side and pulled the trigger.

In the thunderous boom that made even Sitana flinch, two severed legs fell from the ceiling, which now had a large hole blasted into it.

After the explosion, there was a long silence.

In the silence, Anselm watched Sitana until she awkwardly shifted her gaze.

"I can tolerate your occasional whims, Sitana."

Anselm slowly spoke, his face suddenly devoid of the usual smile he always maintained. The pure, bone-chilling indifference and coldness seemed to take on a physical form, looking down on Sitana.

"But disobeying orders is an unforgivable mistake."

He declared this judgment with an expressionless face.

Sitana, being watched like this, instinctively felt a sense of guilt, but this guilt quickly became a catalyst for her anger. Everything that had happened tonight made her not want to continue following Anselm, so she decided to break the jar and scoffed, "Without me, you'd be dead ten times over. Screw your forgiveness... Do I even need it?"

"……Sitana."

Anselm sighed, "You are indeed a disappointment. Though I anticipated some level of disappointment, I did not foresee it reaching such depths."

"Aren't you curious as to why that archer ceased his attack and the whereabouts of the remaining assassins?"

Sitana was stunned, and after pulling herself out of the pleasure of venting her anger by beating up assassins and the irritation of being provoked by Anselm again, she realized... that the vivid hostility in the snowy night had completely disappeared.

"Savile doesn't want to entrust my safety to you." Anselm stood up and walked directly towards Sitana, or more precisely, towards the wine cabinet, "Although under my insistence, you still became my bodyguard. But as of just now, he has had enough of your absurdity and executed the remaining assassins."

The silver-gray-cloaked golden-haired boy brushed past the snow-haired girl in ordinary hunter's attire, crouched down, opened the cabinet door, and took out the wine glasses, saying calmly:

"I feel the same way—for you are incapable of even managing the simple task of retrieving wine glasses for me."

Anselm, having risen to his feet, poured the precious wine into a glass and gently swirled it, not even sparing a glance at the girl beside him.

"You can go now, Sitana," he said calmly.

"You can leave my mansion and return to your village."

Sitana was stunned for several seconds, then her face lit up with undisguised ecstasy.

"Seriously? You're for real? You ain't jerking me around, are you?"

"Hydra never lies," Anselm replied with a light smile as he sipped his wine.

"Well, you had to go about it this way, didn't you? You could've just told me sooner."

Sitana laughed heartily, hands on her hips: "I take back some of what I said, Hydra. Compared to those nobles, at least you're quite straightforward about letting people go."

"While your performance has been disappointing, it must be acknowledged that you have effectively neutralized several assassins on my behalf."

Anselm half-closed his eyes, savoring the lingering aroma in his mouth, and after a while, he said, "Tomorrow, Meryl will give you two hundred Imperial gold coins. You are free to select items of your liking within the city, and arrangements will be made to escort you home."

This time, Sitana was stunned for nearly ten seconds.

"How many gold coins?" After a long silence, she looked at Anselm in disbelief.

"Two hundred."

The snow-haired girl jumped up excitedly on the spot: "You're not yanking my chain, are you? That scholarship for the whatever-tower is just a thousand gold coins!  And I'm getting two hundred for taking out a bunch of trashy assassins tonight?"

"Hydra—"

"I know, Hydra never lies!"

Sitana, excited to the extreme, patted Anselm on the shoulder, rubbing her hands as she paced back and forth: "Hydra, um... Your Excellency!  You've got your issues, but you sure as hell know how to throw down some coins!"

She stopped after pacing for a while, glanced at the group of stunned nobles at the door, then looked at Anselm, and her tone finally carried a hint of "respect."

"Um, then, Your Excellency Hydra, can I... leave now?"

The girl observed Anselm's expression and quickly added, "It's not that I've got a problem with you noble folks, I just can't wait to rush off and tell Lena the good news."

Anselm shrugged: "Be my guest."

"Ahaha! Your Excellency Hydra, turns out you've got a decent bone in you!"

The snow-haired girl ran out joyfully, her cheerful whoops echoing far away, leaving the nobles in the corridor staring at each other.

They didn't know what this strange master and servant were discussing, only seeing the snow-haired girl suddenly become extremely happy and change her attitude, praising Hydra.

The elegant butler in a tailcoat appeared beside Anselm like a ghost.

"Young Master," Savile said gravely, "I do not approve—"

Anselm, sipping his wine, raised his hand, and Savile fell silent.

After finishing the glass of wine, Anselm slowly exhaled: "Is the soundproof barrier in place?"

"Please do not compare me to that insolent and incompetent girl, Young Master," Savile said, looking somewhat displeased, a rare display of emotion in front of Anselm.

"It seems you have a deep prejudice against her."

"No, it is you who are overly lenient with her, to an abnormal degree."

The old man spoke earnestly: "What this world lacks is not geniuses. If you need a genius who can track my movements, I can find one for you."

"Firstly, Savile, this world indeed does not lack geniuses, but there is a despair-inducing inevitability."

Anselm smiled with narrowed eyes: "Secondly... I am not that lenient."

"But you let her leave, even rewarded her, and erased any punishment."

"…Savile." The young Hydra sighed with concern, "Why have you also become so sluggish?"

These words made the loyal old butler panic, as he tried to figure out what he had misunderstood, but he couldn't understand it no matter how hard he thought.

"Ah, but this is not your fault, because you do not understand Sitana."

"…" Savile breathed a sigh of relief, "But… do you understand her?"

"Of course."

Anselm looked out the window, into the dark and deep snowy night, his two sea-blue eyes seemingly encompassing the entire night that enveloped the earth.

"No one understands her better than I do," whispered the one who aspired to devour fate.

Savile remained silent, knowing the peculiarity in Anselm's words, knowing what to ask and what not to ask, knowing how not to betray the trust that Anselm inadvertently revealed.

"To prove this, Savile, help me contact my father."

"…You want to contact Master?" Savile's face showed a hint of surprise.

"Yes, I need him to make something for me…"

Anselm's face showed the familiar smile that Savile recognized, the smile that all those who would face the judgment of Hydra would see.

The young Hydra, smiling cheerfully, said:

"For training a dog."

Author's Note:

Ps:

Started writing this afternoon, revised and edited until now. Wrote several versions with different directions but none satisfied me. Finally settled on this one, which, though plain, is more suitable for the subsequent development. Within two chapters, we'll quickly start it for the first time, preparing to give it a hard CPU!

⏴ Previous chapter 丨Main丨 Next chapter ⏵

🔮Discord