Adventure 13 ─ The Golden Cat

A few hours away by carriage is a certain town called Sekt, in that town is a bar called Zektor.

In that sleazy bar scum gather, from drug dealer to thieves.

All of them charged by commission, that is to say they were workers who get their hands dirty.

To that place went two hooded men, it was the rule to hide your identity.

"Marquis, are you sure about coming to this place?"

Lambton asked Marquis Atley.

"Shut your mouth and follow me."

To come to this place one must pay a large sum just to enter, and moreover one must come at night.

The marquis asked for a certain person from the bartender who pointed to the second floor in a dark area.

The marquis and Lambton went up there and a voice from the darkness spoke to them.

"Who the hell are you?"

It was a female voice, but with a butch tone.

The marquis did not want to show fear, showing fear with these people would be the end of him because they could extort him.

"I want to hire your services, you're her aren't you?"

"The Golden Cat, the best assassin in the world."

"That's right."

The voice came from behind him.

A hooded woman walked in that darkness and then lit a candle on a table.

"Sit down. Normally my fare is very expensive, do you think you can afford it?"

"Of course I can. I'm a very powerful man."

"How nice. I love money."

The marquis realized he ruined it by presenting himself as a man of great status.

He sat down at the same table as her, on that table was already a plate of raw fish and a glass of milk.

The girl took the fish and devoured it in one bite.

"I'm listening."

"I have a problem with a certain person. I want you to eliminate him as soon as possible."

"I need you to detail down to the hairs on his ass if necessary so I know he's the right person. There are many windbags like your friend who give me bad information to mislead me and take care of me like a trap."

"How dare you insult me!"

"Shut up."

Said the marquis to an angry Lambton.

"All right, I'll tell you everything I know."

The marquis told her everything he knew.

"Understood. Being a castle where I must infiltrate, the fare will go up twice as much."

"This is what you must pay now and this you will pay tomorrow."

She handed him a napkin where the value of the job was.

"This is impossible!"

"My lord, the number of zeros is something even you can't afford!"

"Puah!"

The marquis punched Lambton in the stomach who fainted from the pain.

"Can't you take it down a notch? At least one zero."

"Would you like that guy to survive perhaps?"

"Fine, I'll pay half now."

(I'm going to go into a lot of debt with this, but it's all for my future.)

The marquis pulled out a body bag with white gold coin.

Her eyes sparkled at the girl who introduced herself at last.

"It is a pleasure to work with you, Marquis. My name is Estelle and I hope to count on you in the future, remember that talking about this with someone else is damaging to yourself."

"I know. Just don't delay."

"Hey you, get off your ass, we're leaving now."

Estelle counted the money with a cheek to cheek smile.

"Castles are easy for someone like me."

A golden tail emerged from her clothing and she grabbed one of the fish.

Threw it into the air and as it fell, she lifted her head, revealing her cat ears.

"I love snooty nobles. They always pay for everything I say, hehehe."

"Let's get to work."

Estelle got ready to work right away.

◇◇◇

After such a busy day, Lion went straight to sleep.

Elysium went to the ship to rest as she felt comfortable there she commented.

Along with him went Alice and Louise to sleep.

The three were sleeping peacefully in bed.

When suddenly a window connecting to the balcony opened.

Like a crawling animal, a person was climbing up the walls until he reached the balcony, hiding in the darkness.

Slowly she went to the door and noiselessly opened it.

Like a spider she climbed up the ceiling until she was on top of Lion.

"I'm sorry, I have nothing against you. But die for my sake."

She pulled out a ball of worsted and slowly unraveled it until it reached about a foot to his mouth.

People when they sleep keep their mouth open in case their nose gets blocked by something, they do it unconsciously.

Estelle spread a strange yellowish liquid that slowly trickled down the worsted rope until it reached the tip.

Small droplets fell into Lion's mouth.

It lasted exactly one minute this until all the liquid fell inside him.

"Mmm..."

Lion seemed to chew something, he was placidly swallowing the poison.

"The poison you drank is made with honey. That's why no one spits it out, it's so tasty that in two hours your internal organs will be paralyzed."

"Your digestive system won't be able to warn you about it because it will be destroyed."

"You went to bed thinking about tomorrow, it's a pity you won't see it."

◇◇◇

*Vomit*

"Bleh!"

The next morning, Lion woke up with such severe stomach pain that he began to vomit black liquid with a little blood in it.

Estelle had returned to charge the marquis personally because she distrusted him.

But as she skipped past between the towers of the castle, she noticed Lion vomiting on the balcony.

"Lion-sama hold on!"

"Uwaah, did you eat something horrible yesterday by any chance?"

"Ohhh this pain is worse than having diarrhea! I feel like I'll lose weight doing this!"

"Bleh!"

"Gross!"

Estelle couldn't believe her eyes, she quickly retreated, because she didn't think the poison she had used so many times would fail.

Hours passed and the marquis arrived at the same time as yesterday.

"You totally failed!"

Estelle was ignoring him, she couldn't believe what he was saying.

But she certainly wouldn't be surprised if he was alive.

It was over eight hours later and he should be a corpse in that bed and he was alive, complaining of stomach pain but alive.

"I'm not paying you anything for failing! Give me back my money!"

"...!"

Estelle reacted with concern at the word payback.

For an assassin like her to grant a refund meant failure.

But there was something worse than that, a stain on her history.

She wouldn't allow it now that she came to her senses.

"No need. I'll complete the job this time, just for this little mistake you can forget about 5% of the final payment."

"Grrr. It had better be like that this time."

The marquis left and Estelle crossed her fingers as her tail wagged violently.

"You're fucking me... aren't you?"

◇◇◇

Later that night, Estelle infiltrated his room again.

Lion was alone sleeping.

She crouched down and reached under the bed, coming out from the left side where the moonlight didn't reach her.

She pulled from her pocket a jar and inside was a black spider.

"This time I won't miss."

"This little spider is feared the world over for its bite."

"A single bite from this little one kills instantly."

"I will not fail again."

Estelle brought the spider close to Lion's arm and made it bite into his bloodstream.

"Guh."

Lion made a small pained expression as Estelle gave him some final words.

"This spider's bite means its fangs get stuck in its victim, which is why it's endangered."

"I don't like to use them, but this is a special case."

"I don't know how you survived, but you won't again."

She pulled out a cream and spread it over the affected area.

"When they find you in the morning they'll think you had a cardiac arrest in your sleep."

She said as she checked Lion's pulse which he no longer had.

"Farewell, sleep forever."

She left the place quietly as she entered.

However, someone watched as a black figure crossed the starry sky.

◇◇◇

The next morning that day.

"My head hurts, I don't remember drinking alcohol, do I?"

The marquis went to check on Lion using the excuse of bringing documents to the palace.

He couldn't believe it.

(He's still alive.)

Lion was walking almost like a zombie through the corridors of the palace.

"My arm hurts, a little exercise should get me back to normal."

Of course he went running to the same bar at the same time.

"Stop playing with me!"

The marquis was very angry with her.

Estelle was trembling.

She didn't mistrust what the Marquis told her because she checked out Lion training recently herself.

(This is not possible. This is not good.)

(That's twice now that I've failed.)

(My neck is on the chopping block right now.)

The assassin's guild, "Laplace Box" is an organization focused on eliminating political enemies from all over the globe.

It doesn't matter where they are or who they are.

They will take care of eliminating the political enemies of their clients.

Within the organization there are rules that must not be broken.

Like the fact that clients cannot sell their information to each other.

They cannot take more than two jobs.

There are many rules, but the main rule will always be this.

When a commission fails to be fulfilled, it will be a stain of shame for that assassin.

But that there are two stains of shame will be the last chance.

If he fails a third time... its head will roll.

Many have gone so far as to achieve one stain, but no one wants two stains.

Because the fear of getting the third will be fatal.

Estelle is afraid of achieving that third failure.

"My, my, I never expected this from you, Estelle."

"Same here."

"Alberion, Gelmud."

Two hooded men arrive behind her without the marquis being aware of their presence until they speak.

One of them is Alberion, of stocky appearance and dreadlocks.

The other is Gelmud who has scars on his face.

His companions informed the marquis.

"We regret your discomfort, marquis-sama."

"Let us take care of this problem for you."

"That's right, after all, if she fails we will simply take care of both of you hahaha."

Estelle looked at her companions with hatred.

They always looked down on her for being of a race known as beastmen.

Estelle had no choice but to take this path.

It was the only one she could forge in her life.

"Come on."

She stood up and motioned for her future executioners to come with her.

"I will not fail again."

She did not want to die, to achieve her wish.

◇◇◇

Night fell again, the three of them infiltrated the palace and arrived by different paths to Lion's bedchamber.

Again there was no one there but him.

He was sleeping peacefully.

Estelle commented.

"Watch what I will do."

She walked slowly up to him and pulled out a small long blade which she plunged into his heart.

"It will leave a mark, but now if it's impossible for you to survive."

"That hurts damn it."

"...!"

The three were shocked to hear the victim's voice still alive.

Estelle was trembling.

She couldn't believe he was still alive.

She recoiled in fright as Lion stood up.

She opened her eyes and the first thing he did was remove the knife from his chest.

"I hate being stabbed."

As he removed the knife, a lot of blood came out and then the wound closed on its own.

He looked at his enemies.

"I want to know who the hell you people are."

He stood up at the same time as Estelle collapsed.

"I get why that marquis wanted to take him out. Haha, I can't believe a monster in human form is my target."

"I'm doomed."

Alberion was angry at Lion, this was his chance to kill Estelle who always embarrassed him and was the reason he got a stain on his record.

"Who cares if he saw us! Change of plans, Gelmud take care of him, I'll take care of her!"

"Ok."

Gelmud jumped straight at Lion to attack him from behind after creating a residual image going around the front.

It was his special ability, paranoid illusion.

How to know which of the two was real?

How to know they weren't both illusions?

It was his specialty.

Alberion grabbed Estelle by the neck.

"This is the end of you little pest. You will pay for all your humiliations."

"A half-beast scum like you shouldn't get in the way of humans."

"I agree with that."

Said a new mysterious voice.

Entering the room, Eliza brought a rifle in her hands.

"If it wasn't for the master asking me to test him for any disease, I wouldn't have detected that they tried to poison him more than once."

"Yesterday's figure was you, wasn't it?"

Alberion let go of Estelle and pulled out a sword that was hidden in his arm.

Hiding weapons on his body was his specialty.

"Die you fucking bitch!"

"Master, I ask permission to stain your room."

"Do it no problem at all."

Lion said after smashing Gelmud's head on the floor who died instantly.

"Order accepted."

Eliza aimed her rifle and a light blue light was fired from the muzzle into Alberion's head, shattering it completely.

Seeing how her companions who was not weak were easily killed, Estelle took the only way to survive.

"Noooooooooooo!"

She fled like a coward.

She opened the door and jumped out the window.

"I won't let you."

Eliza aimed her rifle at Estelle and without hesitation shot her.

"..."

Estelle observed how beautiful the crescent moon was today.

"It's just like that time."

She said as she fell to the ground.

________________

The fanservice is Estelle's, that's what she looks like in general, but I won't use her design because it's for another novel coming in the future.

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/109461821

Alberion

https://www.anime-planet.com/characters/ohmori-i-got-a-cheat-skill-in-another-world-and-became-unrivaled-in-the-real-world-too

Gelmud

https://www.anime-planet.com/characters/araki-takeshi