Chapter 27

"Who sent you?"

"I don't know."

Katarina resumed the interrogation of Robert and the other nameless individual as I healed the wounds the two of them suffered.

Katarina should be able to use healing magic too but apparently, she was bad at it and never bothered to improve because she said and I quote, "You're here, after all."

She could use it if push came to shove but it consumed more mana than she would like so she left healing the enemies to me.

Though I'm pretty sure that's a lie. She just isn't the type of person to leave her fate in the hands of others. Not even her closest friend.

"Whenever we receive a request, it always goes straight to the Reaper and he assigns it to the people most suited to it. We don't even know the faces of the other members so in the case of betrayal, nobody would be able to get information from us." Robert explained and I heard someone click their tongue.

Well, I could understand why it was frustrating. The Reaper operated lick a lizard; as soon as you grab it by it's tail, it cuts it off and runs away.

It was an effective method but there was one more question.

"How do you guys then receive orders?" Asked Katarina.

"Whenever something comes up, we receive a dream and when we wake up, a letter containing the missives appears next to us."

"I see." Indeed a foolproof method. Even if they were captured, there wouldn't even be any information to leak.

"Is there absolutely no way for you to contact him?" Katarina asked one last time and Robert shook his head.

And froze in the motion.

We didn't miss this and both of us asked simultaneously, 

"What is it?"

...

"Is everything ready?" I asked as I looked at the dummy who resembled me to an alarming degree.

According to Katarina, it was the magic of a boy she met in the capital. It allowed her to create life-like clones that could even store mana and life force.

According to Robert, the only time he met the Reaper face-to-face was when he was invited to join the organisation.

The only time they could reach home was when they completed a mission and even then, a letter would appear and they would write a report.

That was the only time he would reveal himself.

Our plan was for Robert to recommend us after reporting Katarina in as captured alive.

For safety's sake, Katarina was going as herself while I would send in a dummy.

Apparently, the client said for Katarina to be taken alive which meant it was only I who was in danger.

"I don't know who this Reaper guy is, but chances are that he's stronger than me. In spell casting at least." Katarina walked over to me and produced a small bracelet with small beads. 

I noticed numerous markings that shone with mana and instantly, I knew what it was.

"It's a onetime teleportation spell that has all the spells I could think of programmed into it. No matter how strong this person is, it should at least be able to bring you to me." For a moment there, I almost considered not making her go but stopped myself.

There was a decision I made to myself and that was that no matter what decision Katarina made, I would be there to support her.

Because that's what friends do.

"When I get back..." I looked at Katarina as she started speaking.

"... Let's get married."

"Okay, she's ready." I called out to Robert and ignored the girl who was grinding her foot in mine.

It wasn't like it really hurt anyways.

"Ignoring a maiden's proposal like that. How cruel can you be?" Katarina pressed a finger to her body and numerous wounds opened up and she collapsed against the floor.

"If you actually did it for love, I may have thought about it for five seconds. And then declined." I said as I walked out of the room.

"Five seconds is a little too small but I'll take it." She closed her eyes and I sensed her life force weaken to a barely acceptable level and I vanished into the city.

...

Robert looked at his new liege in front of him and sighed.

Even though she brainwashed him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship and obedience mixed with reverence towards her.

But still...

"There's no way she can stand against him." 

Robert had only met the man, if that was even his gender once and that was enough to keep him living in his shadow for the rest of his time up till now.

"I admit you're strong. But not enough to reach him. Which is why..." Robert thought to the white haired boy his liege was with.

He could sense nothing from the boy.

Not strength, not weakness. Just answer empty blank in his danger perception.

And itt was that mysteriousness, similar to the Reaper's, that gave him hope that she would survive.

"The rest is up to me." Robert took in a deep breath and began to betray his former master.

"Mission completed." As soon as he muttered those words, a letter appeared out of thin aur and fluttered to the ground.

'That proves theory number one.'

Earlier, Katarina came up with multiple theories and scenarios.

The first was that the Reaper didn't directly monitor his subordinates.

According to Katarina, constantly monitoring hundreds of people year round would place too much of a strain on a person's mind and even if he or she is able to endure it, there's only so much attention a person can have.

So it's likely that the Reaper uses an automatic type magic or tool to monitor them.

If a letter appeared, then it meant it was correct. And if it didn't, they would have to find another way.

"Time to begin step number two."