Chapter 5: A Troubling Rendezvous

“Xiluo’er, could you stretch out your arm for me?”

“Hmm…”

Xiluo’er obediently raised her arm, following the instruction. Eve gently applied the warm towel to her skin.

‘Hmm… the texture is quite nice,’ Eve mused silently.

Given their positions, Eve found herself in a prime spot, openly observing Xiluo’er’s body from a slightly elevated angle. It was a perfect vantage point to appreciate the ‘scenery,’ so to speak.

Regrettably, it seemed shyness held Xiluo’er back, as Eve noticed a certain stiffness in her posture.

In truth, Xiluo’er was acutely aware of Eve’s lingering gaze.

An assassin’s intuition made her exceptionally sensitive to being watched. Even with her back turned, Xiluo’er could distinctly feel Eve’s eyes tracing over her body again and again as she wiped, making her increasingly uneasy.

‘Why is she staring at me so intently?’ she wondered. ‘Could she have noticed something amiss?’

A ripple of worry passed through Xiluo’er.

As smooth fingers gently glided across her back, Xiluo’er heard Eve’s voice, laced with a hint of confusion, from behind her.

“Xiluo’er, your…”

Xiluo’er’s body immediately went rigid.

‘This is bad,’ she thought, ‘she couldn’t have actually discovered something, could she?’

“Those scars on your back…”

Fortunately, Eve had only noticed the marks of old wounds on Xiluo’er’s skin.

Indeed, Xiluo’er’s body bore numerous traces of past injuries.

Serving a cult as an assassin was hardly a simple endeavor; the brutal training alone was enough to severely tax one’s physical form.

Strangely enough, even after Freya had transformed her body into that of a girl, these scars had persisted.

Yet, the memories embedded in her mind had long since made Xiluo’er accustomed to their presence.

Thus, she simply replied, “It’s nothing; I’ve grown accustomed to them.”

‘Accustomed to it?’

Eve gently shook her head, a somber expression on her face.

To be so young and already habituated to wounds from conflict? This was truly…

“It’s alright,” Eve said, her voice softening. “At least with me, you won’t have to fear getting hurt again.”

Though she couldn’t fathom why Eve had uttered such an odd statement, Xiluo’er offered a helpless smile.

‘Please, big sister,’ she thought, ‘right now, you’re precisely who I fear the most! After all, this body’s original owner was ultimately slain by you!’

****

“Get some rest, Xiluo’er.”

“Alright, good night, Sister Eve.”

Xiluo’er nodded dutifully, then opened the door and stepped into the room Eve had prepared for her.

The Adventurers’ Guild maintained numerous vacant rooms for its members, and Eve had thoughtfully assigned Xiluo’er to the one directly adjacent to her own.

The wooden door softly clicked shut behind her, extinguishing the last sliver of light that had pierced the gloom. Shaking off her pretense, Xiluo’er released a profound sigh and sank down to squat beside the door.

‘Today has been utterly exhausting!’

Both her body and mind had been subjected to considerable strain from all directions.

With a weary shake of her head, Xiluo’er’s only desire was to collapse onto the bed and sleep soundly.

Yet, barely had she taken a single step into the room when her half-lidded eyes suddenly flew wide open.

‘Something is wrong with this room.’

Someone had clearly entered before her.

The room was shrouded in darkness, yet the neatly made bed, the bedside table, the wardrobe—everything appeared to be in order.

However, assassins possessed an acute sensitivity to their surroundings. Xiluo’er could detect a subtle, discordant presence within the otherwise simple and tidy room.

Her body instinctively melted into the shadows of the corner, and a short dagger materialized silently in her hand. The Xiluo’er of this moment was a stark contrast to the vulnerable, frightened girl she had appeared to be before Eve.

As she cautiously moved along the wall, Xiluo’er pondered who might have intruded.

It couldn’t be Eve; if her intent was hostile, there would be no need for such convoluted methods. Moreover, against Eve’s power, Xiluo’er knew she would be utterly defenseless.

Xiluo’er herself had only recently arrived in Kana City, specifically for the mission of getting close to Eve. Logically, she should have no enemies here…

Failing to deduce anything useful, Xiluo’er scanned the room once more, and then pinpointed the source of the anomaly.

Upon the otherwise clean and tidy bed, the neatly folded quilt bore distinctly unnatural creases.

Xiluo’er did not act rashly. Instead, she continued to move slowly along the wall, gradually drawing closer to the bed.

When only four or five steps separated her from the bed, Xiluo’er suddenly surged forward, a cold gleam flashing from the dagger in her hand as she lunged towards the folded quilt!

However, as she withdrew her hand from beneath the quilt, Xiluo’er’s face darkened.

‘Who in their right mind would idly stuff a tattered note into a neatly folded quilt?!’

After angrily scrutinizing the note in her hand, Xiluo’er’s expression suddenly froze.

The note bore writing!

[Tomorrow after 1 AM, Adventurers’ Guild backyard.]

It was a terse message, specifying a time and location much like a secret rendezvous.

Xiluo’er instantly understood; this note… it was meant for her.

‘Damn it! I’m a mole!’

All the issues she had suppressed after a day of exhaustion now flooded Xiluo’er’s mind.

She was an infiltrator, dispatched by the cult to get close to Eve. And this frontier city, Kana City, was known to have cult contacts.

The only problem was, she hadn’t actually met her contact yet.

It seemed they had come to establish contact, having learned of her successful approach to Eve.

‘Ugh… this is going to be troublesome.’

‘It’s not like I wanted to get close to Eve; *she* insisted on taking me in!’

If she’d had the choice, Xiluo’er would have scurried away the moment that carriage sent her flying.

Clasping her small head, Xiluo’er painfully crouched down.

‘Working for a cult? Absolutely not!’

Yet, she currently lacked the resources to betray the organization and openly defy the cult.

‘But what if… what if I’m assigned a mission that harms Eve?’

Xiluo’er felt like a small blade of grass, caught and buffeted by a raging storm.

Two distinct scenarios flashed through her mind: in one, she was forced to aid the cult, only to be discovered by Eve and subsequently hacked into eight pieces.

In the other, she refused the cult’s demands, and they, in turn, sent someone to hack her into eight pieces.

‘It’s a lose-lose situation!’

After a moment, Xiluo’er slowly rose to her feet, her breathing steadier.

Regardless, assisting the cult was out of the question; she still valued her life, after all!

However, she couldn’t allow the cult to discover that she had, well… ‘reformed.’ She would have to put on a convincing act for the contact.

For now, her plan was to cautiously meet this contact tomorrow and assess the situation.

‘What kind of internal affairs is this?’

Her mind, overwhelmed, refused to process any more problems. With a soft thump, Xiluo’er allowed her body to simply collapse onto the bed.

The comforting scent of the bedding filled her nostrils as she buried her head into the soft haven, nestling in.

‘Forget it,’ she thought. ‘When faced with trouble, just sleep!’