Book 5: Volume 4 Chapter 18, Attack on the Headquarters

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

 

“Watch out, arrows!”

 

“We’re indoors. Why are there arrows?!”

 

“I don’t know. Complaint to those shooting them!”

 

It was chaos.

 

The dark guild had believed its defenses were enough. Yet the Succubuses had slipped past those defenses with an ease. Now, the battle was happening in the building itself, in confined corridors and rooms that offered no space to retreat.

 

In the Capital, the Succubuses had drawn the entire organization into one place and wiped them out in a single coordinated sweep.

 

The enemy had learned from the Capital and had scattered, avoiding concentrating their forces..

 

But scattered or not, the dark guild was on high alert. Yet, the notion that five attackers could break through their defenses was something no one inside that building had considered possible.

 

The Succubuses from Amamiya Tower were, after all, exceptional fighters, chosen for exactly this kind of work. Ordinary thugs posed no threat.

 

From a short distance away, Peach watched.

 

“Hmm. I think it’s about time.”

 

She couldn’t see directly into the building, but she had been reading the situation from the outside.

 

“Shall we move?”

 

Iris, who had been observing beside her, asked quietly. Peach tilted her head slightly before answering.

 

“The way things are going… yeah, I believe it’s about time.”

 

It was a typically unhurried remark, but Iris had long stopped being misled by Peach’s relaxed mannerisms. She had noticed it during the attack on the base in the Capital. What Peach called instinct seemed to operate at a level beyond mere intuition.

 

The five currently inside were formidable. Iris doubted anyone could take them down. As for Peach herself, Iris still did not know how strong she was. Peach had not directly fought in front of her. But the woman who had fought in her place, who had introduced herself simply as Millie, made an impression that lingered.

 

Millie was standing beside Peach now, relaxed. To the casual observer it might have looked like she was stoning. But to someone like Iris, who has been trained, she was ready for anything.

 

Iris kept that in mind as she answered.

 

“I see. Then—”

 

“Yes. Let’s move.”

 

Peach turned away from the building and began walking.

 

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They reached the target building just as the door opened from inside.

 

The dark guild’s leader stepped out, flanked by two men. He did not see them coming.

 

“You did exactly what we expected. Thank you~”

 

The cheerful lilt in Peach’s voice made the leader and both his men stop and look over. Their expressions were still that of bewilderment.

 

Peach and Mitsuki were not in their usual attire. They had come dressed as ordinary women. Yet both were striking enough to draw attention. Iris too, kept pace beside them, did not really look out of place. So, none of them matched what a person expecting enemy agents would look like.

 

One of the two flanking men let a grin cross his face.

 

“Well, well. Looking for an escort, ladies?”

 

“Millie, if you would~”

 

“Of course.”

 

Peach gave the instruction lightly. Mitsuki answered in kind.

 

The man who had spoken collapsed.

 

“What—!?”

 

The second man reacted immediately, shifting into a defensive stance. It didn’t matter though. Mitsuki moved through his defense as though it weren’t there, and he followed the first man down.

 

The leader, reading the situation in an instant, had already begun to run,

 

He did not get far though,

 

Mitsuki caught him in a few strides, swept his legs, and brought him down.

 

He struggled. He was still struggling when Peach crouched down to his level, her expression patient and faintly tired.

 

“Alright, alright. You did well getting this far. If you could just hold still…”

 

She leaned slightly to one side as his free hand swung toward her.

 

“…Hmmm.”

 

She looked up at Mitsuki.

 

“Please.”

 

Mitsuki understood. One clean strike to the back of his neck, and the guild’s leader went still.

 

Peach stood up, brushing off her skirt, and turned to Iris.

 

“Can I leave the rest to you?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Iris nodded, and the question was already answered before she finished speaking. Taking the leader alive had been the plan from the beginning.

 

More agents quickly arrived in the dark. They bound all three men and lifted them.

 

No cart had been used. Carts made noise, after all. Carrying people on foot was quieter, and if anyone happened to notice from a distance, the shape of it could be mistaken for someone helping an unwell companion home.

 

And so, it ended: the dark guild’s rapid expansion through parts of the Smith Kingdom. All of it unraveled in a single night, with the capture of its leader.

 

That was the view from the outside. For those who had lived inside the matter, however, the story still had a little further to go.