TSSAH 18

Chapter 18.

Had I overestimated Killian Knox?

The moment I saw the name ‘Dupont Clanshire’ in the ledgers, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.

Knox’s darkest secret.

When I heard those words, a few things immediately came to mind.

Things I had learned during years of sparring with Knox’s intelligence division.

But honestly speaking, they all seemed trivial.

Too small in scale—for lack of a better word—to be something Killian Knox would hide using the word “darkest.”

So I’d pushed them aside early on and gone looking for new information, but…

‘Illegal operations do cost a lot of money, after all.’

The amount Dupont Clanshire had spent over a full eight years was truly staggering.

Split into eight pieces, it would match the annual budget of an average noble house. Bundled together as one lump, it was enough to buy a small territory on the outskirts of the Empire.

“Wait a minute.”

Was that really it?

They said he’d shut down all his illegal businesses and distributed the profits to trustworthy houses, but what if he’d actually funneled it all into some distant territory far away?

Did I need to look outside Knox Castle, not inside?

But I was bound to the action squad—I couldn’t freely leave the fortress.

There was no way Killian Knox didn’t know that.

“Could that be why he did it on purpose?”

Because if I couldn’t go outside, I’d have no choice but to fail the mission he’d given me?

A bastard like Killian Knox was more than capable of that.

Gritting my teeth—giving extra force as if my jaw, which he’d once grabbed, still throbbed—when—

“What?”

A tap on my shoulder snapped me out of the imagination I’d been spinning by myself.

I turned around and saw Senior Hartman’s burly face.

Ah, right.

I was on night shift duty right now.

“Yes?”

“You were just mumbling something.”

“Was I?”

“You definitely were muttering something, you.”

With that frown, it seemed Senior Hartman was in a bad mood.

Normally, even if a junior showed up drunk to work, he’d just smack them on the back of the head and let it slide.

‘Must have lost a ton of money gambling, huh?’

Senior Hartman, who always walked around with a carefree laugh and was considered the easiest target among the senior enforcers, had one fatal flaw—his abysmal gambling skills.

So bad that the juniors had nicknamed him “Sucker-man.”

If it seems like there’s no sucker at the gambling table, I’m the sucker.

Losing money every single day and not even realizing it.

Anyway, I quickly straightened my posture, stood at attention, and bowed my head.

“I must have been thinking out loud. My apologies.”

“You’re a strange one. Is it normal to be daydreaming while on duty? You’re out of it.”

Just as Senior Hartman was starting to vent his anger, Senior Jake, who’d caught on to the situation, hurried over from a distance.

“Oh dear, this rookie was on sick leave yesterday, sir. He still seems a bit out of it—please, Senior, be generous and cut him some slack.”

“You were sick? Where?”

His eyes scanned me from head to toe, clearly thinking, ‘You look fine now though?’

“It was a stomach ache, sir…”

“Ah, don’t even mention it! He was throwing up all night, both ends!”

Senior Jake chimed in with his signature exaggerated tone.

“I heard stomach bugs are going around the castle lately! You should be careful too, Senior!”

“What, an outbreak? You should have said something sooner, you brat!”

Senior Hartman snapped irritably and rubbed the hand that had touched my shoulder, as if it were dirty.

“Hey, bring me water and soap!”

He barked at one of the squad members loitering nearby, then all but growled at me.

“You’re not setting foot inside the guard post for this whole week, got it?”

“Yes, sir. I understand. Sorry, Senior.”

As he stomped off—probably to wash his hands—I mentally hurled a barrage of punches at his back.

Just the other day he’d called me a little hero.

What kind of hero effect wears off in three days?

“Hey, you didn’t hear Senior Hartman got cleaned out at the gambling table yesterday? Lost his whole paycheck. You know how cranky he gets when he loses money—why’d you have to set him off?”

“But I was on sick leave yesterday.”

“Oh, right. That’s true. Anyway, just be careful not to step on Senior Hartman’s toes for about a week, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

If I’m still alive by then, sure.

With an expiration date hanging over my head, a gambling-addict sucker senior didn’t even scare me anymore.

I turned to Senior Jake and the two seniors already sitting by the campfire—Senior Yeoncho and Senior Baldy—and said,

“Since I’m banned from the post, I’ll stay outside. You all go inside and get some rest.”

But the seniors shook their heads.

“Nah. It’s actually more comfortable out here…”

“Best to avoid Sucker-man who just lost his money.”

That made sense, so I gave a vague nod and plopped down on a log by the fire.

“Hey, rookie. When are you gonna treat us?”

“Why me?”

“You got your bonus pay, didn’t you?”

“Oh.”

I’d nearly forgotten, running around with my feet on fire.

My bonus pay.

“I haven’t heard anything about it yet, though.”

“Really? That’s strange. Knox is sloppy about a lot of things, but they’re always spot-on with money. Why the delay?”

“Must be a pretty hefty bonus, huh?”

Senior Hubert, a smoker, lit a cigarette and answered Senior Jake’s question for him.

“Something this delayed must be no small amount. Rookie, you’d better not be stingy once you get it, got it?”

“Sure. I’ll buy at Janik’s.”

“This brat! Peter’s is way better!”

“Looks like Rookie’s got expensive taste, just like me!”

Senior Baldy, Senior Bono, chimed in with an annoyingly smug comment, and soon the debate over “Knox Castle’s Best Restaurant” caught fire.

Here we go again, here we go.

“I’ll just buy at Helen’s, so can you all just—”

Rustle.

Something brushed against leaves.

It was a very faint sound, but the area around the guard post fell silent in an instant.

“That just now…”

“Shh.”

Senior Hubert silenced Senior Bono, who was about to say something, and stared straight ahead.

Toward the dense forest of tall trees.

Rustle.

The same sound tickled my ears once more.

‘Up in the tree.’

The source was on a branch near the campfire.

But it was clearly not the ordinary noise of leaves rustling in the wind.

Something was definitely moving beyond those leaves.

‘I didn’t even notice until it got this close?’

My body temperature spiked with tension.

Out of long-ingrained habit, my body raised its heart rate and entered combat readiness.

Then, I felt a finger poke my back.

I turned to see Senior Jake quietly gesturing with his eyes toward the tree where the sound had come from.

‘He wants me to check it out?’

At Senior Jake’s action—shoving the much younger rookie forward—I glanced at Senior Hubert, the most senior member present, but all I got back was a look that said, ‘Why aren’t you moving already?’

‘Traitors.’

Isn’t a senior supposed to step up at times like this?!

My teeth chattering at their hypocrisy, I quietly moved toward the tree.

‘No, this is actually better.’

An opponent skilled enough that even I hadn’t noticed their approach.

No matter how senior they were, the action squad members had nothing to do with combat training—if they charged in, they’d just lose their precious lives.

It was right for me to handle this.

Tap, tap.

I didn’t bother silencing my footsteps as I carefully walked toward the tree.

The enemy had already taken the high ground and was surely watching my approach from above.

After a few steps, I reached the optimal distance and wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the sword at my waist.

A sword I’d carried as an accessory ever since being assigned to the action squad, but had never once drawn.

Hoo.

I let out a low breath and put strength into my legs to leap onto the branch—

Flap flap flap flap!

Something absurdly small for an enemy burst through the leaves and flew up.

“A… a crow?”

I straightened my startled, stumbling body and looked again, but it was unmistakably a black crow already flying far into the distance.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Oh god, my stomach!”

“Did you see that?! Rookie went for his sword?!”

Those three senior bastards were rolling on the ground in hysterics.

These humans are insane!