The Young Lady Has Disappeared

While the outside is bright with sunlight, the alley wedged between building walls is always dark, as the sunlight from sunny areas doesn't reach it.

Of course, the difference in darkness between a back alley during the day and at night is like heaven and earth, but still, few would argue that it isn't dark during the day as well.

Even in these dark back alleys, there is of course a daily routine, and usually the same people pass through, but today was different.

A young woman neatly dressed in a maid uniform made of high-quality fabric, clearly difficult to find in back alleys, was walking through the alley with quick steps. Usually, people like this enter back alleys on errands for nobles, so there were almost no bold individuals who would bother them.

Yes. The word 'almost' was important.

No matter where you go, there are always bold individuals, and in spaces like back alleys where the law is thin, such people tend to overflow even more.

At least, being near the academy, the proportion of criminals committing serious crimes was relatively low. But to put it another way, this meant that even within the academy's domain, protected by all sorts of high-ranking individuals, there were people who committed serious crimes.

In such a place, a beautiful woman is walking alone without anyone to protect her. This also meant that she was sufficient to become their prey. This applied to Daedalus, a group that deals in drug trafficking in this back alley.

Unlike other groups, they worked under a high-ranking person who had entered the academy, and despite having committed quite bold acts so far, they had not been caught yet, perhaps thanks to the backing of those above. Because of this, they were in quite a haughty state.

A man watching the woman from a secluded spot in the back alley, Jeffrey, nudged the man next to him and pointed at the maid.

"Hey, Ralph."

Then the man who was tending to his dagger opened his mouth while looking at the dagger with indifferent eyes.

"What."

"Don't you think she'd fetch a pretty good price if we sold her? You have connections with the Maritime Kingdom, right?"

Only then did Ralph look at Jeffrey's fingertip. At that fingertip, a woman with long black hair, blood-red eyes fixed ahead, neatly dressed in a maid uniform, was passing by with quick steps.

"Black hair and red eyes... There should be quite a few gentlemen who would like such rare features."

Although they originally didn't deal in human trafficking, the beauty of the woman before their eyes was enough to break such rules.

"If we enjoy her a bit and then sell her, it could be quite profitable. We might even be able to leave this damned place."

"The maid uniform is a bit bothersome though. Asher, what do you think?"

At Jeffrey's question, Asher, the leader of Daedalus, quietly observes the woman. To be honest, if that person who turned Daedalus into a private organization agrees with the current plan, money isn't that urgent. But the embroidery on the woman's maid uniform was the problem.

The embroidery of the Fortus family. A servant of those called the empire's number two. If she was running errands near the academy, she was almost certainly a servant employed by the precious daughter of the Fortus family.

How could someone of mere back alley origins know this so well? It was because Asher was quite knowledgeable about information. Although not under his command, he had information groups that he controlled by holding their weaknesses, and to survive in this back alley, he held almost all information related to the academy.

That's why he held the leader position even in this Daedalus.

"It's the Fortus family."

"The Fortus family?"

"What? Really?"

"Yes. That thistle flower pattern. I'm certain."

"You can see that well. I can't see it."

Seeing Jeffrey squinting with his hand over his eyes, Ralph threw a word.

"Get glasses."

"Those are expensive. I don't have money for that."

"You don't have money because you spend it all on entertainment."

"What? You're the same, Ralph!"

"Enough. Let's try it anyway."

The eyes of the two men, who had thought it was off-limits because it was the Fortus family, widened.

"Aren't we touching something too big? Asher. The Fortus family is really dangerous!"

"It's fine. The Fortus family considers servants as consumables."

"Hmm. Well, alright. Has Asher ever put us in danger? Let's give it a try."

As Jeffrey prepared by gathering his tools, Ralph let out a deep sigh and sheathed the dagger he had been tending to. Behind the two, three or four members of the organization took their positions.

"Why are so many of us going to kidnap one woman?"

"You never know. Others might be targeting that woman too."

"Ah, is this a show of force?"

"Something like that."

Asher answered as he gripped his spear.

It was the spear he had used long ago in the army. Every time he held the spear, Asher felt a heaviness in one corner of his heart as he remembered those times. It seemed like just yesterday that he had thought he would dedicate his life to the country in the army, but now he was leading an organization to kidnap a single woman.

'Haah, how did my life come to this?'

Although Asher momentarily lamented his wretched fate, the past years wouldn't return just because of that.

Glancing at the organization members walking loosely ahead, Asher slowly approached the woman. But the woman's reaction was a bit strange. Usually, when such large men approach in a group, people regardless of age or gender show a terrified reaction, but this woman was just continuing on her way as if nothing was wrong.

"Hey, stop right there."

"...Are you talking to me?"

"Yes. You. Maid."

"What is the matter?"

Even though Ralph called out menacingly, the woman turned to look at them without losing her composure. Despite her expressionless face, she was terribly beautiful. Seeing her up close, Jeffrey's face brightened at the thought that they had caught an even bigger fish.

"You'll hurt less if you come quietly."

"...Hmm, is this a kidnapping?"

"That's right. Maid of the Fortus family. We're trying to kidnap you."

"That's troublesome. I have work entrusted to me by the young lady."

Ralph, exasperated by the maid speaking as if it would be fine if not for that, drew his dagger from its sheath. Still, the maid stared at them without even blinking. Then she quietly opened her mouth.

"What happens if I don't go quietly?"

"You'll be dragged along anyway, miss."

"...I see."

The maid who let out a sigh started to move for the first time. Moving nimbly as if she had received systematic training, the maid struck the vital point of the nearest organization member.

With an "Ugh" sound, the hit member collapsed. Asher's voice poured out to the organization members who were momentarily flustered by this sudden situation.

"What are you doing! Hit her!"

"Haah..."

The maid who let out a sigh started to move without rest. Before Asher's urging fell, the maid who had already taken down three organization members now rushed towards Ralph. Ralph swiftly swung his dagger.

Even so, she probably can't handle a weapon. It was then that Ralph's face, who had thought this, contorted.

With a clang! sound, daggers spring out from the maid's thighs. Simultaneously, the maid unhesitatingly stabs Ralph in the abdomen with a dagger.

"Gu, urgh-!"

"Ralph! Damn it!"

Jeffrey, gritting his teeth at his comrade's injury, leaps towards the maid. Just as the iron pipe in Jeffrey's hand was about to fall on the maid's back, the maid rolls forward, avoiding his attack. At the same time, she takes out daggers from her thigh again and throws them towards Jeffrey. The startled Jeffrey swings his iron pipe to deflect a couple of the daggers, but the rest of the daggers all lodged in his body.

"Aaaagh-!"

Since they were thrown, the injuries weren't life-threatening, but they were still wounds that would make it difficult to move for a while.

Ignoring him, the maid continued to knock out the organization members who were rushing at her.

"Damn it, everyone get back! I'll handle this."

Seeing the organization members gradually falling, Asher bit his lip and stepped to the front. The maid glanced at his spear and looked at him with her still expressionless face. The few drops of blood splattered on her expressionless face gave a sense of dangerous beauty, but Asher didn't have the luxury to admire that.

Asher, planting his spear on the ground, looks at the maid. He had never imagined he would use a spear in this back alley, let alone against a woman. But this maid's movements were reminiscent of those who had trained for decades.

As Asher, extremely tense, took a stance while gripping his spear, the maid also started to move quickly like a lion eyeing its prey.

And so, Asher and the maid clashed.