"Guh, ghh, ggg..."
His body crushed beneath the iron ball dropped from high above, spears driven through his limbs and torso, Resonance was completely immobilized. All he could do was groan.
Given that he could barely move at all anymore, his inability to feel pain was probably useless to him now.
(Then again, considering the pain isn't stopping him from talking, it's not exactly useless either.)
Descending from the sky, Rei engaged his Sleipnir boots midway to slow his fall and touched down on the surface below.
The fact that barely any sand shifted despite landing on desert showed just how little impact Rei had generated.
"...Now then."
He glanced at the nearly incapacitated Resonance and, as a precaution, drew Death Scythe from his Misty Ring.
A quick look around confirmed that the assassins who had been attacking Set, Zarust, and Narcus were already gone.
No — more accurately, none of them were still standing.
Most had collapsed on the sand, either dead or unable to move.
Since their opponents couldn't feel pain, stopping them had required either physically immobilizing them or taking their lives outright.
The assassins of the People of the Hundred Faces retained their self-awareness and decision-making ability even without the sensation of pain, making the task of stopping them far more difficult.
(The one who attacked Daridora didn't feel pain either, same as these guys, but I heard he was practically berserk — completely lost all sense of self. I wonder what accounts for that difference.)
The question crossed his mind briefly, but deciding there were more pressing matters, Rei turned his attention back to Resonance.
As he approached, Resonance — though unable to move — seemed to have confirmed Rei's presence.
Even with most of his body crushed, he smiled and spoke.
"Hah hah hah... Splendid. I never imagined you'd use my own weapon against me."
With spears piercing his body and an iron ball crushing him, it was hard to believe he could address Rei in such a manner.
"You already knew I had an Item Box, right? You saw me take out Death Scythe too."
"Umu. But the thought that you'd actually do something like this... I confess I didn't fully believe it. I'll concede — it's my loss. I can't move to check on everyone, but I hear no sounds of fighting. It's our complete defeat, isn't it?"
His eyes swept the surroundings — within the limited range Resonance could currently see — as he posed the question to Rei.
"Yeah. From what I can tell, some are still alive... but a lot of them are dead."
"Fumu, I see... Well, it can't be helped. We were people who lived in the shadows to begin with. We always expected an end like this would come."
True to his words, Resonance harbored no grudge against Rei despite having his comrades killed.
Rei found that puzzling as well. He spoke with evident surprise.
"Your comrades were killed, and you don't resent me... us?"
Strictly speaking, it wasn't Rei who had killed Resonance's comrades, but since Set had lent a hand, he couldn't simply ignore that fact.
It was an insensitive question to pose to someone whose allies had just been killed, but Resonance said nothing and turned his gaze to the moon floating in the night sky.
Several tens of seconds passed. Then, as if timing it to the moment Set, Zarust, and Narcus approached, Resonance spoke again.
"As I said earlier, we are not the kind of people who can live with our heads held high. That's precisely why we never expected to end our lives in peace."
"...Even so, I'd think you'd feel something when your comrades die."
"You're right — normally, that would be the case. But... for us, it's different. Fumu, I suppose so. I made a promise, so I should explain everything properly."
Surprisingly honorable, Rei thought. But if the other party was willing to share information, he had no complaints.
He settled into a listening posture, and the approaching Zarust and Narcus did the same.
Only Set remained focused on the surroundings, watching for monsters — particularly any that might be drawn by the scent of blood in the night desert.
"Now then, where to begin... Let's start with what you all wanted to know — why we targeted Daridora and Augusto. That interests you more, doesn't it?"
"I already know Tira Trees are involved somehow. What I can't help wondering is why you were so relentless about it."
When Rei asked about what he had deduced earlier, Resonance flashed an amused smile.
...Even accounting for his inability to feel pain, it was hard to believe half his body was crushed, given that smile.
"You're right. The tree you call the Tira Tree is indeed involved."
Resonance admitted the connection without hesitation.
However, since Rei had already spoken the words "Tira Tree" during their earlier battle, Resonance had likely judged there was no point in concealing anything now.
"So how exactly are Tira Trees involved?"
"Fumu. As I said before, we lived as assassins because of the Tira Trees. Our ancestors, originally a nomadic people, discovered the Tira Trees... and by using our clan's blood to perform a special processing of those trees, they were able to create a certain drug."
A drug. Upon hearing that word, Rei — no, not just Rei, but Zarust and Narcus as well — immediately understood what kind of effect it must have.
"A drug that eliminates the sensation of pain."
At the words that slipped from Rei's mouth, Resonance nodded readily.
"Umu, that's right. Of course, given such an effect, it's not without side effects. Continued use produces various side effects, depending on the individual. In any case, with that drug... and with the technique passed down through our clan that allows us to disguise ourselves as anyone, we were able to operate as assassins."
"Disguise as anyone... In other words, peeling off facial skin is also a technique passed down through your clan?"
At Rei's confirming question, Resonance nodded without hesitation.
Rei had assumed that since it was a secret technique, Resonance might try to conceal it... but then he remembered Resonance's promise to explain everything, and it made sense.
"That's right. When this technique first came to be passed down is already lost to us. But it is precisely because of this technique that we were able to flourish as assassins... no, were able to is the more accurate phrasing now."
Of those who had been in the village, nearly all the combat-capable ones were already dead, and Resonance himself — who led the active assassins — was in no state to survive.
In other words, the only survivors were the non-combatants remaining in the village... and a handful of individuals currently away on assignments in other towns, villages, or countries.
With their numbers reduced this far, maintaining the clan would be all but impossible.
And as for the village survivors...
(Besides, the artifact was also destroyed in that earlier strike... Regardless of the clan's situation, it's probably impossible to keep living here from now on.)
This location, with its small oasis, had been an undeniable safe haven for their clan.
They had covered it with a barrier generated by a hereditary artifact, but that artifact had been destroyed.
With that gone, there was nothing to be done.
"In any case, we couldn't allow research on Tira Trees — the raw material for our drug — to advance, nor could we allow Tira Trees growing in the desert to be taken away for planting around the city."
"...In that case, why target Augusto?"
"We knew that person had previously researched Tira Trees... That's exactly why we went after him."
"In other words, you targeted anyone who had researched or was researching Tira Trees, almost unconditionally?"
"Umu. To put it bluntly, we couldn't allow more people to learn our secret. I don't think anyone could create the drug we use just from doing modest research on Tira Trees. After all, producing it requires our blood. But... when someone realizes that, what do you think would happen?"
Hearing that, Rei more or less understood.
In other words, someone might even hunt down Resonance's clan to obtain the blood needed to produce the drug.
But even hearing that, Rei tilted his head.
The possibility Resonance described was real enough.
A drug that eliminated the sensation of pain would be useful in all sorts of ways.
Beyond combat, it could potentially even serve as an anesthetic.
Rei couldn't think of every application, but there were surely many others.
"And also..."
Rei had been deep in thought, but the words from Resonance's mouth drew his attention back.
"And? There's more?"
"Umu... How should I put this. When you do this kind of work, mental fatigue inevitably builds up. After all, it's a job where failure means you almost certainly don't come back alive."
Assassins, as far as Rei could imagine, existed in a genuinely harsh environment.
Even the slightest lapse in concentration meant paying the price with your own life.
(Thinking about it that way, adventurers have it pretty good. When we're not working, we don't have to stay on edge nearly as much.)
Reflecting on the gap between his own circumstances and those of assassins — people who lived in the shadows — Rei felt a deep sympathy for Resonance's words.
"In other words, you were already planning to quit being assassins in the near future?"
"I wonder... If it were just me, that might have been fine. But considering the others, it wasn't so simple a decision to make. Anyway..."
Reaching that point, Resonance suddenly pressed a hand to his mouth as if suppressing something, but unable to hold back, he broke into a violent coughing fit.
It was a cough that seemed as though he were spitting out his very life.
Blood overflowed from his mouth along with the coughing — undoubtedly the result of the spears piercing his body and, above all, the iron ball dropped from the sky.
(If I'd used the Thorn Spear to pin him before the iron ball... the damage would have been less since it would've only taken one spear... but that wouldn't have worked.)
Dropping the iron ball from above would naturally cause significant damage to the spears impaling Resonance.
In fact, several spears had already snapped from the iron ball's impact. If he had carelessly used the Thorn Spear, there was a very real danger the shaft would have broken halfway through.
If he broke the Thorn Spear — a gift from Marina — over something like this, the consequences upon returning to Gilm would be dire.
"We understand what you've said, but why didn't you attack the lord despite attacking Lord Daridora and Augusto-san?"
Suddenly, Narcus — who had been listening to the exchange between Rei and Resonance — asked the question.
If researching Tira Trees was something this clan couldn't tolerate, then Lyubrand, who had accepted Daridora's proposal regarding Tira Trees and ordered the research to proceed, should have been targeted as well. Wasn't that a reasonable suspicion?
Narcus wasn't the only one with that question — Zarust felt the same. Both directed questioning gazes at Resonance, who was literally coughing up blood.
"Cough... You're right. Ideally, that's what we should have done. But... how should I put this... if we killed that man, given that his son is still young, the lord of Gauche would become someone else."
"...Well, it would probably be something like a Local Deputy, I'd imagine."
Rei's murmured words drew a nod from Resonance, who continued speaking without caring that the blood flowing from his mouth was dripping onto the sand.
"Umu. And as a Local Deputy, it's highly likely that a competent person would be sent."
At that point, all three of them understood why Resonance and his people hadn't killed Lyubrand.
Only Set, who had no interest in understanding — or even attempting to — let the conversation wash over him, remaining vigilant about the surroundings.
"So he wasn't incompetent, exactly... He was spared because he wasn't competent. I never would have guessed that."
At Rei's murmured words, Zarust and Narcus nodded.
"...Well now, it seems my time has come as well... Everyone, let's meet again on the other side."
He murmured those words, and by the time Rei and the others turned their gazes toward Resonance with a questioning "Eh?", his life had already ended.