Two people appeared before Rei. Seeing the duo of the man and woman, Rei had an expression of surprise under his hood.

He recognised the two of them as workers at a food stall he had eaten from not long ago.

The two of them had left a strong impression on Rei, partly because the skewers he had bought from them had been very delicious.

It surprised him a fair bit to see the two of them here and now.

However, the surprise on his face was only fleeting.

Rei readied his Death Scythe. Having come straight to the alley where Rei was, it couldn’t be a coincidence for two unrelated people to show up now.

That said, the reason he didn’t attack immediately was because the two of them didn’t appear to have any weapons at the ready.

「……Could you please lower your weapon? We have no intention of antagonising you.」

Right now at least. With those thoughts in mind, Mulla spoke in pacifying tone. However, Rei didn’t lower his weapon and instead started to observe the other party carefully.

The two of them seemed to understand Rei’s attitude from his actions. Sistoi raised his hands to show that he had no hostility.

As if copying Sistoi, Mulla also raised her hands.

「I don’t know if you’ll belive us if we say it here, but we really don’t have any intention of antagonising you. Would you be willing to negotiate peacefully?」

「Judging from the timing of your appearance, no matter how I look at it, you’re definitely someone related to the children who attacked me, right?」

「Indeed. We won’t deny that.」

At this point, the two of them judged that Rei wouldn’t believe them anyway if they continued to hide their identities. Mulla didn’t deny Rei’s words as she admitted it.

The same was true for Sistoi, who was standing behind Mulla. While his hands were raised, he stayed alert as he watched Rei’s every move.

If anything were to happen, he would leave the place immediately with Mulla in tow.

He didn’t think he could beat Rei in a full on fight. However, he should still be able to buy enough time to escape. There was a part of him that believed the children wouldn’t die, even if he chose to abandon them. With those thoughts in mind, Sistoi kept his nerve.

However, because of his attitude, Rei could point that out.

「That man over there seems quite nervous?」

「……I guess it’s only natural since we’re showing ourselves in front of someone as skilled as you.」

「Is that so? ……Well, I’ll leave it at that.」

Rei, who wasn’t familiar with the methods of assassins and thugs, nodded without any seeming suspicion.

Still, he could tell that the two people in front of him were much stronger than other adventurers. Holding onto the Death Scythe, Rei kept his eye on the two, never letting his guard down.

To be honest, the development was unexpected, but also something he had hoped for.

There were only four battles left before Noise. However, in his current state, he didn’t think he could win.

Because of that, the more fights he could have with powerful enemies, the better.

One day of real battle would be better than several days of training.

Besides, the fact remained that the man and woman in front of him were also targeting him. In other words, if he didn’t take them out now, they might be attacked again later.

As if reading Rei’s thoughts, Mulla’s expression hardened with tension.

At the same time, Sistoi, who had both hands raised, lowered his hands as he stepped forward to protect Mulla.

「Sistoi.」

Mulla’s voice carried concern as Sistoi spoke while keeping his eyes on Rei.

「I know you’re looking to fight with someone. I’ll be your partner, so could you spare the women and children?」

Hearing those words, Rei looked at Mulla.

He seemed to be looking for something. Rei’s gaze wasn’t a lewd one, but rather an attempt to gauge his opponent’s ability.

(Judging from the way she moves her body, she probably doesn’t fight in the vanguard but rather as a support from the rear.)

The clothes she wore had long sleeves, which wasn’t strange considering the autumn weather.

However, the main reason for wearing long sleeves would be to hide the movement of the muscles in their arms from other people.

Those with a certain level of skill could predict what their opponent would do just from that.

「Okay, fine. I accept your proposal.」

「I see. Then, let’s move somewhere else.」

「No, we’ll fight here.」

As Sistoi requested to change location, Rei immediately denied his request as he shifted the Death Scythe.

Sistoi clicked his tongue.

That was because Sistoi had been planning to run away as he led the flow of conversation. Keeping a sufficient distance, he would vanish into the crowd.

That was right, he had no intention of fighting Rei at all.

His intuition, from his many years in this line of work, told him that he stood no chance of winning if he tried to fight Rei right now.

That was why he had wanted to trick Rei, but……did Rei see through him? Or did he simply not want to waste time?

Regardless, he no longer had an avenue to retreat.

Having made up his mind, Sistoi reached for the sheath at his waist as he grasped the hilt of his long sword.

「Sistoi!?」

「Mulla, please.」

Sistoi spoke to his partner, who had almost called out in a scream.

His brief response held two meanings.

One was to take care of the children, the second was to leave things to him.

Since she understood how sharp Sistoi’s instincts were, Mulla had nothing to say in response.

Sistoi since had said that, it meant that there wasn’t a better option.

「Wait a moment. If we’re going to fight here, wouldn’t the children be a nuisance? Let us move them to the side first.」

「……Fine. Do what you want.」

Indeed, as Sistoi said, if they were to fight here, the unconscious children on the ground would only be a hindrance.

If Rei were to step on them and injure or even kill them by accident, his hard work to only knock them out would have gone to waste.

「Mulla.」

「Yes.」

At Rei’s words, Mulla and Sistoi hurried moved the unconscious children to the side.

Their work was done in less than a few minutes as Sistoi and Rei turned to face each other before Mulla.

Of course, Mulla wasn’t planning to let Sistoi fight alone like this. If she had the chance, she would intervene in the battle, maybe even killing Rei if things went well……if not, she could still assist in escaping the area.

A tense atmosphere filled the back alley.

「Whew-!」

With a sharp exhale that sounded like a whistle, Sistoi stepped forward.

The long sword in his hand was already unsheathed as he thrust it sharply towards Rei.

It wasn’t a swing, but a thrust. It was an attack purely to make it hard for Rei to see through.

Between slashes and and thrusts, the former was by far easier to avoid.

However……

「Naive.」

With those words, Rei flicked away the tip of the long sword with the Death Scythe, as if catching it……

「-!?」

The moment Rei tried to drag it away, the long sword quickly returned to Sistoi’s hands.

(The speed of his thrust is only slightly slower than Rhodes. However, the speed of the pull back is several steps faster than Rhodes.)

The attack at the same level of power as Rhodes, but since Sistoi’s pull back was faster, Sistoi could be considered stronger, albeit only slightly.

That was the judgement Rei had.

He used the Death Scythe to continue deflecting thrusts that came out one after the other.

They weren’t slashing attacks, so it couldn’t be helped that Rei’s parrying technique, which he had been praticing for a while, was harder to use in this situation.

Eveen so, as he continued to flick his opponent’s weapon away……it showed no signs of damage at all.

(I see, it might have been natural to consider, but it’s a magic weapon. He has a good weapon for someone running a skewer stall.)

To be exact, he was an assassin from Requiem’s Toll, but Rei seemed to hold a greater impression of Sistoi as a food stall owner.

In any case, there was no point continuing to defend as things were, he decided to send Sistoi’s weapon flying on his next attack. As Rei thought of that, Sistoi suddenly stopped his attacks as he took a large leap backwards, opening the distance between him and Rei.

(Is he short on breath?)

Rei felt that it was possible, considering his earlier stream of attacks.

In fact, Sistoi’s face had gone red as he distanced himself from Rei.

However……contrary to Rei’s thoughts, the redness on Sistoi’s face wasn’t due to a lack of oxygen. Rather, he was gasping as he felt a chill run down his spine.

(That was terrible……I’m sure that if things continued, it would have been dangerous for me.)

Yes, it wasn’t that he was out of breath. Rather, it was his unique sixth sense kicking in.

As if half controlled by his intuition, he had leaped backwards to open space between him and Rei.

「……Well, got your breath back? Let’s keep going then.」

Rei spoke as he dashed forward.

Just like that, Rei rapidly closed in with a speed that seemed more like gliding than running along the ground. Once again feeling a chill down his spine, Sistoi leaped back a second time.

Slash-!

Almost at the same time, the Death Scythe swung through at a speed that seemed to cut through space itself.

If Sistoi hadn’t followed his instincts, he would probably have been torn apart.

「As expected, his skill has improved significantly compared to before.」

As Sistoi wiped away his cold sweat, Rei tilted his head.

Those words made it seem like he had seen Rei fight before.

However, it hadn’t been that long since he had started fighting in the tournament. If that were the case, Sistoi wouldn’t have said that.

So, that meant……

Rei recalled the incident where they had been attacked at the inn on the way to the Imperial Capital.

「I see. It seems like you’ve been targeting us for some time……or rather, me.」

「……Well, I wouldn’t know.」

Sistoi readied his long sword as he looked for an opening.

(Damn, he really has become much stronger than before. Even though we couldn’t touch him before, I never thought he still had this much room to grow……you monster.)

Sistoi gritted his teeth inwardly, unable to find an opening as Rei raised the Death Scythe.

Previously, he might have found a gap to take advantage of.

But now, there was nothing he could find.

No, to be exact, he could see openings, but every time he tried to exploit them, he would get a very bad feeling in his mind, telling him it was dangerous.

And, in fact, Rei had been intentionally leaving openings to bait Sistoi before counterattacking.

This was the tactic Rei had decided to use because he understood that his opponent was an assassin targeting him and likely had lethal attacks that could even kill him.

「What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to attack me? You came all this way. Is talk all you have? Show me your skills as an assassin.」

「……」

Sistoi didn’t make any moves despite the words of provocation Rei through at him……no, rather, he couldn’t show any moves.

They stood looking at each other, waiting for an opportunity, for several minutes.

Mulla, who was next to the unconscious children, looked towards the end of the alley as if worried about something. But Rei, who was watching Sistoi closely, didn’t seem to notice.

Even Rei didn’t have that much attention to spare while facing Sistoi.

After all, not only was he limiting himself to defeating Sistoi with a counterattack, Sistoi also seemed to have a strange intuition. Even when he tried feinting an opening, Sistoi never fell for them and refused to attack him.

There wasn’t much they could do to each other……or rather, they wouldn’t, so they naturally fell into a stalemate until the time arrived.

「……What?」

Suddenly hearing multiple footsteps, Rei became suspicious as he glanced towards the alleyway entrance.

Within a few seconds, about 10 people appeared.

They were obviously not guards as their faces were covered by masks……and they held daggers and other weapons in their hands.

「So you were buying time.」

At Rei’s words, Sistoi gave a small nod as he stepped back.

Although he couldn’t make any moves against and opponent waiting to counterattack, he could still hold on to buy time……

「Now!」

With Mulla’s words, a bottle holding some kind of liquid was thrown towards the masked me.

The moment Rei saw that, he jumped back.

But……the bottle hadn’t been intended for Rei.

As soon as it hit the ground, the bottle broke and the liquid scattered out. At the same time, a large amount of black smoke was created.

Rei realised his opponent’s goal and immediately swung out with the Death Scythe in quick succession.

「Flying Slash, Flying Slash, Flying Slash, Flying Slash, Flying Slash!」

He used Flying Slash five times in a row.

The slashes flew into the smokescreen and several screams could be heard, but in the end, as the smoke cleared up, there was no sign of Mulla, Sistoi, the children, or the masked men who had showed up at the end. It was unclear who they belonged to, but only a few limbs were left lying on the ground.

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