My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields - Chapter 48: The Banquet (2)

PR: Cursed

Two days passed, and the day of the banquet quickly dawned upon them.

If he had to describe what had happened between the two of them in those time-skip days… well, it had been nothing much.

Elric had only had to endure one more uncomfortable night of sleep due to the bed arriving a day late.

He had endured the sensation of every breath she took sending a shiver down his spine.

And he resented Tyria, who had slept so well in the meantime.

Anyway, the ordeal was now over.

Eventually, the bed had arrived, and for once, Elric didn’t wake up to the sound of her breathing.

Though he did start having nightmares of the battlefield again.

“Milord, let us begin preperations.”

It was almost lunchtime.

Elric’s head tilted at Aldio’s words, who was already talking about preparations at this time.

“Isn’t the banquet in the evening? What are we getting ready now…”

Only then did Elric remember that it was THE Imperial Banquet.

“…Ah, to set trends.”

That was the thing about banquets.

One had to spend hours putting on new clothes, makeup, and do their hair to look better than everyone else just to stand in that hall.

How annoying this idea had been at the banquets he’d attended in the past.

‘And I have to do it one more time…’

He was already shivering, but what could he do?

There was nothing he could do to get away.

Then Aldio said.

“The wanted men have just arrived.”

“What? Wanted?”

“The men who will be in charge of Milord’s quarters.”

“Isn’t that something you should leave to the maids?”

Aldio stood tall and showed his determination.

He seemed to attach great importance to this banquet, which made Elric smile.

Elric smiled, for in his opinion, Wiven’s harvest festivals and banquets were not all that different because they were all about gathering people together and making noise.

Of course, he knew it meant something different to Aldio.

Elric was well aware that he had always tried to acclimate Elric to aristocratic life.

Thus, Elric said.

“I see you’ve gone to the trouble of arranging for people yourself, so may I meet them?”

“Yes! It’s about time.”

“Very well, let’s go.”

Elric rose from his seat.

They soon reached the first floor.

There, they found two women, both quite tall for their age, wearing thick makeup and smiling.

Their eyes met Elric’s.

“Hello….”

And then,

“…Hmm?”

They were taken aback.

The Moonlings, a group of assassins called the Reapers of the West.

Second to none in the business of killing even imperial marquises without making a sound, they had only had three failed missions in their bloody history.

The first was a request to assassinate a Baron of Disha while he was out of town.

The second was a request to assassinate a commander on the battlefield.

The third was a request to assassinate a young lord who was about to be married.

These were just small failures compared to their accomplishments, but to them, these events themselves were a disaster.

They were horrors, nightmares to those who had been directly involved.

It was inevitable.

For all the failed missions had one thing in common.

-”From this day forward, I will impose one restriction on all of Moonling’s assignments.”

The three failed missions had all involved a single man.

-“All missions related to the Black Kasha will be off the table, even if there’s only the slightest of connections.”

Kasha the Sword Demon.

The Seventh Continental Powerhouse and the strongest individual in all of existence.

It was he whose infamy pierced the heavens on the battlefields of the West.

For the assassination of the Baron, Kasha had happened to be in the neighborhood and had slaughtered all the moonlings on duty at the time.

For the assassination of the commander, he had happened to have Kasha as a mercenary in his unit, resulting in the destruction of an entire battalion of Moonlings.

And finally, the most bizarre incident in the Moonling’s way: a young master, who was to be married, happened to be a close friend of Kasha’s. But who would have known that Kasha, who never left the battlefield, would momentariily take leave for a wedding?

In any case, it wasn’t until after this incident that the Moonlings began to avoid Kasha.

From the beginning of their training, they had been forced to memorize every single one of his appearances to the point where they could draw him with their eyes closed. In any battlefield related to him, they would evacuate all of Moonling troops. Once, perhaps considering the possibility of him going about incognito one day, they had even given him a sword as a gift, relating the message, ‘Please, stop bothering us, Kasha.’

His response to them that day had been completely ridiculous.

-”You were the ones to appear in front of me, so why do you blame me for your deaths?”

He was a terrible man, a man who shed neither blood nor tears.

Of course, they knew how hypocritical it was for assassins to deny those words of his, but on that day, the Moonlings had surely been the undeniable victim in the eyes of everyone.

It was to the point that all the executives of the Moonlings who went to meet Kasha that day became so guilty about their work that they even left the industry.

Anyway, after all that happened, the name of Kasha the Sword Demon was considered a taboo for the Moonlings and it became a name that no one spoke of.

When he was reported missing from the battlefield, every single branch closed for the day and held a banquet.

Afterwards, the rest was history.

Without Kasha, it became truly only their game.

As the war raged on, assassination missions abounded.

They’d spread their influence throughout the West, and now it was time to expand to the East.

And it had taken them a pretty good sponsor to get them this far…

‘…So why are you here?’

Why was Kasha here?

Danal, the head of the Ferdinand branch of the Moonlings, felt the hairs on his back stand on end.

It was a good thing that he’d worn almost a mask of makeup to cross-dress.

Otherwise, his panic would have been obvious.

‘How? Why?’

He asked himself, but he couldn’t come up with an answer.

He was just momentarily in Ferdinand, having come down here to carry out a mission sent from headquarters, and in the midst of that request, he had happened to be put on a small detour for the assassination of a minor noble. But why, here, and of all places, was the Black Kasha?

“’as it all just his delusions?’

Of course not.

His likeness was something made evident to all those at the very beginning of Moonling traning.

Danal, who had once been in charge of that training, could draw Kasha’s likeness with his eyes closed.

Not only that, Danal had actually seen Kasha in person.

-”Junior, I’m done with all this.”

The day they had gone to negotiate with Kasha, he had quickly become the replacement for an officer who had quit due to the guilt he felt as an assassin.

“Well, I hear you all are professionals, so I won’t worry too much, but please don’t go overboard with the makeup. I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.”

Kasha sat back and smiled wryly.

Danal felt goosebumps prickle down his back.

“Let’s get started then. We’ve got a lot of time before dinner, don’t we?”

The deputies who had accompanied him on the assassination stared at him helplessly.

In the midst of his mind-numbing terror, Danal recalled his training as an assassin and regained some semblance of sanity.

A woman’s voice spoke up.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us for a moment, we need to reorganize our tools first…”

“Un, take your time.”

Looking at his smirk, Danal whirled around into a huddle with his lieutenants.

With a click, he flashed some sign language as they spread the makeup.

-Neutralize the poison.

Every single cosmetic they had was a poison.

And, even thouh Kasha was impervious to poison in the first place, if they did anything to him and he found out about the assassination attempt, they would be all doomed.

One’s survival instinct was a scary thing, and the officers spent less than three seconds neutralizing all the poisons.

Danal nodded in satisfaction.

-We don’t know anything. Let’s just do his makeup and then leave. You never saw him today, right?

That wasn’t all.

-And we’re abandoning the Ferdinand Chapter. Why didn’t any of you realize that son of a bitch was from here?

As of today, the Ferdinand Branch was closed.

No, first, they would kill the Earl before they left.

If it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble!

The lieutenants eyes lit up and they nodded.

Only then did Danal turn around and face Kasha with a smile.

“Well, let’s get started then!”

“You look very nervous.”

“It’s our first time serving a noble!”

“Relax. I won’t eat you.”

His words were unbelievable.

Danal laughed heartily, and with his lieutenants, their makeup session began.

The entire process went by quickly and silently.

It was such a wonder that Aldio, who was watching from afar, thought, ‘They have the concentration of a master swordsman wielding the greatest sword of the century!’

Determined to live, the three Moonlings used all their makeup skills to decorate Kasha.

After a few hours of this, Danal felt the tension drain out of him and he pulled his hand away.

‘And there, it’s done…!’

It was not just a moment of sentimentality, as Kasha’s makeup was truly flawless.

The pinnacle of perfection in the field of makeup was before them.

Danal and his officers shared a glance.

They shared a look of pride, and a look of relief that they were still alive.

‘Guys, when we retire, let’s go become makeup artists.’

To celebrate the day they had survived putting makeup on Kasha.

With all of them, they would reach the pinnacle of the industry.

“Is it over?”

“Yes! You look so good in you natural state, Baron, so we didn’t have to do much!”

They were half empty, half sincere words.

Danal said them as he began to organize the cosmetics.

It was in that moment.

“Aldio. Would you mind giving me a moment to speak with them?”

“Yes!”

With a snap, the butler closed the door and left.

The three assassins felt a strange sense of unease befall them.

‘There’s no way.’

There could be no way.

They tried to deny it, but why did their ominous premonitions always come true?

“Assassins have such good makeup skills these days. You guys sure have a hard enough time making ends meet already.”

Kasha said, looking at himself in the mirror with satisfaction.

The lieutenants shuddered.

Their trepidation spread to Danal.

‘When was it?’

He wondered when they’d been caught.

As he thought, Kasha locked eyes with Danal in the mirror.

Brightly, his eyes drew an arc.

“Moonlings, your mana training was quite impressive, and I still remember it. It took me a while to recognize your faint breathing, so I apologize. You all must have been disappointed that I didn’t recognize you quickly enough.”

They were done.

“Haha…”

Danal laughed weakly.

The woman’s voice he had been using was gone now.

There was nothing else he could do.

Thud!

He knelt on the ground and bowed his head.

“…Greetings, Sir.”

His lieutenants followed suit and bowed.

“Greetings, Sir.”

He’d do anything to stay alive.

Running away would be futile, so he might as well beg for his life.

“How have you all been?”

Danal’s eyes widened like a puppy looking up at its master.