Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! Volume 7 [Parts 1 to 7] by You Fuguruma

Author:You Fuguruma
Language: eng
Format: epub

7

The space was open; it felt like it had been cut out of the forest proper, and it was painted in but three colors—the white of the snow, the black of the tree trunks, and the pale blue shadows that fell in the dim light. It was here that Alec and the Eastern swordsman, Shonosuke, stood facing one another.

Shonosuke was small in stature—perhaps around 170 centimeters tall. His uniquely Eastern loose-fitting garb hid the lines of his body, and gave the impression that he was of slim build.

From a distance, one would have thought him to be in his twenties. However, a closer look revealed a slight dullness to his skin, and shallow wrinkles etched into his face. The light in Shonosuke’s eyes was heavy and sharp, not unlike his well-used blade. His was the gaze of an experienced hand. His bearing was not like that of a young man, much less that of a simple merchant.

Shonosuke gave a show of respect in the Eastern style, then removed his sword from its scabbard. Its blade cut only in a single direction, and was crafted with a metal that contained a thin layer of dark magic on its surface. Angetsuto, as the blade was called, seemed to waver as the dull light and dark sheen flowed across its blade.

With an easy motion, Shonosuke lowered his hips and settled into his stance, holding his sword so the blade pointed slightly upwards towards Alec. Alec, too, readied his own weapon and dropped into a fighting stance of his own.

“This...isn’t going to be easy,” he muttered to himself.

The sword in Shonosuke’s hands was held straight out towards Alec, but with the way the narrow blade seemed to blend in with the many folds of his clothing, it was difficult for Alec to read its movements clearly. Furthermore, he began to feel a darkness emanating from Shonosuke’s bearing.

It’s like he’s a completely different person from the man I just had dinner with.

Shonosuke had happily eaten the food he was served, right down to the sauce left over on his plate, and had smiled with great satisfaction when he was done. Now, however, it was as though he was another creature entirely. The scent of death drifted from him, but it was unusually faint, as though the man himself might disappear into the shadowy scenery around him.

He’s used to battling human opponents. Perhaps he’s a spy of sorts?

Alec couldn’t help but think of the slight cringe he’d seen on Clemens’s face as he’d spoken.

“I did the best I could, but...”

Unlike Alec and Zack, who’d done work in the shadows as part of the kingdom’s intelligence division, Clemens had very little experience when it came to fighting and killing human opponents—he’d only ever faced bandits and hoodlums. Alec had to assume that he’d never had to fight anyone who had experience striking from the shadows to eliminate their targets.

And perhaps the very reason that Clemens had shown a hint of hesitation the moment he’d faced Shonosuke was because he felt the darkness within the man.

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