Chapter 5: Impalas in the Jungle
"Ugh..."
I regained consciousness.
A splitting headache made me grimace as a groan escaped my lips. That’s when I heard a familiar voice nearby.
"C-Captain! I think he’s waking up!"
"What? That can’t be…"
The voice was full of confusion. I wasn’t supposed to be waking up, was I? Sensing the situation, I quickly pretended to lose consciousness again. After all, I’d spent years in the corporate world perfecting the art of playing dumb.
I felt rough hands poking at my face. The shallow breathing I heard indicated it was the captain.
"It seems like it was just an unconscious twitch. Keep going."
"I could’ve sworn he was awake..."
"Have you ever seen anyone maintain consciousness after inhaling that much Paralyzing Herb?"
"N-no, I haven’t."
"Then shut up and keep burning it."
"Yes, sir."
It looked like I’d dodged a bullet.
Paralyzing Herb?
They seemed to be burning something near my head, and it smelled familiar.
That cigarette I received from the man in the warehouse.
‘Is that what it was?’
I’d been carrying a pack of those cigarettes in my bag. It seemed the cigarettes were made from Paralyzing Herb.
It wasn’t something I remembered from the novel.
What kind of effect did this herb have that they were burning it near me?
Two things were clear.
First, it definitely wasn’t for a good purpose. Second, it was meant to be used on me.
"Captain, we’ve burned through a handful of the herb."
"Another shift will come to replace us soon. Make sure to add more to his head before you leave. Once he’s addicted, the headaches will get worse, so hurry up."
"It’s all done."
"Time to switch out."
After a moment, the captain and his group left, and two others came in. The same two cronies who’d beaten me earlier. They carefully lit the Paralyzing Herb near my head and began talking to each other.
"Where did they get this stuff?"
"I heard they got it from a shaman."
"A shaman?"
"Yeah, they say if you inhale Paralyzing Herb for too long, your soul leaves your body, and you become an empty shell. Basically, it turns you into a brain-dead puppet."
"Why are they using something like this on the newbie?"
"The captain mentioned something about planting a Command."
"A Command? What kind of Command?"
"Are you asking because you don’t know? This guy is a throwaway for this mission."
"Really? But this guy’s part of the master’s direct line. Didn’t you know? His training scores were so good that the master took him under his wing personally."
"So what? This is a Command, isn’t it? You know what that means: Boom."
"..."
"Just shut up and keep track of the time. If he inhales too much Paralyzing Herb, he’ll start losing his mind."
"Got it."
Even the cronies, who had been nervous at first, eventually left and were replaced by new assassins. These assassins seemed to be more in the know about the organization’s internal affairs.
Naturally, their topic of conversation was me. Since I had gone from a promising talent to a disposable pawn, they were naturally curious. Judging by their reactions, it seemed like everyone but the captain was in the dark about my situation.
"This guy was supposed to be a candidate for the next master, but now he’s a discard? What happened?"
"Rumor has it that it’s because of a prophecy from Arcane."
"Arcane? You mean the astrologer?"
"The master is known to be a bit superstitious. Apparently, Arcane gave a bad prophecy about this guy’s future."
"Abandoned over a prophecy, huh? What rotten luck."
"Crap! We’ve burned through all of it. Let’s get out of here."
I spent half the day pretending to be unconscious, listening intently to their conversations.
For someone like me, who only knew the main storyline, their chatter was fascinating.
It felt like I was getting a peek into the side stories of unnamed characters.
I started to realize that this world wasn’t just a simple novel; it was a vast place filled with countless stories, both big and small.
A familiar name came up during their conversation.
‘Astrologer Arcane, the Prophet of Fate.’
Arcane was famous for predicting people’s destinies.
He was known for determining whether someone would become a villain or a hero by using his fate-reading orb, and his prophecies had a huge impact on the world of the novel.
‘Kamel Blazer’s prophecy was “The Greedy Lord Walking Two Paths,” right?’
Arcane’s prophecy had such massive ramifications that he was considered one of the main characters.
Neither a villain nor a hero, but a neutral figure.
I never expected him to be connected to Crux’s master.
And it was because of his words that my fate had taken a nosedive.
‘If I ever meet that guy, I’ll be sure to give him a piece of my mind.’
The assassins fully believed in the effects of Paralyzing Herb. None of them noticed I was awake.
The captain was no different.
‘So that bastard drugged my beer after all.’
It was beyond embarrassing to think I’d let them drug me. Even a five-year-old wouldn’t have fallen for such an obvious trap.
The good news was that things weren’t going as the captain had planned.
Paralyzing Herb was supposed to turn me into a mindless puppet?
‘I’ve never felt clearer.’
After that beer knocked me out, it was like I’d had the best sleep of my life. I woke up feeling completely refreshed.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the harsh smoke from the Paralyzing Herb.
The bitter smell stung my nose like secondhand smoke, but contrary to what they said, I didn’t feel dazed or mentally impaired.
My back just ached from lying still for so long.
‘Did this stuff expire or something?’
Judging by how the cronies had run off earlier, retching, it clearly wasn’t expired.
Which meant Paralyzing Herb just didn’t work on me.
It had to be one of two things.
Either this body naturally had some resistance to it, or I’d gained some kind of power when I took over this body.
There was no way to know for sure right now, so I’d just have to file it away for later.
A little while later, the assassins finished burning the Paralyzing Herb, and the captain returned to stand over me. He began giving me a post-hypnotic Command.
Eliminate the target.
Eliminate the target.
Eliminate the target.
Upon hearing those words, I was supposed to approach the target and trigger a self-detonation.
Wow, so this was how it was all going down?
In the novel, there was just a single line: “One assassin detonated in front of Kamel.”* But this whole preparation process was like crafting a legendary artifact.
‘Though there’s a pretty serious flaw in the plan.’
The bomb bug had a critical weakness.
It couldn’t be detonated remotely.
I hadn’t understood why they needed to go through all this trouble with hypnosis and Command, but it made sense now: the bug’s explosion had to be triggered by the host’s mana manipulation.
In other words, without brainwashing or a Command, they couldn’t detonate the bug.
‘If Crux could detonate the bugs remotely, they’d be the most powerful assassination organization out there.’
For me, this was fantastic news.
As long as I stayed alive, I wouldn’t have to worry about the bug blowing up inside me.
After keeping my eyes closed for so long, I was starting to feel genuinely sleepy.
The captain’s voice was beginning to sound like a lullaby as he finished the Command.
I fought off the drowsiness and waited patiently.
"Wake up."
Finally, the signal I was waiting for.
Showtime.
With glazed eyes, I stood up in front of the captain, drooling and staggering after him like a mindless puppet.
My movements resembled that of a soulless doll under the captain’s command, my mind supposedly paralyzed.
Who knew I had such a knack for acting?
Crux must have taught its assassins well because this performance felt natural. The imitation was coming to me effortlessly.
Like a veteran actor, I followed the captain’s commands without a hint of self-awareness, and the captain soon stopped paying attention to me, focusing on the mission ahead instead.
"Let’s get ready."
The assassins started preparing. Everyone, including me, donned soldier uniforms, hiding sharp weapons underneath.
By early morning, we were ready. Disguised as soldiers, the assassins stepped into the streets.
Despite it being a commercial city, the streets were noisy even in the early hours. However, when people saw us, they quickly quieted down.
The citizens were clearly on edge around us.
‘These uniforms really do the trick.’
It was well-known that the inner-city guards were the elite
force of Blyer Territory, and the citizens seemed to fear them.
Of course, if our disguise was discovered, we’d be executed on the spot.
But that didn’t seem likely.
"W-what’s that?"
"Fire? Is that a fire!?"
"There’s a fire in the inner castle! Fire!"
The small commotion quickly turned into full-blown chaos.
A massive fire had broken out in the lord’s castle, where the ruler of the territory resided.
The inner city was being swallowed by flames. The fire was so large that the sky itself seemed to turn red with smoke and fire.
[When you see the fire, make your move.]
The signal had been given.
"The hunt begins," the captain said.
Led by the captain, the assassins moved swiftly toward the inner castle.
Their eyes gleamed with the sharpness of hunters ready to kill.
Only I, with my vacant stare, trailed behind them, mocking them in silence.
‘Hunt? Please. You’re just a bunch of impalas wandering through the jungle.’
Of course, hidden within my eyes was nothing but pure ridicule.
* * *
"All soldiers, gather here!"
"Get the water buckets! Hurry!"
The gates to the inner castle were wide open as we approached. Amidst the chaos of the fire, people were running around frantically through the open gates.
Once inside, I caught sight of the fire.
The flames had spread from a large storage warehouse, quickly consuming the surrounding buildings.
It was clear this was no accident.
"Grab the water and head to the well! Move it!"
Soldiers and servants alike were running around with water buckets, heeding the angry orders of the knights.
As all attention was focused on the fire, a group of seven soldiers quietly slipped away from the scene.
The assassins.
They moved swiftly along the castle walls. Their target was a grand tower rising at the far edge of the inner castle.
"You there!"
Suddenly, a group of knights appeared from the opposite direction, blocking our path.
There were only three of them.
But the pressure they exuded was no joke.
My throat went dry.
I noticed the blue capes on their shoulders, a sign that they were official knights.
In the novel, official knights were described as near-monsters in terms of skill.
At least 3-star aura users.
They could manipulate mana with such proficiency that they were like superhumans.
For context, I was barely a 1-star newbie who had just awakened to aura.
The captain was probably a 2-star at best.
This group couldn’t possibly handle knights of this caliber. The knights regarded the captain with serious expressions and asked,
"Have you seen Prince William anywhere?"
"Prince William, you say?"
"That’s right."
"We haven’t seen him."
"Damn…"
The knights clicked their tongues in frustration. It seemed their goal was to find the first prince.
"But where are you headed now? The emergency orders weren’t for this direction."
"Uh, well…"
"Weren’t you part of the fire response team?"
"We received separate orders to head to the tower."
"The tower?"
"It’s suspected that the fire was started intentionally, and we’re supposed to be keeping watch from the tower to spot any suspicious activity."
"Ah, I see."
The knights seemed to find this explanation reasonable and didn’t question it further.
They had more pressing matters to attend to.
Prince William, who had said he’d step away for a moment, had suddenly disappeared. As his escort knights, their top priority was finding him.
"If you come across the first prince, report to us immediately."
"Understood."
With a salute, the knights disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.
Their movements were incredibly fast.
Are they even human?
The encounter with the knights had clearly shaken the assassins. Their faces were stiff with tension.
The knights’ presence was a stark reminder of how dangerous this place was.
"We’re behind schedule. Let’s move."
Looming above us was the massive tower that pierced the night sky. It was the landmark of Blyer Territory, from which one could overlook the entire region.
The guards stationed at the entrance were gone, likely dispatched to help fight the fire.
We began climbing the stairs to the top floor, where the target was said to be.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap!
The tower was eerily quiet.
The sound of our footsteps echoed through the stairwell.
According to our information, Prince Kamel would be at the top of the tower at this hour.
The underground merchant had been certain of it, but where had he gotten this information?
‘Kamel really is at the top of the tower, though.’
And I also knew where Prince William was—the prince the knights were so desperately searching for.
We quickly reached the top of the tower. The assassins, skilled as they were, showed no signs of exhaustion.
These guys may have lacked skill, but they had stamina to spare.
There were three paths leading to the top of the tower. The captain pointed to the central staircase and gave the order.
"We’re going straight in."
BANG!
The iron door at the top of the stairs was thrown open with a deafening crash.
"Ah, it seems my guests have arrived," a clear but emotionless voice greeted us.
A young man with jet-black hair and deep gray eyes stood at the far end of the room, gazing at us indifferently.