Amber narrowed her eyes as she looked between me and Elena, who both had bright red cheeks and were unable to look straight at each other. However, despite her apparent suspicion, she didn't say anything.

The three of us stood in the room together, having gone through the equipment left behind by the assassin. In the end, I'd put the silver knife inside of my jacket, in addition to the other vials of purple liquid.

As for the robes, which were entirely intact despite having been hit by Elena's fireball, I had them rolled up and gripped in my hand. They seemed like pretty high-tier equipment, so if possible I would definitely make use of them.

"So... ahem, could you tell me what happened after I passed out? I assume Elena used some form of healing magic on me based on that light?"

I coughed, trying to clear the awkward air, which managed to improve the mood a bit.

"Ah... n-no. Healing magic is usually only used by members of the Church of Gastor, the Light God. It's an attribute that's not only rare, but takes immense talent and practice to use properly..."

As Elena spoke bashfully, her cheeks glowed even redder as she glanced up at me before looking back to the floor.

"O-oh, I see... In that case, what exactly happened?"

I scratched my cheek and glanced to the side, unable to look at her dead on.

However, it was Amber who cut it now, speaking with a quiet voice.

"It was my skill... [Valkyrie]. You weren't waking up, and your body looked so beat up... I was so scared, and I just... acted. It was like I'd always known what to do, I just hadn't realized it. By the time I noticed, a light was coming out of my hands and you seemed to be getting better. Something inside of my kind of just knew it was my skill..."

Her voice wavered as she spoke, looking down at the ground, and I internally thanked the heavens for the existence of cheat skills as I nodded.

I rested my hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at me.

"I'm fine now, thanks to you. Don't worry, this will all be over soon, trust me. Though, for now I think I have a better understand of your skill. You see, in norse mythology the [Valkyrie] were warrior maidens. Not only did they wipe the floor with all sorts of enemies on the battlefield, they were also masters over life and death. I'm relatively certain that this is a low-level manifestation of the 'life' side of things, so at higher levels you might even be able to bring people back from the dead. There's also a strong likelihood there's a whole separate branch of your skill's abilities meant for battle and destruction. As expected of a cheat skill..."

As I trailed off and my eyes grew distant, I felt a tap on my cheek.

"Um... Jonathan? The plan? Unless you're planning on being this much of an idiot the entire time..."

Looking up at me, Amber blushed slightly as her gaze shifted between me and the hand that was still on her shoulder. Her unusually quiet and gentle approach, despite her harsh words, was an undeniably cute contrast that caused my heart to beat a little faster. Of course, I tried to look to the side, but seeing the bashful Elena didn't help me either.

I sighed lightly and collected myself before speaking.

"For now, Elena, I'd like you to go pick something up by the palace's front gate. I could tell you exactly what I'm going to be doing, but you won't believe me unless you see it yourself. Make sure you aren't seen, ok? While you're doing that, I'll check out my and Amber's statuses to work out a plan that gives us our best shot here.

Elena looked up at me with determination as she nodded her head.

"Oh, and take Amber's clothes. It would be too hard to move around in that dress."

Amber looked over at me in surprise as Elena quickly went to the chair that Amber had laid her clothes out on and entered the closet to change.

"What?"

I said, cocking my head at Amber.

"What exactly am I supposed to wear, then?"

Amber looked more than a little annoyed at me for giving away her clothes, but luckily enough her fatigue and care for me mitigated that.

I tossed the assassin's robes over to her. Though they were slightly long, on a dark night like this it would be hard to tell.

"Huh?"

---

As Amber changed I looked over my status to confirm any changes that occurred as a result of the fight.

[Name: Jonathan Moriarty

Gender: Male

Job: None

Titles: [Pity of the Gods], [Otherworlder Without a Cheat Skill], [Self-Proclaimed Hero]

Age: 20

Level: 15

Vitality: 337

Strength: 453

Agility: 428

Stamina: 432

Mana: 7350

Intelligence: ??? (Status Concealed)

???: ??? (Concealed)

---

 

Basic Skills:

Throwing Lv. 2

Tinkering Lv. 2

Martial Arts: Body Lv. 4

Concealment Lv. 1

 

Evolved Skills:

None

 

Unique Skills:

None

 

Cheat Skills:

None]

I scrolled through the slew of messages I'd gotten and analyzed the information on each skill before formulating a working plan in my mind, testing out my body as I did so.

Sure enough, each movement felt lighter. Though I honestly felt like I was still outrageously outmatched by the assassin from earlier, this was definitely a step in the right direction.

After Amber came back, I confirmed that her level had gone up in the encounter as well despite her not having done much (although it was only a level up to level 7). It was likely counted as some "party system" by the force that controlled the statuses in this world. Like this, it was probably reasonable to assume that Elena had gotten some of the experience as well.

After planning thoroughly and meeting back up with Elena, I told everybody my plan and we headed out.

---

As Amber and I walked we came across the largest room in the entire castle, the King's room. Stepping inside carefully and quietly, we came upon the King as he sat tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

While Amber walked to the center of the room, I instead snuck along the wall to the side and set myself in a position just beside the King while being as quiet as possible. 

Seeing as he didn't notice me, I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. [Concealment] really was doing its job. 

As he saw Amber's hooded figure enter, the King immediately turned his head to face her.

"Who are you? Where did you get that robe?"

The King narrowed his eyes at Amber, who gently removed the hood from her head to reveal her face.

"Hero? What on earth are you doing here?"

The King got up and walked towards Amber while I quietly and slowly followed behind him.

Amber looked at the King and spoke solemnly.

"We were attacked by an assassin wearing this cloak... though we managed to defeat him, Jonathan... Jonathan didn't make it."

The King covered his mouth with one hand in shock as he reached out with the other to place a hand on Amber's shoulder.

"This is awful...  but have faith, I'll get to the bottom of this. I'll discover what dastardly organization plotted this attack and put an end to them, though it was more than likely those heinous demons. Rest assured, we'll massacre them all in the upcoming war..."

Amber shook her head as her spoke again, her voice trembling.

"Elena too. She was.. she was with us when we were attacked. I tried to fight the assassin off, but I couldn't stop him until it was too late..."

Wow, she certainly was a good actor. Or at the very least good enough to fool the King into believing she was being genuine. A tear streamed down one side of his face.

"How tragic, the loss of both of the heroes in addition the Princess. What a tragic tale..."

"W-what do you mean the death of both heroes? Ouch!"

The King's grip on Amber's shoulder tightened, causing her to wince in pain.

"Oh, and what a tragic fate for a King, his entire lineage now gone. Killed by those dastardly demons! Of course, the country must have their revenge!"

The King removed the hand he had covering his mouth to reveal a face sporting an evil grin.

"Sounds perfect, doesn't it?"

The king put his fingers together for a spear-hand strike as he wound up, but suddenly-.

"That's enough. Let her go now, or I'll stab you with this. I trust you know what this will do?"

The moment I spoke, the effect of [Concealment] disappeared, revealing my presence to the King. Not only that, but behind me stood Elena with tears streaking down her face and Pierre, who looked angrily at the King.

My hand trembled slightly as the tip of a the assassin's silver knife pointed at the King's throat, its tip dripping purple poison.

"I trust the both of you saw that?"