Chapter 8: Nadine Amaryllis, Second to None

*1*

Round one of the championship match had begun, and amid the thunderous applause, Nadine Amaryllis mourned. Mourned the sins she had committed. Mourned the punishment she had received.

As an entire arena’s worth of cheers rained down upon her, she thought to herself: I was never meant to stand in the spotlight like this.

Nadine Amaryllis wasn’t even her real name. She had long since forsaken the name her parents had given her, though by now there was no one left alive who would recognize it.

She was born to a family of Assassins that carried out the Imperial Court’s dark bidding. Concealed in the shadows of the nation’s history, their bloodstained legacy spanned many generations. Nadine herself was only a girl of twelve when she first joined their ranks. Children had their uses, after all.

She didn’t question it. She didn’t—couldn’t—feel fear. Fear would only impair her ability to work.

The day she was born, her father was disappointed. As she recalled, her mother once let slip that the first thing out of his mouth had been, “I was expecting a son.”

Her family was strictly patriarchal, and the expectation was that only a son could inherit their legacy. But giving birth to Nadine had taken its toll on her mother, and she was told she could no longer bear children. And once Nadine had reached an age where she could comprehend the implications of that, she desperately threw herself into her training, absorbing everything her father taught her about the craft.

She forbade herself to speak or dress like a lady. Instead, she focused on combat training, toxicology, and assassination techniques. These were the skills she needed to survive as a child Assassin. And Nadine was gifted.

One day, she overheard her father say, “She’s doing quite well for a girl.” Oh, how her heart danced. For a girl! She was sure her macho, manly father had finally accepted her as his heir, despite her gender.

But this was a delusion all her own.

One night, when Nadine was seventeen, her father came home with an unfamiliar young man—the sixth son of a different Assassin family, apparently. Her father told her that this stranger would be the new heir of the family. She was to marry him, teach him everything she knew, and ultimately “go back to being a woman,” in his words.

Three months later, as the wedding approached, Nadine was on her way home from a spontaneous imperial job request in a distant part of the country. And when she arrived, all that remained of the family mansion was cold, ashen ground.

A different Assassin family had broken through their tight security. Her father, mother, and all their servants were dead, and her father’s chosen heir was the one who had arranged it all.

If only she had been born male, that traitor never would have set foot in their house.

She had done everything she could to try and live up to her father’s expectations, all to atone for the “crime” of being born female. She got her hands dirty from a tender age, just like her ancestors before her. Everything she did, she did for her father. For her family. So they would respect her. And yet, just like that, their entire legacy had been snuffed out.

She had assumed the Court would silence her, too, seeing as she’d been involved in a handful of secret schemes and killings, but instead they told her to “find a new life” and threw her out.

Why didn’t they kill me? Nadine wondered. Am I not worth the effort? Just because I’m a woman? Why? I inherited my family’s craft, didn’t I? Didn’t I?!

After that, she could only laugh at herself. She was alone, and all she had left to her name was a pair of tainted hands.

Eventually, it occurred to her that perhaps she could support herself as an adventurer instead. With that thought, she enrolled in adventuring school. Sick of hurting people, she elected to pursue the Healer class.

But she was hilariously unsuited for the role of a Healer.

In the end, she felt only despair. She couldn’t heal anyone’s wounds, and though she’d spent her entire life learning how to kill and deceive, she’d failed to see through the sinister plot that destroyed her entire family. She was worthless no matter what she did.

No party wanted a Level 3 Healer, so she took the job as a Guild receptionist and lived a quiet life. She wore her long hair in two braids and slapped on a pair of nerdy glasses. Polite, amiable, feminine; acting was always one of her talents. It was part of an Assassin’s toolkit, after all. No one noticed.

Nothing could have prepared her, however, for the day an assassinated couple’s oldest daughter walked in, looking for a Mage to take her in as a disciple. Nadine didn’t have much of a salary, but she decided to support this girl and her siblings nonetheless. Not that it would make up for her crimes, of course.

She planned to waste the rest of her life here.

But then that woman showed up—Tanya.

You should join our party!

Sometimes she laughed without a care in the world. Other times she raged or wept on Nadine’s behalf.

Then there was Laplace.

Nadine is our Healer, she’d declared without a moment’s hesitation. Nadine had envied that self-confidence.

Hee hee! Just don’t tell Tanya, okay?

Dancing through the night sky with a mischievous grin on her face, Laplace was the picture of beauty.

These women had taught her what unconditional love felt like... and now she was conflicted.

If she went back to being an Assassin, she could be more useful to Tanya. She had the tools, passed down from her father, and she had the training. But... once she dropped her soft, sweet Healer façade, would Tanya still accept her?

For once in her life, Nadine Amaryllis was scared.

She opened her eyes and looked up. Cheers and applause filled the dusty arena. Her comrade, Laplace, was standing by her side. Right now, they were in the spotlight.

“...Laplace?”

“Hmm? What is it, Nadine?”

“I’m going to go all-out in this fight, so... um...”

“Yes?”

“...Let’s be sure to win this.” For Tanya, the woman with a heart of gold who rages on our behalf.

“Très bien!”

And so the former Assassin and the Great Sorceress exchanged a secretive smile to raucous applause.

*2*

Championship match, round one: doubles. Win condition: the opposing team surrenders, or at least one person on the opposing team is defeated. Not only were they expected to fight as a team, but they would need to defend each other, too.

“Hon’yaaah concharaaaah oomtaraaah sowakaaah! Hwa-taaah!”

“Wh—? Uh, Laplace? I don’t know what you’re doing, but... you’re kind of freaking me out!” Nadine snapped. The championship match of a sparring tournament was no time to be speaking in tongues or whatever. And just when I was starting to respect you!

“Hmm? Oh, I’m pretending to recite an incantation. See, Tanya told me I can’t just snap my fingers or else I’ll draw suspicion.”

“Oh... Right, well, with all due respect, that chanting was several magnitudes more baffling than a mere snap, Laplace—”

“Non, non! Don’t call me that. Call me Stone Cold Stunner! Anyway... I have a feeling that creepy Goliath man is going to give us a real run for our money!”

As she spoke, Laplace jumped up... and began to levitate. All at once, the crowd went wild:

“What is she doing?! Is that... levitation magic?!”

“How can she do that without a magic circle?! Impossible!”

“Holy crap! She’s gotta be a master caster!”

She rose about two meters off the ground, her eyes fixed on Goliath.

“Now then, time for a little test run!”

ZOOM. She shot forward, closing the gap between her and her quarry. She was incapable of using attack magic... so what was she planning?

She quietly snapped her fingers, and instantly the sand covering the arena floor began to gravitate towards her as though it had a will of its own. It came together in her hands, compacting until it formed a weapon reminiscent of a whip—springy and supple, yet sharp enough to cut through metal. Then she swung it full force at Goliath.

Unfortunately...

“Hnn!” With one wave of his staff, Goliath deflected it easily.

“Wow! I guess you watered-down modern Mages can still handle close-range combat!”

“Pfffhee! Fighting is my job, you knoooow... Besides, nobody said we’re not allowed to be good at booooth.”

Surely no ordinary strike could have deflected Laplace’s sand whip.

“Oui, oui! Oh, this is interesting! Were you concentrating your mana into your staff? You may not be as gifted as Tanya, but still, not bad!”

In other words, he must have conjured up a spell strong enough to withstand the attack—and quickly, too. That would have taken a great deal of skill.

The next instant, Goliath rushed forward at lightning speed.

“Take this! The Master Mercenary’s ultimate attack: Gravity Bullet!”

“...Huh?”

Gravity Bullet was a spell used to punch through castle walls or heavy armored units. And a split-second later, Laplace hurtled through the air at the speed of light and slammed into the wall behind her with a deafening POW.

Dust and debris flew in all directions, and a belated moment later, someone in the crowd let out a shriek. Everyone was sure the match was over.

But then Laplace’s gleeful laughter echoed across the arena.

“Pfff... Haha... Hahahaha!!! Incredible! Mon dieu, c’est fantastique!”

She wasn’t even disheveled, much less injured. Why? Because she was wearing a force field designed to shield an entire building. Nadine let out a huge sigh of relief.

Evidently this man wasn’t called the Master Mercenary for nothing. His spellcasting prowess was formidable, and if one were to estimate his mana capacity—

“On par with Tanya or possibly above,” Laplace grinned. “Très bien! Nadine, leave this guy to the ol’ Stone Cold Stunner! This Great Sorceress is going all-out!”

“Pffheehee! I took this gig assuming I’d be making paste out of some chumps, buuuut... it seems you’re more than just a nice rack after all, aren’t youuuu? Gahaha! Finally, a real challeeeenge! Hee hee... pffgyaha! Now I’m getting into it!!!”

“Wow, you’re actually really creepy! Though I’ll admit, I do have a bangin’ body!”

Their banter continued as they traded blow after blow after blow. The spectacle was practically inhuman. And after a while Nadine thought to herself:

Save your weird flirting for the singles round, I’m begging you.

*3*

“...Looks like I’ll have to handle Katherine myself,” Nadine mused under her breath.

Honestly speaking, Goliath was more powerful than she’d ever imagined. But Nadine wasn’t so reckless as to throw herself into the middle of that fight. Not when Laplace—er, “Stone Cold Stunner”—was tossing out superhuman attacks left and right.

She shifted her gaze to Katherine, who was presently sneering in her direction, a safe distance away from the other two.

“I have to say, I’m surprised to see you here,” Nadine commented after a moment.

“Right back at you. Me, I just figured I might reel in a big catch if I manage to win this thing.”

“A ‘big catch’?”

“A man,” Katherine spat. “If I can show off, maybe a hot guy will take notice. Get me?”

“Wait... what about Ryan?”

“Hah!” Katherine narrowed one eye in contempt, her pointy fox ears twitching. “That spineless loser? NOT IN A MILLION YEARS! HE’S A JOKE!”

“That bad, huh?”

Nadine had started to feel sorry for her. Then again, she’d only been in that party a short time; in comparison, Tanya deserved a medal for tolerating him for all those years.

CRASH!

Meanwhile, Goliath and Laplace continued to duke it out all over the arena. But despite their flashy full-power attacks, there was nary a stray bullet, suggesting they were both completely focused on the target in front of them. The prospect was frightening.

“Pretty clever, though, am I right?”

“What’s clever?”

“Putting in time as an adventurer, getting married, having kids. That’s the mark of success, you know?” Katherine declared smugly.

For Nadine, the sight brought back distant memories of her father.

“No... I think there’s more to life than that.”

“Let me guess: you’re just jealous because men don’t like you, right? Well, fortunately for me”—Katherine held her staff at the ready—“I’m pretty good at my job, too!”

That was when she began to cast.

“Round and round the wheel turns! Hellfire, I summon thee!”

As the energy from her mana circuits made Katherine’s thick blonde hair begin to flutter, Nadine knew she was in trouble.

“Heed my call—AND GIVE CHASE!”

Is that incantation... Fireball...? I’ve never heard that opening stanza before!

“Heh heh... I fused a basic Fireball spell with my clan’s Foxfire magic!”

There was a rumble as more than a hundred bright blue fireballs manifested in the air around her.

“Uh-oh.”

*4*

“Holy crap, what is that?!” Tanya murmured to herself as she sat on the bench. This curious feat had tickled her Mage senses awake. “Low skill, low accuracy... but how can she possibly summon all those Fireballs at once?!”

She flipped through a mental checklist of every spell she knew, but couldn’t find anything remotely close. Seriously, what am I looking at here? She’d assumed Katherine was only posing as a Mage for show... but apparently this fox chick was more talented than she thought!

“Wait... Fox...” She thought back to Katherine’s incantation, and it hit her: what if she’d fused an ordinary spell with beastkin magic? “Of course! Then she could switch over to a more natural method of mana control and convert her excess mana consumption and skill lag into additional attacks, right?! That’s incredible! My mind is blown!!!”

Katherine Foxxi wasn’t really a bimbo. It was just a cover for her brilliance!

“So that’s her secret! Now I get it! Well played, girl!” Tanya exclaimed to herself quietly. She was well and truly geeking out over this discovery, and frankly, it was a little much.

She paused for a moment, then continued in a small voice, “Man... If only we’d met some other way, maybe we could’ve been friends.”

*5*

Meanwhile, a hundred blue Fireballs descended upon the Level 3 Healer, burning her to a crisp.

No, wait... scratch that last part.

“Whoa! That’s amazing! Who is she?!”

“I’ve never seen a Healer with moves like that!”

The crowd went wild as Nadine wove her way between globs of blue fire like a dancer on stage. She was so skillful, it appeared as though the Fireballs were avoiding her on purpose.

“Dude, she’s on par with a Thief or something... No, maybe a Brawler!”

“But she’s pretending to be a Healer? What a scam!”

“No, wait... Oh my god, you guys, I don’t think that’s a class skill! I think she’s just dodging them!”

“WHAT?!”

“You mean she just... knows how to do that?!”

“Everyone in this match is completely inhuman!”

As she danced, Nadine planned her next strategy. She was equipped with her Healer’s staff, two combat knives hidden up her pant legs, and an oversized dagger on her back. This was only possible, of course, because she was going against conventional “wisdom” and had dressed modestly. All thanks to Lilium’s equipment policy, instated by none other than Laplace herself.

“Rrgh! Why can’t I hit you?!” Katherine growled in frustration.

One hundred Fireballs, and not a single one hit its target. Worse still, Nadine had been steadily working her way closer and closer. And Mages were generally not equipped for close combat.

She started to panic.

“Round and round the wheel turns—”

And that was the moment Nadine closed in. The crowd gasped.

“She’s so fast!”

Flinging down her Healer’s staff, she brought her center of gravity low to the ground and shot forward like a bullet. Meanwhile, she pulled out one of her concealed combat knives.

She still wore her dowdy braids and big, round glasses... but now the gentle look in her eyes was gone, replaced by the unfeeling darkness of an Assassin.

Her knife glinting, she growled: “Think you can keep up with my dark blade?”

“Eeeek!”

Her murderous aura froze Katherine in her tracks. But just then—

“Neeheehee! We can’t afford to lose this match, little ladyyyy!”

—Goliath swooped in at the last moment to stand between her and Katherine. Nadine clucked her tongue in frustration. He was an unknown quantity; engaging with him would be too risky. Instead, she made a split-second decision. The majority of her assassination techniques were surprise attacks... and when it came to pure combat skill, she was confident she could take him...

“Hé hé, Nadine!”

A split-second later, she heard a snap. Reflexively, she looked over to find Laplace grinning back at her.

“What say we take another trip to the clock tower?”

At this, Nadine couldn’t suppress a smirk.

All at once, she took off running straight at Goliath like a raging bull, dodging a hailstorm of Fireballs as she went. He saw this and donned an eerie, sadistic smile—one that said he was sure of his imminent victory. That he would enjoy crushing his weak little opponent.

She was nearly upon him now, her blade glittering in the light. Meanwhile, he imbued his staff with mana and swung it down—

“Huh...?” He let out a confused grunt as his weapon cut through empty air. “She vanished...?”

He stared down blankly at his staff for a moment. Then it hit him.

“Blast—!”

But by the time the Master Mercenary had turned around, it was all too late.

“......Huh?!”

Katherine Foxxi yelped in confusion as she felt cold metal touch her neck. Nadine was behind her. How? How did she do it? Katherine knew she should’ve been completely protected. She was certain their attacks should have hit the healer.

“...That went over my headddd... literallyyyy... Damn, you got meeee...” Goliath grumbled miserably.

Just before Goliath’s swing could connect, Laplace had scooped Nadine up with her magic and sent her sailing up and over him. Then she’d quietly deposited her right behind Katherine.

“Forfeit or die. Your choice.”

Nadine glared at Katherine from behind the round lenses of her glasses, so fiercely it felt as though she were about to plunge the knife in at any moment.

“Aah...!”

Her instincts were screaming that she was in mortal danger. Her legs shook. And then she felt something warm and wet hit her feet.

In her fright, Katherine... had wet herself.

Instantly her face flushed red with shame. She wanted to scream. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She’d wanted to turn heads, but not like this!

“Ggghhh...! I forfeit!” Katherine began to sob uncontrollably. “Don’t kill me...!”

A beat later, the referee’s voice rang out across the stadium: “We have a winner, folks! Championship match, round one goes to... Lilium!!!”

For a brief moment, the arena fell silent—and then the crowd exploded into cheers.

*6*

“Welcome back, ladies!” Tanya exclaimed as Laplace and Nadine walked back over to the bench.

Nadine stiffened, wary.

“I can’t believe it! You used levitation magic on Nadine to get her into the opponent’s blind spot?! When did you guys rehearse that?!”

“Hahaha! I’m afraid that’s our little secret. Isn’t that right, Nadine?” Laplace grinned.

As for Nadine... she’d never imagined that splendid midnight stroll through mid-air would come in handy during the Sparring Tournament, of all things. Her body still felt light and floaty, and for some reason this made her feel a little bashful.

“Yeah... Haha... Honestly, we’re fortunate our opponents were too busy grandstanding to take us seriously. And we caught Goliath off-guard completely by chance.” Fidgeting, she tugged on her sleeve.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me! I never knew you were such a badass, Nadine! Why didn’t you tell us?! Wait... I know... you wanted it to be a surprise, didn’t you?!”

“Oh, um... well... you see...”

Steeling herself, Nadine resolved to tell them the truth—the whole truth.

“Wow... You really went through a lot, huh, Nadine?”

“No, no, it’s no big deal. Really, I’m just... touched that you still want to be my friend. I can’t express how much that means to me. So in exchange, Tanya, I’ll serve as your blade. The Assassin class is a master-level class, you know. So I’ll just change back, and once I switch out my equipment, I can be more useful and—”

“...What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

Tanya stared at her in blank bafflement, a look Nadine returned in full.

“Is... Isn’t that what you want...?”

No... Maybe she doesn’t feel comfortable having an Assassin around... But just as Nadine hung her head—

“Not at all! Look, you wanted to be a Healer, right?”

“Oh... Well... Yes, but...”

“Then who cares if you’re good at it? Who cares if you’re ‘useful’? I admit, it really grinds my gears when they try to tell us women are ‘supposed’ to be Healers, but if it’s what you actually want to do for a living, then so be it! So what if you’re Level 3? Do what makes you happy!”

The words made Nadine’s chest ache, and she bit her lip. Yes... She had chosen of her own free will to forsake the path of a killer. She didn’t want to hurt—she wanted to heal.

“But I’m only Level 3!”

I’m useless, and I won’t get any stronger. Am I allowed to live my life this way?

“Seriously, who cares!” Tanya donned her usual carefree grin—the grin Nadine so dearly loved. “You’re Lilium’s Healer, and that’s that!”

Hearing this, she couldn’t possibly hold back her tears.

“Wehh... weeehhhh...!”

The drops smeared her lenses. How long has it been since I last cried? Years?

“Nnn... weehh... bbbhhhweeeaaahhh!!! Hhhggghhh!!!”

“Uh, Nadine?! Those are some really weird crying sounds!”

At Tanya’s remark, Laplace burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Reminds me of someone we know!”

“Gah...!”

“Hee hee... Go on and cry it out, Nadine. We’re all girls here, you know?” she continued.

It was the same thing she had told Tanya that day in the wasteland.

Women are so emotional. Women think they can cry their way out of anything. Society was filled with stock phrases designed to steal away a woman’s right to cry. Well, fuck that, Tanya thought. Everyone’s gotta cry sometimes.

As Nadine sobbed, Tanya pulled her into her arms, then looked over at Laplace. Together, they recited:

“And sometimes a girl’s just gotta cry.”

“Whew... Setting aside everything with my father,” Nadine began after she’d composed herself once more, “there were... other reasons I didn’t want to identify as a female Assassin.”

“You didn’t want people to mistrust you or something?” Tanya asked.

Nadine shook her head. “No... When I worked as an Assassin, I’d sometimes encounter older men who’d ask ‘So, if you’re a femme fatale, does that mean you do sex stuff on the side?’ But I never understood how they’d reached that conclusion.”

This was one of many reasons why being in a female-dominated class was simply easier.

“WHAT?!? You totally should’ve gone all Assassin on their asses!” Tanya shouted.