No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

Thunk! Jack’s head floated up and rolled over to stop at the feet of the crooked-nosed man.

In front of the boss of the guild, he tossed the neck of an executive as if it were a trophy. A blatant provocation, no less!

The bird-like eyes filled with enemy intent. Dan Furb, the boss of Abandon, looked like someone you’d rather converse with over iron bars than words.

“Tsk, he may be dumb, but he was somewhat useful. Such a waste.”

Dan tapped Jack’s head with his foot, clicking his tongue.

To openly insult a subordinate’s corpse like that—sure, I’m the one who killed him, but this guy really hit rock bottom on the morality scale, huh?

“What a fitting leader for this filthy slum.”

“Are you the leader of this pack of beggars, Dan Furb?”

“It’s Daniel. Daniel Furb. Not ‘leader,’ but ‘boss.’”

He pointed a finger, demanding to be called by the correct title. Not ‘Leader Dan’ but ‘Boss Daniel’, thank you very much!

“Leader or boss, what’s with this obsession?”

Now that I think about it, the original work mentioned something about his backstory. Dan Furb came from a lowly origin in the slums and was insecure about being a mere beggar boss, even if he called himself a boss.

That insecurity made him cling to the title and wear flashy clothes that didn’t suit him… Honestly, he just seemed like a guy who was all about show.

It’s like his personal growth stunted after the age of fifteen.

“Ha, and what about you? You look like a knight, so what’s with all this chaos? Is it a ridiculous sense of justice or something?”

Daniel’s lips twitched in irritation at my mocking tone, his voice bubbling with pent-up rage as he questioned me.

“Sense of justice? Not particularly, but even if I had one, that’s not why I’m here…”

I let my words trail off, scanning the six executives that Daniel brought along.

The chainmail, judging by its color, presumably only steel. Piercing or breaking through it shouldn’t be too hard.

Their raw abilities seemed to be at knight level? For a so-called ‘leader,’ having knight-level lackeys seemed a bit much.

Six armored knights. If I hadn’t figured out how to unleash my special skill, they would have been worthy opponents back then… but not anymore.

I’m not the weakling I was before.

With my skills honed now and the Ice Heart mastered through training with my mother, my physical capabilities have improved significantly. With the former virgin’s armor and the holy sword Edelmut, plus the spear Kabelach.

At this point, even if I lack the experience and skills, my raw power must have started to surpass Brunhilde’s during the possession.

Those six knights were no match for me, at least in terms of sheer strength. That’s talk for when I fight fairly, of course.

“Then what’s your purpose? Did you come here to collect money from those guys?”

Daniel asked again. If it wasn’t a chaotic act of justice, could I be a hired fixer taking money from another organization?

I shrugged lightly and denied it.

“Don’t act like you’re above that. That’s your kind of dirty work.”

As far as I knew, the pathetic ones who hired outside help for inter-guild conflicts were only the Abandon and the Guild within Pesengwigel.

The rabid hounds of the slums, Ashel, mainly earned their income from that fixer job.

They would take money from Abandon, sneak into the territories of other organizations, smash their operations, or assassinate executives.

The Guild would sometimes toss such jobs at her, maintaining a facade of a good reputation while still keeping it a secret from me. After all, it was all in the original novel.

…But anyway, that’s not what matters right now. What matters is that the boss of Abandon is right in front of me.

“Why did you do all this? Simple. I wanted to see your face. I heard from someone where you live.”

I replied, poking Jack’s decapitated corpse with my sword tip. I had been causing all this ruckus just to see you.

“Hah, so that’s why you were acting like this? To lure me out?”

“I was trying to approach you, and then you popped out. You have surprisingly sharp ears.”

Had everything gone according to plan, our meeting might have occurred much later. Maybe it could’ve even been pushed to tomorrow.

The place would’ve been somewhere else, back at his mansion. I would have sneaked in, gathered information, and then stabbed him before escaping.

“Since we’ve met like this, can I ask you for a favor?”

“A favor?”

“I hear you have a membership card for the Central Trading Post… I’d like you to pass that to me. I have some business at that auction.”

“You want me to give you my membership card? I see, so you’re not from another organization, huh? Is one of your acquaintances caught as a slave or something?”

“Well, that’s pretty close.”

Not an acquaintance but someone who will become one in the future.

I didn’t mention Ashel’s name.

Daniel, the moment I’d mention Ashel, would immediately react and could easily leverage her as a hostage against me.

“Yeah, I’ve dealt with your kind before. Those who want to enter the trading post but are afraid of pissing off other organizations, so they look for me.”

Daniel tilted his head with a mocking glance, looking at me as if I were a pig walking into the slaughterhouse.

“I guess you can imagine what I did to those guys?”

“Hmm, I’d say you probably dumped them into the sewers?”

“No, I sent them to the slave auction like they wanted.”

Shaking his head, Daniel raised his right hand, and the six men behind him all stepped forward together.

“Not as members, but as goods!”

The moment Daniel pointed at me, the six men charged at me like arrows released from a bow.

“…What a waste of time.”

I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly, awakening the fury within me.

The eyes hidden beneath the helmet gleamed with a blue light, shimmering.

Boom!

Humans can break walls with their backs.

As long as they’re wearing proper steel armor, that armor would turn into a giant hammer weighing dozens of kilograms.

“Kah…!”

Of course, the flesh inside that armor would have a hard time withstanding such an impact. Just like that knight who just smashed into three walls after I ran into him.

“Guh….”

A beaten man, sprawled out and groaning beneath the debris, blood pouring out mixed with his internal organs.

“Even as a core executive, this is all you amount to? Pathetic.”

All I did was charge into him, combining my skill, and he died from internal injuries? How weak can one be?

If he were a Troll, he’d have easily regenerated from such wounds. Friede or Eleadra wouldn’t even let their fists touch him.

With the boss of Abandon bringing core executives, I thought I should be a bit more cautious, yet here we are, just repeating the last fight.

“You’re not an ordinary knight, are you?”

“Where did you come from…!”

Of course, that’s just my perspective. These executives were astonished to see a knight-level fighter drop dead in one hit.

“Surround him and attack! Just like when we fought those beastfolk!”

Even Daniel, initially planning to just spectate, rolled up his sleeves and joined the fray.

Stab?

His weapon was a pair of pointed daggers with no edge, like a stiletto.

I think that’s what they call a stiletto, right?

I heard those kinds of daggers were created for weaklings who couldn’t break through armor to poke through the gaps in the plates…

Is he a bit weak? Why is he fighting with those things?

Focused purely on piercing, such a weapon wouldn’t challenge a swordsman head-on.

To win against a longsword with a dagger, you’d have to be faster and approach the enemy without them noticing.

And if the enemy is wearing armor, then you also need to have the focus and reflexes to aim precisely at the gaps.

“Thinking you can beat me with speed by charging in with that? Good luck with that!”

I intercepted the five executives surrounding me with my sword while observing Daniel’s movements.

Unless he possessed minimum royal knight-level athleticism or traits of acceleration, he couldn’t move faster than me.

Both options seemed highly unlikely. But seeing him charge boldly with such a dagger made me wonder if maybe… just maybe?

“Don’t underestimate me! You’ll regret it once you get hit!”

Daniel leaped up from his launch off the alley wall, spreading his arms wide like a bird.

…What? Is he just a madman?

A guy with a dagger jumps at me? In an open alley with no ceiling? This reckless act piqued my interest instead.

“Jumping? You looking for a suicide attempt?”

“Of course not!”

Daniel’s arms crossed as he hurled two lines of black light toward me.

Throwing daggers?

Well, I guess it makes sense. Better than charging straight in with those.

But why jump if he was going to throw from a distance?

I tilted my head, puzzled, and dodged to the side. I didn’t have time to block since the other executives were right there.

Thud, thud!

The two daggers Daniel threw embedded themselves in the dusty ground of the slums, piercing only my shadow.

“What is this? Is that all you’ve got? This isn’t even a joke….”

“Not even close!”

SLAP!

Before he landed, Daniel clapped his empty hands together, as if trying to catch something that was not there. The angle he was in made it look like he’d need a new arm and leg afterward.

And then, the next moment.

Brrrrr!

“…Huh?”

The faint rumble emanated from the daggers stuck into the ground, and suddenly my feet stopped moving. It felt as if I were tethered there with string.

“Gotcha!”

Seeing me trapped, Daniel burst out with joy in the air. The other executives, sensing it was their time to pounce, charged in unison.

…Were those daggers enchanted?

I glanced at the two still vibrating daggers sticking out of the ground.

If my shadow gets poked by those, it seems I can’t escape. A simple yet efficient weapon.

“You won’t be able to dodge anymore!”

“What’s it to me? I can just not dodge.”

Though I knew the limits were clear.

With my feet rooted, I raised my left hand, which was still free, up to eye level, concentrating my will on the tip.

Whoosh—!

At the tip of my finger was a ring of Eleadra’s. The spear Kabelach reacted to my intent and awakened.

As I unleashed the blood of the Valkyrie that I had been saving, the crimson vortex began to engulf everything around me.

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