The Reincarnated Villainess Assassin Only Wanted Friends

Night fell, and armed with my new tools, I ventured outside. My body felt heavier with the addition of the ballistic knife and bombs. Thank goodness I hadn't brought the katar. As my horse trotted towards the forest, I focused my vision, detecting a thin film, more like a haze of mana scattered here and there. These must have been the detection spells the wind agent used to track me. He was undoubtedly a diligent agent, back in action so soon after I shot him in the face yesterday.

Leaving my horse behind, I strolled around, but he had been thorough. There were no blind spots. Well, if I knew what was coming, I knew how to handle it. I threw a small feystone from afar, and as it passed through the detection field, the mana haze rippled. I quickly fled and hid in the bushes as several soldiers arrived with over seven mages, two of whom I recognized as the ice and fire agents.

After they departed, I sneaked past before they could install another detection spell. Apparently, those spells could be converted into magic tools and distributed. I wondered if R25B sold them. I'd ask him later.

As I crept around, I finally reached their basecamp. They had cleared a large swath of our forest to build it. What a waste of logs. Gates, towers, and fences—all constructed from wood. I scanned the area, searching for more traps, but apart from several mages guarding the gates, there seemed to be none.

Using my tentacle, I scaled the waist-high fence, which had barbed wires entwined around it. However, given the scarcity of these wires and their sparse placement, I knew they were stretched for resources. Camouflage was now doing its job. As long as I avoided mana detection, this camouflage would still fool ordinary humans.

An hour had passed, yet I still had no clue where the jammer was. A jammer is a magical device, and I thought I could locate it using mana sight since it should emit some kind of mana pulse. However, I hadn't found anything of the sort here. A jammer shouldn't be concealed, as it would affect its jamming ability.

"Kill..." Eli whispered from deep within me. I suppressed her voice, but the sensation lingered.

"Eli, I know what to do with you. Instead of randomly attacking citizens, I'll spy on the officer in charge of monster taming," I resolved aloud, and the heavy sensation of hatred and despair vanished instantly, causing a slight vertigo. Then, I moved stealthily from one tent to another. Goblins and orcs were scattered about, some seated like cattle or horses in a stable.

Monsters emerged from a large tent and sat alongside the others, exhibiting almost robotic behavior. How could humans tame monsters? And where did the monsters come from?

The answer came when I sneaked into the tent. A spawner was there, accompanied by several mages. I waited with bated breath as mana swirled from one mage to the next, forming a whirlpool before being absorbed into the spawner. It birthed monster after monster until finally ceasing. Twenty or so guards immediately bound the monsters with practiced efficiency, using chains and cuffs. The orcs, immobilized by steel cuffs with weights, struggled against the guards, while the goblins, with lighter iron cuffs, also resisted but were held firmly. Even orcs found it challenging to overpower five royal guards with only one arm. Several mages then inserted magic devices into the monsters, rendering them motionless. Like robots, they walked outside, wearing the same expression as the monsters in the clearing.

"I see. But that's impossible. Magic equipment costs at least one gold. It would be impractical for them to throw away thousands of gold every day for these monsters. While it's cheaper than training knights and soldiers, the numbers don't add up," I muttered, analyzing the situation. With my camera tool, I photographed everything, but I heard there was another tool for recording videos that I wanted to buy.

I contemplated destroying the spawner. It should be the only one the Elderans have, and if I destroyed it, they would likely retreat.

As I pondered what to do with the spawner, several mages switched to provide mana to the spawner, birthing more monsters at a rapid pace. In just ten minutes, ten monsters were born. No wonder they could launch attacks with over two thousand monsters each day.

Even as Eli raged inside my heart, sending me her wail of anger, hatred, and despair, I suppressed it and reasoned with her. We needed to capture one of the officers alive for interrogation. Besides, we couldn't win with hundreds of soldiers surrounding this camp.

I trailed the officers as they emerged from the tent. It was convenient that the important-looking officer seemed to have his own tent. His insistence on privacy worked in my favor. After entering the tent, I removed my camouflage. The officer, looking like he was about to enjoy a good night's rest, widened his eyes in shock. Before he could scream, I bound him with my tentacle.

"Don't shout. Answer my question," I commanded. The officer was a mage, but he appeared to be a low-leveled mage, probably level 4 at most. My illusion could penetrate his magical defense at this distance. He realized he was under an illusion, but that didn't matter. All I needed to do was mask my identity.

"How do you control these monsters?" I demanded.

"Please... Please don't kill me!" he pleaded.

"Answer me," I insisted.

"It was the slavery implant. It detaches your consciousness using dark magic!"

"How did you use the monsters to attack County Shadowsteps? How much does one implant cost?"

"The implants were used to train monsters, not to use them as war machines. Monsters could be tamed by adjusting the implant. It's like training a horse or a dog! The trainers work with them during the day, but as for the specifics, I don't know. That's the responsibility of other departments!"

"Where are the jammers?"

"Jammers? I don't know. Wait, I'm sorry. I really don't know where the jammers are! Please, argh!"

"I see. Thank you," I said with a smile before slitting his throat. Sorry, but the demon inside me really wanted you dead. However, he didn't know where the jammers were. That's bad.

After threatening and assassinating seven more officers in a larger tent, I finally discovered the location of the jammers. Along with them, I found several files strewn on the table, which I photographed before leaving. The jammers were hidden inside bushes, and there were cloaking devices to mask the pulse emitted by the jammers into ambient mana. It was easy to find them, but the jammers were guarded by three mages and two buff-looking soldiers. The soldiers were probably skilled fighters, as they wore different equipment than the standard Elderan soldiers. However, the RGB (red, green, blue) musketeers were nowhere to be found. This is my chance.

"Who's there?" one of the soldiers drew his weapon, and my stealth was deactivated. As color returned to my body, I looked at him agape. But there was no time to ponder how he deactivated my skill. I immediately threw my smoke grenade and drew my dagger as they did the same.

Then, I tossed all my flashbangs. The guards and the mage reacted instinctively, but the flashbangs exploded in their faces. Disoriented, the guards struggled to maintain their balance, while the mages dropped to the floor. In the thick of the smoke, they couldn't find me. I then threw my bomb at the jammer, which exploded with a powerful shockwave, knocking them all to the ground. With my dark tentacle holding onto my throwing knives, they all found the guards' necks, and I preemptively slit them.

"R25B?" I tried my earclips, and they finally connected.

"Oh! The jammer is gone! Yay! 400 points for you and 8 for me! I'm safe this month with more for booze! I think I'm on my way to a promotion! Good work, R666!" R25B cheered. I started to miss his gaudy and easygoing voice, but somehow, I wanted to kick him in the face right now.

After all the time we've been silenced, this is his first greeting to me? I was appalled, but I continued regardless. "I want to go home. I think I've also completed another commission. About those monsters."

"Really! Wow, you sure worked hard! Even though you only clocked less than a tenth of other reapers, you did more than most of them! You investigated their HQ? 150 points, then. But you have to send me the photos. I can't give you the points without evidence. You know, standard protocol and formality stuff. Thank you for your hard work!"

"See you," I said, heading home in confusion.