Chapter 7: Green Snake
So-called "tempura" is a style of cooking where ingredients are battered and deep-fried. Common varieties include seafood like shrimp and octopus, or vegetables like eggplant, asparagus, and even cherry blossoms. Of course, there are also more… exotic versions made with insects like grasshoppers and locusts.
Kaito was currently eating a standard shrimp tempura.
Crunch, crunch.
Japanese cuisine was generally light and subtle, which didn't entirely suit Kaito's palate. Still, this tempura was a significant improvement over the oden and takoyaki that Toguro Hachidan had sent up earlier.
[You have consumed 10 unique dishes in this world. You have completed the Milestone: Gourmand.]
[Gourmand - When consuming any food, you will acquire a random buff. The buff's effect is related to the ingredients and cooking method.]
[You have unlocked subsequent Milestones: Purist Gourmand and Heretical Gourmand.]
[Purist Gourmand: Consume over 100 Legendary dishes across different worlds.]
[Heretical Gourmand: Consume over 50 dishes of Dark Cuisine across different worlds.]
Kaito wiped his mouth and popped the pudding from his dessert bowl into his mouth. Sweet desserts like this were delicious no matter which country they came from.
[You have consumed a dish and gained a buff: Keen Senses - Your perception has been slightly enhanced.]
The effect was barely noticeable, but Kaito wasn't surprised. Pudding was a common dessert, nothing special. If he had managed to eat the meat of a flying dragon spawned by King Piccolo, the effect would likely have been much more significant.
As Kaito saw it, [Milestones] were basically like [Achievements] in a video game. Completing them gave special rewards, and they even seemed to have potential for further advancement. He decided he should definitely pursue more of these in the mission worlds.
Ring~ Ring~
The old-fashioned telephone in the inn's lobby began to ring. Kaito didn't answer it. He simply stood up and headed for the mountain path.
The mountaintop inn was currently empty aside from him. The phone call was a signal he had arranged with Toguro Hachidan.
After killing the swordsman that day, Kaito had returned to town and given Hachidan a sum of money, instructing him to give him a signal every time one of the other candidates returned. To be safe, he even gave a stack of cash to Boro the driver. He could tell the big man was terrified of him.
This method was far more relaxing than waiting in the rain on the mountain path like that swordsman had.
Heh. Money. He couldn't take it out of this world, but there were plenty of "plot characters" here who needed it.
Kaito idly swung one of the scimitars he'd taken as he tied a red bandana over his face and started down the path.
"Two left…"
Over the past few days, aside from having Hachidan deliver a constant stream of unique local dishes, Kaito had already ambushed and killed three people on this path. Hachidan had also told him that two others had been killed by their targets while on their missions.
That meant of the original eight people, including himself, only two others remained.
One was the middle-aged man with the double-barreled shotgun. The other was the woman who had been the first to snatch an envelope.
Hachidan had specifically warned Kaito that the woman was no amateur. She was a well-known assassin in the underworld, codenamed [Green Snake].
Kaito, his face now masked, held a scimitar in his right hand. He hadn't used the Dual Wielding proficiency scroll yet. Unsure of what kind of skills Mercenary Tao might teach him, he decided to save it for later.
His current getup was a classic misdirection tactic. On the foggy mountain path with its poor visibility, people would see his disguise, assume he was a swordsman, and focus their attention on the blade. Then he would just shoot them.
Kaito wasn't someone with a special fetish for close-quarters combat. In fact, when he wasn't having one of his "episodes," he was ruthlessly pragmatic.
Lost in thought, he arrived at a narrow section of the path. He had specifically chosen a stretch with no guardrail, overlooking a sheer drop to the sea.
Sure enough, a figure emerged from the mountain mist in the distance, walking up the path.
Judging by the silhouette, it was the middle-aged man with the shotgun.
Kaito's expression remained placid as he used the fog for cover and walked forward to meet him.
During the scramble for the envelopes, Kaito had noticed that even when the man was swinging his shotgun like a club, his hands never left the grip and stock. This meant he was extremely confident in his marksmanship and would rely on shooting to solve problems, even in a chaotic melee. Kaito didn't think it was wise to get into a long-range shootout against a true marksman with just his revolver.
"Welcome back," Kaito called out, his voice slightly muffled by the mask. "Master Tao sent me to greet you."
It was, of course, a complete lie.
The man with the shotgun didn't respond. He just kept walking forward, the shotgun still slung on his back.
Kaito frowned. Was this guy really that naive? Did he actually believe such an obvious lie and let his guard down?
Suddenly, Kaito stopped. A flash of light in his left hand, and the silver revolver, [Misfortune's Knock], appeared.
He raised it and fired.
BANG!
The bullet struck the figure in the head—likely a result of the [Misfortune's Knock] special effect triggering.
The mist on the path was thick even during the day, and the figure was blurry as it fell. Kaito narrowed his eyes, and then abruptly dropped into a low crouch.
BOOM!
As the middle-aged man's body collapsed, a second figure that had been hiding behind it was finally revealed. No, that wasn't right. The rifleman Kaito had been looking at had been a corpse all along, which was why he hadn't received a kill notification.
The woman had been carrying the corpse up the mountain as a shield!
Kaito vaguely saw the double-barreled shotgun being lifted from the corpse and aimed at him. In that same instant, he crouched low and charged forward. On a narrow path like this, rushing the enemy was far less risky than trying to retreat from a shotgun blast.
By the time he heard the roar of the gun, he was already moving. The cloud of white smoke from the barrel seemed to bloom in slow motion. His pupils dilated. He held the scimitar in a standard grip and swung with all his might.
SHIIING!
There was no technique to the attack. Kaito's muscles bulged, and relying on pure, explosive strength—well over 650 pounds of force—he swung the scimitar at a terrifying speed.
The long-haired woman's eyes widened. She bent backward at the waist, releasing the shotgun and letting it fall. She watched as the steel blade sliced through the air and then cleanly through the neck of the still-warm corpse she had been using as a shield.
SPLAT!
A head flew into the air, and blood sprayed upward like a fountain.
CLANG!
Kaito had put so much force into the swing that after severing the neck, the blade's momentum carried it into the rock face of the mountain, where the edge shattered on impact.
Lunatic!
The female assassin, [Green Snake], cursed inwardly. That last swing had given her a genuine scare. If she had been a fraction of a second slower, her own head would have been split in two.
She had figured out early on that Tao's "trial" was secretly designed to make them kill each other. After completing her own mission, she had hidden outside of town instead of returning to the mountain. After seeing three people return and then disappear without a trace, she had secretly followed today's returnee, the rifleman, up the mountain. She used the fog to assassinate him and then carried his body as cover, never expecting that her final opponent would not only be this perceptive but also a complete madman with no qualms about killing.
Green Snake gave the headless corpse a hard shove, sending it stumbling toward Kaito. She followed closely behind it, her feet seeming to glide across the ground as she closed the distance. From the tips of her fingers, two glints of cold steel appeared.