In a building located in a corner of a certain town, ten dark individuals were gathered as usual.
Various topics were on the agenda, and it goes without saying that one of them concerned the Amamiya Tower.
And, as usual, the maneuvering over their activities in that place was no different from before.
“—That’s why it would have been better if you had left it to me!”
The man who said that with a raised voice was the one who had been removed from his duties, having been known for specializing in rough work.
However, without any reaction to such a man’s voice, the elderly woman in charge snorted.
“Are you an idiot? If I left it to someone like you, you’d be bared your fangs in an instant and it would be over.”
“Hah! Ridiculous. Against mere remnants, why are you being so timid? Besides—”
“That’s enough!!”
Perhaps unable to bear the exchange between the man and the woman, the elder sitting in the center finally roared.
At that voice, the man and the woman finally fell silent, and the others gathered around looked at the two with a look of exasperation.
However, their faces revealed a desire to be entrusted with the task, so they were no different from each other, merely refraining from speaking.
The man in the center, noticing this, let out a loud sigh.
“Honestly… Among you, is there no one who can analyze properly?”
“You will be excluded,” the elder man said, turning his gaze to the elderly woman and glaring at the others.
“I thought our darkness was the best in the world, but it seems I need to re-evaluate and retrain.”
To his appearance, where he was clearly suppressing his anger, the others fell silent.
Although he was the eldest among the participants, it was common knowledge among them that he was also the most powerful.
Seeing everyone fall silent, the elder, who had sighed, was about to speak again when—
Suddenly, a voice was heard from a place where no one should have been.
“That’s true~. I agree with the opinion of retraining.”
“Who’s there!?”
The one who reacted first to the voice, which was not from any of the participants, was, as expected, the elder man.
Next, the elderly woman threw a throwing knife in the direction of the voice.
Seeing that, it was clear at a glance who had the most skill among them, in what order.
However, the owner of the voice—Peach—was even more skilled than them.
She appeared from a completely different direction than where the voice had come from, and deliberately let out a sigh.
“I thought it would be more difficult, but why can I infiltrate so easily~? Isn’t the guard a bit too careless?”
As Peach appeared, throwing weapons were successively thrown from the others.
Without answering Peach’s question at all, they immediately went on the offensive, which was to be expected from the representatives of each unit.
However, Peach shot down all of these attacks.
While this was happening, three people spoke up almost simultaneously.
” ” “Why are you here…!?” ” ”
At their voices, which were almost screams, the attacks of the others also stopped.
The ones who spoke were the ones related to the Amamiya Tower, which had just been the topic of conversation.
While concerned about Peach, everyone’s gaze turned to the three, but they were in no condition to care.
They were simply stunned, unable to believe what was happening before their eyes.
Seeing their completely unbelievable state, the others also looked suspiciously at Peach and the three, sensing something was up.
Incidentally, Peach’s face was slightly hidden at the moment.
This was necessary to infiltrate this far, and besides, her usual face was too conspicuous, so she covered her nose and mouth with fabric when acting stealthily.
However, she had not changed her voice, so the three who noticed realized it was Peach from her eyes and voice.
“How in the world did you get here…!?”
“Th-that’s impossible…!?”
“Wh-why, here…!?”
The three spoke their respective questions, all in surprise.
From their reaction, the elder man seemed to have realized who the woman in front of him was.
“…I see. You are Peach of the Defreya Clan.”
At those words, the others also turned surprised gazes.
Peach, whose name was revealed, had no intention of hiding, so she answered normally.
“That is indeed the case, but… I thought the opponent would be a bit more challenging. Was it only this much…?”
Peach’s tone was slightly different from usual, and she looked a little dejected.
Because the opponent’s strength was unexpectedly low, she had easily infiltrated this place and was let down.
And at the same time, she realized that she had not truly understood her own strength.
At Peach’s words, which could be interpreted as provocative, those present involuntarily cried out.
” ” ” ” “What… !?” ” ” ”
Some even tried to attack Peach directly, but they were stopped by the elder man.
“Stop it. You’ll just be defeated if you go.”
“Th-that’s not true…!”
“Idiot. You couldn’t even notice that someone had infiltrated the room, so don’t make pointless boasts.”
At the elder’s calm words, those who had protested did not move any further.
Seeing that, Peach understood that, regardless of their strength, there was at least a command structure typical of a dark organization.
Because they had been arguing like foul-mouthed brawlers just before, she had thought there wasn’t even that.
To Peach, the elder spoke in a calm manner.
“So, what business do you have coming all the way here? Have you come alone for revenge?”
It was undoubtedly their fault that the Defreya Clan had been pushed to such an extent in the past.
However, such things were already in the past for the Defreya Clan.
Peach shook her head from side to side, recalling their previous conversation.
“No. I have no such intention. For us, our current life is more important.”
“Oh. I see.”
The elder man nodded as if he understood something, and Peach said in a perfectly ordinary tone, without any particular intimidation.
“Let me be clear, if you ever lay hands on our clan members like you did in the past, we will come to crush you for real this time.”
At those words, those around them stirred, and the man stared intently at Peach.
Peach noticed a small bead of sweat on the man’s temple.
The man understood that Peach, who had managed to get this far without being noticed, could indeed crush them.
However, some of those around him, unfortunately, did not have the ability to discern that.
They had faces that seemed to want to say something, but Peach ignored them.
In a dark organization, as long as the head is dealt with, the subordinates will not overturn decisions unless something truly exceptional happens, no matter how much they騒めき (commotion).
That’s why Peach was conversing only with the elder man.
For just a moment, the unresponsive elder man looked at Peach and said,
“Crush us… Do you really think you can do that?”
“Who knows? For darkness, once the head is crushed, the rest will move on their own. I don’t know what will happen after that.”
Peach’s declaration to eliminate at least those present caused the man facing her to twitch his eyebrows.
Whether Peach’s words could actually be executed or not, if they could indeed be carried out, the organization would inevitably split sooner or later.
The man quickly understood that this could lead to the organization being destroyed, just as Peach had said earlier.
I’ve suddenly infiltrated the enemy’s headquarters.
As expected of Peach.
As for Peach’s unnoticeable problem, I’ll write about that next.
The next update will be on Monday, June 5th.
