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Giving the matter some thought over the long idle hours she spent staring at the ceiling, Itaka Izumi ultimately concluded that the world she was in was most likely not incorporating video game mechanics.

She found no way to confirm her remaining hit points, stamina or mana points, or other relevant attributes. Sleeping, while just as pleasant, was not much more revitalizing than in her original world, and the muscles of her sword arm were rather sore from last night’s unusual exercise.

In other words, whether the planet called Ortho was a highly advanced simulation by an unknown alien race, a magically induced dream, or a genuine alternate reality, it still worked largely by the same natural principles that governed life on Earth. Even though it didn't enjoy an equivalent level of cultural sophistication.

“Meehhhhhhh…” This conclusion considerably lowered Izumi's enthusiasm towards the future. “This means, I seriously have to find work to make a living? There won't be an adventure if I starve at the starter zone! Are you kidding meeeee…?”

The summoned champion had found herself a small attic room from the eastern district, in the upstairs of an old couple, for the fee of five copper marks per night. There she spent the time Yuliana was introduced to captivity by lazing off and sleeping.

Not gaining experience points from her actions meant she wouldn't be growing any stronger than she already was. Rather, her strength would only keep on rapidly declining as her age caught up with her.

“Isn't this really bad...?”

What could she do then?

With the goal of becoming a conventional action hero, Izumi had mostly only studied combat and survival skills fit for the wild. And yet, being a woman fast approaching her forties, she wouldn't be able to hold the physically demanding job of a mercenary for long. Provided anyone was willing to give her a chance in the first place. Unlike in video games, where your character's looks didn't make the quest-givers any less willing to unload their troubles on you, the humans of Ortho were limited by prejudice, doubts, fears, and needless empathy.

What else then? What kind of jobs were viable?

Izumi thought about her “subclass” studies.

Should she go beg a blacksmith to take her for an apprentice? Clearly impossible for the aforementioned reasons.

Izumi had also tried to study flora in her youth since herbalists tended to have it nice and easy, but she had given up on that field soon as well. After all, there was no way to know if the other world would have similar species of vegetation. Most likely not, making studying them a big waste of time.

Other usual medieval game activities included the likes of tailoring, mining, alchemy, cooking, and farming. Of those, she only had any familiarity with cooking. Trying to find work as a chef, however, she'd have the entire female population of this world for competition, on top of not knowing the next thing about the ingredients or where to get them.

“Is there any way I could use my advanced modern day knowledge to my advantage?” Izumi frantically thought. “Build a generator? Invent the radio? Penicillin? Get into medicine?”

Regrettably, with only high school level academics, Izumi was a far cry from an engineer or a pharmacist. And all the theoretical knowledge obtained in her school days had typically vanished from her mind after the exam day. How to construct a dynamo or a battery from scratch, she had to admit she was clueless. If a light bulb broke, she'd replace it with another, without ever paying a thought to how exactly it worked.

As she was, Izumi simply didn't know enough about this world yet to live in it. There were still tasks like customer service or perhaps office work, becoming a scribe, or a bookkeeper for merchants, but...

“There's no meaning in coming to another world, if I'm only going to do the kind of stuff they’d force on me at home!”

Izumi was at a dead end.

Her solution to her troubles was the same as in her previous world—to go back to sleep.

By the time Izumi awoke again, it was already getting darker. The warm orange tones of the setting sun were cast into the room through the open window, which she was sure she had closed earlier. Turning to look, she realized she had a visitor.

—“Oh, did I wake you up? So sorry.”

There was a girl sitting on the window sill, gazing back at Izumi with a playful smile.

Riswelze. As she had promised, the assassin had returned.

Rubbing the corners of her eyes, Izumi sat up on the bed.

“I wasn’t asleep,” she said, feeling slightly guilty for not noticing a thing.

“You were snoring. Like a baby,” the girl mocked her.

“So you bought the act. How did you find me anyway?”

“You're seriously asking me? What a half-baked contract killer would I be, if I couldn't track down one funnily-dressed lady with a claymore in a town this small? The folk here aren’t particularly secretive about their guests. I don't know if you realized, but safety is ever in high demand yet short in supply.”

“Yes, yes, I'm very impressed, falling for you, great job,” Izumi lightly clapped her hands. “And? Did you get your coin too?”

“Ha!” The girl wryly turned her eyes to the street view. “They gave me thirty in silver and told me to choose between that and the dungeon. And you can't exactly rough up a military fort for better pay. Well, I should be glad they gave anything at all. Better than expected, really. We've got a bigger fish, don't we?”

“We do?”

Jumping down from the window, Riswelze stepped forward and explained in a lowered tone,

“As I suspected, they've taken the princess to the Mayor's private estate, half an hour's ride outside the town. According to my informant, the Mayor has a banquet planned for tomorrow night, where all the local elite are invited. The timing of the festivities is probably a coincidence, but I have no doubt her royal highness is going to make an appearance there.”

“And I'm guessing somebody is going to crash that party. It’s on a night like that, when the rich have their purses loosest, yes?” Izumi said.

“Great minds think alike,” the girl nodded. “The estate will be heavily guarded, of course. The Mayor has positioned two platoons of town guards there. That's nearly eighty men. The chances of sneaking in and back out unnoticed are next to nil. But I have a plan that might make the impossible possible. You interested?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Me?”

“Yeah. You're going to get the princess back, aren't you? So let's work together.”

“Right...”

“I have an associate inside. I can get you a forged invitation and he will edit you onto the list of guests. You will attend the banquet posing as a fresh aristocrat looking to make contacts and blend right in. There are going to be fireworks. You will find a chance to set off the fireworks ahead of the schedule, drawing everybody's attention to the skies. If all goes well, it will make enough noise to draw at least some of the guards from their posts. Making use of the distraction, I will then infiltrate the estate, help myself to the Mayor’s safe, and then create a distraction on my own right. You're then free to grab the princess, shuffle out with the crowd and ride home. How does it sound?”

“So the classic pattern, then.”

“Oh, you've done heists before?” Riswelze raised a brow.

“Yeees, many, many times,” Izumi replied, “Like in Hit*** and A***** Creed, and so on.”

“I've never heard of those places before...Well, aren't you full of surprises, auntie?”

“Don't call me that. I have a name.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” Riswelze ignored her and added in a more serious tone. “The profits will be split 80-20, in my favor. You shouldn't have a problem with that. I'm shouldering all the preparations and most of the risk as well.”

“Hmm?” Izumi frowned.

“W-what? Well, 70-30 then? I'm really in need of coin, you know.”

“No, that's not it,” the woman shook her head. “You can make it 90-10 if you want, I don't mind. I was only a bit surprised.”

“What for?”

“For being a thief and a killer, you're awfully honest.”

“What?” the assassin's eyes widened in astonishment. “W-what are you saying, that came out of nowhere?”

“Well,” Izumi explained, “I imagined you were planning to either bail in the end or stab us in the back, so you wouldn't bother to bring up any talks about profits now.”

“Huh!?” Riswelze leaned forward, looking offended. “I wouldn't do that! Haven’t I already helped you a plenty? What kind of a despicable villain am I in your eyes?”

“The kind that murders and steals for a living?” Izumi tilted her head and answered. “Besides, you nearly did stab me in the back, literally.”

“There's a rhyme and reason to everything, including murder and stealing! Besides, theft isn't what I do for a career, it's more just a...forced hobby, maybe? Not my personal preference. I mean, the point is, I don't do what I do out of some bizarre desire to be evil, nor do I betray my partners. I have standards! Yes, standards.”

“Some standards, trying to butcher a helpless, innocent woman in a bath.”

“That—that was an accident!” Riswelze quickly retorted. “You're not going to hold it against me forever, are you? I admit I did a poor job at verifying the facts, but anyone would have made the mistake in my position! Isn't it to atone for that, that I'm lending you a hand now?”

Why was she so bent on making herself look good in Izumi's eyes anyway? The woman couldn't understand.

“What about if and when I get Yule out of that place?” Izumi asked. “Are you going to try to fix your mistake and kill her, if another bounty is put on her?”

“I'm not going to do that,” the assassin sighed. “If all goes well, I won't need the coin anymore, and we can only get her out if all does go well. So rest assured, everybody wins.”

“Sure...”

Izumi fell quiet and looked down.

“What's wrong?” Riswelze asked, seeing that listless look. “I've seen faces like that before. It's going to go well, all right? Don't go getting cold feet now.”

“That's not it,” Izumi shook her head. “I can't say I don't need the money myself, so I don't mind helping out, but...Do you think that I'd really be 'saving' Yule? By dragging her out of that place. What if she doesn't want to?”

“Huh? What's that supposed to mean?” The assassin rolled her eyes. “Did she look willing to you, when they dragged her away?”

“Maybe not,” Izumi admitted, “but sometimes what we want might not be what we need. Maybe what's waiting for her outside is worse than what's in there, you know? She's got food and a place to stay, at least. She won't have to worry about being pursued or finding a job. Rationally thinking, I wouldn't be doing much good for her if I forced her back on the road to be a fugitive again, would I?”

Riswelze twisted her lips and took a step forward,

“It's been bothering me the whole time, but what are you to that princess, exactly? Her mom?”

“No.”

“Yet you keep worrying about her as if you were.”

“I do?”

“You didn't even notice? Ever since I first saw you two, you've been guarding her every step, haven't you? The market, the blacksmith's shop, like a jealous mother hen. She probably despises you, imagining you betrayed her, yet here you are, selflessly thinking only what's best for her? Though in a pretty bizarre way, if you ask me. So go get her. Clear up the misunderstanding, and take her wherever. That's what you really want to do, isn't it?”

“I know I'm not that girl's mother,” Izumi sullenly answered, “And I know I wouldn't be able to look after her like one. If I could choose, I'd of course rather have her suffer less than more. Isn't that only natural? Whether it was Yule in trouble or Rise or anybody else, I'd feel the same way. Probably. Then does it matter what I want? If I can't guarantee that being free is better for her than being there, then wouldn't I just be doing it for my own self-satisfaction? Whenever I see the hero face a choice like this in all those books and movies, I can't help but wonder, 'isn't he actually the bad guy here'? 'How can he keep selfishly pursuing his own happiness with the girl, when the world and so many lives are at stake'? How is that supposed to be something to admire? I don't really get it. Is it men’s logic?”

“Weird is what you are,” Riswelze shook her head. She walked in front of the woman, leaned over to bring her face to her level, and said, “Listen to me. Who cares about being a hero? We're only people here, you and I. If there's something you want, you had better grab it and run with it, and no second thoughts. That's all there is to life. Who gives a damn if it's selfish or whatnot? Who's gonna judge you? Everything that flows through your fingers might as well stop existing for you. I can't predict the future, but I do know this: if there's a chance something will go wrong for the people you care about when you're not looking, you can bet it will. And when that happens, it won't matter one bit what you intended or wanted. Pain is all you'll be left with. So either you will abandon someone to death, or you'll do your darned hardest to look after them. No compromises. So, how shall it be?”

“That speech sounds pretty villain-y to me,” Izumi said.

“Whatever, auntie!” the assassin straightened herself and turned back to the window. “Believe me or don’t. All you need to do is go see for yourself. You're going anyway, aren't you? So find the girl, see how she's doing with your own eyes. Then you can decide whether she needs a rescue or not.”

“...I suppose I can do that much.”

“That's what I want to hear. Don't be fooled by how easy I've made it sound. It won't be. We're going in our separate ways, so if anything goes wrong, I won't be able to help you. Just set off those fireworks and get out. With the girl or without, that's your call. Don't try any heroics. Always look after yourself first, I...Izumi.”

“You really are a nice girl, Rise,” the woman said, a bit puzzled. “So much so, that I think it's going against your own advice. I'm not particularly upset about you trying to kill me if that's what you're still worried about. You don't owe me apologies, and I already promised to help you, so that's that.”

“I'm not nice at all,” Riswelze only said, hiding under her bangs to evade Izumi's gaze.

She then turned to the window and added in a more composed tone,

“With the bounty silver, I will have an appropriate costume and a carriage ready for you. The party will begin at the beginning of the sixth period tomorrow night, so I will come pick you up sometime before that. Just be ready and don't get yourself in trouble before then.”

“Right.”

Having said everything, the young girl climbed through the window and jumped out, into the darkening night. Seemed there was no more reason to think about how she got in, with the door locked.

“I really am too old for the hero part, aren't I…?” Izumi muttered, before laying back on the bed and closing her eyes.