...Are you serious?"
Hintleyya, or rather Platinum, stiffened completely after seeing the message that popped up on her personal communication device.
Asking her to approach Noah, in other words, the Shieldless League hadn't given up on their assassination plan against Noah? But even if you haven't given up, please find someone who can match up to them, okay? Manner and that woman named Kuro are clearly not on a level I can mess with.
This is no longer hitting a brick wall; it's purely a mayfly trying to shake a tree. Forget about assassinating Noah, I'm afraid I'd be pinned to the ground the moment I harbored any killing intent. I don't want to experience being pinned down and having my face rubbed against the ground!
Although abandoning a mission wasn't something Hintleyya liked, strictly speaking, she'd rather try to assassinate a Zhengzhan Knight; there might even be a slight chance of success.
Forget about Kuro, whose true strength was unknown. Manner was from the Nearl Family family, and his strength could directly match that of Snitz. Nearl, who had been missing for a long time. Snitz. Nearl's battle records back then were vivid in memory; let alone herself, even profound iron might not be able to take him down. She was just a mere Platinum Position, wanting to take down someone protected by Manner. Nearl? Was she tired of living too long?
"I understand... This mission is to make me commit suicide."
Hintleyya took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to reply with a string of question marks, and began to re-evaluate the order. After calming down, the directive didn't necessarily state that she had to assassinate Noah Guillerette... Approach, to what extent is considered approaching? Is it to steal intelligence?
If it's just stealing intelligence, maybe she could handle it... as long as she didn't have to face that terrifying Manner, everything would be fine.
Humans have limits, and Platinum felt her limits were pretty much here. She would do as much work as she had strength for. If it was beyond her capabilities, she wouldn't even think about being dedicated to her job; that wasn't dedication, that was being clueless.
No matter what this directive ultimately meant, Platinum had completely abandoned any plans to deal with Noah Guillerette.
And... she still owed her a meal, at least wait until after that meal, right?
A smile played on Platinum's lips, and for some reason, her mood suddenly improved quite a bit.
However, how to approach was a big problem. Her current identity in front of Noah was a business specialist, upgraded from the front desk girl for Originite hand sanitizer. Although she had left contact information, she couldn't just say she was fired as soon as she went back, could she? That would be too obvious.
Then she would have to put effort into other areas. In short, she would first investigate Noah Guillerette's daily schedule. She just needed to pretend it was a chance encounter—
Hintleyya took off her plain glasses and let down her long hair, which had been tied with a hair tie. After returning to her original appearance, she looked around, saw no one, leaped off a wall onto a low building, and then using that building as a springboard, disappeared into the steel jungle in a few bounds.
---
Noah was unaware of all this. She had slept directly at the company last night. For convenience, a special room was always prepared next to her office for rest, with two beds, one for Kuro and one for herself. When they first started the business, she and Kuro often slept together. Now, at least, they could afford two beds. Last night, she worked on documents until late and didn't want to go home, so she simply rested on this temporary bed.
However, Kuro always woke up earlier than Noah. Whenever Noah woke up, Kuro was always awake...
Noah had also considered whether to give Kuro a vacation, but Kuro herself refused. According to her, she wasn't actually busy—after all, most of the time she only needed to be by Noah's side. Aside from dealing with a few troublesome individuals in the early days, after Kuro's reputation spread, anyone daring to target Noah would have to think twice. The current situation was that Kuro was actually completely idle—this was the effect of her reputation.
Those few individuals who had tried to target Noah back then seemed to be quite formidable experts in the shadows. After being easily repelled, most people, once they knew Noah had such a powerful figure by her side, actually rarely took on jobs to deal with Noah. No other reason, the cost was too high—those repelled by Kuro either had their legs twisted or their arms broken; in any case, none returned completely intact.
For these people, disability was far more painful than death—
They least wanted to face an opponent who wouldn't kill but would definitely cripple them. And so far, no one had been able to get the better of Kuro; most people had calmed down, and the fate of those few who dared to challenge her was enough to prove everything.
Kuro also took on the responsibility of managing Noah's life, so she would prepare Noah's breakfast early, and sometimes even provide a wake-up service.
What is a sense of security? If there really was a perfect and elegant Head Maid in this world, Noah would definitely cast her vote for Kuro.
Even though she wasn't a maid, the things she did were practically a combination of bodyguard, maid, and her most trusted assistant, among other roles.
Noah felt that no matter how much salary she paid Kuro, it wouldn't be enough to match what Kuro did for her, and even if she wanted to give Kuro more money, she would refuse it...
"Spacing out again? Get up and eat breakfast first."
While Noah was still lost in thought, Kuro's voice came from beside her ear.
She turned her head, revealing a gentle smile.
"You've worked hard."
"Eat breakfast first; work can wait a bit, it's fine. Manner is also about to come to work."
Kuro didn't respond, and to outsiders, Kuro seemed a bit cold, but to Noah, Kuro was the kindest person in the world.
"Kuro, why do you always wake up so early?"
After Noah woke up, she would always try to find topics to talk about with Kuro.
There was no other way; Kuro was indeed a quiet person.
If Noah didn't initiate conversation, Kuro could go an entire day without saying a word.
"No."
Kuro shook her head.
"I just wake up according to my habits."
"It's already early enough for me... I feel like I've never seen you sleep."
Noah said this and then realized something was off.
"Oh, right, I can't see anyway."
"..."
Kuro was silent for a moment, but in Noah's perception, Kuro's emotions did fluctuate slightly because of this somewhat dark joke.
"You'll see eventually. Rhodes Island also said that your eyes are not beyond recovery."
"That'll be a long time from now..."
Noah shook her head.
"Besides, I'm already used to it; it's no big deal."
"..."
"Alright, I was just kidding, don't be angry."
Noah, hearing Kuro fall silent, quickly ended the topic.
"I was just making a small joke. Of course, I'd be very happy if I could see."