“Thudthudthudthudthud!!!!” A huge flock of swiftbirds ran past the tree Rhode was leaning against.

When they thundered by, it felt even more shocking than a train roaring over someone kneeling on the tracks.

Shocking as it was, they still didn’t notice Rhode.

Swiftbirds had pretty good hearing and eyesight, but sadly, their sense of smell left a lot to be desired.

Using their blind spots, Rhode successfully escaped the swiftbirds’ pursuit.

“Hahaha... I made it out alive.” Rhode let out a few awkward laughs, his shirt soaked with cold sweat.

But Black Sword didn’t respond to his laughter. It stayed silent.

Black Sword was a pretty willful sort. If it wanted to talk, it would. If it didn’t, it would stay quiet.

Seeing no reaction from Black Sword, Rhode could only shrug helplessly.

He carefully cradled the swiftbird egg and headed back the way he came.

He’d thought this commission would be difficult, but it turned out absurdly easy. Only the final chase had been a little terrifying.

And on top of that, he hadn’t run into any magical encounter at all. What a huge letdown.

Did meeting that little princess count as an encounter? Of course not.

Normally, in novels, a commission would be full of twists and turns. You’d make new friends or new enemies along the way.

But Rhode’s commission this time had been plain to the point of being painfully plain.

Two hours later, Clinton City District.

“Ah, you’re still alive.” The young receptionist at the Clinton Adventurers’ Guild covered her mouth with both hands and stared at Rhode in disbelief.

Her big eyes were filled with even bigger shock.

Her reaction left Rhode speechless. “Why wouldn’t I be alive...?”

It was just stealing a bird egg. Why did she act like he was bound to die?

“I completed the commission.” Rhode placed the bird egg from his arms onto the desk.

He was waiting for her to give him proof of completion. Once he had that, he could go back and learn from his teacher.

“Ah, alright. I’ll first confirm that the target item has been successfully obtained.” The receptionist struggled to lift the bird egg, then carried it into the large storage room in the back.

A short while later, she finally returned to the counter, panting.

With empty hands.

Rhode looked at her in confusion. “Um... where’s the proof?”

“Your commission required that the swiftbirds not be harmed, so afterward, the monster researchers will go inspect the site.”

“As long as everything checks out, both your reward and your proof will be handed to you,” the receptionist said with a smile.

Her smile was pretty. It was the standard professional kind.

Not all that sincere, maybe, but definitely pretty. And pretty was enough.

“Can I get the proof first? I don’t really care about the reward...” Rhode muttered.

“Alright. You can get the proof first, but if it doesn’t meet the standards, it’ll be taken back,” the receptionist warned him.

“Mm, I understand.” Rhode, who absolutely did not understand, nodded like a pecking chick.

“I’m very kind. I didn’t even kill a single chicken,” he declared solemnly.

In his eyes, those swiftbirds were just a bunch of especially oversized chickens.

“Fine, then wait just a moment.” The receptionist let out a sigh.

Only after finishing all the procedures did she write up the proof and hand it to Rhode.

“As for the reward, please come back the day after tomorrow to confirm and collect it.”

“Mm.” Rhode didn’t even know if he’d come back for the reward. He’d only taken this commission to learn a new skill anyway.

With the proof in hand, Rhode left the Adventurers’ Guild without looking back.

He shoved the door open so hard that the bell kept going ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling.

Rhode didn’t care about details like that. He headed straight for Hagart’s house.

This time, he didn’t use any transportation to get there. He parkoured the whole way.

At Hagart’s place, Rhode didn’t just study stealth. Obstacle running was one of his main courses too.

For an assassin, as long as a place wasn’t completely sealed off, there had to be a way through.

He leaped across rooftops and walls, and sometimes even stepped on the canopies of other people’s carriages.

Since he was wearing gloves, he could even grab onto cables and swing across the street.

There was only one word to describe that feeling of weaving through the city.

Awesome.

“Teacher Hagart, I finished it in one day!” Rhode shouted as he jumped down from Hagart’s chimney.

“Mm.” Seeing Rhode jump down from the chimney, Hagart wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

He even tossed Rhode a towel. “Wipe your face. It’s covered in soot.”

At this point, even if Rhode came out of the toilet, Hagart wouldn’t be surprised.

Part of it was because the kid was only fifteen.

More importantly, the kid was Rhode.

“Let me see.” Hagart pulled out a pair of glasses from his breast pocket and spoke to Rhode.

After casually wiping his face, Rhode obediently handed over the proof.

Hagart glanced at it, then raised his eyes and looked at Rhode.

“You didn’t kill all those birds first and then take the egg, did you?”

“No. I snuck in.” Rhode could swear he had gone in entirely by stealth.

“Is that so? Then I’ll believe you.” Hagart folded the proof and handed it back to him. “Remember to collect the commission reward. That’s money you earned yourself.”

“...” Rhode stared blankly at the proof in his hand, then nodded.

At first, he’d thought it didn’t matter whether he took the reward or not. But when Hagart said it was money he’d earned himself, Rhode suddenly felt...

Like the money meant something different.

He still wasn’t sixteen. He had another year before adulthood, so he’d never really had any sense of what “growing up” meant.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt...

Maybe it wasn’t so bad.

“Rhode, snap out of it.” Noticing Rhode zoning out, Hagart spoke in a low voice.

“Since you passed in actual practice, that means your stealth techniques are up to standard,” the old man said.

At the very least, with Rhode’s current level of stealth, he wouldn’t be discovered unless he ran into an especially strong tracker.

How strong was especially strong?

A C-rank adventurer who specialized in tracking could find Rhode. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, even B-rank adventurers wouldn’t be able to.

“Next, I’ll teach you this so-called ‘presence,’” Hagart said. Originally, he hadn’t planned to teach this, because it wasn’t easy to learn.

“Learning this depends entirely on talent. Some people may never understand what ‘presence’ is in their whole life.”

Presence was the kind of thing that couldn’t really be explained clearly. It was extremely abstract.

But if you couldn’t understand presence, then forget about becoming a powerful assassin.

Presence was the core of both “detecting” and “concealing.”

The only core.

Hm? No, wait. The old man suddenly felt like something was off. Wasn’t he not planning to let Rhode become an assassin?

Forget it...

Learning this didn’t necessarily mean becoming an assassin. Even as an adventurer, mastering “presence” would still be a very good thing.

Yes, that’s right.

That was how the old man comforted himself.