The Best Assassin, Incarnated into a Different World's Aristocrat Chapter 86 – The assassin discovers Tarte’s power

Chapter 86 - The assassin discovers Tarte’s power

Translator: VALIANT

After we finished checking out Dia’s skills, it was finally Tarte’s turn.

I already thought Dia was amazing, but her skills were just as impressive. They worked nicely with the skills I gave her through【My Loyal Knights】.

And as for Tarte’s…

[My skills are so cool!] (Tarte)

[Rather than cool, I’d say they’re appropriate for you.] (Lugh)

[Yeah, they kinda suit you so perfectly it’s almost scary.] (Dia)

The three of us took a look at her appraisal sheet.

Except for the ones I granted her through【My Loyal Knights】, her skills were written as follows.

?【Squire’s Devotion】

A-rank.

Can be activated by making a contract with an individual that the user has acknowledged as their master from the bottom of their soul.

The contract is made by confirming the master-servant relationship after direct mucous mbrane contact, and accepting it. The contract will fail if the other party is not acknowledged by the user’s soul. Changing masters is impossible.

While this ability is active, every ability of both the user and the master is enhanced. Additionally, should the master die, the user can revive and heal them in exchange for their own life.

?【Spearmanship】

C-rank.

Enhances the user’s physical abilities when equipped with a spear, as well as the power, speed, and accuracy of spear attacks.

?【Effort】

D-rank.

Grants the user with a talent for effort, a personality inclined to hard work, and easy recovery of concentration and ntal strength.

[【Squire’s Devotion】. It would work just fine with a mber of the opposite sex, but how would this go with soone of the sa sex…?] (Lugh)

[It would still work between two n.] (Dia)

[You’re not wrong, but…] (Lugh)

…This is another skill you can’t activate unless you know how to do it.

After all, this wouldn’t work unless you had a deep relationship with the one you recognized as your master to begin with.

And I couldn’t think of any kind of situation where one would bother to confirm that a master-servant relationship had been established after doing that sort of thing.

[Um, Lugh-sama, we should use this skill imdiately! Because it would make us both stronger together!] (Tarte)

Tarte was looking at with her eyes full of hope.

It’s true that while the conditions were strict, a skill that enhanced all the abilities of two people was extraordinary.

But the reason it stood out so much among the other A-rank skills was because it was disposable.

Once you had designated soone as your master, you couldn’t choose anybody else. If your master died or you cut ties with them, the skill would beco completely dead at that point.

Also, the fact that the enhancent didn’t last constantly, but only during activation was also a bad point.

That’s why it was treated as an A-rank skill, unlike【My Loyal Knights】.

[Tarte, you have to promise one thing. You should actively enhance all your abilities.] (Lugh)

Although we needed to verify the strength and mana consumption at the ti of and during activation, it wasn’t a bad idea to use it.

However…

[That last part. The one about how you could save my life in exchange for your own. Promise you’ll never use that ability.] (Lugh)

No doubt that last part was the main point of this skill, given the na.

But I didn’t want her to use that.

[…My deepest apologies. But I cannot promise you that. Because if the need ever arises, I will not hesitate to use it. I cannot lie to you about this.] (Tarte)

Tarte hung her head.

[In that case, I can’t accept the contract.] (Lugh)

Tarte was no longer just a tool. I didn’t need a skill that required to sacrifice my family.

[Lugh, isn’t that a little weird?] (Dia)

[What’s weird?] (Lugh)

[The fact that you don’t want to make use of this skill because you don’t want to sacrifice Tarte. That ans you’ll use it only when you die. Are you planning to die?] (Dia)

[Of course not.] (Lugh)

[Then there’s nothing to worry about.【Squire’s Devotion】will make you stronger and less likely to die, right? It’s weird that although you don’t want to die, thinking about what would happen after your death makes you more likely to die.] (Dia)

She sure said a lot.

But it did make sense.

[Lugh-sama!] (Tarte)

When I turned my attention to Tarte, she was staring at with a determined look. Then, she put her hands on the back of my neck and forcibly locked her lips with mine. She gave an adult kiss.

I could’ve avoided it if I wanted to.

But when I saw the look on Tarte’s face, I lost the will to dodge.

Then, the long kiss ended.

[Please be my master. And then, please don’t die so as not to let die. Even without this skill, if you died, I would die too.] (Tarte)

“Please don’t die so as not to let die”, huh.

…That’s not fair. If you tell sothing like that, then how can I get out of this?

[Alright. Then I ask you once again. I want you to be my squire.] (Lugh)

The mont I said those words, Tarte’s soul and mine were united by sothing hot.

A master-servant bond. It firmly tied us together.

I could feel Tarte in my soul.

[Lugh-sama, I can feel you flowing into . I feel like I can use this skill now.【Squire’s Devotion】!] (Tarte)

Tarte activated her skill.

At that sa mont, I began to feel her presence more strongly.

I could feel my physical abilities, mana, kinetic vision, reflexes, thinking ability, calculating ability, and every other ability improving.

[I… I feel stronger. Also, I feel so close to you, it puts at ease. I wish this could last forever.] (Tarte)

[Yeah, it’s a pleasant feeling.] (Lugh)

It wasn’t just power. I could feel Tarte’s feelings being conveyed to .

…No, this was beyond that kind of level. I could actually hear what Tarte was thinking.

『Was it too daring of to kiss him like that? What if Lugh-sama thinks of as a lewd girl because of that? But it felt really good. I want to do it again. I feel so hot from kissing him. I think I’ll go to his room lat— …Huh? I can hear Lugh-sama thinking ‘I can hear everything’? What the…? Eh? Eh? Huh? Ah, so you would like a at dish for dinner? Yes, certa— WAITWHAAAAAAAATTT!?』(Tarte)

It appears that we can overhear each other’s thoughts when this ability is active.

In that case, let’s try one more experint.

『Tarte, if you can hear my thoughts, raise your right hand.』

『Tarte, if you can hear my thoughts, kiss again.』

I ran those two thoughts in parallel.

Tarte raised her right hand.

But she didn’t kiss .

I see, the superficial thoughts are shared, but not the deeper thoughts.

Assassins used different thoughts and mories on the outside and on the inside as a counterasure against torture and truth serum.

Even if the latter was used, the inquisitors would only be able to dig up the outer layer of truths, not the deeper layer.

This was a technique that could be mastered with special training.

…It seems that with this skill, the thoughts you don’t want others to hear can’t be heard.

On the other hand, Tarte’s face turned deep red and was blowing smoke.

『Uugghh…! How embarrassing… I need to stop having creepy thoughts. Especially the naughty ones— But wait! He can hear trying not to have dirty thoughts right now! That’s also embarrassing. I should stop thinking about not having perverted thoughts, and just focus on Lugh-sama’s pectoral musc— Wait no, this doesn’t work. The more I try not to think about that, the more my head is filled with— Aaaaahhh…!』(Tarte)

This power seed to be dangerous for Tarte.

Though in my opinion, it was an interesting one.

Besides, it still had its advantages. Being able to use telepathy was convenient.

Real-ti communication was a huge plus when working in tandem.

It could also be used for secret conversations.

[Lugh, you’ve been smirking for the past while now.] (Dia)

[I just find Tarte so funny.] (Lugh)

And so adorable.

[Tarte, do you feel tired when you activate this power?] (Lugh)

[Eh? N-No, I don’t feel tired at all.] (Tarte)

[I see, in that case, let’s continue the experint.] (Lugh)

Now that she’s activated her power, we should try out so things.

First, I determined the area of effect.

When I moved away, the connection was cut off at about 200 ters.

Even when I turned back, the connection wasn’t automatically reestablished.

Tarte tried to activate the skill again, but it didn’t work.

So I suggested that she try to use it again every minute. It seed to be the kind of skill that couldn’t be reactivated for a while after every use. I wanted to know how long the interval was.

[Um, Lugh-sama, I’m sorry for having so many inappropriate thoughts.] (Tarte)

[It’s okay, they were cute to hear. But you know, you should work a little harder on your ntal training. So you can clear away any idle thoughts, that is.] (Lugh)

[Yes, sir! I will do my best!] (Tarte)

Whenever she was fighting, she could display excellent concentration, but not being able to do that at any ti was a problem.

[Your remaining skills are【Spearmanship】and【Effort】, huh. Both of them are easy to use.] (Lugh)

[I always thought Tarte’s spearmanship was aweso, but I didn’t think it was a skill.] (Dia)

When I selected【Martial Arts】as my C-rank skill, I was putting emphasis on versatility, that is to say, the ability to properly use every kind of weapon, but if we were talking about using one specific weapon, then her skill was stronger than mine.

[Yes! I think I can have more confidence in my spearmanship from now on! And if I have the skill called【Effort】, then I need to work harder and harder. Because I can put in even more effort than others!] (Tarte)

I know Tarte would’ve still been a go-getter even if she didn’t have such a skill.

[What will you do from now on? Since you have the【Spearmanship】skill, you might want to stop training with guns and focus only on your spear.] (Lugh)

[Not at all. Guns are convenient to use on the spur of the mont. Like this, when it’s in my pocket!] (Tarte)

Tarte flipped up her skirt, pulled out a pistol set in a holster on her thigh, and held it up.

Fast and fluid. A quick draw at light speed.

You could see the effort that went into it.

[With your speed, it makes for a fine weapon.] (Lugh)

[Yes, if I am up against a spearman, I just have to reach for my pocket and fire at them. Also, it’s much faster than assembling my spear, which cos in handy when a battle suddenly breaks out.] (Tarte)

Her pistol had a short range, but it was easy to handle. It could be used for such feats.

[Hey Lugh, her skill activates itself when she uses a spear, right? In that case, why don’t you make her a spear that can shoot like a gun?] (Dia)

[Would that still count as a spear? …It’s not unfeasible. Alright, let’s give it a shot.] (Lugh)

This concept was exceedingly close to that of a bayonet.

The only thing was that if she used a weapon like that, rather than focusing on her spear and reaching for the gun in her pocket, she would be switching between the gun for long-range fights, and the spear for close-range ones.

[Please, by all ans!] (Tarte)

[Don’t get your hopes too high. It’ll be impossible to make it foldable like your current spear, the structure would be too fragile. So its performance as a spear won’t be that great.] (Lugh)

[Even so, I would love to be able to attack at long range!] (Tarte)

In Tarte’s case, wind wasn’t a suitable affinity for attacking, and she didn’t have much talent for magic herself, so she could use long-range attacks with it.

That’s probably why she was envious of Dia and , who were capable of it.

[Now we’ve got a good understanding of you girls’ skills.] (Lugh)

[Lugh, we don’t know yours yet! We told you about our skills, so tell us about yours too.] (Dia)

[Ah! I would like to know as well!] (Tarte)

I smiled and explained my skills to them.

I told them about【Rapid Recovery】,【Spell Weaver】,【Limitless Growth】【Martial Arts】, and the ones I got from the Hero.

[This is insane! How co you have skills of every rank!? I’ve never heard of anything like that!] (Dia)

[I was just lucky.] (Lugh)

[Huh? You didn’t explain your D-rank skill. You taught long ago that absolutely everyone was born with a D-rank skill, Lugh-sama.] (Tarte)

[That one is a secret. …It’s a trump card that I’m saving for a one-ti surprise attack. That’s why I’ve decided never to tell anyone about it.] (Lugh)

I decided so the instant I acquired this skill.

Should anyone ever find out about this skill, it would beco worthless.

But as long as nobody knew, it was my ace in the hole. Even if Tarte and Dia were the ones asking about it, I wouldn’t tell them.

[Wow, you’re keeping it a secret from us after we revealed everything to you? That’s just foul play. Now I’m dying to know!] (Dia)

[So am I… But if Lugh-sama decided to keep it a secret, then…] (Tarte)

They both complained about it, but I couldn’t tell what I couldn’t tell.

[Well then, we’d better go back to the mansion. Maha sent us so delicious and interesting sweets from abroad.] (Lugh)

[Ah! He’s running away!] (Dia)

[Please wait for , Lugh-sama!] (Tarte)

We now had a good grasp of the girls’ skills.

Knowing them and using them more effectively would make us even stronger.

Now, all that’s left to do is hatch our【Possibility Eggs】.

I was also proceeding with my research on that matter.

My efforts would surely pay off before long.

But for now, let’s just relax with so good tea and sweets.

Rest is important too.