The carriage door opened. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Six people stepped inside.

Three humans, one dark elf, and two vampires. All of them looked to be around their thirties, old enough to have experience and young enough to still believe luck could be forced. One of the humans had brown hair and golden eyes.

The other two had darker hair, one cut short, the other tied back carelessly. The dark elf had brown skin, black hair, and narrow eyes that moved across the wagon with practiced caution. The two vampires were pale, with clean faces and quiet steps.

All six wore breathing masks.

Not the elegant kind made for noble travel. These were practical masks, fitted tight around nose and mouth, with small filters glowing faintly on each side. They had come prepared for whatever had been released into the air.

The dark elf glanced around the wagon.

"Doesn’t seem like anyone’s here."

The golden-eyed human stayed near the back of the group.

The others moved in pairs, checking seats, under tables, behind luggage spaces, and between compartments. They were thorough enough that this had clearly not been their first time doing this kind of work.

One of the humans clicked his tongue while crouching to check beneath a row of seats.

"Why are we the ones stuck doing this? I wanted to be in the action too."

The other human, the one with his hair tied back, snorted.

"This part pays the same and gets us shot at less. Stop whining. The gas should have knocked everyone out already. We sweep the passenger cars, wait for the sealed room to open, take the valuable goods, and get out."

One of the vampires spoke from near the aisle, his voice muffled by the mask.

"Two people didn’t go down cleanly in the last car."

"They went down after we helped them," the tied-haired human said.

The first human chuckled.

"Are we going to be in the newspapers?"

"Most likely," the dark elf answered. "If you survive long enough to read them."

That shut him up for a moment.

They kept checking.

Eventually, one of the humans reached the section where Trafalgar and Cynthia lay.

Cynthia was still unconscious, her breathing even, her body resting against the seat where Trafalgar had placed her carefully after pretending to collapse beside her. Trafalgar had stayed low enough that anyone entering from the door would think the gas had done its work.

The human saw them and grinned beneath the mask.

"Bingo," he said, voice turning ugly with excitement. "Looks like we got lucky. Look at this. A pair of little lovebirds."

The others turned slightly.

His eyes lingered on Cynthia for far longer than they should have.

"And her body’s not bad either," he added, taking a step closer. "Once we clear the other cars, maybe we can have a little fun before leaving."

The dark elf’s tone hardened.

"Check if they’re sleeping first. Pulse, breathing, any mana response. Once the other wagons are clear, what you do with the passengers is your problem, not mine."

The human laughed softly, already savoring permission before it was even fully given.

"You heard him."

From the back of the group, one of the vampires narrowed his eyes toward the golden-eyed human.

"Since when are your eyes yellow?"

The golden-eyed human did not answer.

The man near Trafalgar crouched and reached out to check his neck.

The moment his fingers touched skin, Trafalgar moved.

Mana surged through his body in one brutal pulse.

The hand he had kept hidden came up with [Widow’s Whisper], and the dagger sank into the man’s throat before he could even understand that the sleeping boy beneath him was awake.

The human’s eyes bulged.

His breath broke against the mask in a wet, panicked sound. Both hands shot toward Trafalgar’s wrist, clawing at him, trying to pull the dagger free, but Trafalgar did not let him. He drove the blade deeper and twisted just enough to open the wound properly.

Blood rushed hot over Trafalgar’s fingers.

The man tried to shout. All that came out was a choking rasp.

Trafalgar’s face carried no mercy.

Not after what he had heard.

The human struggled harder, knees knocking against the seat, one boot scraping across the floor as he tried to push away. Trafalgar used that movement against him, rose half from the seat, and forced the man downward with pure strength. The attacker collapsed against the floor, one hand gripping Trafalgar’s sleeve, the other slapping uselessly at the blood pouring from his neck.

His body spasmed.

The breathing mask fogged red from inside.

Trafalgar waited until the resistance weakened, then pulled the dagger out and let him fall fully to the ground.

The carriage froze.

In the same motion, Trafalgar moved Cynthia more carefully onto the seat so she would not slip, then reached down, ripped the dead man’s mask free, and put it over his own face.

[Widow’s Whisper] dissolved into particles of mana.

Maledicta appeared in his hand.

He could not summon his armor properly with the mask in the way, but that did not matter.

Five remained.

The intruders reacted at once. Swords came out. One of the vampires raised a mana rifle. The dark elf’s hand began gathering mana. The golden-eyed human near the back still had not moved, but now both daggers were visible in his hands.

The dark elf looked at the corpse on the floor, then at Trafalgar.

"You made a real mess of this, kid."

Trafalgar stepped over the dead man’s arm.

"You chose the wrong wagon."

The dark elf’s eyes narrowed.

Mana gathered in his palm, condensing into a dense projectile that pulsed with dark-green light.

"You should have kept sleeping."

He released it.

Trafalgar cut it in half.

Maledicta passed through the spell in a single stroke, splitting the projectile before it could bloom. The two halves struck the walls behind him and burst into harmless stains of mana across the protective formations.

The vampire with the rifle tried to aim.

He never finished.

His head left his shoulders.

The golden-eyed human had crossed the distance behind him without a sound. One dagger severed the neck. The other was already angled toward the next target before the body fell.

Blood hit the floor.

[Sword Insight Activated]

Pain lanced through Trafalgar’s head from watching the movement.

The step, the angle, the way the blade moved before the victim understood he had been chosen; it was assassination stripped down to its cleanest form. Trafalgar knew exactly who stood there now.

Caelum.

The disguise was different, but the technique was not something a random hired blade could imitate.

The remaining vampire snarled.

"You bastard!"

The situation had become three against two.

The dark elf, one vampire, and one human remained on one side.

Trafalgar and Caelum stood on the other.

Cynthia was still asleep behind Trafalgar.

Trafalgar tightened his grip around Maledicta.

"Let’s make this quick, Caelum."

Caelum gave a small inclination of his head, the golden-eyed disguise still wearing the dead man’s stolen place perfectly.

"Understood, Young Master."