Akugyaku no Black Maria c14

Elizabeth had gone after Casca like Shizuru told her to, but was already cut off.

“Auuu …”

She had her back against a wall.
Looking around, there were over twenty armed men surrounding her.

Due to a slight misunderstading she had pushed into the syndicate’s headquarters and killed about this many men.
They were enraged that their friend were killed by this young girl.
Even though they were bandits, the feeling of fellowship was there. Also, since their organization had expanded its scale recently and they became able to throw their weight around, their sense of pride had heightened.

That pride was wounded by the fact that the definitely weak looking Elizabeth had attacked them.
They approached her with angry looks as if saying they will be getting their revenge, weapons in hand. If the caught her she wouldn’t merely be cut clean.
Due to Elizabeth’s excessive powers of useless imagination, a picture of what would happen to her if she were captured came to her in detail, making her face cramp in a smile.

“A, ahaha … if I say sorry, you, won’t forgive me … right, thought so …”

She tried imitating Shizuru trying to smooth things over with a smile, but the situation being what it was, it didn’t work.
Do I really have to face this many people straight from the front, though Elizabeth, sinking into a gloomy mood.

Elizabeth — Eliza, was an a.s.sa.s.sin specializing in surprise attacks.
She was pet.i.te and quick on her feet, specializing in the use of short swords coated with fast-acting poison, and due to her nimble fingers she had vastly superior abilities to aim for the vitals like the neck or heart.

However, that was all.
Her ability to swing the sword itself could not be called masterful, just barely on the level of professional.
She also wasn’t inclined to trickery like Shizuru was; intelligence-wise, she was according to Casca “a bit of a s.p.a.ce case”
In other words, an airhead that even Casca thought unfortunate.

To begin with, Eliza was born to a merchant house running a shop in the west ward.
She was the only child, raised without want, a young girl with a promising future.

But how did such an Elizabeth, Eliza, win Richelieu’s favor and joined Black Maria?
The cause was a certain peculiar trait of hers.

“… Beth! You’re up now!”

She couldn’t solve the situation on her own.
As soon as she recognized it, she lightly tapped her forehead twice with her fingertip.

It was an action that worked as a switch.
With that, she shifted

“——— the worst”

Flop, Eliza’s stance abruptly dropped.
As she stepped up half a step forward she stumbled but kept her balance, raising her head as she was in a stooped over posture.

“Seriously, the worst. Like today might be the lowest and the worst day of my life worst”

The look on her big, round, friendly eyes, excepting the color of her right, turned into a half closed look that made her seem somehow hard to approach.
In a complete and sudden change from before, Elizabeth looked suspiciously around her with cynical eyes.

“Why do I have to deal with the results of that idiot Eliza’s blockheaded acts. I want to kill her”

Disgusted and annoyed, she clicked her tongue.
Sensing the strangeness of the change of the person they cornered to the wall, the bandits faltered.

— There were two reasons why Elizabeth caught Richelieu’s eye.
One of them was this phenomenon that just happened now.

Namely, multiple personalities.

Sociable, mild-mannered, polite Eliza.
Gloomy, bad-mannered, rough-mouthed Beth.

The girl had two completely opposite personalities.
But how did that relate to being an a.s.sa.s.sin?

“But it can’t be helped. With this many people, Eliza’s flowers-for-brains and bad body moves is just going to end up getting us killed”

Eliza and Beth were two personalities dwelling in their bodies, but they had many things not in common.
Left-handed Eliza, right-handed Beth.
Eliza who couldn’t do arithmetic even though she’s a merchant’s daughter, and Beth who does seven digit mental arithmetics in her spare time.

But the biggest difference of all was

“Come on, die”

Beth easily surpa.s.sed Eliza’s combat power several times over.

“Kaaah—”

Even though Elizabeth wore two swords, neither Eliza nor Beth was a two-handed sword user.
The one on the right hip was Eliza’s poisoned sword.
And the one on the left was Beth’s saber.

Bandit heads flew almost simultaneously with her sword draw.
Seeing them roll down on the ground, the remaining ones lost it and rushed at Beth.

“— Ha. The h.e.l.l is this?”

On the other hand, Beth wickedly raised the corner of her mouth, her half-closed eyes narrowed further in a mocking glare.
She then lightly dodged the downswinging weapons with a sneer.

Her gait, her stance, her center of gravity.
She handled her body better than Eliza in every way, an outstanding martial artist.
In the blink of an eye, the seven bandits died at her sword.

“AHAHAHAHAHA, you’re surprisingly disgraceful! I can’t even feel a shred of sympathy! My chest hurt more when strangling a puppy!”

She skillfully rotated the sword in her hand and cut down several more people.
Her sickeningly colored right eye was almost like a magic eye of paralysis, nailing the bandits’ feet to a standstill.
Of course, there was no such effect to Elizabeth’s eye.
They stiffened out of pure fear of her.

“— ara”

Unawares, everyone who came to surround her had all been defeated.
Most lost their heads, the rest died from cleanly being cut through or stabbed through the heart.

“So fragile. It’s disgusting how you’re all just for show. Makes me want to puke”

Spewing those words, Beth sheathed her sword.
She kicked a random nearby corpse flying, dirtying her boots with blood. She looked distantly at Casca and Lady who seemed to have finished their parts too.
Having to finish up before the remnants start to run away, she turned her feet towards the hideout Eliza stepped into earlier.

— The reason why Elizabeth caught Richelieu’s eye.

A multiple personality with opposite dispositions.
The affable Eliza was to be the team’s mood maker, while Beth with the actual combat power does most of the killing.
Other than that killing two birds with one stone like that, there was another reason.

“AaAAh, really, the worst. I feel like I haven’t killed enough”

Both of Elizabeth’s personalities were born killers.
Neither could keep without killing someone, they were homicidal by nature.

One night two years ago, Eliza killed a hobo while walking around a street corner.
Ever since Richelieu found them that day, the girls had been embarking on an enjoyable life.

“Really — this is so much fun I don’t want to die anymore”

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