Sadie was just as shocked as Theron had been. She didn't expect this.
Logically, Raiden shouldn't be here. And more importantly than that, he shouldn't know who she was.
As shocked as she was by his appearance, this fact shook her even more. For a moment, she was a lot like Theron had been moments ago, thinking back on the months prior to figuring out what mistakes she had made… only to realize that the main core of the mistake was actually right here.
She had revealed herself to Theron just now. With Raiden's senses, even if he had been hundreds of meters away, he would have heard her with ease. In fact, that was probably an underestimation of his ability.
When she understood this, everything else fell into place. Raiden was a genius. Cultivation talent almost always translated to intellect with few exceptions. The study of Mana itself was more rigorous and difficult than any academic field.
The moment Raiden heard her, he had likely deduced many things. Given how long he had been in the Guild, he had almost certainly picked up on a few oddities. Plus, with his talent, he received preferential treatment a lot.
He certainly didn't know the ins and outs of what was going on. But he knew how to take advantage of a situation.
Honestly speaking, it didn't take a genius to realize that if the princess of the Empire was here, then Daggers of the Night might not be so separate from the Imperial Clan as it seemed.
In that case, Raiden would realize that he wasn't serving the mysterious head of the Guild, but rather the bloodline of the little girl right in front of him.
More importantly than that, by showing up like this, and doing so with such good reason, he was essentially forcing the hand of the Imperial Clan.
They would have to either decide to integrate him into their plans, or kill him.
And would they choose to do the latter if he had just saved their little princess?
While it was still a risk, Raiden had supreme confidence in his talent and his deductive reasoning ability. This little girl might have been sent here, but for a Clan that prided itself on its combat prowess, this wasn't likely to mean that she was an unimportant pawn.
If anything, the fact that Sadie was here meant that she was more important to the Nightingale Clan than anyone could fathom.
To get the bonus of being able to deal with Theron at the same time… well, that was just the cherry on top.
Raiden might be a genius, but it wasn't lost on him that he was just the head of a snake right now. If he wanted to be the head of a dragon, he couldn't just wallow in a branch of Daggers of the Night.
Often, the difference between the ceilings one could reach was the resources they could receive.
He knew he was good enough to stand with the best. But this branch couldn't give him that.
Even the Nightingale Clan likely couldn't.
But they were certainly a step forward.
How could he miss such a chance?
As for how he knew Sadie was a princess without her explicitly saying so, it was because he had seen her before on a trip to the Imperial Capital. By now, that had been years ago, and Sadie wasn't even 10 years old back then.
But it was enough to see her for who she was and force her hand by mentioning it outright.
Raiden thought himself to be quite clever, and that he was. But much like Theron before him, he didn't realize that Sadie had already deduced all of this the moment he appeared.
It was easy to come off naive and innocent when you had a face like hers. It was even easier when everyone treated you like a child. Even Theron, who she respected very much, was susceptible.
Seeing that Sadie knew his name, Raiden smiled. In his opinion, this was quite the good thing.
"I hope that I haven't imposed. I didn't plan on stepping forward, but I thought it best to save the princess first, and consider other things later."
Sadie hesitated. In the end, it was indeed Raiden who had saved her life.
Was she likely to have a protective item on her? Probably. But she actually wasn't sure. At the very least, she didn't know where that item was or if it even existed.
Her Clan was very hardcore. While she felt it was logical that she would have some protection, it wasn't guaranteed either.
"Th… thank you," she eventually said, a bit awkwardly.
Unbeknownst to even her, she slipped back into the fake voice she used as an assassin.
Raiden nodded, not minding Sadie's reaction. As far as he was concerned, she was just a little girl in the middle of training. His main goal was to claim a place amongst the elites of the province.
"Hm?"
Raiden turned toward what he thought was Theron's corpse with a frown.
He was alive?
That didn't quite compute to Raiden. While he hadn't used all his strength, killing Sixth Resonance ants was a matter of thought for him. The fact he used his Mana at all was already giving Theron too much credit.
He no longer cared about what information Theron might have about Merchant Greycoat because with access to the princess and the Nightingale Clan, that would likely all be revealed to him quite soon. So he might as well just kill him and remove this stain from his record.
"A moment, princess. It seems that your attacker is still alive. I will finish him off."
Raiden had only taken a step when Sadie's expression changed.
"STOP."
Raiden was a bit stunned. First, no one had ever ordered him so rudely in his life, so he felt a bit of discontent and a flicker of arrogance almost formed a sneer on his face.
But then he calmed. Fixing his expression, he looked back toward Sadie.
"Is there an order you have for me?" he asked quite neutrally.
"You can't kill him," Sadie said.
Raiden was taken aback.