CHAPTER 28: BLOOD MONEY(1)

"I see you have recovered." In the middle of the night. The assassin wakes me up.

Now that I see her, I just notice that I have been breathing as she asked without even thinking about it. So I will have to reduce it again soon, I suppose.

"Yes. Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away." Always the indifferent answers.

"How can I make money?"

"There are contracts on people."

"Contracts? What does it mean?"

"You will have to kill people, of course, what else."

"Can you give me some of them?" The assassin stays silent for a moment.

"What did you feel when you killed Tatiana?" What is that question out of the blue? Why is she asking me that?

"I…I felt disgusting, betrayed, enraged... To be quite honest, I don't know how I felt back then."

"And you think you are ready to take someone's life? Tatiana was somebody you loved, right? Somebody you adored. Therefore her betrayal wounded you and gave enough reason to put her down when you had the chance."

"No, I just-"

"But killing a target is completely different. You don't know them, you have never seen them, you don't have anything against them. They may even become your friends in the future, your allies, your loved ones. And yet, they must die because somebody else has decided so. And you won't ever know why their lives were targeted. So let me ask you: do YOU have the resolve to take a stranger's life?"

She is staring at me intensely, analyzing my very soul. I can feel her cold eyes piercing through my being.

Killing somebody I don't know. She is indeed right; I don't think I can. But, I lost everything I considered important, or more like I was the only one thinking that way. So, I should steel myself and do what I must to reach my goals, no matter the hardships I will have to face.

"You wouldn't be training me if you thought I didn't have the resolve anyways, so why ask now?"

I look at her and smile. I force myself to smile as best as I can. She simply sighs when I do.

"Well, at least, you decided by yourself. Here is your first contract then. There is an instructor here who has to die: VARGAS SNHELL. He violated and killed over fifteen young girls over the last six months and used his status as a noble connected to the queen to protect himself. One of the victim's family has issued the contract. The deadline is in three days."

"Didn't you say I won't even know why the target has to be put down?"

She is not coherent with her ideas.

"Remember this: no assassin must ever accept a contract without information from somebody else than the royal family. Only they have the authority to issue such contracts as all assassins of the Flolerl household must execute their orders. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." So this assassin is also from the Flolerl's. A relative of Veronica and Tatiana.

"Good. Now for your contract. Vargas is here right now. You can go and put him down, but as it is your first contract, I will help you a bit. Tomorrow night, he will receive a new girl for his entertainment under a bridge in town. The smugglers who will come to give him the child will be staying at the LUSTRUOUS tavern near this castle. Go there and substitute with the kidnapped girl, then you figure out the rest. Or you can try to take him out here."

"I will do as you say, but can I ask you one last thing? Is there a contract on VERONICA FLOLERL?"

"Fufufu." Wait, did she just laugh?

"No, there is not. Now back to our training."

***

The next day, I sneak out after my training with Rose and head to town, there I find the tavern quite easily. But once inside, the scenery has completely changed. There are savages men as well as elegant looking guys and girls everywhere—a mix of good and bad people.

The assassin said I would recognize the smugglers. And for sure, I recognize the bastards who wanted to sell me when I came to Onklah. All four of them are sitting at a table, laughing and discussing something. I don't see anything like a bag or something to contain a body near them, so it must be somewhere else. Maybe where they put me the first time.

I exit the tavern, go back to the castle, and follow the path we took when the knights were carrying me. I reach the podium after roughly thirty minutes. I can see a damaged house on the east of the podium at about 200 meters. Must be that. Inside, as I thought, there is a bag in the corner.

When I open the bag, however, I have the surprise of my life. Lanuvel Grandcross! Those guys captured Rose's daughter. Are they stupid? Or maybe they are strong enough to take on Mark and Rose. While I am trying to cut her ropes with my dagger, I hear footsteps. I can't hide her anywhere!!! There are no other options, so I hide inside the bag as well. I can hear a lot of footsteps, it seems all of them are coming.