Chapter 9 – Death’s mission

All the customers at Fast Water Market stared when the beautiful private boat passed, the boat was very exquisite but what was capturing their attention was the Bubbles floating around the blue-robed Mage. The luxurious furry hood kept the Mage’s features hidden, but everyone could guess she was a young woman, the female attendant accompanying her was indication enough, but her elegant figure was a confirmation.

“Mistress… ehh… Everyone is staring, I can carry…”

“Just ignore them… I’m finally strong enough to show myself in public and we also brought a Palace Fighter… You don’t need to carry it, I like to use my Bubbles for something useful, I need the training…”

Five Bubbles floated around Alice, holding some of her personal belongings. Fortunately, she was careful enough to make the bubbles with a strong blue color, hiding the objects inside. Clarissa had also presented her concerns about the possibility of the Bubbles being robbed or exploding, but Alice assured her it was safer than carrying it at her side, any attempts of pulling or touching the Bubbles would be felt by her. As for them exploding, anything short of a strong sword attack couldn’t be passed through her thick Bubbles. It took all of Alice’s spiritual energy to create one Bubble, so they were really strong, another reason why she chose to carry them around.

They stopped in front of the usual luxuriously decorated store, Alice entered and was received with the usual rich tea.

“Congratulations on your advancement, my Lady! I’m not a specialist in bubble Mages, but I must say that my Lady’s ability is second to none, to master such difficult spell in less than a year…”

Alice returned the polite words and exchange some small talk with the store owner before giving him a hint that she wanted to make a private exchange. After years of testing, she had verified the reliability of his secrecy, in small matters, of course, she wouldn’t trust him with anything against the Duchess.

“Officially, I want this MQ bubble crystal to be made into a pipe, can it be done? Unofficially, I want a high quality (HQ) bubble crystal…”

“…”

.........

“We move at midnight… Are you confident on your task, Reaper?”

The black-robed youth nodded before securing the set of throwing knives at his side. As a part of his new training regimen, he had to participate in missions. Before he would be hesitant but now he was looking forward to getting some experience outside the Palace. Or so he was trying to pretend, in his mind, countless possibilities of the mission going wrong continued to test his confidence, he was very nervous.

The mission’s objective was to invade the residence of a wealthy Merchant and contain him before he could erase some sensible information. Because of the Merchant’s connection with the traitor Watlein, the Duchess had a good reason to charge him publicly, but that would alert the other involved parties and give the Merchant time to clean his trail. So, they had to get the information, locate the other parties and move on them before word got out he was compromised. Of course, the Duchess would also take ownership over anything valuable he might possess.

Reaper’s part was to get to the Merchant and control him while the other invaders handled his security, quietly. Supposedly, the mission was very simple and straightforward but who could guess what might happen? If the Merchant had guests in his private quarters, for example, Reaper’s orders were to eliminate them, something he wasn’t looking forward to doing it.

.........

Alice giggled remembering the expression made by the store owner when she revealed her secret request, he even choked before recovering from the shock. The price and rarity of a HQ elemental crystal would be something out of his reach, even more for a hybrid element. She couldn’t even estimate the price point, probably something higher than 20K gold coins. After the amusing scene, Alice explained that she wasn’t hoping for him to get the crystal nor she could afford it, her request was for the location of an ownerless crystal, being a seller or a beast. Even the information wouldn’t come cheap, so the store owner was happy to help her.

Actually, she didn’t know what she could do with the information, she couldn’t buy it neither kill a HT beast, but she was curious nonetheless. If one day she got the courage to flee from her imprisonment, she would have to think about advancing to Commander on her own.

.........

Three small boats moved through the waterways of the Water Capital using the cover of the night to stay concealed from curious eyes. After the sunset, the few boats circling the canals would use a flammable torch to illuminate themselves and the surroundings, except when they were doing illegal transportations. However, moving inconspicuously at night wasn’t easy, even disregarding the low visibility, the difficulty of paddling silently shouldn’t be underestimated. Fortunately, the team had water Mages and didn’t need paddling.

Soon, they arrived at the residential area where the Merchant lived. The big stone walls left little doubt about the wealth of the area residents, which also pointed to the presence of private security monitoring the area. So instead of moving in with hast, the team stood quiet, making use of the night cover to observe the enemy’s forces. Aside from a couple of neighboring Guards watching over other residences, the team had to pass by two Guards walking around the entrance of the Merchant’s residence. Thankfully, the team’s Fighters could confirm that the enemies were only Guards. If the Merchant could mobilize Fighters to watch over the residence night and day, who could say what he would have for personal security? Hybrid Mages perhaps?

In the martial path formed by Guards, Fighters and Knights, only the last two offered a relevant opposition against Mages. A Guard was a regular person trained in weapons and fighting techniques, while a Fighter could also use the magic energy to reinforce the body and moves. At the peak of the martial path stood the Knights, who could further use the magic energy outside their bodies, which could be used to enhance a weapon for example. Any well-off Merchant could afford to hire a couple of Fighters, but they would be placed in personal security.

The Guards would exchange places every five or so minutes, the change of view would surely help them stay awake and sharp. Two Fighters moved forward stopping outside the reach of the torch’s light. At the next exchange, the Fighters dashed forward, taking both Guards with a punch to the head.

The group of invaders didn’t delay and entered the residence. Reaper looked at the three stories high villa, trying to find a shortcut to the Master’s room certainly located on the third floor. Soon, he was hanging over a window trying to find support to keep climbing. The rest of the team didn’t stand idled and moved to neutralize the rest of the security.

Without much effort, Reaper broke the window open and jumped inside the room. His sight swept the room two times while he kept running towards the bed, where the Merchant and co. slept. Fortunately, the room was empty and the other members of security, either were too busy with the other attackers or already died. Reaper could only curse his bad luck, he would have to deal with a guest.

The Merchant was wake up by the sound but failed to anything more than cursing outraged before Reaper pressed the short sword against his neck. Reaper used his other hand to press a dagger against the woman who laid at the side but was thrown back by a kick. Apparently, she was a Fighter, could even be a member of the security team that got too friendly with the Boss. He could only clench his teeth and get ready to engage the woman, who didn’t seem to care for clothes and had already picked up a sword.

Time was of the essence, so Reaper dashed forward after launching a throwing knife. The Fighter blocked the knife but failed to change back to defending before he arrived thrusting his sword. After receiving a cut at her left shoulder, the Fighter pressed him back putting weight on her sword. The retreating Merchant tried to use the distraction to flee the room, but Reaper launched another throwing knife to his leg, he fell screaming.

The Fighter pressed forward enraged to be overlooked, the swords crossed again and Reaper exchanged a cut at his arm to get closer to the enemy. He reached for the element inside of him, summoning the sorrow and hopelessness while pushing the feeling to his hand. The woman was initially afraid of him using a hidden weapon, but then got confused with the attack, was he going to punch her? However, the sickness soon took over her, making her almost dropped the sword.

Reaper didn’t waste the distraction and cut her leg, the woman fell pressing the bleeding. She looked at him, waiting for the finishing attack to come. The short sword ready to slash the woman’s neck, but Reaper hesitated, it was easier to do it while fighting. Killing someone already defeated was new to him, and apparently too difficult.

Instead of finishing her, he decided to deal with her later, kicking her sword to the side he dragged the Fighter to the crying Merchant. Ignoring the curses, he took out a rope and tied both of them to the bed frame. While he went through the Merchant’s documents and possessions, he made sure to put some things in his pouch before putting everything else in the bag. Some minutes later, someone barged into the room.

“Are you finished?... Why is she tied?”

“Later… let’s leave quickly, I already packed everything that looked important.”

On the way back, Reaper could only think of what excuse he would use with the Duchess, to justify leaving the Fighter alive…