A Drink Before Battle

The Assassins had their armour worn and set for their project, black and brown robes instead of white to mix with the environment, a set of two guns, a hidden blade, a small dagger, and a hidden back sword.

It was a complete battle attire for the assassin for their big battles. It was all set for the fight but,

They needed to have a final conversation before that, discussing their strategy and positions and taking their special weapons.

"Are we all set? Do you have everything before these?"

Bringing a small put-together gunny bag in front of Jinx asked the question.

"Ya.."

"Yes, I've got it."

Getting the reply, Jinx opened the box and brought the weapons for each assassin.

"Get your weapon, and don't try to steal each other's weapons. You got what you asked for. Expect you, Arthur, you already made the gun you brought to a waste."

Everybody smiled, amused at Jinx's passive aggression towards Arthur, as he was mocking him for looking out of a group and losing his weapon first.

"Jinx, I swear you don't need to mock me whenever you open your mouth. Everybody get your things and stop laughing."

Arthur was done with Jinx's mocking, but it was confirmed that the weapon he called was now useless, as the way to the gun as it was more secure to that side of the castle.

Asuka got to the gunny bag and brought out all the items personally ordered by each individual. I was a symbol of remembrance; even while moving as a group, the assassin was individually trained in different arts and techniques.

"I will take my dual blades, Near here is your poison darts, Kite here are mini pirate pistol, Albert your amour plates, Rage your dual fists guards and Jinx..."

"Yes, give me that."

"It's a map."

"Information is the biggest weapon in the assassination world, lives are brought and destroyed based on the information, it is the basis of all things."

'Stop giving the words each and everybody of us knows already, tell us the important stuff you called the map for."

Arthur quickly rebutted Jinx mocking him for wasting time. This time everybody smiled at Jinx's condition.

"Such wise words from your Wisest member, but returning to the point, The map is the old idea of how the wall was constructed, it contains the routes to reach different rooms of the castle."

Jinx opened the map for everybody to look at on the table, and everybody gave the map a look.

"Damn, it's hard to understand."

Near was the first one to complain, and the reason was obvious,

"I agree with the boy, and This is some puzzle. Which is incredibly hard to crack."

The map in front of them was incredibly hard to understand, with lines drawn left to right, writing was very short, and the paper had also deteriorated with time.

"Arthur, I need you on this one."

"Oh, the captain finally needed my skills, I'm honoured."

Arthur quickly glanced at the map, understood the path and writings, and began explaining it to the members.

After an hour of discussion, the final plan was ready, but Arthur had another proposal.

"Let's have my favourite wine."

"Nah, you are the only one to enter a battle drunk. The vine you drink is 13 per cent alcohol, I would like to fight sober."

"Come on guys, this one is special from French Empire, It's called 'Romanée-Conti'. I am telling you this bottle will soon be the best in the world."

"French Vine? I am interested."

Asuka showed interest in the wine after hearing about its origin; the French were currently the most high-quality wine maker during the time, helped by the fact that Vine was her favourite beverage.

"Me too"

"Same here."

Kite and Albert were also interested in the wine.

"But I am not."

Jinx still didn't like the idea of drinking

"Have a glass and find out yourself. One glass cannot make anybody drunk."

Arthur poured some Vine into a glass lying around in the room and handed it to Jinx.

"I don't want-"

"Come on, drink it. You are making us look bad."

Faced with the pressure of all around him and even Near and Rage were looking at us, they wanted to drink, and Jinx had to drink the wine.

"..."

"It's pretty good."

"Yes!"

All of them were happy and picked up their glasses and drank their glasses.

"This is so refreshing."

Everybody was amused to have their glass of wine and enjoyed it thoroughly.

After the drinking was done, Arthur made another offer,

"They wanna have one of these?"

A pack of tablets was in front of the group, they were pure white, and it seemed a little suspicious.

"What are those?"

"It's a trust game. If your trust me have one and I assure you I will have one after you."

"I am out. I don't want your silly games."

Everybody was not ready for Arthur's trust game except one person.

"I will have one."

"...!"

"Rage, are you sure? He always eats and drinks out-of-this-world stuff. I am sure you'll regret it."

"You're gonna eat it yourself after I eat, right?"

"Yes, Sure."

Rage picked up the tablet and swallowed it whole, at that very moment, Arthur did the same. Jinx was already making a face for some reason.

"I am feeling...!"

"!!!?"

The two of them began chocking, and their faces looked red,

"What did you make him eat, Arthur?!"

"!!!"

Jinx went straight to Arthur and moved him to the side as if he knew what was gonna happen.

The two of them instantly vomited on the floor; it was red as wine. It was all out of their stomachs.

"It was stomach cleaner."

After vomiting the hell out of him, Arthur said in a cheering tone.

"I knew it."

"Fuck you."

In a total fit of rage, Rage began abusing Arthur, and everybody was out of the room due to the nausea. Besides the three,

"Get your asses out of this room. We need to get going. Rage, I am sure you'll never trust him after this. I made the same mistake when we were first together on a mission."

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