CH70: Mysterious Death 

***

CH70: Mysterious Death 

I watched the mansion for the next three days and determined their routine.

Boring? Yes, I know. Every Operative knows the work is 90% boredom and 10% excitement at best. It comes with the territory.

Anyway, the mansion's routine was pretty simple. Hardly anyone ever left the house. The residence only left a total of three times daily during the time I watched over it.

One time when Lars Charmin goes to town to buy his favourite Shank Loaf –apparently the loaf has a low shelf life so he has to get them fresh every morning- and twice when a couple of maids go out to buy daily necessities and groceries from the market.

It would've been the basic boring surveillance I expected if not for realising each of the residents at the mansion weren't your average Joe.

Well, it wasn't like they were strong per se. It was more like they were too strong for their job description.

The maids were at 3-rings while the guards were at 4-rings even one with 5-rings. Sure, the DoomMane guild was that extravagant and even more so, but that's the DoomMane Guild, an A-rank Guild.

A mere heiress of a rich company wants to compare domestic staff with an A-rank Guild? Yeah, I'm not buying that.

The only possible explanation was that these people weren't domestic staff, but rather a protection detail hired or tasked by Blood Coffin to protect and keep an eye on Lady Duemin.

The House's opponent really went out to ensure they smeared the House by preventing its agents from killing the mark.

It would explain why those outer members lost their lives.

Even if they failed to kill the Lady, they should've been able to escape. However, if they had been caught in a trap web, then it made sense they forfeited their lives.

Well, all that didn't matter to me.

The question on my mind was how to go about it.

Between my newly acquired Mental Energy, spending Mischief Points, new knowledge, guns and a proper plan, I could possibly kill my way to the target in a domineering fashion. Or sneak my way in for the kill.

But somehow I doubt that's what the House wants.

They asked for a 'mysterious' death for a reason. 

If they wanted a domineering kill, there were many other ways they could've gone about it but they tasked the contract to me instead.

Believe it or not, Assassination was a service market and any competent assassin what his or her salt needed to be able to cater to the needs and requirements of their Client.

While the House did say it wasn't a priority, completing the Contract according to their requirement was key to earning me favour amongst the higher-ups which would open doors for both Navia and myself.

...

Sorry, I've digressed again.

So, I believe the House requested a mysterious death in order to show people something along the lines of 'if you go against us, we can get to you anywhere you are, and that means you won't even be able to understand how much less defend against it'.

This is what I deduce based on my extensive experience from my previous life. Be it criminal organisations or countries, infamy or rather deterrent was a big part of the game.

That said, I still didn't know how I wanted to go about it.

Feeling out of ideas, I decided to change my scenery to see if an idea could come to me. So, I left my vantage point on the mansion and instead followed one of the maids into town as she shopped.

She visited quite a few shops on her trip. 

What stood out to me was that she was quite picky and like to bargain to the last Credit. I almost doubted my earlier deduction of her strength and believed she was a real maid.

Anyway, more than that, what stood out the most to me on her trip was her visit to a herb shop.

The Shop, Nature's Gift, was none other than the establishment of one of my other targets, the seed merchant, Malcer Evenwood.

I took the chance to investigate the man and his shop while I was there.

Eventually, I decided not to follow the maid back to the mansion. I felt I had gotten all the Intel I could acquire on the place in the past three days.

If there was a clue as to how I should go about the hit, I already had it. I just had to figure it out.

It took a hot bath to ward of the cold and about an hour of constant planning before I finally had a eureka moment.

It was so easy that I wondered why I didn't see it sooner.

Then again, maybe it was its simplicity which caused me to overlook it.

The next morning, I made my way to the Nature's Gift. There were some things I needed to acquire and prepare before the maid came to the shop later that evening.

Preparation wasn't that complicated. I completed everything in under an hour in a secluded alley close to the shop.

I spent the rest of the time digging up whatever info I could get on the shop. I already wasted three days watching the mansion Lady Duemin was hiding, I had to make efficient use of my time.

Gathering Intel on the Nature's Gift and Evenwood himself turned out to be quite easy. So easy in fact that I pretty much figured out who the Client was.

There was a pub just by the shop. Most of the people entering the pub had also spent time in the Nature's Gift. They bought everything from hangover drugs, to what counted as tobacco in Arun, to other daily herbal necessities.

I just had to buy a few round of drinks, then discreetly question all those who claimed to be long-time regulars of the shop and, voila, I got all the juicy hush-hush details about the target, his family and his shop.

Nothing weakens cognitive and rational thinking while also loosening the tongue without much effort like getting someone drunk. Get someone unsuspecting drunk and with the right push, they'll spill all their juicy secrets.

It's no wonder I instinctively avoid alcohol.

Anyway, I got all the Intel I needed to pull off the hit. I decided to selectively forget about the Client. It didn't matter to me who the client was as long as I got paid. 

And paid I would be.

After spending half a day with my new 'buddies' at the pub -I can't believe no one realised I wasn't drinking even though I was buying everyone rounds after rounds of cheap booze-, the sun began its descent into the horizon ushering in the evening.

The maid arrived at the Nature's Gift on time like clockwork.

Malcer Evenwood wasn't at the shop at the time, but his nephew who was his able assistant had prepared the maid's usual order beforehand and passed it to her.

It saved the maid a few important minutes and so she tipped him for his efforts. Evenwood nephew was happy but held himself to keep a composed posture while thanking her.

In my assessment, the youth knew what he was doing and how to cater to his customers. It wouldn't be wrong to say he was part of the reasons many people became repeat customers of the shop.

(P.S: I should mention the youth was also very handsome so it wasn't a surprise many females always came back.)

I was already in the shop at the time, pretending to be buying something. 

It was Showtime when I saw the maid complete her purchase. I positioned myself at the door in such a way that she would bash into me.

We both apologised to each other before going our merry way.

-

I woke up the next morning to see an Interface Message in my vision.

[Notice: House of Death High Priority Contract Completed.]

[Notice: Calculating Rewards...]

(To be continued...)