Isekai Assassin: Volume 1 Read online

  “The target. Who is he?”

  “Name’s Gordon Ildan. He’s a member of the City Watch, a lieutenant,” Charles replied.

  I just stared at him. “Is that it?”

  His eyebrow raised, as did the corner of his lips. Charles leaned back in the booth and smiled, flicking the ashes of his cigar to the wooden floorboards without care. “That confirms it. You’re not from around here, are ya?”

  He chuckled to himself as he puffed on his cigar, delighting as I wrinkled my nose as the noxious smog swirled around me.

  “If you were, you’d know the name Ildan. Gordon Ildan is the son of Jerome Ildan, the head of the Ildan Shipping Company. And a very powerful man. Because of his family, Gordon thinks himself untouchable and has become a major thorn in my side.”

  I nodded. “Anything I need to know beyond that?”

  He shrugged, taking the cigar out of his mouth and smashing it out on the table. “He’s a noble, a stickler for the rules, and deserves a knife in the guts for holding up my business.

  “Anything else you wanna know, or should I fuckin’ do the job myself?”

  I wanted nothing more in this life than to slit Charles's obnoxious throat, but I needed the money. Really needed the money.

  Not like I haven’t worked for pricks before. Just suck it up and do the damn job.

  “Understood, he’ll be dead within the week, probably sooner.”

  As I accepted the job, my status lit up.

  Quest: Assassinate Lieutenant Gordon Ildan

  Difficulty: Medium

  Reward: 800 Exp+2000 Vahn

  (10% Bonus Exp for Job-related Quest)

  Excellent. So even if there isn’t a proper underworld, I can still earn experience and money.

  That was good to know. It meant I didn’t have to work for the Adventurer’s Guild after all. I could level up doing what I did best.

  Even if it meant working for Charles.

  I turned and left the bar. The door slammed behind me as I left the bar. I paused, drawing the hood of my cloak over my head.

  It’s time to go hunting.

  ***

  Two days. It took me two days to learn everything I needed to know about my target.

  Lieutenant Gordon Ildan was a tall man, broad-shouldered with deeply tanned skin from years of walking the streets. His dark brown hair was short, styled precisely, and graying at the sides, giving him a dignified air.

  He also carried himself like a soldier, having the self-assured gait that all men who commit acts of violence in the service of a higher calling earn.

  In fact, his entire demeanor screamed badass.

  And from what I gathered while I shadowed him around town, he was also an upstanding and honorable man. He went out of his way to help those he could, and he had a strong sense of justice.

  Though it was because of that fact that made him very unpopular.

  Vohra City was just as corrupt and debased as any city I’d ever been to on Earth, and it seemed that the lieutenant upset the balance of things one too many times.

  For being a lieutenant, the second-highest rank in the City Watch, you certainly get stuck with the shit details, don’t you?

  I was currently watching him from the darkened corner of an alleyway.

  A notification popped up as I settled into my spot.

  Your Tailing skill has increased by 1! [Tailing: 5 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  I waved it away as Gordon rousted a bunch of vagrants from an abandoned property in the heart of the slums. A couple dozen drunks fled down the ruined street, but even as he walked away, another group was waiting in the wings, and they quickly filed into the just cleared building.

  The lieutenant turned around, watched them enter the building, and his face grew purple with rage. He cursed loudly and marched back to the building to repeat the process.

  A very unpopular man.

  But a good man.

  I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I hated killing good men.

  Rule number two. Do not take innocent life.

  That was arguably my most important rule and the one I held above all the rest. But it wasn’t black and white. It allowed for shades of gray.

  Gordon was undoubtedly a good man, but he was also a soldier. He was someone who stood poised to commit violence to defend an ideal.

  He was a good, honest man.

  But he was not an innocent man.

  After he was finished with the first building, he went on to three more locations, doing nothing more than inconveniencing the city’s lowlifes for a few minutes before they would return. It was a pointless job, and I imagined why he got stuck with them. To keep him busy and out of the way.

  His entire day went like that, just as it had the day before. When his shift was over, he returned to the Legal District, which was on the opposite end of town next to the Noble District. He walked into the precinct house, a large, three-story gray stone building where the City Watch worked out. It was right next to the courthouse and plenty of lawyer's offices.

  In a single word, the entire district was anathema to me.

  He went into the building and changed out of his guard armor. When he exited the building half an hour later, he wore a simple black suit that was fine but not extravagant. He then headed towards home.

  Ildan was a nobleman, and they lived in a secluded and gated part of the city that dominated most of the northern section of Vohra City.

  I trailed him to the entrance and kept track of him as he entered. Once he vanished, I slipped over the gate, which was a breeze. There were only a few entrances, and though guards staffed them, the wall that separated the Noble District was less than ten feet tall, and it wasn’t patrolled nearly as often as it should’ve been.

  Which made getting up and over it as easy as climbing a tree. I scaled the wall and hopped down. I angled for a patch of grass shaded by rows of trees that lined the freshly paved cobbled streets.

  Your Acrobatics skill has increased by 1! [Acrobatics: 2 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  As I safely landed from my roll, I darted to the thick trees that lined the walkway.

  In front of me, rows of manors and mansions lined the horizon as I slinked along—palatial homes made of white marble or the highest quality wood and stone. There was more wealth in one home than I made in a year back on Earth, and I certainly didn’t come cheap.

  I whistled softly as I raced past the houses. There’s either more wealth in this world or the flair for the extravagance is exceedingly high.

  Whatever the reason, knowing wouldn’t help me complete the quest.

  I shadowed the lieutenant to the Ildan manor about half an hour later. It took a little bit of work on my part, staying out of sight as I passed a few dozen people out and about, walking. And I received another point in tailing.

  Your Tailing skill has increased by 1! [Tailing: 6 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  The lieutenant made polite conversation when prompted by the other nobles, but he was exhausted, it was clear across his face as he headed home.

  Which was a rather large three-story, comprised of heavy stone. The roof was lined with heavy terra cotta shingles. The windowsills were also stone and filled with darkened glass. A balcony jutted from the second story and looked easily climbable.

  One good thing I had to give this world is that the expensive houses had a lot of overhanging eaves and plenty of solid handholds for me to climb.

  After watching the lieutenant enter his house, I moved to the mansion across the street and climbed to the roof. I settled in and watched, beginning to plan.

  Casing a house was the same whether the goal was theft or murder. I looked it over, counted the entrances, the number of windows, and avenues of infiltration.

  This process took time, but not nearly as much as watching the manor while I waited to see if anyone else was home.

  That part took hours.

  As the day turned to dusk and then early evening, not a soul came to call upon the lieutena
nt. And no one had entered or left the house in over five hours.

  Either he’s alone, or someone decided not to leave the house all day. The only way to know for sure was to case the house for a full day, which was a pain in the ass, but a necessity.

  So, I pulled my cloak tight around me, ate a bit of the dried and salted food I’d brought from the farmstead, and watched the house all night and into the early morning.

  I caught two hours of sleep at around three when I knew no one would be coming or going.

  When sunlight broke over the horizon, I woke up and began watching the house once more. A few hours of nothing passed by until the sun was full in the morning sky. The blue planet Koel easily overshadowed the smaller moon as it fought the sun for space in the sky.

  Eventually, the lieutenant left for work. And I ate a bit more food. Just enough to stave off the pangs of hunger. I was confident that the house was empty save for Gordon, so I would enter tonight. That meant I needed to be light on my feet, and a full belly would slow me down.

  The day passed slowly as all days spent casing a location did.

  For all the glamor and mysteriousness that most people thought about when they heard ‘assassin’, the majority of my work was me sitting somewhere, watching something or someone.

  It was boring. So incredibly boring.

  As the day dragged on, the workday eventually ended, and the lieutenant came home.

  I let a few hours pass and let night fully fall before I moved.

  Time to get to work.

  Stretching to work the tension from my limbs, I then made my way down the house and across the street. In a flash, I vaulted the low gate that encompassed the manse.

  As I approached the house, my skin itched, cooling rapidly as my hair stood on end.

  Then it was gone as quick as it came.

  I was in the shadow of a large oak tree on the property and quickly ducked behind the trunk.

  Someone was watching me, but they vanished.

  A random person looking out a window, perhaps? Or someone like me, someone casing the house. Whoever it was, was gone or had hidden well, and I couldn’t find them.

  I waited, watching the street to see if I could catch a glimpse of whoever had been there, but I found nothing. After half an hour, when I was sure the coast was clear, I took off to the left, toward the side of the manor where a second-story balcony lay.

  The curtains were open, and there hadn’t been so much as a single light touch the room all day. I was betting it was empty and would be a decent avenue of entry. The stone that comprised the manor was smooth but lined, and the blocks made passable handholds.

  I grabbed hold and hauled myself up and over the lip of the balcony. As I dropped over the side of the railing, I received a skill up.

  Your Climbing skill has increased by 1! [Climbing: 2 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  I slid a dagger from its sheath and approached the door. Though I didn’t have my lockpicks, I knew I wouldn’t need them.

  The lock on the outer door was well made but outdated. I slid the blade between the door handle and wiggled, trying to catch the release. After a second or two, the latch popped, and the door unlocked.

  Your Lockpicking skill has increased by 1! [Lockpicking: 1 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  With the door unlocked, I crept into the house.

  The room I entered was as quiet as a mausoleum, and it was obvious that it hadn’t been entered in a long time. The air clung stagnant in my throat, and I resisted the urge to cough.

  A subtle breeze brought fresh air to the staleness, but I quickly closed the door behind me and crossed the room. Light drifted in from under the whitewashed wooden door, and I froze as shadows danced along the floor.

  Candles. Not people. There were no vibrations in the wood.

  I waited, my fingers pressed into the wood to be sure, and when I was certain I was alone, I slipped out of the room and into the hallway.

  It was pristine, white walls trimmed in golden crown molding. Portraits hung along the sides—noblemen and women in their best finery. As I crouched by one of the paintings, I recognized the owner, dressed in his gleaming plate mail, a plethora of feathers lining his helm.

  It was my target. Gordon Ildan. He looked even more refined in the painting, like a hero or a king posing before he went to war.

  As I walked past each door, I stopped and listened for any sound. But there was only silence.

  This house is too big for just the lieutenant. So, where are the other members of the family? The Ildans are supposedly prominent nobility, so maybe they have another house or are away on business.

  Whatever the reason. The house was empty as I searched for my target. Most of the rooms I searched had a buildup of dust on the furniture, so whoever lived here had been away for a few weeks or more.

  I crept up the elegant stairs. A plush, crimson rug draped down the marble steps cushioned my already silent footfalls. As I reached the third floor, there was a crash and the clang of metal on stone.

  The noise offered a well-timed distraction, and I quickened my pace. Though I was still cautious of my surroundings, I was confident that the only ones in the house were the lieutenant and I.

  A door at the far end of the hall seemed to be where the noise was coming from, and I slipped to the side, pressing my ear to the wood.

  “Goddamn Count Vohra. Damn him and the whole of the nobility!”

  It was Lieutenant Ildan’s voice. I’d spent enough time shadowing him to know that.

  My target was just inside.

  His voice was heavy, not quite slurring, but it seemed to be getting there. That clang, wine goblet? That’d be my guess. I grinned. Spilled your wine. A shame, but it won’t be the only potent liquid being spilled tonight.

  I quickly shifted to the other side of the door and tested the brass knob. It was unlocked. I opened the door a hair and peered inside.

  A well-lit study met me. It was bordering affluence but still maintained a decent balance between usable and a status symbol. Rich hues of wood comprised the elegant desk and furniture. A small library of books lined the walls, and a marble fireplace cast a warm glow through the room.

  Gordon Ildan sat in a plush chair behind a well-crafted but plain wooden desk. He wore a white shirt and black trousers.

  Papers and books lay strewn about, along with a stack of letters and an expensive letter opener next to a metal pitcher that I guessed to be filled with wine. A matching goblet sat beside the pitcher, and a suspicious red stain was spreading across the floor, soaking invisible into the red rug that was under the desk.

  He picked a few more papers, read over them, and groaned. “Damn Malcolm and his cabal. They’re doing whatever the hell they want, all while the city is left to fend for itself.

  “After I confiscated the damn thing, it just disappears? No way does a whole shipment of Thanatos just up and vanish. He fucking stole it and plans to do Weilin knows what with it.” Gordon ran his hands through his hair and reached for his wine glass. “And I’m supposed to just look the other way like it never happened.”

  A moral guard, but one under immoral orders. Quite a conundrum you’ve found yourself in, Lieutenant. But I’d want you dead too if you stole from me, no matter on whose orders.

  Charles may be a bastard, but a job is a job.

  I raised my dagger to my chest and crept into the room.

  Gordon was looking away from me, making this my perfect chance. I made it across the room, steering clear of the growing puddle. I was poised to strike when the edge of my foot hit a small droplet of wine, and my boot squeaked against the stone.

  He turned at the sound, confusion giving way to panic as he took me in.

  “You!” His eyes went wide.

  My knife came down and hit empty air as Gordon threw himself back in his chair. He hit the ground hard but rolled with the impact and came up in a crouch. Even slightly inebriated, he still had skills.

  “What the hell are you doing?”
>
  I vaulted over the desk, knocking the pitcher of wine to the floor as I engaged the lieutenant.

  He was unarmed, but that didn’t make him less of a threat. I swiped at him, missing his chest by millimeters.

  My first strike was a feint, and I spun the blade around my hand and held it in an icepick grip. I angled my second strike back toward him.

  He darted to the side as my blade struck. The steel sliced through his shoulder, taking a bite of flesh as blood stained his white shirt crimson.

  “Fuck!” he cried, clutching his bleeding arm.

  I’d snagged a chunk of flesh from him, enough that he probably wouldn’t be using that arm for a long while, if he survived, of course.

  The lieutenant panicked, his eyes scanning the room for a weapon he could use. There was nothing within reach. He glanced down at the pitcher I’d knocked to the floor. He hooked the top of his foot into it and launched it toward me.

  A clever ruse, but he gave himself away, and I leaned to the side as it passed harmlessly by my ear.

  “Nice attempt, I must admit,” I said as I circled him.

  He was injured, cornered. Mine.

  “Why the hell are you doing this?” His eyes never left mine as he spoke, angling for the pearl-handled letter opener on the desk.

  As his hand touched the letter opener, his eyes finally looked away from mine, and I moved. I’d been curious since I acquired it, and this was the perfect time to test out what it did.

  I gripped my dagger tight as I closed the distance between us and activated my assassination skill.

  My dagger glowed bright, and a weight tugged at the center of my chest as a small wave of exhaustion came over me. The steel blade flashed in the firelight, reflecting the lieutenant’s panicked face for a half-second before I buried it in his chest.

  He jerked as the blade struck him, tensing upon impact. As the blade sunk into his heart, there was a thump of pressure, and Gordon seized, coughing up blood as the hole in his chest expanded.

  Your Assassination skill has increased by 1! [Assassination: 26 (Journeyman)] +50 Exp!

  Your Small Blades skill has increased by 1! [Small Blades: 26 (Journeyman)] +50 Exp!