Isekai Assassin: Volume 1 Read online

  She snorted, chuckling to herself. “That’s vague. Though I won’t pry.” She walked over to one of the chairs and sat back heavily, a cloud of dust rising and then falling around her. “I’m pretty sure I got more out of you today than you were comfortable with. So, I won’t push my luck.”

  “Oh, so now you decide to have some restraint?” I sighed, before turning and grinning at her. “Better late than never, I guess.”

  Aless smirked at me as I turned around and began giving the place a second look. It seemed that the only trap had been the rigged crossbow. The weapon lay opposite the door. Next to it was a small, round table and a scrap of paper lay on it.

  I picked it up.

  Dear reader,

  Congratulations on picking the lock and avoiding the trap. I hope. If you’re reading this without a hole in your guts, all the better. If not, please return the note to its rightful place and reload the crossbow trap before you bleed to death.

  If you managed to survive unscathed, then I applaud your skill. I purposefully made the lock as difficult as possible. Talent such as ours comes along very rarely, and as a reward for the bearer of skills befitting a master thief, consider Blackfall Manor yours.

  Those of us in the guild will not be returning to Vohra, choosing instead to disperse to the other guild halls throughout Chordis and beyond. Consider the house and all its contents that haven’t been picked over by the rotten count and his guard yours as well.

  Though be warned, the count is no fool. This place is burned for the guild but has stood for decades before the count and will hopefully still be standing for many years to come. It should serve as adequate housing for a time, though I expect the count has the place watched. It’s what I’d do. So, do be careful not to allow yourself to be caught by the guards. That would be rather humiliating.

  Before I run out of room, a final parting gift.

  This house still holds many secrets, some I hope will be of great benefit to you: good luck and welcome home.

  ─Alan Mills (3rd Finger, Master of Illusions) 12th day of the Second of Winter. 1721

  “Well, would you look at that? Seems the former guild bequeathed this manor to whoever made it this far. Which would be me.”

  “Us. Which would be us. You need me,” Aless said with a laugh.

  I turned to her, my eyebrow raised, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Remind me which one of us saved the other?” I smiled wider, pointing at my chest. “Was it me?”

  Aless leaned toward me and shoved me playfully. “Oh, you mean three minutes ago when your hands were all over me?” Her smile matched mine. “Is that the time you’re talking about?”

  “Uh.” I rubbed the back of my head. “How about we call it even?”

  I held out my hand to her.

  She winked at me and took my hand. “Deal.”

  We shook, though it looked like Aless was trying hard not to laugh. When I let her hand go, I went over to a large desk in the far corner. It was strewn about with papers that were slightly faded with age.

  “So, we have a house. What now?” she asked.

  I glanced around the room. Blackfall Manor was indeed nice. It was well constructed, and barring the accumulated dust from years of abandonment, it was nearly perfect for a home.

  Though it’d be perfect for a headquarters for the nascent underworld, too many of the guards know about it. So that’s not an option.

  The location was burned, so was The Cracked Cask. Which meant we would have to find a better solution in the future. But for now, this was a place we could call home.

  For a time.

  Ignoring the desk for a second, I went back over to the door and checked it over. I rapped it with my knuckles and was rewarded with a metallic clang under the thump of wood.

  I smiled. “The door is reinforced with iron or steel. And the walls are solid stone.” I shut the door and turned to face Aless. “This room would be a pain in the ass to breach, which explains why it went untouched all these years. The city guard likely couldn’t get in and gave up.”

  She nodded. “That’s a good thing, right?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged and rapped on it again. “Might also turn this place into a tomb unless there’s an escape route.”

  I turned and scanned the room, trying to see what was hidden in plain sight. I spotted the discrepancy almost immediately. On the far wall was a window that was far larger than it should be. Rather than the normal darkened glass of the others I’d seen walking up, this one had thick wooden shutters affixed to it held together only by a simple latch. I opened the window, gripping the sill as I peered out.

  A sharp slash of pain radiated up from my fingers.

  “Son of a bitch!” I hissed, drawing my hand back.

  “What?” Aless asked, dropping the book she’d been leafing through and coming over to me. “What happened?”

  I held my hand up. Blood trickled from three pinpricks across my palm.

  What the hell?

  I wiped the trickle of blood on my pants, and once more, looked out the window, careful of my hand placement this time.

  Sunk into the stone were numerous thin, long needles. They were painted to match the stone, so they were nearly invisible. They crawled down the side of the wall in all directions, making it nearly impossible for someone to climb up the wall to reach the study.

  “Booby-trapped, and a clever one at that.” I reached down and plucked one of the needles from the stone and held it up. It was wickedly sharp, even after being outside for so many years.

  It didn’t look all that dangerous, but that wasn’t the purpose of such traps. I brought it to my nose and sniffed. There was nothing, not even the hint of metal. I rubbed it between my fingers and found no substance on it.

  “Needles, likely poisoned at one time, but the elements would have washed away whatever was on them long ago.” I shook my hand as it started burning from the pain. “That was careless of me. Should’ve watched where I placed my damn hand.”

  Looking out the window once more, I found a pathway that could be used to reach the rooftop, and from there, I assumed there was a safe way down.

  “Well, barring my stinging fingers, this place is nearly perfect. It’s a shame the count knows about it, but we can rest here for a little while. The rest will come in time.”

  “What’s first?” Aless asked, dusting off the large sofa in the center of the room and plopping down onto it. “We have a secure place to stay for the time being, but that’s really all we have. And with Charles dead, there really isn’t anyone in charge anymore. How do we go about fixing that?”

  I shook my head, walking over to the desk. “We don’t, not yet. We can’t just waltz in and declare our intentions. That’s reckless since we don’t have any clue who to trust.

  “But this is something we can discuss tomorrow. It’s been a long day, and I’m worn out. We should get some sleep, and we can figure out what to do in the morning.”

  “Second best thing I’ve heard all day.” She looked over and frowned. “Also, you should really bandage your hand…you’re leaking.”

  I looked down at the surprising heavy drip of blood down my fingers. “Wow. Okay. That’s a lot of blood for such a thin needle.”

  They punctured deeper than I thought.

  My pack had some gauze, and I pulled it out of my dimension ring and quickly bandaged my hand. I treated it with a sharp, clinically smelling disinfectant that stung like the devil and wrapped my hand tight.

  Your Medicine(Self-care) skill has increased by 1! [Medicine(Self-care): 1 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  With my wound treated, Aless bid me goodnight and left.

  I was too tired to explore the rest of my new home. I would leave that for another day. It was early evening, but considering the day I had, and the day I would likely have in the morning, a decent night’s sleep sounded like heaven.

  The recently dusted couch seemed as good a place as any to bed down for the evening, so I took
off my boots, shifted my cloak around me like a blanket, and settled in for the night.

  But as it had been the night before, as it was with every new place I slept in, I couldn’t quite fall asleep. My body took a while to adjust to any new place. I nodded off, only to jolt awake at every gust of wind that creaked the rusted gate at the entrance or howl of an animal in the forest.

  It made sleep nearly impossible, and I only managed a few fitful hours by the time the sun rose over the horizon.

  With sleep having eluded me for the second night in a row, I decided to wake my body up with some exercise.

  I began stretching and then performed my normal routine that kept my body fit and limber. It kept me busy until Aless came into the room an hour later.

  “Morning, Elias,” she said, barging in.

  I was currently in a handstand, doing my best to balance on one hand. Whether because of the agility increase the night before, I found it slightly easier to balance.

  “Uh, whatcha doing?”

  “Waiting on you,” I said as I lowered back to my feet.

  She shook her head. “Okay. So, what’s the plan for today?”

  “I’m going to head back to the bar and see what Christoff can tell me. He worked for Charles, and I’m sure he knew more than he let on. If I can bring him over, then that’s just one more font of information for us to tap.

  “While I’m doing that, why don’t you reach out to your pickpocket friends and the beggars, get started on seeing who’s receptive to our plan.”

  I pulled out my meager coin purse and handed her a couple of hundred vahn. It wasn’t much, but it should be all that she needed to work with.

  And if she absconds with it, then that’s a cheap price to pay to learn if I can trust her.

  “Get yourself some breakfast and save the rest in case you need to bribe anyone. A few vahn in a starving man’s hands will get him to open up faster than all the promises in the world.”

  She took the bag, her fingertips lingering on my palm for a single second, their warmth sinking into my cold and clammy fingers.

  Aless stowed the money away and walked out of the room. “I’ll see you later, and if I run into trouble, I’ll hide out back at my place. So if I’m not back by tonight, you know where to find me.”

  I smiled at her and brushed my sweaty hair back. “Could find you even if you didn’t tell me where you were going, but it makes things easier, so I won’t complain.” I paused for a second. “Be careful, don’t get caught doing something stupid like picking pockets. You’re not a thief anymore.”

  “Right.” She smiled and then vanished, leaving me to my own devices.

  As she left, I went back over to the desk.

  There was something I had to do now that I had a place I could work freely from. I sorted all the papers that the Foxes left behind but didn’t go through them just yet. I would when I had time, but there were more pressing papers I needed to read.

  I pulled out all the documents I’d taken from Charles as well as his dimension ring. I was certain there would be something useful in there that I could use to my advantage.

  The papers went on one side of the desk in a neat pile while I took his dimension ring and pulled out its contents. As the swirling, hazy portal opened, heavy bags fell out, landing with a solid thump followed by the clinking of coin along with vials of a bright green liquid, and letters, correspondence between Charles and others.

  My eyebrows rose at the sight of the coin, and I whistled long and slow. You were keeping your bank in your dimension ring on your person. Smart if you can defend it, but incredibly stupid for a coward who had to hide behind hired muscle. I ignored the vials and the letters for the moment and opened one of the money pouches, just to see. It was filled with golden vahn.

  “The drug business was good to you after all? This is a lot of money, but it’s nothing compared to what I’ll need for this convoluted idea of mine…but it’s enough to arm myself and Aless very well and perhaps get the beggars and pickpockets on my side. Though I can always earn more coin.”

  From the stacks of papers, I could tell what a few were right off hand. Quests, jobs. Several nasty little requests, but ones that paid well.

  I picked up one of the quests, and it popped across my vision.

  Quest: Poison the well of Jansson Grell.

  Difficulty: Medium

  Reward: 750 Exp+1000 Vahn

  Just a poisoning earned me half as much coin that I earned for killing Ildan. But I had no idea who the people requesting were nor who they wanted harmed. I’d have to look into those quests and see if there were any that I could take that fit my rules.

  But I had to do something else first.

  There had been a notebook with names of guards that Lieutenant Ildan suspected of being corrupt. That was critical information.

  And from the correspondence I found, it seemed Charles had a number of the guards on his payroll. A few names matched the ledger from Ildan, but only a few. I’d have to go hunting to find all the ones I could pay off, but the ledger was a start.

  The first thing I needed to do was destabilize the guards.

  When Charles’s death was reported to Malcolm Vohra and Captain Mays, they were liable to crack down on the city. I’d need to make sure they couldn’t catch their breath long enough to form a proper response.

  Doing so would give me time and room to operate with impunity.

  But it meant quite a few people had to die first.

  Interrogate and kill the captain of the guard. Find out his loyal subordinates and kill them too. With any luck, their replacements will be people I can buy, and if not, I’ll kill them and replace them until they are.

  Killing Captain Mays had a two-fold effect. It would destabilize the guard, and it would further weaken Count Vohra’s power base.

  As that quest said. Poison the well.

  My goal was to cut the head off the snake and let the body flounder and die. By the time I was done, the count would have no one to turn to, and I could kill him without repercussions.

  I gathered up the coin, letters, and documents and stored them away. I had a busy day today and an even busier night.

  Best get to it.

  I left Blackfall Manor and headed back into the city. My first place was The Cracked Cask. I wanted to check back in on Christoff.

  He was tending the bar when I returned. It hadn’t been twelve hours, yet I couldn’t tell anything had taken place the day before. Even the bloodstains had been cleaned up.

  The Cask was back in full swing, but none of the patrons that had been in there earlier had returned.

  Christoff glanced over at me when I came in and motioned for me to come to him with a subtle wave of his fingers. I walked over, and he slid me an ale.

  “What can I do for you, Christoff?” I asked, taking a sip.

  “Some papers came in for Charles, I told the courier that he was sick, but that lie won't hold up for long. Since you’re the one who killed him, what are you planning on doing? Are you taking over his business?” he asked in a hushed tone, eyeing the other guests.

  I shook my head. “Not exactly. His drug business will be handled, just not by me. I don’t know exactly who will take over, but that’s another problem for another day.

  “You should probably just keep your head down and keep doing your job. And, if you don’t mind a little side business, I’ll pay you well for any information you can pass my way.”

  He nodded. “Can do, but once the word gets out that there’s no more Thanatos, it won’t be pretty. You’ll have riots on your hands.”

  Damn. He’s right. I need to sort that out, just so that I don’t have it turn into a larger problem down the line.

  What if I steal the shipment of Thanatos from the count? Give it to Christoff to distribute, let him claim a portion of the profit? It’d be a pain in the ass, but if it heads off a problem before it starts, then all the better.

  And if I’m going to meet with the cap
tain tonight. I can make him tell me where the shipment is.

  Quest: Steal the Thanatos shipment

  Difficulty: Hard

  Reward: 1200 Exp!

  (-75% for unrelated Quest)

  Wait, I can give myself quests? But because it’s not an assassination, I lose experience.

  Let’s test this out.

  Quest: Assassinate Captain Mays

  Difficulty: Hard

  Reward: 1500 Exp!

  (10% Bonus Exp)

  I don’t get any vahn, but maybe that’s because I’m the quest giver? I shook my head. Money I can come by easy enough. There’s still that whole stack of quest documents in my dimension ring, but I don’t have enough experience. I need to work on leveling up. I think that it’ll be incredibly beneficial in the long run.

  While I was thinking about it, I pulled out the vials of Thanatos Charles kept on him. There were only a couple dozen doses, but from what I understood, that would be enough to last for a little while until I could get the rest.

  “Will this be enough to hold the tide at bay?” I asked.

  Christoff swept the vials into his palm and nodded. “We’d better hope it is. Should I leave the profits here for you to collect?”

  “Yes. Take ten percent of each sale for yourself.”

  His eyes widened, his mouth dropped open slightly. “Seriously? Ten percent? Are you sure?”

  “I am.” I then stared coldly at him. “I’m willing to pay you well if you help me out, but steal from me…and well, you saw for yourself what I’m capable of.”

  Christoff’s dark skin turned a little green as his eyes flicked to the spot where Charles’s body had been. “I understand completely. You don’t have to worry about me. I swear.”

  “Good.” I polished off my beer and slid a few more vahn across the table. “I’d hate to kill one of the best cooks I’ve ever seen.”

  He smiled and took the money. “Don’t have to worry. You seem a far more competent boss than Charles ever dreamed he could be. Let me get you a good meal before you leave. You’ll need your strength today, I imagine.”

  “Won’t hear me complain.”

  When I was done eating, I said my farewell to Christoff and swung by Angela’s.