chapter 30-(Assassin -5)

"…I hope nothing goes wrong. It sounds fishy seeing that it's coming from Luke…"

"I'm an employee of the estate right now. I have to follow orders that are given by the master or young master no matter what. Plus I already have an idea of what it's about."

"…Really?"

"Yes, that's why I'm training alone today."

"Do you have to go, though? I'm still worried."

"I have to."

It was time. Asher stepped outside the estate and walked down the streets of the territory. He could feel the odd gazes of the townspeople as he walked through the streets.

Ignoring it, Asher took a turn and stood in front of the alley that Luke had mentioned in the letter.

Asher walked to the "delivery spot" and he saw an engraved pattern of a cross that was covered up with dust. Asher took his hand and wiped down the dusted floor and the pattern became clearer to him. It was the shape of a circular cross pattern that he recognized from the past.

"…Oh, my God."

Someone had called him here through Luke, and it turned out to be these guys.

'Should I back off?'

No, no. These guys were persistent and disgusting as weeds. In that case he needed to take them out from the roots.

Asher slowly went deeper into the alley.

Asher could feel the gazes of several hidden assassins lurking in the shadows. The assassins seemed to think they hid their presence well, but it seemed like this assassin was overconfident in his skills and incredibly immature. As Asher walked for a few more minutes, he saw the end of the alley nearing him.

"Why don't you come out?"

Srr.

Darkness enveloped the space around him. Several assassins dressed in black walked from the corners of the dark alley.

'Fourteen. That's a lot.'

"Ah I see, what do I owe the pleasure of meeting with the Motorola Assassins?"

"!"

All of the assassins flinched for a moment. Then one person amongst them made a clap, gathering their attention. A singular man wearing a black robe came up, clapping his hands.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to know who we are."

"Who else bearing the emblem of that cross, can be other than the Motorola Assassins Guild?"

Their organization was smashed decades ago, but it seemed he and the others had failed to destroy their roots, seeing them here now. Despite nearly destroying them in the past, it still didn't bode well with Asher to be seeing them here and now.

The man in the robe grinned.

"Even if your teacher is a Swordmaster, you're saying that you, the student of a swordmaster, know of us? What an endearing teacher of yours …hahah!"

"I didn't hear about your guild from him. This is my own information. I can't believe you were stupid enough to send me a note to meet in an alley. Isn't it too obvious? It was so obvious I was thinking it might even be real, since assassins aren't usually that stupid."

"…you're more talkative than I thought."

"Is that so?"

Asher mumbled casually. It seemed this would be his first fight with this body. His mind wouldn't falter under the pressure, but the body might be different. He couldn't expect the best, due to the body's influences.

"Well seeing you come and act so brazenly around us, it makes sense you're so arrogant.", the man spoke in a haughty tone.

"It doesn't matter, since this will be your grave."

Asher murmured at the man's words. The assassins' darkness then spread out with a mass of killing intent. It would be a massive oppressing force to anybody. A swarming sensation of murder and death surrounded Asher.

At that moment, one of the assassins jumped out of the dark and shot forward, aiming at Asher's back. As soon as he tried to stab the dagger, Asher turned around. He swung his hand in a curved manner around the assassin's outstretched arm.  Asher immediately broke the frightened assassin's wrist and grabbed the falling dagger. Taking the dagger, Asher brought his hand gripping the dagger in a diagonal swing, going so fast that it looked like a flash, slitting the assassin's throat immediately.

With the flowing movement, they couldn't even figure out what happened.

"The demons and assassins from the shadows were pushed back to the edge of the world years ago. What's funny is, if you can't get permission from your master, you ugly rats can't even step out into the public. That's probably natural, since you'd be swept away helplessly like ant's in the face of a storm if you did."

"…you."

The man's face hardened for a moment. Asher pulled out the dagger from the assassin's neck. Blood splashed on Asher's face and dyed his eyes and hair a bloodthirsty red.

"Who are you really..? And how do you know our secrets!"

"That's not what matters. I'm just your assisination target for today. That just means there's one thing left to do."

Asher took out the sword from his spatial subpocket.

(T/N : working with this term instead of wrist brace since it's much easier, directly referencing the spatial magic embedded within it.)

***

Van Ester was walking down a colorful hallway. Gold decorations and embroidery hung everywhere on the walls and ceiling. The extravagant decorations caught the eye of Van Ester and other past guests. The colorful patterns clearly announced the identity of the person who owned the palace.

The ruler, the great sun, that ruled atop, any and all persons within the entire empire.

When Van Ester opened the door, he could see a middle-aged man sitting in a chair by a table inside the room. Van Ester grinned and sat down with a chair.

"Long time no see, Van Ester, son of the Empire, master of the sword."

"It's been more than 20 years."

The man looked at Van Ester with zero emotion as he said so. Van Ester was the same. Neither truly respected each other for their positions at all.

"I didn't expect you to be emperor. I thought you were brilliant, but I thought you'd be kicked out of the succession race early on."

"Well, I just killed them all. So naturally, it just became mine."

The man replied with tired eyes as he touched the crown above his head.

Van Ester smiled bitterly at the stoic eyes of the current emperor. It was depressing to see a once, brilliant and bright child, crushed by the weight of reality.

"Isn't it good to be alive these days? You want some candy?"

"Ah, still showing no courtesy or respect for costumes to the royal family from even before and now."

"Oh really?"

Haivan smirked.

"I am a man who walks on the path of the sword. That means I am a man who deviates from the customs and bullshit of discrimination by race, creed or color… As long as it has to do with my and my sword, I could care less.

"I know. I just checked how long you've been gone. Twenty years of absence is enough time to forget your duties for a little, and have your vacation."

"Twenty years… yes. The Empire seems to have changed quite a bit."

"I don't think there's much change."

"Well, isn't there the change of the Imperial Guard Captain?"

"Ahhhh, you're right."