Stalking
Iono entered the city and mingled with the merchants looking for his target.
He was wearing a hood, hiding his features, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. He was walking in the streets, occasionally disappearing, and reappearing a couple of meters further down the road. The dagger arts he practised were very useful because of this very aspect. The fact that they focused on silent movement, made Iono a ghost of the city, anyone who saw him appear and disappear would rub their eyes, thinking what they saw was an illusion.
After a few minutes, he entered a tavern. It was rowdy and loud, no one noticed him coming in. He went straight to the bar, where a bearded tall man was wiping a mug, and with his hood hiding his features, he said,
"Barkeep, a cold brew to relieve my fatigue."
The barkeeper looked at Iono with a suspicious look but still served the brew. Underage drinking wasn't a thing in this place. As long as someone had money, they could do whatever they wanted. That's what a merchants' town meant.
Money is the law.
Iono left a few copper coins and one silver coin. The moment he did, the barkeeper's eyes turned to look at the coin, and then at Iono.
"What do you want to know? ", he said.
"Good thing you understand quickly. I'm looking for a man. Goes by the name of Troban." said Iono, while lifting his head and looking at the barkeep with a tinge of killing intent.
This was necessary to show that he wasn't messing around.
The barkeep flinched at the name, but not at Iono's provocation. Obviously, he wasn't taking him seriously.
"This is gonna cost you more than a silver coin. It's going to cost you your life if you approach that man."
"Barkeep... No, Viper, I thought your job was an informant, not a babysitter. Tell me the name, and let me decide who's going to perish when I meet this guy."
The Barkeep almost jumped on Iono the moment he heard him calling him by his codename. But he restrained himself, because he was not only going to blow his cover but also curious as to how Iono figured out his identity.
This guy was an information broker and quite a good one at that. He had affiliations with both the Eastern Kingdom, and any kind of criminal organizations you can think of, but he gave information to anyone in exchange for goods. He had many codenames, but the one that he used with the kingdom was Viper.
He was not a double agent, but an agent of the crown. He was sent to infiltrate any organisation he could, and extract information on behalf of the king. Only no one knew, but the king and him. So, how could this small ignorant child, know of his alias?
"Relax, Barkeep, it was a happy coincidence I heard of your exploits, but don't worry I am not in any mood to blab about you. Before you try anything, think about where could my origins lie, for me to have heard your name. We're on the same team, take it easy."
The barkeep stayed silent and thought about Iono's words. He was an information broker, and a spy of the crown, he didn't trust people and he wasn't going to start now. But he thought about Iono's words and realized he was royally screwed. Either his cover was blown, and this little kid was here to threaten him on orders of someone high in the criminal organisations, or this kid was of royal blood and touching him would mean facing the guillotine.
He was between a rock and a hard place. Kill the kid to ensure silence, and risk losing his head, or let the kid go, and risk his blabbing.
He was peacefully running his tavern until a moment ago, and now he was irreversible f"cked.
"The best choice would be to let him go, but I never trusted anyone, and I'm not starting now. Trusting people means killing yourself, that's spy 101. But thinking of my head rolling on a basket, I'd choose trust over death any day of the week." he pondered.
"Alright brat, I'll tell you the place, and I won't even charge you, but, I don't know whose son you are, or how you learned that name, after today, you are going to forget it, understand?", he placed the mug he was shining all this time down, and looked at Iono like he was looking at prey.
"No problem at all, just tell me where the moron is at, and I'll be on my merry way.", Iono replied with a relaxed face, and a small grin.
"Go to the Red Hut, three blocks down, he drinks there every night. After that, I am guessing you can deal with it."
When Iono heard that, he picked up the mug, chugged the brew, wiped his mouth and said,
"Many thanks! I won't let the door hit me on my way out if you know what I mean... ", Iono said as he stood up and left the establishment, leaving the barkeep agitated.
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The Red Hut, midnight.
"Keep the drinks coming! Bahahahaha!"
Yelling, loud singing and clinking of glasses and mugs could be heard from all over the place. This establishment was rather rowdy this late at night.
It was a single-floored, wooden building, that resembled a hut, only the inside was full of tables, and in the middle, there was a round bar that served drinks to the customers.
It was rather cosy, with heads of deer and boars decorating the bar, while their hides kept the floor warm.
On one of the corner tables, four muscular men, with swords strapped on their waists, and alluring women in their arms, were merrily drinking and partying, sometimes groping the women in their arms, revealing lustful smiles. One of them was a guy with long ears, blonde hair, and no whiskers.
On the other side of the room, on one of the windows, if one looked carefully, one would notice that the padding was slightly too big.
This was, of course, no padding, but Iono stalking his prey. After learning of the location he went to the hut and erased his presence, waiting for the moment he would walk out.
After one more hour of drinking, singing and drunk dancing, the four men walked out of the bar. After exchanging good nights, they split up in groups of two, each walking in different directions, holding the man-killers in their arms.
Iono saw the target leaving, and followed closely behind while making sure he wasn't noticed.
Both men were drunk so their conversations were mostly incomprehensible gibberish, while they walked like they were trying to draw a giant 8 on the ground.
After a couple of minutes, both men turned into an alley.
"Chance! ", Iono thought.
He followed closely behind and saw them walking to a dead end. They realized their mistake and tried to come back out, when suddenly-,
Only the whistling of the wind was heard.
Troban's friend's head was rolling on the floor.
His body fell limp, but no blood was spilt.
The girls tried to scream but realized their mouths were sealed by something.
Troban was even worse, because he saw the grim reaper's scythe around his neck, ready to collect his head.
To his left, a hooded figure, with a grin so wide and evil, it made his scalp tingle, and his neck hair stand up.
"Make a noise and all three heads will roll."
The two girls nodded aggressively, while Troban remained silent.
"Who are you!? Why are you doing this!?", he asked, trembling a bit.
"The Jester of Chaos sends his greetings, and with that your death warrant. I bear to enmity against you, this is on his orders.", said Iono, sounding cold-blooded.
"The Jester of Chaos!? When did I ever offend a God!? I haven't ever seen or talked to him. How could he want to kill me? You must be lying. Who's your true boss? ", he sounded a bit scared, but also resolute, because he just sensed that Iono is just in Bone Tempering.
"Well, I am not going to talk about it. But I am kind of interested too. Did you ever wreck any of his Tombs of Worship, or something?"
"What? No, never! Who would be stupid enough to mess with a- wait a moment! I was drunk and I peed on a Tomb once. Do you think it was one of the Jester's? But that still doesn't make sense! Tell me why are you here!"
"Did that moron send me here to kill someone, just because he peed on one of his Tombs? I'm going to yank that idiot by the horns! ", Iono thought inwardly. The others couldn't see it, but his face was blushed, feeling embarrassed by his actions.
"If you won't tell me your boss brat, then I won't be courteous! ", and as he said that, he abruptly turned around, unsheathed his sword and tore at Iono's head, with every shred of mana and aura he could master.
Only before his sword reached, he suddenly realized he was looking at the girls, which was impossible, because they were behind him.
"Did I grow eyes on my back!?", he thought.
Then he realized he can't feel his body, which made everything apparent when in the next moment he was looking straight at the pavement. His head fell on the ground with a *plop*, and the scythe that extended through the darkness was now stained with blood. Only no blood came spurting off the body. It was an eerie sight.
Iono chopped his head off before he could even turn and face him. No matter how strong he was, in a position like that, there was no escape. Underestimating Iono is like treating a dragon like a lizard. No good can come off it.