Leaving it to Fate

****(POV)

This man deserves to die.

No, not a man, a clown. A truly naïve fool that doesn't know what is best for him.

It all happened a few ago.

He came in screaming about wanting mercenaries to escort him on his travels and requested booze. At that exact moment, I already knew he was a fool.

No sane person would get drunk while conducting business negotiations.

Then he got offered help from 2 mercenary groups. One that was nothing but a remnant from the past. Low member count, average strength, and lack of an ambitious leader. The other option being the thorn mercenaries.

These guys are really alike to thorns. They are countless and will draw blood should you rub them the wrong way.

Not only did this dumbass pick the worse option, but he even had the insanity to anger the stronger group. He told their leader he talked too much.

I then knew that he wouldn't have a good ending. For I knew what they would do to him.

Or at least I thought I did.

The next morning he came swaggering to the counter not only alive and well, but also requesting compensation for a night attack. He said something about them trying to kill him, but that was obviously a lie. If they truly wanted him dead he would have been already.

I kept telling him that if anything happened it was his own fault for not locking his door.

He kept arguing that it was locked. Maybe it wasn't and they came in, maybe it was and they lockpicked it. In any case, it didn't matter to me.

At this point, the guy was already annoying, truly a natural talent at antagonizing the wrong people.

In any case, he had no proof whatsoever since there is no way anyone can recover from that much alcohol easily.

He contested it, but so what. I threatened him to call for help from the stray mercenaries and he left like a coward.

At that point, I had forgotten about the whole episode. We do get stupid customers from time to time. This one wasn't going to live long either.

The thorns only robbed him that time but would probably ambush him later on too. Someplace away from prying eyes, where getting rid of a body would be easy.

After all, they are a really resentful bunch.

This hypothesis became even more likely when I learned from my subordinates that they left the Inn early. Probably to go and make preparations to jump the guy.

I was going about my day as usual.

That is when something crazy happened. I'm not too sure how, but flames appeared all over the place. I ran out of the building only to see it completely on fire. That's when I saw it. That white wolf that came with the fool.

Running with a lighted torch in its mouth. It somehow knew how to start the fastest and deadliest fire possible.

A fucking wolf. That asshole tasked his wolf with burning my place down!

The worst being I was too late to stop it. That simple instant enough to set my finances years back. Rebuilding is extremely costly. And for what? Because I didn't want to compensate him for the thorn's thievery?! This man is a lunatic and possibly a danger to society.

I then saw their group coming back, from the main road at that. The galls he had showing up after the crime he committed!

He rushed to his wolf and hugged it tightly.

Acting all innocent.

This fucker had to pay for it all. For disrespecting me and for being an arsonist.

When I called him out, the madman came nearby and started slapping me.

The insanity of it all. Using violence against me in public at that!

FUCK THAT GUY.

Then many mercenaries came to help. However one after the other they just got slapped hard until they all fell prostrated on the ground.

In the end, I had to fucking beg for mercy.

Bullshitting about not taking revenge.

He left as quickly as he came. Leaving behind my now destroyed Inn and my bloodied face.

At first, I was too scared to even think about retaliating, but afterward, I realized that no mercenary actually died from his assault.

That's when I understood that this enemy of mine wasn't that strong.

That's when I swore to myself that I was going to get him killed for sure.

That day he made the very mistake to let me live.

****

That brings us to this very moment. I am bowing to a tall man wearing a long golden robe with many trigrams.

He used to belong to a renowned divination sect. At some point, he got kicked out. They didn't approve of the way he used their signature magic.

He's someone I had to go through many trials to contact. A friend of an old family member. Usually, a lowly innkeeper wouldn't be able to convince him to help, but he did reluctantly accept to sell me that favor. It cost me most of my remaining savings too.

But he is the best of the best. This man is a professional assassin.

He uses divination magic to track his targets, then he….I actually don't know how he does it.

But he has tricks to get the job done.

Apparently being a good assassin is not so much about strength, but more about exploiting opportunities.

Nothing better than a man that can literally read fate for that.

The funny thing is he is smiling right now. I've only ever seen him smile.

Anyone meeting him in the street would naturally believe him to be a good-natured fellow.

Then again it kind of fits with his specialty.

His victims often die of natural causes and tragic accidents.

None actually ever gets murdered. Or so the official story always says.

"Alright I'll take care of this issue for you, but first the payment."

I hand it out respectfully. A money pouch containing enough coins to rebuild this Inn many times over. It does pain me extremely so, but I would rather be poor than to know that man is happily living.

I'm not exactly sure how this whole business works. Better ask just in case.

"Mister, how should we proceed now?"

"We? You do nothing while I peer into the future and plan, accordingly, don't worry your problem will soon be settled! Do you have any objects your target came into contact with directly? That would make this whole process faster."

An item he touched? He touched a lot of stuff in his drunken spree. All of it burned. Wait, what if I get that?

I go and fetch the torch that damn wolf used.

"Mister, I'm afraid everything burned, but this item has been in direct contact with his damn pet.

Would that work?"

He nods and gets to work.

This is my first time witnessing such a mysterious discipline, so I am intrigued.

That's when he seems to focus, then he starts glowing in a golden light.

On his forehead appears a shiny third eye symbol.

But all this show matters little to me.

I'm more excited about knowing that I will be avenged soon.

I can't wait to see this guy's dead body with my own eyes.