Attachment

"Old man, not mean to be disrespectful but why are you doing this? Can we set aside the animosity between each other and work for our employers the best we can do?"

As they walked around the quiet street toward a certain location, Isaac felt he needed to talk some sense.

For the most reason, it would be disrespectful and atrocious to show their action to the duke that they were fighting.

"I can't be at ease. You suddenly appeared out of nowhere, guarding Noelle and even Duke Verl sometimes. Where did you come from honestly? Are you a spy from the families of the capital?" Klein said as he glanced at Isaac before stopping himself from moving, "Well, I will eventually know if we can settle our doubts about each other right here and now,"

Looking around the place, Isaac saw that they were in the training grounds for the knights but they weren't any people present.

"Don't worry, I've asked the knights to occupy this place only for this night. Pulling the act off is very easy since I have a very good image on this land," Klein spoke solemnly as he grabs his dagger on his back, "Isaac, you will be dead today and I can search your memories to find some clues."

Grabbing out his sword, Isaac can't help but answer, "What if you're thinking wrong, Klein? You will be killing an innocent person,"

Klein appeared to be thinking for a few seconds as he answered without any expression, "I've already killed countless innocent people. Adding you on the lists didn't matter,"

Whoosh—!

Klein, who is very swift in his movement, leaves an afterimage of his position and emerged right beside Isaac as thrust his dagger forward.

Already seeing where he is, Isaac responded promptly as he defended himself by blocking it with his sword.

Clang—!

Seeing that his attack failed, Klein retraced his steps two times, throws his dagger in the air above, disappeared from his position once more, and appeared on Isaac's weak point.

Whoosh—!

Klein grabbed something in the thin air, as he holds another in his hand, using it to attack Isaac who is avoiding the attack by moving backward.

As Klein lunged forward, he used the dagger he brought out of thin air and thrust his weapon forward, trying to inflict damage on Isaac's eyes.

Swoosh—!

As if he read him in the book, Isaac slashed his sword in Klein's direction, trying to be faster than him in the attack.

Whoosh—!

And once again, as if he read his opponent's next move, Klein smiled faintly as he didn't confront the attack, instead throws his dagger mid-air, disappeared from his position, leaving an afterimage, and emerged on Isaac's back while holding the first dagger he had thrown earlier.

Klein tried to aim for Isaac's head but had failed since his opponent responded, albeit, a bit too late as he was half successful on the attack.

Isaac had been stabbed in the shoulder.

But instead of grimacing in pain, Isaac swiftly changed his footwork and kicked Klein away, moved back, and removed the dagger, quickly shifting his attention forward, only to see Klein was on his front right away.

Grabbing the second dagger as he appeared right in front of Isaac, Klein thrust his weapon vertically.

Slash—!

Isaac bowed down to avoid it and tightly gripped his sword before using his momentum as he thrust his sword forward, aiming the tip at Klein's chest.

Whoosh—!

Klein dodges but his arms slightly graze the blade of the sword, unable to fully avoid it but as he thought he could get some time to recollect himself, Isaac swiftly lunged forward and continue pressing Klein down.

…

"How long will they continue…? It's been hours already!" Face-palming myself, I saw the injury of the two people getting worse and worse.

I had the urge to stop them but if I do, they wouldn't reconcile and might result in more hatred in the near future.

'You will only know your friends on the battlefield they said… still, is that correct in this situation?' as I mused myself, I can't but shake my head and sigh.

They were going ham on their fight. The ground of the training area will need renovation by skilled workers and thankfully, the outside of this place is unaffected.

The two knows that they couldn't involve innocent people in their fight hence they tried to keep the damages minimal on the grounds.

'These two can't be hurt that much… We'll be going somewhere in a week.' I mused inwardly and finally, I had enough.

I was about to step out and stop the two when all of a sudden, the battlefield turned tranquil as the sound of weapons clashing was gone.

"You… are not a normal person as I expected."

"Same as you, sir."

Klein brought his dagger down and held his bleeding arm with his other hand, "Say kid, are you a spy from the duke's enemies?"

Returning back his sword to his sheath, putting his hand on his bleeding shoulder, Isaac answered and smile helplessly, "I'm not a spy, old man. My encounter with the duke is completely coincidental. What about you?"

Klein sits down on the ground as he sighed, "I'm a famous assassin on the black market, underground territories, and many more illegal places in my peak years."

"Do you have a wife and children?"

"No. It will be a weakness on my part but I've gotten a lot of ladies in my bed for fun. Of course, every single one of them wanted to kill me," Klein laughed as he reminisces the past, before saying, "But there was a one time where I was growing attached to someone. It's not really feelings of love for the opposite sex. It's just… attachment,"

Isaac sat down near Klein before he continued, "I'm supposed to tell my backstory to you now?"

He let out a laugh as he continued, "Actually, the assassin mission I will be mentioning is actually the last mission I have done. After that, Verl found me."

Subconsciously, I remained hiding in my place.

From the senior's memories, it didn't mention anything related that he would tell his backstory to Isaac as he only told him a bit like he was an assassin and their fight is finished.

Onto the next chapter.

but it was different from what I was hearing. What change?

I remained quiet while Klein started sharing his story.

"There was a young lady from a certain place, and she was noble. Long story short, it was politically related stuff. The girl has to die and I accepted it since the bounty was a hefty sum. First, I have to gather information to obtain a flawless assassination attempt as I've always done. Assassination wouldn't be called assassination if the first attempt failed.

"This noble lady is very cheerful, kind, and has empathy towards others from what I've gathered. Of course, as part of the job, affiliations, and reasoning behind the job is not my concern. I just have to get the job done and get the money."

"The day of the assassination came. I sneakily entered her house and inside her room, I saw her standing in a chair with rope hanging on her front. She put it around her neck and knock her chair as she chokes herself to death.

"I waited for her to end and receive the bounty without getting my hands dirty. I didn't expect the mission would be easy. It was supposed to happen that way until I saw her crying. She wasn't just crying. She was begging herself to let go of the rope's grasp through actions. In a matter of seconds, she softly spoke "I don't want to die" and I immediately lunged forward and cut loose the grip of the rope.

"Let's say I was rather curious about why she would do that when she doesn't want to die. What was going through her mind when she did it? She looked at me with surprise after recollecting herself a second away from death."

---

"W-who are you? Are you some kind of guard hired by my parents?"

"It doesn't matter. Why were you doing that?" Klein asked without any expression as he looked at the lady who was trembling and is still shocked about her actions.

He then heard her answer, "I… was depressed, okay? I received the news that both my parents died due to some accident. I'm pampered by them, you know? Hearing them dying just like that is… taken a toll on me."

She paused, "But I realized that it's better to be depressed than be dead. I mean, do you get what I'm implying?"

---

"She was very… well, let's say a humorous person. Hearing her stupid reason, I forgot that I was doing an assassination. I mean, I understand her actions but… other people had worse than her.

"After that… I just left. I thought we're done on this and do my second attempt later on while having my record of perfect years of assassination gone, but suddenly while entering her room, she surprised me once more,"

---

"Haha, mister! I knew it. You are not my guard but an assassin!" She said enthusiastically while looking at Klein, whose face cat help but contort.

Who would greet someone very happily who is there to take their life? Probably only the lady on his front.

He immediately left.

---

Klein smiled, "She was a half idiot. A cheerful, suicidal, curious, half-idiot person. Every time I came to her room to end her life, there was always a letter on her desk that is a message for me."

---

/Please don't kill me uwu. I want to see the sun tomorrow. I will be the next leader who will govern this place. I can't handle my parents' ceremony if I die, do you get it, mister? We can schedule it at some time!/

He immediately left.

---

"3rd attempt, 10th attempt, 53th attempt, 100th attempt. I lost count of the attempt which I had this mission for years and if someone is interested in taking this, they have already left this world since I couldn't be disturbed by it.

"Hah, the flawless assassin who was good in his early time can't kill a single lady. I was a laughing stock to everyone but… it didn't matter to me."

---

"I take this as the 169th attempt assassination fail also?" The lady, who have grown up, looked at Klein as she laughed, "Mister, thank you for being there most of the time. I feel safe around you."

Klein was about to leave when she heard the lady speak, "Mister… please don't leave. I want to give you something."

She grabbed something out of her pocket, and give it to Klein, "It's a gift. Please accept it."

Klein saw a monocle in his hands.

---

Klein slid his hands on the pocket of his suit and show it to Isaac, "This monocle has been given by her. It was the first gift I've received in my entire life.

"At that moment, I began to rethink my assassination attempts. Why did they all fail?" Klein paused, "I knew I'd grown attached to her. I'm curious about this cheerful person in my front. My first impression of her just struck me to my core.

"During those attempts, I subconsciously checked her room if there was any magic intact, if traps has been placed, or goes through the commission places to see if there was any related to her assassination and eliminate those who tried to do so.

"Sooner, I knew I'd been infected."

---

"Mister, you've smiled."