Chapter 44: Dean's Past (3)

Dean was silent for a while. After a while, he widened his eyes. Surprised? Yes, because what that woman revealed was a secret. His father and mother had even blended into the lives of ordinary people, so Dean himself had forgotten his true identity.

The change in his expression was still covered by the mask. Dean simply replied, "Whether I'm a half-blood or not, it's none of your business."

That woman who claimed to be a vampire laughed. She still had a flirtatious impression. "Little brother, I don't care about your business. I'm just asking why you have the audacity to enter my territory?"

She looked at Willy. "Even with this monster pet of yours. Don't think that your animal is an ordinary dog."

"A child of a half-werewolf with a half-tiger-man. Plus a dog that died and came to life thanks to your parents' blood extraction. You two are like the result of a successful experiment, huh?"

That vampire laughed. She moved closer to Dean. Even Dean's height had surpassed the vampire. Though for the vampire race, they were the fastest growing race and would slow down as they matured.

"How old are you?" The vampire asked while looking at Dean's face which was slightly taller than her. She did not remove the mask Dean was wearing.

Dean asked back. "What do you have to do with my age?"

"I'm just calculating whether or not you and your dog are worthy of my experimentation." The vampire held Dean's mask-covered chin.

Plak!

Dean threw the woman's hand away. "You have no right to objectify us. We have our own lives."

Willy approached Dean with a limp. The dog seemed to growl at the vampire. However, it did not attack back.

"What an arrogant little brother. You've been fine for some time. However, that dog of yours will definitely need help, you know? At that time, you will definitely thank me." The vampire woman backed away from Dean.

She walked in the opposite direction. Before completely disappearing in the forest, she stopped her steps. "Watch your dog carefully. Your parents should have just turned him into a lich to survive longer."

Dean stared at the woman's departure in silence. He thought he would not be let go even if he had to fight. It turned out that his worries were in vain.

"Lich... we're not even a mage. How can you be a necromancer? You crazy vampire." Dean muttered briefly and invited Willy to leave.

Dean looked at Willy's body. Indeed, his pet dog's body was so big that it was the size of a horse. But that was just beast mode. The dog even had characteristics like his race because it lived from the blood of both parents. Willy could change to the size of a normal dog.

"Let's go home, Willy."

***

Plak!

Again and again, Dean was mistreated in the guild. Having just returned to report for a mission, he received a slap from the guild's vice chairman.

"Why was there an eyewitness when you went on a mission, huh? It's a good thing she didn't report and only asked for compensation for keeping her mouth shut!" The man yelled at Dean in front of several of his guild members.

The other members just pretended not to see them. The rest were focused on their work. Even though the guild office was very small and they were very close.

Dean tried to ask, "Why didn't you kill him, sir? Shouldn't we not leave any witnesses in the course of the mission?"

The guild vice president kicked Dean's right calf. However, Dean wasn't in pain like his superior imagined. The vice chairman replied, "Because that witness isn't an ordinary person. She's a big supplier of monster corpses sold through our guild."

Dean frowned. He took off his mask and asked, "What kind of compensation is he asking for to keep his mouth shut? It's not like if it's just one person, you won't lose other suppliers?"

Plak!

This time, Dean was slapped again. Even the guild vice president pointed at his forehead. That man looked really annoyed at Dean.

"What did I say? She's a big supplier which means she's the only one who can carry a lot of corpses among other suppliers. She is not a human. She is a vampire who lives in the border forest."

Wait a minute, Dean felt something was off. Especially since just now, the vice president of his guild used the pronoun 'she' on that person. He felt that the woman he had just met earlier was the person in question.

"In that case, may I know what compensation she's asking for?" Dean asked in a calm tone, but in his heart, he felt uneasy.

He also glanced at Willy who had shrunk down and sat at the door. The dog seemed to understand that Dean was worried about him.

"He asked for your and your family's data. Since you have very little data, I'll just give her a copy. She also said that you should know her name. Her name is Helena."

The guild vice president nudged him before going upstairs, to his own room. Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing. Even he had just met the vampire woman earlier. However, the vampire had arrived at the guild office faster than Dean.

He instantly remembered that his father once said, a vampire did have higher agility than other races. They were a race above all else.

The beast people race were the ones who had strength above other races. The elves race that was very rare had speed and the inherent magic power of nature spirits. Well, vampires looked like a combination of the two, but without the controlling power of nature spirits. The drawback was that vampires lacked the characteristics of living beings.

Dean laughed silently, he did not expect someone to be so annoying to him. Even after being numbed by the sickening human life, he did not know what to do.

He invited Willy to enter his room downstairs in the office. Because of debt, Dean couldn't buy his own house. The debt was too great because it turned out that mom and dad liked to do research. Dean himself knew that even research tools were too expensive for him as a commoner.

When he got to his room, he was silent. Again and again, the door to his room opened. This must be the seniors who liked to bother him so much.

He went inside and found nothing missing there. Except for the snacks he had gathered to rest. This time, he had to go to the kitchen in the guild office to eat. However, he was too lazy to fuss with the members of the kitchen department.

"Willy, come here. Let's sleep."

He was tired of it all. Instead of getting dizzy thinking about everything, it was better to just go to sleep.

***

It was the same day of the Tryton Kingdom's annual festival. Dean felt nothing for it. In fact, it was his 25th birthday that year.

No friends, companions, spouses or even neighbors remembered him. He just continued to work in that small guild all his life. However, at that age, he had other thoughts.

Dean was summoned by the guild vice president for a new mission. He rarely entered his superior's room. Luckily, now that he was considered a senior assassin, the people who had been mean to him in the past were only a few.

Where did they all go? Most of them died in the mission. Of course it wasn't because of him. Dean just thought of the past as a bad memory.

"You have the task of killing this nobleman. The applicant is his rival in business. Make it an accident rather than a murder because the applicant could be a suspect." The guild vice president said indifferently.

Dean looked at the mission description written in the note. Starting from the occupation, activities, to the daily schedule of the noble who would be the target.

The guild vice chairman looked at Willy who always followed Dean everywhere. He said, "Leave your dog alone. Don't carry it around with you because this mission is rather complicated. If your dog's fur is left at the accident site, you could be trapped with them."

The people in question were the royal government. Either he will go to court or go straight to jail if found guilty.

Dean looked at Willy who was also looking at him. That dog was very smart and could easily figure out human speech. Maybe it was because he had the blood of his parents as an experimental object. The blood of beast people seemed to have a great effect on the dog.

That man went back to reading the mission log again. He commented, "If it's like this, I can't approach it first because it will be very obvious later."

The guild vice president replied, "Yes, you should make it look like a pure accident. Ah, at the back of the note is a picture of the noble you have to kill."

Dean tried to flip the note to the very back. He looked at the picture carefully. It was obvious that the picture was made by a magical device because it was too much like a copy.

However, Dean was very surprised to see the face of the nobleman. Yes, he was very familiar with the nobleman's face. The middle-aged man he had met about ten years ago. The nobleman who gave him a temporary job and paid him one gold coin. The nobleman who made him return home late and Dean had to watch his parents lying stiff at home.