It pretty much began early that morning, when I had awoken to Theo looking at me, watching.
The initial feeling one would get upon awakening to the sight of being watched would vary between creeped out and horror, however, Theo had done this before and as his best friend, you learn to accept the weirdness.
He wasn't without habits of his own, why judge? Making a fuss over something so trivial seemed meaningless to me, I had better ways to spend my time.
I arose from bed to get ready to make my way to the mission hall to embark upon another mission, a mission to kill.
Dressing in my usual all black tracksuit, specially designed for this line of work, I wondered if I should just ask Theo again.
The suit matched my dark hair and unnaturally dark eyes.
I glanced at Theo, who seemed lost in his thoughts.
"Theo" I said after a bit of hesitation.
"Yes?" He looked over at me, but never made eye contact, strange, but it was Theo.
"Would you like to go on a mission with me?"
"Uh, I would go this time, but I have a bit of training to do in the Woods" he replied sheepishly.
"Ah, that's fine, have fun." I don't know why I asked, he never wants to go.
I finished putting my suit on and left the residence, an understatement, considering how everyone else lived in the Crypt.
All registered assassins live in makeshift shacks that are obviously quickly and loosely put together to allow for a quick escape should the base ever be discovered. Only higher-ups have access to more detailed living quarters like mine, however, as a talented youth with a lot riding on my shoulders, I was granted equal access with the ability to bring one roommate with me.
As I leisurely strolled towards the mission hall, the scenery felt a bit foreboding to me. Despite the beautiful Autumn trees, warm breezes, and wonderful gray sky, it all had a tinge of darkness behind it.
I passed many people on my way there, with looks ranging from admiration to seething hatred, at what? I'm not sure, my success may have gained a lot of fame due to my talent and was on track to being the youngest sovereign in history, considering sovereigns essentially ran the organization, so while their jealousy was childish it was expected.
As I made my way into the hall, I heard the whispers, "bastard," "pompous stuck up," "he thinks he's better than us," and "Just a kid."
The hall wasn't very large, sort of, a medieval restaurant set up. Making it very easy for me to pick up every snide remark said under hushed tones.
The many onlookers snickered as I walked through, but it seemed like some of them had a darker glint in their eyes than normal.
After approaching the front desk in the hall, I waited until one of the ladies on the other end noticed me and made her over.
"Looking for another mission?"
"Yes," I replied flatly.
"You know, you've been running through missions lately, maybe you should tak-"
"We've been over this before, I can and will continue."
"Ok…" she gave me a hurt look.
She did this every time I came. I knew the look she gave me every time I came in here for a mission, I wasn't interested in any relationship, especially not here; she was only a liability to betray me should anyone push the right price.
I accepted the mission that was close to the Crypt with the intent to make a quick buck of sorts and carry on with my day.
After stepping out of the hall, I used |Soundless Step| to disappear into the shadows, rapidly approaching my destination.
As I was running toward the location, I read the information in the mission.
/Target: Kill
Name: Clarence
Info: Enjoys video games, music, and sleeping
Importance: ASAP
Bounty: $100k
{The target seems to be the offspring of a tycoon who has had a bounty placed on his head.}
I arrived at the mansion of the target's family in under an hour; several times faster than any assassin might I add, excluding sovereigns.
My objective, for now, would be to scout the mansion and rotational schedules of guards, butlers, and maids, effectively finding the smoothest time to commence the murder.
It was large, possibly the largest mansion I'd come across to this date. Bejeweled with ornaments ranging from pure gold to decorative emeralds decking the walls and gate surrounding the Medieval Castle House-styled residence.
It was lavish and quite obviously expensive, however, to me it just seemed pointless to buy. I never really saw the point in paying exorbitant amounts of money on trivial items such as overly large houses with more space than they could ever need or want; it was absurd.
It was still bright outside, a state of luminance that brought severe annoyance to me, I always found the darkness significantly more comfortable, the reason behind it was lost upon me.
To be frank, however, everything was lost on me. I never understood the feelings anyone got over certain things, it was mundane in my eyes, trivial to be specific.
Well there was one thing but he refused to think about it; anything that's ever brought him a semblance of joy is always taken from him, he'll just have to experience it in passing.
Noticing a guard change since it was high noon, I memorized the walking path of the guards and approached one that appeared to be making his way to lunch after just leaving the residence.
Approaching the lone man, I adopted a timid and scared persona.
" 'Scuse me, sir, my sister is badly injured, could you be so kind as to help me carry her to the doctor?"
The guard turned and frowned
"Where do you live boy?"
"Just up the alleyway over there, if you would follow me, kind sir"
Keeping the pleasantries short and brief but highly respectful will allow the guard to drop his…guard.
The guard examined the alleyway quizzically before sighing.
"Let's go, I wasn't hungry anyway"
Walking into the alleyway and taking a left turn, their visibility from the street was reduced to 0. The area was dark and heavily shaded, an area one would only enter to participate in shady activities.
The guard looked extremely uneasy and was skeptically observing every nook and cranny of the alleyway.
"Where is your sister?"
The guard tensed and began reaching for his gun, however, I'm always one step up ahead.
Gripping the barrel of the gun, I pulled him towards me as I embedded a knife into his throat and the moment his hand slacked, I covered his mouth to muffle his cries for help while slicing his neck open to expedite his death.
It didn't take but a few seconds for him to go limp, although his brain was still active, his body would move, no longer.
After laying his body flat on the ground facing up. I carved a heptagram with a dragon eye in the center of his chest; I've done this many times. This would allow me to get away with the murders without retribution, I've killed so many people while adding this mark on them, that it was a mark that said it was their time to die.
Killing so many people for such an extended period and marking my every kill, allowed me to treat these missions casually and accomplish many more along the line. No one investigated any kills marked with a dragon heptagram, they essentially were struck down by God himself.
While I hadn't calculated this phenomenon, I just marked my kills to add some type of spice to this ever-so-boring lifestyle plus the heptagram was just something I had seen once and thought it looked nice, but it made everything a lot less tedious, and a little more… humorous.
After stringing the body upon a wall by the hands, I was ready to continue with the final act of my mission.
He had to be placed on the wall specifically by his hands because the first time I was forced to do such a thing, everyone practically revered the sight and placed the body in a town for all to see.
It was intriguing but not among the most insane sights he had ever beheld, so he brushed it off. But I have been taking advantage of the incident to more easily accomplish my kills.
Washing the blood off of the armor and donning it, I adopted all of the guards' observed mannerisms starting with when he left the mansion and memorized the name, he had been called several times while walking away, Hans.
Making my way to the mansion was simple, and waltzing in was nearly just as easy, perhaps not for other assassins, but I wasn't those other assassins.
By my observation, Hans was a high-ranking guard, considering the difference in clothing, armor, and the respectful way his fellow guards addressed him on his way out of the mansion. Which means this will be simple.
"You, over there"
"Sir? Did you call me?"
The bodyguard I signaled down looked timid and uncertain of himself, a perfect candidate for what I had planned.
"Sir Clarence has summoned you to his bed quarters you mustn't dally"
"Yes sir!"
After sending him scurrying, I moved out of sight of other guards, took off the armor, and climbed to the ceiling. It was dark and very dimly lit up here, perfect for moving around the mansion undetected.
I followed the timid guard as he made his way toward Clarence's bedroom; along the way, traffic through this area of the mansion was scarce, going from several guards in one location to rarely meeting housekeepers.
It seems whoever enlisted the organization to kill him, does not stem from an outside party.
As we made it to a large door and the guard was about to knock, I jumped down and put him into a blood choke until he was unconscious.
After laying him down I proceeded to cut his neck and wrist open, draw my famous tattoo, and leave him to bleed out. It was now time for the grand event!
I pick locked the door open and slipped inside, searching for my target, who was nowhere to be found in the room. It was odd until I heard the sound of water in a connecting room, he was bathing.
That made this much easier. Slipping into what should be an indoor bathhouse, I spotted Clarence splashing in the water like a child; he seemed to be having fun, completely oblivious to the idea that someone was here to kill him.
I made my way around to be directly behind him and snatched him out of the water by his throat, put two knives inside of both sides of his neck, and then snapped it. A beautifully executed mission done in around an hour or so.
Making sure to mark his chest, I let the body fall back into the bath and approached a window.
The window was completely locked down from the inside, an efficient method of keeping intruders out, if the intruder wasn't me. Stepping back outside, I decided to dump the other guard into the pool with Clarence and escaped through the window.
Once in the streets, my escape was secured, they would never single me out in the plethora of individuals walking the street, especially when they haven't even discovered Clarence is dead yet. This was another easy mission.
Just another easy-going day, with an easy-going mission, the usual.