Failure to follow orders or making a mistake holds greater consequences if you are part of an assassin union, whether that be an organization, syndicate, guild, or family—failure to finish a mission is no small thing.
Punishments are severe and it's very rare to get second chances due to the various dangers in this line of work.
In the safe house of their adoptive family, known to any place that has their identification, as Bastere, were three family members. Two of whom sat at the dinner table every night as the third member of this family couldn't come down.
The servants of this household weren't servants at all but trained assassins sent by the main family to watch over the safe house and eliminate anyone snooping around.
Cain was sitting at the head of the table, silently eating his dinner, when Ruria was brought to the dining room to come meet him.
Even the servants standing next to the walls seemed somewhat nervous by the summon. Despite being trained killers, they know how cruel and powerful the heir of the family is.
They shuddered to think what kind of patriarch he will make in the future. Will he be an exact copy of his cruel father? Judging by his actions throughout the years—torturing anyone that so much as insulted him, killed his targets in cold blood and even their family or other witnesses, among many other monstrous things.
"—You are empty-handed, little sister." Cane glanced at Ruria after putting his fork and knife down, "When I summoned you for an audience, I was expecting you to bring the book along with you so that I can start with my training right away—where is it?"
"…I apologize, Elder Brother, but I could not obtain the book…" Ruria, trying her best to hide her trembling, faced his cold glare with a poker face.
"Why is that?"
"…The martial master who possesses the book is much too powerful. He has also increased his security and trained his guards so now they are even stronger than my previous visit." Though she knew it wouldn't work, she tried to come up with an excuse.
"Ruria, in our family, I was the first one to give my sibling a second chance to prove themselves worthy to serve this family. That is much more than Father would care to give."
I don't want to serve this family, she held back that remark.
"You do not need the strength of a Goliath to fell a Goliath. We warriors of the shadows have learned ways to fell giants without direct confrontation, skills perfected through hundreds of years of discipline and hard work. And we possess artifacts crafted by Outer Gods meant to kill even God-like beings. Have you made use of anything that was taught and given to you?"
Cain stood up, the sound of the chair scraping on the floor making Ruria's spine chill.
"I did… my best, Elder Brother."
The sound of his leather shoes hitting the floor felt like the growling of a terrifying monster getting closer while they were petrified in fear.
"Did you not hear what I just said?" he grabbed her hair and pulled it to its limit, making her grit her teeth as the tingling pain reached her scalp, "Poison, subterfuge, stirring conflict in the shadows—there are many ways to kill someone. All it takes to know what poison can kill a powerful man is to test their blood and how it reacts to different poisons."
Ruria knows that.
It is by no means cowardice to kill someone with poison. It's an art of war, used by assassins to kill nobles and kings on the battlefield without direct confrontation, which can destabilize entire military forces. Whether it be a dart, poisoned food or simply putting a needle in a prostitute's mouth—it is the most effective killer.
Some consider it more noble than simply fighting and cutting off your enemy's head.
Alas, Ruria could not do it.
"First you fail to kill Arnold von Berkley to make up for your sister's disobedience, now you fail to bring me the book that is rightfully mine." Cain grabbed her face as his eyes became icier.
First, she thought she met one of her idols but that idol turned out to be the very man her brother wanted her to kill.
Arnold von Berkley.
Her brother first gave the eldest sister the order but to every family member's surprise, she refused to do so. They also can't just go to where she is to activate her sleeper command—which turns her into a mindless but obedient puppet.
That is because a man as strong as their father watches over her.
He used to be a powerful warrior who caused fear throughout the lands, then he became an assassin killer who worked with various powerful men throughout his 120-year lifespan up until his retirement. As such, he knows all the tricks of infiltration and elimination their kind uses.
He is an immovable mountain.
Why would they want Arnold dead, you ask?
He was once the heir of the Berkley House so he was no different from the other heirs Cain and his father wants to be assassinated… right?
No, it is simply because their sister's love for him outweighs the power of the sleeper command placed on her.
Even if she was activated, he could break it with a simple phrase.
It's better to let the Sword of Damocles hang overhead than let it fall on the king's head.
Ruria found out that her eldest sister is special, as revealed by their brother.
Out of everyone in the family, who had taken the power of the Wist Devil, she is the most compatible factor. This threatens Cain's rule as this means that if the devil contracts with her, she becomes more powerful than all the previous heirs.
He wants to turn that sister of his into his slave. You don't just kill tools that can be useful.
Cain's hand moved down from Ruria's face towards her neck then… it groped her breast. She quietly looked away as he undid her blouse. His other hand slid down her back before grabbing a handful of her butt. She subconsciously tensed up at the action, making him lose his grip on her butt.
"There are no more chances left for you, Ruria. You have shown your incompetence." Just as her bra peeked out, he stopped, "But you are still a woman so I can use you in other ways."
"…I will do whatever you ask of me, Elder Brother."
"Humph, you don't need to tell me that. You are bound to this household regardless if you agree or not." He rubbed it in for the nth time.
"…"
"The heir of another assassin family wishes to meet with you. As the two of us will mutually benefit from establishing the marriage, I naturally agreed to it."
"W-Who is it?"
"That's none of your concern. Just make sure you're ready to meet him once he comes over in a few days." Taking a single glance at his little sister's body, he waved his hand, "Dismissed."
**
"…" Ruria sat quietly on a bed in a certain room in the mansion. It was quiet, unnervingly so but she knew she wasn't alone in the room.
Lately this room has become a place where she can think in peace. It's where she trains her mind so that she can become the ultimate assassin.
"…Hn… Mm…" her older sister turned in bed frantically. There was a wheelchair next to the bed as she had lost her ability to walk on her own.
"Sister…" Ruria climbed into the bed and hugged her from behind, "A great man said he'll protect us… He's even stronger than Father and Elder Brother."
Calling him strong was an understatement as she watched his battle with Ko Johun back then. He was clearly holding back a lot as he wasn't even struggling.
"He promised us a home in his city if I can bring him some artifacts. Heh, I'll probably quit school and join some guild as there's no future for a killer like me other than killing…" she laughed self-deprecatingly.
"No one in this world can defeat him. Ah, I heard he fought some giant monster that demon cultists summoned and emerged victorious! I really want to ask him to… kill Father and Elder Brother but why would I want to attempt to fix something that's unable to be fixed? This family's roots are older than the empire itself. So, we can only rely on him for protection until someone else takes care of them. While that city will be our prison, we will still have freedom to do whatever we want without being ordered around…"
She was already beginning to daydream about their future. But she can't have her mind in the clouds right now. Tonight is the night she carries out the task she was assigned.
But first, take her sister to a safe house that even the family don't know about.
"Ruru…?" the young woman's eyelashes fluttered as her black bangs fell to the side, revealing her pale and skinny face, "Ruruuu…"
She buried her face in her little sister's chest.
This was the only word she has ever muttered. To her, Ruria is her only world, her only purpose. If her little sister isn't here, she cries and whines, annoying the servants a lot. Other than that, if she's not staring blankly at a wall, she's sleeping all day.
She was such a beautiful young woman—there was a picture of her framed next to her bed. it was a picture with all three of the sisters.
"Tonight is the last time we sleep in this prison, Elder Sister." She hugged her sister's head, who purred and hugged her back, "But I have to carry out the most dangerous mission I've ever been assigned to—"
A mission even more dangerous than jumping worlds…
While stroking her sister's hair, she steeled her resolve one last time. It was a peaceful night but she will never know peace once this night is over.
◊◊
A few days went by without much happening. Arnold was able to spend quality time with his lovers, Siana and Victoria (who apparently finished her business with Vealle for now). It's been ages since he felt this drained (Victoria has some crazy stamina) which isn't exactly a bad thing.
According to a letter Arnold received this morning from a messenger, the academy and palace was preparing something for the empire's heroes so he needs to show up at the auditorium.
If he had to guess… the emperor prepared special medals for their bravery as well as rewards. Since most of the "heroes" were missing and doing their own thing, only Ceru, Arnold and Sylphiala could show up.
But maybe Freya will join them.
"D-Do I really have to go…?" Sylphy asked with a troubled expression as she struggled to keep the collar of her dress over her breasts.
"It's your debut as my Rune Master so you can't show up in your regular adventuring clothes. Think about my image."
"Tch. Why would I care about that?"
Unlike him who was in his regular academy uniform, she wore formal clothes. It would seem she's not used to dresses. Being an archer, that area of her chest always used to be protected by light armor and he's only ever seen her in simple shirts and pants these past few days.
Ceru was probably still in that school uniform of hers but he's not sure as she was still sleeping in her little box.
"My Lord, the carriage is ready to depart and the luggage is loaded." Bethany, one of the palace's newest maids, came up to him and reported.
"Good. We can head out immediately. Do you have all your stuff, Elizabeth?"
"Mhm!" his reliable little dark magician replied while going through notes—so studious.
"Sylphy?"
"Yes…"
"Then, let's go."
**
Siana and Victoria (she arrived late last night) were still asleep after a very intense three-way together. He decided not to disturb them and left the palace quietly after saying his farewells to his subordinates.
By the way, Fridulf was now alive as Elizabeth was able to revive him using just his dead spirit that wandered the palace halls so he's now guarding the master bedroom door, not allowing anyone in. Arnold feels a bit guilty about killing the dog for simply protecting his master but it had to be done.
Siana has forgiven him but the mutt will need some time.
Speaking of Elizabeth, she's been rather distant lately. He was expecting her to be all over him and get mad whenever he has to leave but she's been busy with other stuff. Seeing as how she had so many books open in the carriage, she was taking her school work seriously.
He had a mild suspicion that she's just afraid she'll lose that dorm room if she fails a year. Students who repeat a year are placed in a study hall where they'll live and study day in and day out. Arnold barely escaped that fate thanks to his mother (according to Celeste). It was an abuse of power. Adrianna probably threatened the relevant officials using her status as a Duchess. Or if that didn't work, as she's a sly schemer, she might've used other methods he is unaware of.
Concerning Adavire, Isolde was currently outside the territory on business so she hasn't heard about Adavire just yet.
"—Uhm, My Lord…" Bethany spoke up hesitantly when the carriage left the city gates, the cheers of the citizens coming all around them, "I-Is it really okay for me to come with you? Leaving such an important task up to me despite having recently joined…"
"You've shown you're capable of serving me beyond just following simple tasks. What I find tedious to do on my own won't be that difficult to do for any servant."
He didn't take his eyes away from the horizon as he answered her.
"You won't just be serving me as Elizabeth is my dorm mate so remember that. Treat her as your master as well."
"Eh? I thought the dorms are divided by gender…"
"…Don't think too much about it." Elizabeth said with a small smile and slanted eyes from beside her.
"Y-Yes…"
'I haven't heard from Tanaera in a while. I wonder what she's up to?' knowing her, it's probably some cult nonsense she got herself involved in to gain control of some dark arts she became interested in.
That conversation they had back then bugged him a lot. He has a weak will? What nonsense.
But with how they're heading to the Thalivielle Kingdom in just two weeks, he's worried about phantoms and spirits roaming the World Tree's roots. These phantoms, which are invulnerable to physical attacks unless you have a special magic weapon (which he does not since Luxtivin is just a soul weapon manifested from his power), will pose a threat to him.
Usually, they can't do anything to people with powerful wills, like Luke and Guinevere as examples. How is it that Arnold, the most powerful human currently and someone who has entered the realm of demigods, has a weaker will than these two?
Could it be that simpleton Liam's fault?
"205 people…" Sylphy suddenly said with a blank face as she lowered the document she was reading through.
"Hm?" before he could ask, she grabbed Arnold by the collar.
"I now have 204 orders for special equipment because you couldn't keep your mouth shut about where my workshop is! Even if they didn't give deadlines and pay even better than the top blacksmiths if asked for similar orders, that's way too much responsibility I'm not used to! Give me back my free time, damn you!"
"O-Oh, is that why you seemed troubled? Shouldn't you like the work you're getting? You've been at it for hundreds of years so you must like the work you do…"
"Didn't you hear what I just said!? The responsibility is too much for me to handle!" judging by the bags under her eyes that he noticed the moment they met up this morning, she hasn't slept in a while.
"It hasn't been that long since you started. You'll get used to it." he said nonchalantly.
"Easy for you to say since you're not in my shoes! Rather, fault should lie with the customers who think they can just line up and expect their order ready by next week. Do they not realize the time and dedication that goes into this craft!? I've been doing this for hundreds of years and never once have I felt this sense of urgency."
She ground her teeth. Well, it seems she's passionate about her work at least.
"Did your master have other apprentices besides you? Maybe if we track them down, they can help you?"
The system won't just tell you who has the capabilities of a Rune Master as that's too vague. As such, finding them alone will be impossible for him.
"I'm not sure. I might just be 360 years old, but I've even forgotten most of my comrades from a century ago. How can I remember my master, much less his or her other disciples?"
"Fair point."
That's one of the disadvantages of having such a long life. Since he's basically immortal in his Enlightened form, coupled with his draconic genes and dragon soul, he'll go on to live forever so he'll forget most of the people he'll meet. The only ones he'll have are Elizabeth and his descendants who will probably go on to live as long as him.
"I'll just have to get my own disciples." Sylphy said something he never thought he'd hear.
"Huh? You want to teach someone else?"
"Don't look so surprised. While this knowledge can be misused, I can't let it die with me."
"How difficult is it to become a full-fledged Rune Master? Do you think Elizabeth would be able to learn since she's a magician?" hearing her name being mentioned, Elizabeth looked up from her book.
"Mastering runes has nothing to do with your potential as a magician. Do you think the most famous blacksmiths throughout history had some kind of ability that allowed them to craft weapons? It's all about their hands and skills. An ordinary human can use runes once they create a special magic channel in their bodies which allows them to interact with runes to enchant, conjure, etc."
"I'll trust your judgement then. Do you have anyone in mind?" While he doesn't like people learning her skills as the value of her creations will be lowered, he can't deny that she won't be able to complete everything on her own.
Having just a few disciples to share the load will speed up production and allow her to fulfil his personal requests as well.
"I'll give you a list of people I want to interview once I do a bit of digging. For now, I have my eyes on that girl who modified the Larantheus Great Rune to create a mana core. I never thought a Creation Rune, mainly used by my predecessors to convert ordinary materials like stone and sand into rare materials they could use for their work, to be used to create a mana core. It's actual creation—which is in the name—but I never imagined it could create something out of nothing. No, maybe the individual's desire alone was that something? While there are side effects that I should be able to get rid of once I modify the rune a bit more, her achievements make her a candidate to become my disciple."
"I wouldn't say Ersa's that qualified since it was just one rune…"
He has yet to meet her and observe her abilities but from reports Vetis left in his office, she was just a regular honor student with no talent in magic. And besides, Selia helped translate the rune by giving Ersa the second half of the rune's formation—something that isn't public knowledge yet.
"It being a Great Rune makes a huge difference so don't just call it a simple rune. That aside, testing her won't be hard. I believe runecraft is an innate ability. It's like being born with high intelligence, something you learn to use efficiently through hard work. So, if I find that she has that untapped talent, I'll force it out of her."
"You seem very eager to have a disciple. Is it because you want to leave your work to your disciples so that you can continue being an adventurer?"
"The contract stated that I can do whatever I want on my days off so why do you care!?"
"Alright, alright. Just remember that no one will ever come close to you in skill which is why I don't think they can replace you."
"W-What's with the sudden praise? Do you want a free enchantment or something?" taken aback, she said with a red flush on her face.
"I wouldn't take advantage of you like that." he looked at her incredulously, "Your hard work will be rewarded even if it's me asking you for something."
"Humph…"
"By the way, did you finish the task I gave you?"
"You mean the transmitter thing?" Sylphy puffed out her chest then took out several small crystal objects from her bag, "It didn't even take a day for me to complete. Honestly, I should've thought of this before but thought that since it's a technical thing that humans created, me working on it won't make a difference. Now I can talk to my family every day from now on."
"What is that?" Bethany, intrigued by the object, asked.
"It's an upgraded version of the regular transmitter we use today. The components are the exact same despite its outer appearance but what differs from this one is that I applied a runic filter to it. Ordinary transmitters can't connect to channels from that far away even if you're on the same frequency due to the presence of mana in the air, that interferes with radio waves."
"That's why I had the idea to ask Sylphy to see if she can fix that limitation using her abilities."
The strongest radio transmitters today have set limits depending on the craftsmanship. Whereas on Earth, radio frequencies could travel billions of kilometers. The difference between the two worlds is one has mana in it, which unfortunately blocks radio waves depending on the amount of mana in the air.
If you tried communicating in the Thalivielle Kingdom, no signals would be coming in or going out. What a backwater world this is.
Arnold doesn't know the theology and whatnot behind it but he had the system look up any runes that could use the mana itself as radio waves. There were several that he found and so he asked Sylphy if she can use them. Though surprised that he knew about these runes, she accepted both his request and excuse—which was that he found it on the 50th dungeon world while he was scouting the floors.
With this device, there will be no restrictions of who you can communicate with so long as both devices have the same filter on it.
Just like with the teleportation device, he plans to patent this as well so that he sells them exclusively.
Kukukuku, he chuckled softly imagining all that money.
Bethany was the first one to react after hearing the explanation, "This means I can communicate with the orphanage even when away from the city!"
Whitage wasn't that far from the capital but, as mentioned before, only the strongest transmitters would be able to transmit signals to meaningful distances. The capital of Toril itself is vast so if Bethany were to use a regular transmitter, the signal wouldn't reach.
"This invention isn't on the market yet so you'll have to wait until then." Despite the news, she still looked excited to try it out, "Sylphy, I'll leave it up to you to find people qualified to help you mass-produce these."
"Do you plan on selling these?"
"Of course I do. You're my subordinate so the rights belong to me."
"You're a very greedy person, you know that?"
"The people should be happy with the teleportation device that I'll let them have in their cities. I could've made billions off of it alone." he complained.
Sylphiala sighed at his remark.
"Anyway, I left one in the hands of your city captain Sceptim so if there's any issues, he will contact you so take one." after saying so, she handed one of them to him. The rest will be showed off to the relevant individuals who will help spread the word and mass-produce them.
Within half an hour, the carriage arrived in the capital and they reached the academy within roughly ten minutes since the streets were quite empty today.
Arnold found out the reason why the minute they rolled into the academy gates.
"There he is! The Hero—Arnold Valtraak!"
There were tens of thousands of people gathered outside and inside the academy, students and common folk alike.
"…."