Isekai Assassin: Volume 1

by Grayson Sinclair

  “But the Thanatos comes to me. There just isn’t any way for me to pay the Prowlers for the shipment yet, but if they steal it. I’ll give them a cut of the profits we make selling it.”

  She folded her arms under her chest. “Are we selling it ourselves?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I have someone in mind for the job.”

  “Got it.”

  I smiled at her as I stretched my arms. “Wanna go train with me?”

  Aless smiled. “Later. Definitely later. I’ve got to go talk to my Prowlers, let them know the deal, and scout the area.”

  “Okay.” I waved her on. “Have fun, don’t get caught.”

  “Never.” She turned to leave and then turned back. “If I’m not back tonight, don’t worry. If I’m not back by tomorrow night. I’m in trouble and need your help.”

  I laughed. “Can’t promise anything. Saving damsels in distress was never part of the job description.”

  “Even one as cute as me?” she asked, a false pout on her lips, her gray eyes alight with mischief.

  “Maybe, if there’s nothing else going on.” I grinned as our eyes met.

  “See you later,” she said. Then she was gone, out the door in a flash and out of the manor a minute later.

  Well, I still need to train even if she doesn’t want to train with me.

  I headed for the second floor and began my strength and conditioning exercises to keep my body toned and lithe. After half an hour of three rounds of calisthenics, I moved on to training and worked on my knife attacks and throwing skills. When I was done with them, I finished off my training with the obstacle course for training my acrobatics.

  By the time I was done, I was exhausted, and my knife wound itched something bad. My status screen blinked in the corner of my vision, likely telling me that I’d leveled up a few of my skills.

  Since all I’d been doing was training these past few weeks, my skill ups kept coming in quickly, so quickly that I mostly ignored them.

  I sighed and pulled up my status.

  Your Throwing Knives skill has increased by 1! [Throwing Knives: 8 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  Your Small Blades skill has increased by 1! [Small Blades: 28 (Journeyman)] +50 Exp!

  Your Acrobatics skill has increased by 1! [Acrobatics: 15 (Novice)] +25 Exp!

  Your Strength has increased by 1! [Strength: 29] +100 Exp!

  I closed it out, enjoying the rush of blood to my taut muscles and the added strength in my body, and went to take a relaxing hot bath. When I was finished bathing, I went and got a bite to eat.

  After I was clean and fed, I thought about going upstairs and reading some more, but all I’d been doing was reading. I wanted to get out of the house.

  I had a few people to go and talk to in the city.

  I’d nearly forgotten about my order with Terrance, but Aless had reminded me. I’d asked her to go pick it up for me, but Terrance said he’d only hand the order over to me personally.

  He was a rather eccentric man at times, but I understood the impulse.

  I looked up at the stairs and where the library was and then toward the door, a decision weighing in my eyes. Guess I’m going shopping.

  A smile formed on my face at the prospect of getting out of the house, and I quickly went upstairs and donned my armor. Aless had taken it to Angela for repairs and had it cleaned as well.

  I was rapidly coming to rely on Angela for a lot of things. Though the woman was even quirkier than Terrance, she knew her stuff.

  My armor fit around me like a glove, and I looked down to see a new section of stitch work where the knife had pierced the leather. It blended well and gave the rather smooth armor some character. I threw my cloak around my shoulders, slid my knives home in their sheaths, and headed back into town.

  The gate guards stopped me, and I had to present my visa once again. I still had a month before the visa ran out, but I didn’t like not having the security of citizenship.

  One day soon, I’ll go to the Legal District and have my papers issued. That or forge them myself. All I’d need is the clerk’s seal.

  But that was a job for another day. I had some shopping to do.

  The slums met me as I stepped into the city, and I quickly found my way back to Ironblood’s Weaponry.

  The bell heralded my arrival into the dim weapons shop. Terrance was leaning against the counter when I came in but perked up when he heard the bell.

  “Ah, Elias. Good to see you again. ‘Fraid you died till that little redhead showed up. Glad to see you still kickin’.”

  “It’d take more than a knife wound to kill me,” I said with a laugh as I approached the counter. “Is my gear ready?”

  “Yep. Been ready for damn near two weeks.” He grinned, coming over to shake my hand. “But that gave me some time to play with the handles and harness a bit.

  “Wait right here.”

  Terrance left and went back to where I guessed his workshop lay. It took him a few minutes, but he carried a large, rolled-up strip of burlap and a sack when he came back.

  “Feast your eyes on these,” he said proudly.

  He unfurled the roll, and an array of weapons was revealed to me. The knives on either end were larger than the others and were obviously my daggers.

  I picked one up.

  It was hefty, over a pound, but solidly constructed. The leaf blade was made from folded manasteel, and the chaotic pattern that shimmered in the light was gorgeous to behold. The handle was wrapped in black leather and was balanced in the center, just like a throwing knife.

  I spun it over my hand and reversed my grip on the blade. I took a few swings. The blade sliced through the air with soft whistles. With a flick of my thumb, I spun it back and tossed it to my left hand. I performed the same movements, and each one felt as natural as breathing.

  The blade caught in the firelight as I held it up.

  “Truly, I don’t think I’ve wielded a better blade. It’s divine.”

  Terrance rubbed the back of his bald head, grinning ear to ear. “Makes an old blacksmith proud to hear that, but don’t go praising me too much. The daggers were easy enough to make, but why don’t you check out the throwing knives? Those were a tricky beast.”

  At his words, I stowed the dagger back in its place and drew a throwing knife.

  They matched the design of the daggers but were slimmer and had no crossguard. They were lighter than the daggers but far heavier than the throwing knives currently strapped to me.

  From picking the first one up, I knew it was perfect, or as damn near as close I was liable to find in this world.

  “Do you have a target I can try them on?” I asked.

  Terrance nodded, his eyes lighting up. “I sure do, come out back.”

  I grabbed the roll of knives and followed him around his counter and past a large, stifling hot workshop.

  The stone furnace in the corner was going, and it turned the room almost into an oven. Though I was only there for a minute, we walked past the forge and through a wooden door that led to a small, roughly fenced courtyard surrounded by stone buildings.

  “This place is my own little slice of quiet in the city. Whoever shoddily built this damn place didn’t do a very good job,” Terrance muttered.

  In the far corner were three mannequins, much like the ones I found in Angela’s shop. These three were battered and torn things, not fit for anything but target practice. Terrance had given them rough cast-off hunks of metal in the approximation of armor and attached wooden boards to their chests.

  Painted on those boards were circles, leading to a bullseye in the center.

  “Here.” Terrance grunted and tossed me the burlap sack. “This is your harness to hold your knives.”

  I caught the sack with both hands and set down the roll of knives as I tugged open the burlap. The strong scent of fresh leather hit me as I pulled out the bundle. The harness was black, glossy in its newness, but it would patina nicely from use.

  My t
hrowing knives would sit diagonally across my chest like the harness I currently wore, but the daggers were in a different position. They rode at the crease of my hips and legs instead of at my thighs. A minimal difference, but it would probably help a bit with movement, but I did wonder about the change.

  When I asked Terrance about it, his eyes lit up. “I’ve got something for you.” He took off back into his shop while I got my new gear situated.

  The harness fit like a glove, and the knives fit perfectly in their homes. By the time I was finished getting dressed, Terrance had returned.

  “So, I ordered more of the manasteel than I needed, and well, my creative mind wouldn’t just let it sit on the shelf, so I used the excess to forge you this.”

  He held out a short sword in a leather sheath matching the leather harness. The handle was black leather like my daggers, and when I drew the blade, it matched the other leaf blades perfectly.

  It was heavier than any other short sword I’d wielded before, weighing almost three pounds. The blade was thick, perfect for chopping.

  I took a few practice swings with it and slid it back into its sheath.

  “It’s perfect.” I hooked the sheath in the obvious spot on my thigh. There was even a strap that wrapped around my hip and thigh with a buckle clip.

  I strapped it on, and it didn’t so much as move or make a sound.

  “What do I owe you for the sword?”

  He waved me off. “Three hundred vahn considering you didn’t ask me to make it. That covers the cost of the material and the sheath.”

  “So my total comes down to just over a thousand vahn, right?”

  “That’d do it.” He nodded.

  The new gear ate through much of my already meager purse, but they would serve me well for many years if I maintained them properly. A true professional could make their weapons last longer if they took care of them. Weapons only broke quickly if they were misused or improperly cared for.

  After his payment was handled, Terrance told me I could practice with the dummies as long as I wanted and then went back to tending his shop.

  I stayed out there for a few hours, getting familiar with my new weapons. The daggers were as familiar as breathing, but my sword skills were slightly rusty, but an hour of remembering the correct stances and my footwork brought the lesson back like it’d been only yesterday since I’d received them.

  Your Swordsmanship skill has increased by 5! [Swordsmanship: 6 (Novice)] +125 Exp!

  The throwing knives were what I needed to test the most, but two quick rounds throwing them at the targets, and I knew everything there was to know about how to throw them. I could throw a butter knife and hit my target nine times out of ten. Blades that were properly balanced were as easy as breathing to me.

  When I was done training, I wiped the blades down, checked them for nicks or imperfections, and stowed them away.

  I was slightly heavier than I expected with the sword, but all in all, the added weight was less than ten pounds, and I compensated for it almost instinctively. It would take a little time to get fully used to it, but it wouldn’t slow me down that much.

  My cloak hid the weapons as well as it had before, and I smiled as I walked back into the weapon shop.

  “Hey, Terrance. Could I get you to make another set of knives like these?”

  He nodded, picking up a sword on the counter and polishing it. “For that lass o’ yours?”

  “She’s not my lass,” I replied with a chuckle. “But yes. I’ll need them to be a bit lighter to compensate for her stature. Think you could do it?”

  “Course. However, it’ll take a couple of weeks. Same as last time.”

  The two of us haggled on the price, and I sketched out the ideal design for Aless’s blades and left the shop.

  With a parting wave and a promise from me to come back for any of my blacksmithing needs, I set off.

  Aless had told me that Angela wanted to see me, so her shop was the next on my list.

  Chapter 21- The First Attempt

  I paid attention to the citizens as I crossed street after street. Even without my practiced listening skills, it wasn’t hard to pick up on the city's general mood.

  People were scared and slightly panicked.

  The streets were much less crowded than my first visit to Vohra over a month ago. There were fewer people out, and the ones who were out walked with a hurried pace, knowing exactly where they were going.

  Guess a string of killings, including the captain of the guard and having the city's regent up in arms, would have a negative impact no matter what world I’m in.

  I smiled to myself as I strolled past a squad of City Watch guards who walked with their heads on a swivel, their hands resting on their blackjacks.

  The city was nervous, a powder keg of uncertainty.

  It’s nearly time to start planning the Vohra job. I’ve destroyed the chaotic remnants of the city’s underworld, ready to rebuild it from the scattered ashes and destabilized the count's power base.

  Taking out the captain of the guard had been a major victory, but it wasn’t the lynchpin I’d hoped it would be. There was still order in the streets, a good bit of chaos, but there were still guard patrols and checkpoints.

  And I couldn’t have that.

  I was betting that Count Vohra had already replaced the captain of the guard. Whoever they were would have to be dealt with, as well as the men under their command.

  It would be risky, taking out the guard's entire command structure, but it was my original goal to begin with. It was my fault. I hadn’t exactly planned on getting stabbed.

  I’m going to need some supplies.

  Which was why I was going to Angela’s. She would have everything I’d need to take out my targets.

  I crossed the street and entered Angela’s shop.

  It was just as cluttered and dusty as before, but I think at this point, I was getting used to it. I barely glanced at the messy floor and haphazardly stacked assortment of items before I wound my way around it and leaned against the counter.

  “Angela!” I called out.

  “What!” she hollered back from her workshop.

  “It’s Elias. Can I come back?”

  “Course you can!”

  She was my anathema, but despite that, I couldn’t help but like her. I smiled at our strange conversation and walked back to the clean workshop.

  Angela’s massive frame was bent over a worktable, some metallic contraption was being assembled, but even with my worldly knowledge, I didn’t know what the hell she was building.

  She wore the same black tunic and apron as she always wore, but she’d accented it with a pair of magnifying glasses that made her rather large eyes even more bug-eyed than normal.

  Angela looked up and smiled when I came in. “Glad to see you’re not dead. Was worried when I didn’t see you for a week, but that pretty young thing came by and caught me up to speed.” She paused and levied a hammer at me. “I like her, so you best be good to her Elias McKinley, or so help me, I’ll whack you upside the head with this here mallet.”

  Fighting back a laugh, I put my hands together and acquiesced. “I promise.”

  “Good. Now, what brings you by?” she said, then immediately smacked her forehead. “I asked you here. Forgive me. I haven’t slept in three days.”

  I cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “This damn project I’m working on for a client.” She dropped her mallet with a sigh of frustration. “Gonna be the death of me, I swear to Weilin.”

  She looked up and waved me off. “But you didn’t come here to listen to my frustrations. You came here for…oh, right. That’s what I needed to tell you. Your crossbow is ready.”

  “It is?” My eyes lit up, and I grinned. “Excellent.”

  Angela walked over to the far corner and scribbled something on a piece of paper. She crossed the room and handed it to me. “Here, go to this address, tell him Angie sent you.�
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  “Angie?” I grinned.

  Her eyes flashed with anger, and she wagged a finger at me. “Oh, don’t even start with me! ‘Less you want me to call you Eli?”

  I quickly shook my head. “No, ma’am.”

  She beamed at me. “What I thought.” She shooed me off. “Now get.”

  “Before I get, need to settle accounts for Aless’s armor and medical supplies…and the shirts. And I need a few things.” I muttered, shaking my head. “Maybe I should just give you my whole damn purse.”

  She laughed, waving me off. “Don’t worry about the armor and medicine. Little bit already paid. As for the clothes, call it a hundred vahn and we’ll be square. Now, what can I get for you?”

  “Poison. Silent night, and quite a lot of it. Half a dozen vials, maybe more.”

  “By Weilin, the hell need that much night for?” she asked and held a hand up. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. Just watch your ass, Elias.”

  “Will do. Thanks, Angela.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Just as I was about to leave, Angela tried to grab my arm. Her footsteps were heavy, and I knew it was coming, so I didn’t overreact. I merely stepped out of reach and turned, waiting for her.

  “Yes?”

  She looked at me and at her outstretched arm. “Sorry ‘bout that, Elias. But I was wondering if you could do me a favor and deliver this package to Christoff at The Cask. I made it for him for his birthday a week ago, but he refuses to come and get it.”

  I sighed inwardly at stooping to becoming a lowly courier between two dysfunctional family members. Still, Angela and Christoff both had been nothing but helpful since I arrived in the city, and I wanted to repay them for their kindness.

  “It’d be my pleasure.”

  And besides, I can get a good meal at last.

  I didn’t want to admit that the main reason why I wanted to get out of the house was that I wanted more of Christoff’s cooking. I was going to head there at some point in the day regardless, so I could at least take a package.