Isekai assassin volume 3.., p.1
Isekai Assassin: Volume 3 (A Gamelit Dark Fantasy Adventure), page 1
Copyright © 2021 Grayson Sinclair
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Hello again!
We've got to stop meeting like this, or people are going to talk.
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1- A Whole Lot of Empty Graves
Chapter 2- Unrest
Chapter 3- The Jackal of Vohra
Chapter 4- The Duel
Chapter 5- Gracious Loser
Chapter 6- The Adventurer’s Guild
Chapter 7- Two Assassins
Chapter 8- The Bookshop
Chapter 9- Raiding the Hideout
Chapter 10- Aspect of the Reaper
Chapter 11- A Lucrative Offer
Chapter 12- Back in Blackfall
Chapter 13- Cat in a Cage
Chapter 14- Business is Good
Chapter 15- New Blood
Chapter 16- Family Drama
Chapter 17- The Reign of Jasper Ildan
Chapter 18- Empty Grave
Chapter 19- Through a Forest Dark and Deep
Chapter 20- Cause and Effect
Chapter 21- Subtle Subterfuge
Chapter 22- Up in Smoke
Chapter 23- Clash of Clans
Chapter 24- What Has Yet to Pass
Thank you for reading!
“It’s a funny thing, ambition. It can take one to sublime heights or harrowing depths. And sometimes they are one and the same.”
─Emily Kaldwin
Chapter 1- A Whole Lot of Empty Graves
Corpses made for excellent compost.
Which was good because we had an abundance of bodies and not much else to do with them.
“I still can’t believe this is what we’re doing with the bodies of the Crescent Thorn members,” Cora said with a scrunched face as yet another body materialized out of my ring and dropped at the edge of the forest, right over our expanding compost pile. “It’s a little…macabre.”
I chuckled and wiped a bit of sweat from my forehead. The sun beat down on us without mercy. And even the shade of the back of Blackfall Manor wasn’t enough to keep us cool. My cotton tunic was soaked with sweat, and though Cora had forgone her standard maid uniform for similar attire as mine, a loose-fitting shirt and trousers, from the sweat that beaded on her neck, she was as miserable as I was.
“It’s efficient is what it is,” I said and pulled out more dimension rings filled with bodies.
After the attack on Blackfall Manor, we’d found ourselves with a lot of dead bodies to dispose of, not to mention the ones I’d picked up in Odra that I still had with me. Storing corpses in the rings was a fantastic way to hide bodies, but it left an enormous mess to clean up when it was all said and done.
My first thought was just to toss the rings, but they’re far too valuable to waste.
Though it wasn’t like we didn’t have money to burn right now. After looting Thorn and the others, we’d found they’d had an abundance of vahn on them, so we were rather flush at the moment.
But of course, that wouldn’t last.
“I don’t like mucking about with the dead either, considering they carry so much disease and rot, but we have to get rid of them somehow, and using them as compost is as good an idea as any. Especially if we’re going to be planting soon.”
“Yeah.” Cora grabbed her shovel and started piling dirt and other bits of compost on top of the bodies. “I’ve been saying since I started living here that I’d like a garden. I just didn’t think we’d be fertilizing it with the dead.”
“Very true. I can’t wait for the fall months to be over with,” I said with a groan and shoveled even more dirt on top of the pile. “God, I fucking hate farming.”
Cora laughed from beside me. “Well, you’ve got the technique down. Do you have any experience with this kind of thing?”
I nodded. “Far too much. My family were farmers a very long time ago. I grew up working the fields.”
“I can’t imagine you as a farmer. It’s just not something you’re suited for.”
Sweat ran down my forehead and dripped salt onto my lips. I spat it out and grabbed the waterskin hanging off my shoulder. I slaked my thirst then wiped my mouth before continuing to bury the bodies under a mountain of filth and dirt.
“On that, we agree at least. I knew I was never cut out for farming by a young age. Though I’d have preferred to stick it out than what happened.”
Cora paused mid-strike with her shovel. She stuck it in the ground and leaned on it, looking over at me. “What did happen?”
I looked away and up at the bright blue sky. “Brigands, deserters of the rebellion, who were starving. They ransacked our farm while I was in town getting groceries. They killed my entire family and pillaged half the farm before they were caught.” I shook my head, dispelling the bad memories. “But that was a lifetime ago now.
“Let’s get done with this. We’ve got training today, or did you forget?”
She groaned and hung her head. “Again? Didn’t we train yesterday?”
“Don’t give me that. I’m pushing you and Aless to your limits. Mine too. Thorn and his men were a huge threat to us, and it could have easily gone another way. We need to increase our strengths and fast before the next threat appears.”
Cora nodded, and we turned back to burying the bodies. After a few moments of silence, Cora suddenly snickered.
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand and got a bit of dirt on her cheek. Her large brown mouse ears twitched as she chuckled to herself.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“It’s not really.” She wiped the dirt from her mouth and knocked it off on her trousers which were already stained with dirt. “I shouldn’t have laughed at something so morbid.”
Her smile really lit up her face. It suited her well and was good to see.
Ever since we’d fought Crescent Thorn a few days ago, she’d been rather withdrawn and sullen.
Though killing will do that to you, and she killed not once, but twice. It’s an impossibility that it wouldn’t leave scars. Ones that aren’t so quick to heal.
She’s a kinder person than either Aless or me, so of course, it’s going to hurt.
But seeing some light and life return to her face was a sight to behold.
I leaned over and prodded her with my elbow. “Well, come on. Don’t leave me in suspense.”
Cora huffed, but her honey brown eyes were shining. “It’s just. There’s going to be a whole lot of empty graves missing these bodies.” She chuckled. “And I have no idea why I found that funny.” She laughed again, covering her mouth.
“Empty graves.” I snorted. “Yeah. I’ll say there’ll be more than a few.”
I laughed, though it was mostly for her benefit. I understood the impulse. In the face of such brutality and inhumanity, either you found a way to make light of it or you crumbled under the weight of it and slowly lost what made you human.
I’d simply accepted the inhuman part of myself and molded what remained of my humanity around it. It wasn’t something I advocated for anyone else because at my center, who I really was, was someone devoid of light.
I didn’t want that for Cora or Aless. I wanted to keep their smiles on their faces.
To become better than I was.
So even if the joke wasn’t that funny, I laughed alongside her as we finished our work.
After a few more brutal moments under the unforgiving sun, all of the bodies were under a few feet of dirt and compost. Over the next month or so, they’d slowly rot down to nothing, and then we could use the compost to plant some flowers for Cora and some herbs for Angela and Christoff.
It was a win-win situation that also solved what to do with the pile of bodies I’d been accumulating.
Even if it was farming.
When we were done, I swiped away the notification about my skill-up in farming as I deleted the skill and then turned back to the manor.
It looked a lot different from the back than the front. There was a lot of gray stone with ivy growing up it. The windows were darkened glass, nearly opaque, hiding what lay within. The vaulted roof was mostly tile, but there was a spot that was nearly invisible to the naked eye, but I knew what to look for.
A path along the roof allowed one to escape from the third-floor office window in front of the house and get up and over the roof. It led around to the base of the forest where I’d found a few stashes of buried goods where the trail ended.
It didn’t amount to more than a few thousand vahn and some extra tools, but I still accepted them with gratitude.
The Foxes were pretty clever, and I was certain there were still a few more secrets that we’d failed to uncover about the mansion.
But those secrets can wait. We have training to do.
And as if on cue, a shrill squeak overshadowed the birdsong and rustling leaves around us as someone unlatched the metal gate at the front of the house.
Cora turned to me and smiled. “That’ll be Aless.”
“Yep.” I nodded.
The two of us waited for her to come out back and find us.
Which didn’t take long.
Aless threw open a window on the second floor about five minutes later and poked her head out.
Her thick red hair caught along a breeze and swept around her pale face as her gray eyes shimmered as they met mine.
“Found you!”
“We weren’t hiding,” I called back.
She grinned wide and reached up, shoving the window all the way up before she stepped back. A second passed, and then Aless dove out the window and just managed to right herself before she hit the ground, tucking into a roll as she came out of it.
Dirt and grass clung to her green tunic that hugged her frame and a pair of natural linen pants that were easy to move in. Our training and a steady diet had taken away nearly all of her previous malnourishment and left behind a stunning beauty.
Aless dusted herself off as she walked over to us. She leaned up and kissed me softly.
“How goes the corpse disposal?”
“Nearly done now. How was your meeting with the Prowlers?”
She shrugged. “It was fine, for the most part. Though I really would like to get them out of the Plague District. There just isn’t much room, and what we do have is rundown and moldy. They deserve better.”
I nodded. “Well, we can work on that. Just one more thing on the list that we have to do.”
Her eyes lit up and she smirked. “Speaking of lists.” Aless reached into her ring and pulled out a small bundle of letters. “Most of these are for you. Some contracts and the like from the people around the city.”
She plucked one letter from the pile and turned to Cora. “However, this one is for you.”
“Me?”
Cora scrunched her face in confusion as she took the letter and glanced down at it before a flash of realization came over her and her breath caught in her chest. Moisture swam in her eyes, but she sighed and stuck the letter in her ring.
Something was going through her head, but it wasn’t my business to pry. She would open up if and when she felt like it. And besides, we had other things to worry about at the moment.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s get changed. It’s time for our training.”
Aless’s smile faltered, and she raised a lackadaisical hand in a mock cheer. “Hooray.”
I just grinned at her. “Trust me. You’re going to love this.”
***
The midday sun high overhead turned to speckled evening as it filtered through the thick branches and foliage of the forest all around me. It turned everything into dimly lit shades of grayish-green and brown as I stepped along the forest floor.
A cacophony of chittering from the animals melded into so much incomprehensible noise as I stepped with the balls of my feet.
It wasn’t quite dark enough for Aurella’s Light to activate, which left me at a disadvantage, but I’d lived most of my life without it, so I could function well enough even without its huge boost to my senses.
I absently flipped my knife over my hand as I scanned my surroundings.
Nothing but more forest in all directions. Large, knurled roots rose from the ground and formed a tangled maze of tripwires at my feet.
As I moved forward, I deftly maneuvered through them and continued onward for a few minutes.
Though the sun was mostly hidden, the same couldn’t be said for the humidity, and it was like swimming in thick, moist soup. Sweat ran in rivulets down my neck and forehead as the buzzing of mosquitoes whined in my ear.
I slowed and wiped my forehead with my forearm.
As soon as my sight was obscured, slight rustling came from overhead, as well as the low thud of movement.
I threw myself into a roll as a cloud of dirt rose from the earth and splattered over me as I came up with my knife in hand.
An explosive retort followed milliseconds later as a cloud of white smoke dispersed around the trees in front of me and to my left.
Though Cora would be long gone before the smoke cleared, she’d have leapt from the tree the moment she fired to try and get a better angle. She used her superior Beastkin agility to her advantage.
I applauded her cleverness, but she wasn’t my true opponent.
She was just the distraction.
Wind whistled from behind me and I turned, lashing out with a back roundhouse kick.
Aless leapt from the underbrush, dagger in hand and a smirk across her pale lips as a faint green aura rose off her skin. She ducked my kick with ease and came up knives first. Steel flashed in the dim light, and twin points of pressure tugged at my leg and my chest as she cut me.
A faint aura flared to life and then cracked. Phantom glass shattered as Passive Protection failed, and her daggers bit into my flesh.
My pulse raced, and I didn’t even register the pain as I shuffled to the left and brought my blade toward her.
Aless caught my knife in between her twin daggers, stopping my attack cold just above her collarbone, the tip of my blade an inch from her throat.
She smirked and twisted, forcing me to release my blade or risk losing my fingers. As my dagger fell to the ground, she brought her leg up, aiming for my groin.
I stepped back as her knee missed me by a hair and pivoted, sending a low kick to the outside of her knee. It connected, but rather than her leg buckling, she went with the kick, folding her leg and tucking into a roll.
Aless came up with dirt stuck to her clothes, sending clods scattering back to the ground. Her aura burned bright, and she all but vanished as she flitted across the forest floor towards me once more.
She shimmered like a mirage as she brought her daggers arcing down. The tips of the blades licked my throat, drawing shallow lines of blood as they passed me. They sliced through the air, leaving whispers in their wake as I leaned back.
I grinned wide at her ferocity, but she wasn’t done yet. As soon as her first attack missed, she reversed her grips on her blades and, in an instant, brought them dancing back.
My wide blue eyes and pale face reflected in the satin polished sheen of the daggers, and I knew I had no time to react.
Instead, I moved on instinct.
I brought my hand up and slammed my knuckles into her radial nerve, locking up her arm. As her arm seized, she dropped one of her daggers, and I caught it with my left hand.
Her knife thrust toward me, aiming for my heart.
I parried Aless’s strike with her stolen blade and gripped her left hand tight. As her follow-up strike missed, I slipped under her arm and brought it with me, catching her in an arm lock.
She wasn’t going anywhere without tearing her arm out of the socket first.
Aless was mine.
We’d only been fighting for a few moments, and she had about as much mana as I did, but As Swift as the Wind put an incredible drain on her mana well. After a handful of minutes, she’d have to let it go or risk burning through the rest of her mana.
I just had to hold on until she gave in, but she didn’t make it easy, bucking against me like an animal caught in a trap. But after a few seconds, she let the spell fade away to conserve her magic.
Without her incredible speed advantage, she wasn’t half the threat she’d been before. But she was still a threat.
As I held her, I activated Paralyzing Touch, and a surge of invisible electricity locked her body up, and she fell to her knees and then to the ground, trying to fight off my skill.
“You fought well and had me on the ropes for a second there,” I said.
“It’s not over yet,” Cora shouted from the trees.
There was the distinct click of a trigger and then a snap of agony through the center of my chest before there was nothing but darkness.
I came back to myself as my shadow was killed and shook off the disorientation and fatigue of using Second Shadow. My heart beat fast from the strain of my skill but also the excitement of battle. I grinned wide as I slowly shifted around the underbrush that hid me.
No hesitation. Cora killed me with prejudice.
Atta girl.
But the fight wasn’t over yet, and I still had some moves in play.
Because now I know exactly where they are.
As soon as I came back to myself, I pressed my hands to my chest and unleashed a heavy rush of water from Stream. I completely coated myself in seconds, and when I was done, I rose from my hiding place and rushed from behind the tree, heading straight for Aless.
