“You sure like that book…” I said as Risa intensely stared at the book.

“Be quiet. It’s been so long since Risa last touched a book that interests me.” She lovingly said as she smelled the book as if it was a food. Well, books were expensive, so I wasn’t able to buy her books she was interested in, that and she didn’t tell me she wanted one. Maybe I could have stolen some.

“Still,” I looked around. “This library is amazing, no?”

“It’s better than nothing,” Risa finally closed the book. “But compared to Risa’s library, this is nothing but crumbs. Though, that’s enough of that. We’re here to talk about something.”

We were alone in the entire house today. Merry and the others went to their respective association to train while Fuyuki and William were outside, on the field, along with Feim and Lindwal.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“It’s about William.” Her eyes sharpened. “We need to start killing him.”

I deeply nodded. “Have you thought any plans?”

“You are the plan,” Risa corrected. “We can’t fight him head-on. Basically, the only action we can take is to assassinate him when his guard is at its lowest.”

I nodded. “So I basically kill him while he’s sleeping?”

She shrugged. “That’s one way to do it but Risa’s sure it won’t be that easy.” She sighed heavily and her inability escaped from her mouth as she said, “If only I was stronger…”

Before I knew it, my mouth started talking. “Don’t worry about it! I’ll make sure to find ways to kill him. If I can’t kill him while he’s sleeping, I’ll poison his foods. If I can’t kill him with that, I’ll try and burn his room. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll try and kidnap a friend of his and blackmail him. There are many ways, you know.” It literally pained me when I saw her disheartened. I had to cheer her up.

“As if you can do any of those,” she chuckled. “But you might be onto something about kidnapping people close to him. One of humanities greatest weakness, after all, is how deeply they care about their family and friends.”

That, or their greatest strength but I don’t want to be shouted at so I’ll just keep quiet.

“Yeah, we can do that,” I said nonchalantly as if it was really easy. “William said he has a family in the south and the friends he has mentioned are all with the king. I’ll try and keep looking for more information inside his office while trying out various assassination techniques. “

“Risa will help you with that. I know a lot about killing people.” She indifferently said.

“I know, I know,” Then I thought of something. “But what happens after I kill him? Wouldn’t people automatically suspect us?”

“Risa’s certain they will be but Fuyuki and the others will vouch for us. They might not trust us fully but it’s without a doubt they trust the others. Maybe we can plant evidences pointing to William’s enemies. Surely a high-ranking mage like him has one or two people who passionately want him gone, right?”

“He must. I’ll try looking for clues when I snoop in his office or I’ll try asking Feim.”

The plan was now in motion. It was a relatively simple plan but it was the best we could do. The gap in our power too far and one mistake could lead to us fighting for our lives. I couldn’t afford to screw this one up.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous or anything. It was my first time trying to intentionally kill someone, and probably a good person, too. Although, the feeling I had the time was…exhilarated. The very thought of having the pleasure to kill the person who hurt Risa gave me something to look forward to in the future.

*

I put on my battle gear and wore a mask. I made sure I also brought a bag with papers and a pen with extra ink. Maybe bringing my dagger was ironic since my intention wasn’t to fight but just in case.

“Well, see you later.” I walked to the door and opened it.

“Bring home the prize.” Risa sleepily waved goodbye to me and went back to bed. Cute. Well, it was already late, so she must be sleepy.

I gently closed the door and made my way through the hall on the first floor.

It was night, so I wasn’t worried bumping with the others. Kihana was probably awake reading her book but I doubt the other two were doing something this late. After all, there were fewer things to do when the sun sets in this world.

With relative ease, I managed to go to the stairs and go down to the first floor. As I reached the bottom of the stair, I could see a faint light getting brighter as the seconds passed by. Someone was on this floor and they were headed fast. Since there was nothing to take cover to, I immediately went back upstairs to hide.

After a couple of seconds, the bright light started to become faint again. I quietly but quickly rushed to the bottom of the stairs to see who it was and what they were doing.

It was Feim.

She was probably doing her rounds. It was a good thing I saw her since now I knew where she was and that put my mind at ease. The unknown was a scary thing, after all.

After seeing her far enough, I went to William’s office.

As any room, it has a door. And it was locked. Yes, I checked it before doing anything else. It was amazing how sometimes people over think.

Lock picking was one of the few basic skills the Association taught. Unless this door was an advance anti-theft door then this should be relatively easy.

Everything was going well as I stood there, only the moonlight preventing the total takeover of darkness. As the minutes passed by, the thought on the back of my mind slowly crawled its way up to make its existence known. I’d tried my best but I couldn’t get it open. I didn’t know if it was my incompetence or simply the door was too sophisticated but now I had to find another way.

And I did thought of another way but it was incredibly difficult. I had no other choice, though, as I remembered what my sleepy little boss said.

Gotta bring home the price.

I quietly went into the direction of where Feim went. She went to the living room for the guest and then disappeared to nowhere. She might be in her room. Her room was also on the second floor but nowhere near our rooms, so it should be safe enough.

I checked both the living room and the dining room and nobody was in there. Still, though, the place looked great even at night.

I went back to the second floor using the middle staircase. There was practically no one here, so I was just casually walking but still my guard was up. Slowly, but surely, I was coming close to the door of her room.

Eventually, I made it. Obviously, I was nervous. So nervous I thought she could beat my heartbeat from the other side. I had no idea on how to check if she was awake, though, which was a problem. I didn’t even know if she was in there as I couldn’t hear any sounds from the other side.

I waited a bit outside her room wandering the hallways like a ghost who had nothing better to do. After awhile, I tried opening the door. Surprisingly, the doorknob turned. I opened it a bit to take a peek. I could see the silhouette of her head lying on the bed.

Phew, she’s asleep.

I breathed a sigh of relief but my battle was far from over. I entered the room and closed the door. Feim’s room was enormous. Unlike her master, she had so many furnitures and other stuffs. It was the ideal girl’s room and it even smelled like one.

I was almost lost in trance because it was my first time stepping in a girl’s room and the fact that I was trespassing didn’t help. Ignoring my thoughts, I quietly went to the table near her bed. Dark it might have been but I still could outline the things on her desk. And the one thing I went all the trouble for was in front of me.

That’s a lot of keys, though.

During our tour of the house, I remembered Feim opening all the locked door in the house. I figured she might have the key to William’s office, if not, then this would all be in vain.

I couldn’t help myself look at Feim while she slept. Yes, I looked like a creep, but seeing her so vulnerable for the first time was definitely a rare sight. This might be the first and last time I might see her like that.

Trying my best not to look at her, I gently picked up the keys bound to one keychain. But due to my carelessness, the keys rattled. Her room filled with darkness and tranquility made the rattling similar to a bomb exploding, creating chaos all around.

Without telling anything to my body, I hid beside the desk. My heart beat intensely for a couple of second when I heard a shuffling coming from Feim.

“Sina…” Feim mumbled wistfully. I thought she’d woken up but nothing happened after that. She must have been sleep talking. I didn’t think of anything on what she said and get out of there as fast as I could.

When I finally gotten out, I sat down on the hallway and calmed myself. Now all I need to do was to go and see if any key worked. The night was still young but damn why did it felt so long being in there?

After my thrilling and daring trespassing in Feim’s room, I finally went back to William’s office.

There were a lot of keys, so I had to try them one by one. I almost lost hope when I try unlocking it with the last key. With a clicking sound, the door to William’s office had opened. Of course it would be the last key, how lucky of me.

I entered, knowing no one was inside. I’d been here before along with Fuyuki once. Only Feim was allowed to enter unless William said so otherwise. And as expected, the place was spotless. Leave it to Feim when it came to cleanliness and organizing.

I checked the desk in search of clues about William. Anything about him. His family, friends and enemies. There were many papers, so this information made me run for its money.

Looking at the papers, they were all official business because of the stamps. Papers about the government, businesses, and other stuff. Probably. At that moment, I understood why William’s office looked like a tornado came in for a visit. These papers could make someone crazy, I knew because by momentarily looking at it, my mind hated it.

I had no idea what almost all the papers say, so I took one with me. Risa could definitely read it. What was the worst that could happen by taking a single paper, right?

With no luck, I set my eyes to the door inside William’s office. I’d never been inside there and had no idea what I would be stepping in to. Though before that, I presumably had to unlock it. I groaned at the thought of going through all those keys again.

Well, let’s just get this over with.

First, I tried turning the door handle. How optimistic of me. But then, the handle turned all the way and with a clicking sound, the door surprisingly opened. Of course, I was shocked but I knew I needed to move on before lady luck changed her mind.

Entering the room, the moonlight coming from a small window welcomed me as the distinct smell of wood and papers invaded my nose. Instantly, I had an ominous feeling in the room. I couldn’t explain it properly but my gut felt something happened here. As an assassin, I often trust my intuition and hopefully it was wrong this time.

The room overall might be the smallest room out of all the rooms. Compared to the other rooms, this one seemed to have been left alone for quite some time. Wasn’t Feim cleaning everything in the house? There were only three furniture here; a couch, desk and a cabinet.

Nothing was on the couch so I ignored it but it did look dirty and uncharacteristic of a noble. I instead went to the cabinet. It caught my eye because there was a small painting in it.

The painting in question looked incredibly well-made. The settings of the painting overlooked a tree under a perfect blue sky, trapping the blissful and serene moment in a canvas. William must have paid a hefty price for an amazing art like this. But there was a problem.

The painting was torn apart.

The painting had William on his casual clothes smiling happily as the wind blew on his face. Presumably, William was with another person in this painting but due to it being torn apart, the person veiled in mystery. This would have been a good start but alas, no used crying over spilled milk. There was still the desk.

I went to the desk. Similarly, it looked worn out. The candle, filled with its wax, hadn’t been changed for a while and the ink had been left to the hands of the cold. Curiously, there were some strange scratches all over the desk.

Not knowing what happened, I ignored it and continued looking. I pulled drawers and found letters. Most of the letters had been left opened and some of them were even crumpled and ripped apart. I noticed that one of the ripped papers had the same emblem from one of the walls.

This should be enough.

I figured since he ripped it apart, he must have hated, to some extent, the content on the paper. I took the emblem and would show it to Risa later.

I didn’t know if this was enough but I couldn’t take anything as they might get suspicious. I decided to return and show Risa what I saw. Before leaving I made sure to take a look and see if I messed up anything. When all seemed good enough, I left the William’s office. As I left, I still couldn’t shake that ominous feeling I felt in the room. What was that all about?

*

After returning what I secretly borrowed from Feim, I went back to my room. Returning the key was easier the second time as I had all the information I needed when I entered.

“Took you long enough,” Risa peevishly said as she got up from the bed. “You better make this worthwhile.” She threateningly looked at me with her sleepy eyes.

“Why did you wait for me? You know we could do this tomorrow, right?”

She pinched my cheeks and pulled it. “I can’t sleep peacefully knowing there’s information that needs to be dissected!”

“Ow! I understand.” She removed her hands from my face. It didn’t really hurt, though. I gave her one of the paper and told her what happened.

She took the paper and read it. “This is useless,” She furrowed her brows. Genuine confusion formed on her face. “Why are you giving Risa a receipt about William’s purchases of wine!?”

“Oh, so that’s what it was…” I nervously scratched my cheeks. “I thought it was something important.”

She facepalmed and deeply sighed. I could feel her disappointing sigh from miles away. “Never mind that, do you have anything else?”

“I do,” I handed her the emblem and told her where I found it. “I couldn’t take any letter as they might be important to him and most of them were ripped apart, anyway.”

“Well, this is a start,” she handed it back to me. “You should really learn how to read, you know?”

“You going to teach me?”

“Someday,” She then pointed out the emblem. “But first, we have to find whose emblem is that. Risa hadn’t study much of the history here in Ergaos. Risa knew about the King and his family but Risa’s indifferent in anybody that’s insignificant.” She coldly said as her eyes turned harshly blank. With Risa’s carefree demeanor, I seldom forget her true nature. Inside this little child harbored a feared witch across Dlimor.

I nodded, a bit respectfully. “I understand. Fuyuki might know about it, I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

“Good, good,” She returned back to normal and happily nodded as if everything was going according to plan. “The next step is figuring out how and when we will kill him.”

“Well, either we create the opportunity or wait for it.”

“For now, we’ll wait. But Risa’s not known for her patience, so we better start preparing.” She sleepily ordered.

“All right.” I stretched my body and yawned wearily. It had been an intense night and with the bed looking so lovely, I couldn’t wait to jump and sleep on the bed.