We wasted no time, creating two riding groups for some extra comfort. One riding Aku, the other Beakwing. The dragon and griffin actually argued over me, though I couldn’t understand Beakwing’s words. Aku spoke his half, so it wasn’t that hard to piece the conversation together. In the end, I hopped onto my griffin, daring Aku to argue, and soon we were off. Our party consisted of Ronica, Maxus, Cheetara, Chenzu, Wolverine, and Milia. The teenagers and the rest of the hero’s party were either home or running errands.
“You may want to impress him,” Ronica told the dragon, stirring the pot. “Beakwing’s shown his worth countless times. Now it’s your turn.”
Aku snorted. “With my superior abilities, I will locate his lingering mana in no time and then disarm all of his traps.”
Aku ended up leading us to an empty patch of grass in the center of the forest. It wasn’t just all grass, however. A river ran nearby. Near it were fruit trees, though to me, they looked like blue lemons.
“Let me guess, his house is under some sort of illusion,” I said.
“Yes, Master, but I’m afraid I cannot break it,” Aku said. “It’s too powerful.”
Wolverine suddenly stood, drawing everyone’s attention. Suddenly, his eyes glowed a bright blue as if they were reflecting light at night. He let out an ear-piercing howl.
I wasn’t sure what was going on until, suddenly, I watched magic visibly shatter like glass. It even fell onto the ground in the same manner, revealing a two-story gray house.
“Holy shit, good boy!” I said, petting my wolf. He barked once before returning to panting, his tail wagging in excitement.
“We’re not done yet,” Aku said. “Forcibly breaking his illusion is just the first step. Here it comes.”
I glanced at Maxus. He nodded, confirming the dragon’s words.
“It’s not the most reliable protection, given its tendency to attack the user,” Maxus said. “But attaching a spatial beast to the illusion is always… Wait.” He looked down. “There isn’t a beast.”
“Let’s land first,” I said. “We can check things out. Wait. Aku, disarm the traps.” I smirked at the dragon. “Unless that big talk was for nothing.”
Beakwing snorted.
Aku inhaled.
“What are you doing?” I asked, but relaxed when he exhaled strange blue mist. Electricity briefly jolted around the building, winking out in a giant puff of bright white light, reminiscent of cloud lightning.
“There were only a few traps, but I can assume that was due to that illusion,” Aku said. “I don’t know how the wolf acquired such an impressive ability but piercing such a thing isn’t normal.”
When we landed, I turned to the group.
“First off, let me thank you for helping us with the assassin,” I said to Maxus and Ronica. “The loot you find is yours to keep.”
“I’ll trade it to you in exchange for training,” Ronica said shamelessly, gaining herself a bonk from Maxus.
“Twerp, don’t push it,” I said, voice tired. “Anyway, be careful inside. Even if the traps are gone, there could still be poisons.”
I turned and entered through the front door, but not before checking for that little string that was always there every movie.
“Master, you really should trust me more,” Aku said as he shrunk to roughly five or six inches tall. He flew to my shoulder. Cheetara, hopped to my other shoulder.
The inside of the house kind of pissed me off. Luxurious, while the outside looked like someone hastily covered it with gray goop. Nice rugs, expensive paintings, sofas that looked like they cost more than the ones back on Earth, and even large crystals embedded into the walls of each room.
“Do you think we can sell these paintings?” Ronica asked while stuffing a few into her storage ring.
“Of course,” Maxus said. “But you’ll have to run to Wingston’s item depository to get them to purchase. They shouldn’t ask any questions, and it’s impossible to fool them with fakes. They can tell at first glance.”
“Oooh, big shots,” Ronica said, voice as cheery as ever.
Milia followed me straight to the master bedroom.
“Now is definitely not the time for that,” Ronica said, which gained her a bonk from Chenzu this time.
“He’s stronger than all of us men, and I don’t mean physically,” Chenzu said, but didn’t bother explaining what that meant as he began stuffing his storage ring with the crystals on the wall. “To think he left such valuables out in the open like this. One hell of an illusion.”
Milia and I found the safe and one mana sword slash later, it was open. I damn near drooled at its contents.
The gold was nice, but when I saw the shimmering platinum or bright-silvery coins filled with mana, I knew we scored big time. Defeating the assassin actually provided a reward!
[You found 5,000 spirit coins.]
Beside the safe appeared to be a pool of liquid metal indicating the presence of a trap that Aku disarmed. Milia took the gold and even a few platinum coins.
“It’s a scary thought, wondering how many people this guy ended to accumulate this wealth,” I said.
“That’s an assassin for you,” Milia said. “A walking trail of blood and carnage through the hidden cloak of the night. Unlike people with hearts, they eventually lose themselves. The crazier ones enjoy it, selling their services like this, especially to high kingdom officials.”
I nodded, thanking my body’s constitution for enduring the assassin’s brutal attack. He pulled it off so fast, something meant to be not only surprising, but incredibly deadly. His strongest spell.
“Let’s see what else he’s got in here,” I said. “Did you find anything good in the storage ring?”
“Just diaries and his spell book,” Milia said as she showed the ring to me. Nothing was interesting, which was why the dryad simply placed it back into a pocket rather than on her fingers. Or maybe she didn’t have time to wash it first.
We searched through the house, freely looting anything of value. The assassin truly lived alone, keeping no records of his contacts, nor did he have any maps. I would’ve expected him to have a new location marked out.
Then again, being in the far east felt kind of strange for an active assassin. Did the count pull him out of retirement for an irresistible amount of gold? How did the nobles learn of this man and his whereabouts?
There were so many questions. Though I didn’t honestly care. With five thousand spirit coins, I could purchase more things from the shop.
“Maybe I should change my career to assassin killer,” I joked, gaining a blank stare from Milia. I grinned at her. “Alright, fine, but you’ve got to admit this guy’s loaded. Let’s wrap this up before something happens.”
“You’re more paranoid than the ladies when the local drunk enters the tavern,” Chenzu said. “Relax, friend. Besides, this amount of wealth is really nothing in the grand scheme of things.”
I nodded. “You’re right.”
And he was. Most of the items in the shop cost hundreds of thousands of spirit coins. Chenzu stashed a bag of gold into his storage ring, then he began to play a nice tune on his lute.
“Sir Nate, you are a beacon of fortune, balancing out everyone else’s misfortune,” Chenzu said.
“I don’t know about that,” I said. They looked at me, waiting for me to unveil my full story, but I didn’t. Milia changed the subject.
“Is everyone ready to leave?” Milia asked.
“Sure am,” Ronica cheered. “I’ve got enough that I won’t be in danger of not paying rent for months.”
Maxus sighed. “Maybe you should find a better job.”
“Nate won’t hire me.”
I glared at the twerp before continuing outside, shaking my head with a wry smile.
