Chapter 73: Overheard - 2
’What?’
Atlas turned with wide eyes while remaining concealed. Then he heard them talking again.
Levin spoke, his voice so low no one nearby could hear him. "We will simply conceal ourselves and wait some distance away from the entrance of the Guild. Then wait for the target — according to Veyron he wears a mask and a hood and is a Human at that. In the Angelic Continent do you think anyone would walk around with a mask? It would be either an assassin or our target, and we both know well, an assassin would never walk around with a mask and hood in the daylight right?"
Feras nodded in understanding. He had thought about this too, but it was time consuming so he had discarded it. They were trained to kill the target fast after all.
But as he understood that they had two major problems — not knowing the face of the target and the Guild already suspecting them — he agreed. "Hmm. I think it’s the only plan now."
Levin spoke again calmly. "We’ll wait and follow when the target matching the description comes out, and when he is out of the city or in a secluded place, we can easily kill him, killing him in a city where that S-rank is present and the Guild is already suspicious would be way too risky, even if we get caught and suicide, it’s not a good chance to take, the target has to be killed in any way possible."
Feras nodded and they both started walking again.
Atlas had moved close enough just to hear what they were planning. From them taking his name he already understood the situation, but what he wanted to know was how they had come for him and why. So he listened, thinking he could get the information without a hitch.
He remained still at where he was for several seconds as he processed their words.
His eyes stayed on the two figures walking away from him until they disappeared around a corner.
’They are here to kill me. How did they know I was here? And why would they target Atlas Crosswood?’
Then he narrowed his eyes as a possibility rose in his mind.
’No. Someone connected the dots and sent these two.’
’Tch. I should’ve used a completely different name.’
He dismissed that thought quickly. It was pointless now.
He turned and walked toward the Inn while his concealment still remained intact.
’Let’s focus on the matter at hand. Those two will most likely follow me if I show up at the Guild and exit.’
He kept walking.
’Hmm. I was already boiling inside to kill those damn bastards of Human nobles and all. Why not start with these two?’
As that thought settled, something released from him without him noticing it. A chill spread outward from his body into the air around him. The people walking nearby on the street didn’t see him, but a few of them slowed their steps slightly, their eyes moving around without finding anything. One woman pulled her coat tighter without understanding why. A man sitting outside a small stall glanced left and right before quietly moving his chair inside.
Atlas didn’t notice any of it.
He had never killed a person before. But the rage that had been sitting under everything since Ormolio had not gone anywhere. It had just been waiting. And right now, thinking about two assassins sent specifically to remove him like he was still the same disposable commoner the King had thrown into a ruin, it was closer to the surface than usual.
His jaw tightened under the mask.
Then Atlas shrugged and thought again.
’I could kill them using these two Traits easily but...I want to kill them slowly and really painfully, fucking bastards. And I have to get information first. Who connected the dots and sent them? That matters more right now.’
With that settled in his mind, Atlas was already in front of the Silver Wing Inn. He turned off the Traits and pushed the door open.
The moment he stepped inside, the room shifted. Eyes moved toward the Scythe immediately. Beads of sweat slid from the faces of the Explorers seated nearby as they sensed the ominous aura around it. A few of them set their cups down without looking at them. None of them looked directly at Atlas. They were all looking at the weapon.
Atlas understood their reaction. He had already been thinking about fixing this problem by visiting Veloran again through Seraphiel.
But that was for another time.
He walked to the stairs and went up, ignoring the stares, and closed the door of his room behind him.
He set the Scythe against the wall beside the bed and freshened up with a bath. Then he wore simple clean clothes and went back down without the Scythe. The room felt noticeably different without it. Nobody tracked him when he ordered food at the counter.
He took the food upstairs and ate without rushing.
When the last of it was gone he set the bowl aside and stayed where he was for a moment, just sitting.
Then his eyes moved to the Scythe leaning against the wall.
’Those damn bastards. Even now they are pissing me off.’
He stayed with that for a moment, his expression flat.
’The way they talked, they must’ve visited the Guild. And Bella must have suspected something about them...’
He paused.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
’She has observed me quite well to suspect someone else rather than me...’
He hadn’t given her any particular reason to be on his side. He had come to the Guild for his own purposes, kept to himself, said nothing personal to her at any point. But she had still looked at two strangers asking for him and decided they were the problem. He didn’t know how she had figured it out. But she had.
He stayed with that thought for a moment longer before letting it go.
Then he looked at the Scythe again.
A smile formed on his face slowly.
It widened as he thought through tomorrow. The two of them would be positioned near the Guild entrance, waiting for a masked Human to walk out. Concealed, patient, certain they had the upper hand.
The grin stretched further.
’Now... I just have to wait.’
His eyes stayed on the Scythe and didn’t move from it.
’And then I will finally get my revenge by killing those bastards.’
- - -
A few hours earlier, when the assassins had exited the Guild, Bella was already gone from her counter.
She entered a small room inside the Guild itself. It was a simple chamber — nothing inside except a single desk, papers stacked across its surface, clean and neat. She walked toward the desk and pulled open the drawer beneath it. Inside was an hourglass-shaped locket, a tiny hourglass sitting in the center of the circular frame.
She picked it up.
"Found it..."
She channeled her Spirit into it. It buzzed faintly and then a voice came through like an echo from a distance.
"Hmm? Bella? What is it?"
Seraphiel’s voice.
"Lady Seraphiel, is Atlas there with you?" Bella asked.
A short pause. Then Seraphiel answered. "No, he is not..."
Bella felt the answer land with some disappointment and spoke again. "Umm, well okay, but please tell him—"
The door to the room opened.
Bella turned immediately. Only one person could open that door without knocking.
"G-Guildmaster?" she muttered, cutting the relic’s connection quickly.
The S-rank Guildmaster of the Lumivale Branch stepped inside. He looked nothing like what his position suggested. Simple clothes, no decoration, nothing that marked him as someone an entire branch answered to. His wings were a mixed silver and gold. He looked young — close to Atlas’s age — but had a short beard and mustache on him that aged his face slightly.
The door closed behind him on its own.
"Hmm? Why are you shuttering Bella?" He spoke calmly as he heard Bella’s trembling voice.
Bella came out of her reverie and spoke "I-It’s nothing Guildmaster, why are you here though?"
Bella calmed herself with a exhale, but then Guildmaster spoke and her eyes widened.
He looked at Bella and spoke with a chilling voice "Anyways, I came here because I sensed two assassins entering the guild hall. Do you know about them, Bella?"
