Chapter 101: Fame
[A/N: I promised that you’d all eat well this week. So here’s the six Chapters]
Jack recognized her instantly from the pictures he had seen. She was Serena Ashford, the eldest daughter of Duke Silas.
He had no idea why a high noble was visiting this place. He had received absolutely zero intel about this from his contractors.
But he did not care.
He was just a killer and his job was to kill his target. He just watched the butler receive her and guide her inside the house while her royal knight escorts stayed near the gates.
He was just here to kill Adrian. He would ignore the girl and stick to the mission.
He waited in the shadows until the sun finally disappeared.
The servant quarters were completely detached from the main building. The guards were strictly stationed outside the perimeter wall just like those bandits said. The actual mansion was completely unguarded from the inside.
Jack climbed the stone wall easily and sneaked up to the front door, pulled a small metal pick from his pocket, and picked the lock in a few seconds. He got inside and locked the door before looking around.
The hallways were dark, but this didn’t bother him. After all, he was trained to do things in the darkness.
He walked in silence and looked through the empty rooms until he found the master bedroom. It smelled like old books and that was basically it.
Jack slid under the massive wooden bed.
He pulled a small leather pouch from his belt. It was filled with dense, high energy nutritional balls. He popped one into his mouth, slowed his breathing, and waited.
He lay there for two whole weeks.
He did not move and nor did he make a single sound. He just ate his pills and entered a meditative state to preserve his energy. The servants did come in to clean and he had barely saved himself by distracting the servant before jumping off the window but after that, he figured out their timings and hid inside one of the closets which they didn’t seem to have any intention of opening.
Finally after a few days, he heard commotion from outside and he could faintly hear the butler saying Adrian’s name and talking about the "little lady".
The target was finally back.
Adrian stood in the courtyard and looked pretty calm but inside, he was extremely happy and excited.
’Yeah, let’s go!!!’ Adrian thought happily. ’We are finally home, boy.’
Adrian sent the knights away by telling them to join the others behind the mansion and train with them.
"Come up to my room." Adrian said to Claire and Aria. "I have something to show you guys."
They went up the wooden stairs and Adrian pushed his door open, only to see a man lunge straight for him.
Jack scrambled out from under the bed frame the moment he heard the latch click and lunged. He aimed a poisoned dagger right at Adrian’s neck.
Clang.
Claire drew her steel and slapped the knife away without a second thought. It looked like she was swatting a bug.
Jack tripped backward. He stared at his dagger in shock and tried to fix his footing for a second strike.
But a terrifying pressure seemed to have surrounded his body.
Aria just stared at him with her tiny hands raised up and then, she balled her hands into fists.
Jack’s hands slammed against each other almost like they were magnets. Then his boots crashed together, binding his ankles perfectly in place. The magnetic force was completely unbreakable.
He lost his balance and fell to the floor.
He thrashed around like a trapped animal, but his arms and legs refused to come apart even a little.
"Look who we caught." a guy spoke up from the corner.
Lorcan Graves walked right out of the dark.
Lorcan Graves stepped out of the shadows and looked down at the struggling assassin with pure disappointment.
Jack looked up from the floor and his brain stopped working.
"Master?" Jack choked out.
Smack.
Lorcan slapped him right across the face.
"I am not your master." Lorcan said coldly. "Not since the day you deserted us."
Lorcan snapped his fingers and weird ripple washed over the room as the illusion shattered.
Jack blinked before he looked at Adrian again.
And then he saw Claire holding her sword, and the little girl pointing her hand at him. He realized his dagger was stopped by a sword, and not some invisible wall.
He looked back at Lorcan.
"He hired you?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"No." Lorcan shook his head. "I swore loyalty to him."
Jack just dropped his head against the floorboard, giving up completely. He knew he was totally dead.
Lorcan looked at Adrian. "According to our guild customs, my lord, it is best to execute deserters immediately."
"Hold on." Adrian held up a hand. He looked down at the assassin. "Why did he desert in the first place? What is your name?"
"Jack." the assassin muttered.
Lorcan sighed loudly. "Every single person in our group tells outsiders their name is Jack. Names are useless here."
"Oh, alright." Adrian said. "So why run away?"
Jack ground his teeth together and refused to look up.
"Because I want people to know my name." Jack spat out. "They beat us half to death during training and I was never the best fighter. The other guys always beat me and the guild hides everything."
He glared at Adrian.
"We live in the dark and die in the dark. I wanted the fame, but the guild stole the credit for every single person I put in the ground. Better killers than me ended up dead on random jobs while I made it out alive."
Jack glared up at Adrian.
"Staying there was completely pointless." Jack said. "The guild just acted like a middleman distributing missions to me and I wanted to make my own name. So I took a solo mission and I never went back."
Adrian stared at the guy on the floor.
"Fame." Adrian mused softly. "I can give you fame."
Jack just stared back at him in silence, unable to believe what he was hearing.
