“I stay with witch,” Sine said, nuzzling her face into my robes. 

I sighed and petted her head. If I took her away, I’d definitely be charged with high treason against the kingdom that adopted her. Candlewax Kingdom would become a candle fuse and burn this poor little witch like a Tinderwick! However, I couldn’t just leave her alone in that alleyway. With another deep sigh, I pulled out my broom.

“I will fly you to the castle gates,” I said and sat towards the back of the broom.

“No! I want to stay with witch.” 

Before we could argue more about the topic, seven red knights appeared at the end of the alley. The moment they saw us, they drew their swords. That actress girl from before was with them and pointed her wand at me. 

To make matters worse, Sine jumped on my broom and sat before me. My future career as an actress looked grim from this point of view. I’d be forever misunderstood—the witch who kidnapped a little girl. I hung my head when the lead knight began shouting. 

“Release the hero!” 

“No!” Sine yelled back at them. 

“Sine!?” The actress girl looked extremely distraught, and I could only hold my head. 

I wondered if this was a play. Were they testing to see if I could be a good performer? I didn’t want to see that other girl sad, even if this was theatre. With my thoughts racing, time slowed. A perfect debut would be playing a villain character if I thought about it, especially since my natural disposition is the opposite—a kind witch. 

“Yes,” I said and grinned an evil smirk. “I will just have to kidnap both of you!”

“Huh?”

Without responding to the poor actress, I flew right next to her. She was surprisingly easy to pick up while flying on my broom. 

“You should eat more,” I said when she began screaming. I made a portal appear before us and guided my broom into it, taking a deep breath of my personal space. 

I finally stopped the broom in front of my manor in that place. Before I could admire Home Sweet Home more, the actress pointed her wand at me. However, Sine stood between. 

“Don’t hurt witch!” 

The actress girl’s arms were shaking. “Sine! She kidnapped us!” She looked back at me, keeping her wand raised. “You! You will be hunted for kidnapping heroes, you know?”

“You know?”

“Yes! You know! A criminal!”

“Witch, not criminal,” Sine said and hugged me. “Witch soft.”

The other girl sank to her knees and dropped her wand. “I can’t believe this…”

I started to feel bad, even if it was an act. Well, I would surely be a criminal regardless since I kidnapped Sine—a girl adopted by the royal family. I slowly walked up to the actress and presented my hand, smiling at her. 

“Here, let’s go inside.” 

To my pleasant surprise, she nodded and took my hand. I helped her up and walked toward the entrance of my house. 

A dark figure walked through the rat way tunnels beneath Tinderwick. This man had been known to most as Black Mist. Like shadows of the day, he’d blend into the night. He was uncapturable and unknowable without an invitation into that dark profession. 

Guards passed down there, but he blended well into the cracks of the walls, becoming even less than the mist they breathed. At the very end of the tunnel, his goal was in sight. A man in golden and gaudy robes stood there, crinkling his face from the smell of sewage. 

“How long do I have to wait, Mist?” Count Ahole asked. The Count almost jumped out of his expensive boots when Black Mist appeared next to him. “Don’t do that! I will—”

“Quiet,” Black Mist said, placing a hand over the Count’s mouth. Mist waited until Ahole calmed down before releasing him. 

The Count himself smiled. “It’s just as they said. You should do much better than the last one.”

“You should know this job is not ordinary. First is the payment.”

Black Mist eyed the count, ensuring he wouldn’t try anything stupid. Though, he knew that if things went south he could easily slaughter all of the guards in the tunnel and make it out. Still, he wondered why the Count desperately wanted the heroes dead. An even bigger problem was the mysterious person who dealt with the first assassin. Who hired that one? 

The stakes of this job were too high for Mist to take it usually. Many people were gunning for the world’s hope, the heroes. However, Count Ahole offered more than most kingdoms’ coffers for this job, and Mist knew the heroes were weak. They would only get stronger with time. 

“Aye, the payment,” Count Ahole said and pulled out a magic bag. “Half of the payment upfront and the other half on completion.” 

Black Mist accepted the magic bag and analyzed it with his own spell. It was all there—no counterfeits—five thousand Mythril coins. Mist’s retirement from being an S+ rank assassin would be guaranteed with this. 

“Don’t fail me,” Count Ahole said when Mist started to turn away. “And don’t take off either. You wouldn’t want to make an enemy of this whole kingdom.”

Mist responded by raising a fist, blending with the walls once more. He’d never forsake a job. After all, he was prolific in the business. He’d killed the Grand Duchess Elenora of Snuffle Empire. And killing that catkin had been no small feat. 

Ever since he was a boy, the only path he knew was killing. The day he saw the mist take his own mother, it was all he could do, but those days would soon end. There was only one job standing in the way of his retirement. Kill all seven of the heroes and disappear. 

Black Mist smiled at the poetic nature of his fate. Once tormented by the mists, next becoming a mist, and finally to disappear just like that storm.