It was a bright, sunny day, barely a cloud in the sky, and a gentle breeze hung in the air, which kept the temperature nice and cool. For most people, it would have been a rather pleasant day. 

The assassin known as 'Noble' was certainly like most people in that regard, though certainly not in many others.

Noble was, by appearances anyway, a nobleman (hence the code name). Or, at least, what an average Joe thinks a nobleman would probably look like. Tall, well-kept golden blonde hair, sky blue eyes, fancy clothes, a chiseled jaw, general conventional attractiveness, confident posture, and always carrying a somehow perpetually full teacup (with the bag still in, for some reason), literally always, 100% of the time, no exception, not even in the bathroom. That last one might just be him, actually. 

He was taking a brisk walk through the fields surrounding the small town of Basenholm, gently sipping his drink as he headed for the small, unfinished home that stood just a short ways outside the town proper. 

He found himself sighing as he thought to himself.

'Just what is it that moron has got us doing, this time?' 'Noble' thought. 'If he's bored, why doesn't he just run off and toy with himself like he always does, brute that he is... Still can't believe he defected just like that. I knew he was idiotic, but I didn't think he was that stupid. And here I thought we had a good thing going...'

. . . 

He sighed again, because there isn't much else to do when you're walking alone in a field with little more than a teacup.

'Oh well. It is what it is. At any rate, my contract will void soon after this, so I'll be returning to the fold soon enough. Though, I imagine I'll be met with my fair share of side eye for not turning tail when the others did. In hindsight, I probably should have, but I couldn't help but feel sentimental for the old bastard. The pink haired one and the bigger moron with the knives, too. I have been working with them for more than a few years now, after all. I wonder if I'll ever miss these days...'

. . .

'Well, no use thinking about that. In the meantime, I need to focus on my job. And figuring out how I'm going to return to the civilized world, when all's said and done... I do hope I stumble upon a carriage or something at some point. It'll be one hell of a walk, otherwise...'

The man took a sip of his drink as he gradually made his way to the house. There was no reason to hurry, after all. 

In the meantime, a certain young girl stood alone in the otherwise mostly empty house, towards the back of the living space, listlessly peering out of a nearby window. She was told to "watch the house", but she didn't really expect that anyone would come all the way out here, even in the event of an invasion. And, beyond that, she was rather confident in her ability to neutralize a potential threat if one were to show up and even get the drop on her, as unlikely as she felt that was. So, she continued to stare out the window and occasionally inspect her fishing rod, every now and then. There wasn't much else to do. 

This girl in particular, despite appearances, was rarely truly bored or restless. True, she may not be particularly interested in much, but she was generally able to sit through basically anything. Time, as a concept, didn't mean all that much to her. When you have infinity at your fingertips, the difference between a second and an hour or three can feel infinitesimal.  

Yet, despite that, she found herself quite anxious at this particular moment. 

'Oh God please let him be alright...' was a thought that appeared in her head rather often. Along with, and often followed by 'No, no, he's fine. He's plenty stron... W-well, he's at least smart enough to teleport away from anything dangerous... Probably...' and generally concluded with 'That 'S' guy better know what he's doing...'

This series of thoughts would loop in her head for a while, with some variation and also interspersed between other thoughts, because it'd be kinda weird if she only thought, like, 3 sentences over the course of this whole thing. Well, it's already arguably pretty weird, but there are levels of this, and-

"Ahem." The young girl cleared her throat rather abruptly. 

Right. At any rate, her rather repetitive thought process was eventually interrupted by a brief, yet firm, knock on the front door. 

Immediately, the girl dropped her fishing rod and ran towards said door. 'Oh thank God, he's alright!' She thought to herself as she ran.

Unfortunately for her, she had the wrong idea, due to a distinct lack of context. The person at the door was not the one she suspected.

"Wait, what?" She muttered aloud, audibly irritated, however, as she was already in the process of opening the door, so it didn't matter. 

'Oh. The door's actually opening.' 'Noble' thought to himself as the door began to open. 'I was beginning to believe the house would be as abandoned as it looked.' 

 'Noble' was surprised to see that it was a child of all things that opened the door. A young girl, also sporting blonde hair, and fishing garments, for whatever reason. 'Perhaps they were just on their way out.' He inferred. 'Rather unfortunate timing, if that's the case.' 

The girl, not one to waste time, reached for her fishing rod. Unfortunately, she left it in the living area, so she hastily made her way back there.

"Smarter than she looks." Noble mused, catching the door before it closed, pushing it open and stepping through.

'I can't believe that brute wants me to kidnap a child.' 'Noble thought. 'Normally, such a thing would be far beneath my dignity, but...'

He gently sighed, '... Well, it is my last job for the old bastard. I suppose I can concede just this once.' He concluded and continued to venture further into the house, and made his way into what appeared to be a living space, though it was filled with nothing but bed rolls, spread in a rather odd, almost haphazard manner. The girl stood at the end of the room, near a window, with a fishing rod drawn like a weapon, eying the man down like she was ready to strike. 

'3 bedrolls. Might be more than just the girl. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me.' 

"The hell are you doing here?" The girl asked, seeming rather unamused.

"To be entirely honest, Miss, I'm not entirely certain." Noble said politely. Kidnapping or not, there was no excuse to not use proper etiquette and respect. "However, I do know that you'll be coming with me, one way or another."

"Doubt."

'Noble' chuckled. "Well, I must say that I respect your courage, however, I should inform you that it's ill advised. Tell you what, if you and whomever else may reside here come with me quietly, I'll do what I can to ensure that no harm will befall you."

The girl sighed, seemingly rather annoyed. "Hate to break it to you, fancy pants, but I don't think you really understand the situation you're in right now."

'Noble' chuckled again. "Is that so? Well, then I suppose we'll just have to-"

Their back and forth was rather abruptly interrupted by the sound of a great crashing, coming from within the house.