Assassination

3rd Person

 

Lord Sharsa, Cook Thomas, Maid Feli and two slave guards are heading towards the basement of the lords keep in silence. Anytime noise is made by any of the group other than the lord he shoots death glares at them and starts on a tirade of bullshit. Blaming everything other than himself for having to run away.

 

He caught wind from his various sources that both the kingdom and the guild are sending forces to arrest him. That he could live with since he knew this day would come eventually, what he couldn't live with was when he went to get his Bracelet of the Void that he used as a vault, one that cost him over 200 Platinum Coins on its own, was stolen. He lost it, killing 2 of his senior maids and the guards to offices.

 

He still had an Item Bracelet that had half of his fortune on him but he put his entire fortune into buying that Bracelet of the Void. One of the only few upgrading storage devices in the entire world. He was assured that it was impossible to break open that Shimmer Wall and that only an S-class Dark Job would be able to open it. Noone even knew of its existence since he killed all of the people who built it. 

 

The Lord's companions seem to notice him getting more pissed off by the second and retreat a step or two away while still following him. Noone works at the Lord's place because they want to. Even all of the people greedy for  the god pay end up wanting to quit but after making a show of killing the people who quit along with their families everyone was either stuck working there or is slaved to him. Illeagely of course.

 

After finally getting to an empty room that everyone assumes has the secret exit the lord finally speaks up.

 

“We are here. This should lead outside the city to a hideout. I have people waiting there with transport.”

 

After everyone silently bows the Lord presses his hand against the wall and everyone hears a bunch of noise then out of nowhere everyone sees a big ball of fabric appear behind the lord.

 

“Gahh… Who… th… fuck…”

 

It goes deathly still. Only the Lord knows what's actually happened. Eventually everyone else catches on and the guards reach for their swords before dropping to the ground dead alongside him. Both the cook and maid know that the guards only died since they were enslaved to the lord so it means he died as well. The ball of clothes turns towards the guards in what looks like surprise before turning to the only 2 left in the room.

 

They finally get a good look at the assailant. Its size is about 1.5m, maybe less and looks like an amalgamation of shirts. It's humanoid with 2 shirts for its head, 4-5 shirts wrapped around its arms, 3-4 shirts wrapped around its legs and wearing a shirt normally. The two people stand in shock of this, what they can only assume is a monster of some kind, when they finally see the bloody knife poking out of one of the shirt arms. The maid lets out a small scream but that seems to trigger the monster as it dashes towards them. At the last second the man dashes in front of the maid to take the blow but the monster stops. He gathers up his courage and speaks.

 

“I don't know what you are but we were forced to be here by the Lord. We have no connection or love for him. In fact I am grateful that the son of a bitch is dead so please don't kill us as well. We won't harm you either.” The maid nodded insistently behind him. Although the man spoke resolute and sharp anyone could tell he was scared. Having never faced a monster in his life the first one he sees in person is a teleporting clothes apparition, he is scared beyond his wits. The monster takes a quick peek at the maid behind him before walking around them to the door and leaving.

 

Once the door is closed both the cook and the maid collapse on the grounds only to be shocked a second time when the wall bursts open.

 

“He opened the secret entrance. He has to be here!”

 

“Arrrggghh, Fuck it capture the Lord and everyone else. Remember kill him and his combat personnel only if you have to, Incapacitate when available.”

 

A whole group of people burst through the secret entrance only to see 2 collapsed workers, 2 dead guards and the lord with a red puddle forming around him. The group quickly takes in the situation, sighs and approaches the 2 conscious workers.

 

“Did you kill him?”

 

“N-no s-sir. It-it was some kind of monster.”

 

“HAAAAAH!! Monster! You hear that charles! What kind of BS is that!”

 

“No. I don't think he is lying. I sensed a presence appear briefly when he unlocked the door, 3 presences disappear and then the presence disappeared again. It felt human but it could have been a stronger monster. Tch. That doesn't matter now. Take them into custody and arrest everyone else on the premises. We can figure out what happened later.”

A few hours later and the adventurers who raided the keep, the guildmaster, the leader of the knights and a noble are having a meeting in a room in the keep. Once everyone settles in, the Noble speaks up.

 

“So has everyone been arrested?”

 

“Yes sir” the Knight Leader starts his report. “In accordance with the deal all of the staff were in one of the larger dining rooms while all of the slaves outside of the range or the Lord had fainted in various locations. They have all been rounded up and freed. The only deaths were the Lord himself and the two slaves who died according the the contract.”

 

“So any word on the killer yet?” This time the Adventurers spoke up.

 

“We aren't sure of any of the details of the lord's death except how he died. As I explained earlier It would have been impossible for the two workers to kill him while under my observation. I normally would have suggested he was assassinated by one of the top assassins in the kingdom… except…”

 

“Except what?”

 

“Have you heard the testimonies of the workers sir?”

 

“Not directly, no. Only that it was nonsense.”

 

“Yes, well it turns out the maid is pretty good at drawing.” He pulls out a piece of paper and opens it in the middle of the table. The Noble and Guildmaster scrunch their faces before asking the Adventurer.

 

“Are you serious?”

 

“Yes sir. The maid drew this from memory and the cook confirmed it.”

 

“Do you believe him?”

 

“Well… Yes I believe him but… THAT is unbelievable.”

 

“And we won't get anything out of them through interrogation?”

 

“Like I said sir, I believe them whole heartily. It's just…”

 

“Indeed. Guildmaster, Any info on assassins or monsters who share this image.” After a sigh the guildmaster replies.

 

“Honestly with how cooperative everyone here was I cant believe they would make up something so utterly stupid. I also trust my adventurers account. Usually like he said I would chalk this up to assassination… it just… even the worst assassins wear better attire for an assassination and the best wouldnt need such a stupid disguise. Im sorry son but what level is your Presence Detection?”

 

“Level 8”

 

“Yeah. Well I'm thinking it's some kind of monster. From what I have heard the lord has had his fair share of underaged girls before disposing of them. From what I can tell, all of the shirts fit the underage. It could be a collection of vengeful spirits extracting their revenge. If it's not then we can only leave it up to the Kingdom to find some information on a weirdo Assassin Master.”

 

“Alright, I'm gonna go with that for the report to the king but I will recommend the standard assassin investigation on your side as well. Has anyone found the Lord's stash yet?” This time the knight speaks up.

 

“From the testimony of all of the staff it seems to correlate with what the guild said. After the guild received all of the Lords files out of nowhere the lord was somehow informed of our strike and went to retrieve his stash only to find it all missing. We have secured his item bracelet but it only contains a few platinum at most.”

 

“From what we have understood he should have at least 300 Platinum in total assets. We can only assume that this assassin or mystery helper took it?”

 

“Hmmm? Is there any chance they are the same person?”

 

“Not in the slightest. Who in their right mind would help us gain the evidence to convict the lord then turn around and kill him straight away?”

 

“You're right. Disregard that. Nobody would be that stupid.”