Chapter 2: Cult Leader Things

It turns out that sliding into my knife harness was simpler than I had feared. My fingers worked just by muscle memory, flying over the clasps and buckles as if I had done it tens of thousands of times. In fact, I found it easier if I didn't watch my own hands. So, as I slipped vials, knives and other tools into place, I focused on the shadow that Nine was hiding in. While looking into the shadows, I thought about what I could do to not draw too much attention to myself with my lack of knowledge. 

Once I finally finished, I put on my fancy coat, buttoned it up, and gestured for Nine to lead the way out of the room. A slight look of confusion crossed her face, but she held the door open for me as I walked out, and then she hurried ahead. Following her, I walked down a simple wooden hallway with relatively little decoration and down a flight of stairs until we found a small nook with a table and a single chair. 

As soon as I sat down, another woman came out of a hidden passageway to my left and set down a tray of food in front of me. I inhaled the smell deeply. Fresh bacon and eggs with toast in a glass of what looked to be coffee. I sipped it and winced at the bitter flavor. Looking around, I didn't see any cream or sugar, and I felt it would be a little bit out of character to ask for some, so I simply washed down the bitter taste with a bite of the bread. I was surprised at how good the food was as if it had been made simply minutes ago. I suppose it's very possible that it was that fresh. And if it was, what did that tell me about myself? 

Was I that much of a routine person that they could plan my breakfast within minutes? I frowned slightly at the thought. If that were the case, then it would be very hard to avoid suspicion. I scarfed down my food, not having realized how hungry I was. As I ate, I noticed Nine with an ever so slightly downturned mouth watching me from the position she had taken up in the corner of the room. "What is it, Nine?" 

Her eyes flashed with a light bit of fear, and she shook her head. "No. Nine. Speak your mind."

"I'm just surprised to see you eating so much before Gerald's challenge." Nervousness seeped through every word she spoke. I did my best to hide my confusion at her answer. 

"Yes. What time is that again?" I said, trying to inject some more gruffness into my tone. If everyone was terrified of me being too nice, it wasn't a good idea, right? Somehow, the tone of voice just felt wrong. It didn't match the letter I read at all, though it would make sense if I played many roles.

"Uh, about an hour. Master." Came the suspiciously neutral reply.

"Mm." My mind whirred as I made a noise to buy myself some time to think before I ate some more food. A challenge if he shouldn't be eating, it probably means I had a sneaking suspicion of what it was. I was not sure where I knew it, but I was a fancy assassin. Organizations usually had some cutthroat policies, and my gut was telling me that I was about to have to fight for my life, and I had just gorged myself on food. 

Okay, but on top of that, I didn't know the rules or anything. I didn't know how to fight. At least initially, I didn't know how to fight. But if judging based off of how I was able to handle my blades putting it away, hopefully, my body should be able to take care of it. I had the inkling of an idea that fighting was more about honed reflexes. Muscle memory, rather than thinking it through. In fact, thinking could be detrimental in a fight. It was better to pick an overall strategy and then let your training execute the moves. So I just had to hope that this body's previous occupant had been up to date on their training. 

But the rules? Not knowing the rules was going to be a problem. "Nine. How many recruits and training do we have currently?" 

"Um, master, do you mean the whole court or this branch?" 

This branch? "This branch," I said. 

I didn't realize this was just a branch. Nine licked her lips before answering, "We have the standard class of ten, sir." 

"Okay. Make sure they're upfront for the challenge. And we'll take advantage of this time to go through all the rules, regulations, and traditions for them once they've arrived. Have them meet me there in ten minutes. Send the message, then come back." I instructed her in a firm yet gentle tone. Maybe everyone was afraid. 

Nine, with her ever-neutral face, bowed slightly and then disappeared into the shadows. I forced myself to slow down with my eating. As worry gripped my heart as I thought. Okay, so we were part of a larger network. I needed to send a letter to the king about killing him, or maybe not. Before that, I probably needed to organize killing the king or make sure that it was actually going to happen. I started constructing lists for myself.

On top of that was learning as much as possible. I wasn't sure if a group of shady assassins would have an instruction employee handbook I could read or something like that, but maybe I'd have to just pick it up for context, as though I'd probably need to see if I can find a library. The second thing was that I was certain there would be a ton of codes that I just didn't know, so I ought to find a way to either learn them or reset them. And third, I also needed to know what all my obligations were. 

I needed my schedule, which I didn't find in my room, so hopefully, someone was keeping track. Otherwise, I would be missing a lot of meetings and probably failing a lot of contracts. I also needed to know all the contracts. On top of that, I should figure out all my contacts. I had to imagine I was going to be losing a ton because much of the information was probably in my head, but hopefully, most of the important stuff was written down somewhere. 

All that would have to wait until this challenge, I assume. I didn't realize it when Nine had made it back, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes, and I had finished my breakfast. Once I looked up from my last little bite of toast, she gave me a slight bow. "They've assembled." 

"Good. Let's head over there. "I stood up and gestured for her to lead the way. I still had no idea where I was going. 

"Nine," I said, and she turned her head slightly to look at me. 

"Yes, master?" 

"I feel the need to review all of our accounts and activities. Can you have all the necessary materials brought to my study? After the challenge, of course. Along with anything else that I might need to go over and clear my schedule. Unless there's anything important this afternoon." 

Her eyes bunched up, and I hoped I hadn't made a mistake. I had sort of been treating her as my personal secretary, but I actually had no idea what her job was. That she had woken me up in such an intimate way told me one thing, but the way she carried herself told me she was a dangerous woman in her own right. But was she really able to be ordered around like this, or did she have something better to do? She just nodded, so I went with it. 

If she was about to kill herself over this morning, I can't imagine that she was that important. So, hopefully, no one would mind me co-opting her from her duties for the rest of the day as I tried to figure things out. She had to have a better idea of what I would be doing than I did. If something came up... Well, I would deal with it. I was lost in thought for the last couple of minutes as we walked to the challenge location. 

When Nine opened the door for me, I stepped into a room that was a small-scale arena. Inside the center was a sand pit ringed with tiered bleachers. A small group of ten people dressed in black and doing their best to hide in the shadows sat to one side. I assumed these were the recruits that had asked to gather, and I walked up in front of them, Nine trailing a little bit to the side and behind me. 

As I stopped in front of them, they all stood and bowed silently. I studied them carefully, trying to figure out how this was going to go. When I first asked for them, I imagined I was going to tell Nine to explain to them how everything worked. But now that I was here, I realized that wasn't probably going to work as well as I had hoped. It would just be too weird seeing that Nine wasn't one to talk like that from what I had seen so far.

After thinking for a handful of seconds, I walked up a little closer and stood in front of the rightmost recruit with their face covered with black silk. I had no idea if he was a boy or a girl or anything about their age. They were several inches shorter than me, as were all of them, so I assumed they were young. 

"Who are you?" I asked. Honestly, I was just looking for a way to start a conversation. I didn't receive a verbal response besides a slight bow. That was remarkably unhelpful. I moved to the next one. "What's your name?" 

"I have no name, sir," came a melodic voice. I couldn't tell if it was a young woman or a 14-year-old boy. I nodded and moved on. 

One more. "What are you?" 

"I am the recruit of- The Court." This time, I heard a voice crack. All right, so they were young. It must be a boy going through puberty. "I have no name." 

They're just recruits. They are no one. I had a feeling that our order was a bit more ruthless than even the letter had led me to believe. But guess having been woken up by someone who just had a number as a name might have given that away already. 

"All right," I said, stepping back a few feet. "Today, you will witness a challenge. How many of you have seen the challenge before?" 

I hoped that asking many Socratic questions would get me through this if I could disguise my learning as teaching. Perhaps I could figure out more information this way. They all shook their heads. Appointed one randomly. "You. What is the challenge?"