"Cosmo!!!!!"

In the distance, I heard a scream, its tone filled with clear unadulterated rage. It was my sister. And when she screams my name like that, it never ends well for me. So I did what any good brother would do, I blamed the dog.

"Sis, It wasn't me! Yuan was the one who tore apart your martial arts manual. I was framed, I swear."

I said it with so much conviction, that even I almost believed what I said. In the corner, Yuan was looking at me with utmost hate. I'm sorry buddy, I'll make it up to you later...

"Uhuh. I have one question then, how did you know it was a martial arts manual that was ruined?"

Oh no.

“Yeah about that…”

Before I could even attempt to run and hide, I was then dangling from the tip of her spear. I then saw her eyes, making it clear to me that if I ran away, I would not like the outcome of that decision.

"My dear little brother, why must you do this? Have you learned nothing? But fear not, I, your gracious big sister will teach you how a gentleman should act."

"Oy, wake up."

I then felt something solid hit my body. My body shot up as I sat and leaned against a nearby wall. Tired, I opened my eyes and saw the entire bar was in a mess. Tables and Chairs were all over the place as if a storm passed by. I rubbed my eyes and tried recalling what happened last night.

Instead of memories popping inside my head, it was a pulsing headache. I tried standing up but my legs refused to cooperate and buckled, the world spinning in the process.

Somehow, I was able to sit on a nearby chair, trying to get my bearings together. After calming down, I was able to see who was the one who woke me up. It seemed that I saw her last night, I just couldn’t remember where.

She had short black hair, a red bow tying her hair, as well as emerald green eyes that reminded me of the jewels my mother had. Her eyes seemed to be looking at me like I was a drunken idiot.

"Ugh, what time is it? Why did you wake me up? It's still evening."

The girl didn’t reply with words, and instead responded with actions. She approached a nearby window and opened its curtains. Bright light seeped through it and assaulted my sight. I covered my eyes, as it felt like I was staring directly at the sun.

As I was about to just fall back to sleep, the world spun once more. And I was pretty sure it wasn’t because of the beer. In one moment, I was by a table, and in another, I was at the corner of the bar. It seems that the beer numbed the pain of my crash since I couldn’t feel anything.

"Get a hold of yourself." She said with indifferent eyes, as she started cleaning up the bar. I listened to her advice and in a few minutes, I was able to get my proper bearings. At least, It was enough for me to stand up without falling back down.

I sat at the counter and started gently slapping my face. A cup of water was then placed before. I looked up to see who was the one who gave it to me, and it turned out to be Mr. Frank. He nodded to me before going back to serve another customer.

Looking closer, I saw that the other customer was the one I was talking to last night. I was about to turn away from him as I didn’t want to deal with him this early, but it seemed it was too late.

"Morning kid. We were just talking about you. More specifically, what are we going to do with you? Wash up first, you reek of sweat and beer and blood."

Sweat and beer, I could understand but blood? I looked down to see the state of my clothes and realized that it was in sheer disarray. It was torn in some places, with blood being splattered on the other parts. New memories of last night started rushing into my head.

Oh yeah, that happened. I clutched my head in pain, as I grabbed the water by the counter and downed it. I felt a little better. I breathed in and decided that I needed to wash up. I asked where the bathroom was and Mr. Frank directed it to me.

Let's clean up first and then, deal with my other problems.

In the bathroom, I looked at the mirror and saw my current state of appearance. I had long black hair that reached to my waist, and what was supposed to be silky smooth, was now in a complete mess. It looked like I rolled around in the dirt and then some. My blue eyes were glazed, blurry even. Or maybe that was just my sight.

There were some bruises on my face, and when I licked around my mouth, I think I had some missing teeth too. I sighed, as I realized how terrible drinking can impact me.

My robes were in even worse shape. The sleeves were torn apart, the chest area even had slight gashes. My once lustrous robe was no more different than the clothes of a homeless man. Well, in a sense, I was homeless.

I cleaned myself up and went back down. I could straighten my hair and even clean my face, but a change of clothes was not an option at that moment. A real shame.

"Good morning Mr Frank, Mr Samuel. Now what was it about dealing with me?"

Mr Frank looked at Mr Samuel, seemingly signaling for him to start explaining.

"Well kid it's simple, you will work for us, and in exchange, we will teach you how to survive."

"Uh, what do you mean how to survive?"

"It means what it means. Survive. I have no idea how the world worked in your continent, but around here, there is no such thing as mercy. You must take what you want, and offer no apologies."

"But..."

"Of course, you can deny our offer, but is that a smart idea?"

I stopped and thought about it. I had nothing. No money. No family and friends. Nobody I could rely on. I didn’t even have a good change of clothes, and denying this opportunity, well it just didn’t seem to make sense no matter how I thought about it. Plus, it was just work. How bad could it be?

"Okay. I accept."

Mr Samuel smiled, while Mr Frank didn’t seem to care what I would decide. He continued tending to the bar throughout the short conversation as if he was not a part of it.

It was then that I heard something click. I turned and tried to find where the sound came from, but all I could see was the messy room and the girl cleaning it. Strange. I looked back at Mr Samuel and was confused about my reaction.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh uh, it's nothing. It's nothing."

I tried not thinking about it, as I felt that something was wrong. I just didn’t know what it was then. Not wanting to continue down that line of thought, I asked who the girl was and Mr Samuel said.

"That is Amy Jen Neworld. Franks Daughter. Feel free to have any ideas about her, I curious as to which side of the family you would die from. Franks or Amy?" Mr Samuel chuckled as he started imagining that possibility.

Though I didn’t know the meaning of what he said, It was best that I didn’t do anything that would cost my life, even if I didn’t understand the how of it.

I turned back to the glass of water I drank, and saw that it was filled to the brim. I thanked Mr Frank and started thinking about my future.

I didn’t know what I wanted at that time. All I knew was that I had to survive. Survive no matter what. There was one thing that I had to put my full focus on, and it was the matter in front of me.

"Living isn’t for the weak Cosmo." Mr Samuel said to me, before standing up as he made his way out. I pondered on the meaning of his words, finishing the glass of water in front of me in the process.

"And oh, you'll be learning Assassination from me. Okay bye." He said one last time before leaving.

Wait what? Assassination?