I open my eyes and immediately get up. I look outside only to see the beginning of the horizon changing color. Most people still sleep at this hour, but I have training to do. I walk out of my room and pause in front of another one. Elyana and Lyon are still sleeping as I don’t hear anything from their room. As I get down to the common room of the Inn a sleepy innkeeper greets me.

“Morning Blaine.” He’s nice and gets up earlier than me, which is insane. I guess someone has to clean up before the other guests go down for breakfast. Especially with how the evening crowd tends to be. We’ve been back in the capital for a week already. It’s been complicated to get a hold of Sarah. It’s rather hard to get hold of anyone from the assassin’s guild, but I have been asking around.

I walk out of the inn and take a deep breath of the fresh and crisp morning air and make my way to the training grounds. I’m not part of the city's knights or anything but they seem to accept it now and I get a few nods as I make my way to an empty field. This is probably the only place where some people are already awake. I do my usual training routine that I’ve kept up. By the time I finish, morning has come in truth.

However as I make my way back, I hear someone call me discreetly from an alley.

“Hey. I heard you’re looking for us.” The voice says from the comfortable darkness of the alley. I turn to him and walk into the alley. It looks decrepit compared to the main street and a lot smaller and claustrophobic between the rather tall stone buildings. I try to look confident but I’m not really. I hope he doesn’t notice.

“Depends on who ‘us’ is.” I tell the cloaked figure. He snickers at that.

“Do I really need to spell it out?” He asks me and I look straight at him before I answer.

“Assassin’s guild I presume?” He nods at my guess.

“Follow me.” He says as he waves me over. I hesitate for a bit and he turns to wait for me. I don’t like going somewhere without telling the girls about it first, but I’m not sure I can tell him to wait for me here while I go tell them. He crosses his arms and leans back a bit before speaking.

“Well?” Is all that he says, but it’s clear it’s now or never, so I sigh and follow after him.

He leads me through cramped alleys one after the other. I’m not sure I could find my way back if he just left me right now. We continue on for a few more minutes and finally arrive at a dead end where he points to a door. The door is the only thing that looks solid in this back alley, the other ones looking half-rotten or broken. As I walk up to the door, a slit opens up and I see a pair of angry eyes looking at me.

“We hear you are looking for the assassins guild?” The man asks me through the door.

“I am, more specifically, I'd like to hire one of your agents, Sarah.” I tell him. I can’t just tell them I’m looking for her. Plus, I do want Reagan dead, maybe I should order a hit. Honestly I know I don’t have that kind of money. His bounty is up to crazy numbers and I barely have a few gold coins. But they don’t know that.

Instead of responding, the man closes the slit and I look around confused. The man who guided me is gone and I’m left alone, but not for long. A few people walk out of some of the houses around me. They look like thugs with clubs and are clearly going for me. I didn’t think this was how they dealt with their potential clients. Maybe I should have checked things with Mike first, or at least asked the girls for backup. I didn’t bring my shield but I do have my sword and I draw it.

“I will gut you if you try anything.” I tell them as they continue towards me. The key is to sound confident, I think. They don’t look strong, but the main issue is the tight space and the numbers. Four, maybe another one hiding? I’m not sure. They clearly don’t care about my words and I know I have to take the initiative here. I draw my sword and charge the closest one before his friends are in range to help him.

He looks surprised but blocks my sword with his club, my follow-up strike fails as there isn’t enough space and my sword gets stuck on the wall. My usual one-two maneuver isn’t working here at all. The man grins at my failure and I barely avoid his swing as it brings me off balance. Another one of them is now behind me but instead of steadying myself, I use my momentum to attack the man before I manage to go into a roll.

My sword cuts at his side as I roll past him and I’m back on my feet. I would have hesitated a month ago, but not here, not now. I plunge my sword into his back before he can recover from the small wound and he soon slides off my sword and crashes into the ground. The thugs clearly weren’t ready for that and the closest one backs off until his buddies are close enough to support him. But this alley is about as large as one and a half man, not more.

The three remaining thugs block my way out of here however. But they seem determined. I’m not sure why and I guess it doesn’t matter right now. First, I need to get out of here. I need to survive. My heart is beating out of my chest as I look at the three of them approaching. The truth is we can only truly fight one versus one here, which is to my advantage. I take my stance and charge the first of them.

He goes to parry my first blow which is a feint but I realize too late I’ve been naive. Maybe the other two cannot fight me, but they can definitely disrupt me. As I go for the real blow I instinctively back off as two objects fly towards me. Stones thrown by the other two. I can’t just ignore them it seems. One of them hit me despite my attempted dodge and it’s clearly not as deadly as a dagger, but it still hurts like hell.

If only I had my shield, this would have been easy. Angry, I go on the offense again, ready for them to throw things at me. I wish I could swing faster, or in two places at once. I swing once only for him to dodge towards the wall. To my surprise my sword isn’t able to finish its trajectory because of said wall and his clubs hits me in the stomach. I back off as I clutch and heave for air. Damn. He looks at me smugly and a stone almost hits me in the face while I try to think of how to go about this.

I charge at him and in my desperation to get an edge I use the [Slash] skill. It barely makes a difference but I try to use it again before the first one even finishes. It didn't work, but there was something there. It felt close, like I was just missing a little something. Giddy by the feeling I try again and he parries the blow easily and I get hit by two stones. I felt it again, and I know I can’t be far off now.

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Determined and bruised, I go in, feint, back off as he moves his club to block a blow that will never come and reposition to a piercing strike. He still manages to deflect the blow, but I clearly drew blood. Now instead of resetting I press my advantage and try to use two [Slashes] in quick succession. Only one swing comes out and I realize my mistake. I grin as it clicks in my mind. I shouldn’t use them in quick succession, but at the same time. I realize I have to use two [Slashes] simultaneously. It’s like concentrating on multiple things at once and I can feel the strain even before I use the skill. My first attemp fail and I take a stone to the head. I start bleeding a bit above my eye but it doesn’t matter. My excitement at how close succes is cannot be disrupted. I try again and [Double Slash] comes out. The thug is clearly surprised as he is cut down.

His buddies both look on in horror at the skill and I look at them defiantly and confidently before I speak.

“Want to be next?” I ask them and they both make a run for it. Thank the gods because I know I’m completely out of energy after that. Maybe because it was the first time or because real combat tires me out way more, but I feel like collapsing on the ground right now. Of course I can’t and I start walking away, trying to simulate confidence. I don’t run, because I don’t trust myself not to accidentally fall over from fatigue.

I try not to look around frantically like a panicked man, but slowly and deliberately instead, but I don’t think it matters. No one else comes after me. I don’t sigh in relief until I’m truly out of the alleys and back into a main street, one I in fact do not recognize. But there are enough people about now that I know that I’m safe. I almost collapse then and there but decide I might as well get back to the inn before I do that. The tension in my body relaxes a bit as I walk back, feeling more at ease the more time passes. I do end up asking someone where the inn is from here as it seems I’m in the mercantile part of the city, not where I usually go.

I soon find myself in front of the inn and I can say I’ve rarely been happier to arrive somewhere. I walk in and notice quite a few stares my way. I look down and realize I have a decent amount of blood on me. The innkeeper comes up to me and asks me if I need a bath to which I nod. Of course it’s expensive but I really don’t care right now. I spot the two girls sitting at a table eating breakfast. Lyon’s mouth is wide open as she looks at me while Elyana just looks at me curiously.

“Hey. Be there in a minute.” I tell them as I follow the innkeeper to a backroom where someone is already filling up a bathtub with water. It doesn’t take long before I’m soaking in the moderately hot water and relaxing fully. It was the first time I took a human life and it feels almost wrong to feel how I feel.

That is to say barely anything. It felt like killing any monsters. Kill or be killed. And I see nothing wrong with it. Should I feel bad for taking a human life? I think it depends. Killing someone who goes after me? No, unless they mean something to me I guess. I don’t want to be jaded, but maybe I already am to a degree because of that monster.

“I heard you were looking for me.” A familiar voice makes me almost jump out of the water in fright. I didn’t hear anyone come in or see any movements. But I smile as I turn towards it.

“You’ve heard right.” I turn to see Sarah sitting in a chair she must have dragged in herself.

“Almost got shanked for my troubles.” I say with a smile despite what happened. It feels like butterflies are having a party in my stomach.

“You do realize that wasn’t the assassins guild, right?” She tells me and I can’t see her face but I know she is smiling teasingly at me.

“Really? What was it then?” I ask, actually curious. I’d like not to do that again if I want to see her.

“Some of the gangs do that when someone is looking for us. They test the waters I guess and more often than not rob them penniless.” She says offhandedly, like it’s a normal thing.

“And you let them?” I ask, rather surprised the assassins guild would let gangs use their name freely.

“It weeds out those that aren’t serious and they do get a commission if it’s actually a nice contract they bring.” She tells me.

“Now why were you looking for me?” She asks and I can’t help but try to see if her leg is healed or not. I can’t be sure if it's healed or a prosthetic of some kind from here, and I can’t exactly get out of the water right now, naked as I am.

“I…” I start but I’m unsure of what to say. I told the other two girls I thought she was perfect for the team, but I know it was just an excuse. I’ve wanted to look for her for a while, but I didn’t feel ready. Didn’t feel worthy. I still don’t, but not as bad at least. I pause for a bit as I mull over how to say this without it sounding completely stupid. I know it will to some degree… but here goes nothing.

“I wanted to see you.” I say truthfully.

“I’ve wanted to see you every day since that day.” I look her straight in the eyes, or where I know they are behind that attire of hers.

“I made an excuse and wanted to invite you to my adventuring team and I do want to invite you, but I know you’ll never join us.” I know I’m being clumsy and weird right now but my mouth just won’t stop.

“Not that you wouldn’t fit in! I just don’t think it’s your type. You’re so cool and mysterious. In truth I just wanted to see and talk to you again. I… I think I like–” You. But the end doesn’t come out, and she patiently waits for me to continue.

“I think I like finished sentences.” She says after it is clear I’m done, gently mocking me. She sits there and looks at me for a while and I can hear my heart beating in my chest, worse than during the fight. I see a wisp of blonde hair escape between two black leather armor pieces, her lithe form sitting there gracefully.

She gets up and walks around, striking a thinking pose as she stalks around my bathtub and I’m actually thankful the water is rather dirty now as I hide my more intimate parts as deep as possible. Is she actually considering it? But why would she? In truth, we don’t know each other and I know it’s more of a daydream since the beginning. There is no way right? She slowly takes off her headpiece hiding her face and looks me straight in the eyes with a smirk.

“I accept.” I barely register the words as I am at a loss at her beauty. She is exactly as I pictured her. Beautiful green eyes and straight blonde hair. The words hit me and my expression changes to one of disbelief.

“Really?! Why?” I can’t help but ask and she laughs at that. Her laugh is beautiful.

“Let me be mysterious for a while longer. Know that I’ll be back this evening and we’ll be leaving as soon as I come by, alright?” She tells me with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yeah, sure! Where are we going?” I ask as she is putting her mask back on again and preparing to leave.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She tells me in a teasing voice before she soundlessly leaves.

I wait for a bit to make sure she is really gone before I get out of the bath. I go back to my room and change into clean clothes and hurry to the main room, excitement visible on my face. Elyana and Lyon clearly notice I’m excited about something and I tell them that we are leaving this evening with our newest member. As I tell them what happened, in a less embarrassing manner than what really happened, I can see Lyon is frowning.

“She is going to bring us trouble, this Sarah.” She tells me.

“What? No, Sarah is great.” I defend her and turn to Elyana who nods at Lyon, clearly thinking the same.

“Why do you think that?” I ask them.

“I’m not sure you can just leave the assassins guild Blaine.” Lyon explains to me and I realize she might be right. Even knowing that, I can’t help but smile, happier than when I got promoted to high bronze.

What’s the worst that can happen? And besides, I’ll be there to protect her.