Tsugi and Sir Gorou only packed the bare minimum to make traveling easier. Sir Gorou donned his mat black armor with a black hooded cloak. Tsugi swung his dark cloak over himself and they set off on their journey.

Sir Gorou found horses to be a nuisance so they only traveled on foot with their packs on their backs. Tsugi huffed and puffed as he ran to try and keep up with Sir Gorou’s long strides.

Tsugi had so many questions he wanted to ask: ‘Where are we going? What are we doing? What’s the mission? Why am I going along?...’

Afraid to anger his father, he kept his mouth shut and only followed behind him as quietly as he could.

Trudging through the forest and over the rolling hills, Sir Gorou constantly emitted his dangerous aura like a pulsing beacon. Wave after wave of overwhelming power drained Tsugi of all his strength. His shaky legs and worn shoulders fought to keep up with his father.

"Here." Sir Gorou tossed a waterskin to Tsugi, who was behind him. "Drink it. It's infused with a maca plant, it will help with your energy so you're not so exhausted." Tsugi opened the waterskin and took a swig of the sweet butterscotch-like drink. "Keep it with you. I will be pushing a lot of energy out to keep the creatures at bay so we don't waste time fighting them on the way there. It will be very draining for you."

That statement troubled Tsugi.

‘It almost sounded like he was worried about me.’ He gazed upon his fathers wide back. ‘No, there’s no way. He would leave me if I don’t keep up, this was just a preventative measure.’ Tsugi closed up the waterskin and tied it to his waist, next to the small sword on his side. The sword was a perfect size for little Tsugi, but for Sir Gorou, he most likely would only use it as a letter opener.

"You can ask questions." Sir Gorou's words were very plain and dull, one would say it was monotonous. Tsugi was filled with both curiosity and fear. "The road will be long, so unless you'd rather travel quietly, ask whatever you want to ask."

Finally mustering up the courage, Tsugi cleared his throat. "Can you tell me about the mission?"

"We are going to kill a merchant who's been secretly harvesting human organs. When I say 'we' I mean 'you'. I am merely going to supervise."

Tsugi’s eyes widened at the thought of having to kill someone. He licked his dry lips and swallowed saliva to wet his parched throat. “I have to kill someone?”

“I told you before I started training you, that you will have to kill people.”

Tsugi had thought it was just a tactic to scare him. He never thought his father meant it. “What do you mean harvesting organs? Like from dead people?"

"They capture people who have no family, no attachments and transport them to buyers. Once bought, he straps them up and harvests their organs while they are still alive and fully awake." Tsugi felt shocked, disgusted and angry that anyone could do something like that. "Sometimes, merchants in this line of work tend to enjoy their time with their product."

"What does that mean?" Tsugi tilted his head in confusion.

Sir Gorou seemed almost hesitant to say anything, seeing that Tsugi was still very young and didn't know much about the outside world. "They take advantage and abuse the body in any way they can, without damaging the goods that are to be delivered."

Tsugi still didn't quite understand what Sir Gorou was referring to, and furrowed his eyebrows.

"You will see for yourself when you are there." Sir Gorou sighs and it almost sounds like it was filled with irritation.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"You mean, I'm going in there?"

"Yes, how else are you going to assassinate them? You are going to plan everything first and then attack once you get captured. I guess you can say, in a sense, you will be going undercover. You have until we get there to work on your acting."

"Acting?"

"You need to act weak so they will target you."

“But…I ‘am’ weak.”

"You may not realize it, but you've gotten a lot stronger since I've started training you a year and a half ago. You don't have much fear anymore when facing me. Even right now. Have you not noticed, you talk a bit more comfortably now? That means your confidence is better and you no longer have that fearful timid child look in your eyes. You need to bring that back to make yourself an easier target."

Just the thought of unlocking that box, left an uneasy feeling in the pits of his stomach. If he opened it, he wasn't sure if he could control his emotions during the hallucination.

"I…I don't know if I can."

"The mind is a powerful thing, don't make yourself actually scared, or your mind will fall in line and it'll be harder to break. I did not break you out of that shell to have you crawling back into it with all my hard work." His voice had a hint of anger. "It's about how you perceive yourself to others. Pretend to look weak and they will target you. You want them to come to you, not you to them.

Everything I've done to train you, is so that when you face the real world, you will be able to face it easier. I've told you, I'm not doing this rigorous training because I enjoy torturing you..." Tsugi didn't believe him, there were way too many reasons not to. "...I only did it, so that I would be the scariest thing in the world for you, so that when you face the outside world, nothing will measure up to it. That way you have nothing to fear when you are on your missions."

Sir Gorou almost sounded caring...only almost. For Tsugi, Sir Gorou was still this horrible person who he was afraid to trust. Then again, his father has always kept his word whenever he said anything. He has never lied, and 'that' was what scared Tsugi the most.

"How far is this place we are going to?"

"By foot, one month."

'A whole month?!' Tsugi swallowed to soothe his dry throat. "What will we do for food?"

"You will hunt. There will also be villages on our way there. We will be conducting investigations on your target. Remember to get to know your target and the people around them before you conduct the hallucination magic. Think of it like going undercover to investigate, you will gain their trust and once the mission is complete you will return."

"So it's not going to be a quick mission?"

"What did I say about preparations? You think you can get to know the people and places in one day? Just how long did it take you to know your own castle that you grew up in?"

"Will that mean that it can take me years to complete this mission?"

"That all depends on you. If you can learn fast it may not take you that long. If for some reason you cannot and you die. I will complete the mission myself. I am just here to make sure you get on the correct target." His dark threatening eyes stared down at Tsugi. "Don't fail." His voice was dark with a hint of murderous intent.

Struck with fear, Tsugi cowered, he was more afraid of his father than death itself. He was sure that if he did die, his father would find a way to bring him back just to torture him again.

"When you said, 'merchants in this line of work', does that mean this merchant isn't the only one?"

"It's how people work in the black market. They do illegal things like this just to get money or fame. They have thugs that work under them that do the kidnapping, but the merchants are the head of all the conducted deals. They organize everything in their own departments."

"What do I do once I get captured?"

"You will most likely get tortured. Mainly just mind games for their enjoyment, or chain you up and whip you, but these mercenaries don't usually have a good imagination. As long as you are prepared before going in, you should be fine to attack if anything worse occurs, so just make sure everything is in place before then."

"What happens if we get caught?"

"If we get caught or word gets out, then we will lose all the other black market merchants and their sick twisted clients." A little flame flickered in Sir Gorou's eyes. "You let them get away, or make the job unclean, then the others will run and or tighten their security, making it a lot harder to find the person in charge of the black market dealings. Human trafficking and organ harvesting are only two of the many illegal dealings that occur."

"So our end goal is to take down the leader of the black market?"

"Exactly." Sir Gorou smirked.

Tsugi got so caught up in everything that he had lost his original goal of killing his father. If his father was trying to teach him to be stronger to get rid of scum like these people in the world, then maybe his father wasn't so bad.

Or was it just another one of his mind games again?

Tsugi's heart had begun to waver.