The thief and the assassin stood up and slowly got to work. Moric sat there, prolonging his game of Cauldron, but only betting copper coins to make sure he wouldn't find himself completely broke.

Kard sighed. His knees wished nothing more than to be freely allowed to tremble, but there was no time.

The thief's eyes scanned as much of the Casino as possible in the short moment it took him to walk over to the nearest table. He walked casually yet carefully, looking just the right amount of scared to blend in with everyone else.

He walked around the first table just as the croupier was throwing coins into his pouch. One quick motion of his hand was enough to pocket the coin. His gaze darted around. It seemed like nobody really noticed what he had done.

Kard sat down at the table. "Mind if I join in?"

"Sure," said a lady sitting next to him.

"Wait, how much is in the game right now?" He pointed to the large pile of gold. The moment he saw that the people weren't exactly sure, he reached for the coins. "Let me do a quick count." His hands danced around the board, rummaging through the pile of coins. Two fake ones quietly slid into his sleeve. He clenched his teeth, silently praying that nobody noticed.

"Hmm... fifty-four gold and quite a lot of silver. Sorry, too much for my budget tonight. Apologies for the inconvenience," he said and quickly left the scene.

The Physicist was a game that perplexed many. The Croupier would lay out fifty cards on the table, each containing a different mathematical formula. Coins were placed onto the cards as bets. The remaining ten cards would then be drawn in pairs and their numbers would dictate the winning or losing range.

"Are you going to bet?" Kard whispered to the man who was practically hugging his money.

"Give me time, okay? I'm thinking!"

"Want some help? I am a regular at this table after all."

The man looked at the croupier, who gave him a shrug. "He does come here like every other day.

"See? Look, you do it like this," he said and quickly pulled the man's money closer. "There's lots of big numbers here, so only about three are left in the deck. That's a 30% chance. We put some money on the lower numbers. I recommend here, here, and a tiny pile here. Now we put the gold onto these ranges over here, which is quite safe, and some tiny amount into these ones in case we get unlucky so you still have something."

The man looked at Kard as he laid his money out in a pattern he could not understand. His eyes did not notice the three gold pieces that disappeared into Kard's closed palms.

"Finished?" The croupier asked.

"I... Umm... Yes?" the man muttered and watched as the lady put down the two cards. His confusion quickly turned to cheer as he was told he just won a heaping pile of gold.

"Congratulations," the croupier said and reached into her bag for the reward.

Kard's heart skipped a beat when he noticed the fake coin sitting in her hand.

"Hold on, let me count that!" he pushed himself against the lady and slid his finger across the coins, taking one of them. "You're missing one gold."

"Y-Yes, I would count it myself."

Kard looked at the victorious man. "Always count your winnings, they scam you sometimes."

"Excuse me?" the lady hissed at him.

"Sorry, nothing personal, just bad experiences. I'm sure you do your job honestly," he quickly tried to dodge the conflict bullet.

As he walked over to the other table, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Although he tried his best to seem cheerful and in a normal mood, his heart was beating so fast he could hear it in his own head.

"I hope you lads won't mind if I try to organize the pile a bit?" he said after he had taken a seat at another table to join their game. His hands quickly pulled the heap of coins closer as he began organizing them into perfect columns.

"Hey! There's a gold coin missing!" one of the men yelled at Kard, immediately grabbing the attention of everyone in the casino.

"I wasn't done yet, you dumbass. Here, it's in my hand, see?" Kard's throat felt as if someone had squeezed it. Despite his best efforts, his voice cracked ever so slightly. He thanked the gods that he had a real golden coin ready to replace the fake one.

There was still more to be done. He saw the man at the desk in the centre of the floor sorting obtained coins into organized bags. The air around him was getting heavy. He hadn't been under this much stress in a long time. His mind kept on screaming "You're so obvious!" while the remaining few droplets of rationality assured him that since nobody was trying to kill him yet, he was doing great. He took a few steps toward the desk. Somehow, he had to lure the man away so he could grab the coins before they would be locked in a safe.

"Kard!" he heard Moric yell out from behind him. The entire world as if it had faded. Despite the crowd of onlookers, he found himself truly and utterly alone. He saw the face of his wife smiling at him. He'd never see her again. That yell carried a tone of panic and desperation. He knew such a voice well. He heard it at least once a week in the streets. Ecniro must've found his target.

Stolen story; please report.

Kard turned around, ready to face judgement. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the man who previously sat at their table hold a knife to Moric's throat.

"You'll let me go! You hear me?" he yelled at Ecniro.

"Listen, put the knife down, and I promise to put you down as painlessly and quickly as I can."

"I said let me go! Or I'll fucking end him! Drop your knife! I'll count to three!"

Ecniro sighed. "Go for it. Count down. You'll die when you reach one."

The man's hands were shaking, but he still tried to count. The old assassin stood there as if he was just waiting in line at the convenience store.

"One!" the man yelled and the blade of his dagger pressed against Moric's neck as the young man squealed.

The clock on the wall let out a single tick. Ecniro was standing right next to his face. His warm breath hit the cheater's ear. How did he get there? The man didn't even have time to think. His own knife got wrestled out of his hand. Four quick stabs followed. Each targetted at a different part of his arm. They tore through his skin, cut flesh, and pierced the bone until they emerged on the other side of the limb.

His powerless arm let go of Moric, who immediately ran away to save his own skin. Ecniro's arm wrapped around the screaming man's neck as he forced him to lean backwards.

"Anything you'd like to be remembered by?" he asked, calmly.

"Please..." the man cried out.

"Yeah, I suppose that is a classic," Ecniro replied and tightened his grip. The man went limp with a crack so loud it overshadowed the panicked murmur spreading through the casino.

"Well, that would be that. Thank you, Kard. I suppose your help wasn't necessary in the end. Still, I am a man of my word, so stop by the guild later for the money, okay?" the assassin said and dropped the corpse on the floor. "Now, please, can you clean him up?" he asked the staff.

"K-Kard? What happened?" Moric said, his voice reduced to but a faint whimper.

"He was looking for someone else," the thief let out a sigh of relief. "You were never the target." The comfort that washed over them both pulled them into a brief hug, finished by two pats on the back.

"I was so terrified," Moric said.

"You think I wasn't? You dickhead! You'd snitch on me!" Kard quickly remembered how the young man threatened him. He wanted to give him a punch or two when the voice of a croupier interrupted his string of thoughts.

"Hey! What is this? Where did all those rocks come from?"

Suddenly, all the panic Kard had dropped leapt back onto him, pulling him into despair.

"Lost your focus?" he whispered towards Moric.

"Yeah. I need to use the bathroom!" the young man called out and quickly dashed towards the restroom door.

"So do I. I was so worried I nearly pissed myself," Kard said, hoping that at least this faint attempt at acting would conceal their disappearance.

"What are we going to do?" Moric whimpered. "I-I guess he won't kill us, right? Without a contract?"

"If those guys get pissed at us and want us dead, they will gladly pay Ecniro to get rid of us."

"B-But what about having friends and all that for survival?"

"Angry people make rash decisions. If they see money missing and an assassin in the house, they might throw such rules out of the window!" Kard's eyes slid over the nearby wall. An idea burned brightly inside his head.

"Climb!" he muttered at Moric.

"What?"

"Climb! The tiny window up there! We have to get out and run. Then you'll leave the city, understand?" He said and stood next to the wall to help boost his friend up.

"But what about you?"

"I can deal with this somehow. You though? You won't survive. Now get climbing!"

Moric did not let himself be persuaded twice. He braced his foot against Kard's interlocked hands and let the man push him up into the window.

"Get out of the city! I don't care what you'll have to do, just run like the wind!" Kard told him, genuinely worried about his safety. Moric nodded and quickly slipped away.

Kard spit into his hands, about to jump up and climb through as well, but the footsteps behind the door stopped him. Someone was approaching. Climbing through the window would certainly make him look suspicious. As quickly as he could, he slipped into the nearest stall, sat down on the toilet, and pulled his feet off the floor.

He had no idea who entered. All he heard were the footsteps. They were slow and light as if someone had gone for a casual stroll and wasn't in any rush. They walked past the urinals, ignored the sinks, and kept going past the stalls. They missed the first, missed the second, and then finally, the steps stopped at the third, occupied by the thief.

Someone grabbed the handle.

"Occupied!" Kard quickly yelled out.

"I know," Ecniro replied and stepped inside. He closed the door after himself, leaned against them, and slid down onto the floor, where he sat cross-legged.

Kard didn't have anything else to say. Tears were welling up in his eyes and it took all his willpower to push them back and look at least somewhat confident.

"Fake coins, huh? I knew there was something shady about you. So, I get it that your friend is on the run?"

Kard slowly nodded, prompting Ecniro to smile.

"I knew it was weird. Your parents never had such a big family for someone like Moric to be a part of it. I knew something was off but I just didn't know what."

"Y-You have a... umm..."

"A contract?"

Kard nodded.

"For you? No. But the people out there are looking for you. They remember you sniffing around the different tables and I bet they will find more rocks with you since you tried to fix the whole mess, am I right?"

Kard nodded again.

"Well, how about I make you a deal then?" He sat to make himself more comfortable, with one leg extended and the other bent, his knee serving as a resting place for his arm. "I'll take a few moments to work on you. You'll take a couple of weeks off and rest in bed, while your lovely wife will take care of you. A little mandatory holiday. I can promise to be so precise to avoid scars and even vital organs. We'll decorate you nice and proper so when I drag you through the casino, you'll look like you've already had enough. Then, I'll demand some payment for teaching you a lesson in their place. We both know they will not refuse such a demand because they fear me. After that, I'll leave. Heck, I'll even be so nice and give you a lift home. By the time anyone tries to order a hit on your friend, he will be far gone. Or at least I hope so, for his own good. That is, of course, only one of the two options."

"A-And the other?" Kard mumbled.

"I can leave. I won't be your boogeyman tonight. But the people will rush in here and, well, whatever happens then will not be my problem. If they ask for your death or even Moric's, then I will perform my duties as a member of the assassin's guild. You might die, but also might not. You may receive only a light beating, or they might leave you half-dead on the street. In this case, however, I can at least promise you a painless death."

Kard's gaze was fixated on the man and his eyes like two blue pools of fake kindness.

"I really hope you will pick the first option, honestly. I had much respect for your father, but truth be told, I despise you. You bring dishonour to your family. Nothing but a parasite that lives off of their contacts and deeds. This way, I could do two very lovely activities at once. I could honour my old friendship and save Taris' son, but I could also let out my frustrations and beat the daylights out of Taris's son. So? Picked your poison yet?"