A lone candle is lit in the private room of a tavern, loud men and women alike drink in the neighboring room.
“Who’s the mark?” A blonde-haired man with cold green eyes speaks to a figure who donned a hood. The hooded figure has a pin on his cloak.
“A witch named Vivian lives out in this region.” A long slender finger circles around a region on the map, Marutisha Outskirts. “You are to observe until further orders are given. She has dark hair, magenta eyes, and is usually seen wearing a pointed hat.”
The blonde nodded, and he scribbles down his orders in his notepad.
Location: The outskirts and forests of Marutisha
Target: Vivian, dark hair with magenta eyes, pointed hat
Orders: Observation until situation forbade it
“Any particulars I should be aware of?” The blonde adjusted his elaborately designed yet practical coat and set his notepad down.
“She is very skilled in the art of magic and my patron would request that a detailed log of her movements in a notepad similar to the one you’re using right now.” The figure naturally spoke in a shrewd voice and set a card onto the table. “You can withdraw the currency on this magical card, it should cover any operating costs and is ¼ of the payment provided for this task.”
“Fine with me.” He picked up the card and notepad, then placed both into his coat pocket. Using his foot, he pushed the chair aside and left the private room. The blonde man disappeared into the bustling tavern.
“Thank you for your service, Elric-dono.” The private room grew hazy, and when the haze cleared up, its sole occupant was nowhere to be seen.
~~
A lone clerk stands up from her chair, “According to the logbook, this card has 6 Marutishian finir to its name, are you sure you would want to withdraw it?”
“Yes, go ahead and withdraw it.” Elric eyed his timepiece and tapped on his foot. He always stressed the time, it was second nature to him.
6 finir, roughly 675 standard gold value, if the exchange rates aren’t too poor, I should be able to obtain a provisions kit, and lodging if need be.
The clerk comes back with a small bag of coins. “Here is the 6 finir, have a nice day sir.” She places it on the table and writes in the bank’s logbook. Elric grabs the bag and quickly struts out of the bank.
~~
Observatory Report-1I’m in the Marutishian Woods, and it’s the early morning. Target is seen walking in the woods of the region given. Doesn’t seem to be doing anything in particular. Seems to be foraging. Target is oblivious to observation.
End of Report-1
Notepad
Who is this person of interest and what makes them a target? Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.
~~
Observatory Report-1.1
Bright light seems to be shining from a plain field, it’s a white rectangle of glowing light. Target is nearby and is approaching it. A human-looking figure tosses a young, strangely-dressed man onto the ground. No details could be made about the appearance of the figure, either it was a figure of glowing light, or the rectangle had blocked my vision of it.
Even from another vantage point, the light is still hindering the visibility of the figure. Using magical eyes, I cannot sense magic from the glowing figure. Instead, I felt a strange void emanating from the figure. The young boy on the other hand has strong magical potential. However, I could sense some of the boy’s mental state, it seems to be rippled in multiple places yet it’s stable. I suggest further observation of the boy in the future.
Target is engaged in conversation with the figure. Details on the conversation could not be made due to distance and risk factors. However, I could infer it was a discussion on taking care of the young boy.
End of Report-1.1
Elric is on the top of an elevated bush and is carefully averting his gaze. He’s heard of people who could sense gazes and is keen on avoiding any altercation due to that. What a mundane person, I’ve been sitting in this bush for a few hours, and all that’s happened was the boy resting on the witch’s legs. The only thing noteworthy to report is the boy himself.His provisions bag was laying on the body of a tree, and Elric reached into it to grab his rations. Some dried meat, a particular favorite of Elric’s. This particular meat still had was rather tender and didn’t have the characteristic rough texture that most jerky had.
Although his nicely tailored clothes made him seem as if he enjoyed high-class cuisine, he was a man of simple tastes. Elric usually enjoyed the standard tavern fare or stuff you could buy at open-air markets. It was mainly the long preparation times that “fancy food” tended to have that irked Elric.
~~
Observatory Report-2
The boy has awoken and is talking with the mark. It seems to be a friendly conversation however I did see her prepare a large magic circle only to close it a few seconds after.
After their conversation ended, it seems that the target is leading the boy to the surrounding woods on one of the rock paths. I detected a foreign magical presence in the area, probably some wildlife. In order to stay hidden, I will stop observation and return back to town for further orders.
End of Observatory Report-2
Elric quickly snuck back into town and revisited the tavern. He walked to the bar and ordered a drink.
“Excuse me, Barkeep, could I order a Wild Rose and a fruity drink?” The Wild Rose was a codeword to summon his hooded friend. The fruity drink was for Elric, he disliked alcohol as it dulled his senses and he also like sweet things.
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The barkeep answer back quickly, “Sure, just give me a few minutes to source the ingredients.” He then headed to the back of the restaurant.
Elric headed over to the private room. He took a seat and the barkeep shortly after brought him his drink.
“Your drink sir, it is a drink mixed with imported fruits and a tad bit of honey. I hope it is to your liking.” He set it down on a decorated plate and walked back to the bar. Underneath the cup was a purple paper, Elric picked it up and flipped it over.
One of our messengers is arriving shortly.
Huh, I guess I don’t have to wait long. I’m pretty sure I can get my next objective.
Not before long, a figure in noble clothing walked into the room.
“Hello, our messenger from before is unavailable, so I am here in his stead.” The noblemen bowed and sat down.
“Here’s the initial observation reports.” Elric placed his journal on the table. “It should provide a thorough account of her activities today. I’m here to inquire about further orders.”
The noblemen picked up the journal and looked through it. “Our benefactor appreciates this work, your orders are to eliminate the mark by any means necessary.”
A standard observation-to-kill assignment, nothing I haven’t done before. I wonder what the observation was for. I’ve heard that some organizations use the observation data to fabricate a reason for death that doesn’t involve foul play.
“Understood.” Curtly replied Elric, who then sipped on his drink. Delicious, he thought.
“Also about this report, this young boy, if you can bring him back to me, I can promise a reward of sorts.” The noblemen had a devious smile and got up from his chair. “This will be off the books, so in your reports, there was no boy.” He adjusted his sleeves and went to a back exit, the trot of a carriage’s horses clambered off in the distance.
~~
It was late evening and the sun had a nice orange glint. Elric was perched on a different vantage point, a cluster of rocks, and was observing his mark. He was a bit of a further distance from them that last time so he had to use magic to enhance his vision to get a clearer view of them. Although this would leave magical residuals, Elric had a specialty in concealing his presence. He planned on using a magical creature and dumping its corpse here.
The science of magical forensics was hardly developed or simply ignored. There were few specialists who could differentiate magical residuals so most could only tell if something magical was in the area, so Elric had no worries.
With his enhanced vision, he could see that the witch and boy were at a magical stone.
Perhaps the witch noticed the boy’s potential?
He almost reached out for his notebook, before discarding it.
No point in writing observations for a dead person.
The boy had reached out for the stone and after a brief period of time, fell to his knees. Elric observed him trying to get up then tumbling down the hill and laughed slightly. His time with the magical stone left him more energized than clumsy. So he had found the situation rather silly.
~~
Once the boy had rested, Elric followed them as the pair walked towards their home. He hopped from tree to tree as he stalked them. Elric took notice of the pair holding hands and assumed it was some strange cultural thing. He traveled around a lot, so he never knew any specific cultural things.
It wasn’t soon before the Witch’s home came into view, a house of dark brown wood with some lilac accents.
~~
It was dark and the sounds of crickets rang in the wild night. Elric was perched behind a rock observing the boy testing his magic.
“The mana I hold within, take shape, and come forth as an arrow!” Elric braced for impact, but the arrow simply fell to the ground before disappearing.
Does he know I’m here? I knew the boy had some potential, but I wasn’t expecting him to be able to sense me while I’m hidden. That’s quite some skills. But his magic must be terrible if that arrow just flopped.
The boy commanded the mana around him, “In the form of a constructed arrow, I command thee, fly with intensity.”
An arrow flew towards Elric’s rock and it almost went through the rock. There was a hole in it. It had spooked Elric and he tumbled down the slight hill. He had made a slight groan falling down and broke a batch of twigs on the way down.
When he had climbed up, he had found that the boy had collapsed on the ground. It had seems that he had overexerted himself and one could probably see steam coming out of his head. He had examined the boy in detail, the boy was fully unconscious.
I guess the side-objective had secured itself, now time to kill the target.
Finding a suitable area to hook onto, Elric conjured a magical hook, it was a dark blue smoke that resembled a rope and hook. Elric motioned for it to hook itself onto the roof and climbed on.
I guess it’s go time.