The straw that broke the camel's back came during the fall season. Months passed and we adapted to our new way of life. But the fall brought the harvest festival, and with the festival came throngs of farmers with money and horny dicks. They fit together like two plus two and the plus sign was a woman's loins.
The brothel was crowded. The women worked from dusk to dawn and I often used my abilities to ease their suffering. But one day, while I examined my eldest sister, I felt something wrong. There was a bulge in her belly. My mother saw me tapping her belly below the navel and went pale. She came and pressed hard, massaging her belly until the bomb dropped.
My eldest sister was pregnant.
The joy of the discovery was muddled when my mother revealed disturbing news.
"The matron does not let the girls have babies. You'll be forced to have an abortion, Mirabelle. We need to tell her now. The sooner you take the medicine, the easier it will be on your body. She won't be happy."
Mirabelle, my eldest sister, covered her belly. "No. I want to have my baby!"
That's when I decided to stop wasting time. To stop playing possum. I looked at my eldest sister. The one that tugged my hair to the point of almost ripping it off. The one that tried to feed me feces. But the sister I loved.
"Mi... ra..." I mumbled. It was hard. Even if my spirit was hale, my body and brain didn't work right.
Mirabelle gasped. "Apricot?" She called my name.
I sat up - I couldn't walk yet - and stretched my arms. "Mira..."
She picked me up and gave me a hug. I rubbed her arm. "Apricot. Thanks."
"Mom? Coin? Buy? Sister?"
My mother's eyes went wide. "You want to buy your sister? We don't have money!"
While my family was enslaved, I was a free person. The law didn't allow children under the age of four to be enslaved. The children born from slaves was also free but they were usually sold by the slave as slaves. Slaves could have possessions and even buy their own freedom. It happened once in never.
"Secret," I whispered.
"Do you have any magical way to get the money? Like the pouch you brought back?" Mirabelle asked.
"No. Me, work. Earn coin. Buy Mira," talking was hard. "Tonight."
They were taken at the proper time. I waited for my little sister Cerise to fall asleep before I unceremoniously climbed our room, through the window, and into the alley behind the brothel. There I shifted into hybrid form and went on my way to earn some coin for myself.
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My first visit was at the slave market. I knew the slave trader that violated us by scent. I jumped and ran over the roofs and snuck around until I found him. I bit his head off.
> You killed level 34 bloody bastard slave trader. You gained 190,111 Exp (11,560 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 2.44 perk x 3.37 Death Contract x 2 size bonus).
While the size bonus shrank, I was a one-year-old murder were-baby now. The perks did exactly what I thought they should. Make me level faster.
> You reached Assassin level 10.
>
> You gained 1 Attribute points.
>
> You gained 1 point of Dexterity.
>
> YOu gained 1 point of Endurance.
>
> Attribute points over the maximum. Reassigning to other Attributes.
>
> You gained 4 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 1 perk.
>
> You gained 4 HP.
>
> You gained 0 MP.
>
> You reached human level 9.
>
> You gained 2 Attribute points.
>
> You gained 6 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 1 human perk.
>
> You gained 4 HP.
>
> You gained 0 MP.
>
> You reached Cartographer level 6
>
> You gained 7 Skill points.
>
> You reached Apothecary level 6.
>
> You gained 7 Skill points.
>
> WARNING: Points not spent within 2 hours will be automatically assigned.
>
> WARNING: Human perks have a chance of granting a random perk if one wishes for too much. You gain a bonus chance if you make your selection within 2 hours.
> You gained the Death Contract IV (rare) perk. Gain 505% more Experience from targets marked for assassination.
>
> You purchased the EXP Boost V (uncommon) perk. Gain 305% more Experience.
I dumped the Skill points into three more rare languages and to even out the other Skills.
I put my nose on the ground and sniffed the slaver's room. I found his stash of money easily, inside a lockbox. It had a poison trap but I ignored it. I took the silver and the few gold coins he had in a pouch and shoved all the copper coins up his dead arse. Then I cut his dick and shoved it in his dead mouth. If it wouldn't ruin the surprise and my assassination attempt, I'd do that with him alive.
I erased my tracks and prints and crawled the hell out of there. Along the way, I hid the coin pouch in a nook behind a roof.
My next targets were well-guarded. The tax collector and the magistrate lived in the posh section of the city with the wealthy and noble créme de la créme of the society.
But before I could murder and raid their asses off, I had a challenge before me. Stray cats. Two cats came to check on me. I guess I was invading their territory or some kind of shit. They hissed, I growled. For once since my rebirth, it felt good to be the smarter one. They tucked their tails to their bellies and backed off. Maybe if I could make them obey me... I couldn't. But they let me move freely.
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I jumped from the wall to the roof of the tax collector's house. Anyone that looked at me would see just a black cat doing his business and strutting around. Nobody did, I hoped. The two strays were following me and jumped after me. I went around and under the awning to open the window to the tax collector's room.
There were four women sleeping with him. Two of them had the bronze collars slaves were forced to wear. They weren't enchanted but it was a pain to get them off. You needed something harder than bronze to do it, and few materials available could do the job. Even my claws only scratched the metal. I opened the window and entered anyway. I felt movement behind me and saw the two strays entering behind me. Damn.
One of them meowed a question. A woman woke up and looked at us. I quickly scuttled under the bed and the strays bolted for the window.
"What is going on, Laura?"
"Stray cats entered the room."
"Did they leave? I saw them jumping out."
"Yes, I think they did."
"Shh. You'll wake master up."
After that exchange, Laura and the other woman went back to sleep. I stayed underneath the bed until one of the women rose to use the outhouse. There was a chamber pot underneath the bed but it was only for the master. I followed her. Inside the house, I searched the rooms until I found the office. With some work, I unlatched the door open and invaded the room. I searched around and crawled under the desk. I cut the bottom drawer floor and climbed inside. From there I opened holes all around the drawers until I coins fell from the last one. A lot of gold and a few silver. The top drawer had a fake bottom. I gathered the coins and brought them to the floor on several trips.
Finding a pouch wasn't too hard. He had a bag of snuff. By the golden thread, it should be valuable. I took it and searched for another pouch. I found none. I cut yarn out of his coat and carefully tied the coins so they wouldn't jiggle. It took me one hour but I made a tight wrap of coins. I laced it around my neck and walked out. I left the house through a window in the kitchen. I couldn't kill the tax collector today. They would think about cats when the women inevitably ratted out my accomplices.
I hid my new stash of coins with the pouch and returned to our room. I got there before sunrise and the women were still on the whorehouse floor.
The next night, I went to the tax collector's house but didn't even approach it. The house had dozens of guards patrolling with torches. Instead, I spent the night searching for the magistrate. When I found his scent, it was too late. I had to go back.
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I waited one week so the heat would cool down. Every day our mother nagged Mirabelle to ask the matron for the abortion medicine. I could make it if I had the ingredients but I kept my mouth shut. When they left, I waited for Cerise to fall asleep and went out. I need to find a patsy. Finding a patsy, though, took another week. Time was running out.
The were-cat went out to find and stalk a cat burglar. I chuffed a cat-chuckle. I had a few notes written in strips of parchment and needed only the right guy. I found him walking out of a merchant's house with a bag of silverware.
Real silverware, what luck.
From my hiding spot, I tossed the first message at him.
"What the!" He gasped. The silverware bag rattled. He searched for who hit him and found nothing. A black cat was easy to hide underneath an awning at night. Then he looked around and opened the piece of parchment. "Do you want to gain five gold coins? Say 'Yes' or 'No' if you do. The job requires secrecy. Betray me and you die," He read and scoffed. "What joke is this? Who's there?"
I waited for him to look away and tossed the other piece of parchment. "It is no joke. You now have an {Assassin's Contract} on you. Accept the job to get rich and live or tell something I don't want to hear to die."
The burglar was level twenty-nine. The bag of silverware he stole was worth at most three gold coins. He would fence them for a tenth of that, six silver. He looked around but he wouldn't find me. And if he did it would only delay my plans. I reached my secondary hiding spot.
"Okay, I accept the job, don't kill me. Show yourself," He said in the direction the first two pieces came while readying his dagger hidden in the small of his back. I rolled my eyes and tossed the parchment at his hand. He dropped the dagger. "Fuck!"
He turned around but I was already hidden. He took the third piece. "Yeah, nice try. Can't you be more obvious? Go to the door of the haberdashery shop next street and get your mission details there."
He went. It seems curiosity did kill the cat.. burglar. I followed from the roofs. I had not a single ounce of trust in this guy. But for my nephew or niece, I would take a risk. He took the parchment and read.
"Go to the Golden Starlight brothel and buy the whore called Mirabelle and her family. Claim you are the father of her child. You'll earn your gold once they are free. Screw up and you're dead." He laughed. I tossed another piece of parchment at him. I missed but he noticed. "Billy the Cutpurse from Gastagne screwed up. I know you heard of him."
The week delay in finding the perfect patsy was in part because of this. I caught one burglar and made an example of him. He was found with the bowels strewn around like streamers. My patsy shivered for the first time. The fact he was being stalked without seeing anyone must've been unnerving. I tossed the final piece of parchment at him. "Your codename will be 'Tomato'. Never say this word to anyone. That's how you'll know it is me. Say 'yes' now or I'm calling the guard on you."
He nodded. I went back home.
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In the morning, when mom and Mirabella returned, they were chatting excitedly. "I'm telling you, mom. That guy was never a client!"
"He's willing to take you out of here! When will you get another opportunity?" Mom rebuked. "And now the mistress knows you are with the baby. You either go with him or she'll make you take the medicine."
"I don't know him!" Mirabella replied. We're two, sister. But it was the best I could find.
They talked some more but we all had a long night. We went to sleep soon after that. The next night, my cat burglar returned. This time he talked to our mother.
"He's willing to take all of us with him. We have to go," Mother said. "He has the airs of a man with a past, I am sure of it. But it is our only chance."
"Apricot, Cerise, what do you think?" Mira dropped the decision on us.
"Yes!" I said. "Go home."
"I don't want to work upstairs, mom," Cerise said.
"We must go. Tomorrow, he'll bring the money to buy us."
And that meant I had to go give my patsy the money to buy them. I waited for them to fall asleep and left in broad daylight. Catching agent 'Tomato''s scent trail was not easy but doable. I found him in the slums, early afternoon. I had to finish my business here and go back or mom would find me missing. The guy was sleeping so I just dropped the three gold coins he'd need to buy my family back. If he jumped ship, he would decorate the main street with his veins.
When I got back, mom was staring at the window. "Apricot! What is happening?"
I jumped on her lap. "Shecret."
"Where have you been?"
"No."
"You better give me answers, little..."
Someone was removing the bar that blocked the door. It was the mistress. "Juniper, Mirabella. The gentleman from before is here. You were sold. Please follow me."
Mom took me in her arms and we went with the mistress, Mirabelle holding Cerise's hand. Truly enough, Tomato was there, grinning. "Mirabelle, my love!" Tomato said in the cheesiest fake acting possible.
"They are yours now, Mr. Henderson. Please take good care of them," The mistress said as she handed our ownership papers to him. "Juniper, Mirabella. Young Cerise, baby Apricot. You'll always have a place here."
Mom nodded. I nodded. We would always have a place there so long we sold our pussies to her.
"I wish I could see Olive," Mom said. "But I don't know which house bought her."
"This way, ladies. We are visiting the slave market to get these collars off of you," Tomato Henderson said, following the script. But as we walked to the slums, I noticed we missed the road that would lead us to the slave market. Tomato brought us to a house and forced us to enter an empty room. Then he took me from mom's arms and shut the door, dropping a heavy wooden bar to block it from being opened.
"Now let's see if my mysterious boss won't pay me," He grumbled as we left the house.
He took me to the haberdasher and we kept playing silly baby games like "where's uncle" or "I stole your nose" until the street blurb died down. As the night went on, he ducked in an alley to evade guard patrols. Then he started to get impatient. "Where is that guy? Why do I have to be stuck here with the retarded baby."
Was it so obvious I had a mental deficiency? Was it something like the Down Syndrome? People do react differently when they see me. Well, nobody would believe I was the up-and-coming assassin in this city.
"Fuck. Where are you!" Tomato hissed as he stomped his foot, watching the street from the alley. "C'mon, toss your freaking parchment. I want my gold or the women will die!"
"Tomato. Easy, boy," I said.
He lifted me. "You said what?"
"Gold. I'll pay you after you finish the job. Tomato."
"Okay, who's using {Ventriloquism} on the baby?" He said a bit louder looking around.
"Shut it, Tomato. Release the women. Get paid. Or don't, and die. And now I want you gone from this city once you got your gold."
"Fuck it, man!" He said looking at me but not to me. "This is too fucked up."
"You're fucked up for stealing a baby," I snorted. "Tomato, do your job."
He was shaking. I had a higher level than him and {Favored Enemy [human]} along with the kitchen sink of abilities. Unless he used silver weapons against me, I had nothing to worry even in my baby form I doubt a level twenty-nine uncommon class like him would kill me before I finished him.
Tomato looked up and said, "Okay, I'll do it. Tomorrow. Let's go back, creepy baby."
I rolled my eyes. Tomato took me back. When he opened the door, I was at the front to work as a human shield.
"Apricot! Did he hurt him?"
"Uncle is a good man!" I squealed. "We played a lot."
"What did you play," Mirabelle said with one eye on me and another on him.
"We played 'where's uncle', 'I stole your nose', and also 'hide and seek'. Yes. If Uncle hides, I'll seek," I finished my line staring at him. He went pale.
Tomato took my sister's arm, "Look, we are going to sleep now. You, Mirabelle, sleeps with me. Come, there are other rooms with beds."