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***Silvester***

I heard footsteps coming closer.

My body was heavy, I felt groggy, and my eyelids too weighed a ton. I didn’t want to get up today.

The footsteps slowly drew closer and then passed by near me. They were so close, they sounded right near my head.

My mind was slowly starting to work — something wasn’t right. I opened my eyes blearily, not understanding what I was seeing. There was wood under me. I looked up and saw a corridor illuminated by a soft, warm light. A man was unlocking a door a few meters away from me.

“Uh,” I said, slowly sitting up.

The man looked at me and snorted.

“I suggest you drink less next time. Just enough to reach your room at least. I don’t think the owner wants to see drunkards sprawled out everywhere,” he said.

“What?” I asked, still dazed and confused.

He sighed, shaking his head and entering the room.

Why was I sleeping in a corridor? I thought as I tried to remember the last memory I had.

I remembered the dinner, and the talk I had with Zeph; after that it was a bit hazy. A few moments later, though, everything came back.

Fuck, I nearly croaked, I thought as I looked around the corridor warily with a tinge of fear clearing away the last of my grogginess.

There was no one here, neither the guy nor Zeph’s body — he had probably left already.

I needed to move, though.

But... what do I do? I thought as I stood up.

The guy was clearly too strong for me. I felt the difference clearly when he pinned me to the wall with just a hand, and I barely saw anything when he snapped Zeph’s neck.

Those defenses he prattled about didn’t do shit. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but the assassin was clearly out of my league. It was no different from suicide trying to fight him. I’d last less than a second even in a fair fight.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed. It wasn’t surely more than a few hours or someone, the owner most probably, would have tried to wake me or have me moved somewhere else.

Is he in our room? There was Freya there.

My mind worked furiously to think of my next move as I stood there in place for a few minutes trying to guess his whereabouts.

In the end, I started walking towards our room.

It wasn’t for a desire to save Freya — if he was there, I would just die together with the others — but because I thought it was likely he already left or chosen another room.

I wasn’t sure why he didn’t attack us in our room, but I thought he was trying to be stealthy, and leave before there was any commotion.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Would they have even found out it was an assassination if they found me dead there?

There was no trace of anything on my body, and I didn’t know if they could have found out about the mana stopping my heart and lungs. Finding out about Zeph’s disappearance, it would have taken a while anyway.

He also had everything important in his ring so, even if the assassin didn’t know about it, it wouldn’t take too much time to search the room and leave.

The only question was if Freya was still alive.

It would have probably been more prudent to leave and return the next day, but I felt a certain amount of responsibility towards her. There was nothing I could do in any case, but I wasn’t willing to just run away without checking on her.

Unless I was walking to a certain death, I felt like I had to do at least this.

Despite being reasonably sure he wasn’t in the room anymore, I could still feel a certain amount of fear building up as I neared it, but I walked down the corridor without bothering to walk stealthily or taking out my sword. Someone as strong as him probably had Skills to detect enemies, or Perception high enough to hear me coming closer.

The worst thing about all of this was that I was sure I wouldn’t even see him if he decided to kill me.

Just remembering his attack made my skin crawl, I didn’t notice anything until he touched me. I couldn’t help but look behind me a few times as I walked, despite knowing the futility of it.

Damn. I fucking hate assassins, I thought as I looked behind me again. It felt awful being attacked without being aware of it — it felt like I could die at any moment without realizing it.

As I got near the room I slowed down looking at the door.

Stopping in front of it, I tried to open it.

It’s locked, I thought as I took out the key. We told Freya to always lock it when she went to sleep, so it was a good sign.

After I opened the door I stood still, looking around the dark room with the light of the corridor for a few moments before entering, turning on the lamps, and closing the door.

I let go of the hand that I unconsciously used to grab the hilt of my sword — there was nothing out of place.

I walked to Freya’s bed, seeing her still asleep and, most importantly, still breathing.

Looking around the room again let me confirm that everything seemed to be where we left it. I then let out a breath of relief, relaxing slightly.

I took a look at our bags to be sure, but nothing was missing from mine, and it looked like Zeph’s items were the same I remember him having in his bag.

Freya is still alive and I’ve still got my money. Things could have been worse, I thought as I sat down on my bed.

I sat there for some time without thinking of anything.

I need to think about what to do, I thought after I felt like I was cool enough to not do anything stupid.

After thinking about it, I decided to get out of the inn right away.

There was still the possibility, however small, that the assassin was still in another room of the inn. It wouldn’t be funny if I went down for breakfast the next day and met him there. I wasn’t sure I could spot him since I only saw him from behind, but I doubted he would miss me and I didn’t want to find out what he would do in that case.

Though the chance was low, he could also come to this room, so it was better to leave right away.

I stood up immediately and woke up Freya.

“What?” She asked, still half asleep.

“Get up and prepare your things. We need to go out and change inn. Pick up everything,” I told her as I gathered the few things that we left around the room and packed them.

As usual, she didn’t ask and just followed. I would explain to her later, but for now I felt it was better not to tell her.

It didn’t take much time before we were ready.

We then went down and exited the inn after telling the owner something urgent had come up. The few people left in the restaurant looked at us curiously, but soon after we were out, heading to another inn.

I remembered a few that Zeph said were too expensive to be a good fit for our cover story, but there wasn’t any need to pay attention to that for now, and I would search for another accommodation starting the next day. The priority in the meantime was finding a good and safe inn.

Less than an hour later, we were already setting down our packs in another room.

“Well Freya, it was a surprisingly shitty night, but now it’s better for you to sleep. I’ll explain tomorrow morning,” I said as I turned to look at her.

She needed the sleep, and I wasn’t sure she would be able to if I told her about the assassin.

I could see she was a bit uneasy about the situation, but she nodded with an “Okay” before preparing for bed.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel sleepy at all. I doubted I would be able to lay down any time soon; I had too much to think about.

First, what do I do starting tomorrow?

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