Malachi clicked his tongue and made his stygian blade vanish. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Miss Lorna entered with a tray of stews. Her expression was one of disgust as she put the tray on the table.

Lucius was half-conscious on the sofa, and Lorna acted as if she did not see anything wrong. Suddenly, to Malachi’s surprise, Lorna dipped her hand into the steaming hot stew, and when she showed her hand, a mark appeared on her inner wrist.

“The Umbral Brand.”

“Show me yours,” Lorna said.

Malachi took off his clothes and showed his back. His left shoulder blade lit up in red before a black Umbral Brand appeared.

“At first, I thought you managed to get that mark by accident, but after seeing this, you really are an assassin.”

“I got it by killing a member of the syndicate. That means I can become a member.”

“You can, but that doesn’t mean you will. You will need to pass some tests and prove your loyalty.”

“I’m ready.” A blade appeared in his hand and stabbed Lucius’ neck almost instantly.

Lucius gagged, his hands forced themselves to move but they could only shake and tremble. Blood flowed out.

Lorna squinted her eyes. “The kind of life you’re about to enter is not suitable for a child like you.”

“I heard the syndicate recruits and trains children to become their members.”

“These are dirty children. Born in sewage and rot. They don’t have clear skin like you. You look like you have a home to return to. They don’t.”

“Seems like it’s the perfect life for me.”

Lorna did not reply and instead raised her hands before clapping twice.

An old man with a white beard entered. He had a small wooden guitar in his arms.

“Clean it.”

Renn began playing his guitar. His fingers skillfully strummed the strings, producing a haunting melody within the room. Spectral energy manifested around the old man before it enveloped Lucius’ lifeless body. The energy lit up, flickered, before completely vanishing, bringing the corpse and the bloodstain with it.

Renn stopped playing and said before leaving: “Call me if you need another corpse to clean.”

Lorna kept her eyes on Malachi as Renn closed the door to leave. “Customers usually should pay for this service.”

“I've got a bunch of shards.” Malachi reached into his pocket and gave her two shards of Aetherium Crystals.

Lorna’s lips curled into a smile. “Seems like you know how to handle business. Follow me.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Malachi followed the middle-aged lady out of the room.

She led him through a dimly lit corridor, the flickering light of oil lamps casting eerie shadows along the walls.

The oil lamps suddenly died, filling his sight with darkness. When he regained his vision, Malachi was already inside a room.

There was a table with a man behind the counter. The man looked old, but his beard and mustache seemed to be recently trimmed. “Speak your purpose.”

“We've got a new member.”

“The kid?”

“Yes.”

“Lorna, you cannot recruit another member in 7 years. It’s the rule.”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Then who? The member that recruited this kid should also be present here.”

Malachi approached the table. “I killed her.”

The man frowned. “Show me.”

Malachi took off his clothes and revealed his back once again.

“Left shoulder blade. An assassin or eliminator.” The man looked shocked and was even speechless for a few seconds. “An assassin has many abilities and skills to escape. They are the ones who should do the killing, and yet you managed to kill one? If that wasn’t pure luck, then I don’t know what.”

“It wasn’t luck.” Malachi created a dagger out of the shadow. Then he vanished and reappeared behind the man.

Clang!

The man pulled out a sword and parried his dagger.

“What a coincidence. I don’t get this position out of luck either,” the old man replied, but his right arm was shaking. He used one hand to parry the attack earlier, thinking that an 8-year-old boy wouldn’t have so much strength to take him. If he let his guard down a bit more, then this boy might really be able to kill him.

“Who was the member you killed?”

“I knew her by the name Lady Morwen. She was a necromancer who chose the assassin path. I believe she was able to raise the undead, but I killed her before I got the chance to see it.”

The man frowned. “Lady Morwen?”

“I do. She was the one who recruited me and taught me everything I know.”

“Ohh.”

“No worries. There are no hard feelings. We choose this life on our own.”

“Okay then.” If the man was fine about it, that was a good thing, but Malachi would prefer to prepare a contingency plan just in case.

“How was she?” The man asked. “It’s been a while since I saw her.”

“She’s good. She stayed in a village where there were only children. At first, I thought she was keeping them there so she could absorb their life force, but she has been apparently taking care of them,” Malachi told the truth. There was no need to lie in this situation since he wouldn’t gain anything from it.

The man scoffed. “She had always wanted to have a child of her own. After more than a hundred years killing people for the organization she ran away and we never saw her again.”

“Isn’t that treason? Shouldn’t she be killed for that?”

“She has gathered enough merit that the higher-ups decided to write the matter off. Anyway, now that she died, what will happen to the village?”

“I already massacred everyone.”

“…”

There was a short silence within the room.

“All but one,” Malachi continued.

‘What a terrifying child.’ Lorna shivered inside. ‘Killing an assassin is one thing, but massacring an entire village… that’s nothing but sickness.’

“It seems like you need some training. What’s your name?” The man asked.

“Malachi.”

“Malachi, if you think we are an organization full of killers, then you are correct, but we do not kill people without the right cause. That will only get you in trouble. Only kill your target that benefits you and those that get in the way. Killing indiscriminately will gain our organization unnecessary enemies. We are profit-based mercenaries, not mass-murder maniacs.”

“I killed them because they might tell someone where I went. There are people chasing me, and they will never stop at all costs.”

“Hmmm, that is reasonable. Still, since you are still young and don’t know much about the organization, I will have to enroll you in our training camp. But you will have to go through some tests first.”

“What will I be doing there?”

“You will be learning how to kill since you’re an assassin, but there are lessons about stealth, infiltration, weapon proficiency, hand-to-hand combat, disguise, impersonation, escape, evasion, psychological manipulation, interrogation, and many more. You will also learn about ethics and rules within the organization.”

“That’s all?”

“You might be assigned some missions to earn merit to buy resources from the organization. This can be A

etherium Crystals, information, knowledge, magic-enhanced items, and more.”

Malachi smiled. “That’s more like it.”