I was exhausted. These last few days and nights were a bit of a blur. I had not eaten much or gotten any real rest. Standing there soaking wet on top of the dead alpha baboon in the middle of the river, I did what any sensible owl would do. I dug into my spoils. Monkey meat was just that, meat. It was a little wet but I ripped out some of the dry parts easily accessible to me. I did not need much food. I was just not able to hunt properly with all this water.

As I was digging in, a new sound reached my ears. Not unknown, but it took me a moment to place it. There were steps. People were approaching, more specifically, goblins. They stopped a few times and scuffled about, probably running into some straggling baboons. Until finally they reached the river. I looked up from my meal. Meeny was there, armour banged up and stick in hand. She barely had any wounds, only a few scratches on her arms. Haro was standing behind her, bow in hand and arrow nocked. She was nervously scanning the surroundings. Three more goblins whose names I did not remember accompanied them. They were wearing the standard leather and scales armour but held poisoned spears in their hands instead of the staff Meeny used.

All five of them stared at me.

I hooted.

I spread my wings and flapped them a little, spraying drops of water everywhere. Then I extended them towards the goblins and hooted again.

Meeny was the first to come back to her senses. A chuckle broke through the babbling water before it turned into a full-on laugh. The other goblins looked at her like she had gone crazy. I clicked my tongue and hooted again, more insistently this time.

“Alright, alright, I’ll help you.” Meeny finally relented. She stepped into the river and tried to grab me but instead I jumped onto her arm and then stepped on her shoulder.

Hoot.

She met my eyes. With an exaggerated eye roll, she stood up and walked out of the river.

“You guys get that body out of the water. I want to strip the fur. Should make for some nice clothes” she commanded the others.

The goblins broke out of their stupor and got to work. We returned to the village soon after. As we came upon the barricade a scene of devastation met my eyes. Most of the wooden wall had been turned to splinters and was spread out around the tunnel entrance. All around lay dead baboons in differing states of decomposition. Where poisoned spearheads had struck them parts of their bodies were melted. Further away a line of bodies was spread out. Goblins. A total of eight dead goblins. Most had died of blood loss after getting clawed up by the monkeys. Their bodies held together more by the leftovers of their clothes than bones and skin. It was a gruesome sight. And it barely fazed me.

I was a little confused. Sure, I did not know any of the dead by name, but I thought I cared about the village. So just dismissing them as ‘Yeah, that happened’ felt a bit cruel to me. My animal instincts must have more influence on me than I thought.

When I looked at the goblins walking around and cleaning up I felt a little better about myself. They had determined expressions and did not look to be grieving heavily. Maybe it was fine to just move on? Something to think about when I would make my rules.

While the clean-up was in process, Meeny and the other scouts continued into the village. As we reached the village centre there was a group of goblins resting and having their wounds cared for by Roguk and a few others. When he saw us, his face lit up.

“Good to see you made it, Fio.” he nodded at me. “And what is this? I didn’t know there was such a huge monkey down there?”

He had spotted the body of the alpha.

“Yeah so, about that...” Meeny fidgeted a little “When we arrived at the river, Fio here was struggling with this guy and we helped her kill it!”

Smack.

My wing hit the back of her head.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Ouch, what was that for?”

Smack.

I hit her again for good measure. The other scouts chuckled. A grin spread on Roguk’s face.

“Hmm, interesting. So this baboon, you identified it, right? What was its species?”

“Uhh, it was a Cave Baboon Leader, yes, that was it!” Meeny was fidgeting even more now.

“Aaaha. A Cave Baboon Leader. You know, I heard of animals leading packs and they usually have something like ‘pack leader’ or ‘alpha’ in their Status but the species is the same as their weaker kin.”

Meeny glanced around frantically. I put some pressure on her shoulder with my talons. “Owowouch!” she looked at me. “Stop it, please, Fio!”

I met her eyes with an unblinking stare. Hoot.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry! I lied. Please stop hurting my shoulder!”

With some reluctance, I eased my grip. She sunk in on herself and turned to Roguk.

“Fio killed it all by herself. I have no clue how, but when we got there, she was sitting on its back and having a meal.”

Roguk snorted. “You really thought that would be a smart idea? Trying to lie with the person, rather, the owl in question right there with you? Fio is not an animal, she is sapient. Just like you and me. Don’t treat her like a pet, alright?”

I nodded and hooted approvingly. Then I jumped off and walked up to the pot. The goblin chef was cooking some food for everyone and I wanted to use the mana crystals’ heat to dry the last drops of water from my plumage.

Meeny and Roguk argued some more while some of the crafters started to take apart the alpha. I did not mind, there was not much I could do with a corpse that large anyways.

I decided to take the time and think about some basic rules for myself. The indifference I had towards death, combined with how fun it was to hunt were looking to be problematic. At least as long as I stayed with other sapients I should have some basic morals. I already had my first rule, to kill a target that I chose. That somewhat implied to not kill anything or anyone that was not a target. Unless they somehow got in the way. The community was helpful and I had enjoyed myself this last week with the goblins. I wanted to see more of the world, but I would take some breaks here and there to spend time with other people.

Then there was the consideration of how to pick my targets. First was food. If I was hungry, I would hunt. Preferably one of my natural food sources. Second was growth. I wanted to explore the world and had to get stronger to do so. That meant taking out high-level targets to get experience. But just killing everything high level was stupid if I wanted to spend time with people. So I decided. When there was a high-level monster, a non-sapient, I was free to kill it for experience. If it was a sapient, I would need additional motivation. Maybe I could get paid by others? Or when someone posed a threat to people I cared about. Yes, that would do. And finally, what about morals? The big question, what if someone wanted me to kill a child? Would I do it? Could I do it? For now, I decided to avoid such a situation. A sapient child would not be my target unless the circumstances somehow demanded it. Monsters and animals? Yeah, they were just food. I would not care about killing them. Well, I would avoid eradicating entire populations. If only to get more powerful targets. Genocide was amoral, but it would not need a rule. Logic would make me avoid it.

So I set my first ever rules. They might change at some point, but for now, I would follow them as best I could.

First rule: I will kill my chosen target.

Second rule: I will not kill other living beings besides my target unless they get in the way.

Third rule: I will freely choose a target for food or growth if it is non-sapient.

Fourth rule: I will only choose a sapient as a target if I have additional motivation.

Fifth rule: I will not kill sapient children.

This would do for now.

The heating crystals had dried my feathers well enough at this point. I went ahead and preened myself, clearing up the mess my plumage had turned into from the fight. The chef stepped down from his pot at this point and walked up to me.

“Good work there little owl, heard you riled up them monkeys good!”

I interrupted my self-care and looked up at him questioningly.

“With the big un’ down they’ll be a lot calmer. We’ll be able to use the forest more. Makes it lots safer! An’ most of the meat ‘s still usable, just gotta purify it.”

It was a bit tough to understand his slurred words, but I managed to somehow figure out their meaning. I nodded in response. I had nearly gotten the village run over. If half of the baboons and the alpha did not turn around when I poked at their backs, there would have been a lot more than just eight dead. But nobody needed to know that. And even if I wanted to tell them, I was unable to. Just silently taking the praise was good enough for me.

At that moment I remembered the hospital bed. I remembered the warmth of a hand holding mine. The doctors and nurses taking care of me. And how I never really cared. There was nothing for me to do in that previous life. Now though? I could do anything. I only needed to be strong enough to survive. And I enjoyed hunting. I did not enjoy the idea of ending sapient life. But I loved the thrill. The planning and execution. [Mingling] with unsuspecting people, and then finally taking the strike. And getting out. Getting out was important too. I had to remember that.

I was an [Assassin]. And I loved it.