The view of the city from above was even better than from the roof.

Everything seemed so small from up here.

However, I’m conflicted with my thoughts on monsters.

Alice is supposedly a human in a monster’s body, but Aleksandra is a different story altogether.

“Wooo–hooo~”

The woman rolls through the skies and it feels like I might fall out of her grasp.

“Whoa– Be careful!”

“Isn’t this exciting?!”

Even though I was dragged into an assassination plot, the young woman, left in charge of the task, treats it like a game.

Maybe she sees her monstrous transformation as a gift, rather than a curse?

Several voices shout from down below.

“Devils!”

“Monsters!”

“We’re under attack!”

‘Shoot, we’ve been seen.’

The lunatic gargoyle cackles,

“Ahahahaha~”

‘Is she insane?’

Flaming arrows and spells scorch through the air.

‘We’re going to die!’

She rolls and spins rapidly, increasing in speed as she nimbly avoids every projectile.

I feel sick.

She dives under a stone archway and weaves through several populated streets, drawing a ton of attention in the process.

We’re entering into the slums now.

The amount of people thin out as we soar deeper, until we reach a vacant area.

Aleksandra slows and hovers above the ground.

She looks deep into my eyes, searching for something, then shoves my face into her breasts.

“What the– mmpff?!”

Her stone-like structure is crushing my face.

“Aww~ Your reaction is so cute!”

Isn’t she younger than me?

If I had to guess, probably late teens or early twenties?

The woman pulls me away, looking me up and down.

She’s practically drooling from excitement.

“H-how old are you?”

“Well that was rude. Unless…?”

She seems to have something weird on her mind.

“Assassination! We’re supposed to kill someone, right?”

I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, I just spat out whatever it would take, hoping to get her back on track.

Snapping back to the present, her eyes shift to a different kind of playfulness.

“Oh, right– the job.”

She lands on the ground and lets me walk on my own. I wobble and sway as if seasick, trying to regain my balance.

The streets come alive with movement.

A lot of people are coming this way.

Aleksandra’s transformation comes undone and she approaches me, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She does the same with her arm and walks me like I’m some drunk.

I consider shaking her off, but quickly understand what she’s doing.

The approaching crowd enters the area searching high and low.

“You there!”

A few soldiers approach from the crowd, with questioning glares.

“Did you see it?”

I keep my mouth shut, not wanting to give away our deception.

Aleksandra speaks for me.

“See what?”

“A flying monster. It should be in this area.”

She shakes her head.

“You sound like you’ve had enough to drink too.”

“I’m on duty.”

“Well, I didn’t see anything.”

The soldiers’ eyes move between the woman and me, then they nod and carry on with their search.

“Let us know if you see anything.”

She gives them a friendly wave goodbye and we wait for them to leave the area.

“19.”

“What?”

“I’m 19 years old.”

She squeezes my head under her armpit, shoving my face into the side of her chest.

“Ack–!!”

I pry myself out of her grasp, and she moans disappointingly.

“Aww… You’re not into young women? I thought all guys liked young women.”

“Now is not the time for that.”

“You want something later then~?”

“Let’s stay focused! Where are we supposed to go?”

*sigh*

“This way.”

She sounds drained, losing a lot of her excitement as she leads me through a few of the streets before we find a small ruined shack.

Inside of the shack are a lot of rusty tools that look like they haven’t been used in years, and a shadowy figure standing ominously in the center of the space.

Aleksandra closes the door behind me after I enter.

The mysterious third person is tall, muscular, feminine, and looks to be around my age.

Her outfit is of a similar design to mine; dark, foreign, and with a scarf covering her mouth instead of a cloak and mask.

She has a long, single braid of blonde hair resting over her left shoulder. Her irises seem to change between blue and green, alternating in chaotic swirls.

When she speaks, it almost sounds like one native to a place less fortunate, but as I listen closer, her accent is noticeably faked.

“Why here?”

Aleksandra shrugs.

“No one would expect it.”

“Who’s the new guy?”

“Agent Haitch, meet Agent Kae.”

I let out a defeated sigh.

I don’t have any say in this matter. Even if I wanted to argue, I’m sure my terrible naming ideas would sell me out to those who know me.

“What is our mission?”

Her speech is formal and to the point, all business.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Just like a hitman.

“Does my voice sound like that too?”

“What?”

“Like a terrible fake accent.”

Agent Haitch looks offended.

“M-my accent isn’t fake.”

Though she claims, yet in her distress, her accent falters just a bit.

So, she’s a city girl.

“Agent Kae is right, you need to work on it.”

“Hmph!”

Probably the bratty type too.

There’s no time for this, Adelle sounded like this job was time sensitive. Also, I’d prefer to be in bed right now, it’s late and I’ve had a long day.

“What’s the plan?”

“Agents, I need you two to go out and find this man.”

Aleksandra hands Haitch a sheet of paper with a man’s face, in great detail.

“Couldn’t you have gotten a photo on your phone instead?”

“Nooo! It’s not cool if it’s done like that! Besides, if you think you’re going to get caught, just burn the paper.”

“With what? Can Kae cast magic?”

“Can you?”

Both of the women look at me expectantly.

“No, I can’t cast magic.”

Unlike Adelle, this girl seems very uninformed.

I have so many questions, but there will be a time to get answers later.

“Th-then… use this.”

Aleksandra hands Haitch a small magic stone.

“It will create a small burst of fire when it hits something hard. Don’t sit on it.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Here’s the route he’s taking, I need you to stop him before he gets close to the city, at all costs.”

She unfurls a map with a line coming from outside the eastern gate, to the city.

It looks like our target may be near farmland.

I rub my chin in thought.

“So he’s a bad person? Couldn’t we just inform the town guard?”

“No, the information we have on him is top secret.”

“You still haven’t explained who you guys are though.”

“Oh, right!”

Aleksandra straightens up, puffing out her chest with pride, then strikes a pose.

“Haitch, just like practice.”

The blonde woman lets out a breath and joins in with a similarly ridiculous pose.

“We are, ‘The Secret Police’, working under King Evain! There are a lot of bad people out there, and it’s our job to make sure they’re dealt with, without causing a scene.”

Their performance is a bit overdone, but I guess they enjoy this kind of work.

“No more questions; get there as soon as you can and find that man!”

Agent Haitch ruins the young woman’s mood.

“We don’t need the map, I’ll just set a point on my phone.”

“That’s no fun. What if the bad guys catch your phone?”

“What bad guys, we’re only after one guy, right?”

“Oh, right. Well, g-get going.”

***

Agent Haitch and I make our way to the eastern gate.

Before we get within the guards’ line of sight, she gestures for me to follow her down a street that veers left of the gate.

The tall woman scales up a nearby building and waits for me to copy her movements.

I follow after her.

“Why are we sneaking around the guards? Aren’t we on the same side?”

“Kind of, but it’s not that simple. Besides, we’re supposed to be covert.”

“We were just walking out in the open a moment ago, people saw us too.”

“This is different. We can’t be stopped to answer any questions, they might get suspicious of us. Now be quiet, you’re supposed to be learning from example.”

We scale down the other side of the wall, almost getting noticed twice.

Haitch would throw a stone, or make a noise somewhere else to draw their attention away.

The two of us make our way down a winding road, following the path leading to our destination.

We pass by several faces and glance over them briefly to see if they match the image.

There’s a man riding a carriage, part of his face is covered.

I don’t want to seem rude so I move out of his path while trying to get a good look at him.

Haitch steps in the way of his horses, eyeing him suspiciously.

‘I thought we weren’t supposed to draw attention?’

“You there!”

She’s completely abandoned her fake accent, demanding attention like a rich city girl.

“What are you transporting?”

The carriage is loaded up with about a dozen or so barrels, covered up with a thin sheet.

“Out of my way, I don’t have time for this.”

Even though I’m tired and don’t really like the idea of harassing someone, the seriousness of this secret task and the anonymity of my outfit, help me push past any feelings holding me back.

As the horses begin to move around and avoid Agent Haitch, I too step in their way, blocking them in.

“You shouldn’t have anything to hide, we’ll only be a minute.”

I say, putting on a confident front.

Haitch gives me a look that says, “thanks for the backup”.

The man quickly gets agitated.

“Wh-who are you people? You’re trying to rob me!”

“No, we’re– Whoa!”

The anxious man urges his horses to push through, with a flick of the reins.

“Hyah!”

Thinking quickly, Haitch and I avoid the horses’ path and grab hold of either side of the carriage, being swept up along with its hasty retreat.

“Stop the carriage, or we will– uuf!”

The man tries to kick Haitch off the side, but she holds on firmly.

“You leave us no choice.”

She grabs the rider and yanks him off the carriage with ease.

His screams are cut short as he tumbles along the side of the road.

I manage to pull myself up into the driver's seat, alongside Haitch.

She takes the loose reins and with practiced movements, she slows the horses and redirects them to go back to where the man fell.

“You’re good at this. Driven a lot of carriages before?”

“...”

She doesn’t seem to want to open up about the topic.

Probably for the best, since we aim to keep our identities secret.

With the horses parked on the side of the dirt road, we discover that the man we pulled over was in fact the same in the image.

It was difficult to look at, his body was broken and twisted in the fall.

“That was easier than I thought it would be.”

“You just killed him. What if it was someone innocent?”

“I wouldn’t have done that if they really were innocent. You’re new to this, so I’ll give you some slack. Innocent people don’t try to run over other people. Also, I could tell by the look in his eyes, he was hiding something dangerous and didn’t want us to see it.”

It’s really dark out, and I couldn’t see his face very well.

She must have really good eyesight if she was able to see that much, or maybe she’s not even human.

A manny’s eyesight is noticeably poorer than a human’s, if I had to guess, she’s either secretly an elf or a beastborn.

Though, I know better than to bring up this fact.

She accidentally let slip a detail she wanted hidden. I should be more careful about what I say too.

As I ponder this information, Haitch searches through the barrels, taking pictures of the contents with her phone.

I watch her work and try to get a look at her ears.

Nothing on top of her head that would indicate a common beastborn. If she was an elf, it would be obvious, but her ears are hidden under her thick scarf.

Wouldn’t that hinder your hearing?

She taps away at her phone for a few moments longer, then looks up at me.

Her tired eyes show suspicion.

“Don’t even try to figure me out.”

“I was just… thinking of something.”

“Stare somewhere else then. We’ve got new instructions, we’re taking this carriage far from town, and far off the roads to dispose of it.”

“What was inside?”

Haitch lifts up the dead man, and tosses him into the back of the carriage.

“A chemical compound for dynamite. Turns out this man intended to bomb the city from the inside, or at the very least, blow up the gate.”

“So, he was a terrorist?”

“Yeah. Get in, and don’t mess with that flame crystal. Actually, give it to me. I’ll use it to detonate the explosives once we get it far from here.”

“Stop right there, criminals!”

Another voice comes from somewhere up the road, in the direction of Altena.

“You won’t be detonating anything tonight!”

Three men stand in formation, wearing gaudy armor and brandishing a flashy sword, bow, and staff, respectively.

“Come on… why don’t you live a little…?”

Haitch mumbles quietly to herself, like a mantra.

After a moment, her face lights up with an energy unbecoming of a serious assassin.

“Hahahaha!”

She cackles similarly like Aleksandra, and strikes a pose full of vitality, pointing threateningly towards the three men.

“Catch us if you can!”

In one swift motion, the woman grabs me by the back of the cloak and leaps up into the carriage, placing me beside her, before lashing out at the reins.

“Whoa!”

The horses break into a sprint, kicking up a cloud of dust in their wake.

The three men chase after us on foot.

“Wait!”

I watch their shrinking figures and see a glimmer of a spell begin to take shape.

They’re not done with us.

“What’s going on? Who are they?"

Haitch wears a serious expression once more, focusing on driving the carriage far from the road.

“Those three love to play ‘Hero’. They don’t even know what the word means, but they go around assaulting anyone they deem to be evil.”

“Then why did you act like some cartoonish villain?”

*sigh*

“It’s a long story, but it’s just best to go along with it. Things can get complicated if you try to appeal your case and reasoning to these nutjobs, it’s just easier to get in on the joke.”

“Shouldn’t the city guard deal with them?”

“That’s also a difficult question to answer. Hold onto your questions for later and give me that flame crystal!”

I hand it over to her without question, then hear the sound of a projectile whizzing by.

Turning my head in the direction of the attack, I find all three of those wannabe heroes floating behind on a dense cloud of magic, shaped like a boat.

The spellcaster sits in the back, moving his staff about, guiding the magical transport.

The swordsman looks like he’s charging up for a spell of his own, and the archer is launching arrows at us with inhuman speed.

The projectiles slam into the carriage and heavy barrels, protecting us from the majority of the attacks, but it won’t be long before things get ugly.

The swordsman’s spell finishes and he leaps forwards with great speed, landing onto the back of the carriage.

“Time’s up!”

Haitch says, smiling with her eyes.

She pulls out her smartphone and presses the “end call” button.

I watch the woman release the reins and spin around to face the swordsman.

She pulls her scarf town to reveal with a manic grin and a pair of elf ears.

The horses are cut loose from the carriage as Haitch prepares to use the magic crystal in her hand.

Suddenly, the world warps around me and I’m dragged far away from the chaos.

My view shifts to the road we stood on minutes ago, and I watch a plume of red fire shoot upwards from in the distance.

Adelle walks up from somewhere behind me.

“She’ll be fine. You did good tonight, thanks for your help.”

I look around numbly, unsure of what just happened.

“Come, walk with me. I’ll explain on the way back to your apartment.”

She holds out a hand invitingly towards me. When I move to accept it, I look at my own hand and realize that my clothing is the same as what I wore before Aleksandra changed my clothes.