Yuri slowly got up on her feet while shaking off bits of stone and woods.

Looking up, should could see the starry sky through the hole in the ceiling that was shaped like a girl doing a funny pose. A pose she did not remember doing.

Alarms started to sounds all around Yuri and she heard the shouts of guards coming closer.

“Better finish this quickly..”

She looked around to see what part of the house she crashed into.

A large fairly simple looking rocking chair sat at the opposite end of the room. In it sat the old man supposed to be Yuri’s target.

Making her way towards him, she noticed that his eyes were closed while he sat still.

“Who the hell could sleep through this mess..he must be REALLY old..”

Looking close, she noticed the old man wasn’t breathing, although the old man certainly looked asleep with drool still dripping from his mouth.

“…I didn’t even have to do anything…he was already dead..”

She sighed at her wasted effort and time.

“That fall must have taken years off my lifespan.”

Yuri slowly calmed her heart that was still beating furiously at almost dying.

“Okay..that’s better..” Her heart rate slowly calmed down to a normal speed.

“Now..how do I get out of-”

She was interrupted by the door of the room flying against the wall while guards slowly filled the room.

“I guess I have to do this again.”

Yuri quickly drew a few spells on her gauntlets while the guards were shouting at her to get down and took a large jump.

She managed to reach one of the guards head and used it as a support to jump towards the hole she made earlier.

“See you la-”

She didn’t finish her sentence before she was flung up through the hole by her air spell at an incredible speed.

–

A loud crash made the ground shake outside the inn. Galin almost spat out his drink in surprise.

“What the hell..rebels again?”

He shook his head while not moving an inch out of his seat.

The inns door slowly opened and through it entered Yuri, looking like she had just woken up and not cleaned herself up, several weeks in a row.

“Was that you making all that noise? Tone it down a bit will you.”

Galin asked the weary looking Yuri who slowly made her way towards the stairs.

Yuri didn’t bother answering and kept slowly walking towards her room. Muttering to herself.

“Never again…”

“Such a peculiar girl..wonder what the hell she was doing…she looks like a maid after a long night of working! Hah!”

Galin laughed so hard at his own terrible joke that he almost choked on his drink.

“….” He took a quick glance in the direction Yuri disappeared to.

–

Upon waking up, Yuri felt like she had just rested from running a marathon. Quite refreshed and sore.

“Guess almost dying two times counts as good exercise!”

She stretched her body like a cat.

When she entered the dining area of the inn, she found Galin drinking something while wearing a tired expression as usual.

She took a seat opposite Galin and ordered some generic breakfast of hard bread and gruel.

“So…about that information we talked about..”

Yuri spoke in a hushed voice, slowly rousing Galin out of whatever daydream he was currently having.

“Oh. It’s you girl..”

He eventually noticed Yuri’s existence.

“Right. Well basically..my positions as part of the night watch has some particular limitations in this area..”

Galin chose his words carefully.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Which means?” Asked Yuri impatiently.

“It means I haven’t a goddamn clue.”

He took a large swig from his mug.

“The guards movements are random. There isn’t any particular system or anything. We just walk around the city randomly while hoping for the best.

“…Worthless midget…”

Yuri muttered under her breath.

“What was that!” Galin frowned and raised his voice.

“I said you were a worthless midget!!” Yuri raised her voice even louder and yelled at him.

“Aye, you might be right. Well I did what I could. I don’t expect to be paid. But do try to not spread the thing about my drinking too much..” He looked hopefully at Yuri.

“Fine, but you still owe me, especially since I paid you already. Be prepared, I might have another job for you.”

Yuri gave Galin her staple villainous smile, making him shiver slightly.

“Aye…just please don’t smile like that..it gives me shivers..”

–

Yuri waited until Galin was done and left her table before opening the rest of the letter she had received from the captain.

“I can’t do this assassin thing if all of them are going to be as fortified as the last one..so let’s see if there is anyone useful among the targets..”

She read through the files on all her targets.

Most of them were generic noble families that provided funds to the rebels opposition, or important captains and high ranking officers which were of no interest to Yuri.

One of them however, caught Yuri’s eye as she was rifling through the list. It was a young newly appointed family head who seemed to be one of the big funders.

That wasn’t what caught Yuri’s eye however. It was the fact that he was part of the family which owned and managed the bank. Rather, the family that used to own the bank before the rebels captured it and locked themselves in there.

“If I can’t get any clues on how to get in there from the rebels, then maybe I can get some clues from this guy..”

–

“Okay..this should be the right place.”

She glanced over the very grandiose looking mansion, which looked the opposite of the heavily defend able fortress from before.

“This time..instead of breaking in.. I will do things the official way.”

Images of her falling through the sky at the speed of a meteor rushed through her mind, which she quickly shook away and walked up to the entrance, knocking on the door.

The door was pushed open slightly and a tall butler greeted Yuri with a small bow.

“How may I help you.”

He not so much asked as much as he simply stated in a condescending tone which irked Yuri. She tried to ignore her irritation.

“Yes. Can I meet the owner of this mansion please?”

“…And why would the master meet someone such as yourself..?”

The butler looked over Yuri up and down, clearly not looking impressed and not bothering to hide his disdain.

She realised that the butler wasn’t going to let in the way she was looking. Wearing a simple dress with a pair of peculiar gauntlets.

“Ah..well. You see..i am here to bring him a message!” She quickly said the first thing that came to mind.

“In that case you can leave the message with me and I will make sure it makes its way to the master..”

“Uhm well you see..i was told to bring the message directly..so…”

Yuri began to panic and large drops of sweat began to form on the back of her neck.

“I’m sorry but you will either have to give the message to me or send it by proper means…” The butler began to close the door.

“Ah wait!” Yuri took out a random paper out of her pocket and handed it to the butler. “Here!”

“I see.” The butler took the paper with a careful pinching motion.

“Please wait here. I will be back shortly after the master reads through your message.”

He gazed suspiciously at Yuri before closing the door.

“Phew..that was close..” Yuri sighed with relief. “Wait what the hell did I give him..?”

Yuri quickly checked through all the papers in her pockets and realised that the only one missing was a paper describing one of her targets. Namely the man I question himself.

“I just gave him his own assassination orders..maybe I should leave..?”

She turned around on the spot and lifted her leg to walk to away.

“Wait..i can just say I stole it from the assassin or that this was a warning of him being assassinated…yeah that will work!”

She turned back on the spot again towards the door and lowered her leg.

Some time later, the butler eventually returned and ushered for Yuri to follow him. She silently followed the butler as she was led through the giant mansion seemingly covered with all sorts of gold and precious materials that made Yuri’s thief eyes shine with eventual plans.

She was led to a large room and told to sit down. The room was filled out with several bookcases that made the room seem smaller than it was and the back of the room contained a desk and some writing utensils.

Yuri sat sat on the small sofa in the corner and patiently waited.

The door opened with some force and a young man of about 20, wearing a dark suit, entered the room.

“So what is this about…?” He waved around the assassination papers. “A joke? A throat? Who sent you!”

He snapped at Yuri with an impatient and annoyed attitude.

His whole arrogant demeanour irritated Yuri. She had thought she might want to try and befriend this noble by giving him some info on the rebels or some such. She quickly decided against that however. Instead choosing to take more drastic measures, as she knew from past experience those are the most effective against this type.

“…This is no joke. And it is no mere threat.”

Yuri slowly stood up.

“It is simply what will happen to you if you do not cooperate with me.”

Yuri tried her best to sound imposing, but was sure she simply sounded like a growling puppy.

“That is amusing, wench, but I highly doubt you, or whoever sent you, can do a single thing to me, Jac, who is the master of both defence and offence spells.!”

He quickly muttered out something and his whole body was covered in a transparent jelly like second skin. He then muttered something else and made a large ball of blue fire to materialise in front of himself.

“Fire huh…” Yuri raised an eyebrow.

“Afraid now?” He smiled “I would have liked to send a message to whoever sent you, but I think just burning you to ashes will be enough!”

With a wave of his hand, the blue ball of fire flew towards Yuri.

Making an amused face and without taking a single step. Yuri slowly touched her gauntlet, activating a spell and pointed her palm at the fireball.

A giant beam of water appeared out of Yuri’s palm, swallowing the fireball and making its way through the mansion, through the inner walls, the outer walls, before eventually flying out into the sky in a seemingly endless manner.

The mean of water continued for a few more seconds before stopping. A giant hole stretched its way throughout the entire mansion. Giving a nice view of the blue sky that had appeared where before stood a bookshelf.

The nobleman by the name of Jac slowly fell on his behind, a small puddle of liquid appearing beneath him.

Yuri gave him a little smile. “Now then..shall we discuss our arrangements?”