_______________________
A thousand gold coins.
For a job this easy? We were blessed.
A frail old woman with her mana core sealed and a boy barely out of his teenage years—nothing but outcasts of the great Roro household. It didn’t matter why the guild wanted them dead.
It didn’t matter who in the family had paid for their heads. All that mattered was that once we finished this job, we’d be swimming in gold.
And gods knew we needed it.
For days, the entire underworld had been scouring the wilderness for these two rats, yet our group had finally gotten lucky.
We had found them coming out from the inner area of that cursed forest, watching them walk towards the city, exhausted and desperate.
The perfect prey.
I almost felt bad for them.
Almost.
The woman could barely walk properly, occasionally pressing a hand to her side when she thought the boy wasn’t looking. And the kid? Sure, he had a sword, but that didn’t an much. Everyone had a sword these days.
Strength wasn’t about what you carried—it was about the power behind it.
And from what I could see, the kid had none.
Still, we were professionals. We waited, keeping our distance.
And then—just as if the gods themselves were rewarding us—their path veered off the main road. Straight into the woods.
The leader of our group, a veteran nad Mikhail, frowned slightly. "Tch. Careful, lads. Could be a trap."
A trap? From them? I nearly laughed. What could a half-dead woman and a kid possibly do to us? But still, I tightened my grip on my sword, just in case.
They walked deeper into the trees. We followed.
And then—
The boy stopped.
Without warning, without hesitation. He simply ca to a halt, standing there as if he had been waiting for sothing.
Then he turned slightly, his voice light, almost amused.
"They’re mine to kill."
…What?
The sheer audacity of it sent a ripple of disbelief through our group.
Mikhail smirked, rolling his shoulders. "Cocky brat." He cracked his knuckles, stepping forward with an eager grin. "Here I co."
He shot forward, moving to cut the boy down in one swing—
—but his blade t resistance.
The boy had blocked him.
Not just that. He had grabbed Mikhail’s wrist, holding it in a reverse grip.
A flicker of hesitation crossed Mikhail’s face. He tried to pull back.
Then—
He froze.
His body went stiff, eyes widening as his entire form jerked. For a second, I thought the kid had poisoned him—but no. It was sothing worse.
Mikhail’s muscles slackened. His sword clattered to the ground.
The light in his eyes faded into a dull, empty void.
And then—
He collapsed.
A silence heavier than death itself settled over us.
I swallowed.
"What the hell—?"
Even the woman—the so-called frail old woman—had gone rigid behind the boy, staring at the lifeless body of our leader as if she couldn’t believe her own eyes.
Two of the others snapped out of their shock first, drawing their weapons and lunging for the kid.
A mistake.
He didn’t even dodge. He simply stepped forward, brushing his fingers against the first assassin’s arm.
The man convulsed. A guttural croak escaped his lips as he, too, went limp.
The second one barely had ti to register what had happened before the boy turned, brushing his fingers against him as well.
Another corpse hit the forest floor.
Two minutes.
That was all it had taken.
Three n—killed without a sound.
The last remaining assassin beside panicked, tearing out a fire-elent scroll.
He activated it without a second thought, hurling a searing fireball toward the boy.
I expected him to dodge.
To block.
To do sothing.
But he just—
He raised his hand.
And the fireball vanished.
Absorbed.
Consud.
The boy flexed his fingers, glancing at his hand as if inspecting a re inconvenience. Then he grinned.
"Thanks for the al."
He stepped forward.
My heart slamd against my ribs.
The other assassin beside let out a strangled noise, swinging his sword in sheer desperation.
It didn’t matter.
The boy moved.
A flicker of silver. A wet, gurgling sound.
The other assassin’s throat opened up like paper beneath a knife.
I didn’t even register the blood before his body hit the ground.
And then—
He turned to .
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My legs refused to obey, locked in place by pure, paralyzing fear.
A warm sensation spread down my leg, and it took an embarrassing second to realize that—
I had pissed myself.
The boy tilted his head, amused. He lifted his dagger—
Not to stab . Not to kill .
But to tap the hilt lightly against my forehead.
"Tell your guild master that I will be eting him soon."
Darkness consud before I even hit the ground.
***
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"Was it necessary to be this cruel? Noah??"
I felt a pang of guilt in my heart when my phrased it like that.
"Yes…Ma. They wanted to kill us.
And if we didn’t kill them, we would be… dead." I tried sounding nice, as if framing them in a better way would justify sothing but I never really was good with words.
Grandma humd to as she neared the dead assassins, checking their pulses.
"No need to check their pulses." I said, shaking my head.
Ma raised her eyebrows unnaturally,
"…They’re all dead."
"…"
I looked at Ma straight in the eyes. Did I not explain why I killed them like just seconds ago?
She sighed, standing back up as she closed in on my figure.
Holding my hand, she pulled as we started walking back to the main road to the city.
I half expected her to be silent all the way out but she opened her mouth again.
hufff
She sighed, giving a long stare.
"Atleast tell what your powers—
I’m too old to get scared every ti you touch soone you know."
"…"
***
A/N:
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