Chapter 86 - The Assassins' Mission (Part 1)

  Nathan Evenhart:

  Days had passed since Adrihna arrived at the castle.

  “Yoing to get me dirty!” Chloe pined.

  “Get you dirty? Have you looked around at where we are?” I asked her.

  I tio carry a bucket filled with a brownish mixture that looked like leftovers from vegetables, meat, and grains. I dumped the tents into the feeding trough, and the pigs came running to eat their ‘food.’ Chloe followed behih her own bucket and did the same.

  “I’m going to fall! Stop it, you idiots!” she said, trying to keep her ban the mud.

  “You know pigs don’t uand uage, right?” I teased as I jumped over the wooden fence.

  She ran, trying to escape the pigs that were hoping for more food in her bucket, and hopped over the fence.

  We were w on a farm far from the castle. My aunt provided jobs for poor children and orphans. They were brought to work on farms where they received a sary and training to grow up knowing a trade. We were sent undercover as oo blend in with these children and learn how to work. Of course, the woman responsible fing roup of children was one of our maids in disguise, and we had a carriage driver who was actually a soldier, though he was dressed in armor to appear as a ‘man of the w,’ being a subordinate of the baron of the region.

  “You took your time; we still o finish ing the barn,” Kinue said.

  My cousin groa hearing that but picked up her straw broom.

  “We just o finish ing this, and we’ll be doh our tasks,” I said to reassure her.

  At least with the on tasks.

  I grabbed my broom and observed the workers as we headed to the barn.

  This is a medium-sized noble’s farm, with an average of 40 workers employed on a regur basis.

  Among the workers, I noticed three of them had expensive swords at their sides and maintained a military posture, despite being dressed as peasants.

  I passed by some children carrying baskets of clothes. Some didn’t look happy and had bruises on their arms.

  The orphaned children who were hired full-time aren’t being treated well...

  I quickly g a house where a man was standing guard at the front.

  “Hurry up, kid,” an adult said, shovioward the barn.

  “Sorry, sir,” I said with a smile a walking.

  There are 40 workers dedicated to the farm, along with other men focused on seg the estate and the noble’s mansion.

  In total, there are at least 30 guards outside, and there might be mages among them.

  We kept walking until we reached the barn.

  There had bees of children and oners disappearing in the region. The suspi was that someone was engaged in human traffig, likely involving other crimes. A sver, in addition to itting the crime of svery on our nds, would also be guilty of kidnapping and other offenses. My family had sent us to iigate the pce to uand the structure. We already had the evidence, but this was our test. We o plete the mission on our own, iigate the pce ourselves, and pass judgment—it was a mission for me as an Evenhart Legacy.

  There should be at least 10 children employed full-time and 12 irregur children who arrived in carriages sent by the Evenhart free education system. The problem is, there are too many children here—some of them aren’t employed... they’re probably sves.

  The three of us had e as irregur children.

  I ehe barn and stared at the filth.

  “At least this time, we have some iive to get the tasks done,” I said to Chloe.

  “But it’s still… b,” she replied.

  Kinue appeared behind us, pulling a cart for us to toss the waste into.

  “We’ve got a lot to do,” the fox-girl said.

  We sighed and got to work.

  As I carried out my task, I kept a close eye on the area outside the window, analyzing the guards’ armaments and trying to identify any potential threats.

  This farm belongs to a wealthy noble, who doesn’t hold a political office, which makes things easier for us. On the surface, his wealth es from his various farms, but he’s also involved in underground dealings with corrupt nobility.

  There exists a corrupt nobility that colborates with criminals in a bck market. Almost anything be bought in this underworld—frs and sves to animals. In the nobility's underworld, there are those who sell services for theft, assassination, sabotage, and even kidnapping. My family deals with this kind of filth in our territory; after all, eliminating the world’s rot is the job of an assassin in our family.

  Unfortunately, due to the losses we suffered i war, we’ve barely mao handle basic tasks like supp farmers and families who were affected, which has allowed the underworld to seep further into our nds. We are known as a duchy that does not five certain crimes, but the underworld is fueled by nobles, making our work even more difficult. Nobles have influen their nds and es. They employ wanted criminals and move traband mixed with other shipments. Nobles oversee the regution of their territories, making it dangerous if a noble decides to use their influence for evil.

  In this world, oners are often viewed as inferior by most of the nobility, which is why corrupt nobles permit kidnappings on their nds, selling people off as human or sexual sves in other territories. In our duchy, svery is a crime, but there are those who kidnap oo sell them in another duchy. My family’s duty is to root out this evil and elimihose who it such acts in our nds.

  A politioble has greater prote, requiring us to act through the justice system. However, in some cases, we create an ‘act.’ After all, an assassin’s work is often dirty. When dealing with a politioble, my family prefers to follow legal els aer the case with the kingdom’s court, which passes judgment on the noble. As superior nobles, our as are rarely questioned, as long as we present evidence. Part of the politiobility in our duchy is elected by the kingdom to prevent a duke from ing rebellion, as this keeps them informed. This is why my aunt ’t simply elimiroublesome politioble directly; she would break several kingdom ws and must follow the bureaucratic process.

  Politiobles are protected by w and must be judged by the kingdom’s court, while a superior noble enjoys eveer prote, to the point of being immuo most accusations. This means I could kill a oner without punishment, as, in theory, they are my subjects in my territory. The only crimes that could affect me are those of treason against the kingdom, which are diplomati nature. My family does not see oners as inferior beings but as our people. This is why Chloe and I are raised doing on work—to instill this belief in us; it’s the way they’ve chosen to raise their children. This would have been the ideal way to raise nobility in my previous world if there had been any, but there was not. In my previous world, there was only one person in the nobility, only one emperor… and that was me.

  We tinued ing the pce, and by the end of the day, we were finally done.

  “Well do looks excellent,” said a womaering the barn. I noticed she was in charge of the workers.

  “Thank you, Miss Isabelle,” Kinue replied, and we followed her example, bowing since she was nobility and we were only ‘oners.’

  “I’m being sih my praise—you all did a great job ing the pce. The irregur children usually take a while to learn the job.”

  “We're used to it; we’ve been doing this since we were little,” my cousin said.

  The proached us.

  “Is it true that you’re from the vilge he castle?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “Have you ever seen what our rulers are like? I’ve always been curious about the family that governs and the young lords.”

  Chloe and I exged gnces.

  “They’re very reserved and rarely leave the castle,” I replied.

  “If I lived in a castle, I wouldn’t leave it much either. Imagine living a life with so many servants that you even have someoo put your shoes on or brush your hair.”

  “I think it would be a nice life, not having to do chores,” my cousin added.

  Hey! I noticed a bit of truth in that statement...

  “They must be very hardw and diligent with their tasks…” Kinue said.

  Our fox friend is truly on our side, even in disguise...

  “A superior noble doing chores? Haha,” the woman ughed. “It’s more likely for trees to walk.”

  My mother make trees walk…

  “In fact, she and I are the two superior nobles of this duchy, and we spend our days shoveling animal dung because we’re taught to do these kinds of tasks,” I said.

  Chloe and Kinue looked at me, shocked.

  “Hahahaha,” the woman ughed again. “Alright, little one, you have a good sense of humor. But you shouldn’t call yourself a superior hat’s a serious crime,” she said, patting me on the head.

  I looked at the two girls, who seemed relieved.

  After all, what are the ces that the two only superior nobles ierritory would spend the day w on a farm? Even I would ugh if I didn’t know my family.

  “I could hire the three of you—what do you think?” she asked.

  Just as we were about to respond, another womaered the room.

  “Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but it’s time to take the irregur children back to the city,” said the disguised maid.

  “I hope to see you all again someday. If you e back to work on this farm, look for me,” she said, handing us a bronze .

  “Ma’am, we’re already paid by the g family of the duchy,” I said.

  “I’m just giving you a small reward, that’s all,” she replied, handing the to Chloe.

  “Thank you very much, madam,” my cousin thanked her.

  “I love girls ye, and I worry about you being an orphan. Here on our farm, we take in young people and value them with a good sary. Think about what I said,” she added.

  We headed to the carriage, and other irregur children also got in. These children were rotated between farms heir duchy, and we always switched farms to avoid creating a routine. In this world, schools st no more than three years, where childreaught to read, write, and basic math. oners have access to cheap schools that offer csses once a week, while nobles have private tutors who teach them about eics, ws, and other activities reted to their family’s work.

  As soon as we got into the carriage and sat down, I remembered the bronze .

  So that’s how you do it. You lure oner children with offers of work and high moary rewards.

  “What do you think?” Kinue asked.

  “I think we’ve got it,” Chloe said.

  There are at least 30 armed guards outside who might be experienced criminals. Then there are those ihe noble’s mansion… and probably some mages too.

  I observed the two girls.

  “I think we ha,” I said.

  This would officially be my first mission as an assassin. In the past, we’d always been there just as support.

  Kiood out a bit due to her demi-human traits and rarely joined us when we worked on farms that weren’t ours, but this would be our first mission where we’d do everything ourselves. This would be our test to bee assassins.

  As the carriage pulled away, I looked back at the mansion and saw the alking with his men.

  The Evenhart Legacy is ing to your door—your time is up.

  "Finally, let’s fug do this!" Athena said.

  I gnced around, watg the goddess.

  Disappear again—I don’t need you b me right now.