It seemed like this assassin’s guild had it out for me. This was already the second assassination attempt in only a few days. The more information I got from them, the better off we’d be. There were probably easier ways to handle this situation, but I still felt like my best choice was to let them set up their plan. They were under close surveillance from the girls, so we could interrupt any time things started to look dangerous.

These assassins didn’t seem to be at the same level as the ones who attacked me in Chalm either. First off, I could detect them with Sense Life. The others had managed to hide themselves up until the moment they attacked. The other reason I was less worried was because of what Rea said. I was their target, but they weren’t supposed to hurt anyone else. The first group hadn’t cared about casualties, even threatening a group of children. They had launched explosives that had killed several innocent people.

I supposed it worked like any profession. When you had adventurers with a contract, their group did things their way. Some were cold and deadly, while others were friendly and kind. Although it was against the rules, some groups would even steal or attack other groups if the advantages were worth it. If the adventuring guild found out who it was, they would place a bounty on their heads, so they needed to be certain they’d get away with it, but there were always those kinds of people who would try anyway.

As for the assassin’s guild, there were probably fewer rules about collateral damage, but there were still groups who would kill anyone to get to their target and those who would have a more honorable approach to things. Even if this group was later, we still needed to be careful. The girls were watching them closely, and I was waiting in my room with my sword and the map menu up, tracking them the entire time. I also kept my Sense Danger active just in case they were just a show.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Come on, why are you taking so long?” I muttered as nearly two hours passed and they hadn’t moved.

I was just starting to think that maybe we should go to them after all and flush them out when there was a shout overhead.

“Fire! There’s a fire!” One of the crew cried out.

I hadn’t alerted the crew to their presence, thinking that one of them would inevitably reveal we knew the assassin’s location and spoil the trap. It was also possible that one of the crew members was another insider. Just because Rea had gone to the trouble of getting on board didn’t mean that they hadn’t snuck someone else on board too. Even with the declaration of fire, that could be the fake crewmember trying to mislead others and spread panic and chaos.

“Girls?”

“There is smoke billowing out from the right side of the ship,” Celeste explained.

It seemed like they made their first move, but the red dots still hadn’t moved from their spot. Were they decoys? I refused to wait any longer.

“Move-in! Try to capture one.”

Just as I gave the order, something slammed into the ship hard, and things started to turn upside down.