Assassin's Chronicle

One, two, three mercenaries were killed by Anfey one by one when they hunted for the magic beasts. The throat of the last guy with the loud voice was cut deep by Anfey. That mercenary died immediately. Anfey had six mercenary badges with blood in his pocket.

Two mages, one female and one male, were still in the sky and the priestess had not shown up yet. Anfey took a bow out from his dimensional ring. He loaded a regular arrow on it, pointing at the sky. He had been watching those two mages when they were hunting. He found they had been circling around in the sky with a radius of 800 yards. This was his only chance.

If Anfey were a swordsman, he could have attacked those two mages with sword radiance. If Anfey were a mage, he could have attacked them easily from long distance. It was unfortunate that Anfey was neither. He had to use the bow to attack.

There were two mages in the sky, so no matter which one was shot down first, it would take Anfey two seconds to reload the bow and shoot at the second mage. Anfey did not dare to underestimate mercenaries. He actually never underestimated any opponent. The opponents’ powers were largely related to their talent and dedication to their practice. This mercenary group was not great in general, but living in danger had trained them to be alert for danger. Anfey thought that two seconds were long enough for a mage to release the magic scroll. To shoot two targets down perfectly, he had to choose the very moment when one body was blocking the other one when they circled around. Luckily, the route of their movements was traceable.

Anfey did not worry about being surrounded by the opponents. Instead, he was more concerned about covering the news of this mercenary group being wiped out. It was common for the whole mercenary group to be attacked and die when they were out on missions or hunting. However, it was rare that no one in the group was able to send out rescue signals. It was rare, but could happen.

Anfey’s held his arms steady. His eyes showed his determination to kill those two mages. He stared at his targets. Finally, those two mages lined up, one mage blocking the other one. Suddenly, a strong wind blew over the prairie. The grass bent down as the wind blew over. The male mage seemed to see something in the grass out of the corner of his eye. He hurried to turn around to check. Suddenly he felt pain in his chest and saw blackness in his eyes. He fell like a big piece of stone from the sky. The arrow pierced through the male mage’s chest and hit the female mage. Two mages fell one by one from the sky.

Anfey rushed over to where they had fallen. Those two mages rolled together. From a distance, they looked like a couple holding each other rolling on the grass. This scene reminded Anfey of a saying, "May we be a pair of inseparable lovebirds in the sky, and two trees with interlocking branches on earth." Those two mages had been like lovebirds a few seconds ago, and they were "two trees with interlocking branches" now.

Anfey easily found his way back with the eight mercenary badges. He went back to the area where that mercenary group had been cleaning up magic beast bodies. He had a good sense of direction, especially when he was on assignments. He rarely made any mistakes in finding the locations where he needed to be.

The only survivor, the priestess, was sitting on a rock, zoning out as she watched the clouds. From Anfey’s angle, he could only see her side. She was showered in golden sunlight. She looked like an angel. He could not see her face from his angle, but she seemed to be cute. Anfey sighed and reloaded the bow again.

Once the bow was loaded, he had to shoot it no matter what. As a killer, once he started a mission, he had to make sure that no one could trace back, so had to finish it without any potential dangers left. If this priestess were not killed, everyone else in this mercenary group was killed for nothing. If the commander in Tiger of Tawau mercenary legion noticed these mercenaries were killed with a scheme, he would strengthen their defenses. It would make it a lot harder to kill the Shansa Empire princess.

Anfey shot the bow in a speed that a human eye could not even detect. Suddenly an eye-blinding flash passed by that priestess. With a huge exploding sound, the arrow disappeared, while the light cover around her shattered into millions of light spots.

Damn! There was a magic array. Anfey blamed himself for not being careful. Regular priests did not have combat power. There were dangers everywhere on Wild Prairie. Her peers undoubtedly set up a magic array to protect her. He should have thought of this when he saw her sitting in the rock unalert.

While he blamed himself for not being careful, Anfey reloaded the bow. It seemed the priestess had very little experience in direct combat. After the magic array was attacked, she jumped to her feet and nervously watched around her, looking for the attacker. She even forgot to release the magic scroll immediately to save herself.

"It was dumb luck," Anfey thought to himself. Anfey heaved a sigh and let his fingers on the arrow go. The second arrow shot out so fast that it looked like a bolt of lightning. The priestess’s magic cover was destroyed. Anfey shot at her head. The priestess flipped backwards and rolled onto the grass.

* * * *

When Anfey got back to the hotel, Christian and Riska were standing on the roof waiting for him. They glanced at Anfey with questioning looks as Anfey walked upstairs. Anfey nodded at them with a smile, which signaled to them that everything was fine.

"Anfey, let us join you when there are other assignments. We can help," Christian complained. He never openly said anything against Anfey to his face after Anfey had made a decision, but always offered his suggestions afterwards.

"Too many people on this assignment would not have helped," Anfey said, smiling. In fact, he was more concerned that Christian could not be as cold as needed. Some people were not born to certain professions. Christian could not be a killer. He was too upright to be a killer.

"What if something happens to you? There must be someone to help you," Riska said.

"Watch your mouth. What if? Do you want something to happen to me?" Anfey said.

"No, I did not mean that." Riska smiled bitterly.

Clark walked downstairs and gave Anfey a look.

"You guys can go and get some rest. I need to go somewhere with Clark now," Anfey said.

"We have rested for a while," Riska said.

Anfey and Clark walked to Clark’s room on the first floor. A guy in black was quietly sitting on the chair, looking at Anfey.

"What happened?" Anfey knew the man was direct, so he talked to him in a simple and direct way and skipped any courtesy greetings.

"These are the architectural drawings of the princess’s bedroom." The guy in black passed Anfey a package. "Everything you want to know is in this package. If it is not in the package, I don’t think I can get it for you anyway."

Anfey unpacked the package, looked through it, and put the items back in their original order. "I need someone to explain these to me. I do not understand this kind of diagram."

"No problem," the guy in black said.

"Anything else you would like to tell me?" Anfey asked.

"You asked me to collect information about Glory mercenary. I have some information about them with me now," the guy in black said.

"Great." Anfey smiled. "Can you brief me on it."

"The commander of Glory mercenary, Antonio, is a master swordsman," the guy in black said. "He is the most powerful one among the commanders in the four largest mercenary groups. It’s hard to tell his personality based on the information we collected. Some people said he is a gentle man, while others said he is hot-tempered. They all can prove their claims. Antonio rarely shows up in public. It has been very hard to track him.

"The second important person in Glory mercenary is Chantley. He is a senior swordsman. He is very smart and mature. He is a helper for Antonio. If we have options, I hope we do not have to confront him. If Antonio is the king of Glory mercenary, then Chantley is his advisor, a very good one. He has solved many difficult problems with his intelligence. He was a formidable opponent. Antonio is in White Mountain City, so Chantley is in charge of everything here.

"The third important person in Glory is Davison. He is a senior swordsman. He became a senior swordsman before he was 35 years old. His sword skills are above Chantley’s. I heard he might become a master swordsman in the future, then Glory mercenary would be the only mercenary group with two master swordsmen. Davison is the opposite of Chantley in terms of personality. He is more willing to take risks, but also likes to act more on instinct. Chantley has solved a lot of tough problems for Glory mercenary while Davison has created many problems. However, Davison has one advantage, that is, he is a very loyal follower of Antonio. Antonio has been very tolerant with the mistakes he has made and rarely blames him.

"Here is a report on Chantley’s and Davison’s families and important people in Glory mercenary. You can take your time to read it." The guy in black passed Anfey another scroll.

"Thank you very much." Anfey smiled.

"You’re welcome. You said I had contributed to your mercenary." The guy in black hesitated a little bit. "I have already received new orders from the commander that I need cooperate with you."

"Really? Does it mean you would help me if I need your help?" Anfey asked.

"Yes," the guy in black said.

"How many people can you give orders to?" Anfey asked.

"Depends on your needs," the guy in black said calmly. "I believe you have heard of Entos?"

"Of course." Anfey was shocked for a second. Entos was one of Saul’s best students. He was a senior magister with strong power.

"Entos is the third important person in Brothers Union mercenary," the guy in black said.

"You mean..." Anfey said.

"After the political marriage between Glory mercenary and Ellisen Empire, many countries realized they were falling behind. Shansa Empire has been trying to have Tiger of Tawau mercenary be their alley. Our country has had a good relationship with Brother Union mercenary. As long as we are not against the principles of the Country of Mercenaries, they are willing to help us," the guy in black said.