Assassin's Chronicle

"Did you do it?" Suzanna asked. They were worried about Anfey, who was out by himself. The group was gathered in a room prepared by Clark and waiting. When Anfey had returned, they turned their curious gazes on him.

"No," Anfey said, shaking his head.

"As long as you’re back safely, we can find another chance," Christian said.

"It’s not that there wasn’t a chance. It wasn’t the princess inside, so I left her alone," Anfey told them. "Where’s Clark?"

"In bed already, I reckon," Blavi said, yawning.

"You all should go to rest as well," Anfey said. "Did people from Tiger of Tawau come today?"

"They did, and looked quite angry as well. Wanted us to show them proof. They calmed down after seeing Suzanna, though," Riska said. "Don’t know when I’ll become a senior magister."

"Where’s your ambition?" Blavi joked. "You should say you will one day become an archmage."

"Because I don’t live in a fantasy world, Blavi."

"Alright, alright. Everyone, let’s go to our rooms," Christian said, waving his hand. "We should rise earlier tomorrow. This is a critical time, and we should all be careful."

Everyone stood and left the room, but Christian and Suzanna stayed. Anfey sat down next to the table and began formulating his plans.

"Anfey, there’s something I need to tell you," Christian said slowly.

"What is it?"

"Everyone’s been...off lately."

"What happened? Are you guys hiding things from me?"

"Can’t you see? Anfey, you are the reason," Christian told him, his face grave and serious. "Do you remember what Riska just said? He wanted to be a senior magister."

"Everyone has their dreams..."

"It’s not a dream! It’s a hope. Riska has said the same thing many times."

"Dreams? Hopes?" Anfey asked, smiling bitterly. "I don’t understand. Christian, tell me what you need to say."

"When we were learning with Master Saul, we were children. After everything that happened, we left to explore the world, with you." Christian smiled. "We were stupid. No, Anfey, listening to me. We were stupid. We once doubted and we united against your decisions. Obviously, we were wrong. The world wasn’t what we expected it would be. Even though no one said anything, after everything we’ve been through, we have all come to our own understanding about the world."

Anfey’s face grew serious. He thought he had taken enough care of his friends. He took care of them like a babysitter, and whenever they encountered danger, he tried to take care of everything himself. Like the assassination tonight. He could of course have let someone else take care of it. If the assassination had been successful, he would still receive the credit. If it failed, he wouldn’t have to take the fall for it. If he treated the assassination the way he would a business transaction, he would act to benefit himself and try to avoid risks.

However, was it the right thing to do? No, it was not. After listening to Christian’s words, Anfey realized he had ignored his team members’ change of heart. Whenever they encountered a danger or obstacle, he would tell them what they should and should not do. However, he had never told them why they should and should not do certain things. Anfey felt he needed to keep listening to Christian.

"This opened our eyes and increased our knowledge. We all wanted to prove that we are useful, that we aren’t just children that need sheltering. Lately, though, you always tell us to stay here and only leave with Suzanna. We all know we are not as powerful as Suzanna and can’t do as much, but you’ve got to let us do something."

"Christian, I’m sure Anfey is doing this out of good will," Suzanna whispered. "I sure he would hate to see you hurt."

"Anfey, I don’t know how you became so skilled in fighting, and I won’t ask. Think about it. Would you have this power if someone tried to clear every obstacle and danger for you when you started training?" Christian asked slowly. "Lately, even Riska and I have to stay here in the tavern. The others were too scared to leave. Maybe some people enjoyed this, but not us. For us, this is a precious chance to train ourselves. We don’t want to waste it."

Anfey sighed but didn’t say anything.

"Do you know who we are so envious of? Vonmerge. He can leave anytime he wants to to gather information. We know that he has a lot of connections, but he wasn’t born with them, either. We can’t help much, but whatever Vonmerge can do, we can too. If you keep on telling us to hide, we’ll never find a chance to change. Ten, twenty years from now, we will still be as childish and clueless as we are now." Christian sighed and continued, "Anfey, all we need is a word from you. Let us do something, even if it’s small. Give us a chance to prove ourselves. Let them know that they matter. You’ve been so secretive, and you only talk to Suzanna. Even I felt uncomfortable and useless. What must they be thinking?"

"I’ve been wrong," Anfey nodded and admitted. This was one of his good traits. Whenever he realized he had done wrong, he was always quick to admit his fault and would never argue against it.

"No one’s right or wrong here," Christian said, smiling. "We all understand that you’re concerned for our safety. That’s all I need to say. Everyone’s been practicing really hard lately to overcome their obstacles. That’s not the right way to practice magic. It’s too dangerous."

"Let’s go out tomorrow," Anfey said. "We can go around the city and gather some information. I’ll go with you."

"Alright," Christian said. "I’ll be in my room."

"Night."

"Anfey, you’re not angry at him, are you? Since you’re doing this because you’re concerned for them." Seeing that Christian had left the room, Suzanna moved over and asked Anfey.

"What kind of a man do you think I am?" Anfey asked, amused. "Christian was right. My way of doing things has not benefitted everyone. If he didn’t say anything, I would never realize my mistake."

"As long as you’re fine with it," Suzanna said, relieved.

"Suzanna, you should be more like Christian. Whenever you think I’m doing something wrong, you should immediately tell me. The key to a good plan is communication. We’re all friends here, and we can all come to an agreement. If we keep our thoughts to ourselves, fights are inevitable."

"Then I need say something," Suzanna said.

"What is it?"

"Why didn’t you let me go and kill the princess? Do you think I’m too weak for this? You have to realize I am more powerful than you."

"That’s not my intention," Anfey informed her. "I was thinking..."

"Oh, another thing.You should go check on that little unicorn. It hasn’t seen you for a few days and is really sad." Suzanna smiled and stood. "I’ll be going. You should go to bed soon as well."

"Alright," Anfey said, nodding.

Suzanna walked over and pushed open the door. "Hui Wei? What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

"Is Anfey back?"

"Over there," Suzanna said as she moved out of the way.

Hui Wei walked into the room and stared at Anfey. Suzanna left the room and closed the door behind her, giving them space to talk.

"Know what you want now?"

"Don’t have much of a choice, now, do I?" Hui Wei sighed and sat down in front of Anfey. "Give me my ring."

Anfey fished out Hui Wei’s dimensional ring and handed it to him.

Hui Wei accepted it and put it on his finger slowly. After a few moments, he sighed, and a bright ball of light appeared in his hand.

"So this is the secret to the antimagic terra?"

"This is a piece of the Will of the God of War," Hui Wei told him. "If you can activate it, it will create a terra around you. It can only last thirty seconds, though."

"How do I activate it?"

"It’s easy. It all depends on your mind power." Hui Wei had already told Anfey everything he knew without holding back.

Anfey was already familiar with using mind power. The fights between spirits of the Evil Abyss depend on mind power. He was still relatively weak compared to the power spirits, but was nevertheless fairly skilled with mind power, or else he wouldn’t have been able to control the fireballs with ease.

Anfey slowly robbed the light with his mind power, but found the Shattered Will of the God of War was empty. Nothing was inside, and there was no reaction. "What is it?" he asked Hui Wei.