It was no mistake, a man was walking toward the group.
It was Marco.
"Ah... man... what a pain."
"What are you doing here?" Petra asked.
"I managed to buy you some time." Marco took a deep breath before speaking again. "This is already the third assassination contract issued by House Varyn in a single day. I managed to get an order through to block those requests for a while."
"How long?"
"One week, but that only means they can't send official missions during that time. Whoever is behind this can still resort to illegal means."
Luke looked up at the sky. It was already dark, and the breeze was cold.
"Petra, what now?"
"I don't know, Luke... I think we should rest, and tomorrow we'll figure out a way out of this."
The system issued another notice.
[ Leveled Up
Executioner's Step: Level 1 -> Level 2
Multi-Surface Movement: Level 1 -> Level 2
Luke Varyn: Level 1 -> Level 4 ]
Luke was intrigued by the message.
What exactly makes me "level up"? I need to discover...
Petra and Mira turned their backs, giving only a small wave of goodbye. "And make sure you wash that bloody mess off with a bath!" Petra shouted. Only Marco, Luke, and Zhiang were left there, standing in front of Zhiang's house. Marco, still exhausted, was about to head back to his office.
"Luke, you probably don't want to go back to your house, right? If you want, I can set up a couch for you at the office so you can spend the night there."
Luke was deeply uncomfortable with the thought of going back to the bloody scene left behind, and it was entirely possible they were still looking for him there.
Zhiang walked over to Marco and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "No need, my house is right here. I've got a spare bed." Marco looked somewhat relieved and said goodbye to both of them.
Zhiang walked to the front door of his house, which was only a few meters away. "So, are we going in?"
Luke stepped inside and settled in. The house was small, like an apartment, with only a few basic decorations, but it was comfortable.
"You know, thank you so much, Zhiang. I really didn't want to go back there, or sleep in some alley."
"Don't mention it, we're going through one hell of a mess together right now, one hand washes the other, right? And I think we'd better take a bath... you go first, I'll get something to eat ready here, and I'll leave a change of clothes outside the door."
"You're amazing, man."
Luke headed to the bathroom. Beside the toilet were a few folded trash bags. He put all his clothes into one of them and cleaned himself. Luke spent a long time with his face tilted upward, letting the hot water run over it, enjoying the fact that he could finally relax a little.
The blood staining his body ran down onto the floor, forming a red puddle. When he looked at it, Luke's mind returned to the moment he had woken up confused and empty inside his supposed house. The blood running down seemed to carry some kind of meaning for him.
What is my role in all of this?
Luke finished his bath and wrapped himself in a towel. He reached for the doorknob, and suddenly, the system showed up.
[ Menu: Skills; Levels; Class; Weapons. ]
Until then, the system had only manifested itself through warnings, messages, and short predictions. Now, for the first time, there was a real menu in front of him, organized, interactive, as if it had always existed and had only been waiting for the right moment to reveal itself.
What do I do with this?
Luke fixed his eyes on the "Class" option and reached his hand toward it. The moment he touched it, a different screen opened.
[ Name: Luke Varyn.
Level: 4
Class: Executor.
Mastery: Agility
Weapon: Dagger
Style: Shadow
House: Varyn, Medias ]
Luke did not find anything particularly interesting, except for the house information. House Varyn was already a familiar name, but the name Medias stirred his curiosity. What does that even change? Do I belong to two families?
Luke pulled his hand back, and the panel closed, followed by two knocks on the door. "Hey, the clothes are here, you can grab them when you're done in there!" He opened the door and picked up the clean clothes Zhiang had lent him.
Luke stepped out of the bathroom, and Zhiang went in, giving him a light pat on the back as he passed. Luke walked through the house, looking around. He lay down on the couch, and the feeling of rest was priceless. Now that his muscles were finally relaxed, it would even be hard for him to get up again.
The light was hurting Luke's eyes a little, so he closed them, and in the immense comfort he was in, he ended up dozing off.
"Hey, sleepyhead!"
Zhiang was nudging Luke, both of them still with their hair wet from the bath.
"Let's eat something here, we just wiped out two of Kalgan's best, we need a celebration, right?"
So sleepy...
Luke got up and followed Zhiang into the kitchen. On the small table there were two cans of beer and two hamburgers. Zhiang had already sat down across from him, opening his can.
"What family are you from?"
"Me? That's a curious question. I used to be with the Podkans, but I didn't agree with a lot of the things they did, so I asked to leave."
"And you could just leave?"
"In that specific case, yes. But the Podkans are pretty liberal. I don't think many others would allow someone to leave, not that easily. Why do you ask?"
"Have you ever heard of the Medias?"
"Medias... Medias... I don't think so, the name doesn't ring a bell."
Families were supposed to be known, at least among people who had once belonged to one, so why didn't he know it?
"Well, I heard about it, but then it must be new."
"Very possible. Some appeared a few weeks ago, and it had been a long time since any family had been officially established. It really was an exception."
Luke realized that thinking about it now would only ruin the brief chance he had to relax, so he opened his can of beer and started eating with Zhiang.
After they finished eating, they went to sleep. It was already late. Zhiang said goodnight and went to sleep in his room, while Luke lay down on the couch with a borrowed pillow. Luke was almost dozing off again.
[ New Mission: Assassination ]