The Assassins' Guild

The Assassins' guild. Home to Elrios' largest population of professional killers east of the Great Ocean. Here, one can pick up jobs, build up a network, and generally relax without the fear of being picked off by one (or several) of a long of enemies (ironically, as long you're are on Guild property, there is no killing allowed). To some, it may seem odd that so many loners with a thirst for blood would gather in an organization like this, but the reliable income it generates certainly beats out most third-party sources. (Contrary to popular belief, assassination does not pay all that well. Weeks of instant food will turn even the most introverted of individuals.)

Here, we follow the tale of Rose, the Black Massacre, S-ranked member of the guild, taking a simple single target assassination in order to fulfill this quarter's quota. It was a simple mission. A nouveau rich noble became blinded by his greed, and as he lined his pockets with gold, his line of enemies grew to match. Her client was anonymous, another noble of the older variety. He saw this young whelp as a threat to his empire. 15 million ED was his reward for the task, 7.5 million already in the guild. All assassination requests must be half paid in advance as a precaution, failure to complete said mission will result in a full refund. This was going to be a simple task for someone like her.

Rose sat in a tree a good distance away from her target. Black hair, stormy blue eyes, 1.87m tall, walks with a slight limp on the left side. He was currently walking in his private garden, well within view of his staff, but that didn't matter to her. A kill was a kill, and the mission said nothing about witnesses. Target locked. Taking aim. A single shot, a single corpse. The head gardener screamed in horror and fainted upon seeing her master's dead body sprawled on the ground. Quickly, a crowd of sobbing housekeepers gathered in hope of somehow saving him. Rose, finishing what she went there to do, hopped down leisurely, dusted off her hands, and left for the meeting spot to collect her payment.

Upon arrival, all she saw was an empty shed. This was to be expected as she finished three hours ahead of schedule. She gracefully placed herself upon one of the lush seats that stood starkly out of place from the rough structure and waited, and waited, and waited some more. After the meeting time had come and gone, she had a feeling that her client was dead, as evidenced by the faint smell of blood coming from the north where her client lives. (There was supposed to be complete confidentiality, but it wasn't that hard to figure it out.) Even though she already knew what would (or wouldn't) happen, she waited an extra six hours as per protocol before making her way back to the guild.

"I need a drink..."

After collecting (half of) her payment, she sat down at the bar. "Just give me the strongest you've got."

"Rough day?" the young man next to her asked.

"Yeah. Client got picked off before I could collect payment," she sighed.

"Really? Same," he matched her sigh.

There was a strict confidentiality rule in the Assassin's Guild. No one was allowed to reveal details about their mission, including their client, target, and locations. But despite this, her instincts gave her all the information she needed.

"tch."

The Assassins' guild, Elrios' third largest dark guild, was a common name throughout the land. Though even peasants knew of their activities, no one took action partially due to the futility of the task (they were all professional assassins. How can one expect to pin them down?) and partially due to the higher-ups frequenting the place to attack at their rivals. Requesting a job was easy. Simply state your price, target (description recommended), time frame, meeting location with some sort of identification method in order to ensure the legitimacy of the client, dead-lines, and rank of the request (not required). Upon submission, half of the payment would be paid in advance for job security reasons, and the request would immediately be live. So easy was the process, and so anonymous were the clients, that rather famous people would often find themselves as both a target, and a client simultaneously.

Here, we follow the tale of Chung, the Fatal Phantom, A-ranked assassin, and the star rookie of the Guild, having joined only three years prior. That day, like many other high-ranked members, he was taking a mission far below his skill level in order to fill this quarter's quota. There were only three days left and everyone was scrambling to complete those last few missions to keep their rank.

The mission was simple. A nouveau riche was getting nervous about those who look upon his wealth with envy and uneasiness. He specifically had his eyes on a portly old man. Age 67, 1.72m, grey hair, with a midnight-blue top hat covering his balding head. It wasn't too hard to find him, he was sitting in his room by the window, reading whatever book held his fancy that day. For his phantom-shooters, a thin pane of glass might as well have been a sheet of paper. A quick click was all that it took for his body to collapse to the floor, dead. Sure, there may have been shattered lining the ground, but he wasn't being paid enough to clean.

Afterward, he made his way to the meeting grounds, but when he arrived he was greeted not by his client (his payment), but by the rush of carriages fleeing the area and the clamor of journalists rushing to get a picture of the dead baron. Chung, not wanting to waste the next 7 hours of his life waiting for a man who was very clearly dead, decided to trudge back to the Guild, but not before stopping at the local pawn shop for a souvenir.

When he arrived back at the base, he collected his six million ED (the original price was only 12 million, but beggars can't be choosers) before plopping down at the bar.

"Apple cider please."

The bartender gave a hearty laugh before confirming, "soft, right?"

"W-what I don't…" flustered at such an implication before finally conceding with a sigh. He hated the taste of alcohol.

Before he could start his drink, a senior assassin sat herself down roughly next to him and wearily asked for the strongest beverage in stock.

"Rough day?" he asked.

"Yeah. Client got picked off before I could collect the payment," she sighed.

"Really? Same."

Despite the confidentiality, he knew what had just occurred. It hadn't been the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. Instead of making a fuss about it, he just glared at his drink.

"Tch."

Chung and Rose's thoughts at that moment: "Omae wa mou shinderu"

What did you think? Maybe if this gets enough traffic, I'll write more tales about the various adventures in the Guild.