I snuck down the hall, my footsteps making almost no sound.

Getting into the manor wasn't that difficult. A little grappling and I made it to the second floor. From there, I just had to wait for the guard to pass before opening the window.

It also wasn't hard to figure out the patterns of the guards inside. It was either back and forth or in a circle. That was pretty funny, in a way. Most guards I had to get around from my world would stand in place. This made it feel a bit more like a game.

Eventually, I made it to my destination: the stairs. With no guards around, I approached them, and went down.

A place like this had to have somewhere to store their more liquid wealth, like coins and precious metals. What better place than the basement? If an intruder was found, they could only escape in one direction.

Sure enough, I found a heavy door being guarded by a single guard. There wasn't much else to the stone hall, aside from a couple torches to give off light. Luckily, I had something for that.

"What the—" The guard turned his attention to the small, black ball that rolled up to him. A moment later, thick smoke obscured his vision.

One of the weapon forms I unlocked gave me recipes. Among them was one for smoke bombs, which I had plenty of materials for.

I rushed it and delivered a quick punch to his head. His helmet absorbed the blow, but I just needed to disorient him for a second. I ripped the helmet off and wrapped my arm around his neck, pulling it further with my other arm.

The man struggled and flailed, trying desperately to grab his sword at his hip, but his resistance soon stopped. Then, he was out.

The smoke cleared away, allowing me to get to work. I checked the guard first, but I didn't find a key to the door he was standing in front of. No surprise there. He was clearly there to keep people like me from breaking in, not open the vault himself.

This was another problem I could solve. Lockpicks got dropped by a few monsters I absorbed, and I was more than adequate using them. Sure, I was used to a more modern set, but I could make do.

I got started on the lock next. There was only so much time I had down here. The fight wasn't that loud, but there was always the chance someone would break procedure, or do a shift change or something.

The lock clicked. Medieval locks stood no chance against—

"WHIIIIRRR"

"Shit!" A loud noise echoed all around me. Ancient locks were one thing, but I wasn't prepared for a magical security system.

I pulled open the door and took a quick look around. Something small. Something easy to carry…there! A crystal ball! I grabbed my prize, kicked over a few barrels, and flipped over a small table.

Time to escape!

While running, I concentrated on the crystal ball, shattering it and gaining the spell.

Spell acquired – Faust Guard

And now I had a spell from both of my attributes. "As the source of your power—"

As much as I wanted to give myself a little extra defense, I came across a pair of guards just as I exited the stairwell.

"Intruder!" One called out, brandishing his sword.

He swung at me, missing by a mile as I ducked under it. The other guard swung down with his blade, but I was able to dodge out of the way in time. From there, I was back to running. Two men in heavy armor weren't going to catch up to someone in none.

More guards appeared from around corridors, but none were fast enough to catch me. I'd made sure of that. My axe was in its bracelet form, and I upgraded it considerably after today's traveling with Khana.

Still, I wasn't here to fight, and definitely not to kill. That meant I couldn't go through the front door, which had three guards waiting there. Instead, I went in the opposite direction, up the stairs.

With my attack and strength, breaking through the window and jumping outside was easy. The landing was a little rough, but I was able to roll on the ground and keep running.

"Hngh!" I barely held back a yell as an arrow pierced my right shoulder. Slow or not, these guys were at least somewhat competent at their jobs.

It didn't take long to reach the wall of the property. With the darkness all around, I wasn't concerned about changing my weapon's form to the Rope Axe. One toss of it and I was pulling myself over the wall.

"Damn it!" I cursed under my breath. Another arrow hit me in the same damn shoulder.

I got over the wall and kept on running. Since I was on the opposite side of the main gate, they had no chance of catching up to me.

~The Right Man~

"All according to plan."

I sat on one of the beds in our room. Rato was behind me, examining the damage from the arrows. I didn't want to pull them out, since I wasn't exactly an expert with these sorts of things and couldn't see what I was doing. Climbing through the window with them in could very well have done more damage, but magic and stats made it harder to be sure.

"Do I even want to know what happened?" Rato asked as she gently pulled out one of the arrows.

"Probably not." I had to resist the urge to shrug. "I'm sure this goes without saying, but don't tell Khana and the others about this."

"Of course." She said, the second arrow coming loose. She then began to heal me.

I'll admit, this probably wasn't the best idea, but I didn't have a lot of good options. After the first night, I spent two additional nights casing the manor and trying to think up any other plans. Nothing really changed, and what I came up with seemed like the best I could do without changing something.

I was able to make use of one of Nelshen's spies to follow the noble throughout the day. He really was being cautious, never being alone anywhere. I had a small hope he would visit some brothel or something, a place I could get at him alone, but no such luck. Yeah, he was married, but still.

In the end, I opted for a little chaos. Eddy found it was a good way to reset the board if only unfavorable options were available. Admittedly, he was much better at predicting outcomes from this sort of thing, but I think I had a handle on it. There were a few things the noble could do now.

He might move to another location. Someone broke into his manor while he and his family were home. No one who was sane or smart would do that, and the perpetrator wasn't caught, so it might happen again.

He might remain there and strengthen security. A noble wouldn't take kindly to having his home burglarized. Honor and all that.

Those were the two most likely outcomes of this, with some variation. I'll have to meet up with the spy when I get back here with Khana tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have something better to work with.

~The Right Man~

Another day of travel, another day closer to Zeltoble. We were making great time on Hailey, and getting a decent amount of levels as well. I'd definitely reach level 50 before separating from Khana. It might happen before we reach Zeltoble.

I was able to reveal quite a few weapon forms, though most were just for stat or skill bonuses. Nothing to replace a main weapon yet. I did get Second Chop from another dragon hybrid, the next in the sequence after Erst Chop, so that was nice.

We met back up at the inn, compared progress, and had a good time in general. When night came and we parted for sleep, I went up with Rato to the room, changed, and promptly climbed out the window.

When I got to the ground in the alley behind the inn, a hooded man was waiting for me.

"So?" I asked.

"The wife and children have moved somewhere else for now, along with a few guards and household staff." Nelshen's spy told me. "The lord remains in his home."

"Huh." Looks like it was a little of both. He wasn't one to run away, but wanted to secure his family's safety. That, or they were worried and he wanted to give them some peace of mind.

That worked out just fine for me. It opened up some of my options, though probably not as much as I thought.

In any case, after hearing what the spy had to say, I made my way to the manor. I could only do this today or tomorrow, unless I wanted to try it on the day of the vote. Skipping a day of travel wasn't preferable and might draw suspicion. It was better to try now, possibly fail, and then try again tomorrow if necessary.

Just like before, I was in all black with my weapon in its bracelet form underneath my sleeve. Unlike before, I had something else stashed in my belt.

The biggest problem for me would be making it look like an assassination that wasn't done with an axe. Fire magic was a possibility, but I only had it at Faust tier; learning from the books was pretty slow going. Boosting it would only do so much, and burning a corpse wasn't exactly stealthy. Therefore, I made a call and cashed in some of my credit.

Special: Weapon Restriction Lifted

The XP and levels gained from Faubrey's Wave were no good for my goddess's plans. They were from this world, but also sort of not; tainted, I guess. But she was able to use them to give me little alterations or bonuses, namely removing the Vassal Axe's restriction about using other weapons. It didn't cost too much—though I couldn't really base that on much, seeing as I didn't know what the biggest thing I could exchange them for was. I'd see what else I could get after the next Wave.

But for the here and now, I had a dagger to kill the noble with. So long as no one saw my face, there wouldn't be any suspicion about me killing this guy. Not a problem…or so I thought.

When I reached the manor, I saw more guards outside than last time. The main gate was still guarded by the normal two, but there were 10 guards patrolling outside and guarding the building. The noble must have been on the lookout for the thief who stole from him. Well, I was about to take something else of his tonight.

Damn, that's nostalgic. Eddy and I would make those kinds of dumb jokes when we first started out. Mia, too, but those usually involved sex.

I didn't have any doubts about what I was doing, in the grand scheme of things. Whatever I did that helped me out here would ultimately get me to my goal. Killing a single noble? A bargain for borrowing some Yggdrasil Elixir and getting on the good side of a nation's leader. His children would grow up without a father, and that sucked, but it wasn't like I never did that before.

That didn't mean I would go out of my way to make orphans. All I needed was the noble. His guards would be able to see their children again; the ones who had any, at least.

Sneaking in again wasn't difficult, despite the added security. My previous entry point—which was also my previous exit point—was guarded now. However, I had a bit of luck on my side. You'd think having your home broken into would make you and any servants more cautious, but some servant left open a window on the second floor. The window I went through the previous night was the only one that had an overhang I could hook my Rope Axe to and allow me to open and enter through.

Once inside, I looked around and listened. This was a guest room, one not in use. A pair of beds, night stands, and a single dresser were the main items in the room.

I went to the door, checking for anyone on the other side. There was no one. Opening it, I crept into the hall. I would need to get to the middle of the manor to get up to the third floor.

The hall wasn't ideal. It wasn't that well-lit, but there wasn't anywhere I could hide easily, aside from ducking into a room and hope opening the door didn't alert anyone. That included a potential person on the other side.

Thankfully, no guards came this way. I was able to get to the other end of the hall, opening into the foyer. All I had to do was go around to the second set of stairs leading…

"Ah." I let my voice out a little at the sound of bowstrings being pulled. Down on the first floor were another dozen-some guards, along with the man I was looking for.

"Would you care to come down and speak with me?" The noble asked from the center of his group of guards. The four behind him had their bows trained on me. "I can assure you doing otherwise will not end well for you."

There wasn't really much choice in the matter. If I fell back now, I had the sneaking sensation the guards outside would find their way to the open window. This was a trap. Man, I got rusty…

I stood up straight and calmly walked to the stairs leading down. The bowmen kept me in their sights, along with the other guards. Slowly, I went down the stairs. No one took their eyes off me.

The collection of guards was a mix of humans and demi-humans, but no therianthropes. Their pay would probably be much higher, considering there weren't a huge amount of them in the city and their stats would be better. Four men and women in the front with swords and shields, a pair of halberdiers on both flanks, and the two next to the noble being what I could only assume were armored mages, plus the four archers in the back.

"Halt!" One of the guards up front called out as I reached the bottom. "Raise your hands!"

I smiled, though the black cloth over my face prevented anyone from seeing that. "No."

Before the guard could complete his yell, the noble let out a chuckle. "You are no thief. At least, that was not your intention. Might I assume you were sent here by our chancellor to kill me?"

He was human, same as about a quarter of the senate, or so I was told. Not that that had anything to do with why Nelshen wanted him dead. Probably. The two of them simply came into conflict more often than not when it came to policy.

"You might." I wasn't about to admit it, but there really wasn't any denying it. Not when we were having a standoff in his manor like this.

The noble nodded. "You are also no shadow, though you dress similar to one. I am almost offended someone more skilled was not hired."

"I'm skilled enough." I said. The guards looked ready to attack at a moment's notice, so I was preparing to do the same.

"By your demeanor, I can tell you are no mere hired killer." He said. "Perhaps the chancellor offered you something of great value. A position as a retainer, maybe?"

"That's definitely a bonus." I ran my hand over my pocket, causing the guards to bristle, though they did nothing else.

"She will not be in office much longer." The noble shook his head. "Especially not when the people learn of this assassination attempt. Perhaps even sooner than that."

I smiled just a little bit wider. "It sounds like you're about to make an offer."

"It is not how I usually conduct myself, but the circumstances have presented an opportunity."

"Killing the Hammer Hero's friend isn't something I'm going to do." My friendship with Khana just made that option even more out there. The potion and getting in good with the current leader were better than potentially allying with whoever replaced her and no potion. Too many variables.

The noble hummed. "Then here is my proposal: publicly declare what you have attempted here, as well as who your employer is. Accept a slave seal to ensure honesty, and so that I may keep you from seeking retribution for any slight you may feel from this. Then, leave Shieldfreeden forever. I promise, this leniency is the best you could hope for."

"Heh. I don't doubt that." That really was a good offer. If I were anyone else, I'd be tempted to accept it.

The problem, however, was that I didn't trust him for a second. He was a noble, a politician. Not only did that make him untrustworthy, I didn't trust my intuition on whether or not he was lying about anything he said. Assuming the worst, he'd either force me to kill Nelshen or keep me around to do his bidding.

If I wasn't a hero, that is.

As if sensing my unwillingness, despite not being able to see most of my face, he spoke up again. "Choose your next words carefully, assassin."

I did choose my next words carefully. Meaning, I said nothing at all. With a flick of my wrist, the Vassal Axe appeared in my hand. This wasn't going to be pretty, so I immediately used the Axe of Rage.

The noble's eyes widened, and he yelled not even a second later. "The Star Axe Hero! Kill him!"

A reasonable response. Being a hero meant I was strong, and that I couldn't be subjected to the slave seal. Moreover, I had even less reason to choose a senator over the chancellor. The fact that he considered all that so quickly spoke volumes about his wit. That, or he wanted the Axe to belong to someone loyal. Either or.

The archers behind him let loose their arrows. Even before he called out, I raised my arms in defense. At this range, they weren't going to miss unless they were incompetent, and they weren't. Two arrows bounced off the axe blade protecting my head, one pierced somewhere around my stomach, and the last went through my arm, about where my heart was. Axe of Rage or not, I wasn't going to survive long with an arrow in my brain or heart.

With that short barrage over, I dashed toward the group.

"Erst Chop V!" The first to go was one of the classic soldiers, his shield doing next to nothing against an improved curse series weapon. The second was the woman next to him. "Second Chop V!"

Despite my fast movements, these guards were professionals, and they were on me immediately. First were the remaining two sword-wielders. They brought down their blades in a slash. The one to my right was easy enough to block with my axe. For the other one, I had no other choice but to use my arm. While I cast Faust Guard before entering the property, it had already worn off. My defense was good with the Axe of Rage equipped, but not enough to come out of that without some damage.

The halberdiers thrusted at me with the spikes on their weapons, forcing me to jump back. Even if those weapons had more rounded stats, their attack stat wasn't that much lower than normal swords, from what I was able to figure out.

"Faust Fire Shot!"

"Faust Aqua Shot!"

That gave the two mages enough time to finish casting their spells. I could only assume they chose lower tier spells for the quicker casting time in such a small area. The water was easy enough to block with my axe, but the fire hit me square in the chest. The healing provided by the Axe of Rage was quite welcome right now.

My thankfulness was doubled when I got peppered with another round of arrows, since I removed myself from melee with the others. I was moving fast enough that they wouldn't be able to hit my head as easily, so that was a plus. Still, I wasn't going to keep away. The guards would just advance and try to keep me from their boss, so I had to take the fight to them.

"Uproar VII!" I activated my quasi-berserker skill, increasing my stats. I'd have rather used Cleave first to thin them out some more, but the damage from them would be too much for comfort. These guys must have gone through a class up if they were still dealing this much damage to me, even without my armor.

Two of the halberdiers tried to go around and flank me while the other four remaining melee combatants kept themselves between me and the noble. But that was fine. That just meant I had to go for those two first.

I lunged to the one at my left, taking a glancing wound from the tip of his weapon before I cut deep into his chest, killing him. Before the other one could rush me, I whipped around and threw my axe at him, embedding it in his chest as well.

Yeah. I applied the Throwing Axe's effect Returning to the Axe of Rage. It was a good effect, and the Axe of Rage had enough Hammer method slots that I didn't worry too much about it. Maybe I would need to use it against something strong that stayed in the air. Maybe I thought it would look cool as hell to see a red and black axe whirl in the air. I was ordered to have some fun, after all, and it was useful.

The Axe returned to my hand just before the archers let loose another round at me, giving me enough time to block them. The four remaining fighters didn't advance, likely too scared after seeing me kill their comrades in one strike each. The mages were in the process of casting their spells, so they seemed like good targets.

I flung the Axe again, killing one of the mages instantly and knocking him into one of the archers and sending her to the ground. The melee fighters got their courage back and charged, though my axe flew past them to return to my hand first.

I swung it down from overhead at one of the sword wielders. The two halberdiers were quick to react, bringing up their weapon to intercept. Surprisingly, it worked. The two halberds came together at an angle, allowing them to brace against the slash. The swordsman took the opportunity to slash my chest, spraying blood on the floor.

"Grah!" I yelled out and slammed my fist into his face. That attack from him cut my HP down by 10%. Armor made a huge difference, especially since I didn't have a huge amount of time to gather materials to improve this weapon form.

With my axe pulled back, I was able to deflect the swing from the other swordsman. My stats were still much higher, allowing me to bring my weapon back up faster and cut him down.

One swordsman, two halberdiers, one mage, and four archers. That's all that was left to defend the noble.

"Guards!" He called out, trying to get the attention of the ones outside. It wouldn't help.

"Cleave V!" As soon as Uproar ended, I stepped into range of the remaining melee fighters and struck them all down with my next skill. They survived, but their wounds would keep them from getting back up right away.

"Guards! Get in here at once!" He called again. He didn't run, or turn his back to me. Instead, he pulled a dueling sword from his hip and readied it. Whatever kind of person he was, he wasn't a coward.

"Zweite Aqua Slash!" The remaining mage finished casting a more powerful spell, sending it my way.

I ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the spell. That put me in a position to receive another round of arrows, only one blocked by my axe this time. It would, however, be the last time they could do that.

I charged forward, intent on ending this now. The first archer crumpled to the floor with my attack. The second was too surprised, falling just as quickly. The noble thrust at me with his sword, cutting into my side, but a swift elbow to his head was more than enough to knock him back and to the ground.

The remaining archers and mage were defenseless against me, falling just as quickly.

"Guards!" He called out once more after her regained his composure from the blow to his face.

"They won't be coming." I told him, finishing off the surviving guards near me before I began hurling my axe at the ones further away.

"Why? What have you done!?" He demanded from his position on the ground.

"It won't matter soon." I said, approaching him slowly.

As I got closer, there was a certain look in his eyes. It wasn't one I saw often. The ones who saw me coming, that couldn't do anything to defend themselves, always begged and pleaded, hoping I would just change my mind. I never did, of course, no matter the reason or excuse they gave me.

This noble, however, didn't do that. Instead, he let go of his sword. Shifting on the ground, he got into a kneeling position, hands gripping his legs.

"Get on with it then." He said, his voice filled with a calm anger. More than that, he spoke as if he had authority, as if his words were what allowed me to kill him.

I raised my axe up. In the next second, I completed the swing. His head was split down the middle.

"Pity." I said as his body slumped to the side. "You might have been a good senator."

I meant that, too. Few people could face their death with pride.

With the fighting done, I switched my axe back into its bracelet form. There was plenty of time left for the Axe of Rage, my levels having given me a nice boost. This next part would just require something different.

There was no way I could just absorb all the bodies. That would immediately raise suspicion. The wounds would also show what type of weapon was used, even if the Axe of Rage had jagged edges and cursed flames to distort the wounds. No, there needed to be corpses. They just didn't need to be identifiable.

"All Faust Fire Shot VI!" And so, I cast a spell. The most I could get from those books for now was adding the 'All' modifier to it.

The first targets were the bodies. Powering up the spell with the Staff method—as well as all the practice I had while traveling improving them with the Claw method—made it so the bodies easily caught fire. Next was shooting the spell at various parts of the manor. Walls, floors, ceiling. It didn't matter. I was going to burn this place to the ground.

I had time to do this, but I wasn't going to try pilfering whatever was in the vault. With no word from the noble, the guards outside would probably check in soon. His wife took the kids out, as well as the younger members of the household staff, so unwanted collateral damage wouldn't be an issue. Maybe she or the noble thought they could be harmed in the ambush. Whatever the case, I was thankful.

Oh, and the reason why they didn't come sooner? The reason I knew the noble's calls for help were pointless? That was due to the silencing stone in my pocket that I borrowed from Nelshen, the one she used to keep both our meeting and the one including Khana private. I had one of her spies ask for it when it became clear this job would be a little tricky.

The stone wasn't perfect. It would keep noise in an area contained, but it took a couple seconds to expand and contrast, especially with movement. It also didn't last that long, a few minutes at a time before it needed to recharge.

Originally, the plan was to sneak to the noble's bedroom, turn it on, then quickly get in and kill him with the dagger. Spending the XP from those Wave monsters felt like a bit of a waste now…

Whatever. It didn't matter now. The job was done. A little sloppy, sure, but it was my first time doing it in a medieval fantasy world. Aside from when I rescued Rato, but that was different.

With the fires spreading nicely, I quickly got up to the second floor and looked out the broken window. The guards noticed the lights and began moving around the building to the nearest door.

Just like last night, I went out the second-story window, though far more carefully this time. A quick rappel down with the Rope Axe and I was running to the walls.

Author's Notes:

Not going to lie, part of what kept me from updating this story was how to proceed with the assassination. I had some bullet points on it, but then realized they weren't going to work out with how I wanted characters and relationships to go, so I was a bit stuck. Kinda regret making that plot point.

Honestly, I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but, hey, it doesn't need to be perfect. I've got a whole bunch of other stuff I want to do in this story, and I won't be able to do any of it if I'm stuck here, so I gotta push on through!

Also, I'll probably put out a few more chapters for this story, but I wanted to let people know now of an upcoming idea I had. Since NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is coming up in November, I plan on doing something. Nothing set in stone, but I was thinking I push myself to make daily 1,000-word chapters for 1 or 2 fics I've been planning. (Not combined; 1 chapter, 1,000 words per day.) During that time, I won't be updating my usual fics.

First is a Shield Hero X Overlord (game) crossover, where Naofumi is basically brought in to be the new overlord soon after his trial. It'll be a little (a lot?) AU with a mix of Vassal Weapons from that world and Glass's world, and probably a harem fic. Not really sure, it's just an idea I've had for a while and wanted to have fun with it.

Second is a Familiar of Zero fic with a character summoned from an original story I'd worked on a bit (and haven't seriously worked on for about 4 years; nothing published). The twist is it's Tabitha who summons him. Maybe a little slow in the beginning to establish characters before speed-running things a bit.

I'm not sure how much I'll work on those 2 after November. If they're really liked, I'll devote more time to them.