"Fuck!" Melvin cursed, "How did I not think of that."
He understood that the next time, whoever wanted to kill him would probably send someone at the Novice Tier, and the fact that he was almost killed by someone at Rank 8 of the Initiate Tier made things perfectly clear to him.
If he was attacked by someone at the next Tier, he would be done for.
"We need to get out of here first." He said, his gaze still etched on the corpse before him. He bent down and picked up the two long black daggers that belonged to the old assassin to see if there were any runes on them, but unfortunately, there were none. But he still took them with him as they were still good weapons, and judging from their materials, way better than his.
'Should I try the skill?' He suddenly thought, impatient to get a new skill of his own too. But when he remembered the cooldown period of a month he quickly dismissed such a risky idea.
Using his own dagger, he began cutting the man's clothes from several places. With several torn clothes on hand, he went to the room where he was writing and began cleaning his bloodied face and hands with a bottle of water.
Once he was done with that task, he put everything of value inside the bag and walked out.
Firrol was already waiting for him at the edge of the passageway leading to the door, and soon, the two emerged into the now well-lit but still empty alley and quietly left it behind as they ventured deep into the city.
Along the way, Melvin with a cigarette in hand and a hood covering his face, suddenly asked, "Where are we going by the way?"
In a quiet whisper, Firrol glanced up at him and said, "Well, you said we need to get stronger, so I'm taking you where you'll find those Deep Sea guild members."
'We need to get stronger?' Melvin thought in amusement, but he just smiled and didn't say anything about that. "Where to?"
Suddenly, Firrol said, "You've been staring at that woman's butt for a while now. Have you also forgotten that you should glance and look away?"
"What?!" Melvin unconsciously mumbled in shock, "I wasn't looking. I just got lost thought and I happened to be glancing in that direction."
"Quite a strange coincidence there. I know how you male humans are always captivated by women's buttocks, but I've never understood it. I see female cats all the time, and yet I don't get that urge." Firrol continued quietly discussing as he contemplated with himself.
"Ehh..." Melvin awkwardly murmured, and in attempt to get back on course, he asked again, "Where did you say we were going."
"Well, of course, to the source," Firrol smiled and continued, "The Deep Sea Guild's building. We'll stay close to it and watch from a distance."
"Is it safe?" Melvin asked, afraid they might get recognized or something.
"Yes, just don't be suspicious." Firrol expressed, and when he said that, he happened to glance at the man and saw his black cloak filled with blood spots, red-tinted hands, and face overly covered with a hood, and his previous smile froze. "Or maybe just... less suspicious."
"Alright!" Melvin said and dutifully followed after the beautiful cat.
Along the way, they talked about many things, and it was mainly him asking questions as he was curious about multiple things involving Firrol's life.
And the more he learned, the more intrigued he became. His life seemed to be a paradoxical mixture of simplicity and complexity.
On one hand he was a simple monster who lived his days as peacefully as he could, but on the other, Firrol was an intelligent monster, the first that Melvin had ever seen.
Moreover, the beginning of his story was shrouded in mystery as he would always avoid those questions.
Melvin suddenly remembered something that he had been contemplating and asked for more clarification, "Do you think it would be easy for me to run away from the city?"
"Hmm," Firrol murmured, thinking about the question deeply.
He then said, "I can go out whenever I want, and I always do because the port is very fun. But you..." He trailed here with a difficult expression. "It won't be easy. You'll need strength above the Novice Tier, otherwise, you'll just be courting death."
"That complicated?" Melvin asked and told him about how he found the southern city when he first came in.
"Well," He explained, "That was because of the ceremony, and even then, there was still a captain. And they are usually at the Novice Tier minimum."
"I see..." Melvin replied, his expression complicated as another hope crumbled away. He felt like the city was a giant free-range prison, and even more dangerous was the fact that several people were after him in this prison, aiming to end his life.
Even that Captain Cedric that he knew, he had learned from George that he was someone who knew their mothers, and so they didn't interact with him that much based on that fact. However, Melvin knew that he had to explore that angle more, and he was planning on doing just that.
The duo soon reached the building of the Deep Sea Guild. It was situated on the Eastern main road, very close to the main plaza.
As Melvin stood beside one of the buildings on the southern side of that street, his gaze was locked on one of the buildings opposite him.
The building stood tall with a wide gate as a door with people coming in and about from it.
"So, we will wait here?" He asked the cat to his right, who had already sat down in a comfortable position.
"Yes," said he, his eyes already closed shut before he slowly drifted off into a nap.
Heaving a sigh of helplessness, Melvin sat down close to him with his eyes glued to the building.
Needless to say, he was very bored, but at least he got an opportunity to bask in the sun light. He reckoned that Vitamine D was very important regardless of the different worlds.
As he was sitting down, legs crossed, a man briskly passed by in front of him, and dropped five copper coins on his lap.
'What?!' Melvin exclaimed in his mind after he turned his head to glance at the man. But he noticed nothing strange because the man just kept walking like usual.
'Hmm... It seems like I once again look like a beggar.' He thought, amused by the whole situation. But, then he figured that this was the perfect cover.
He knew that he looked a bit suspicious just sitting there, so he rummaged through his bag and quickly brought out his wooden mortar. He put it in front of him and put the five copper coins in it and continued waiting.
Hours passed by as the shade of the buildings quickly moved until it covered him, getting a much-needed break from the hot sun that drenched him in sweat. However, he didn't see the faces he was waiting for quite yet. Hundreds of people had passed through those doors, and yet none of them were the people he was looking for.
'Should I really go through with it?' He questioned himself, heart filled with doubts. He was already chased by a lot of forces, and adding a huge guild to the mix seemed like a really bad idea to him. But he needed their XP, and most importantly, the money he would steal from them to get a new class.
He stretched out his right hand grabbed Firrol's left arm and began gently tugging at it whilst saying, "Hey, wake up."
"Hiss!" The feline screamed, swiftly pulling his leg away and clawing at him, but he was prepared and quickly evaded, "I just want to ask something." He protested.
"What?" Firrol replied.
After Melvin explained his worries, Firrol quickly comforted, "Don't worry, we just have to not leave a clue that it was us, and we will be fine. After all, guilds always fight so things like that are somewhat expected, and I doubt they will connect you with the murder just because you had an argument with them yesterday."
However, Melvin wasn't so sure. Could there be such a coincidence in the world? Yesterday they attacked him in the plaza, and the morning after they were found dead. That was definitely suspicious.
"Who is their biggest enemy?" He asked, trying to think of some extra countermeasure to assure they wouldn't be coming after him.
"Oh?" The cat's ears perked up, as he stood up when he heard that, "You're going to do that?" He asked.
"If it's gonna be easy then why not just add it to the mix?" Melvin smiled and said.
"From what I heard," Firrol recounted, "Their biggest enemy is the Crimson Fang Guild. But.."
Seeing Melvin nodding and awaiting his words with intense focus, he added, "They're not stupid."
"What do you mean?" Melvin asked, unable to grasp his point.
"I heard that something like this once happened." Firrol clarified, "A second-tier guild tried to sow further discord between the two, and instead they became aware and banded together against it. In the end, they annihilated it in a single day."
Melvin sucked in a breath of cold air, shocked, "That extreme?" He muttered, unsettled by the notion of the destruction of a whole guild overnight in such a city with tight security.
Firrol sat down once again, his eyes locked on the guild's building, and said, "It's better this way. Just keep it simple, and keep them puzzled for a while. At the end of the day, those you're going for are still just Initiates, so there is only so much energy they would allocate to their death. You've seen how many people they have."
Processing that whole explanation, Melvin couldn't help but nod, he agreed with the cat completely.
It was then that he realized that Firrol's value to him at that stage wasn't solely in his combat ability, but his knowledge about the city and his willingness to help him. Of course, there was a price, but it was worth it, he reasoned.
The duo continued talking for a while before Firrol dozed off once again.
A few hours passed by, and Melvin's stomach was screaming in protest as he hadn't eaten anything in a long while. As much as he wanted to just walk down a few streets and grab something to eat, he didn't want to risk losing his targets. If Firrol knew what they looked like, he would have just left him, but Alas.
As he was marveling at his almost full mortar filled with both silver and copper coins, he heard a ruckus to his right. Turning around he saw a group of armored people walking in the middle of the main road shouting, laughing, and loudly talking amongst themselves without a care in the world.
The moment his eyes caught sight of the most obnoxious person in the group, his eyes widened in shock. "Oh shit!" he mumbled and hurriedly glanced down, "Quick, look to the right." He whispered.
Firrol's sleep was rather light, and so he immediately heard the urgency in his voice and did as he was told. "You said three, there are a dozen there." He replied back in a hushed voice.
Eyes still glued to the ground, afraid they might notice him as the altercation was too recent for them to forget, he continued in a whisper, "It's that short-haired man in the middle speaking, and the brown short-haired woman beside him with a bow. Then the tallest one of the group, the bald guy. Keep your eyes on them."
Step by step, Melvin could feel them slowly approaching him, but he didn't dare to look. However, to his horror, when the group reached the area on the main road directly before him, they halted their steps.
'What is happening?!' He thought, his heartbeat increasing. If he were to be noticed among such a huge group of people, he would be done for. At worst, they would try to kill him, and at best they would give him to the guards to be executed.
"Fuck!" Melvin cursed, "How did I not think of that."
He understood that the next time, whoever wanted to kill him would probably send someone at the Novice Tier, and the fact that he was almost killed by someone at Rank 8 of the Initiate Tier made things perfectly clear to him.
If he was attacked by someone at the next Tier, he would be done for.
"We need to get out of here first." He said, his gaze still etched on the corpse before him. He bent down and picked up the two long black daggers that belonged to the old assassin to see if there were any runes on them, but unfortunately, there were none. But he still took them with him as they were still good weapons, and judging from their materials, way better than his.
'Should I try the skill?' He suddenly thought, impatient to get a new skill of his own too. But when he remembered the cooldown period of a month he quickly dismissed such a risky idea.
Using his own dagger, he began cutting the man's clothes from several places. With several torn clothes on hand, he went to the room where he was writing and began cleaning his bloodied face and hands with a bottle of water.
Once he was done with that task, he put everything of value inside the bag and walked out.
Firrol was already waiting for him at the edge of the passageway leading to the door, and soon, the two emerged into the now well-lit but still empty alley and quietly left it behind as they ventured deep into the city.
Along the way, Melvin with a cigarette in hand and a hood covering his face, suddenly asked, "Where are we going by the way?"
In a quiet whisper, Firrol glanced up at him and said, "Well, you said we need to get stronger, so I'm taking you where you'll find those Deep Sea guild members."
'We need to get stronger?' Melvin thought in amusement, but he just smiled and didn't say anything about that. "Where to?"
Suddenly, Firrol said, "You've been staring at that woman's butt for a while now. Have you also forgotten that you should glance and look away?"
"What?!" Melvin unconsciously mumbled in shock, "I wasn't looking. I just got lost thought and I happened to be glancing in that direction."
"Quite a strange coincidence there. I know how you male humans are always captivated by women's buttocks, but I've never understood it. I see female cats all the time, and yet I don't get that urge." Firrol continued quietly discussing as he contemplated with himself.
"Ehh..." Melvin awkwardly murmured, and in attempt to get back on course, he asked again, "Where did you say we were going."
"Well, of course, to the source," Firrol smiled and continued, "The Deep Sea Guild's building. We'll stay close to it and watch from a distance."
"Is it safe?" Melvin asked, afraid they might get recognized or something.
"Yes, just don't be suspicious." Firrol expressed, and when he said that, he happened to glance at the man and saw his black cloak filled with blood spots, red-tinted hands, and face overly covered with a hood, and his previous smile froze. "Or maybe just... less suspicious."
"Alright!" Melvin said and dutifully followed after the beautiful cat.
Along the way, they talked about many things, and it was mainly him asking questions as he was curious about multiple things involving Firrol's life.
And the more he learned, the more intrigued he became. His life seemed to be a paradoxical mixture of simplicity and complexity.
On one hand he was a simple monster who lived his days as peacefully as he could, but on the other, Firrol was an intelligent monster, the first that Melvin had ever seen.
Moreover, the beginning of his story was shrouded in mystery as he would always avoid those questions.
Melvin suddenly remembered something that he had been contemplating and asked for more clarification, "Do you think it would be easy for me to run away from the city?"
"Hmm," Firrol murmured, thinking about the question deeply.
He then said, "I can go out whenever I want, and I always do because the port is very fun. But you..." He trailed here with a difficult expression. "It won't be easy. You'll need strength above the Novice Tier, otherwise, you'll just be courting death."
"That complicated?" Melvin asked and told him about how he found the southern city when he first came in.
"Well," He explained, "That was because of the ceremony, and even then, there was still a captain. And they are usually at the Novice Tier minimum."
"I see..." Melvin replied, his expression complicated as another hope crumbled away. He felt like the city was a giant free-range prison, and even more dangerous was the fact that several people were after him in this prison, aiming to end his life.
Even that Captain Cedric that he knew, he had learned from George that he was someone who knew their mothers, and so they didn't interact with him that much based on that fact. However, Melvin knew that he had to explore that angle more, and he was planning on doing just that.
The duo soon reached the building of the Deep Sea Guild. It was situated on the Eastern main road, very close to the main plaza.
As Melvin stood beside one of the buildings on the southern side of that street, his gaze was locked on one of the buildings opposite him.
The building stood tall with a wide gate as a door with people coming in and about from it.
"So, we will wait here?" He asked the cat to his right, who had already sat down in a comfortable position.
"Yes," said he, his eyes already closed shut before he slowly drifted off into a nap.
Heaving a sigh of helplessness, Melvin sat down close to him with his eyes glued to the building.
Needless to say, he was very bored, but at least he got an opportunity to bask in the sun light. He reckoned that Vitamine D was very important regardless of the different worlds.
As he was sitting down, legs crossed, a man briskly passed by in front of him, and dropped five copper coins on his lap.
'What?!' Melvin exclaimed in his mind after he turned his head to glance at the man. But he noticed nothing strange because the man just kept walking like usual.
'Hmm... It seems like I once again look like a beggar.' He thought, amused by the whole situation. But, then he figured that this was the perfect cover.
He knew that he looked a bit suspicious just sitting there, so he rummaged through his bag and quickly brought out his wooden mortar. He put it in front of him and put the five copper coins in it and continued waiting.
Hours passed by as the shade of the buildings quickly moved until it covered him, getting a much-needed break from the hot sun that drenched him in sweat. However, he didn't see the faces he was waiting for quite yet. Hundreds of people had passed through those doors, and yet none of them were the people he was looking for.
'Should I really go through with it?' He questioned himself, heart filled with doubts. He was already chased by a lot of forces, and adding a huge guild to the mix seemed like a really bad idea to him. But he needed their XP, and most importantly, the money he would steal from them to get a new class.
He stretched out his right hand grabbed Firrol's left arm and began gently tugging at it whilst saying, "Hey, wake up."
"Hiss!" The feline screamed, swiftly pulling his leg away and clawing at him, but he was prepared and quickly evaded, "I just want to ask something." He protested.
"What?" Firrol replied.
After Melvin explained his worries, Firrol quickly comforted, "Don't worry, we just have to not leave a clue that it was us, and we will be fine. After all, guilds always fight so things like that are somewhat expected, and I doubt they will connect you with the murder just because you had an argument with them yesterday."
However, Melvin wasn't so sure. Could there be such a coincidence in the world? Yesterday they attacked him in the plaza, and the morning after they were found dead. That was definitely suspicious.
"Who is their biggest enemy?" He asked, trying to think of some extra countermeasure to assure they wouldn't be coming after him.
"Oh?" The cat's ears perked up, as he stood up when he heard that, "You're going to do that?" He asked.
"If it's gonna be easy then why not just add it to the mix?" Melvin smiled and said.
"From what I heard," Firrol recounted, "Their biggest enemy is the Crimson Fang Guild. But.."
Seeing Melvin nodding and awaiting his words with intense focus, he added, "They're not stupid."
"What do you mean?" Melvin asked, unable to grasp his point.
"I heard that something like this once happened." Firrol clarified, "A second-tier guild tried to sow further discord between the two, and instead they became aware and banded together against it. In the end, they annihilated it in a single day."
Melvin sucked in a breath of cold air, shocked, "That extreme?" He muttered, unsettled by the notion of the destruction of a whole guild overnight in such a city with tight security.
Firrol sat down once again, his eyes locked on the guild's building, and said, "It's better this way. Just keep it simple, and keep them puzzled for a while. At the end of the day, those you're going for are still just Initiates, so there is only so much energy they would allocate to their death. You've seen how many people they have."
Processing that whole explanation, Melvin couldn't help but nod, he agreed with the cat completely.
It was then that he realized that Firrol's value to him at that stage wasn't solely in his combat ability, but his knowledge about the city and his willingness to help him. Of course, there was a price, but it was worth it, he reasoned.
The duo continued talking for a while before Firrol dozed off once again.
A few hours passed by, and Melvin's stomach was screaming in protest as he hadn't eaten anything in a long while. As much as he wanted to just walk down a few streets and grab something to eat, he didn't want to risk losing his targets. If Firrol knew what they looked like, he would have just left him, but Alas.
As he was marveling at his almost full mortar filled with both silver and copper coins, he heard a ruckus to his right. Turning around he saw a group of armored people walking in the middle of the main road shouting, laughing, and loudly talking amongst themselves without a care in the world.
The moment his eyes caught sight of the most obnoxious person in the group, his eyes widened in shock. "Oh shit!" he mumbled and hurriedly glanced down, "Quick, look to the right." He whispered.
Firrol's sleep was rather light, and so he immediately heard the urgency in his voice and did as he was told. "You said three, there are a dozen there." He replied back in a hushed voice.
Eyes still glued to the ground, afraid they might notice him as the altercation was too recent for them to forget, he continued in a whisper, "It's that short-haired man in the middle speaking, and the brown short-haired woman beside him with a bow. Then the tallest one of the group, the bald guy. Keep your eyes on them."
Step by step, Melvin could feel them slowly approaching him, but he didn't dare to look. However, to his horror, when the group reached the area on the main road directly before him, they halted their steps.
'What is happening?!' He thought, his heartbeat increasing. If he were to be noticed among such a huge group of people, he would be done for. At worst, they would try to kill him, and at best they would give him to the guards to be executed.
