The Eternal Assassin

God damn it, Samantha, Asher thought, weaving his way through the throng of villagers as he tried to find the green and blue striped tent Elaina had told him about. Not only was it located in the center of the throng of people, but it apparently belonged to the man who was both the caravan's hide salesman, and the overall caravan leader.

Finally spotting the tent, Asher made his way through the crowd toward it. The village had quite a number of people who made a living hunting in the nearby forest, and it seemed the caravan leader was who they sold all their pelts to. Unlike most of the tents and stalls, this one was far larger and had a good half-dozen people working within, most of them on the younger side. Grabbing one of the workers that Asher could only assume was a merchant in training due to his lack of class, he had to raise his voice to be heard over all the people.

"I'm looking for Trellis Wealm! Know where I can find him?"

"Mr. Wealm is currently seeing a client," the boy said, a practiced and perfected smile plastered on his face despite Asher's dark expression. He had to be around high school age, but the boy presented himself like a professional. "Would you like assistance with any of our wares?"

"No thanks. Just point me in the direction of your boss and I'll take it from there."

The trainee merchant's smile finally cracked slightly, and Asher saw his eyes glance off to the side. Following his gaze, Asher spotted an armed man standing guard next to a large wagon that he could only assume was some sort of mobile office.

"Ah, thank you," he said, nodding at the boy and ignoring his sputtered warnings as he headed to the wagon. As he walked, he took in the man standing guard. He had a well-maintained longsword strapped to his waist and looked like he knew how to use it. His stance seemed relaxed, but his eyes never stopped scanning over the crowd, giving away the illusion that he wasn't on guard. Asher's Identify confirmed his suspicions.

[Swordsman] – 2/3 Elements

Not just a fighter, a fighter with an extra element. Asher realized he was grinning at the thought of fighting the man, and he quickly reined in his expression, focusing on his mission as he approached the man. Now was not the time to be smiling. Not after what Elaina had told him. He had more important things to deal with than testing himself right now.

As he got closer, the man's eyes focused on him, his hand moving to rest on the hilt of his sword.

"What do you w-" The man choked, his eyes bulging as Asher's fingers struck him in the throat through a compressed tunnel of space. He clearly hadn't been expecting Asher to attack him from nearly a dozen feet away, but that was the beauty of having Distortion as a skill. Normally, Asher wouldn't have just attacked someone like that without warning. But if this guy was on Trellis' payroll as the man's own personal guard, he had no sympathy for the swordsman after what Elaina had revealed to him. He'd tried not to strike too hard, so hopefully he hadn't just accidently killed the man by crushing his windpipe.

Stepping past the gurgling swordsman busy coughing and gasping for breath on the ground, Asher entered the wagon. He let the door swing shut behind him before locking it and turning to look at the two surprised faces.

On the far end of the wagon, sitting behind a large desk that looked like it was worth more than what Samantha said she made in a year, was a round, portly man wrapped in thick furs. Trellis, Asher presumed, was in the middle of pointing out something amongst a large stack of papers fanned out upon his desk when Asher walked in. According to his Identify the man was a merchant, also with two different elements to his name.

On the other side of the desk was Samantha, the usually energetic hunter currently sitting with her shoulders hunched, looking like she'd rather be anywhere but there. When Asher walked in, she turned to look at him in shock, her wide eyes shimmering with moisture.

"Who are you? Davis! Davis, come here!" The caravan leader shouted, his gaze hardening as Asher moved forward to stand beside Samantha. Ignoring Trellis for a moment, Asher looked down at the first friend he'd made in this new world, his chest tightening at the state she was in as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Elaina told me everything," was all he said. Understanding flashed through Samantha's eyes, quickly followed by shame as the tears finally came forth. Whatever walls she'd built up over the years finally came crashing down as the hunter leaned into him and hugged his waist, sobbing hard into his shirt. Knowing everything she'd been through, Asher laid a protective hand on her head, turning to glare at the caravan leader still busy shouting for his guard. Asher didn't know why. If he'd had any intention of killing the man he would have been dead ten times over by now.

"Davis is indisposed at the moment," Asher finally said, cutting off the red-faced man before he could give himself a heart attack. "I came to talk about Samantha and her contract."

"What do you mean, 'indisposed?'" Trellis asked, paling slightly as he finally realized the predicament he was in.

"Not important right now. What is, however, is the fact that you've functionally been extorting Samantha for the past eight years. And because that wasn't evil enough, apparently you're about to collect her house as collateral?!" Feeling Samantha's grip tighten around his waist as she continued sobbing, Asher had to take a deep breath to stop himself from gutting the caravan leader right then and there. If Elaina hadn't warned him about the powerful people Trellis had backing him, he very well might have. "Samantha and her brother have lived in that house for their entire lives. How could you possibly do something so heartless?"

"Whether or not something is heartless is beside the point," Trellis scoffed, the anger returning to his voice when he deduced that Asher wasn't there to kill him. "I lent the girl a substantial amount of shards to pay off her parents' debts after they died and to help her take care of her remaining family, and she hasn't been able to pay back what was owed. She's the one that put the house up for collateral, not me."

"She was sixteen!" Asher shouted, visibly trembling at the fact that the man could say something like that with a straight face. "Not to mention, I heard from a trusted source that Samantha's already paid off more than triple what she originally borrowed from you over the eight years you've been tormenting her. And now you want her house?"

"Yes, that's how interest works. Perhaps you should enroll in a local school if you can afford it," Trellis sneered, flinching as Asher's fingers twitched toward his daggers. Gesturing to the papers strewn across his desk, he gave Asher a pitying smile. "According to the contract she signed, as the lender, if I don't receive the listed payment we both agreed upon each month, then I am legally entitled to her house. She wasn't able to make her payment this month, so her dwelling is forfeit."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"She was kidnapped by a… Fine, how much does she owe you?" Asher demanded, realizing that trying to appeal to the man's empathy was a wasted cause. Trellis wouldn't care about the fact that she'd spent half the month trapped inside a wizard's tower, unable to work toward paying off his outrageous sums. "How many shards?"

I have a decent number of shards after all, and we have two enchanted weapons between us. I'm sure those have to be worth something.

"Oh, she doesn't pay me in shards," Trellis said, wagging a finger as if reading his thoughts. "I'm a pelt merchant after all. The contract stipulates she can only make payments toward her debt by bringing me pelts. I can make quite the profit selling the hides and furs from this forest over in the capital. And even if I wanted to bend the rules and take something else as payment, I've already thought up some plans for her house, so don't even bother."

Asher took a deep breath, glancing down at the sniffling hunter still clinging to him, her expression hidden against his shirt. He imagined Brian's face when Samantha broke the news to him that they have to move out of the only home they'd ever known. He looked at the smug merchant sitting before them, and rather than the deep, burning rage he would have expected, a strange calmness washed over him.

"It's alright, Asher," Samantha mumbled, looking up at him from her seat with a strained grin, her lips trembling. "I've already talked to some of our neighbors. One of them will let us stay with them for a bit until I can get something figured out. We'll have a roof over our heads."

"There, see? The girl is fully prepared to take responsibility for her own actions. Rather commendable I say," Trellis nodded, leaning back in his chair. "That said, unless you are prepared to make her payment for her with pelts, I demand you leave my wagon this instant and allow us to finish up our transaction."

Asher stared at the relaxed merchant, imagining running his dagger straight into the man's throat like he'd done to the demon back in his tower. The act wouldn't even take him two seconds. It didn't seem fair that such a weak, spineless man seemed to hold so much power over Samantha. He'd thought this new world filled with magic and monsters played by different rules, but he supposed some things never changed.

But that didn't mean he couldn't help.

"Fine. You only deal in pelts. What would it take to pay off Samantha's loan? And I don't mean the amount due for this month, but all of it." Asher said, leaning forward and making sure Trellis saw just how serious he was. "Surely there is some sort of magical animal with a pelt worth more than a tiny house sitting on the edge of the kingdom?"

"A single pelt worth more than a house?" Trellis repeated, snorting and placing his hands behind his head as he leaned even further back in his chair, threatening to tip it over. "Sure, if you can bring me the fresh pelt of an awakened beast by the end of the day, I'd happily take that in place of the girl's home. I'll even pay for your funeral expenses," he added, sneering at Asher.

"I'll hold you to that." Grabbing Samantha's hand, Asher pulled the still sniffling hunter out of the wagon. A quick glance down at the gasping swordsman confirmed that the man was still alive, and based on the daggers he was shooting him with his eyes, Asher might need to watch his back for the next few days.

The two of them made it halfway back to Samantha's house before the hunter finally pulled away, rubbing away the last of her tears as she fixed him with her reddened eyes.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do here, Asher, I really do. But this is something even you can't fix. I've already come to terms with it. Brian and I will figure it out together, you don't need to get involved in our affairs any further. You've already done more than enough for us," she said, her hands balling into fists and beginning to shake slightly. "Besides, now that you've sold your goods, you're going to head to Whikoga and check out their library, right? No need to get roped up in all this right before you leave."

"Samantha, I'm not just going to abandon you and Brian when you're in danger of losing your childhood home," Asher said, gently taking one of the hunter's fists and squeezing it, eliciting a shaky breath from her. "We haven't known each other for long, but I care about the two of you. You guys are literally the only people in this entire world I know. If there's something within my power I can do to help, you better believe I'm going to try."

"That's sweet of you… but for once, this is something you can't help us with," Samantha said, a sad smile on her face as she squeezed his hand back. "That remark about awakened beasts was just Trellis' way of insulting you. Most hunters go their entire lives without encountering a single awakened beast."

"I saw one though, that first night after we escaped the wizard's tower," Asher said, grinning at the shock on Samantha's face. "An awakened panther approached the edge of our camp, but one of my skills scared it off. If you can show me on your map how to get back to that campsite, I can find the beast and take it down!"

"Asher, awakened beasts aren't just rare, they're extremely dangerous! Awakened beasts are animals that ended up absorbing naturally formed elements somehow. They gain skills just like we do, but use them with animalistic instinct. It would be one thing if you'd discovered an awakened rabbit or a deer, but a panther?" Her grip tightened, practically crushing his fingers as she looked up at him, her eyes beginning to shimmer once more. "Please don't do this. Don't risk your life again for our sakes. You already fought a flesh and blood demon because of us, Asher, it's too much to ask."

"Samantha, this is your home we're talking about! Even if there's only the slimmest of chances of me pulling this off, isn't that worth giving it a shot? You've already given up so much, what more do you have to lose?"

"You…" the hunter whispered, her voice so quiet that Asher thought he imagined the hushed word for a moment. Stepping closer, she gently put her arms around him, pulling him into a warm embrace. With her face pressed against his chest, she hiccupped, and Asher could barely make out her next words. "I'm already about to lose my house, Asher… I don't want to lose you too."

Looking down at the vulnerable hunter, Asher decided right then and there that he cared more about Samantha than he did about any potential danger coming from revealing his unique skills. They hadn't known each other for very long, but he'd enjoyed their days spent hunting in the forest together, and the evenings spent laughing with Brian and enjoying the two of their company had been some of the best times of his life. Not to mention there was something about escaping from an evil wizard tower together that had a way of bringing people closer together.

Returning her hug, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, feeling the trembling running through her body as she battled with the thought of losing him on top of her family home. Not wanting to see her suffer any longer, he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"I have a rather unique element that gave me two very powerful skills. Both passive. Both dedicated entirely to keeping me alive. I can heal just about any injury, and I promise you it will take more than an overgrown cat to put me down. You don't have to worry about me, okay?"

Making a noise that was half laugh, half sob, Samantha stepped back, giving him a weak grin and rubbing her bloodshot eyes. "I guess that explains how you healed your eye after we escaped the tower, huh? I'd just assumed you'd stolen a second potion or something." Letting out a sigh that sounded like it carried eight years of heavy emotions, she stared at him for a moment, giving him a look he couldn't quite figure out.

"Promise me you'll be okay," she finally said. "That even with your skills, you won't do anything too reckless. That's the only way you're getting the location out of me, so if you don't like it, you can just leave for Whikoga right now."

"I promise I'll come back," Asher said, taking her hand and giving it one final squeeze. Samantha didn't look all that happy with his wording, but she didn't let go of his hand. Shaking her head, she gave him one last pointed look.

"Fine. I'll give you the location of the campsite. But you better come back or I'll use every trick I've learned over the years to hunt down your corpse and kick your dead ass myself."