Chapter 62: CH61: Arrival at House of Death HQ
***
CH61: Arrival at House of Death HQ
After my successful hit on Anrod Larson, the taxi took me to one of Landrose City's many parks.
The cool scent of nature did wonders in cooling my raised nerves. I sighed as I took a seat on a bench.
Being an Assassin or an Operative, one thing never changes while on a mission. Your nerves are always raised as anything in the plan could go wrong and put you in danger. You always had to be ready for that eventuality.
Only after the mission is complete and you make a successful getaway can you release your breath.
It's always draining every time if I had to confess.
Anyway, I opened my Organisation comms crystal and informed Navia of the successful hit. After which, I waited for some minutes before the acknowledgement came from the organisation.
Their people had confirmed the hit as well.
[Agent Zero]
-Bio-
Call name: The Fool
Rank: Outer member. (Pending Initiation)
Active: 3 years.
Activity Area: Landrose City, Bayveth Republic.
Recruiter: Lord DarkBlade.
-Record-
Expertise: Unknown.
Infamy: Mysterious Agent in Landrose City of Bayveth Republic
Signature: The Fool's Death Card.
Contracts Accepted: 27.
Contracts Completed: 27.
Merit Points: 20.3
***
A few things has changed in my organisation profile.
While I'm still an outer member because I had not gone through the initiation, the organisation has decided to recognise my call name due to my good work and Navia's efforts.
I've only done two contracts with Navia as my Broker, yet I've almost made the same number of merits that I did in 25 missions without a broker.
Sure I know the two missions I did after getting Navia can't be compare to the missions I did prior, but still... 25 mission earned me around 11 merit points while the next 2 mission earned me almost 9 points. Isn't the disparity between having and not having a broker too much.
Anyway, the other thing on my profile is the Signature I registered.
After ruminating about it with Navia, we agreed that I should use an item to mark my targets.
I didn't want to limit myself to one weapon type nor did I want to limit the ways I could kill someone. In that case, since a signature was necessary, I'd leave a unique item on the targets to mark the kills as mine.
Fortunately, the {Vault of Knowledge}'s [Customization & Design] feature came in handy.
I designed the Fool's Death Card.
The card had an image on both sides.
One side had the image of a hooded skeleton holding a scythe. A cliché portraying of death or a reaper, I know. But the cliché is exactly what I needed so people got the message.
The top rim of the image, I put the words 'Messenger Of' while at the bottom rim, I put 'Death'. The words were written in a beautiful but eerie cursive writing.
The other side had the picture of a suited man with a white Jester mask seated on a throne with his right leg crossed over the left, his right elbow was on the chair rest and his chin was placed on his right fist. There was a small eagle perched on the back rest while a black wolf laid to the side of the throne at his feet.
Yeah, you guessed it, it was an image of the Fool, Fen and Grif.
Navia was worried that putting our images out there made people know who or what to look for. However, that's exactly what I wanted.
I want people to be looking for a guy in a white Jester mask (mind you, there are lot of people wearing such a mask), a golden eagle and a black wolf.
People looking for the Fool would be looking for these identifiers.
Interestingly, I have never showed myself to people on my missions. And whenever I did have to interact with people, I did so as Alex Fury.
So, anyone looking for a guy in a Jester mask would have difficulty finding me.
Of course, I intend to appear in public with the Jester mask on, but that will be in high profile hits just to draw further attention to the mask and away from Alex Fury.
As for revealing Fen and Gandr's images, that's even less of an issue. They'll be linked to the Fool eventually so it doesn't really matter whether it happens now or later.
The most important thing is that I control the narrative.
'The Fool has a golden eagle and a black wolf pet'.
It won't affect my daily life as Leo Xander, nor in fact would it affect my operations as Alex Fury because, like Gandr, Fen and Grif can hide in my shadow. So, I'll only be releasing them when I need them.
So, when everyone is on the lookout for a guy in a suit with a jester mask possibly accompanied by an Eagle and a black wolf, I could wear something else and put my preparations in place without anyone being the wiser.
Designing and printing the cards didn't cost much. They only cost me 10 MP per deck of 54 cards. I ended up putting in an order for 10 decks for a total 100 MP.
That was when I realised that MP weren't the only things I needed.
To make the cards unique and unforgeable, I had to insert an energy form no one on Arun could replicate. I.e. Astra Energy.
Each deck required 1 low-grade stone to print.
This seemed like a rip-off, but I could only suck it up and accept it. It was a good thing the Grand Tree gave me some Astra Stones so I was able to pay.
I understood that the {Vault of Knowledge} not only needed Mischief Points but also Astra Stones when materialising Items.
I had a nagging feeling this was a way to check my use of the Blessing as well as the production of Astra Stones in my {Fool's Territory}.
Like that, I lost 10 Low-grade Astra Stones from my stash of 100.
-
I shifted my attention from the organisation comms crystal to my Interface window.
[Target: Anrod Larson]
Details: House of Death Provisional True Member Contract.
Type: Elimination
Special Requirements: Not Specified. Revenge.
-
{Reward Calculation}
Innocents killed: None.
[Notice: Condition to receive Queen's favour reached.]
*Queen's Favour*
-Stealth-
No. Of Witnesses: 0
No. Of Disruptions 0
Surveillance:
[Notice: Stealth Points = 0]
-Aggression-
No. of innocents harmed: 0
[Notice: Aggression Points = 0]
Rating: Stealth Point = 0
Aggression Point = 0
Rating = Silent Assassin
Queen's Favour = +5 Attribute Points.
[Contract Evaluation]
Target Killed: 100 Exp
Difficulty: C (+40%Exp)
Queen's Favour Bonus: +100%Exp.
Final Multiplier = ( 40%Exp + 100%Exp)
= +140%Exp
Exp Earned = 100 Exp + 140%Exp
= 240 Exp
***
The experience grind continues. That was more Experience points to my status.
'Open Status'
{Status.}
[Leo Xander.]
Race: Prime Human
Title: World Challenger, The Fool
Alias: Agent Zero, Cub of Lionheart.
Age: 18
Life Path (Primary): Assassin.
Tier: Tier II (Hired Killer)
Promotion Exp: 490/15000 ➡️ 730/15000
---
[Attributes-]
(Physical)
Physique: 50
Dexterity: 45
Mind: 50
[Notice: Average Limit for Homo sapiens is 10 in all parameters.]
Attribute Points: 18
-
(Blessing)
Love Partners: 1
Lover: Navia
Charm: 60/100
Mischief Points: 55,000 MP ➡️ 54, 900 MP
---
[Blessings]
(Active)
-Mask of Loki (Equipped.)
-Joker's Trump Card (Assigned).
-Vault of Knowledge.
(Passive)
-Bind of Love
-The Queen's Favour.
-Poison Master
(Incarnation)
-Destroyer (Unavailable) ➡️ Fen (Instrument of Destruction)
-World Serpent ➡️ Gandr (Supreme-grade World Serpent)
-Trusty Steed (Unavailable) ➡️ Grif (Eagle-Griffon Beast)
I was satisfied with what I had on my status page.
I looked around and confirmed no one was nearby. At this moment, I decided to test out a Blessing I hadn't used since I got it.
{Joker's Trump Card}.
The Blessing teleports me to a prior determined location. Before the fall guy job, I had assigned my room in the Elite Camp as the designated location.
-
The scenery around me flashed and I found myself in my room.
There was no feeling of discomfort nor vertigo. It was a pretty convenient Blessing. It was great for escaping sticky situations.
If there's a drawback, it's that I could only use it once every 2 days. The timer resets after two midnights so it's not exactly 48 hours.
Anyway, I can use more of it as long as I have Mischief Points. It's just that unlike the no-limitation trump card I get every two days, the price of the Blessing in the Vault changes with distance and situation.
The House of Death initiation will be held two days later or else I'd never have wasted a saving grace like that.
-
Two days passed in a hurry.
I still hadn't spent my MP on anything from the Vault.
MP was limited at the moment so I didn't want to spend it on just anything. I've been looking through the offering in the Vault's listings and jotting down the items that interests me. I've also been learning the kinks of the Vault.
I think I'll be ready to purchase something when I return from the Initiation.
BTW, I introduced Grif and Fen to Zora these two days. As expected, the little lass fell in love with them.
Fen was a lady-killer in its White Form. Its rest mode looks adorable while the softness of its Battle mode made people just want to hug it. As for Grif, it's Griffon Form was an unknown creature in this world so it got a lot of attention from everyone.
Be it Fen or Grif, they accepted Zora easily, however for some reason, they wouldn't allow anyone else touch them.
Ella suffered some scratches from the two before she learned her lesson. Of course, the girl blamed me for it.
Anyway, I left the two with Zora when I left the Guild Estate for the Initiation.
I told them I was heading to the surrounding towns to acquire herbs for my soon-to-be unveiled research laboratory. In reality, I headed to the Charwell Mall to meet up with Navia who would take me to the Initiation venue.
I had no qualms leaving Fen and Grif behind. If I ever needed them, I could always summon them. I took Gandr along in its inanimate form to ensure I at least had a weapon on me. Can't be too careful. I'm meeting professional assassins after all.
*
Navia and I had a change of clothes.
It was a wise decision to give her my graduation suit when she came to visit. It would've been conspicuous if I went to 'look for herbs' in a dashing suit.
Navia made a few alterations to the suit. For one, the white shirt was changed for a black one. Some chain accessories were added here and there. It went from a dashing suit to an all-black suit which gave out a badass mysterious air.
I loved it.
Navia wore a black long dress with a brown jacket. It was simple, yet she looked so beautiful.
-
She led me to a storage area within the Charwell mall. There was a mana scanner at the door.
Interestingly, each person's mana vibrated at a specific frequency. It was like a unique biometric. A mana scanner scans and records this individual frequency and essentially acts like a biometric scanner/lock from my previous life.
Behind the door wasn't a storage area, but instead a corridor with a series of teleportation rooms. According to the names on the door, some rooms had teleportation portals to the other major cities in the Bayveth Republic while others had teleportation portals to the capital cities of the other countries in our region.
Navia led me to an unmarked door.
She once again used the scanner and gained entry to the room. There was a portal there, but it wasn't activated.
Navia fed a low-grade mana stone to a machine to the side and the portal lit up.
"Let's go."
We walked through the portal without hesitation.
*
I wasn't sure what to expect from the regional HQ of the House of Death. A hidden cave somewhere in the wildlands? An out-of-the-way mansion? An underground bunker in a major city? A large estate in an unknown town somewhere?
Well, I think I was close.
The location of the House of Death HQ turned out to be the first fortress humanity built in this region of the world. The fortress held a lot of history for mankind in our region.
However, that's all in the past. No one cares about it now.
Mankind has spread out and gone on to conquer this region and beyond. The once mighty castle, a bastion of humanity's struggle against the beast, has become a relic of the past no one cares about or looks after anymore.
Many people don't even know of its existence anymore.
I would also not recognise it if I hadn't seen the familiar insignia of an old division of the Hunter Union. According to the books I read while I was investigating this world, this division rose for the sole purpose of taking this region from the beasts who occupied it.
I'm sure this is the first fortress because the division only ever built one such fortress in our region.
The division lived and died on this fortress, giving a foothold for humanity to spread its dominion over the region.
Millions of humans died on this fortress and many more beasts as well.
I found it... interesting that the organisation would turn this fortress into its HQ, after all, it's literally a House of Death.
I accompanied Navia as we entered the HQ of the organization in the region, infamous as the Fortress of Dead Heroes, Azgul Fortress.
(To be continued...)
AUTHOR'S RAMBLING
We are back after a few days of rest to digest the first Volume. Volume 2 kicks off now.
We're more or less done with whatever world building I was doing. This volume should focus more on MC doing his thing.
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P.S: I'm desperate... really desperate. I'm so desperate that I'll make a queue of extra chapters for every new review I get.
P.S2: Please, your review should have substance, I don't even care if you criticize the book, just make sure it's not emojis only. That doesn't help me. Also, voting with power stones is important. It might seem like a small thing, but you'll really be doing me a huge favour.
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See you in the next chapter.
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