This chapter is brought to you by I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy.

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Nine parried a strike and slashed at an opening. He lunged when he saw his opponent lose their footing. He took a slice to his arm and kicked him down. The man fell with a grunt and Nine kneeled over him with both his daggers pressed against his throat.

There was a moment of silence in the dueling field before his opponent slowly raised his hand.

"I yield!"

Raven called his win.

Nine stood up.

He sheathed his blades and walked over to Raven.

His opponent followed after him.

"Lord Arcadia."

Nine paused. He turned and saw that his opponent had taken out a handkerchief from his pocket and was offering it to him.

"For your hand."

Nine accepted the handkerchief with a nod.

"Thank you."

The man rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

Nine wiped the cut his opponent made. It was shallow and long, starting from his forearm and running halfway down to his wrist.

"Peregrine," Raven said with a frown, "You need solid stances. If your opponent was taller, you would have been killed."

The corners of Nine's lips curled downward.

"And you, Lord Arcadia," the man turned to him, "Do not risk a wound if there are safer measures. I know you value efficiency, but in the thirty spars you've been challenged to, only ten of them did you come out uninjured."

Nine blinked.

Raven sighed in response.

"Well, I expected you would win--"

"Hey!"

"--so here."

A long, dark crimson and hooded coat was shoved into his arms.

Nine stared at it for a moment.

Raven coughed. "Someone has hired a hit on a man from Ohmlet. You leave in the morning."

The words "be careful" were left unsaid.

---

Lark was a mercenary with many years under his belt. He had started off as a lowly sell-sword before giving his life and service to House Calypto.

As a Calypto mercenary, he has been the personal guard of Lord and Lady Calypto and fought in many battles throughout the years by his lord's side, protecting not only his life but also his honor.

If there was a brawl on the streets with the Monttevis, Lark was often one of the first to join.

He would do anything for the man who had brought him back his pride and love for the sword.

"I'm sorry... what?"

Perhaps Lark had thought himself above babysitting duty. He had been one of the most promising mercenaries of House Calypto, and so he was often guarding his lord. Lord Calypto had never once asked him to leave his side.

"You're sending me to do what?"

Standing in front of him, Lord Calypto was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"This will be my nephew's first mission. It will be a solo one. I want you to follow him and make sure nothing happens."

Lark felt his mouth open and close, but he couldn't find the words to describe how astonished he was by the order.

"You want me to supervise Cat's mission?"

Lord Calypto paused. Slowly, he asked, "Is that what you're calling Tobus?"

"I mean... we can't give him a bird name, can we? We heard he used to be a mouser..."

Lark thought back to that one time when Cat unceremoniously threw a bag full of live mice and rats in front of the new recruits without a word.

Raven shrieked, in a manly way, and loudly demanded Lord Arcadia to explain himself.

"Caught them. Your mousers don't know how to catch mice."

The kid assumed the responsibilities of mice catching fell on the recruits.

There was a long and drawn-out silence. Everyone stared at the kid like there was something wrong with him but in an endearing sort of way?

"--We haven't seen another rodent in the training grounds, since. But also, wasn't that his name in The Arena? Cat, the boy with nine lives or something?"

Lord Calypto looked like he was having an aneurysm.

Lark should stop talking.

"Just... keep him safe."

"Yes, my Lord."

---

The morning after began with Nine putting on the red hooded coat of the Calypto mercenaries and tying his hair into a tail.

The mission, according to the files given to him last night, would take about a week. The trip, itself, took up most of the time. A four-day travel north in the direction of the Capitol.

His target was a wealthy man who often cheated and abused his wife. A man in love with the wife ordered the hit.

Nine was posing as a traveler coming through town to celebrate the harvest festival. The wealthy man would be joining in on the celebration. The space would be crowded, and House Calypto was aware of a large purchase of fireworks made by the town treasurer.

It would be loud, so no one would hear the screams.

"Toby!"

Nine saw his kittens gathered in front of the entrance. They all looked at him with wide, teary eyes.

"Look at you, Tobus. Aren't you just popular?" Rasa appeared from behind the stairs with a sleepy Jovette in her arms.

"Everyone should be in bed," Nine pointed out.

It was still dark out.

Rasa pouted mockingly, "The kiddies didn't want to miss your departure. Say goodbye, Vetty."

"Nooooo!" Jovette cried out.

Her objection was the trigger. Soon, the rest of his children started to cry.

"Wahhhhh!"

"Don't go!"

"Toby! Nooooo!"

"Bad Toby! Don't leave!"

"Waaaggghhh!"

Duri's vocal cords were surprisingly resilient.

Nine hurried to comfort the children.

When they started to cry even louder, he sent Rasa a glare.

She shrugged. "It's hard being a single parent."

House Calypto was awoken by crying children at the break of dawn.

Nine didn't leave until mid-morning.

His send-off party consisted of his kittens, the cats, his cousins, his Lord Uncle and Lady Aunt, and Raven, for some reason.

He held the reigns of his horse tight and left through the gates of Vesna, setting course for the town of Ohmlet.

---

The harvest festival had already begun by the time Nine arrived.

He had taken to camping in the woods during his trip, hunting small prey for meals and stopping by rivers to fill his water bottle.

It was overall a very relaxing trip.

He had extra time to sharpen his blades and memorize the target's face.

The guards at the gates of Ohmlet merely glanced at his identification papers before letting him inside.

Nine tugged his hood over his head and joined the line of travelers.

He left his horse in a public stable designated for visitors. He flashed the stablemaster his visitor badge and was promptly given a space.

Nine checked into an inn and paid for a room. The inn was almost fully booked, and therefore, had many people inside. No one would notice a twelve wandering around. He took his room key and went upstairs.

He unpacked the clothes he brought with him. A simple shirt made from hemp instead of the usual silk and brocade, and a woolen coat due to the cooling weather.

Once he was dressed, he went downstairs and had a meal.

Two tables down from where he sat, heard two men talking to one another. They were loud, but the topic of their conversation was juicy gossip, and everyone pretended they weren't looking.

"Did you hear about Mrs. Maer?"

"What happened?"

"The women in the market spotted her with bruises."

"Again?"

"You heard the fight last night. Mr. Maer was caught with another woman."

What a wonderful coincidence for Nine. They were talking about his target.

But it was not a coincidence.

That was Lark and Wren pretending to be two drunken townspeople.

"He beat his wife and went to indulge in the women of the Rose Garden. I think I saw him bringing one with him to see the waters when I was lighting the lanterns earlier. Trying to see the sunset or whatnot."

"Which lady did he bring?"

"I wasn't close enough to see. She was dressed in blue and looked old enough to be his daughter."

Nine finished his meal and stood up.

He made a subtle gesture with his hand.

"We all know that, don't we?"

He heard Lark and Wren laugh as he left.

---

The Lake of Ohmlet was a tourist site that was popular with visitors and lovers.

Nine for his target, which Lark had said was with a young lady dressed in blue.

He scoured the area and pretended to watch the lake like most people were.

It was a large stilled body of water that didn't so much as ripple when a wind blew by.

Then, he saw them.

The blue dress and the man beside it.

They were within a crowd of other lovers.

How could he get close to them without anyone noticing--

"Child, are you alright?"

A man and a woman suddenly approached him and looked at him with concern.

"I'm sorry to bother you, child. I couldn't help but notice you looked lost. Where are your parents?"

Nine stared at her, and then at the man.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his target was getting away.

"Child? Gilde, he's not responding--"

"Papa..." he pointed at his target.

Both the man and the woman looked at him with bewilderment. They looked at the target, and it was obvious they knew who he was.

"Child," the man said, "Are you Mr. Maer's..." he trailed off.

Nine let them fill in the blanks on their own, and then added, "Mama... gone."

The woman sucked in a breath.

"Shame on him," she spat, glaring at the target. "Love, we must help him."

The man put a gentle hand on her back. "We will. Child, what do you say? Would you allow us to help you?"

Nine was hesitant, but as he observed the woman's dress and the man's coat, he knew he had met a pair of kind yet powerful people.

He had always been efficient, and Raven said not to take risks.

Killing in a crowd could attract attention, however...

If he could somehow get the target to move somewhere more... private...

"I would like... a room. Or... just a place where we can talk alone," he said, his voice pitched with an anxious tone that children without the soul of an adult inhabiting it would sound when being offered help from strangers.

The couple looked at him sadly.

The woman nodded. "Let it be done. Love, get your men and have them take Mr. Maer to the lodging near the lake's edge."

"Of course, my love," the man answered with a smile and a kiss on her cheek.

"What is your name, child?"

"... Nine."

The woman paused. "What... a peculiar name."

Nine shrugged. "I was the ninth one..."

If looks could kill, his target would be a dead man.

"I see," the woman sighed, "If you could meet us in an hour by that cabin right there," she pointed to a small cabin by the edge of the lake, almost completely hidden by darkness and trees. "We will have your father ready."

Nine pursed his lips as if he was about to cry tears of thanks and relief.

He sniffed.

"Thank you, miss."

"Oh," the woman sighed again, "You poor dear."

Nine left, fading into the crowd as the woman watched him leave. Once he was out of sight, he stepped into the forest surrounding the lake and made his way toward the cabin.

---

Nine waited on a tree near the path that led to the cabin.

An hour later, just as promised, his target was tied up and gagged, and practically dragged toward the cabin by a pair of men.

Following behind him was the couple he met.

"What an awful man," the man muttered.

The woman suddenly coughed into a handkerchief, and the man rubbed circles on her back hurriedly.

She was shaking, Nine noticed, but in anger.

"Someone needs to gouge out his eyes. If not for that child needing closure, he would have been kicked out of Ohmlet before sunrise."

The man comforted her, "He will leave before daybreak, love. For now, let the child meet him."

It was at that moment that Nine jumped down from the trees and appeared behind the couple.

"Is he here?" he asked, as if desperate.

The man and woman looked at one another before they both nodded.

Nine let out a relieved-sounding breath.

"Thank you for all your help," he said, bowing his head.

They smiled at him with a hint of sadness.

"Of course, child. You deserve to meet him, at least."

It was obvious that they were gentle and kind people.

They will never find out what Nine will do to the man.

"What are your names?" he asked.

"Call me Rose," the woman replied. "And this is my love, Gilde."

The man wrapped his arms around her and smiled apologetically.

"We will take our leave, child. My love must rest."

The woman laughed, though it sounded wet.

"Goodbye, child. I hope you find happiness from here on," she said with a wave.

Nine waved back, watching as they departed.

Then he entered the cabin.

The target was on the ground and couldn't escape. When he saw him, his eyes widened and he struggled even harder.

Nine unsheathed his daggers and kneeled down on one knee.

He harshly grabbed a fistful of the target's hair and pulled it back so he could meet his eyes.

The man tried to scream, but he was also wearing a gag.

Whoever Rose and Gilde were, they were not ordinary people.

"It's nothing personal," Nine said, his voice blank and cold with no remorse.

The daggers came plunging down before the man could scream.

Outside the cabin, fireworks were exploding in the sky.

---

[......... Calypto Creed 2: Shroud in secrecy and be hidden .........]

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The author has something to say:

I know, I know. Lots of holes in this chapter, but I was rushing like mad to get what I wanted typed out. Anyway, baby's first mission! Not the first kill, but whatever. And it was so easy! Yayyy!