Chapter 13: The Day the Assassins' Guild Fell

A child born with a talent for assassination and a sharp intellect from a young age. Lyne, since birth, was destined to inherit her mother's position to manage the Assassins' Guild and turn it into one of the great guilds of Aquila.

-Lyne, that's enough training for today, go and rest.

A red-haired woman, wearing a black dress, it was Mrs. Marina Rose, speaking as she watched her child practice. She simply told Lyne to stop and rest.

-Yes, mother.

Lyne stopped immediately. Marina rested her chin on her hand, looking at the gray, cloudy sky, which looked like a storm was brewing.

-Lyne, why do you train?

-I train because I want to be worthy of the position I will inherit in the future.

-Alright, you're intelligent but too rigid. Come here, let me check if there's anything wrong with your body.

-Yes, mother.

Lyne came closer and held out her hand. Her mother was checking Lyne's body with her magic. A stream of energy flowed into her body. Lyne felt as if something was being sealed away, but she didn't question it.

-Done, just a little muscle strain. Wait until the rain stops before you continue training.

-Yes, mother.

With that, Mrs. Marina went into the secret basement, leaving Lyne outside, waiting for the rain to stop. But behind the houses, which were carefully built for camouflage, a 2-meter tall male figure appeared, lurking. In a hidden corner, he was watching Lyne's house. Lyne sensed something, but when she looked in that direction, she saw no one through the rain.

Lyne's first mission was to gather information about the Hunters' Guild. Lyne, still looking very young, was walking through the alleys. She saw a little girl with purple hair wandering the streets, looking in bad shape. The girl looked as if she hadn't eaten for days.

"It's not related to the mission, but whatever."

-Hey kid, take this and buy some food, but don't let anyone see.

-Ah... you're such a kind and beautiful big sister, thank you.

She gave the little girl some money. The girl smiled and thanked her, then Lyne told her to leave.

"Alright, back to the main task."

Lyne then disguised herself as an adventurer and joined the Hunters' Guild. In this world, people her age were already considered adults and had shown great potential. The registration process wasn't too difficult. She just needed to fill in some information about her abilities and hometown to be approved.

"There's a lot of bounty information here..."

The Hunters' Guild was similar to the Adventurers' Guild in other places. But after King Ashborn was overthrown and the country fell into chaos, the Adventurers' Guild's activities here were suspended indefinitely. The Hunters' Guild took its place, but the difference was that this was a place where bounties were placed on the heads of dangerous individuals, and anyone could take on a mission regardless of their rank.

<A delegation is in talks between the Blood Wolf and Hunters' guilds, planning to jointly issue a kill order on members of the Blood Cult who have been acting suspiciously in Aquila's alleys recently. Take advantage of the situation to find clues about the founder of the Hunters' Guild.>

Taking advantage of being a guild member who could move freely at night, she took down the guards and then fabricated evidence to frame another guild. She infiltrated the headquarters. In the organization's staff room, though the people weren't overly strong, they were intelligent. When they saw no alert from the guards, they knew an intruder was present and quickly became vigilant.

"They've found out. Their security is too tight, there's no way to infiltrate without risk."

Even so, Lyne knew where her target was, thanks to information from a low-level spy in this place.

-Who's there? Thwack.

A knife flew into the head of the vigilant man, but the two others around him drew their swords. She quickly attacked first.

Swish, swish, swish

She attacked with her sword in three strikes aimed directly at the guard. The man parried but his eyes widened in shock.

-THIS SWORD STYLE... THAT'S A BLOOD WOLF MEMBER!!

He roared in anger. She stood there silently.

-YOU BASTARDS PRETENDED TO COOPERATE IN GOOD FAITH, AND NOW WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, KILLING OUR PEOPLE???

-What cooperation? We just want to see your information.

-YOU DAMN BASTARDS.

-GUM, MOVE QUICKLY AND INFORM THE OTHERS TO PREVENT THEM FROM CAUSING MORE DAMAGE!

One man left to report the situation while the other stayed to fight her. Lyne, though struggling a bit, quickly defeated him and entered the document office. Inside was plenty of information on members from high to low rank.

"The founder isn't here... Strange, there's information on the leaders of the Hunters' Guild all over Braum, but nothing about the founder."

She quickly took the useful documents and left. After that, tensions rose between the Hunters and the Blood Wolves. One side claimed the other took advantage of a vulnerability to attack, while the other accused them of framing and killing their envoy for no reason. Although they didn't fight, both sides continuously sought out the Morgan Guild, a small intermediary guild, to gather information and evidence. But it all led nowhere. In the end, the two branch leaders met, and a meaningless, pre-arranged battle took place, while the Assassins' Guild manipulated things from the shadows.

-Lyne, although we didn't get information on the founder this time, we succeeded in preventing the Wolves and Hunters from cooperating and even dragged them both down. This mission was a great success. Let's celebrate our future leader.

-Hooray!!

Amid the cheers, Lyne stood in the middle of the meeting room, receiving the praise of all the members of the organization. Except for her mother, Mrs. Marina. She wasn't overjoyed by this; she only told Lyne to leave the secret cave and go up to the house to rest after the celebration. Her face at that moment looked as if something was gnawing at her conscience.

-Yes, I'll go up right away.

When she went upstairs, she sensed a tall figure in the thick fog in front of her house.

-Who's there?

Lyne immediately ran outside. Upon checking, she saw only the fog covering the area, with no one else in sight.

-Lyne, what's wrong? Why did you run out of the house?

-I felt someone was watching our house!

Mrs. Marina frowned slightly.

-I see, come inside and let me check on you.

Her face looked unhappy as she spoke.

-From now on, you should limit your movements outside of Morgan territory. In about 4 months, you should leave this place.

-Why is that? Am I not the hope for the guild to grow stronger? Where do you want me to go, mother?

-I understand you want to help the Morgan Guild grow, but your recent actions have been very dangerous, so please avoid going outside the Morgan area.

-Yes, I understand your good intentions, mother, but if the guild needs me, Lyne will act.

-Lyne, be careful anyway...

Marina said no more and left. After that, missions outside the Morgan area were restricted for Lyne. The guild members were dissatisfied because Marina was limiting Lyne's development, among them was Erpert Graystone.

-Lyne, I don't know why, but your mother seems to be suppressing you, keeping missions outside the Morgan area from reaching you. This is making some people uncomfortable.

-I know about this...

-Some people think your mother is trying to make you seem less important in the eyes of the leadership.

-I don't think that's the case.

-Alright, I understand you don't want me to think ill of your mother, but it seems she still doesn't trust you.

Lyne realized that too. Lyne had sensed that her mother didn't want her to become one of the leaders here.

-Alright Lyne, I have a mission for you. One of our informants has gone missing on a mission related to the Raven Lord, a member of the Lady of Shadows. We need you to go there and investigate...

-But...

-I understand, but this is also a good opportunity to prove to your mother that you are strong enough to take over her position.

Lyne was determined and accepted the mission in secret, but she didn't expect this to be the beginning of a series of tragedies. Her journey to the city of Grava was not smooth. She was lost there for a long time. Although Lyne had excellent map-reading skills, she was lost for a very long time. Sometimes she felt someone was watching her. Other times, like a hallucination, she heard her mother's voice in the forest.

"Dammit, I think I've seen this place before."

Her mind was hazy. Lyne was lost for a very long time. Occasionally in the forest, it felt like someone was watching, and she heard her mother's voice. But she was never confused or scared and always counted the days she was lost.

"I can't believe I've been lost here for over a year..."

It's unknown how long it had been, but Lyne had returned to Aquila. But when she got back, Morgan was engulfed in flames, many members of the guild were being slaughtered by the Faith Guild, the Blood Wolf Guild, and mercenaries from the Hunters' Guild.

"What is happening...?"

"Clang!!"

In the distance was an acquaintance of Lyne's. Reyna White, a friend of her mother's, was blocking a blow from a mercenary with a shield spell.

Stab, agh!-Lyne quickly took down the man, rescuing Reyna.

-Aunt Reyna, are you okay?

-You are... Lyne!!

-What happened??

-The guild's information was betrayed and leaked. We are being purged by 3 out of the 4 major guilds in Aquila.

-Who leaked our information?

Reyna didn't answer, hesitating, not knowing what to say. But then another enemy charged at them.

-There are two people over there, surround them quickly.

-The bounty for their two heads goes to whoever finishes them off.

-Bounty!! Bounty!!!

A group of more than a dozen mercenaries surrounded the two of them.

-Shit, we're surrounded!

-Ha, both of you are quite the masterpieces. Now, if you two surrender and agree to serve us, we'll spare your lives. Right, brothers??

-Yeah, yeah, masterpieces, hehehe....

They looked at the two with lustful eyes, ordering them to surrender.

-In your dreams...

Before Reyna could finish, a fireball flew straight into the group of mercenaries.

-Are they? The Silver Masks?

An army belonging to the Silver Mask Guild of over 4000 people, most wearing emotionless masks, but there were a few crying masks within the formation chanting spells. Leading them was a 2m tall man, looking familiar yet strange, as if Lyne had never met him before.

-The strong are ganging up to destroy a small guild. We of the Silver Mask Guild are not used to seeing such scenes. Now, let's clean up those who are purging and rescue the remaining members of the Assassins' Guild.

Saying that, he raised his hand, signaling his entire army to charge forward.

-This wasn't specified on the notice!

-What fucking notice, just run now!

Quickly, the Silver Mask Guild massacred a quarter of the purging army, although most were mercenaries from the Hunters' Guild. But the priests of the Faith Guild and members of the Blood Wolf Guild also suffered significant losses. From then on, the purge retreated. In the end, the survivors were gathered, and the verdict for the traitor was delivered...

-Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Head Measurer. I am not accustomed to seeing the strong join forces to destroy the weak. And although you have planted some spies among us, you have great potential....

After his introduction, he took a knife from one of his subordinates...

-I currently wish to recruit all the survivors into my guild. However, the forbidden act in any organization is betrayal, so now we must purge and execute that person in front of everyone here.

Saying that, a group of people dragged a woman in. Lyne's eyes widened, while Reyna closed her eyes as if not wanting to face the truth. The person dragged in was Mrs. Marina. After a year, she looked haggard and desolate, but her eyes were still darting around as if searching for something.

-Alright, although this person is a traitor, I heard she has a child, and it seems the little girl has been missing for over a year...

The Head Measurer continued his presentation.

-Now she has accidentally returned while the guild was under attack, which proves the girl is not involved. But to be sure of her innocence, let the girl execute the traitor with her own hands. Who agrees?

-What the hell...

Before Reyna could scream, a barrage of voices followed.

-I AGREE WITH THIS OPINION!!

-ME TOO!!

-LET THE GIRL PROVE HER OWN INNOCENCE!!!

Lyne was quickly pulled up and given the knife by the Head Measurer. At this moment, Mrs. Marina saw Lyne, and her eyes froze....

-Now, go up and kill her..

The Head Measurer began to urge her to go up and kill her mother.

"What is happening???"

Lyne was terrified....

-KILL HER, LYNE, SHE IS THE TRAITOR!!!

"It's only been a year...?"

Lyne's hand trembled....

-SHE TRIED TO STUNT YOUR GROWTH!!!

Reyna, in the crowd, was helplessly calling out to Lyne, but no one heard.

"Mother, why are you sitting here..."

Lyne was now in front of her mother....

"Why are you crying, mother...?"

"Now, stab her under the neck so she dies a very painful death...~"

The Head Measurer used his left hand to pat the little girl's shoulder. But no one noticed he was smiling.

"No...."

The knife... was getting closer.... to the throat of.... Marina Rose.

"Stop it..."

Reyna closed her eyes and turned her head away...

"Please..."

Marina closed her eyes in acceptance...

"No... mother..."

Blood trickled out... flowing onto the knife....

Stab......