Smilers

The words of Master Frost brought all of us to a silence as we gathered around the suite's living room, eagerly awaiting his tale.

"To explain the Smilers, I must first explain where they came from. The desert kingdom of Merkia." Master Frost spoke in a serious tone as he began his story. 

"In the eastern continent of Yirn there are three kingdoms. The largest kingdom of the three, decorated by vast plains and tall mountains, Radia. The wealthiest kingdom of the three, famous for it's great expanses of green fields of grass and forestland, Chroß. And finally, the smallest, and poorest of the three. Merkia, a kingdom renowned for it's large and dangerous creatures, it's lack of mana, it's treacherous landscape. And until recently, it was known as the birthplace of swordsmanship."

Robius rose his hand as though he was in school as he sat cross-legged on the ground.

Master Frost obliged him with an exhausted sigh followed by a simply nod, knowing that nothing intelligent would leave his mouth.

"When are you gonna mention the Smilers? Seems kind of pointless for us to hear the whole story." Robius asked before Aceil elbowed him in the ribs for his rudeness. 

"Fine, I'll shorten the story. The Smilers are an elite guild of assassins, all that's known about them, is they hail from Merkia, they are also responsible for killing it's queen, the women who founded the whole kingdom." Master Frost explained briefly, obviously annoyed by Robius' impatience.

 "The whole kingdom? The kingdom was that young?" I asked in curiosity. "Or are the Smilers that old?"

Master Frost simply chuckled at me, glad that I gave him an excuse to continue his story.

"The queen of Merkia was immortal. She never aged outwardly, yet her time on Rexia gave her the wisdom of the ages which she used to better her country." Master Frost said with a hint a pride. 

Jex stretched his feet out in a relaxed pose. 

"So, the queen was immortal, generous, and infinitely wise. Yet she still died? Somewhere in your explanation you're full of crap. I'm just trying to find out where." Jex said with an out of character amount of bitterness in his voice. "It's as they say, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"You would say that, wouldn't you Jex." Master Frost said with an evil grin. "Old habits and all that."

Jex quickly stood up with a sense of freight in his eyes as Master Frost approached him.

"Haha, I guess I would, I am an idiot who can't read a room after all. Well, I'm going to bed, if any of you ladies want to join me, you're more than welcome to." Jex stated nervously as he left for his room in spite of the earliness.

Jex's awkwardness piqued my interest, but I wasn't gonna interrupt Master Frost in the middle of a rant.

"What's up with him?" Nosora asked what was on my mind with no regard.

"It's not my place to explain. Besides, someone here is too impatient to listen anyways." He stated, making Aceil elbow Robius a second time. 

"I need to explain how this involves Sieg, and potentially the rest of the Orochi Isles. Me, Kiris, and a third master here in the Orochi Isles, are all Merkians natives of Merkia, I was the captain of the Queen's Royal Guard, Kiris was the Head Instructor of the Queen's Magic Knights, and the other master led the Royal Espionage Unit; White Cloak."

Shade spoke this time as he (unbeknownst to him) casually stroked Okami's fluffy, autumn tail.

"Don't suppose you'll be telling us who this third master is?" He asked cooly before realizing what he was doing and immediately stopping with a disturbed look on his face.

"Afraid not, they explicitly asked to remain anonymous."

"But how does that explain why Sieggy was stabbed by Lunastray?" Robius asked with a surprisingly valid point.

"We believe Lunastray is a front for the Smilers, and they probably saw him as a threat to their mission. Chances are they were hired to kill someone incredibly important, and they know that we will do everything in our power to stop them. Best bet is they plan of taking out our powerhouses in the ceremony then they'll assassinate their target. However, we won't let that happen. We have to stop them; we cannot let history repeat itself. I should warn you though, it won't be easy, we have to be careful, if the public finds out about them, the Smilers may retreat, if they do, we may not get another chance."

Before we could even reply, an elven maid and a top hat wearing homo-bestia entered our room both were guild mistresses judging by their cloaks.

"Really Niko!? That was the whole problem? I'm disappointed in mew." The homo-bestia girl pouted as she dramatically turned her cheek to Master Frost.

"I too am disappointed Master Master Frost. You saved my life before; I owe it to you to help with whatever problems you may have. An assassin guild is nothing compared to my dedication." The elven maid also pouted as she kneeled formally.

Master Frost looked at the two in shock before flicking them both in the head.

"You don't owe me anything Cena, as for you Meline. You know I hate those stupid cat puns, they're not funny." He said seriously, yet his facial expressions betrayed his cool facade.

Meline the homo-bestia stuck out her tongue like a child. Whist Cena eyeballed a terrified Kukiri who perched on my shoulder.

"Whoa, Master Frost is a two-timing bastard? Who coulda guessed that." Aceil spoke his thoughts aloud with a perplexed expression.

"Indeed, I never would've guessed he was such a perv." Lilac said in shock. 

"Really guys, that is clearly not the case." Master Frost defended himself as Aceil swiftly retreated to the kitchen seeing that Master Frost was done with important stuff.

********

Meanwhile in a separate suite, there was the Lunastray guild. Their master was keeping tabs on Draconum Familia and Sieg.

"I think we can rely on Sieg no longer causing problems for the rest of the ceremony." An imposing male figure spoke through a closed door. "Even magic has a hard time healing from a tri-bladed dagger. Though, our intel states that the other guilds have joined forces in an attempt to halt our bounty."

"No matter, we'll lay low for now, what of Azure Ursine?" A distorted voice replied from behind the door.

"They continue to Protect the target, it's like they know all of our plans. But no matter, we have the firepower necessary to take them out if it comes down to it." The imposing man answered.

"Not yet. Remember, they are the only people who know of the Princess's location, if we do this right, we can kill two targets at once. The Princess of Merkia, and Mr. Jiroki."