I wonder why Elena is not back already. It shouldn’t take that long to deliver a simple batch of potions to the east mines. Did she get stuck talking to someone and start to bbber like usual? I want to get this report done today. I can’t stay overtime since I have other business to attend to after work.

  I hear some commotion outside the office. I get up and exit the office to see what is going on.

  “So is everyone alright?” someone asks.

  “I don’t know. Doctor Elrindel is already there. He asked that we deliver more healing ointment and recovery potions for him, just in case. Do we have any stored?”

  “What happened?” I interrupt their talk, and they both face me.

  “The east mine apparently colpsed.”

  “The east mine?”

  “Yes. I don’t know how badly, though. Doctor Elrindel just came by to ask for a restock if people got injured.”

  I nod and head back to the office. It doesn’t concern me if people got injured. I pce my hand on the handle of the door and halt.

  Elena went there to deliver the potions.

  Without even thinking, I spring out and run toward the east mine. I have never thought that something bad could happen to her inside the Tower. This is supposed to be the safest pce in the world. What if she got injured? My chest aches in a way it hasn’t ever ached before.

  If something really happened to her, how could I ever face her family again? How could I ever tell Enred that I failed to protect her sister?

  I enter through the portal and am faced with chaos. I spot Doctor Elrindel immediately, treating the wounded, and head there. I can’t see Elena anywhere. Where the fuck is she? I try my best to scout around the pce, but fail to find her anywhere. Please don’t say that she got stuck inside the cave. I go to one of the mages to ask for more information.

  “Did everyone get out?”

  He startles a little at my sudden presence.

  “Yes, luckily. There are some minor wounds, but nothing major.”

  “Have you seen Elena?”

  “Yeah, she helped to hold the rubble from falling while everyone escaped the cave. We were lucky she was here. Her mana control really is quite something.”

  She helped? I’m not surprised that she managed to hold the falling rubble. I’m more surprised that she took action. I would have guessed that she would just be so shocked and stare as the scene unfolded. She has never faced any hardship, so usually she doesn’t know how to act when something bad happens.

  “Do you know where she is now?”

  “Yes, she is with Master. They are trying to fix the chaos at the third entrance.”

  With Master? I head toward the entrance and soon see them both. Master is melting the cracked cave, and Elena is apparently cooling it off. She seems to be fine. I can’t spot any wounds or blood on her.

  Now that I see that she really is fine, my body rexes. I need to forbid her from visiting the mining sites from now on. These pces are too dangerous for her. I partly hate how her life is so sheltered. But I still need her to live in her stupid cloud castle, even if I hate it.

  But now that she is with Master, I know she will be safe. I head back to the potion department. I still need to finish the budget reports. She is probably going to help Master for a while, so I will finish her part too.

  When I finish all the work, I go to visit the east mine, just in case. After that, I really need to go. I can’t be te.

  I see her still working beside Master. She looks rather tired. Her face is starting to turn pale, and her movements are forced. It doesn’t surprise me. Her body is on the weaker side. I doubt that Master realizes that she can’t keep up with him forever. She probably hasn’t had any breaks or even eaten anything. It’s almost dinner time anyway. But I know Master will not realize that. She needs to eat if she doesn’t want to end up colpsing.

  I head toward the dining hall, where the cooking department is already pcing the food out for dinner. I gnce at my watch. Fuck. I’m going to be te. But I have to get her to eat.

  I take a takeaway box, load it full, and run back to the east mine.

  “Master.”

  They both turn to face me.

  “What?”

  “I think Elena needs a break. She hasn't eaten in a long time.”

  He faces her. “Are you out of mana?”

  “No, not yet. Just hungry. But I can keep going. It’s fine.”

  Stupid girl. She should just admit that she needs a break.

  “You get fifteen minutes. I’ll clear more rubble in the meantime. You are useless in that anyway.”

  I’m honestly surprised that he let her have a break that easily. She looks back at me, appearing rather embarrassed.

  “Thanks. I honestly could use a break. But I don’t think fifteen minutes is enough for me to go—”

  I hand her the food. Sure, fifteen minutes isn’t enough to go eat in the dining hall, but I’m sure she can manage to eat something here. “Here, I already got your food.”

  “Thanks, Myrin.”

  I see her ears redden as she takes the food, clearly misinterpreting my intentions. But I have no time to stay and correct her. I turn around and leave. I teleport myself back to my apartment so I can quickly change clothes. I usually avoid teleporting, only because I know how important even a slight amount of mana can be during battle. An assassin should never waste his mana on something unnecessary.

  I put on my mask, enter the Underground, and head straight to the information guild. Let’s hope they are not too mad about me being te.

  “K! Gd to see you! I can't believe you would ever be fashionably te. Shame on you.” Zed grins behind the desk.

  “Are they upstairs?”

  “Yes. It wouldn't hurt you to say hello to me sometimes when you enter.”

  I ignore him and go up, straight to one of the meeting rooms, and enter.

  “Sorry for being te, there was an emergency in the Tower.”

  I look at them, the Ravens. They rarely visit the guild. They are all wearing their usual masks. Their whole presence screams danger. Not that I care, since I know these guys. We were all in the same inhuman camp as children, where people raised and taught us to kill. I could say we were pretty close back then. I was even part of the Ravens, but decided rather quickly to leave.

  I have no desire to be on top. Just the thought of that is hideous. I'd rather stay low and do the dirty jobs. That's what I was made to do.

  “Good to see you, K. I’m just gd you are not the one stuck in the rubble.”

  J speaks first. J is a long bck-haired guy whose mask only covers his eyes. He is the brains, the thinker, the businessman.

  I sit down at the table.

  “Why am I not surprised you already knew about the mine colpsing? I hope you don’t have anything to do with that.”

  Z straightens himself; his mask only covers his nose and mouth, but it is visible in his crazy eyes how widely he is grinning. He has blond hair, tightly in a bun.

  “Of course not. You know we would never meddle with the Tower’s business. Too boring. Although I am a little intrigued to face that Master of yours. I bet making him bleed would be ecstatic.”

  Z really is a little crazy in the head, which is partly the reason that he is the torturer in that gang. He enjoys pain, no matter whether he is the one causing it or receiving it. Literally the psycho one.

  “I promise you, Z, that would only end up with you being hurt.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t mind that at all. I live for the pain, after all.”

  I haven’t seen them in almost a year, but clearly they have not changed at all. The st one of them, V, is as quiet as ever. He is the muscles, the enforcer, the bulky one. He's the only one whose mask covers his whole face; the only thing you see is his short brown hair.

  “So what brings you guys here? I doubt you wanted to see me only to have a little reunion?”

  “Clever as always, K. I see you haven’t changed at all. Always so eager to get to the point,” J says.

  “I really do hope you have a point. If not, I will leave.”

  “Oh, K, I have missed your coldness. It’s never the same without your icy stare. Even V’s grumpiness isn’t anything compared to yours,” Z says, his grin still intact.

  I start to get up, but J stops me.

  “Just sit down. We have a job for you.”

  I obey and cross my arms over my chest, staring and waiting for J to continue.

  “We need something from Duke Callum’s mansion.”

  “Aren’t you a little too te for that? I’m pretty sure the royal guards have already confiscated everything worth something when he was accused of treason.”

  “They didn’t. He had a secret experiment room in the mansion. I’m sure the guards missed that. He did experiments with his poison magic there.”

  “Poison magic? I thought he wielded wind magic.”

  “He hid the fact that he had poison mana. Anyway, we need you to bring everything he has down there, anything reted to his poison magic.”

  “Let me guess. You are not doing it since it doesn’t involve killing. And you are asking me because of my dimensional pocket, so I can just load everything easily?”

  “As I said, clever as always, K.” J grins.

  “You know I’m not a thief. I’m an assassin.”

  Z gets up and walks next to me, gliding his hand over my shoulder.

  “We know, buddy. But sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone, you know. Live a little.”

  I grab his hand and shove it away.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  “Oops, sorry. I forgot your weird no-touching rule. You know what, K? I have always wondered how you even have sex if you can’t even touch anyone. Do you wear your gloves in the bedroom too? That's pretty kinky if you ask me.”

  I ignore him and face J.

  “Give me one good reason I would take the job.”

  “We pay extra. Poison magic is rare, and we need every bit of knowledge we can get.”

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just say that we will need that in the future. You know our rules, K. We can’t tell everything. If the money isn’t enough, what about we hire someone to guard that little butterfly of yours in your stead? Give you freedom from her.”

  My whole body stiffens. Of course, I know that they know about Elena, but I'm not eager to discuss the subject.

  “Damn, K. No need to look that murderous. I thought you hated watching over her constantly. I thought she annoyed you to the core. Am I wrong?”

  “She does annoy me. But it’s my duty to watch over her. I’m not pnning to bail on it.”

  “Well, how about we give you something that helps you do that?”

  I raise my brow, not sure what they could even offer me. J pces two bracelets on the table. One is pin and bck; the other is golden, clearly meant for a woman. It must be some magical item.

  “What does it do?”

  “It’s a tracking device. All you need to do is imbue your mana into it, and it shows where the holder of the golden bracelet is.”

  A tracking device? That surely could be handy. It would have saved me the trouble of running all the way to the east mine today, looking for her in a slight panic. There is only one problem with it.

  “Why does it have to look so fancy?”

  “Why is that a problem?”

  “You do realize that she will definitely start having some delusions if I give her something like that? She is already fluttering around me enough.”

  Z leans zily against his chair, shrugging. “I honestly don't understand why you are not taking advantage of the situation. She is quite pretty, after all. Wouldn't it be easier to watch over her if she were closer to you?”

  It pisses me off that they know what she looks like. Of course, I know they know. But still, I don't like it. I could call these guys my friends, but I know they are the worst. They are a ruthless bunch. They wouldn't be on top of the criminal world if they weren't.

  “I don't have a thing for annoying butterflies. She annoys me, that's all. So, is there a possibility of using another bracelet?”

  “No. And don't you think it's better that it’s pretty? If it were simple and ugly, she wouldn't use it every day.”

  I guess he is right. I stare at the bracelets on the table for a while, weighing my options. Her birthday is next week, so I could give it to her as a gift. Is it worth the risk? I can already see her annoying, glistening eyes when she starts wishing that I might have some feelings for her, some feelings other than annoyance and dislike. But maybe I could just py it out somehow, make sure she doesn’t start dreaming.

  “K? Are you still with us?”

  I raise my gaze to look at J.

  “Fine, I’ll do it.”

  “Perfect. So, how about we hit the bar? It’s been a while since the st time we were able to enjoy the Underground. You have a free day tomorrow, right?”

  I exhale heavily. “Only if you treat. I can’t tolerate Z’s company sober.”

  “Hey! I’m a fucking delight, K!” Z bursts out.

  “You are a psychopath, not a delight.”

  “How about a delightful psychopath?” He grins.

  I get up and head outside, and they join me. “I’m sure there is no single person who thinks that you are a delight.”

  “Sure there is, right, J?”

  J averts his gaze, so Z turns toward V.

  “How about you, V? You think I’m a delight, right?”

  “I agree with K.”

  “You boring bastards clearly know nothing about delightful things!”

  Soon, they start bickering. A familiar scene. I guess I could say I have missed their company a little. They are the closest I will probably ever get to experiencing family. We grew up together, after all.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have left the Ravens back then. At least I would have avoided meeting that annoying butterfly.

  I just hope that Master didn't push her too hard after I left the mining site. She shouldn't drain herself too much. Fuck I hate how she is constantly in my mind. I really need to get some alcohol in my veins so I can focus on something else.

  AnnouncementI also added a picture of the Ravens in the glossary.