I, who has never killed an animal before, was now here to kill two humans.
I sat in a corner of the bar counter, with my back to the bar, watching as one after the other, more and more people entered and exited the establishment.
It was the time of peak activity.
There was a reason why I was spending hours waiting at the Swordfish bar, instead of actively searching for the two targets. It was simply because the Swordfish bar was the most prominent gathering space for adventurers in Bayam.
If a sailor is in Bayam, and if you can't find that sailor at the Red Theatre, then it is very likely that you would find them here. And the information that Mithor King provided did say that these two often frequented this place, instead of the Amyris Leaf bar, that was a gathering place for beyonders, or any other place for that matter.
I sat there, hearing news and gossip about the things happening in the region around Bayam, and the Rorsted Archipelago. Apparently, "Blood Brambles" Hendry had lost the sixth ship of Blood Admiral Senor's fleet to Vice Admiral Dusk. This was definitely a significant blow to Steel Maveti's group, and it might relate to why he may have come to Bayam so close to the new year.
As the hours gradually passed, I had one glass of Zarhar after another. It felt good to retain my alcohol tolerance.
At some point, according to my hopes and expectations, the two pirates currently on a holiday had come to the bar after all.
They came in a group of 4, tagging along them were two more men who seemed like they were a part of the ship, part of the crew with my dear targets.
I made sure not to stare at them for too long, and kept my gaze lost into the alcohol.
I took out a small book from my jacket's pocket at some point, and started reading it to pass the time. Its title was "The Stormwind Mountain Villa", written by none other than our dear Miss Magician.
Wearing my dark grey hat, and brown jacket, I casually flipped through the pages of Fors' fiction while keeping an occasional eye on my targets. The enhancement in my eyesight because of the Assassin potion allowed me to easily see them with extreme clarity even with the relatively low light of the bar, and the noisy crowd. From the miniscule disfiguration of their clothes, and slightly staunch movement of their shoulders, I guessed that the two targets of mine each carried a gun. Their companions on the other hand seemed unarmed on the surface.
As I was taking in the details, I was considering whether I should kill them by taking them outside, or wait for them to walk out themselves, hide in the shadows until they are alone and secluded, and then do the deed.
In the end, the assassin's goal was to not let their target become aware of the fact that they are being targeted until the very end.
Working towards that goal, there were multiple suitable approaches.
As I was reading and thinking, the group of my targets slowly edged closer to the bar counter before they called for drinks, and started getting their senses dulled.
Focusing my spirituality towards my ears, I tried to make out the best of their conversation.
"Haha, that little Glenoska was such an amazing hunt. Captain even let us have half of what we pillaged from those poor fellas."
They laughed relatively quietly amongst themselves as they chatted about the hunt they had done last month.
I tried to remember related information to that name from Lorenzo's memories. On the side, I continued monitoring their conversation.
"I-it was good and all, the pillaging, but mmmh! It was when we got to enjoy those Loenese girls, yes, that was the best of all! See, that is why you both should join our crew, we will definitely have more such hunts in the future! Hahaha!"
One of my targets spoke as the other three mates of his laughed out loud with him.
It did seem like they were just the average pirates that performed acts of raping and pillaging of passenger ships and boats that went too far from the sea routes safeguarded by the Navy and the Church of the Storms.
As I was thinking of this, I remembered the titbit Lorenzo had heard about the last month's Glenoska tragedy.
Apparently it was a small, two masted passenger boat sailing towards the Sonia island, when it was caught in the waves by two independent pirate ships. Most of the valuables were robbed from the people, and the ship. While no one died, many of the ladies and few of the gentlemen amongst the guests were severely physically and sexually abused, resulting in quite a few committing suicide later on, and many still struggling from mental issues at present, and possibly far in the future.
Even though the Church and the Navy put in a lot of effort to secure the routes, and find the pirates, only one of the ships was found and eradicated.
I had my doubts about the captain of the second ship, to whom these people probably belonged to.
Sighing, I closed the Stormwind Mountain Villa, and put it back in my pocket. I bottomed up my glass of beer, and passed several pennies and one soli to the bartender.
"This is for cleaning costs."
I said to him, and stood up from my stool.
The bartender gave me a confused look.
Not minding it, I casually put both my hands in the pockets of my pants, and walked towards the four men.
When I was standing in front of them, I casually nudged the foot of one of my targets with the toe of my shoe.
"What? Who are yo-"
Before the man could complete his words, there was a small, thin, knife embedded in his throat, and from his throat spurt out a rain of blood that sprayed all over his mates' jackets.
The bar seemed to have come to a lull, as if the time had stopped and space had frozen.
Taking advantage of the moment of shock, I pulled out my other hand from my pocket, and did repeated stabbing motions at my second target's throat before he had a chance to move away or distance himself.
Smalls dots of blood started oozing out of his throat as if he had been stabbed by multiple needles.
At that time, the collective brief moment of shock had ended for everyone, as people's panicked whimpers and cries started sounding off.
I stood there, looking at my still alive targets, who were still in shock about what had happened.
Taking my needle and knife out of each of their throats respectively, I splashed off most of the blood on them with jerks of my hands, before putting them back into my pocket. I pulled out a little charm from my pocket, and threw it at the two dying men.
"Burn!"
I chanted, and turned away from the scene.
I ran opposite the entrance of the bar, towards a dark corner that led further inside and up in the building.
Standing in the dark corner, I bowed to the panicked crowd that was half focused on me, and half on the dying duo now surrounded by a black flame that completely covered them for a moment, then disappeared.
Then, I became one with the shadows, and used my spirit intuition to quickly scale my way up the building to the first floor, find an open window there, and run off in the night.
Indeed, some amounts of anti divination measures were necessary to disrupt the presence of remnant spiritualities, hence I used one of the Black Flame charms that the captain had given me. They carried the Black Flames of a Sequence 7 Witch.
I also had to run away fast before the beyonders guarding the entrance of the bar came to the scene and tried to restrict me. After all, even though the ordeal look less than ten seconds, it was still a good amount of time for a beyonder to take action in.
I kept flashing and moving through the shadows, not stopping or reserving myself from consuming my spirituality. Only after about ten minutes of running away, I went to a particular dark alley, and found a suitcase lying there.
Exhausted, I took a few minutes to catch my breath while changing into a new set of clothes. Then, I quickly set my original ones on fire, and walked for several streets before hiring a public carriage to the Wind of Azure Inn located at the 48 Acid Lemon Street.
Previously, when I had met Old Man Osmil, my suitcase came with a letter that carried a few instructions.
Now dressed in a Loen style suit, I walked up to the counter and flashed the receptionist my identity. Of course, I had used a fake identity at the previous inn.
"Good evening, Mr. Lorenzo, what sort of suite would you like? We have 3 first class suites available at present..."
Taking a second class suite at the larger, more expensive inn, I paid for the next three nights of stay.
"Send my dinner up to my room, and be sure to be generous on desserts. Do not disturb me until the dinner time. Thank you."
I said, as I walked up the stairs to my room, ready to relax and unwind from the tension that had been coiling at my spine till now.