73 The First Long Term Mission: The Eve of their First Meeting

Once again, Kirou's eyes were greeted to the roof of his apartment after removing the headset. Kirou didn't immediately get up but decided to let his thoughts wander on all the plans, both short and long term, that he's got in store for the future. With those thoughts in mind, Kirou remained in that position for roughly half an hour, following which Kirou just closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Even though his body was perfectly well-rested and he was able to operate the entire day as is, Kirou decided to use the time to get some proper rest. While Kirou rested, he was once again brought into his sea of memories. This time, Kirou was seeing one of his earliest memories as an assassin.

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Lockrim City, North of Grand Desolate Continent.

It's been over three years since Kirou had become the apprentice of that mysterious man. During those years, Kirou had been made to witness many things as he acted as the man's assistant during missions while learning from him whenever he could. And now, after all those years, that was the first time the mysterious man acted alone while giving Kirou a job to do while he was gone.

"You'll be doing this one alone. It's nothing you haven't participated in during the last few years, only this time you'll have to act carefully since you'll be acting alone," said the man in a trenchcoat sipping tea at the table he shared with Kirou.

"What are the details for this one, Old Man?" asked Kirou who was now nineteen years of age. Those years of being the man's apprentice have done Kirou a lot of good since his body was now quite fit, as opposed to the slightly skinny build he possessed when he was sixteen. His body wasn't excessively muscular as it still retained its lean form but if one was to take a closer look, they would realize that Kirou's body was put through a lot of training.

The man in the trenchcoat slid an envelope over to Kirou as he took a sip of his tea before he replied, "Everything you need to know is within this. This mission will be a long one as getting close to the target won't be easy and you'll only have one chance. Failure isn't an option as it will likely result in your death so do your best. If you feel like you won't be able to finish it on your own, I'll be back in half a year to provide some assistance so you have until then."

Kirou accepted the envelope from the mysterious man and placed it within his coat pocket before he took a sip of the tea before him. Both men kept quiet and this went on for another ten minutes before the man in the trenchcoat got up from his seat. Just as he passed by Kirou's seat, he heard a voice in his ear, "Be sure to watch your back, Old Man. There are many people after your title as number one and will stoop to any level in order to get it."

The man in the trenchcoat paused momentarily before laughing as he left the inn. As he walked out of the building, a voice entered Kirou's ears as he was enjoying his tea, "You're a few years too early to be worrying about my life, brat. That being said, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for trouble. No one will be able to make the claim that they've taken down 'Ghost Fiend Kronos' within the next decade."

Following those words, Kirou heard no more as the mysterious man was now long gone.

Kirou was now alone at his table in the dining area of the inn, enjoying the rest of the tea. Upon finishing his cup, Kirou left some money on the table before he too left the building and disappeared within the afternoon crowd of people. After Kirou left, a waitress eventually went over to that table and noticed that it was empty. She could see two cups on the table and some money beside one but she doesn't remember seeing anyone at the table, nor serving any tea.

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A few days later, at dusk, a disguised Kirou was at the counter in a bar enjoying a few drinks. Kirou had dyed his hair most red, leaving a few black highlights. For most of the night that followed, Kirou stayed by the counter, sipping his drinks while silently observing the crowd of people entering and leaving the bar. After another ten or so minutes of waiting, the people that Kirou was waiting for finally arrived.

At the entrance of the bar came in a group of five people, two men, and three women. The group wasn't anything special since many groups with similar numbers had entered over the last few how but what was special about this group was that Kirou found his target for the night within the group, one of the women.

Kirou continued to sip his drinks while keeping watch of the group from the corner of his eyes. This went on for another half an hour before something happened. In the area where the group of five were drinking, a fight seems to have started. While the two guys were entertaining the girls, a few drunkards tried approaching the girls. When the two guys got in the drunkards face on the matter, however, the three drunkards got violent. What's worse was that the drunkards quickly got the upper hand in the scuffle and had the two guys on the floor, beaten into submission in less than five minutes. The rest of the patrons in the bar paid no attention to this or actively tried to avoid looking in the general area. Kirou guessed that the group of drunkards probably had some reputation or strong backing behind them.

Following that action, the drunkards approached the three girls. It was here that Kirou walked over to the area and grasped the hand of the man that was about to touch his target. Kirou glanced at the woman through the corners of his eyes while facing the man whose hand he grabbed as the man spoke, "Let go, ya bastard. Who do ya think ya are?"

Kirou gave the drunkard a dismissive glance before responding, "I was enjoying my drinks after a hard day's work until some schmuck and his two goons started acting up near me, causing the taste of my drinks to turn bad. It got even worse when I noticed that it was due to the trio being unable to successfully hit on three girls."

Kirou said these words in a normal voice but since everyone in the bar was currently paying attention to that area, practically everyone heard his words. While some people were looking away and trying to stifle their laughter, another set was looking at Kirou as if he was an idiot. As for the trio in question, they were looking at Kirou with fire in their eyes. If looks could kill, Kirou would probably have already been minced to pieces before dipped in boiling oil.

The one whose hand that Kirou had grabbed broke free from his grip and stepped back a bit before speaking, "Who do ya think ya are, you bastard? Don't ya know I'm Jackson Briggs Junior and my old man runs this town? How dare you get in my way."

When Jackson Briggs said this, everyone looked towards Kirou, expecting that he would be scared, trembling and start begging for forgiveness. Contrary to their expectations, however, was that Kirou continued to stare at Jackson with both an impassive and unimpressed expression on his face. This expression morphed into one of contempt a few seconds later when Kirou pieced together the man's background.

After looking at Jackson Briggs with an expression of contempt, Kirou slowly spoke up and enunciated his words for the man to hear, "It's because I respect your old man while I just stopped you. Had it been anyone else, I'd have already put you in a similar situation as these two on the floor." Kirou said this while taking a glance at the two men from earlier still on the floor writhing in pain.

Some people in the bar looked at Kirou like he was crazy while others looked at young Jackson Briggs while doing their best to suppress their laughter. It seems that while some people thought poorly of Kirou's actions, another set found it entertaining for the young Briggs to be treated like this. As for Jackson and his two friends, they were quite angry at the reactions of the crowd. So much so that one of the two men behind Jackson threw a punch at Kirou.

Kirou saw the man throw a punch at him but didn't react to it. While others thought that he was all talk with his words earlier, a select few in close proximity noticed that this wasn't the case. This was especially so for the woman that was Kirou target for the night. She realized that Kirou had outright dismissed the man's attack.

Just as the man's hand was about to hit Kirou's face, both the man and the crowd were treated to the sound of something snapping. At first, no one could place where the sound came from but this all changed when they saw the man that attacked Kirou fall to the floor while clutching his wrist. Upon closer inspection, the crowd realized that the man's hand was currently limp while the part about the wrist was facing the opposite direction. This caused a collect gasp to ring out within the bar.

While most people in the bar were clueless as to how Kirou had done it, the woman was able to see clearly as Kirou had used his right hand to grab the offending wrist and gripped it with enough force to snap the wrist as he twisted it mid-snap. It was so swift that the woman was barely able to make out what had happened and this was only due to the fact that she wasn't as foolish or weak as she's led most of the bar patrons to believe.

After seeing how their companion had fallen to the floor in pain, both Jackson and the other man were stunned for a moment before the two attacked Kirou. To make sure that they didn't end up like their fallen friend, they both attacked him from different sides. Kirou released a sigh as he slowly shook his head before he proceeded to give both men a proper beating.

When the two had attacked him, Kirou rushed towards Jackson and caught his fist before bending Jackson's arm and twist it behind his back before putting him in front of the other attacker and kicking Jackson in his direction. This happened way too fast so by the time the other man had recognized that he was going to hit Jackson, Jackson had already crashed into the man, causing both to fall on the floor. Following this, Kirou approached both men while they were down, kicking the one still crying over his broken wrist in the head, knocking him out.

Standing before the two downed men, Kirou looked at them with impassive eyes before speaking, "This is what I was talking about. You and your friend here were the ones to throw the first punch and now you're both on the floor in pain. If this isn't losing face for old man Briggs, then I don't know what is."

Jackson had a scowl on his face as he tried to get up but was promptly kicked in the gut, causing him to fall back to the floor, clutching his stomach. As for the other guy, Kirou didn't bother to give him a chance and gave him a kick to the head, knocking him out as well. Kirou then approached the kneeling Jackson and just as he got close he heard Jackson speak, "You can't do this to me. I'm the son of Jackson Briggs. Do you believe my old man won't retaliate against you when he hears about this?" Kirou stopped in his tracks when he heard this.

When the young Jackson saw that Kirou had stopped walking, even though he was in pain, he had a smile on his face, thinking that his words had cowed Kirou into submission. This thought made him even braver, as he did his best to stand up and spoke up once more, "If you kneel down right now and apologize to me and my brothers, I might just allow you to get away with just two broken legs. What do you say about that?"

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The young Jackson thought that his words had gotten to Kirou but that was a thought that only he possessed. In the eyes of the other bar patrons, young Jackson looked like a fool and they couldn't help pitying the poor man. Just as Jackson Briggs managed to stand up properly and stare at Kirou's face, he was greeted to the sight of the unmasked contempt showing on Kirou's face. Before he could even say another work, young Jackson Briggs was given a hard punch to the face, knocking him out on contact, allowing him to fall to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Kirou then took a glance at his target from the corner of his eyes before going back to the bar counter and paying for his drinks that night. Before he turned away, he spoke in a voice that only the bartender could hear, "Either send someone to old man Briggs' house to fetch this kid or deliver them over yourself. Consider this a bit of extra." Following that, Kirou placed some more money in the bartender's hands before turning away from him and walking out of the bar.

The other patrons made a path for Kirou as he walked out of the bar. He paid them no attention as he was now thinking about how he would go about approaching his target now. This thought process went on for a while until he noticed that he was being followed roughly twenty minutes after he left the bar and this put a smile on his face.

'It seems that the fish has taken the bait. Interesting.' This was Kirou's thought as he turned down an alley.

Roughly a minute after Kirou had entered the alley, the silhouette of a person entered and walked in deep, only to realize that it was a dead end. Sensing that this was a trap, the person tried to flee, only to realize that they have a knife pointed at their throat. This prompted the person to halt all movement while Kirou took the time to look at his stalker.

Upon closer inspection, Kirou noticed that the person who followed him was dressed in a black skintight suit. Even then, Kirou still managed to recognize the person as the woman he had his sights on at the bar. Upon verifying who the person was, Kirou removed his knife from her neck and stepped back, allowing the woman to face him properly.

While Kirou looked at the woman with an innocent smile on his face, the woman looked at Kirou with narrowed eyes. They kept up the staring contest for a minute before the woman spoke, "Why did you get involved earlier? I seriously doubt that it had anything to do with them spoiling the taste of your liquor."

The smile on Kirou's face grew wider at her question before he gave her a response, "It really did ruin my mood. I had no intention to watch as a certain someone kills the son of an associate of mine over his actions while drunk. Besides, preventing you from acting allows me to gain two favors."

"Oh. And who are these two people that now owe you a favor?" asked the woman while eyeing Kirou and reaching behind herself for a weapon.

Kirou saw this but ignored it as he answered, "First is the associate whose son I managed to keep alive and..." Before Kirou could finish the statement, the woman lunged at him with two knives aiming at his vitals. Kirou, for his part, brought out a second knife and met the woman halfway in her attack. With both sides' weapons locked against each other, Kirou took the time to finish his statement, "And you, a mysterious woman aiming for a certain minister's head."

That statement caused the woman to pause momentarily, long enough for Kirou to jump back and swap his knives from the standard knife grip to the reverse knife grip. The woman narrowed her eyes as she once again lunged at Kirou with the intent to kill. Likewise, Kirou held nothing back as he retaliated against the women with him blocking or parrying each of her strikes while returning a few of them for her to deal with.

Like that, both fighters were locked in combat in the back alley for over half an hour before the stalemate finally ended. At this time, Kirou was on his back with the woman straddling him at the waist with her knives at his throat. Even in a situation like this, however, the smile never left his face as he stared at the woman on top of him.

With the upper hand being in her favor, the woman used her knives to make two slight cuts on Kirou neck as she spoke up, "If this is the best you can do then I might as well get rid of you right now. I'd rather not leave my back to a man who can't even best me in combat. Tis a shame though, since you look quite delicious."

The smile on Kirou's face turned into a smirk when he heard that. While the woman was angry and wanted to finish him off, however, she noticed that she could feel something binding her neck. before she could even find out what it was she heard Kirou speak up from under her, "Then I guess we now have a deal. I'll be in your care for the next six months." Following those words, Kirou twitched his fingers, prompting the wire around the woman's neck to tug backward, forcing her to stand up.

The woman looked at Kirou incredulously while seeing the wires wrapped around her neck which was connected to Kirou's fingers. At this point, all she could do was stare at Kirou and ask, "How long have you had these in place? I never noticed any strange movements while in that knife fight."

Kirou got up and dusted himself off before he faced her with a smile on his face, "I'm afraid that would be telling, and I can't have that." Those words caused the woman to look at Kirou with a frown but she kept quiet. She too understands that one must keep one's trump cards close to the vest, even while working with others as you never know when today's allies would become tomorrow's enemies. Seeing her silently pondering over the issue, Kirou walked up to her and spoke in a quiet voice, "Thanks for the compliment earlier. If you're willing to follow through on your words, then you can follow me to my inn."

Following those words, Kirou retracted his wires and walked out of the dark alley, leaving behind the woman. The woman was silent and lost for a moment until she replayed the words that Kirou had just spoken along with their earlier conversation. After a few seconds, she finally picked up on what Kirou had said, prompting a small blush to form on her face. She never thought that the man she had under her earlier would be so devious as to use her own words back on her so soon. This caused the woman to tighten her grip on her weapons before smirk formed on her face. After putting away her knives, she went after Kirou with a thought in her mind.

'Why don't we see if I can't manage to put you under me once again, you cheeky bastard.' Although this was her own thought, a blush still managed to form on her face as the thought went through her mind before she forcefully suppressed it as she got closer to the inn that Kirou was staying in.