184 Chapter 184: Mission Briefing

The hotel receptionist stared at the both of us for a second, and then raised a hand.

"Your ID, please."

"Hmm? Okay."

Without thinking, I showed him my student ID. The receptionist rolled her eyes and then pointed toward the exit.

"Sorry, but we don't allow underage customers."

…huh? Oh, right. This was a love hotel, after all.

Anastasia looked perplexed for a moment, and then she giggled.

"Oh, right. You're still a student. Sorry about that. I completely forgot about that."

Leading me by my hand, she led me out of the hotel. All the while the receptionist watched us with a raised eyebrow, and then returned her attentions to whatever it was she was doing. Which was watching some video on her tablet. From the moans and sounds, I gathered that it was an R18 video at the very least.

Can't blame her…she was manning the desk of a love hotel, after all…

"…so where do we go now?" I asked. And then I frowned. "And how old are you, by the way?"

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I had thought that Anastasia was about the same age as I was. She looked pretty young. But from her demeanor and behavior, I suddenly realized that she might be a little older. Maybe she was in her twenties?

"Now, now." Anastasia giggled and placed a finger on her lips. "Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady for her age?"

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine. As for what we should do now…I guess we should just go to a proper hotel."

Couldn't we go to somewhere that wasn't a hotel as long as it was safe and secure?

In the end, at my suggestion, we ended up going into an Internet café. After renting a cubicle, the two of us squeezed into it as if we were sharing a computer. It was pretty narrow and confined, but its size was adequate for our purposes.

Anastasia still cast several spells and wards to ensure that our conversation wouldn't be overheard by anyone outside the cubicle. With the Internet café promising the security and privacy of its customers, we didn't have to worry about the Internet café staff trying to probe into whatever it was we were doing or what website we were surfing.

"All right, all clear."

Once she was satisfied, Anastasia produced her smartphone and placed it on the desk. In the background, we had the Internet browser of the computer open and was playing some YouTube video that featured the opening and ending songs of an anime I liked. More for the records of the Internet café staff than because we were actually listening. It also served to drown out our conversation, so Anastasia seemed impressed when I made the suggestion.

No, I didn't actually think about that when I proposed opening the YouTube video…but whatever. I didn't see the need to tell her that.

The call took several seconds to get through, and Feng Hai's face appeared when it connected. His jaw dropped when he saw me.

"Richard? What are you doing with Anastasia?"

"Oh, uh…coincidence." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. I wasn't sure I should go around telling everyone that the crown prince of the Amazerian Empire dragged me to Southampton City just to see me duel his elite bodyguard.

"He helped me out when I was being harassed by a group of lecherous secret society members," Anastasia explained, winking at me. I shrugged helplessly, feeling embarrassed when Feng Hai stared at me in awe.

"Always playing the hero, eh?" he then turned serious. "Sorry about that time in Jing Tian City. By the time we got there, we were too late…"

"It wasn't your fault. No one could have known."

"Even I didn't know about the Dark Church's plans to invade Jing Tian City." Anastasia sighed and shook her head. "Though they wouldn't share something so important and huge to us hired grunts anyway."

"Yeah." Feng Hai scowled, but didn't say anything. It was clear that he felt guilty.

The Silver Wolves were involved in raiding and destroying a monster nest at the time of the invasion. By the time they finished the mission and returned to their base, Dad and the Federation military had already mostly mopped up the remaining monsters in Jing Tian City. The Silver Wolves still rushed back as quickly as they could once they heard the news, but there was little more for them to do than to stand around and help with rebuilding.

I wasn't there, but I heard from mutual friends on social media that Feng Hai took Alicia's death as a blow. I remembered them being a little close to the point that she addressed him as Brother Hai, but I didn't know anything more than that. Alicia did tell me that Feng Hai was a family friend and had looked after her when she was younger.

It was natural that he would be devastated upon learning of her death.

"I'm the one who is sorry. I was there when it happened…I should have protected Alicia…"

"No use blaming yourself for what happened. I'm just glad that you and so many others have survived." Feng Hai sighed and stared at me seriously. "I heard the school took some hits. And the director, Uncle Vincent, he still has yet to pull himself together."

"Well, he's back in the office and doing admin stuff for the academy, or so I heard a few days ago. We'll be returning to school shortly. Everything seems to be returning to normal…on the surface, anyway."

Feng Hai nodded. "That's a relief. I'll have to talk to him properly, but as of now, he's still refusing to take any of my calls or to see me."

Anastasia placed a hand on my shoulder.

"And that was a Deceivum Assassin. Even among the Assassins in the Guild, they are the trickiest and hardest to track and locate. You could have a Deceivum agent placed beside you your entire life and not know it until the dagger strikes home. There is no shame in being unable to expose her true nature."

Her voice was filled with a tinge of bitterness, though. It couldn't be helped. As an Assassin, Anastasia had failed whereas another of her fellow Assassins had succeeded…well, somewhat. Being of rival sects, she must have found this to be a blow to her pride.

"Her real target was Uncle Vincent, not Alicia, though…so she failed." Feng Hai must have also picked up on Anastasia's tone, for he quickly moved to placate her. Anastasia didn't brighten up, though, and Feng Hai cleared his throat. "We'll have to investigate why the Dark Church wants the City Council and the director of Jing Tian Academy dead."

"To disrupt the running of the city, and to slow down the training of future mages to fight monsters," Anastasia replied automatically. She shrugged when both the holographic image of Feng Hai and I stared at him. "I already told you that, Boss."

"Ah, yes. You did." Feng Hai tilted his head. "But I don't think you called me just for that, or just for me to say hi to Richard?"

"That's correct." Anastasia straightened up and looked his holographic avatar straight in the eye. "Do you remember the mission you assigned me? I wish to recruit Richard as a partner for that task."

"Oh?" Feng Hai was surprised. Then his expression turned a little guarded. "For collecting information on the Dark Church? I thought you would move better on your own."

"By the way, Richard already knows who I am." Anastasia smiled mischievously as she latched onto my arm. "There won't be anyone better to cooperate with me."

Feng Hai relaxed a little, but he still didn't seem convinced. "I don't mind, but what exactly do you need him for? No offense to Richard, but he doesn't have the stealthy and intelligence-gathering skills that you Assassins are trained in."

"Yes, but obviously that's not what I need him for. I want him as hired muscle." She covered her mouth as she giggled. "After all, this is the young man who defeated me and two other comrades in direct combat."

"Ah…" Feng Hai frowned. "Wait, what? Why do you need hired muscle for? Are you planning to fight?"

"It might be inevitable." Anastasia reached out and drew out a holographic image in her projected screen of light. It resolved itself into a map. Shifting her fingers, Anastasia chose a specific location and expanded it, closing in on a city. Tapping on the bird's eye view of the village, Anastasia smiled. "This is Azpire City."

"A small city that's on the outskirts of the Federation," Feng Hai explained for my benefit. He then frowned. "But we've detected nothing unusual in Azpire City so far."

"That might be true," Anastasia admitted with a sly smile. "Because you've been looking in the wrong places."

Feng Hai raised an eyebrow at that. "Did you find any clues leading you to Azpire?"

"Not really, but…" Anastasia spread her fingers and expanded a new holographic window that pushed the 3D map of Azpire City back to the side. "Before I was completely cut off from the Assassin Guild's communication system, I managed to intercept this encrypted transmission."

It was an audio message. Anastasia dragged the file into a decryption program, which altered the file using a combination of magic and technology to decipher it into coherent dialogue. The voice was garbled, but I could barely make out the words.

"Deliver the Grim Reaper to Azpire."

Feng Hai listened, fascinated. He turned to Anastasia with a raised eyebrow. "Is that message saying what I think it means?"

"That's right. They are sending an Assassin to Azpire City. I don't know the reason or who the target is, but apparently the Assassin Guild intends to perform an assassination there. And the Grim Reaper is the code name for one of the Assassins under them." she shrugged. "I don't know who, though. But I don't want to take any chances. That's why…"

She grabbed my arm playfully and leaned close.

"I need some hired muscle for my own protection! As insurance!"

"Not to mention that if there is an Assassin being sent there, then agents of the Dark Church might already be posted there." Feng Hai was nodding thoughtfully. "And you might need some help taking out their base there."

"Correct." Anastasia snapped her fingers in delight. "I'm so glad the boss understands."

"I got it. I'll approve of this mission. But we'll have to make it official." Feng Hai was looking away, most likely consulting a second holographic screen as he typed furiously. "I'll send an official mission request to Jing Tian Academy, and Richard can accept it so as to get authorization. Then the both of you can go once the admin details are done. It shouldn't take too long. Maybe a day or two."

"Got it." Anastasia then turned to me with that usual dazzling smile of hers. "So for now, let's return to Jing Tian City together."