Garden Of The Abyss

"The oh-so-powerful Sirius Federov fears old grannies?" Emilia teased.

He shrugged, "The wrath of a woman nearing the end of her time can be quite ferocious. Besides, you can\'t lift a finger against a granny. It\'s an unwinnable fight."

"I see. It seems you do have some standards, at least," Emilia sighed out.

"Hold on–I don\'t want to hear that from an assassin," he raised an eyebrow, "anyway…plan. What\'s the plan here, anyway? Did you figure out their exact route?"

As he asked this, shifting the subject back in place, he watched the amber-haired woman sit up and stare at him for a moment before nodding.

"The council didn\'t exactly give me a lot to work with, but I can make it work," she told him.

"That\'s why they hired us, after all."

Emilia ignored him, continuing, "Briswall isn\'t coming here just for a quick, in-and-out signing. Obviously a greedy man like him is going to take in the attractions of a city like Yulimium."

"I get it, but how do you know that for sure? This is a pretty important alliance they\'re forming, by the sounds of it, so why would Briswall take any risks?" He asked, but already knew the answer deep down.

He\'s an idiot, he surmised.

"He has two Argonauts with him," Emilia sighed, "to any Mastornian, that\'s practically the same as being untouchable. To him, there isn\'t even a speck of danger to be wary of with those two at his side. And, do you have to ask that? I used my ability."

He held a smile, leaning against the back wall behind the bed, "You know, that ability of yours is pretty amazing when I see it in action like this. "The Whispers Within: the ability to deduce the movements of anybody, given sufficient information", it\'s pretty unbeatable in your field of work."

"I don\'t need compliments from you," Emilia looked at him.

He sighed with a smile, "Anyway, so what\'s this deduction of yours led to? Just tell me where to be and when."

"There will be one instance during Briswall\'s three days stay that he will be separated from his two Argonaut bodyguards," Emilia told him, looking directly at him, "fortunately, it\'s the night before he will sign anything. A…"celebration" of sorts."

"Yeah?" He raised an eyebrow.

A small, hesitant look perched itself across the young woman\'s face, "...Briswall will visit a brothel."

Hearing this, he whistled a bit jokingly, though stopped as she shot him a quick, fierce glare.

For being an assassin, she\'s still pretty innocent, he thought.

"Anyway…the Argonauts will remain outside the building," she told him, "that\'ll be our time to move. I\'ll make my way into the brothel before they arrive, and…disguise myself. You can handle the two bodyguards outside. But, make sure to do it without catching any eyes."

He smiled, "Alright, alright. So, that\'s two nights from now, is it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Looks like we\'ll have some time to enjoy the city, as well," he said, looking out of the window.

"No," Emilia told him.

"No?" He looked back at her.

"How often do I have to remind you? You\'re one of Mastorn\'s most wanted," she told him with an annoyed breath.

He gave her a smile, flipping his cape as he relaxed against the bed he claimed, "But, we\'re in Gallvania. And, we bypassed the barrier already, so…what\'s the problem?"

Emilia mumbled for a moment with a clear, annoyed furrow of her pale, amber eyebrows before releasing her annoyance out in a sigh, "I suppose. But, keep yourself low if you go out. And if anything happens–you\'re shouldering all of the responsibility. "

"Of course. Might as well pay for the room then, right?" He laughed.

"If you\'re that concerned with the old lady," Emilia sighed.

After venturing out of the room, he stumbled into the inn owner, who luckily didn\'t presume him to be a trespasser, and actually offered to let him stay in the room, free of charge, since he was a tourist to Gallvania.

"No, no, I insist," he told the tiny old woman, retrieving a holy coin from his pocket.

As he placed it in her wrinkly hand, she wryly accepted, "Such a gentleman. Well, please make yourself comfortable. You said you already know which room you want, right? What\'s so special about having that room, anyway?"

"Ah, you know…it\'s a special angle of the city from the window, you know?" He told her wryly with an excuse he made up on the spot.

The short, white-haired woman of wizened age seemed delighted at his reason though, managing to send him back to the room with another basket of fresh pastries and fruit.

"...Sheesh, grannies never change world to world, huh?" He muttered with a smile, setting the basket down on the stand between their beds.

Emilia was occupied with the map, etching symbols of her luminescent magic onto the parchment with a focused look in her eyes.

Taking off both his cape and his favorite, gray coat, he left them on the bed, leaving himself wearing only his all-black, compression shirt.

My cape and coat would probably be a bit too recognizable. Not worth the risk, he thought.

After a few minutes of sitting around the silent room, being ignored by the woman, he grabbed a fruit and left the inn, deciding to see the capital of the famous kingdom for himself.

"It\'d be a waste to come down here and not check out what it\'s got, right?" He muttered to himself, taking a bite out of the verdant-skinned fruit.

As soon as he left the secluded inn, he found himself in the back alleys of the south sector. He could hear the noises of a bustling city somewhere ahead, but in the sector he casually strolled in, it was mostly quiet, with few people occupying the stone-paved streets.

It seemed to mainly be a residential area, with houses displaying potted plants in front of their silver-bricked homes.

He leaned his head back slightly, taking in the air; compared to the winds of Old Treyna, the ones that blew through Gallvania were vibrant, and full of a serene vigor.

If I had my way, I wouldn\'t mind living in a place like this, he thought.