There he was, my target. He was flirting with the Golden Angel while walking through the plains. It had taken me 3 days to catch up to them. I was a bit nervous, I had assassinated people before but more out of direct necessity, this is different, I won''t be put in direct danger if I let this guy walk. It makes it harder for me to steel my heart. He seems like a nice guy but everyone has someone they''re nice to, even the worst villains are nice to their family, at least most of them… I also feel a bit bad to make these adventurers fail their mission. Failing won''t affect them as an adventurer, it might affect them mentally though.


    I’m starting to see the value of being silent, efficient, and deadly more and more. I could easily kill this guy in multiple ways which will nuke the whole area or create blood splatters or leave a disturbing body behind. But it''s certainly going to leave a mark on those adventurers. I had to rethink my approach, I planned on just dropping a [Fire Dragon dance] on him but maybe I should find something more assassin-like. My leyline training is over so I don''t have to stick to them.


    I followed them for 2 days. The adventurers didn''t leave his side. Any attempt to assassinate him would have to be fast and potentially sloppy. I had no poisons left from Greg. Only… my stoneroot solution. But I need an earth attack to turn him into real stone. I will use this in case I can''t find out a better way. I could freeze him solid and shatter him into dust. I connected to the air leyline currents and created a bow made out of ice and climbed a tree that was perfect to shoot from. I aimed at my target.


    I waited till both the adventurers would take their eyes off him and shoot him, freeze him solid, and shatter it in an instant. They were getting quite far when the moment came. The ice arrow flew and… it hit a small barrier that was surrounding my target. It was a barrier that protected against 3 hits but my arrow destroyed all 3 of them. The arrow did however fail to hit my target. I upped my stealth and got out of the tree. The target freaked out and the adventurers were on full alert. I can’t believe that I forgot to check if there were any barriers to him! The target was a mess and the adventurers tried to calm him down. The Golden Angel placed another of that barrier around him and the Iron Wall reinforced it. I guess this isn''t going to be as easy as I thought.


    They stopped in a village the day after which would make it a bit harder for me to assassinate my target.


    I had a new idea. I am going to attempt to shadowmeld him into a shadow and make the shadow disappear. I’m sloppy in shadow melding other people but as long as I succeed it should work. I [shadow melded] into the farm they were spending the night at, covered myself in illusions and [Transformed] myself as a dog.


    [Transform] only worked well on objects and animals for me. The only person I could [Transform] into is my female self.


    The adventurers were talking about their day and I approached my target with a small ball. [Shadow Meld] doesn''t care if the target has barriers on and making the shadow disappear will instantly delete anything that was in it and that also doesn''t care about barriers. The problem was that removing the shadow will be very noticeable.


    My target would be [Shadow melded] into the shadow of this ball. This ball was actually a [Fireball] that I covered with illusions. The illusion would be dispelled after he got into the shadow of the ball, eliminating the shadow altogether. I would keep my identity as a dog, act shocked and run away.


    The adventurers had their guard up but weren''t wary of me as a dog. My target petted me and reached for the ball, he got [Shadow melded] into the shadow of the ball when the adventurers were distracted. The illusion got cancelled and the ball turned into a fireball, eliminating the shadow. I barked and acted shocked and ran away.


    The adventurers ran to see what happened but they seemed to be confused. I heard them calling for the target as I ran into a cornfield and undid my [Transform]. I succeeded in my mission! It was past midnight so I succeeded 4 days before my birthday. Talking about cutting it close. I found a nearby tree, climbed into it, and fell asleep after covering myself up in illusions.


    The next morning came or well it was the same morning and I went to find out what the adventurers were doing. They were frantically looking for their target but it is unlikely that they will find him. I wonder what their report would look like. Since I was close to Gittrian I decided to give it a visit. It might also be a good place to celebrate my birthday. I walked to find out how much time more I had for the assassination in case that attempt had failed.


    It took 3 days. Really cutting it close there. Gittrian was huge. It wasn''t as technologically advanced as that shitty city that kidnapped the spirits but it was quite up there. It did however show off that it relied on both technology and magic. The people here seemed to be very accepting of other races. I saw something I’d never seen before. Different races walking next to each other and interacting like it’s normal. I wish every place could be like this!


    I wandered through the city and admired almost everything about it and stopped in front of a sign that I recognized. It read ‘Yttroz Industries Headquarters’ I wasn''t clothed like an assassin, unlike a certain dragon, so I could go everywhere I wanted.


    I decided to take a look around this place but I got stopped by 2 guards. “Do you have an appointment? State your business!” I want to look around.


    “This is not a tourist attraction, I would suggest visiting Aurum, it’s a city block made out of gold, it is 5 blocks to the east.” The guard pointed east. Oh, wait! I have something! Give me a second! I took out the business card that… I looked at the card. Jeremiah? Gave to me. Was that his name? I swear it was something else.


    I showed the card to the guards. “Oh, you’re an acquaintance of Jeremiah? Then why didn''t you say so?!”


    “Rick, do you bring him to the VIP entrance? I will keep watch here.”


    “Okay, follow me ehm I didn''t catch your name.” Agnis Hourai. Both guards were surprised.


    “Uhm, can I see your ID?” I showed them my adventurer''s ID and my fancy noble ID because I didn''t know which one would be the best for this situation.


    “Oh, shit it''s really him! We apologize for not recognizing you! Our company owes its recent surge in popularity to you! Hey, Chris send a Teleroad to the reception!”


    “Right!” the other guard named Chris took out a device and started a Teleroad message.


    “Please follow me, we didn''t expect your arrival.” Uh, it’s fine, I’m just a random guy and I came here by chance, you don''t need to treat me like a celebrity.


    “Yeah, sorry about that but society decides whether you’re a celebrity or not so whether you like it or not you’re an important individual, at least to Yttroz Industries.” I guess I can’t argue against that… I got shown into a very luxurious part of the building. I just came to take a look… Some important-looking people came running.


    “What made you honor us with your visit sir?” A guy in a neat suit asked. Uhm, a whim?


    “Are you interested in how we put the precious Hourai rubies to use?” Uh, sure why not, I would like to know why they''re such a big deal.


    “One moment please.” I got led toward a hall that had some items on display. “As you might be aware we have split the rubies in functions. The more popular ‘Hourai Ruby’ is a currency that uses 1-carat rubies as currency. Currently, 1 Hourai Ruby has the value of 1261 gold.” Wait, I knew that but the last time I heard about them they were worth about 1010 gold.


    “That was about 3 years ago, their worth has been steadily increasing because more and more individuals use them as collector''s items and not as currency, so this only makes those in circulation more valuable. The rest of the Hourai rubies have been used to craft various objects such as seen here.” I saw a scepter that had an enormous ruby on it. Armor with a ruby breastplate, all kinds of items that used them. A pan made out of ruby? Really? Isn''t that a waste?


    “It won’t be used for cooking don''t worry.” The man in teh suit said proudly. Yes, but then why create a pan? Not because you can means you should… I got ignored and showed all the stuff that was made.


    “Several items have already been sold but most of these items are too expensive to find consistent buyers.” I see… it surely must have made you guys rich.


    “Oh, you have no idea! Yttroz Industries became so rich that it doubled the wages of everyone because they just didn''t know what to do with all that gold! I’m truly thankful for your contribution and glad I decided to work here.” The man said happily while shaking my hand in gratitude. Wait you’re not treating me like this because of that right? I had nothing to do with it!


    “How humble but everyone who works for Yttroz Industries deems you as an important figure!” Ugh, what a headache. I just sold some rubies… A door opened.


    “Is he here? How do I look?” A dwarf and a familiar face appeared. Oh! I remember you! You''re Terry!


    “The name is and always was Jeremiah… good to see that you’re still the same although… you look like you’re hurting for money, did you blow all your gold?” Terry said as he inspected me. I was just wearing casual clothnig, although I had gone through quite a bit since I got into these so they were a bit worn and dirty. Eh? Not really, hardly touched it, I just like this clothing although getting something sand-repelling would be quite nice.


    “Still a jokester, this is the CEO of Yttroz Industries, Barusu Onyxbeard.”


    “Nice to finally meet you. I want to personally thank you for your transaction. It had a tremendous impact on our company!” The dwarf said as he shook my hand. I just sold rubies…


    “And wonderful rubies they were! We are currently in the process of rebuilding Gittrian to be better, more efficient, and friendlier to all types of races! We have just started and it will probably take 15 years to finish but this will be the biggest project we’ve ever started. As thanks to Gittrian for taking care of us when we were still young and broke. I want to give back to the city that gave me this much. And I would like to do the same to you although, I don''t know what you might want, gold is not an issue for you so I’d like to hear how we might be able to help.” Uh well I have a lot of problems but I don''t think you can help me with that, although making this place better for all races is something I think is very important so I guess you could say you’re already helping in doing that. Hmm oh, you guys are pro’s in rocks, right?


    “I told you when we met right, it’s not just rocks but also construction.” Are you sure you did Terry?


    “I’m pretty sure…” Anyways, have you guys dug up ruins that had strange symbols? Has anyone recorded what they said and where they found it?


    “Hmm, do you mean those that possess some form of ancient technology? We do yes, we even moved a whole structure to Gittrian, it’s on the 5th floor underground.” Terry said after taping on his tablet. Wow, that’s crazy, may I take a look?


    “Sure, give us a moment.” Dwarfbeard walked away and talked to some other important-looking people.


    “I just remembered that you wanted to start something with blacksmithing. How is that going?” Terry said as he offered me to sit down and sat down himself. Uuh, not so great but I will probably start next year after I turn 18.


    “Ohh, I see, has it already been this long? Have you returned to Boshi town after the barrier lifted? I don''t suppose you know how that happened. Someone was looking for you too” I don''t know what happened and I haven''t gone back there since and who was looking for me?


    “An assassin most likely but you''re alive so that means that the attempt failed, although he or she did mention that the goal was to keep you safe and not harm you. What was that about?” An assassin trying to protect us? Strange, I don’t know what that’s about sorry.


    “Hmm, well whenever you get into trouble don''t hesitate to ask us for help.” I’ll try to remember and if you guys need more rubies just ask. The whole room got silent. Terry seemed to try and process my words. “Wait, you have more of these things?” Uhh, didn''t I tell you?


    “I thought you were joking…” Uhh yeah let''s go with that!


    “Do you have more?” Yea, but from what I hear the world might not be ready for the yet…


    “Yeah, you might be right…”


    “We will have more than enough to buy them this time!” The dwarf came running. Uh, it’s fine I will check if you need more rubies after you’ve rebuilt Gittrian.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    “Deal! Now come, the preparations are done! We can go down!” Dwarfbeard said excitedly.


    I started to think while I was being escorted by Dwarfbeard, Terry and more important looking people. I thought I was just a random nobody brat. But apparently, the most influential and wealthy company sees me as a very important person and all I did was sell some rubies… Does this make no sense or is my understanding about how this world works flawed? Are there other things that make me more important than I think? Hmm the Adventurers Association seems me as important because I’m of the few adventurers that reached C-rank with water magic as a focus… Uh oh. Maybe I’m not just a random dude anymore… Hey, Terry, what do you know about me and how does the general public think of me?


    “Hmm, well we recently discovered that you made a name for yourself as a C-rank water magic adventurer. It''s not much but people are starting to doubt if water is as useless as many think after all. About how you made Yttroz almost the richest company on the continent… obviously those working here are very grateful to you and the places we have strong ties with are quite similar. We try to keep construction cheap but durable and many places have profited from our boost. So, I would say that a lot are aware that the name ‘Hourai’ carries a lot of importance so I suggest that you might want to take up a different name. We apologize for the inconvenience…” Yeah, I noticed… at least now I know.


    “Well, this should be easy for you since you''re an adventurer. Make a name for yourself and get an adventurer''s name. Not many people know that the strongest magical caster and ‘Mage Hero’ Beatrice Manarune’s adventurer name is Crimson Eagle. Most people don''t know that they’re the same person. Granted she hasn''t stepped a foot in an Adventurers Association for over 40 years but she still holds that adventurer’s name. This goes for many noteworthy adventurers in history, their adventurer names are remembered while their real names tend to get forgotten. Or people forget that they''re one and the same.” I see, that’s some very good information, thank you Jerry!


    “It’s Jeremiah, and glad to be of help.”


    We stepped into an elevator and 2 people joined us. I recognized them as the Iron Wall and Golden Angel who were supposed to protect my target.


    Dwarfbeard pointed at the adventurers. “We hired them to protect you just in case, some weird things happen around this structure." What is this twist of fate?


    “We won’t fail this time!” The Golden Angel said confidently.


    I decided that under no circumstance should my identity be discovered when doing assassin missions. I seem to have developed different faces. I have an innocent blacksmith benefactor face, an adventurer''s face, and now an assassin face. The blacksmith and adventurer faces can mix. The assassin''s face doesn''t mix with anything at all. When did my life become so complicated?


    “I will cast a barrier on you just in case.” The Golden Angel cast the 3-hit barrier on me and the Iron Wall reinforced it. We arrived and it was an empty floor with just the dungeon in it, although, it didn''t look like a dungeon. It reminded me a bit of that place I encountered Isi or where that Dimsha was sealed. Don’t tell me something dangerous as a world-changing item is sealed here.


    “Whoa, this is fascinating!”


    This place also had markings on it and they pulsed in the dark.


    “What are these markings?” The Golden Angel tried to touch them but I pulled her away.


    Something is wrong with this building. Only 2 languages had their symbols on the exterior, the primal language and an ancient language that I could read.


    Something dangerous is sealed in here. I might mistranslate this but Scratching Demon? What even is that?


    “Demon? Didn''t they disappear before the Great Eraser?” The Golden Angel rested her hand on a symbol and her hand got scratch marks on it.


    “Aah!” I don’t know, that''s what this text is saying.


    “I thought you were just a blacksmith; how come you can read this? We hired scholars and nobody could decipher this!” Jerry said as he and other important looking people backed off. It seems I picked up another unnecessary skill. Uhm, all I did was sell rubies?


    “You can''t use that excuse for everything!”


    The golden Angel tried to heal her wounds but it didn''t seem to work very well.


    “Ugh, it''s [Spite], I can’t heal this. I need to dispel this.” The Golden Angel tried her best to dispel [Spite] which blocks healing but it seemed to be quite potent. She lost a lot of blood before she could dispel it and she seemed exhausted. Seems that we shouldn''t get hit by anything that inflicts [Spite].


    The Iron Wall pulled the Golden Angel in. “Let’s get out of here, Karina is exhausted, we had a rough couple of days.” Go, I’m staying here, it seems that whoever sealed something in here didn''t do a good job.


    “Wait, what do you mean?” Dwarfbeard asked confused. He started to stroke his beard.  I have encountered something similar before. I think a lot of things got sealed away in the same timeframe and they have all deteriorated and are starting to fail. Most likely they will fail at around the same time.


    Jerry frowned. “That’s not good, what should we do Barusu?”


    “We need to hire a team to fortify the seal.”


    Jerry shook his head and pointed at the symbols. “But nobody can read what it says?”


    “He can.” Dwarfbeard said as he pointed at me. I don’t think you have much time though; this thing will probably break out within 4 days or so. Look at all the scratches on the ground. If this thing is sealed it shouldn''t have an influence on anything outside its seal.


    “Shit, the fastest and best team we can get here takes at least a week to get here.”


    I walked around this building while keeping a safe distance. The adventurers never left. So ehh do any of those seal guys know how to read ancient runes? I asked, directed at Jerry.


    “I don''t think so.” So how do they want to reseal this then?


    “...” As far as I know in this situation, you would have to break all the seals and seal it with your own seals…


    “You are full of surprised you know?” Ugh, why does this have to happen now, I just wanted to eat some good food on my birthday…


    Jerry raised his eyebrow. “Is it your birthday?” No, it’s tomorrow but judging by the state of this mess I’ll probably still be busy tomorrow.


    I took a piece of meat out of my dimensional pocket and threw it on the floor. Nothing happened, I threw more pieces and made a line going from me toward the building. At a certain distance from the building, the meat got all scratched up. Those very close ones got scratched into extremely small pieces.


    Right, this is the Meat line! Get closer than that piece of meat there and you will, well, end up like that piece of meat! This Meat line will also indicate if the unsafe area increases, like it just did. The golden angel could get quite close to the building after we arrived here but now the safe distance was at least 1.5 meat. The pieces of meat I threw were 15 cm long each.


    “I get why you do this though but why meat…” To illustrate what happens to you if you get close. I threw another piece of meat at the building and it got scratched till it turned into a red-pink paste.


    “What could even do all this?” The Golden Angel inquired.


    A scratching demon I suppose that''s what it says on the building. I walked to the front of the building and since it already had the primal rune of ‘Open’ on it. I just needed to order it to listen.


    Apeyada The marble doors opened and miasma flowed out. I shifted stance and used [Counter Swirl] to prevent it from spreading and made it rise in a column. I threw a piece of meat toward the entrance but it didn''t get scratched. Right, let''s see what’s inside.


    I got pulled back by Dwarf hands. “Hey! Wait! Are you insane? Look at the meat line! And that black-purple fog! You can’t go in there!” I threw another piece of meat to the entrance and pointed at it gesturing that it was fine. “Why are youngsters these days so reckless?” Who knows what happens if we let this be. There is no reason for you guys to stick around. This might become very risky. I need one of you to go outside and get some form of expert team here ASAP because I have no clue what I’m doing but at least I can read this stuff.


    "I will go, I’ll be back as soon as I have the situation sorted!"


    "Jeremiah, make sure to also notify the Adventurer’s Association." Jerry nodded and ran off. I would recommend you guys leaving too, we can’t have something happen to the CEO and ehh who are you guys?


    "We are advisors and stockholders." Dunno what that means but you guys seem important better get to safety. Most of them left besides 2 guys and the CEO. The adventurers also stayed.


    "You might not realize this Mr. Hourai but you are just as important to this company as those guys that just left, moreover I can’t leave when someone that’s as old as my son stay behind while I run." That is cool Mr. stickholder but you have a family to care for, I don’t. If something happens to me that''s that, if something happens to you your family suffers.


    The stockholders thought about my words and left reluctantly and dragged the CEO with them.


    "Hey let me go! This is not how you treat a dwarf!"


    I looked at the adventurers that stayed behind. "Don’t try to persuade us, were staying!"


    I feel sorry for them, they probably feel obligated to see this through because I made them fail their last mission. Alright don’t say I didn''t warn you.


    The meat line indicated that the danger zone had expanded to 3 meat. I threw more meat toward the entrance and it was still safe. I was about to step inside but something bursted and a loud screech filled the room.


    Guys! Pay attention the seals just broke! I jumped away from the entrance and something big and black rushed out of the building. It was about 3m tall and looked like a tall human but completely black with red markings on its body and big red eyes. It also had some strange black fog emanating from it. It screeched again and showed off its large claws with sharp fingers the size of my arm. The Golden Angel screamed and this seemed to catch its attention.


    Get her out of there! I used [Spirit Lightning cage] but it broke straight through it. It did take a stun but then dashed toward the Golden Angel. The stun gave the Iron Wall enough time to put himself between the Golden Angel and the demon.


    What are you doing? I said get her out of here not block him! I used [Accel Step] to close the distance. The demon swiped and broke the Iron Wall''s defences and grabbed his head.


    "Aagh!" I took the correct stance and used [High Voltage] on the demon. It seemed to be just annoyed by it and opened the mouth of the Iron Wall and climbed inside. Shock and surprise caught me off guard as I saw the demon climb inside the Iron Wall through his mouth. The Iron Wall was gagging and tried to stop the demon while tears flowed from his eyes. The Golden Angel was paralyzed with fear and I was too. I got my wits together and wrapped the demon in wires and tried to pull him out of the Iron Wall but it gripped the wires and flung me into a wall.


    I heard the Iron Wall scream as the last bit of the demon disappeared into his mouth. Black energy burst from him, his eyes started to glow red and multiple scratches appeared on his skin. The Golden Angel got her shit together and tried to heal the Iron Wall but [Spite] was blocking it. My Elgards eyes revealed that the Iron Wall’s mana got kicked out of his body to make sure to make a place for the demon''s mana. I used several [Accel steps] and closed in on Iron Wall Demon. I placed my palm on his chest and blasted zero-element leyline through him. Because mana and leyline energy don''t mix, it blasted the demon out of Iron Walls'' body. The Iron Wall collapsed; he wasn''t dead but soon would be if he doesn''t get help.


    Take him and leave! The Golden Angel screamed as the demon set his sights on her. Why isn''t it targeting me? Is it because I have no mana in my system? He was aware of my presence though. I pulled the Golden Angel toward me with wires because the demon swiped at her.


    Take your friend and leave! I will figure something out! She nodded and ran toward Iron Wall. I sent a lightning [Dragon] at the demon and landed a direct hit. The demon screeched and clawed at it. It gave off some strange energy I had never saw before. I was pushing it back for a bit but I needed a long time to make [Dragon] sentient. Suddenly it started to calm down.


    “Quah asti?” It said in a slow, deep intimidating voice


    I created 7 illusion layers and shattered them to cancel this effect. This demon suddenly started to show intelligence and asked me ''who I am'' in primal language. Because of the language''s nature I was compelled to answer, that''s why I had to shatter those illusions. I started layering more illusions because this demon probably has a mountain of vocabulary ready for me.


    “I am Karina Geis, a human, I am a D-rank Golden Angel. Huh, why did I feel the need to say that?” It seems it had its effect on the Golden Angel.


    “Quah asti?”


    Abghare-hadi. I denied his question in the same language and this seemed to also cancel the effect. Golden Angel replied again. I pushed him more with [Dragon] but it didn''t seem it was doing a lot of damage to him.


    “Quim asti?” Abghare-hadi Golden angel replied to what she is but this demon is probably trying to find out who or what I am.


    “Mri!” Abghare-hadi I shattered the illusions on the Golden Angel and Iron Wall to protect them from instant death.


    This guy needs to get silenced, but I don''t know [Silence]. I turned the lightning [Dragon] into a water [Dragon] and tried to submerge him.


    I turned to the adventurers. What are you doing? Run!


    The golden Angel collected herself and tried to heal Iron Wall. I don''t blame her for prioritizing that but this guy can order her to die at any moment. I formed more illusion layers and drowned out the demon''s attempts to say something but he clawed through it and closed in. I tried to evade but…


    “Cessanam!” I got caught off guard by him ''stopping'' me and he grabbed me by the throat so I couldn''t deny his words.


    I shattered the illusions but he grabbed me again and began seeping into me.


    Golden angel get out of here now! Abghabb-hadi! I butchered the pronunciation and it only slowed him down. I felt a feeling that wasn''t overly unfamiliar. The feeling of bugs crawling into my veins as this demon tried to get inside me although this felt more as if they were clawing their way into me.


    I blacked out but shortly woke up with the worst headache I ever had. I clutched my head and rolled around as scratches started to appear all over my body. The Golden Angel was crying and yelling something but I couldn''t hear her. I tried to push this demon out but I started hearing voices and knowledge of this primal language flooded into my head as well as memories of the demon from when he got sealed away.


    “Ankrabi-shawi idac deha ii mymasum” I tried to fight the possession. I rolled around and tried to gather leyline energy and push him out. It was partly successful as the possession slowed down. A memory of this demon showed how he got sealed. Someone let himself get possessed and then he got killed before the possession was complete rendering the demon powerless for several minutes.


    He noticed what I was thinking. “Asti me’m”


    Oh hell no! I won''t become yours! that''s reserved for a hot chick! get the fuck out of my body! I said as I rolled around and gathered more leyline energy to fight the possession.


    Golden Angel, get the fuck out of here unless you want to die!


    The Golden angel had left the area. I got all my tails out and started [Tail Dynamo] while rolling around. The leyline energy surging through me started to weaken him.


    You need me to die to get out? Let’s make it painful for you too! I started charging up [God of Thunder] the incorrect way and the demon and I started to get zapped. He tried to order me to stop or to become his body but his pronunciation got butchered by all the lightning surging through us. He made more and more scratches appear on my body. I couldn''t close the wounds because of the [Spite] but I could slow down my blood flow. He was looking for mana to feed on but he couldn''t find it anywhere.


    Memories of this demon merged with mine, including anything related to this primal language. the word ''Silence'' and ''Die'' were included. It is a silver lining but this attempt on possessing me made me proficient in the primal language.


    Don''t mess with a 9t! Silenam! With the asshole now silenced, I could roll around faster and was getting zapped by orange lightning.


    Mri! I called forth [God of Thunder] on myself and ordered the demon to die.