My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

I am an Assassin.

Well, to be exact, maybe "killer" would be more accurate. I can't really tell the difference, but since I was born into the profession I call myself an Assassin. Normally I mind the flower shop in Uruk for an old lady who’s hurt her back, but the moment I take a contract I become an Assassin. You know, the underworld business.

Most killings are by poison or stabbing. The people I'm hired to kill are usually hated by those around them, so unless the murder is done in some grotesque way it gets passed off as an accident or illness. Actually, I pick targets like that on purpose. Killing isn't exactly forbidden, but it's not something to be allowed, and if people in the open world found out I was an assassin it would cause trouble for the old lady who lets me run the shop. Sometimes I even source the poison from wilted flowers that I dispose of. So I only take jobs where I can kill without being discovered and with certainty. Some colleagues call me a coward because I only take guaranteed wins, but leave me alone. I didn't choose to be blessed with assassination talent. If I could live a normal life, I'd prefer that too.

There's an unspoken minimum fee for assassination contracts. If a client doesn't know it, I tell them when I take the job. And if someone is desperate to have a person killed, they usually take out multiple contracts with different people as insurance, so a market rate for killings naturally formed. Most clients adhere to it.

If a client dictates the method or the target is difficult, the price goes up, so I refer them to someone better. Referring gets me a network of contacts, the skilled ones get work, and the client gets a guaranteed kill — everyone wins.

Referrals don't bring in a cut, but I prefer brokering to the actual killing. The money I make from assassinations disappears into the old lady's daily medicines, so I can't only broker, but I like it all the same.

One day, while living like that, a report landed at my feet.

"Hey, Gram Cluster got assassinated! They cut his throat with some short blade! Blood sprayed up to the ceiling — it was disgusting!"

"Hey, don't bring violent stuff into the shop when I'm on duty... What did you say????"

The one who burst into the flower shop that day was an informant who often brings information. Since he holds a sort of position in this town, he's been kind to the old lady and me since we met. His tips have saved my life more times than I can count.

I tried to shoo him away — not the best idea to bring up dangerous topics while I'm hiding being an assassin — but when I heard the words I couldn't help shouting back.

"I'm telling you! That Gram was killed!"

"What!?!?"

Gram Cluster, the current nephew of the Uruk king and the guild master of Uruk — supposedly the most widely hated man in this world — had apparently been killed.

Maybe because he knows how hated he is, he always kept his guard tight. No matter how skilled the assassin, they'd give up trying. Eventually a bounty was put on him in the underworld. Rulers and their inner circles are often targeted, but a royal with such a large bounty might only be him. There were even rumors he killed Crow's sister — Crow being our tribe’s pride from the former hero party. People said if anyone could kill Gram it would be Crow. The royal family had been exiled, so even if someone killed a royal there wouldn't necessarily be execution for that crime now.

Gram was killed in what should have been his most secure place: his private room. The cause of death was bleeding out from a severed major artery in the neck.

The weapon was apparently a single-edged short dagger, so it probably wasn't Crow. I heard Crow, while he might craft weapons for old comrades, wouldn't use them to kill.

Gram's prized bodyguards were easily neutralized, apparently, and the underworld was shaken. The drugs his guards used to strengthen their bodies sell for high prices, so buyers must be doubting their effectiveness.

If the information hadn't come from a reliable informant, I wouldn't have believed it either. I once got blinded by the bounty and attempted Gram's assassination, so I know firsthand how strong his guards are. I was only scouting, but if I'd made one misstep the old lady who raised me and I could have been killed.