Chương 172: Cordyceps Thirty-Seven

I woke up the morning of Milo's birthday and jumped out of bed. Sir Nibbles not being in the room somehow made the tiny space a little more lonely than I would have expected. I was used to waking up at all hours of the night because he was taking a bite out of a finger or something. It felt like a bit of an ill-omen, to wake up on the morning of an assassination feeling a bit sad. I powered through it. I had a heap of things to do and not as much time to do them in as I would have liked.

First, a shower, then I dressed in my best uniform. I didn't have better, more presentable clothes, so I hoped that the academy's uniform would let me pass as just another one of the boys. There was a lot of power in being dressed a certain way. It allowed you to pass through doors that might otherwise be closed off. A servant would go unnoticed in a noble's home, a janitor was invisible in bland corridors, and worker's garb allowed you to pass through nearly any factory unbothered.

I was hoping that the standard uniform would do the same for me. Tugging on my jacket, I made sure it sat right before I left the washroom and then lingered in the main room of the dorms. I had a box with me, one covered in thin red wrapping paper and covered with a bow at the top. A few of the early risers stared at the box, clearly curious, but I kept it close while reading through one of the books from the first year dorm's little library.

It was a text on how to improve memorization skills, basically an exercise book with simple maths questions where you had to recall a variable from several pages prior to solve the problems. It was actually kind of taxing, which meant it was probably a decent way to level skills like my [Academic Mind] ability. Milo eventually stumbled out of his room, looking a bit droopy and yawning hard, but he perked up at the sight of me, and of the gift on the table.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Good morning Mister Milo," I said without looking up from my book.

"I'm certain I have no idea what you're talking about." Milo snorted.

"Nice try, mister Killua, There's a box between your feet. Also, you shouldn't put your feet up on the table like that, if Mister Drake sees you, he might show you his cane." I grinned and pulled my legs back so that I was sitting properly. I had to guard the gift from prying hands.

"Well, it seems to me that it's a strange red box. There's a small tag with your name on it, but I'm not certain if you should open it just yet." Milo laughed.

"Oh, come on!"

"I don't know. Do you deserve it?" I teased. Then I snapped the box away as Milo made a half-hearted attempt at it.

"Ah-ah! Go take your shower, the mysterious box will still be here when you return."

"I don't need a shower."

"You definitely need a shower. Aren't you going to be meeting with a bunch of fancy folk today?" I challenged.

"Just some of my parent's friends," he dismissed, but he did trudge off to the showers and returned in short order, hair still dripping wet. By then a few more boys had woken up and were enjoying the weekend vibes. Montgomery slipped into the seat next to mine, then pointed to the gift.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Assurance," I admitted in a low tone.

"I'm going to guilt Milo into inviting me along with the promise of additional gifts. Plus the public display of me giving him a gift in front of everyone else will force him to have to reciprocate." Montgomery stared at me for a moment, then he snorted.

"You're not supposed to say it out loud, you know?"

"Oh, my bad," I said. Milo finished greeting the others, many of whom were wishing him a happy birthday, then he came over and placed hands on hips.

"Can I open it now?" he asked. I tossed him the box and he caught it, then there was a rush as wrapping paper was torn to shreds and so was the box beneath. Milo tipped the contents onto one of the coffee tables, and they spilled out as two pouches and a board.

"The board's whatever," I said.

"But the pieces are neat!" The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"It's a chess set!" Milo said. He seemed genuinely pleased with the gift, which was a white and black set of pieces. They were made of forge-pressed lead and painted quite delicately in the form of little metal soldiers and mages and knights. The bishops had actual religious symbols on them, and the towers were replaced by mages, but otherwise chess was chess.

"Is it enchanted?"

"You'll have to do that yourself," I said. That seemed to light a fire under him and he started chattering on excitedly about the idea. I let him, and later on, when the time came and Milo said he was going to ride to his place, I bumped my shoulders against his and asked him if he would mind terribly if I rode along. He grinned and said that it was fine. Strange how I had to bum a ride to the house of the person I'd be targeting, but that's just how it worked out. I missed having my own car.

In fact, I kinda missed cars in general. Walkable cities were nice, but horses weren't. They were too big, they stank, and I had the impression they didn't like me very much. Milo was heading out in the afternoon to be a bit early to his party, which suited me just fine. He left the dorm with a bunch of his friends, and I begged off, telling him I had to grab something before I could head over. I said I'd meet him by the gate. First, however, I needed to pick up my poison of choice.

That meant circling around the Dragon dorm and heading to the basement where I slipped downstairs and looked for my stuff. I had some [Dead Man's Cough] powder in a little sack, ready to be sprayed in someone's face or to clear a room, some of that [Dead Mage's Agaric] for the main job, and a few bits and bobs for emergencies. If I had to work in the dark, or if I got injured, then I'd have something to work with to get me out of there. I hoped it didn't come to that.

At the moment, my nerves were on edge and I could feel my heart racing. Maybe that's why I wasn't paying as much attention as I left the basement. The first I noticed of Harbin was a hard shove to the side that sent me crashing down onto the grass in the shadow of the dormitory. I landed hard, but I'd been raised in the roughest part of town. I knew that staying down was as good as asking to die, so I rolled, even if it hurt, and bounced back to my feet.

Harbin was grinning, looking particularly proud of himself as he stood in the sun just a few feet away.

"I knew you'd be there," he said.

"What?" I asked as I looked around. There was only the two of us. Harbin hadn't come with any of his friends.

"The basement. I saw you sneaking down there. So I waited. Did you think I'd forget about the lies you spread about me?" he asked. He closed a hand over a fist and cracked his knuckles. I put two and two together.

"You've been waiting to ambush me?" I asked.

"Just need to remind you of your place. And this time there's no teacher, no friends, just you and me," Harbin said. This wasn't great. I had a job to do, and I didn't have time to waste on this.

"Harbin, sod off," I said.

"I don't want to play your stupid games." Harbin spat between us.

"Too bad." He started towards me.

"Hey!" I said.

"You know what's great about not having friends or teachers around."

"You're not talking your way out of this one, Killua," he warned as he came closer. I ignored that.

"The great thing is, there's no witnesses." I wasn't a fighter. My skills and classes didn't lend themselves to fighting, and I didn't have the right mindset for it. What I was, however, was someone who was always desperate to win, and I had tools to make sure I'd come out on top. Harbin paused as I let loose the shackles on my mana. I'd noticed that a few students had a small utility spell or two, but most barely touched on real, skill-based mana at all.

That was reserved for the mages, the upper-years who wanted to be personally powerful instead of wielding power through capital. Harbin's eyes narrowed. I don't know if he noticed the grass growing greener around his feet or the air smelling sweeter.

"Please, just go back to your pals, leave me be," I said.

"I'll leave you be once I've knocked a few teeth loose," he growled back.

"Okay," I said. Then I turned the magic swirling around him into a [Blight] and waited for his screaming to stop.

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