First Kill

Preparation
Weeks have passed, and Ira learned more and more from both Rhea and the woman, learning how to fight in close combat and with a sword by Rhea, and how to use magic thanks to the woman, and three months have passed.

Rhea and Ira were in the bathes, as usual, always going in last so no one would bother them, as Rhea washed Ira's body as usual "Alright, Ira, I want you to listen carefully now, tommorow, you'll prove your worth to the group. As much as I  hate doing this to ya, you'll have to go on your first assassination. The boss isn't liking you freeloading here" Rhea said to Ira, as he stared at her, his eyes still remainning as blank and emotionless as they always were, but gave his mother a thumbs up as a positive reply like always, causing Rhea to smile to him.

"Say...Ira, this is just me being curious but...how long have you survived outside? Before you met us that is" Rhea asked Ira, now of all times, since before he couldn't even count to one, so after having learned the numbers for 3 months, it was the best time to ask.

Ira blankly stared into the ceiling, before counting in his fingers the days he was surviving, showing Rhea three fingers "Three...? Three what? Days? Weeks? Months? Years?"

"Days...." Ira replied in a calm tone.

"Wait, that's all? Three days? How? When I found you, you were already so skinny and weak, how can you end up like that in three days?" Rhea lifted Ira's head by his chin, looking right into his eyes "...Were you always alone?" Ira nodded in reply to Rhea, to which Rhea sighed "I guess asking a kid something like that won't do you any good. Whatever happened, it couldn't have been only three days...."

Later that night, Rhea carried a sleeping Ira to bed, laying him down and covering him with a blanket, yawning "I'm gonna regret this..." Rhea thought to herself, going to bed, and falling asleep.

The next morning, Rhea woke up, openning her eyes, as she had an odd feeling of something pressing against her chest. As she looked under her blanket, she saw Ira nuzzling his head between her breasts in his sleep, as she looked at him in a dumbfounded expression, before smiling, and slowly moving him to the side as she got out of bed "Let's see....this is the...23rd time he's done that...he's either reaching puberty or just likes to sleep with me...." Rhea said to herself, as she wrote something down on a notepad with her pencil.

"Alright, Ira, up an' about, it's your big day!" Rhea called out to Ira, though he didn't respond "Ira...? Wakey wakey now" Rhea poked Ira, trying to wake him up again, to which he reacted with a mere grunting sound. "....A'right, kiddo, ya brought this on yourself" Rhea said, as she picked up Ira and carried him on her shoulders, as he woke up, noticing he is being carried.

"Mother....?" Ira said, sounding tired as he looked around.

"Ah, good you woke up. Time to get you ready, because it's your first job" Rhea said to Ira, taking him to what was similar to a bilboard, with many papers pinned to it, as Rhea took out one piece of paper and handed it over to Ira.

"....What is...this...?" Ira asked Rhea, who took the paper back from him, remembering Ira was illiterate and doesn't know how to read yet.

"Sorry, forgot I didn't teach you how to read yet. To sum it up, this is an assassination job, like I said, you'll become an assassin starting today, that's why we taught you all these things, for this very job. To be honest, out of all the other jobs, this is the one job that doesn't make it certain you'll die" Rhea explained to Ira, who looked down at the ground, to which Rhea kneeled down to his height, and patted his head "I'll be accompanying you though, so don't worry, but you'll have to be the one to do the finishing blow, otherwise, your point of being there means nothing" Rhea said, reassuring Ira.

"Oh good, you're up" The woman said, walking over to Rhea "So, you two are ready yet?" She asked.

"Give us a moment to get dressed and ready, okay? Gotta grab my gear too" Rhea said to the woman, walking away.

Assassination
Later that night, within the city of Bosco, Rhea and Ira walked through the streets, Ira staying closely next to his mother, as he looked around, seeing people being pushed by chains on their arms and legs, slave being taken to be sold.

"Don't look, Ira" Rhea said, patting Ira head and making him look only forward, ignoring all that's happening around him, fearing it would affect him negatively.

Evantually, they reached what appeared to be a mansion, as they looked at it from a safe distance. Many people went in, all dressing in fancy attires, appearing that there was a party within said mansion, or a celeberation for something.

"Alright, Ira, this is how it's gonna go...first of, I just want you to know, the moment we kill our target, we leave. I don't care if you don't see me around, when you get the target, leave and wait for me at the base, okay?" Rhea said to Ira, who nodded in reply to Rhea "Good boy, now, just as we practiced, get us on that roof" Rhea said to Ira, as he held her hand, closing his eyes.

Within a second, the two appeared on top of a rooftop, as Ira let go off of Rhea's hand. Rhea looked at Ira, smiling and petting his head "Attaboy, you pulled off the teleportation well. Okay, let's go through the job description one more time, okay?" Rhea told Ira, who nodded to her, as she pulled out a picture of a grown man, with slicked black hair and a goatee, he appeared to be in his 40's, and had a rather fancy looking attire.

"Our target is this guy, a rich fella, located in that mansion, and even though it's nto confirmed, his hinted to be selling slaves, but since this is Bosco, it's not that hard to believe" Rhea said, explainning to Ira "Now, this guy, atleast once or twice, caught and sold off some of our group members. We couldn't find them, hence, why we're going to kill him. He's name is C-..." Before Rhea could say the man's name, a loud melody was heard from the mansion, apparantly the celebration has begun, and the musicians as well.

Rhea put the paper in her pocket, turning around towards the mansion "We should get ready. He's gonna have a meeting during the celebration. Best time to do buisness, really, everyone'll be too distracted, having fun and all" Rhea said, holding Ira's hand "Get us on top of the mansion's rooftop" Rhea said to Ira, who managed to do so, getting them somewhere in the middle of the rooftop.

"Good boy, now, we'll go through the air vents, I'll take the lead, so you stay behind me, okay?" Ira nodded in reply to Rhea. The two cralwed in the air vents, Rhea taking the lead as she says, with Ira behind her, following her "This place is bigger than I thought...Thought it'd be too small and uncomfortable to crawl in...though my chest does hurt a bit..." Rhea said to herself, looking down from the air vents, to see the main hall, where all the party members were, and seeing the same man in the photo walking into a room with two other men.

"There he is, now we just gotta-...." Suddenly, the sound of something breaking was heard, as the air vents began to break from the weight, as Rhea quickly turned to see Ira "Ira! Finish the job!" Rhea shouted, before the air vents broke, as Rhea fell down, landing in the same place as the musciains, immediately unsheathing her sword, a large black, demonic looking sword, with what appears to be a four fingered hand grabbing the guard, with an eye-like marking on the back of the hand.

"So..." Rhea said, as the people stared at her, the musicians stopped, and the guards began to gather around her, as Ira did as she told him, and teleported into the other side of the air vents, avoiding the broken gap, and continuing forward.

"Who are you?!" One of the guards shouted at Rhea, pointing a spear at her.

"Me?" Rhea said in a sarcastic tone, realizing she was outnumbered "My name is Rhea Euryale, and I'm here to...say hi" Rhea said, smirking at the guards.

"Rhea...Euryale...? The Mercenary for Hire?" One of the guards said in a frightened tone.

"Mercenary for Hire?" Rhea asked, sounding confused "I'm not a mercenary, I'm a bandit"

"Lies! You take jobs, any job, as you get paid! And this is another job, isn't it?!" The guard began shouting at Rhea.

"...I'm seriously confused...what are you talking about?" Rhea asked again, as the guard charged at her, to which she nonchalantly shot him in the head, making him fall dead on the floor. The guests began to run in panic, as the guards stayed in their place.

"Wanna keep goin'?" Rhea asked, with a grin on her face.

"Men! Get ready!" A guard said, as they all began to charge at Rhea.

Meanwhile, Ira continued to crawl, barely hearing the screams of the guests running away, as he reached the end of the vents, looking through them, he saw the target, sitting in an office, talking to two other people.

"You can have them for 1,000 Jewels, I feel generous today" The target said, as if he just finished striking a deal.

"That is quite generous. Three people, right?" One of the two men said, as it became clear for Ira what they talked about...slave trading.

Ira looked at the men, while he didn't understand the entirety of slave trading, not knowing what it is beyond selling other humans, or why, only knowing the basic idea of it, and yet...he had an, odd and new feeling boiling up inside of him...he felt as if, he was itching in his head, his stomach felt like it was clenching...he wanted to jump out of the vents, and...hurt these men...what he is feeling...is rage.

The two men left the room, as the target simply sat calmly in his chair, counting the money. In an instant, Ira appeared infront of the man, standing on his desk and holding a sword in his right hand, as he said, with a faint voice "Kill..." The target immediately stood up from his chair in shock.

"Who..?! A child?!" The target yelled in absolute shock, as Ira pointed his sword at the man "...What're you going to do, child? Kill me...?" The target said, smirking at Ira "Go ahead, right through my heart" The target said, walking closer to Ira, as Ira's grip began to loosen, and he began to shake. When the man reached Ira, he hit him with his hand, smashing him against the wall, and dropping his weapon.

Ira tried to get up, but the man kicked him in the stomach, and stepped on his head "Your first time, kid?" The man asked in a sarcastic tone "You think it was that easy to kill someone?" The man grabbed Ira by his collar, lifting him up "Well, look how it turned out for ya".

Suddenly, the door broke, as Rhea walked in, her clothes bloodied and her sword dripping blood "Ira!" She called, seeing the man grabbing Ira by his collar "...You...!" Rhea's expression quickly shifted to an angered one.

The man quickly held Ira as hostage, grabbing his sword and putting it against his throat "I'll kill him!" The man shouted, as Rhea stopped in her place "Don't think I won't do it. I've sold kids younger than him!" The man boasted "Now then...if you don't want to get this kid killed...put down your weapons and...."

Suddenly, Ira teleported away from the man's grip, as the man looked up, Ira stabbed the man's eye with another sword, as the man shaked his head, causing Ira to be sent away from him, as Ira teleported infront of him, his expression differing from before, his eyes appearing cold and uncaring towards him, with a slight hint of rage in them, as he teleported to fair height to the man, and stabbed him in the stomach, falling safely on his feet, as the man slowly fell on the ground from his wounds.

"You...damn brat..." The man could barely speak, as Ira saw the blood dripping to his feet "How does...feel...to have killed...someone...?" The man asked, before evantually closing his eyes and dying.

Ira blankly stared at the corpse as Rhea walked closer to him, grabbing him by his shoulders and making him face her "Ira, you okay?" She asked him, however, he didn't respond, simply staring blankly into her eyes, as if there was nothing infront of him "....Oh, Ira..." Rhea embraced Ira "I'm so sorry....".