28th King, James day 9989

  My father seems a bit agitated lately. It is most likely my fault for not living up to his expectations as the heir for the family. My little brother will have his awakening soon, I'm sure he is nervous that he will become a waste like me if he doesn't awaken the knowledge aspect that Keith wants. Although he's never said anything, I understand that me who has shown no progress in reaching ascension 1 can't be considered as the heir of the barony anymore.

  Awakening, I go to my desk to write my thoughts down and make a plan of action. They most likely want me to kill him to test my resolve. I'm sure some people awaken a blood aspect but don't have the heart to kill anyone and live a normal life like I have been doing the past year. He probably isn't a high profile or powerful person since they are giving the task to me who they have no reason to trust. Since I've come to this world I've already decided I want to be the strongest. Originally, I wanted to be the protagonist, but I'm currently just a fleeting memory of Roman's life who is more like the protagonist than I am right now.

  Anyways, since I've decided to go through with it, what's important now is to figure out how to actually kill him. He gave me a revolver but there might be easier methods. If I just walk into the building and shoot him, I'll surely be arrested or killed. If I could lure him into an alley or something maybe I could get away with shooting him, but it would still be loud. Normally these information brokers want money for information, but if it's something small you might be able to buy it with food or drink. It might be possible to poison him this way…

  Stabbing him would be a lot quieter than using a hand gun making it a good option as well. At the moment, this feels like my best option. I don’t really know where to get poison, nor do I know how to make my own. Normally after reincarnating in a few books, I read in my past life, they would conveniently know how all sorts of things were made in their previous life as if they had the internet at their fingertips. The gun would be unrealistic to use if I want to get away after. I should approach him as a client looking for information and eventually kill him with a knife.

  In order to do this, I need to get a knife which should be easy and come up with a reasonable reason for approaching him. Since I’m approaching him anyways, I may as well get some information I want. What I’m most interested in knowing about is the witch I met with, Madam Xue Yan, as the dragon boy called her. However, I don’t want to alert him that I might be associated with her, and I also don’t want her to know that I’m investigating her. It wouldn’t be wise to investigate someone so powerful, and it’s not like they are my enemy, so I don’t need the information that desperately.

  What interests me most is magical items. Sometimes higher beings bless their favorites with items possessing unexplainable properties. A few exceptionally skilled people with the craft aspect can even produce them as well. If I could get my hands on a weapon enhanced like this, I would be able to instantly become a lot stronger. The issue is they are too uncommon to just be sold at a random stall in the street.

  If you want a magical item, you have to be someone or know somebody. Just being the son of a Baron isn't enough for this kind of thing. If I had a bit higher social standing, or my father was a higher ascension maybe it would be easier to acquire one. Instead, getting a lead from this information broker might be the best I can get.

  If I can interact with him a few times, I might be able to learn how powerful he is and get a good chance to kill him safely. What's most important in this is getting away without getting caught. To do that I should prepare a bit better disguise than just wearing different clothes than normal.

  Nobody normally wears a cloak so putting one on would just look suspicious. The same can be said about masks which are not normal to wear either. My hair is quite distinct, so I could be easily caught with just a glance. I'm really at a loss for how to disguise myself, but there shouldn't be any problem with approaching him as normal for now since I don't plan to murder him until I know more.

  Going to the barony’s training ground that I used to practice at almost every day, I feel a bit nostalgic. I haven't been here since my awakening. I'm just here to quickly take a dagger and head out. I'm wearing the trench coat and hat I wore like before, with the revolver tucked into the hidden pocket inside. Entering the armory, I take a small dagger in a sheath and tuck it into my pants.

  The Silver Lounge is on 15th Street, although I've never been, I expect it's a bit more populated than the area I met the dragon man but still somewhat quiet. I make my way through the street, trying my best to not stand out and look normal. I still feel paranoid that someone will somehow notice I'm carrying a gun on me.

  Arriving at the building, I expected a somewhat classy place because of its name but it's surprisingly nothing like my expectations. From the outside it looks like a very big cheap bar. Even from outside I can hear the noise of the people inside. Entering the wooden door, a group of rambunctious men grab my attention. They are crowded around a pit dug into the ground. Curious I walk over and peer over a shorter man's shoulders to see what is happening.

  Inside the pit, two roosters are fighting each other, pecking and clawing at each other while spreading their wings making them look larger and more intimidating. Understanding that they are gambling on the roosters, I head to the bar quickly losing interest in the fight.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Sitting down at the bar, a sharp looking bartender quickly makes his way over to me.

  “An old fashioned please. And I have a question for you, where can I find Doug Mercer?”

  He quickly mixes the cocktail into a crystal looking cup much fancier than the cockfighting and noisy atmosphere suggested the establishment would be.

  “I don't know a man named Doug Mercer. I'm sorry sir.”

  I hate tedious stuff like this. Not willing to go around asking other people, I simply hand over one gold pound note over the table. His face instantly brightens up at this, and he shows his eagerness to help.

  “He's the man at the table over in the corner.” He says and discreetly points to the less populated side of the bar where a man can be seen hunched over a table in an undignified manner.

  “I heard he's ascension 2 and would be able to protect me if I got in trouble. Is that true?”

  The bartender lets out a small chuckle before stopping himself.

  “That man hasn't had his first ascension, but he has a big attitude befitting an ascension 2. He often hires guards to protect him when he goes to do business. Not many people around here like him but the information he sells is good.”

  The bartender basically tells me everything I wanted to know about my target without me having to ask too many probing questions. He must be happy to talk after receiving a gold pound note, so it makes sense.

  “Oh, I see. Someone must have given me bad information then. Thank you.”

  After saying that I get up and bring my drink over to his table. The bartender's gaze lingers on my back for a moment before he quickly loses interest and goes back to watching the roosters fight from the bar until another customer comes. I sit down across the circular table from him, and he instantly sits up fixing his terrible posture.

  “I'm looking for someone who can sell magical items. Who should I talk to?”

  Sitting down, I can get a better view of the man now that he's sitting up. He has a rounded plump face, with a receding hair line making an undignified horseshoe shape around his head. His hands’ fat fingers intertwine with each other, almost every finger is adorned with a golden ring. His suit jacket has obvious grease stains on it that seem out of place with how much money he is wearing on his hands.

  “Ten gold pounds.”

  I decided not to haggle, since doing so might give me a good reputation in his eyes as someone he can make easy money off of. My goal is to get closer to him after all. Handing over the money, his eyes lit up as if he didn't believe I would pay this much.

  “A lady wearing purple will come to the main market on the first day after each full moon. Tell her you want to look at something more interesting, and she will show you some magical items she's selling.”

  A full moon in this world happens every nine days thanks to this world's moon finishing an orbit around the planet faster compared to my original world. The next one happens in a few days I believe so I shouldn't have to wait too long thankfully.

  The building erupts with noise again, signing the start of the next cockfight. Getting up from the table, everyone's attention is on the opposite side of the room where the fight is taking place. I suddenly have an impulsive thought to just kill him right now. Nobody's looking and he doesn't have the guards the bartender mentioned with him today.

  “It's a pleasure doing business.” I say while extending my right hand to shake hands while putting my left inside my coat.

  He stands up with a smile and reaches his right hand out to grab mine. If I want to kill him, I should do it now! Something in my head is screaming to just do it right now. I won't have to wait weeks gaining his trust if I just kill him today and I can start getting stronger even faster.

  I lunge forward, pushing my right hand forward into his face covering his mouth and pushing him back into the booth. Simultaneously, I pull the dagger out with my left hand, plunging it into his neck with my entire body weight behind the thrust. I can feel the resistance of his flesh as the sharp dagger tears into his neck plunging all the way in until the hilt reaches his neck and I can feel the warm blood spilling onto my left hand. His body slowly relaxes as he dies. Seeing that he won't be able to scream anymore, I let him fall forward into the table looking even worse than he normally did with his terrible posture. Thankfully I'm ambidextrous, so stabbing with my left hand didn't feel too unnatural.

  Looking around, everyone's attention is still on the cockfighting. I quickly put my bloodied hand in my coat with the dagger and left the bar. My body is still tense from the adrenaline of killing somebody with my own hands as I walk back to the barony. Heading into an alley shortly, I threw my hat into a trash can only keeping the coat to hold my weapons for now. The impulsive decision to kill him wasn't a good idea I've quickly realized. I just talked to the bartender about him, and he saw me walk over to talk to him. It will be easy for suspensions to land on me as the murderer. I want to discard the coat I wore while killing him as quickly as possible too.

  My nerves settle down once I'm back in the barony, but I still feel paranoid every time I walk past a maid on the way to my room. I put the revolver back in my desk drawer and went to the bath, washing my hand and the dagger of blood. Taking the trench coat off, there is blood in the pocket where my hand was, the sheath for the dagger has blood in it, and a bit of blood splattered on the outside of the coat too thankfully not that noticeable as it's hard to distinguish from a normal stain at a glance. I threw the sheath and the coat into the bath hoping it will help and head back to the training grounds to return the dagger.

  Luckily, I didn't run into anyone on my way to put the dagger back, so I went back to my room finally feeling relaxed. The morality of my actions is beginning to catch up with me, as I realize I've killed a man without ever speaking to him before. It's entirely possible I'll become a wanted criminal since the bartender saw me walk over to talk to him. I can only hope he didn't notice my grey hair since I did my best to tuck it under the hat. I was too impulsive and completely disregarded the plan I had in my head.

  I drain the bathtub and wash any blood off the edges by rubbing my hands against the porcelain. I take the wet coat and sheath, which still seem obviously stained if you look at the inside of them and see them to dry. I'll have to dispose of them somehow since the stain isn't coming out easily. I don't want to own the clothes I committed murder in anymore, I need to minimize the chance this gets connected to me as much as I can. An imperfect fix to my impulsive decisions from earlier. I let out a sigh as I lay down on my bed completely mentally exhausted.