Julian woke up in a bed, a wooden one, made from short planks and hay…
"You awake?" A deep voice asked, followed by small screeches and a scratching sound against a hard surface, "Really, I'd thought you would be sleeping for the whole day long."
"Where am I?" Julian asked the man in the shadows of the shoddily built hut.
"Hey man, don't take it personally, but this is just my humble shack, and if you want the exact location, it's about an hour's walk north away from the capital."
"How did I get here?" Julian muttered, looking down at his hands.
"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, I took you here after you fainted in the bar…" The man said, as he walked out of the shadows, revealing himself to be the battle-scarred beastmen. "I'm Heyrm, by the way, nice to meet you, I'd guess you are the missing son of the Notros-Farion branch."
Though his voice was firm and blunt, the man spoke without any form of hostility.
"How did you know…" Julian asked, clicking his tongue, "Are you here to kill me also?"
"Whoa! Woah! Chill out there, I'm just a broke, humble adventurer."
"Hmm, I guess so," Julian uttered under his breath, making sense of the whole scenario…
"I guess that you're the missing son of the Notros Farion branch, don't blame me if I get it wrong, I'm not that into politics."
"Yeah…" Julian replied, his voice not any louder than a soft whisper.
"You want to save your sister?"
Julian's eyes widened in shock as he heard the sudden question. Thinking back, this man was the one who saved him; he decided to trust the lumbering beastmen, "Yeah…" he replied.
"Allow me to assist you, it's a perilous road if you walk it by yourself, Julian Notros-Farion."
***
Heyrm is a formidable man, one worthy of respect, a fearsome beastmen with undying loyalty to those whom he calls his friends.
Julian noted the aspect of his newfound companion. In his mission to save his sister, he has to walk through the path of becoming a noble once again, as he was stripped of the title by his father before he was sent to the region of Feris.
Without a doubt, Julian was also a man worthy of respect in the eyes of Heyrm. The young man was intelligent, both fighting-wise and politically wise.
It wasn't much of a struggle for him to regain his lost title; within a few years, he had already gotten the title of Earl.
Even still, little news appeared, even after all those years of scouting for information about his apparently captured sister, he found none that was worth mentioning, none that gave any hints to where she is or how she is…
"Sigh—" Heyrm groaned, "I don't think we can find anything here either, these sons of bitches sure are keeping themselves secretive."
Julian had already expected this much, of course, he wanted to find a hint or two by now, but it's fully within his expectations, as his father taught him before, 'nobles and power struggle is just a means for trickery and bloodshed.'
Heyrm's ears twitched as he heard a soft noise of near-silent footsteps scurrying quickly towards the room.
A needle flew through the air, a small dart.
"Get down!" Heyrm shouted as both he and Julian reacted, ducking below the desk.
The dart stabbed into the wall, leaking a gooey green liquid from the sides.
"Poison..."
"Go after him!" Heyrm shouted as he burst his way out of the doorway, his enormous frame breaking the door itself.
Julian followed behind him as the two ran after the assassin, who kept launching poisonous needles after poisonous needles at the duo, who were gaining on him.
Soon, the assassin was met with a dead end. A scent of desperation bombarded the air. From inside the black robe he wore, he drew out a curved dagger, one blunt and crudely made.
"Hey, you got your sword with you? I don't have mine." Heyrm said to the trailing Julian as they approached the dagger-wielding assassin.
"Yeah, I have mine," Julian replied, unsheathing his elegant rapier from its pointed sheath.
Pacing around the dagger-wielding assassin, he used a few feints, poking at the cloaked man with the tip of his sharp, thrusting sword.
"Okay." The assassin threw his hands up, dropping his weapon on the floor, "I give up, please don't kill me."
"Huh?" The two men uttered simultaneously, looking at each other, unsure of what's up with the unprofessional assassin.
***
"Ay man, don't be so rough, I'll tell you everything as long as you let me leave here with all four limbs."
"... Shut up," Julian replied.
"So tell me," Julian continued, staring down at the young assassin, "Do you know anything about the missing daughter of the Notros Farion branch family? Answer me with the whole truth only."
"Chill, man, it's fine, I'll tell you everything, and yes, I do know where your older sister is, I can take you there if you want."
"Are you trying to bait us into your trap?" Heyrm added.
"No way, brother. Look at the situation I'm in right now, I'm not trying to die."
"Who hired you?" Julian interrogated again.
"Oh, that? It's just the Head of the Minais-Farion house, I think his name was… What was it again?"
"Boch Minais-Farion?" Julian stated.
"Yeah, that guy… So are you going to let me take you there or nah?"
Julian walked away, heading to the corner of the room where Heyrm stood, still questioning if the young assassin was being truthful.
"You wanna follow him?!" Heyrm exclaimed after he heard Julian, "It might very well be a planned trap to capture us both. If we don't think this through, we might never be able to save your sister."
"I'm willing to bet on this risk, this is the closest we've gotten… We searched for four whole years."
"If you say so, it's your call to make." Heyrm agreed.
***
Untying the young assassin, Julian whispered in the young man's ear, "I wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you lure us into a trap."
"Yes, sir, I'll make sure you get through every trap and past every guard in the manor." The black clad youngster agreed promptly.
…
And sure he did, the youngster was a skilled one, quickly disabling all the traps set up in the path leading to the underground cellar of the Minais Manor… As for the guards, the young man disabled them as well swiftly with a few of his poisonous darts.
"Wow, you sure didn't lie about being capable. So tell me now, what's your name, youngun'." Heyrm asked the young assassin.
"Oh, me? Nothing new, I was born in the slums without a real name, they call me— Hew," he replied cheerily as he sniped down another one of the guards from afar using his poisonous darts.
Both Julian and Heyrm were impressed by the youngster's ability; every one of his shots hit the target, looking at each other in question, how is such a superb asset of an assassin not taken away by the Royals of Midgard…
Many capable assassins who tried escaping from the grasp of the Royals were unsuccessful, killed under the Blade of the King, Arthur Rein, who viewed all assassins as threats to the throne, ones that had to be eliminated upon their discovery.
Was this kid just someone undiscovered by the legendary swordsman, or was he just deemed as someone not worth noting? Honestly, it could be either way. People born in the slums are seen as nothing more than trash…
And not much attention is given to them unless they perform a big feat worth being noted down, that was the system the Kingdom of Midgard operated upon…
Once trash always trash, born nobles always superior.
"Your sister is just in that room at the far back, careful not to scare her too much; her condition might be worse than you'd expect," Hew warned.
"I'll keep watch," Heyrm prompted, patting Julian on the back.
He stared at the door nervously, his hands trembled slightly as he reached for the knob and the chunky lock.