Chapter 74 – Poisoning a Guard

*** Guild Guard ***

The kitsune left once the collar clapped around my next. The cold metal sent a chill down my spine. I can do a year for my life. If she gets me out of this job, I may even thank her for it. I was young and stupid when I first started my time in the guild. The only good thing it gave me was power and a family. Good things, but the job just keeps showing the unfortunate side. The guard positions always open up due to the previous guard dying. The shit hours, boring work, and secrecy all make me miserable.

"Dear? Iii I'm sorry. I..."

"Strip," I command. I was asked to get closer to her; it's been a while since I've truly slept with her.

"Dear. I'm s..."

"Strip," I repeat, raising my voice a bit. Why doesn't she just let us be close? That's what she always asks for.

"Yes, dear," her defeated voice fills my mind. The shuffling of cloth ends with the robe falling to the floor. "What do I do now?"

"Get under the covers." What is she thinking about?

"My love, I..."

"Get under the covers!" I burst out, tired of repeating myself.

The covers shuffle behind me, and I stand up and strip, turning the light off in the room. In the darkness I join my wife in bed, holding her tight, trying to melt into one being. The dam breaks, and my tears start to fall as I hold my savior tight. Crying myself to sleep, praying the kitsune lets me go free after this.

*** Yuki ***

Why do I keep messing these up? Sure, I'm out of practice, but these should be simple enough tasks to do. If I continue like this, I'll end up dead.

Sure, a guard helping us is a better outcome than killing her, and the main attack should be much easier now. We can plan around her schedule and have one guard that we don't have to worry about compared to the possibility of three, letting us miss the worst case of having the guard show up in the middle of the heist.

The plan can continue, so it isn't a complete failure on my part. I just can't mess up the next two parts. Nakuma's been doing well, and the next assassination doesn't need to be as clean as this one was meant to be. Having her my slave for a while after this act could also be helpful, forcing her to help Mai and Alzi's Mother while Nakumi and I are out and about.

I'm closer to my house than the brothel, so I head there, and I'll have Nakuma teleport me back. I journey back, making my way through the buildings. Slowly watch as they get cheaper, smaller, and less decorative as I leave the noble district.

I walk straight into my house, hoping to find Nakuma waiting for me. The first room is empty so I go to check on her own room and see it dark. A few knocks and I leave without getting an answer. Worried, I write a note for Nakuma in case I miss her on her way back and head out to her target's home.

This time, I head back to the noble district, passing the buildings that slowly gain paint and size. Instead of looking at the buildings, I look for an illusion amongst the crowd. I see some specs of the mana, but none for a full body like Nakuma and I use. Making it all the way to the noble district, I don't find a single person who could be Nakuma.

Inside the noble district I have to compete with the various enchanted items. Now, I need to look at how they walk. The easiest tell is the gait a bunch of tails cause. Few women walk around with illusion mana swirling about, but I think they're just men trying to not be harassed. I'm just a few blocks away yet I still haven't seen a possible person. Maybe her target is staying late today, or she isn't getting to a private place? Or she can't leave yet?

Reaching the target's house, I find nobody who could be Nakuma walking back. I don't want to enter the house and possibly spoil Nakuma's plan. The only option is to circle the manor and hope I can find what is holding her up. A good thing about the city is the limited space for a yard lets me see inside much easier than the mansions and castles in the countryside.

It looks normal inside. Maids walks around cleaning and shuffling furniture, and it seems like nothing strange has happened. A few wives sit around drinking, reading, or doing some art. One looks like they are trying for a kid in one of the bedrooms. Nothing I see inside makes it seem like an assassin was killed or found. I circle and circle, looking through each window, hoping to find something out of place—a room too large or small or curving in space—something to show her space magic being used.

The only strange thing was the lack of maids leaving. Maybe I was too late, and most of the maids had already left; only the ones who lived with the family were still around. But I don't think I was.

Tired of running in circles, I make my way to the servant entrance and plan how to enter. The door won't open for me; I'll need some mana key to get in. I don't have the hour it'll take to break in, and every minute that passes makes it less likely a maid will come around to let me in. The other doors will have the same security and even less of a chance for someone to just let me in. I could go looking for an unlocked window I could push open. But there are too many to check them all with just a hope to get in.

I'll check a few. I start on the far side, hoping a maid doing the laundry wanted a bit of fresh air.

"Yuki?"

I spin on my heels immediately and find a normal-looking maid staring at what should be empty space. I quickly look at her mana and find the illusion mana around her.

"Yes," I say timidly. Is this Nakuma or a maid with an item hoping to find the assassin's partner?

"Good, come on, sorry for taking so long. She took forever to get here." Giving me a shimmer of her true self.

I give her a hug, and we walk back, holding hands to let me calm down. It seems I'm still the only one who failed these missions.

Back inside my house, I lead Nakuma to my room, our tails uncovering from the illusions we drew up. I push her onto the bed and wrap her up in a hug; my head, by complete happenstance, finds itself resting on her soft breasts.

"Did something go wrong, Yuki?" she asks. Putting one hand on my ass, the other stroking my head.

"Yes, a pregnant wife was resting in her bedroom and noticed me coming in. I couldn't come up with a good plan besides bluffing my way into enslaving the guard. Luckily, she seemed to care a bit about her wife or at least the child, giving me enough leverage. I've got her for a year per our agreement," I explain.

"Hmm, well, that's different. I thought you may have failed or something with how lovey-dovey you were coming back. I mean handholding from the princess before marriage! Now you're using my breasts as a pillow, letting my hand on your ass. I think letting me fuck you would be less lewd."

"Stop teasing me! I got caught, didn't poison the target, and then failed to do anything to help you when you took longer than expected. I'm not doing well right now."

"Yuki, you just earned us a guard. We can kill two out of the three easily. We should even be able to time this so we don't need the second round of poison or the last attack on the branch to get what we want. Use the guard to plan the attack for when my target is on duty with your slave, and we just need to kill a single guard and then get to the vaults. More time to search and less risk. Sure, this isn't the plan, but these never go as planned. I may look like I have a better track record, but the first attack was a joke. The second was such a large handicap for you that it's hardly fair to call it a failure. Then, these assassinations are happening on such a short time scale that these small details can easily go wrong. You found a way out that improves our position and lowers the risk and actions we need to take. Not everything goes as planned."

"I know, but I've never had plans go this far off script."

"Well, I like this new script. I get my Yuki in bed and a lower risk of her getting hurt. So now we call off the next raid and assassinations. We just focus on killing the last guard, get the contracts, and get out."

"Yay, I'll find a way to contact my slave tomorrow and find the schedule out. However, based on the weirdness of it, they may not have a schedule. Picking when to switch out with some vague guidelines."

"That would explain the strange behavior. Then, we should do the last two assassinations and leave out the raid. I think we'll stir up the nest too much with that attack. Let them think we are licking our wounds when we attack with half their guards out of commission."

"Ok, send me over to the brothel. I'll go through the massage with Alzi, then you can send me back here, and we can sleep together. Your hands can only go for my ass and tits if we do this."

"Deal!" is the last word as I get sent to my room. I need to find a way to have Alzi fuck me without a risk of pregnancy before she leaves. At this rate, I'm going to end up fucking that crazy girl before I can have Alzi fuck me properly.

I charge downstairs to avoid being late for Alzi. Bursting through the door, I find Alzi staring at the door, fingers tapping her bugling belly with a small shake. As quickly as the pregnant woman can, she pulls me into a hug.

"Sorry there were some complications, but they worked out in our favor this time, so we won't have to do the extra raid. Now Alzi, can you fuck me without getting me pregnant?" I dare to ask.

"Let me check." a bit of mana swirling towards my virgin womb. "I should be able to. You aren't ovulating and shouldn't be in the next week."

"Ok, let's bath then have a bit of fun. You aren't allowed to use your mana when we have sex."

"Yes, Ma'am!" she calls out, using mana to strip me and then pulling me to the small bath, not willing to waste a second.