Assassination According To A Dummy

Xiao brought his palms together and up to his mouth, sighing heavily and in a lengthy manner, evacuating all hot-tempered thoughts and wild emotions from his body, it was important to think with a clear head, not let one's feelings get the better of them and always think rationally.

"Nong… You have a good reason to be furious, in fact, I would say that your wrath is motivated by righteousness, and I also have a good reason to get back at the lord-"

"So you agree to help me?"

"-However, assuming that he really does not have guards and that you aren't mistaken on your other assumptions… I still don't see how it could go well to try and murder this town's lord for either of us, I mean, did you look at the guy? I wouldn't be surprised if his skin was as thick as a rhino's hide"

"What is a rhino? And anyways, he may be threatening, he may be gigantic, he may be overwhelmingly strong, and he may have no limits to what he is willing to do- But! He is still just a man, I reckon that getting stabbed in the throat in his sleep should sort him right out like anyone else" Nong his fists together.

"Listen Xiao, I understand that you would be worried to confront him again, but he beat you up and robbed you! Aren't you going to at least try to get some sort of revenge?"

"I prize my life over any grudge, actually, it hurts to have my sword stolen, but I think I can make do without it"

The peasant just looked at Xiao with a frown.

"My friend… If you won't do it for yourself, would you at least do it for the town? I know you're not as simple as you look…"

"H-How so?"

"You took a punch from the lord and didn't die on the spot, trust me, some of my fellows did not withstand it… Their corpses weren't even recognisable… And besides, I heard that you were going to the Myriad-Arm Sect, it's a righteous sect that favours honour and bravery, right?"

'That guy really was watching the entire time I was getting trounced? He really is making compelling arguments too! Really trying to make me feel bad for not helping you on your vendetta?'

But no matter the points brought up, Xiao really didn't want to get anywhere close to Edrick again, that was just asking for another set of scars at best, and death at worst, thought, he couldn't shake off the desire to get his sword back, without it, he would be heavily penalised as he progressed further and if more of the plot was different, then having this artefact would be rather useful to protect himself.

"What about the rest of your family?"

"I am not involving them into this, they are terrified of Lord Anoteros" he said whilst still making sure to use the proper amount of respect to refer to Edrick.

'My guts tell me he will absolutely fail in his attempt…' Xiao was a regular guy at heart, he didn't want to let someone die if he might be able to do something to prevent it, but one's own survival instinct was above the need to aid others.

"You know what- I'll help you get into the residence, you go and get my sword real quick in the middle of the night, and then I go in and kill him, even though I am no righteous member of the Myriad-Arm Sect just yet, I can't let a young man like yourself stain his hands with blood" Xiao put together some wise sounding garbage, absolutely mesmerising the peasant boy who felt touched such an act of compassion, probably one of the few he had probably experienced in his entire life judging by the look he was giving the protagonist.

Xiao almost felt bad, almost.

"Let's go right now!"

"Huh? What about gathering some information about the residence's layout? Learning the habits of each of the occupants and-"

"No need for all that! The lord's residence is actually really small, just look up at it and you'll see! Come on, we better get going right now the way is long and bumpy, we can't go up when it's already night" Nong exclaimed leading the way outside, pointing up at the mountain looming over the town.

"It is certainly smaller than I was imagining… But right now? I am sure he would have thought of me trying to get my sword back immediately" Xiao tried to speak with reason, which wasn't effective against the young man.

"My sister is with him as we are speaking, I should have intervened the moment I learned he had taken her, I can't push it back anymore" clenching his fist as though he was about the yell at the clouds, the crimson-eyed man could only sigh, the peasant was going to go anyways and he better be there to stop him- But only after getting his property back, of course.

'I hope he didn't just throw it away after getting a look at it…' thinking about the whole encounter again, it seemed plausible that Anoteros had just disarmed him and decided to keep the sword afterward, if he really wasn't made aware of the truth or had been asked to specifically steal it by an unknown party, then it was entirely possible that the sword was deemed rubbish and just tossed.

Shivers ran throughout Xiao's spine.

'What a frightening thought…'

The two youths went on their way, and indeed, Nong hadn't been joking, the way up to the residence was a near-continuous slope covered in bumps, holes and rocks.

"So… This guy and his little troupe just descend and ascend this way every time they want to go down into the town?"

"Yes"

"And they do it often?"

"Since Lord Anoteros took over the lordship, he has indeed often come down, regularly accompanied by both his maid and Fanqia, why do you ask?"

"No… Nothing… It's just that you need to be pretty fit to do that sort of thing…"

It was acceptable that the lord could do it, this guy could probably take a fat dump on every weightlifter from Xiao's old world with his absurd physique, especially impressive considering that he seemed to be all-natural, without cultivation to enhance his strength.

But the servant and Fanqia? That seemed more difficult, the former was all thin and delicate looking whilst the latter was carrying additional burdens that did in fact, look very heavy.

The body of Xiao wasn't too bad, he had that mysterious main character buff after all, his great physicality was often mentioned to elevate him further in the eye of the audience, but never really explained, since it really wasn't that impressive, the only impressive thing being that he wasn't nearly as thin as his living conditions would suggest, but once again, that was just a main character quirk, like how Fanqia and gorgeous and well-developed despite malnutrition.

Both men were exhausted when they reached the residence, hiding under the stairs that led up to the entrance, waiting for the night that had already shown itself to grow darker.

Thankfully, some moonlight pierced through the darkness, allowing them to find their way around the residence, on the side that was covered in grass and leading to small woods.

'Nice place…'

"Everything is locked tightly… I'll try to force open a window"