There it is. Now i am here, in the middle of nowhere. Probably somewhere around the Land Down Under.
In the middle of a major blackout... I remembered my assignment given by the Contractor.
Eliminate Eliza Mhyssen
Eliminate Johnny Marks
A couple of techdudes. They seem to be ticking the wrong people that i had to assassinate them.
Then yeah i did it. Kinda loud given that i need to procure on-site items instead of bringing my own (since air security in Oceania region is increased and i can't bring my silenced gun), but it works.
The rest is up to imagination. This is just like something i did in my sleep, considering how much i am trained to do this.
I had many names, but none of it are addressed to myself. I usually go as Allen Smith. Well, not usually, but for this last task.
And i hope the deaths of those two Australian tech chiefs are the last, because i am seriously intended to retire. Not because i am tired, but because i planned to have more new generations "problem solvers" like me.
And then that's it. I'm not much of an attachment compared to many many cryptocurrencies and bank accounts under pseudonyms. Material attachment, especially when operating as a "problem solver" like me would be easy to trace, ending my lifetime career at an instant.
Now it's time. I think i'm going to stash my lifetime savings, and live the rest of maybe 3, 5, or 10 years of my life in Japan.
Yeah. Australia to United States. Gotta get my dead drop payment first, i think. Nice seats. If i say so myself.
And here i am.
United States.
Fancy, a limo.
As i took the passenger seat of the limo in an undisclosed airport, i hear ticking sound. I notice a digital timer. I franticly trying to open the locked door, to no avail.
And in an instant, a flash, a fiery explosion...
I'm awaken, sweaty, scared. Knowing that it is a nightmare.
But it's so vivid. So.... lucid.
Like i becoming that... somebody.
10 years have passed since the time i was born... i mean, reborn.
Whole decade passes by uneventfully.
I knew that "nothing special" because my family is trying to make me adapt with the life.
But well, back to "reality", because i might find something new in this "seems to be early 20th century" world...
Still thinking about that lucid, vivid dream i had,
An assassin.
Granted, i convert a lot of "living" or "combat ready" state to "dead" or "incapacitated" of many pixelated or polygonal baddies in the screen of any games i play. Sometimes, like those demons from hell gateway experiments, exploded and destroyed in gruesome ways.
I might so often try to test, again i emphasize, in videogames, like in that very super popular game where you drive stuff, shoot stuff, and taking others cars, how driving in sidewalks feel. how flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and rocket launchers work, especially in crowded traffic.
But, apart from the oh so very common rage outburst, i never, never ever, consider taking human life.
Apart from traffic violation tickets for taking the wrong turn, doesn't noticing the signals, and jolted the pedal...
also maybe unpaid bills, i never have a criminal record.
Severing a human life out of its body? Never. Ever. No matter how life burdens me. Never. In my whole past life i did.
But in this "daring, new life"? Possibly. But I'll make sure that it's for self defense.
Maybe i do downloaded stuff out of respective stores and commercial services for "free", but that's far from killing. So yeah, Allen Smith ain't me.
No, that wasn't me. THAT. WASN'T. ME!
I mouthed the name of "me" in my dreams.
Allen Smith, hmmmmm....
John: Allen Smith, hmmmm...
I unintentionally mouth the word...
Lugh, now 10 years old, sleeping besides me, then looked back at me.
Lugh: Allen? Smith?
Lugh: We need to talk.
Lugh: Also i read your books. Sorry for intruding, my brother, but i think we... both of us, reincarnated from that world before... Do you remember seeing any goddess? A maiden in white figure with perfect form?
I swallowed any liquid that remains on my mouth, while getting up from the bed and taking some waters and anxiety medications (well, it's kind of medieval or early 20th century - ish, but they had that. Dad's a doctor and all that.)
Lugh: Just the water. Don't overdose the pills. Or, just. Don't take it. It's prescription. Save it for the time we actually need it.
Indeed, he spoke more maturely compared to myself.
And...
John: Let's talk under the moonlight.
Both of us decide to talk under the moonlight. The second floor balcony.
John: So.... who're you exactly?
Lugh: You won't believe it, but...
Lugh: I was an assassin under the name of Allen Smith. Of course, it's a pseudonym. I forget my real name was.
John: Well, i kinda believe it. Like Agent 47?
Lugh: (chuckles) Well, quite a gamer you are? I'm not one. I'm the real deal.
Lugh: Alright, it confirms that...
Lugh: That you... no...
Lugh: We...
Lugh: are reincarnated...?
Lugh: So, did you see a Goddess like figure offerring you power, telling you to "kill the hero"
John: Ummm... yes.
John: Do you ever play videogames back in the day?
Lugh: (laughs) please, i know, i know. But i often use throwaway accounts given how they're insist to use real ID for e-mail and stuff. But what stays in the past, stays in the past.
Lugh: Point is...
Lugh: We are reincarnated. Period.
Lugh: Tomorrow we'll attend school.
Lugh: Not somewhere else, no, but... after all these years, you know how our father is a doctor, and our mother is a teacher, right?
Lugh: And our mother has connections with the best educators across the land...
Lugh: You're going to love it tomorrow. I'm sure of it.
Lugh: Back to the topic. About that... well. Rigged limo. That's how i met my end, especially how the Agency did a clean-up job, which involves "clearing" the staff, after the "initiate" managed to leak the dossier of assass... agents like me, in a covert facility in Chongqing. I was 70. One of the best agents of the "Agency", and i look up to the "initiate", which is a bald, slim man with the suit and a red tie, as a "master", though i didn't interact directly, only by watching his footages courtesy of his handler. None of us in the "Agency" did, in fact, interact with each other. My handler? Well, perished in the same explosion.
My.... that's real.
John: You don't need to remember it, for it's long past. But as for me, in the middle of a binge, i suddenly have various unpleasant hangover style discomfort. Cramps, aches, from my stomach to the head....
Lugh: Well, sorry to say, that you've overdone the screentime.
John: Nah, i just like only took a few hours. Might be cumulative.
Lugh: Never mind. What's already done is done.
Because there's no bugs of discomfort unlike in the previous "modern" world, i decide to sleep with the night sky as the ceiling.
As the sun rises...
With what appears to be a bolt action rifle at the grip of my hand, finally, i learn for some target practice. It's been years...
Only unusually is that my instructor (should be) way younger than i am.
Though at the time he bites it, he's like 70 or nearing 80s while i'm around 32.
Lugh: Here, i'm setting up some empty bottles and mushrooms for you to shoot.
Tutorial pop-ups appearing in my eyesight.
Wait, what?
[LEFT CLICK] to shoot.
Ummm.... yes. I reflectively did that. Imagining that i'm in the grip of a neon-adorned pair, of keyboard and a mouse, instead of gripping a rifle.
Lugh: Well, it's been like a decade since you're shooting. Try aiming through the iron sights. Move a bit closer, follow my stance...
[RIGHT CLICK] to aim down sights
I decide to follow the tutorial-pop up and picturing that in my mind.
Well, that make things easier.
Lugh: Now try backing off. Train how to pick targets at longer range.
Lugh: As you know, you need to steady your aim. Hold breath and focus.
I silently obey as usual. This is, like, the tutorial segment, right?
[LEFT SHIFT] to steady aim
Sure enough, while i aim, i found it shaky. I can breathe to steady, but it only took awhile before the grip loosens.
Lugh: You'll aim more accurately if you try to stance yourself. Try crouching. Or going prone.
[C] to Crouch
[X] to Prone
Yes, i know, the lower my stances are, the easier i will shoot at stuff. Now give me my machinegun.
Lugh: Great, now take a break, but the daytime is still long, might as well to train how to operate bow. Hunting.
Nah, i prefer farming. But hunting's good too, especially if i want to upgrade stuff by collecting certain animal skins... never mind. Collecting leftover animal parts for baits as well.
Lugh: The point is, so we have more of the hunting bounty, you need to use a bow. Gunpowder and lead will broke the skin and many part of the meat. Don't even think of using a grenade either, like you might do at times.
[RIGHT CLICK] to aim
Hold [LEFT CLICK] to draw aim. Release to shoot the bow.
Well, it's easy enough. Rabbit and Deer. Then Lugh will take care of the rest.
I'm starting to love this. It's just like Fa<bzzt> Cr<bzzt>
Back at home...
Quite a lot of bounty there. And now i... we... are cooking.
This time i prefer to do it naturally. Not imagining video game steps.
Mom: Mind yourself and be careful, my dear sons!
Well, Mom is pretty soft. But i really, really miss my previous life. I really wonder how much grief they have having myself leaving their lives and being powerless to...
Nevermind.
A creamy stew, courtesy of us brothers!
Very delicious. Reminds me of the curry me and mom usually made.
So yeah, day by day pass... Pretty much doing the same thing.
Until...
Dad took us both to the cellar, and doing some... pretty... delicate... checks toward our body.
Kinda embarassing because never have i ever for all these years being body-checked. Especially how i was a messy lump back in the pre-reincarnation-world.
Except that "tickly" and "extremely delicate" part where usually a human male dump excess ammonia from.
Nothing, just health checks. Probably for me, brain screening too. Not that this era has the equipment for brain screening...
And that Lugh, my dear little brother, is given the privilege of being...
An assassin.
Me?
Dad: There's a reason why you're named John Archer, and i intend it that way.
Dad: As the head of the Tuatha De nobility, i will name you as a vanguard, and as the sentinel of the nobility.
Dad: You'll help drawing attention away, so that our job can be done without being traced directly.
Dad: Of course, you'll be able to take assassin jobs, but you have to make sure that your involvement is separate and unlinked in the eyes of others.
Dad: And now... Dad actually kind of...
Dad: Want to check on your brain. For somebody who were in a 13 years state of comatose, you took yourself well. Even managed to recover quickly and act like a healthy human.
Dad: That and Dad will bestow upon the gift of the family. Your brother will have it as well.
Dad: Chair please, sit down, and ease yourself.
John: So... about "the gift"
Dad: Mystic eyes. A psionic replacement organ which allow you to see potential targets and threats. And, at will, telepathic link to another wearer.
Well well, early 20th century cyberware here. This reminds me where i got to go to Viktor's to replace the implants. Well, not in real life, anyway. I can't really take injection shots, let alone implants.
Oh crap... i have no experience of surgery either.
Owwww....
I swallowed the liquid that remains in my mouth. My usual nervous tic.
Dad: Now, lay your firm arms here...
Must be the anaesthetic first. Keep calm, John.
Dad: Hold still, my son. Just a moment...
I blacked out.
Must be days. Or one night, i'm not sure.
Once i'm awake, i am besides my brother and mom.
I can feel mom unwrapping the eyewrappers...
Mom: There....
Mom then gave a mirror to me.
Amazing. No scars... Jade green, just exactly like my eye but better.
And... now i'm clad with...
Well...
Nice dress.
Mom: How?
John: Fantastic. Thanks.
Mom: Thank your dad too!
I decide to pose in front of the door. About camera... i don't know. They had one of course, but it might took days before i could be photographed.
Hey, looking good. Though i'm a bit nervous as well.
Dad: Haha, looking good. Now try to use the vision.
John: Like what?
Dad: Just think...
Press [MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON] to use the vision.
Suddenly everything is desaturated and monochromatic.
I can see my Dad there.
Cyan Tuatha De
Affiliation: The Tuatha De Nobility
Resistant To: [UNKNOWN]
My dad. The head nobility of Tuatha De.
Well, this is exactly like what Kiroshi is.
Dad: It might take moments to adjust, but... well, the eye will connect to your brain, read your thoughts and intentions...
John: If i may ask, Dad, where's the eye came from?
Dad: Amelion. A faraway country where a lot of unimaginable wonders exist. Where most of the literary and thesis were produced. Where many people would wish to be there.
Dad: We have dealings with them. Later, as you grow like your Dad here, you'll be there too, but there's so much matters here.
Dad: And... here.
I blinked and suddenly having a lot of information being processed.
Names. Occupation. Affiliation.
More information about Alvarn (basically this universe's equivalent of Denmark) and the surrounding places (that we're basically in Middle Eufrices, this universe equivalent to Western Europe)
Oh, my... i never went to Europe before.
Dad: So... did you feel it? That's everyone Dad know and their affiliates.
Dad: Including...
Dad: Those that can be "ne'er do wells"
Dad: And you'll do what you will do to them.
Dad: Just...
Dad: Don't mess around like crazy. Wouldn't want the Tuatha De nobility associated with a psychopath.
Dad: And even if you're not officially affiliated, nobody in Alvarn or wherever you are wanted a loose psychopath either.
Dad: Hahaha...
Dad: Works like a charm, eh?
John: Thanks Dad, you're the best!
Dad: You're welcome. And once you becoming big and maybe succeed the part of the family, never forget where you came from.
Dad: Now go see your brother, there's another round of training.
Then i go see my brother.
John: Lugh!
Lugh: Morning, John. Here. It's your signature.
Lugh: From Amelion.
I accept what appears to be a Japanese-style sword with green markings like my suit.
And...
An M1911.
Oww... my...
Never thought i got to choose my weapon of choice here.
And...
As i grip the M1911 i see...
Ammo counter.
7/0
Lugh: Before i forget, here, some additional ammunitions!
I receive the additional ammo clip, and thus...
7/35
I think my whole life as a gamer pays off. Now i got to wield a gun and exact justice upon...
Oh, there's targets in front of me. Got to finish the training program first.
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