The Only Delicacy

That coldblooded stern old man was precisely the highest in rank of the entire Assassin's Order. He oversaw and coordinated all of the decisions and missions of the Order, just like what his outstanding reputation had indicated.

That coldblooded stern old man was the one and only Grand Master or Mentor, Damien Krueger,

Since he was only one rank lesser than the Grand Master, Sir Charles naturally accepted all missions directly from the Mentor himself and not from those Rafiq's, the graduated scholars of the Levantine branch who were responsible for coordinating missions and providing information to most assassins.

"You called?"

Seeing that the old man was not planning to speak at all, Sir Charles took the initiative in case if he had forgotten about it, which was highly impossible.

Rather than thinking that he had forgotten, he simply did not want to waste any more of his golden time.

Grand Master Damien simply responded back by tapping the documents on his side and then resumed to his present business of looking at data's and pie charts of the earnings and contributions of the organization.

All this while, he never once took a single glimpse at the man before him. This was the usual body language he displayed to all of his inferiors, somewhat like indirectly saying, "Look over the document, then leave at once."

In less than a blink of an eye, Sir Charles now stood one step away from the large desk that was originally 35 meters away and took one look at the document.

One second glimpse of it was usually enough for him to read a wordy document that composed of ten pages before leaving.

However, the first parts of the paragraph caught his attention and once he had continued reading it, he realized that he had gradually taken up several seconds until he had consumed a full minute before placing it back down.

From one corner of his eye, Grand Master Damien saw the entirely nonchalant expression of the assassin despite being slightly confused. Of course, Sir Charles had never once revealed his confusion.

Grand Master Damien also noted how long it took for him to read before placing it back down.

However, he never bothered to explain to Sir Charles and simply continued on his business.

What had caught Sir Charles attention was the fact that this mission was the first unique mission he was assigned to. It was unique in a way that it was interesting, confusing and not deadly.

Of course, it was the same kind of mission, which was primarily assassinating targets. However, this mission actually sought the death of one of the members of the organization.

Moreover, it was a girl he did not know of, Scarlet, who was the apprentice of the Mentor!

What in the world was going on? Was the world turning topsy-turvy?

Sir Charles had painstakingly reached the pinnacle through his own efforts alone, thereby making him all the more respected by his peers.

However, that was past the point.

More importantly, why did the Grand Master want to kill his own apprentice? Did she do anything wrong?

If she had done something against the code of tenets, like revealing herself amidst a mission, causing a disturbance towards the safety of the organization, or compromising the brotherhood, her punishment would have already been dealt with through the Order's public chastisement and execution.

Clearly, there had been no news of any members breaking this code, so why on earth did he want her dead?

Moreover, aside from the fact that she was a precise killer, this girl was obviously innocent!

According to the guiding philosophy of the Assassin's Order upheld from the High Middle Ages until the Modern Era, assassins were all restricted from unnecessary slaughter of innocents in order to preserve the reputation of the Order and uphold peace.

This mission clearly defied all aspects of the Assassin's Code or Creed and no matter how much he had racked his mighty and intelligent brain for answers, Sir Charles found no clues or logical explanations, which was actually a first for him.

Despite his mind wrecking havoc, no emotions were shown, but a blank expression.

But, despite not having anything written on his face, his eyes intentionally revealed a hint of deadliness to it, clearly indicating his impatience for an explanation from the old man who was pretentiously ignoring him until now.

Seeing the deadly serious gaze of the assassin from one corner of his eye and sensing the foreboding presence that was not less than his own, Grand Master Damien finally stopped pretentiously ignoring him and calmly stared back at the young man with the same hint of deadliness and impatience to it.

"It is what it is."

Grand Master Damien's stern and low-pitched tone finally responded back to the assassin.

However, even his mere words had a chilling undercurrent in it.

"Where's the explanation? Or the logic behind this?" As he pointed at the document, Sir Charles responded back in equal terms and was clearly unaffected by his imposing manner of communication, for he was already used to it.

Even if he was not used to the old man's manner of speech, that old man's voice was still not enough to make him tremble from fear.

"Whether you can see the logic behind it or not does not concern you." Grand Master Damien promptly and sternly replied as he shifted his gaze back to the laptop once more.

Seeing that this ancient-like old man treating his words as if they were literally gold, Sir Charles directly ignored the warning gaze of the elder and promptly answered back with an equal amount of sternness:

"Whether it does or does not, only I will decide."

"BAM!"

Right at that moment, Grand Master Damien abruptly slammed the luxurious, dense and sturdy black desk until a small crack could be seen, stood up from his seat, seriously eyed him and imposed an even sharper and intimidating aura to that assassin who was playing with the very limited patience he had left.

"Do you have any plans to disobey this mission and pay with your life? If not, how long shall you question my decisions?" The Grand Master sternly replied with a nonchalant expression, except that his gaze glinted with great anger and impatience at this audacious young assassin before him.

Those two sentences, his mere gaze, and foreboding presence alone were enough to immobilize any experienced assassins on the spot, let their blank facades become tangible with fear, and hold them captive in a tightening grip through his own menacing aura.

However, since that assassin was a mighty and peculiar one, Sir Charles, there was no effect.

Sir Charles had no reaction and was unaffected, not even the slightest bit. He simply shut his mouth and nonchalantly stared back at the angered Grand Master.

Based on how temperamental the old man was, Sir Charles now doubted the foundation of this organization.

How did 'Damien' become the leader if he did not utilize team building and empowerment? This characteristic explained the sadistic and temperamental attitudes of most of the assassins Sir Charles had encountered until now.

If there leader was like this, then why should they not be?

Regardless of that, Sir Charles did not reveal a hint of displeasure in his eyes, despite being very displeased at being given such a shallow answer that had a lot of loopholes in it.

Sir Charles never once said he was disobeying the mission or that he was going to pay with his life. That was plain stupid. He only sought for more explanations, because the document only recorded the biography and personal information of the girl, nothing more. By trying to merely learn of his target, he was clearly abiding with the codes of the organization.

He never broke a single rule.

If the leader would not allow even his members to question his decisions, then it would not be very long until the solid foundation of the organization would come crumbling into pieces, he concluded.

Whether it would really crumble or not, only the future knew and that problem was for his future self, not his present self.

Since staring at the arrogant old man would not do any good and since he could not talk some logical sense into him, Sir Charles simply left in the next blink of an eye, as if he was never there to begin with.

Similar to the old man's impatience, he too had neither the time nor the effort left to waste.