The desicion in my mind had been made, Cole had only gotten the chance to live just about a month as an adult and yet in that time he had managed to produce such a bad reputation and create a laundry list of crimes against the public that i had decided to remove the problem i myself had created.
I tried to create a hero, and instead only managed to produce a monster.
Now all that remained was preparation, I wasn't going to rush into the Baron's estate simply because I was angry, angry at what my brother had done, at what he had become.
If I was going to do this, I needed to make sure I could actually succeed, more importantly, I needed to make sure I could walk away afterward.
The entire point of using stealth was to avoid becoming a wanted criminal, that meant no witnesses, no unnecessary deaths, no obvious trail leading back to me, and absolutely no confrontation with the Baron himself unless of course the Baron was involved in what Cole was doing.
Justice would be done.
Cole was the target, but if others were actively participating in his crimes they would share his fate.
The first thing to prepare for tonight, was to test out my new stealth skills.
First of which was changing my job, something i could only do once per month, and yet now seemed like the best time to do so, switching my job from Hunter, and taking a look at the new list of jobs that had been unlocked thanks to my recent skill purchases;
Assassin
Shadow
Veilblade
These three were the new jobs he'd unlocked with his purchases, apparently his simple investment into tool mastery and pickaxe weren't yet enough to unlock jobs there.
Seeing the list, Assassin and Shadow made sense, assassin would probably give a bonus when he tried to assassinate someone, whereas shadow would assist his abiliity to hide from others being able to detect him, but the last one, Veilblade... that was the only that had him twisting his mind into knots.
It sounded like a combat class, but probably more direct combat focused like a swordsman than an assassin.
Which meant the choice now was between assassin and shadow.
I had trust in my ability to end a life and the skill in my own blade to do so, which meant choosing Shadow to further boost the stealth i had only just acquired and no experience using.
The moment the job was chosen it was weird, almost like something about me had faded away on the spot.
Testing out my stealth skills turning them on and off at will, i quickly learned some new things.
If someone looked directly at me, their eyes could still technically see me, but their mind didn't register what it saw, it was like they were looking at a chair, or a wall, something that simply existed, never questioning why it did.
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Even in a crowd of people, he was like a stone in a river, people avoided running into him, but never not even once reacted like he was even there.
Just an invisible obstacle that their senses told them to avoid rather than try to go through.
Assassination didnt seems to do anything more than implant knowledge into his head, all of a sudden how to pull of hundreds of different types of assassination were nestled deep within his mind.
Which would give him a great boost in conducting kills in surprise or against shocked targets.
The rest of the day was spent preparing what would actually be needed to pull this off.
First, clothing. The Clothes sister had given him were the best he ever had, but now they were stained with Walters blood, not to mention they were white or brown.
Colors that his new knowledge told him were not the best ones to wear when trying to attempt an assassination.
I needed something darker, something that wouldn't stand out against the night.
I visited a clothing merchant and bought a simple black shirt, black trousers, dark boots, and a long black cloak. Nothing fancy.
I also purchased two other sets of regular clothes to wear during the day to replace my current clothes in case the blood wouldnt come out when washed like was common back in the village when we went hunting.
I also bought a length of black cloth.
The Assassination skill was telling me it was essential to either have a deep hood, or something that can be worn to cover my face, the length of cloth was enough to completly cover my face, leaving only to top of my head, and eyes exposed while covering up the rest.
If anyone saw me, they wouldn't see my face.
That was important.
The rest of the day was spend resting in my room, a story about having pulled something during my work mining was the lie i told to the innkeeper and his wife, citing my need to turn in early to rest and recover.
Which the need to rest at least was the truth.
I had no idea how long my plans at night would take, but i had to be prepared in case i was discovered and need to run or fight all night long.
~
When i woke up the sun was just barely still on the horizon casting the last of its light into my rooms window.
Quickly using that light to get myself dressed up in my black clothes and wrapping my face up as best i could.
Taking one last look into the mirror to ensure what needed to be covered was.
Doing one last once over of my equipment, making sure my dagger and sword were on my belt, some small balls that could be used to create a smokescreen, or even disruption.
Cheap little nicknacks mostly sold to beginner adventurers or rogues as a means to escape monsters or create opportunities to strike.
Having confirmed i was ready, rather than leave through the front door, i instead opened the window and slipped out into the dark of the night.
My stealth skill active and my relative invisibility active avoiding the gazes of the few people remaining on the streets.
Running swiftly through the streets, until my skill decided i should climb up and run across the rooftops to my target.
Surprisingly my speed actually increased as i raced across the rooftops, almost like i was getting a hidden bonus from my skills or job.
Eventually, the Baron's estate came into view and it was much larger than I had imagined, a stone wall surrounded the entire property, torches burned along the top, guards patrolling its length regularly.
A large central manor stood within the groundsm a few other buildings filling most of the other space.
Probably a stables for the knights horses, the barracks for the knights and guards to live in, servant quarters for the staff and slaves, even a few larger buildings that were probably warehouses.
And somewhere inside... somewhere within these ground... Cole.
I jumped off the roof, quickly leaping across the top of the wall after the patrolling guard had passed by, and landed with a light thump upon the grass within the estate.
Tonight, Cole would learn something that his new title had never taught him.
Nobility might make a man difficult to punish, but it didn't make him immortal, or above receiving justice.
I contiued to step forward, slipping out of the illumination fo the wall and disappearing into the darkness of the night.