28th King, James day 9990

  I still find this world odd, so many powerful fantasy creatures existed in it and yet they all were destroyed by humans. It is amazing how powerful the human race is. The world’s technology is quickly advancing, if there were not still traces of these fantasy creatures from the past, and the aspects of the humans I might simply think I had traveled 100 years or so into the past.

  Arising from my bed, I immediately begin to plan my day out in my head while I get ready. I have three things I need to get done. I need to dispose of the coat and sheath that have blood stains. Importantly, I need to meet with that dragon man or the witch lady so I can get my reward for finishing the task. They didn’t tell me where to meet after completing it, which is a bit annoying. I want to find a gift to buy for my brother’s 15th birthday, and while in the market I also want to visit the merchant that the info broker I killed told me about. He said she would be there the day after the full moon so I will take care of both of those later.

  I’m not entirely sure how to meet them to get my reward, so my best guess is to return to The Silent Dragon Mahjong Parlor. It's still morning so I have a while until I want to go out. I met the dragon man there at night, so I will return at night to see if he is there. I committed a murder yesterday, thankfully it went smoothly but if he resisted at all it would have been terrible. I could feel the difference in my body compared to when I trained every day when I pushed him down and stabbed him. While it was still sufficient, it felt weak compared to what I am familiar with. Since I have some time today, I may as well practice a bit like I used to. Normally I would study in the library, but pretending to study every day is getting too boring. I can't bring myself to pretend that I am diligently studying everyday anymore.

  I’m not training to be a knight anymore, so I don’t need to be attached to a sword. A dagger was certainly more suitable for my previous mission than a sword, since a sword would stand out. However, the dragon man I met had a sword hanging from his waist, and it didn’t seem to be a problem for him. Entering the armory, I carefully consider which weapon would be best for me going forward. While not possessing every weapon imaginable, the barony has most of the common weapons here to practice with.

  The walls are lined with longswords, shortswords, rapiers, daggers, spears, maces, and even whips. None of them are as effective as my revolver, but I don’t want to reveal that I own one unless I have to. Taking the familiar longsword, I try swinging it a few times, finding my arms quickly feeling tired. After not practicing for over a year, my muscles have unfortunately atrophied to some extent. I don’t want to put in the daily effort to train my body anymore, so I should pick a new weapon that is more suitable.

  Placing the longsword back up onto the weapon rack, I consider which weapon would be best going forward. I want a weapon that can be disguised on my body, so the dagger or possibly a whip seems the most realistic. The rest are too big and would seem suspicious to carry around. I have no experience using the whip and it is not an easy weapon to pick up so I think the dagger is going to have to be the choice for now.

  Picking one up, I practice stabbing with the dagger a few times. It feels a bit unnatural, I previously favored weapons that let me put more force behind them. I never practiced with the dagger previously, so I am not familiar with any techniques for using it. I remember a particular anime character in my previous life who used a dagger with a revolver at the same time, so it might be good to learn that especially since I am ambidextrous. Revolvers are fairly new however, so there wouldn’t be anyone to teach this to me. I only have the six bullets in the revolver so it isn’t like I can practice my marksmanship either.

  With limited ammunition and a dagger, I am not experienced at wielding, I want to improve my combat strength right now. Reaching ascension, one should reasonably increase my combat abilities to some extent although I am not exactly sure what a shadow worshipper does. The other reasonable way to increase my combat abilities would be to buy a magical weapon from that lady after the full moon. For the most part, people who try to sell magical items are scammers since they are quite rare. It would be easy to claim something that can’t be confirmed like, “this pendant will grant you luck” and nobody would be the wiser. I still plan to visit her shop, but I can’t count on it being legitimate. For now, my best bet is to reach ascension one.

  Hiding the dagger away, I take it with me. Before I leave, I head to dinner since my father wants to meet with me and Keith tonight. I’m not really looking forward to meeting with him, as I have a feeling that it will either be about my lack of growth or my brother's birthday coming up. If it is about my brother's birthday, that’s fine, but I don’t want to be reprimanded for something I can’t control. Lots of people never even reach ascension 1, so it shouldn’t be that weird that I haven’t made progress. If I am honest, most other nobles my age have reached ascension 1, as it shouldn’t be that hard with the resources and time that being a noble allows me to have.

  Entering the dining hall, my father and brother are already at the table waiting for me. From the impatient look on my brother's face, I might have made them wait a while making me feel quite guilty. I quickly take my seat, where a servant has already prepared my plate for me that I quickly dug into. There is smoked fish, bread with a red jam on it that I am not familiar with, and a bowl of creamy rich soup.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The dinner is delicious, but the silence that accompanies it is incredibly uncomfortable. I wish father would say what he wants already instead of just sitting here eating. Finally, he sets his fork and knife down, wipes his mouth and begins talking, ending the awkward atmosphere.

  “The Blythe family is hosting a party tomorrow to celebrate their eldest son reaching ascension 2, I expect you both to attend with me.”

  Dammit. Roman Blythe you just won’t stop pissing me off. I don't want to go there no matter what. Just seeing his face is going to piss me off.

  “I don't want to attend, I have plans.”

  He scowls hearing this and responds with a serious tone leaving no room for arguing. “This will be a good opportunity to make connections with peers your age. Even if you aren't strong, your appearance and background are good. You should start thinking about finding someone to be engaged with otherwise I'll have to arrange one for you.”

  “Yes father.” I say quietly

  This can't be happening. Not only do I have to attend this bastard's party, but he wants me to settle down and marry too? I'm not even close to a single noble girl, much less one I like. I always spent most of my time working out and practicing sword play. When did I have time to get close to the elegant ladies of high society? If I have to go, there is nothing I can do about it. I suppose I can just find somewhere quiet and wait for it to end.

  Seeing Keith get up from dinner, I follow suit heading upstairs to get ready to go out. I take the now dried trench coat, put it on, and stuff the sheath into its pocket. Since I don't need to hide a dagger or revolver anymore, I can throw the coat away while I'm out. On my way out I ran into Keith in the hallway.

  “Where are you going brother?”

  “I was just going to head out. I'm going to play mahjong.”

  “The Eastern gambling game? You should study with me brother, it's not good for us to waste our time like that.”

  There isn't really any reason for me to study though, but I can't say that. I need to make a believable excuse for going to gamble.

  “Well, it's nice to relax a bit. Besides, I meet lots of interesting people there, it's networking. I'm not just fooling around. I even met someone involved in the production of the new revolvers!” I claim boldly. The dragon man who gave it to me most likely smuggled it and isn’t actually involved in the production. Besides, I have no intention to show off the revolver, I just know that this will pique his interest and make Keith accept it easier. It's true however that there are some nobles who like to gamble. I'm not meeting any, but it should be somewhat believable. Looking at Keith's face, he seems obviously displeased with me slacking off in my studies but doesn’t protest further. It feels bad to be looked at like that by my younger brother. He sighs and walks past me, most likely heading to the library.

  I would feel a bit down because of this interaction, but the excitement of gaining information on how to become ascension 1 brightens my mood. I walk to 18th street, where I discard my jacket with the sheath inside into a trash can in an alley and wait a bit before walking out again. At this point if they haven’t connected the crime to me already, I imagine it will be quite difficult. The night’s chilly air bites my skin after discarding the layering the coat provided.

  More familiar with 18th street now, I easily find the mahjong parlor and head inside. The warm air inside is a pleasant change from the chilly night air. The warm red lighting inside illuminates an empty room, so I sit down at the mahjong table and decide to wait a while. He never told me where or when to meet him after I completed the task. Figuring I would wait a while to see if anyone shows up, I relax in the chair sorting out my plans for the future.

  While I lean back, suddenly a large imperial red card the size of a person manifests in the empty space of the room, the red lighting behind it giving in an ominous glow. The middle of the card shimmers with a golden light that seems to swirl around in an ellipse shape. An unfamiliar woman steps out of the golden ellipse, the sound of her heels on the stone floor resonates through the room. She is wearing a black hanfu with imperial red accents decorating the outfit. Her long straight brunette hair was adorned with two fluffy fox ears with white fur on the inside, and a brown fox tail swaying behind her as she stepped out of the mystical card. These features make it easy to identify her as a beast aspect. Her lips curl into a small unpleasant grin as she begins to speak.

  “Congratulations, welcome to the Red Dragon Society. We meet here every full moon so don’t forget. Now you must want your reward, right? Did you decide which ascension interested you?”

  “I am interested in the shadow worshipper path. Who are you?”

  “I’m Fu Ning, the head of our society. You are now the fourth member, so we finally have enough people to play mahjong. For the shadow worshiper path, isolate yourself in total darkness for a few days and you will eventually have a vision.”

  “You all didn’t just recruit me just so you would have a fourth person to play mahjong with, right?” I question.

  “Well, I can’t deny it, but we wouldn’t let just anyone in.” She says with a chuckle. “You have a blood aspect and aren’t bad at mahjong, so you fit the requirements I have. You passed the test by killing someone, so I have no issue letting you into my society. You will need to work hard to catch up, however, I am ascension 5 and the other two are both ascension 4.”

  “Are there really only four people in the society? What is the Red Dragon Society's purpose?”

  “We don’t have any grand purpose, just helping to fulfill each other's goals. We all want to get stronger and don’t have strong morals to hold us back from growth. Occasionally we will carry out tasks for my backer.”

  As she mentions the backer, she pulls out a black sleek revolver out of her loose sleeve, flaunting it by moving it side to side to catch the red lighting giving it an eerie red tint. The revolver I got, although less special looking, must also be from that backer.

  “I see, I also want to get stronger so that works well.”

  She makes a pleasant smile and pulls an imperial card with golden edges out of her sleeve. She tosses it in the air as it expands, turning into the portal she came through.

  “The next full moon is tomorrow, don’t be late.” She says as she steps through the card. After she is gone, the massive card dissipates leaving me behind in an empty room. I get back up pushing the chair in and head back to the barony.