Enigma of Sin

Kayn decided to wait until it was night once again before he exited the inner ring. He didn't want any traces of his passage in and out of the ring or even that he was outside of the academy. Someone may have spotted him that recognized the professor when he visited the White Hand Society earlier, but that wasn't really that big of a deal as he was still a member there technically.

He thought about spending the evening with Kinzie, but she had already traveled and was staying in the middle ring at Rowen's shop. Kayn made due with talking to her for a few hours before he finally started on his way back to the hidden Black Hand Society branch office.

During most of his travels he was lost in thought. He was usually a calm, collected individual that was meticulous in everything he did. His actions the last few days though, were anything but calm and meticulous. While one could say that he was decisive in how he acted at first, during the actual act he became spontaneous and impulsive.

However, at this point there was no reason to bother with spilled milk. He could only promise himself to do better in the future. Once he was taking contracts that were more on his level, he would need to reduce his risks as much as possible, and this included sticking to his plans.

After a few hours of introspection, Kayn finally arrived in front of the old man once more. This time he was greeted with far more fanfare and vulgarness though.

"Haha! Jester! Welcome back! Great job on those contracts! The client for that rat even dropped off a letter for you. I still can't believe you shoved a rod so far up his ass that shit was basically coming out of his mouth! Ahahahah!"

For the first time, Kayn watched as the old man stood up from his seat before he gestured for Kayn to follow. He watched as the old man tossed the letter his way while talking straight at one of the walls.

Kayn caught it, but was still flabbergasted. He had inspected every inch of this place with his Mana Sense in order to find and prepare for the traps that were set up, but somehow he missed that there was actually a door hidden in the wall!

The door was seamlessly hidden within the blank concrete wall. It only opened up when the old man placed the pen he had been writing with up against part of the wall. The door opened up to another long hallway which the old man calmly walked down, making turns at random intersections here and there before randomly stopping and facing another blank wall.

Same as before, the door slid right up into the ceiling. This continued on for what felt to Kayn like hours when in reality it was less than half an hour. 

'There better be an easier way to get to our destination or else I might just quit this mission.' Kayn thought to himself as his eyelid was starting to twitch as the old man just kept talking about nonsense the entire time without shutting up. Kayn thought he was about to go insane!

Fortunately, they finally arrived at what seemed to be a large complex that was hidden by several illusion spells which dissipated as soon as the old man got near them.

"Welcome to the Black Hand Society, Jester. I'll show you to the reception area where you will receive your official member plate. This will keep track of your completed contracts as well as current rank. The receptionist will explain how everything else works."

The old man spoke before stopping in front of an area where there were multiple other people looking at several boards lined with parchment as well as a desk with a cat man sleeping with his head and arms sprawled out on top of it.

Most of the people looking at the different boards were also masked, but the few staff members such as this old man and the receptionist didn't wear anything to hide their identity.

Finally, once the old man slammed his hand on the desk to wake the receptionist up, Kayn learned his name. Upon hearing it, he almost burst out laughing as the receptionist's voice reminded him of a certain moppet show.

"Hey Burt, new guy?"

"Yep, here are his entry contracts," Burt placed three different rolled up pieces of paper on the desk as well as the original paper that Kayn filled out with the little information he provided them. "Fetch his fees before setting him up like usual. Thanks." 

Burt then simply turned around and started walking away, "See ya round, Jester. Oh yeah, don't forget to submit the proof to him."

"Jester huh?" The cat man who still didn't know began opening the three rolled up parchments as Kayn placed a finger and a head on the desk, causing the man to nod his head. "60 silvers and 20 coppers for three fulfilled contracts. What did you do for that old fart to give you these three as your entry contracts? You'll find much more lucrative contracts available now that you're able to choose your own."

The receptionist placed the money on the counter for Kayn to grab and also placed an iron-colored plate with the crest of the society on top of the counter. When Kayn glanced at the plate, he noticed that his name was already inscribed into it and the number of completed missions was listed as three. Kayn's rank however, was what he didn't understand.

F-rank.

And the next moment, Kayn's fears were confirmed as the guy delivered the bad news to him. "Congrats, you're now an F-rank Black Hand Society member. Your rank determines what contracts you can take. Unfortunately, even if you have a 4th stage core, you still gotta start at the bottom. We can't go giving high profile jobs to newbies, you understand right?"

Kayn's eyes definitely twitched this time. If it wasn't because of the fact that he had to complete more simple jobs that wouldn't lead him anywhere, it was definitely at how informal this man spoke. The tone of his voice made his speech hilarious to listen to and Kayn was having a tough time holding his laughter back.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Kayn grabbed the money and his new membership token, stashing them into his sash.

"Read this sheet, go find a contract, take it from the wall and use your token to bind yourself to it. Don't bother me unless you finish your contract and are here to collect your fees. Good luck." The man spoke as he laid his head back down on the desk, quickly falling asleep again.

Kayn only shook his head before finding a table that was available and sitting down to read through the rules that he was given, they were listed as follows:

1. Never reveal anything about the Society, or face the consequences.

2. Contracts must be completed within 10 days of acceptance. Failure may result in severe penalties, including but not limited to: Monetary fines, demotion, or death. If the member does not believe they will be able to complete the contract in the given time frame and would like to give up their claim to it, a penalty of 50% of the commission fee must be paid at reception.

3. Do not perform acts that infringe on the contracts of other members. Claiming the kill of another claimed contract will result in monetary fines and possible demotion.

4. Keep it clean. Perform your duties and get out. If the authorities arrive, leave immediately. Do not fight against them as we will not shelter you from the aftermath.

The list went on with a few more rules, but none of them really mattered much to Kayn. It essentially all boiled down to not revealing the society and if you did, don't come back because you'll probably be executed. There was also the threat of the curse placed on the member's cores, but that also didn't apply to him.

There was even a clause telling the assassins to steal from the target as they pleased since they would be dead anyway. Any "hot" items, referring to stolen goods that would be recognized as stolen, were able to be sold to a fence they had available at the society for a fair price, minus fees of course.

Kayn walked over to the boards where various contracts were listed, sighing as he had to head to the last board which contained tier 0 threat missions as these were all he could take being an F-rank member.

He continued to sigh as he glanced through the contracts that were posted. There were a few that were quite lucrative for their difficulty, a gold coin or two, but they were all for targets that Kayn wouldn't go after.

If he did take one of them, not to mention going against his morals, Charlotte would probably either be extremely disappointed or punish him somehow if she found out. Heck, she might even just kill him or make him her personal guinea pig.

Kayn glanced towards the bottom of the board where the less appealing contracts were posted. These were all contracts that no one else wanted since the fees either weren't worth the effort or had too much risk involved.

However, for Kayn, risk wasn't really a problem as he was confident in his skills, especially when it came to taking out non-mage targets in the outer ring. Most of the contracts here just rewarded too little money for normal assassins to be interested though.

Kayn, not caring about the rewards, found a few contracts that were all supposed to be within the same general location and signed up for them. He didn't know how long these had actually been posted, but the information included with them was supposed to be up to date.

Figuring that he could finish these few contracts within a few days, he made his plans to set off towards the northern outer ring this time. Fortunately, the receptionist woke up before Kayn left as he had forgotten to give him the way in and out of the branch.

Kayn was relieved that he was able to get in and out of the place without having to wind around the tunnels every time, but when he asked if he could just report to other branches, he was met with disappointment. Apparently before reaching the B-rank, members were required to report to their recruiting branch any time they wanted to turn in or accept contracts.

When Kayn inquired about how to promote, he was met with "Who knows? It all depends on your performance and efficiency. The more contracts you complete in a short amount of time with no complications or blow back on us, the better your chances. Someone else makes those decisions, I just divvy out the rewards."

And before Kayn could even continue asking questions, the cat man was already back asleep.

Sighing for what seemed to be the millionth time, Kayn couldn't stop his thoughts. 'This place is really going to test my patience huh?'

But for some reason, as he thought about patience, a calmness spread through him and he released a long breath before leaving the branch office. He wanted to reach the location mentioned in the first contract before sunrise.