Have You Ever Been to a Market?

The Old Trainer found a step in the courtyard and sat down. "Assassins are one of humanity's oldest professions, because most people's troubles are caused by other people. Eliminate the person causing your troubles, and you eliminate your troubles."

"That's hard to argue with," Zhang Heng said.

Dadatis continued, "No one knows who the first assassin was, because those who excel in this line of work are all nameless. Once you become famous, you are usually not far from death. We are different from suicide warriors. We seek payment, and the most important thing before collecting that payment is staying alive. Though history bears none of our names, our shadows are everywhere. For thousands of years, we have either hidden among the common folk, dedicating ourselves to solving ordinary people's troubles, or served emperors, kings, generals, and ministers, using daggers and short swords to alter the course of history."

"Hmm, sounds like you people have been pretty busy."

"Of course. In the early days, assassins mostly worked alone and rarely interacted with one another. Everyone had different clients. While that gave us unparalleled freedom, the lack of faith also kept us scattered. This continued until roughly a thousand years ago, when a retired predecessor received an Oracle from Keleisi and began looking for a way to unite the power belonging to assassins."

"So that's where the Assassin Brotherhood came from?" Zhang Heng interjected.

The Old Trainer froze. "What Assassin Brotherhood?"

"Sorry, I mixed in Ubisoft. Please continue," Zhang Heng said.

The Old Trainer frowned. He did not understand what Zhang Heng meant by "mixed in" or "Ubisoft," but considering that Zhang Heng came from the distant East, it was only natural that there would be some differences in communication. As long as it was not important information, he had no