Rather than return to the hotel room and bloody anything, I headed back to my apartment. It was also closer.

I found Danio reading a book on the floor by candlelight. He watched me come in but quickly stopped paying attention when he noticed the sword. What a good kid.

In my room, I stashed away the sword, took a bath, and then tossed my clothes in the water to lift some of the blood from them so they'd be wearable a few more times. I'd have to buy a few sets or learn a spell to clean them. As I was changing, a new Notice arrived.

[Notice] System reconfiguration complete. This error will not occur again. You have been rewarded a Class change to [Noble Assassin]. Would you like to accept?

As I changed into pajamas, I declined just to see if the error would happen again anyway.

[Notice] System reconfigured to prevent a Class change decline error again. You have been rewarded a Class change to [Noble Assassin]. Would you like to accept?

So I didn't have a choice with this either now. I took a seat on my bed, then flopped onto my back and stared at the ceiling. I declined anyway.

[Notice] System reconfigured to prevent a Class change decline error by removing your option to decline. This message is a simple courtesy. You have been rewarded a Class change to [Noble Assassin]. Would you like to accept?

A simple courtesy message? I accepted because I obviously had no other option.

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You've changed your Class to [Noble Assassin].

Reconfiguring your Stats based on your new Class. This may take awhile...

I stood and paced and clenched my fists. Been a long time since I'd been this angry. Big emotions were torture in solitary. Big emotions were for commoners. Big emotions were for people who weren't being fucked by their System.

I'd lived just fine without the System, and I'd died just fine without the System, too. I had agency. I was my own person. I made up my own mind what I did and didn't do. I chose my Class. I gained Stats and Skills by my own merit, not as rewards for doing what the System wanted me to do.

Now I still wasn't accepting Quests, but the System gave me rewards for them as if I had. Either that meant the System was making Quests retroactively. Or that I was doing the Quests anyway without having known at all.

The first implied that my Soul System was a lot more independent than I'd imagined. Maybe that was how the Luck skill was working. Perhaps that was why in this life the System gave me this Skill.

The latter implied that I didn't really have free will; the World System or whatever it was that supposedly connected all the Soul Systems together exerted some sort of influence over me. Over everyone. Which would be ridiculous.

If the System wanted to reward me for Quests I didn't accept because it wanted to help me live, then that was the System's prerogative. So maybe the best way to look at this was that the new Class would be beneficial.

I definitely needed to figure out more about the System as soon as possible, either way. I could ignore it in my past lives, so there'd been no need to think too deeply on it. Now it wasn't giving me any choice to ignore it.

When I came back out to the living room, Danio was still reading. Or it looked like he was reading. Not like I paid attention to what page he was on when I got in.

I sat down on the floor across from him. "Can you read?" I asked.

"I started teaching myself since you said I'll have to go to school," he said.

Industrious kid. "You want a tutor?"

"Will it cost me?"

"No, I'll pay. You're going to do me a favor tomorrow so it evens out."

"What's the favor?" He moved from a laying position to a sitting position. He seemed eager to be let in on a new secret.

"I'm going to need you to take five potion bottles to Kashana Casino tomorrow morning. I'll set the bottles out on the kitchen counter in the morning along with a ring I want you to wear. The ring will tell the people who work there that you're special. Do you think you can do that?"

Danio nodded. "Yeah, okay. I can do that easy. So I can have a tutor? How many days a week? Who will it be?"

"Too many questions when you should be sleeping." I took his book and tapped him on the head with it. "Go to sleep. I said tomorrow morning, not afternoon."

He blinked, grinned, and then took off toward his bedroom. Before jail, I had thought I'd be a father at some point. I wanted a wife who could kick ass. Who'd go hunting with me. Who'd understand that I have dark urges. I wanted a kid we could raise together to have a better life than I did. So he wouldn't turn out to be like me.

Of course, I was in the body of a 17-year-old now, but I was an old man at heart. An old man familiar with only one system: the prison system. And each new life starting back at 17 was starting to feel a lot like being a prisoner in my own personal hell. If I never lived past 21, I'd never be a dad. Not like I'd be a good one though.

So maybe older brother was the best of both worlds. As long as he wasn't trying in this for a long-haul scam.

My new Stats showed up after I was finished eating a quick meal.

[Notice]

Stat reconfiguration complete. Check Current Stats?

Since I knew it likely wouldn't let me decline, I went ahead and checked my new Stats.

Name

Gerard Viscoti

Class

Noble Assassin

Soul

F-Class (Stage 1)

Strength

18

Cunning

15

Perception

20

Energy

12

Skills

Lucky Number 7 [2.10%]

Silver Tongue [1.20%]

7-Lives-Bloodlust [5.00%]

When I'd been an assassin, my class had been simply Assassin. I wasn't sure how Noble Assassin was any different, but I supposed I'd find out. The only noticeable difference was that it looked like some of my more physical stats had increased just from the new class assignment, which had never happened before when I'd changed Classes.

After Danio went to bed, I took mental stock of all that I'd done so far in Brugge and all that I wanted to get done still.

I should be hearing back from Caemor in the next day or so. Time felt different in this world, but that was probably because it was different. Ten months instead of twelve. Ten-day weeks instead of seven. It seemed likely I'd get accepted, which meant I'd soon need to move my residence as Gerard from the hotel in the market district to the dorms at Caemor. Probably for the better, since the hotel made it too easy to find me.

Then there was the Voscoti family. Maybe I was being paranoid thinking Father would bother sending anyone after me, but it seemed inevitable that one of my brothers would turn up to drag me back home. I was their scapegoat. They needed their scapegoat to be somewhere with easy access. They probably hadn't bothered me in the north because Father had access. That meant if they didn't show up soon, I should consider moving farther.

I hadn't learned much about the other continents, but traveling to them was a hassle. To be discreet, I'd have to stowaway and hope for the best. Pirates were well known across the oceans and seas in this world, though. I'd rather not deal with all that unless necessary since being stuck on a ship sounded a lot like being stuck in solitary. Just with other people. In shittier conditions probably. Otherwise, there were the portals, but the System kept track of all that. I wouldn't be able to use a fake name. I'd be easily trackable.

So preparing for one of my brothers to show up was paramount. I'd left breadcrumbs to at least delay them finding me. Be best if it deterred them altogether, but that was beyond wishful thinking. They always found me, didn't they? I'd been too complacent thinking it was an if they found me. It was when they found me.

And when they found me in Brugge? They'd find me at the fancy hotel in the market district. They'd find me at Caemor Academy. They'd find me in Praor Swa. They'd find me investing in a magic shop. Eventually, I'd have to meet with whoever Father sent after me first, and that was the eventuality I needed to prepare for next. Was I going to kill them? Was I going to get them off my back by selling them to a brothel for the money I still needed to invest in the magic shop? No idea, and I needed one. Soon.

The magic shop was going well, though I'd need to figure out the funding situation and meet with Rolf again. Tomorrow then. There was that potionmaker that I'd run into in the slums that I wanted to check in on, but she wasn't going anywhere. And I didn't need her yet. Thanks to Rose, I had enough love potions to do what I needed.

Trygve Teigen was going to be a rich man in a few weeks time. Maybe a few months if it was more difficult to deal with Rashania and Co than I was hoping. Sometimes killing everyone wasn't the best option, unfortunately. Tryg needed the loyalty of the Driam Trana, and the Driam Trana needed Rashania and Co gone if they were ever going to be a considerable force In Brugge. So I needed Arne, the good boss that he was, to need me to help them with Rashania and Co.

So what I needed, besides a plan for whatever brother showed up in Brugge to drag me back home, was more information on Rashania and Co.