American Isekai - Chapter 96 (Patreon)

I sat on a rooftop, the fifth story granting me a great view over a large plaza covered in a red haze.

The target’s name was Sarah Trot. She was 47 years old and an Authority 8 summoner.

There were only two areas that she was spotted in. First was the red light district in the founder’s Market, and second was another city outside the capital.

She was currently in town with all the ruckus being caused by the war. These affairs required her personal attention, and she had been spotted several times in the last few days.

According to some reports about how she operated, years of being as powerful as she was made her just a bit more complacent than how she had been when she first started to rise to power. She was no longer so paranoid since she’s had several encounters with assassins, and none of them were able to so much as scratch her with those defensive measures she always wore.

Regardless, she’s been active and this was as good of a time as any to make an attempt.

I trusted the Key Master. He didn’t need to forge anything for my sake. I had checked the bounty myself and it was obvious that she was particularly scummy, even worse than that Henevue guy.

She was responsible for 4 out of the 7 brothels in the Founder’s market, 3 of which were right around the plaza I was looking down at.

The plaza itself was around 300 yards away, and it was distinct in that its red glow shone upward and spilled through the streets all around it. It was rather demonic.

That plaza was where Sarah had been seen 6 times in the past week.

She always worked in the dark, so I just needed to stalk the place at night. However, finding her through the crowds of people would be a difficult task.

If I had the Crown from the Cyclops Scout, it would probably be easy to pick her out.

Letting out a sigh and pushing away irritating thoughts, I took out my rifle and laid myself down.

The new scope was a welcome addition to my rifle. I could now see a bunch of bare tits in riveting clarity even from so far away.

But I didn’t stare. I had a job to do and a girlfriend with even better tits. A bunch of used goods couldn’t catch my eye.

And so I sat there for three hours. I had to swap my scope between my eyes to reduce fatigue, but other than that, I was incredibly bored.

That’s when I spotted something, or someone, interesting.

It was Rayla, and I saw her as she walked down one of the streets, occasionally throwing some side eyes at the surrounding buildings.

I got curious and followed her with my reticle, watching as she entered one of the red buildings.

I hummed as she came out not long later, walking just as casually as she had been before.

“Probably a delivery. Those were usually fun.”

I smirked and thought back. Before getting sent to the trenches, I had the pleasure of making some deliveries to the brothels. Out of the dozen or so deliveries I ever had to those establishments, 7 of them resulted in the owner offering some of their services in exchange for payment.

I never took them, of course. The coin was more important to me who was scrounging pennies, not that I would’ve even with money.

I wasn’t about to risk getting some kind of magical disease from a whore.

Did magical diseases exist? I would assume they’d be on a whole other level from regular diseases. Maybe they only infected people with magic. Still, I had never heard of them before. Or maybe they were just classified as poisons or parasites instead.

I watched Rayla walk off, getting hit on a couple times in the process. She was definitely pretty so it wasn’t a surprise. Yet she blew them all off and continued on her way.

I sighed once she disappeared from my line of sight, going back to watching, half my mind thinking of other things.

With my Spark, I was able to stay completely focused on the task at hand. I simply had to assign my Spark to keep track of the faces I saw and match them with the picture of Sarah I had in my mind.

The rest of my mind was generally free to wander, so I was able to keep myself occupied with some daydreaming.

It was only unfortunate that I didn’t have music. It wasn’t like I could play my guitar, and the music of this world wasn’t to my great taste.

I had the faint hope that I would get some kind of device in one of my future Authorities. It wasn’t only weapons that I found, after all. But there wasn’t much in the way of radios in WW1, so the options were limited. And even then, my kind of music wasn’t present then.

I’d have to wait, as I needed to for countless other things.

Another sigh escaped as I moved my reticle to check a doorway.

There were a few doorways that Sarah came out of the few times she emerged. The one I looked at was one of them.

That’s when I spotted a man walking out through it, scouting the area before motioning behind him.

My eyes narrowed as a woman exited, escorted by four other men.

Bingo.

I centered my reticle on her, calming myself and erasing unrelated thoughts.

Although she was dressed in a large coat that protected all her vitals, including a hat that could no doubt take a punch, parts of her neck were still exposed. I could easily make out her face and identify her.

Swords were easy to react to. Magic was similar in that regard. Her defensive amulets could detect all forms of energetic attacks and react to block them, even if she couldn’t. And if she was able to sense it, then no matter what it was, it was useless. She would just activate her defenses personally, surrounding herself in an impenetrable bubble.

My reticle rested on her neck as she moved, my coat activating to dilate my perception of time.

She was about 310 yards away, plus or minus 10 yards.

I had a margin of error of about five inches.

I was zeroed to 300 yards already.

I tracked her movement, concentrating intently, anticipating her direction and the sway of her body.

I was so focused in fact that I almost felt like I could feel her intentions, even from so far away. It felt like my ability to predict, except I didn’t know I could use it at such a distance.

However, as a result of what was essentially reaching out and touching her with my eyes, she ended up sensing something.

And from so far away she turned, staring right at me, confused as to what she was feeling.

Our eyes locked right as I pulled the trigger.

*Crack!*

The bullet let out a supersonic shockwave as it sailed.

And I watched as it tore through her neck, leaving a thin trail of blood as it buried itself into the stone ground behind her.

Her body fell as soon as the connection between her spine and brain was severed, like a puppet with cut strings.

I took in a long breath, calming my nerves as time no longer dilated, feeling a slight strain on my mind from the expenditure of Psyka.

One shot, one kill. It was so simple it almost felt like cheating, especially in this world.

I didn’t even load that bullet with Psyka. I fired a regular bullet out of a regular gun, and at its end, a major crime boss was killed. She was as ordinary as I was and required no more than that.

In this world full of superhuman freaks, it really was hard to be a summoner. It was unfair how a warlock could create impenetrable bubbles around them, or how a knight could simply eat earth shattering attacks with their bare body.

That was why I didn’t feel like I was cheating. In exchange for this awesome power, I was horribly vulnerable. It wasn’t long ago that I had been smacked across a room with no more than a wave of the hand, getting some nasty injuries in the process.

Two different extremes, and unfortunately, I sat about as far on one end as I could get.

Sighing at the bleak mortality of all summoners, I shrunk away off the roof of the building I was on.

By now, if my little legend hadn’t already spread, it was about to make another set of rounds to remind people about my infamy, and exactly what it meant.

A single explosion meant that someone had died at my hand. There was nobody else who could mimic what I did. It was my signature at this point.

As I climbed off the building, I could see people murmuring and looking around, searching for me in curiosity.

One or two even seemed to recognize me. Their gazes on my body were rather intense, though not hostile.

Thankfully I was far enough from my target not to be found. Now I just needed to hide away for a while and let the chaos fester.

In a day or two, nobody associated with Sarah Trot would give two hoots about taking revenge on me. They would be too busy fighting for the power she wielded. That alone would ensure my safety, at least in the short term.

In the long term, I was only painting the target on my back bigger.

But I didn’t have to care much. I would be leaving again soon for another school field trip. And even if I were here, so long as I was in the Magisterium or the Hotel, then I was safe. A bigger concern was the war going on with the Tavera Family at the center.

The Patriarch was basically one of my patrons. I wished I could do more to help him, but the war was out of my league. Anybody I could reasonably kill would have a negligible impact on the outcome, and I would be putting my life in grave danger for that small amount of gain.

It wasn’t worth it, especially not to me. I was indebted to a lot of people and wanted to help,  but I wouldn’t go and kill myself like that. Couldn’t pay anybody back if I was dead, especially since my life at this moment wasn’t even worth much itself. So I could only sit on the sidelines and watch.

I scurried away with those thoughts, retreating to the hotel where I found the Key Master.

I walked in with a smile.

“Hello, Key Master! How’s the night treating you?”

“Ah, John. Long time no see. The night is well, and its darkness is rid of one more slippery rat.”

“Damn. It’s like you were there with me.”

“Hm.”

He smirked ever so slightly, giving me a weird feeling.

“It’s impressive how efficient you are with such matters, John. I was just listening for that familiar sound. Every time it rings, I can almost feel the gratitude of the entire market. Yet it is accompanied by the frightened and enraged screams of the damned. Your name is carried as far as your bullets soar, but fame and infamy walk hand in hand. Sometimes I worry for your life.”

“Aww, you worry about me? I appreciate the concern my man, I do.”

I stuck out my fist for a bump, yet my man didn’t know what it meant so he lifted his half clenched fist with a confused tilt of the head.

I smiled and bumped his knuckles before leaning on the desk.

“If I ever need safe harbor, I’ll just come running over here. I have a feeling nobody would dare trespass on grounds such as these.”

“Nobody but the Almighty.”

“Then I have nothing to worry about. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to a point where I won’t need it, but until then, I can only thank you for your hospitality.”

“Of course, John. But don’t think you don’t deserve at least some of the things you receive. Not even I can know how many lives you’ve saved by killing the person you just did. By removing evil you allow good to flourish. It’s dirty work sometimes, but nonetheless, what you’re doing makes you deserving of some good yourself.”

“...”

I was silent, a neutral expression on my face, not agreeing with nor denying his words.

And it made him chuckle.

“I still remember what you said not long after we first met. You called yourself a leech back then. Do you still feel like one?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Goodness, that’s an impressive amount of pride you have. I would say it’s a bad thing, but that drive to help people is saving a lot of lives. I’m not sure if I should make it worse or better.”

“I’ve been told that before. My girlfriend seems to think the same thing.”

“Perhaps it’s a pattern worth recognizing.”

“If I agreed with the foundation of its accusation, I would.”

“Haha, how stubborn. I do enjoy these talks John.”

“As do I.”

I smiled as he stuck out his hand, shaking it.

“I can tell you’re tired. Do be sure to rest well. Also, the bounty of 180 thousand coin has been deposited into your account.”

“How lucrative. Have a good night, Key Master.”

“Always.”

With that goodbye, I retreated to my room for the night. It wasn’t long until sunrise, but since I was still in vacation mode, I decided I could sleep in as much as I wanted.