Fantasy Assassin in a modern world

Chapter 70 - My Life As Payment

John was rather excited to meet Fade and headed to the meeting place ahead of time. The meeting spot specified by the map was in a forgotten shrine in the mountain outside of the city. It took John half an hour to reach the meeting spot. He wasn't expecting it to be in such a place which is why he didn't bring a flashlight, so he used the light on his phone instead. 

When he arrived and saw the old forgotten shrine he found it a little creepy. John looked at what kind of shrine it was and saw that it was a shrine of one of the old forgotten Gods.

...

In the olden days, non-martial artists would pray to the Gods who were usually martial artists beyond the Grand Master rank. Some historians claimed that the old forgotten Gods were made-up beings that came to be due to the fear the non-martial artists had at the time. While the majority of the historians claimed that the old forgotten Gods were the beyond Grand Master martial artists that once ruled as Gods helping people or destroying them. They had control over the weather and could live for a very long time, making them seem like Gods. 

Nowadays there are no longer beyond Grand Master martial artists, some say that most of them had left the planet in search of greater power. Others say that there are still some of those beyond Grand Master martial artists hiding, controlling the world from the shadows. Still, most people no longer pray to such beings as the people's understanding of the world around them grew, they no longer needed the help of any deity and believed that they could now control their own fates. 

...

Even though John doesn't believe in any religion, he still wanted to show respect as a martial artist to the one who had reached the pinnacle of this path. While he waited for Loki to arrive he cleaned the shrine a bit and bowed. After he was done he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind him. 

"Are you perhaps a religious person?" 

"Not really, but as a martial artist I do have some respect for the strong."

John turned around and saw no one there. To his surprise, even his senses as rank five martial artist could not sense any presence. 

"...Are you Fade?" 

Even though John was pretty sure that the person speaking was the assassin, he needed to be sure. In the darkness like a shadow, Fade suddenly appeared in front of John. In the darkness of the night, the only thing John could clearly see of Fade was his white mask. 

"I am Fade, so tell me who do you want to kill?" 

"I do not want to kill anybody. I just want my daughter back. Is it possible for you to not kill anyone and just save my daughter?" 

"... I'm an assassin... Though I have strict rules that I adhere to and I might be a bit different from other assassins, but in the end, I am an assassin. Any job I take means somebody's life shall be taken, if you just want to save your child, I am not the one you need to hire. There are others more capable than I for that kind of job." 

After saying those words, Fade was slowly backing away when John tried to grab him. John stretched out his hand towards Fade, but all he was able to grab was empty air. John was getting desperate as he prostrated hitting his head on the ground. 

"Please you're my only hope! No one would believe me, and no one would help me! You're my last chance, my only hope in saving my daughter!" 

"As I said, I'm an assassin, not someone that does random jobs like that... It is true that I do save people, but my way of saving them is through the deaths of their enemies. If all you want is to save your daughter without killing anyone, I can tell you of a pretty good detective that I'm sure will help you... But if you decided that you want to eliminate the people who took your daughter from you, the people who stole your wife's life, then I'm the person for the job." 

"..." John did not respond as he continued prostrating. Seeing him act like that made Fade sigh. He was going to accept the job if John simply said that Fade needed to eliminate the siblings that are suspected to have killed his wife and had kidnapped his daughter. 

...

In truth after the quick search Harold did, Loki had learned much about the side of the Yui Clan that John never knew. The Yui Clan was one of the mid-tier clans that wanted to rise above their current position. There were rumors that the former head of the Clan wanted to pass the position of Clan Head to John's wife. It was during that time when the rumors started spreading did she and her siblings went out to do some unknown mission for the country. The results of that mission were unclear but the siblings were gravely injured and John's wife had died. 

Even if the siblings didn't really kill John's wife, they weren't any good people among them. Each one of the siblings except for John's wife had done various crimes they claimed were for the sake of the Clan. Due to the Yui Clan being somewhat influential and their crimes being wiped away due to their accumulation of credit that they had gained for doing odd jobs for the country, they have never been truly punished. 

...

"You aren't even a real member of the Yui Clan, and I'm sure that they had never treated you kindly after the death of your wife. Why do you protect those that have already shunned you?  " Hearing Fade's question 

"...No matter what they have done, I cannot bring myself to sentence them to death. After all, they are my wife's beloved siblings. Even back when she was alive, no matter what they did she would always forgive them with that smile on her face. I'm sure that if she were still here with me, she would ask me to forgive them as well... I really do not wish for revenge, I just want my daughter back. I will give you anything that I have, if you truly need to take a life so that you can save my daughter, then why don't you take mine. I will gladly give you my life, but not for now. Can you please wait for my daughter to grow up a bit? Once she's old enough then you can take my life as payment."