Chapter 135 Chapter 135 Yes, Minister, all of this...

The only explanation for the International Freedom Army's actions is that the Hakes probably didn't buy their tickets this morning.

As they watched Macbeth at the theater, the real assassins clattered across the rooftops, swooping down from them like hawks. First, Jacob dove into the haystack in the alley, then quickly emerged and grabbed the assassin as he passed by. Evie leaned against the wall, whistled, and as the assassin came closer to investigate, she quickly attacked with an overhand throw, sending him crashing to the ground and bringing her hidden blade to bear against his neck.

They grabbed the killer and, in tacit agreement, dragged him into an alley. Elio was the last to emerge, trailing a trail of groaning bodies. Jacob peeked over and saw Elio had ripped their coats off and tied them around their legs. He couldn't help but smack his jaw.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Jacob sighed.

"You're all alive, that's good," Elio praised. "Do you know what to do now?"

"Interrogate them," Evie responded first. She hated to admit it, but she'd certainly been a bit turned on by the previous activity. The assassin's blood flowed through her veins. Seeing Elio nod approvingly, Evie couldn't help but smile, then quickly bit her lip, trying to stop her emotions from interfering with the mission.

Jacob shrugged at this and said, "Ladies first."

Together, they tied up the killers. Evie first circled the unfortunate individuals. She tried to discern their rank, observing their clothing, appearance, and expressions. She quickly determined what she wanted. "Are you the leader?" Evie asked condescendingly.

The leader spat at her feet.

Evie raised an eyebrow. She wasn't offended, but rather aware that she needed to assert her authority. So, she calmly took two steps back—the leader, perhaps thinking she was giving in, grinned—before suddenly raising her leg and kicking him in the face. A muddy boot print immediately remained there.

Jacob silently took two steps back, looking like he had a toothache. Elio glanced at him. Jacob crossed his arms, trying to hide his feelings. "This is a good place to watch a show."

By then, Evie had already grabbed the dazed leader with one hand and, with the other, pulled out her Hidden Blade and held it across his neck. "Will you talk now?" she asked. "Why did you kill Jim Hack?"

The leader coughed a few times, spitting out a few bloody teeth. "For Jim Hack?" he said intermittently. "We're not just going to kill Jim Hack! In fact, we have no hatred towards him at all. The only problem is that he has no real talent, yet he has the potential to be stationed in the Ministry of Defense. Imagine the harm he would cause Britain, and you'll understand why we want to assassinate him. We are doing this for the glorious mission of Britain!"

Evie frowned.

"National defense?" Jacob whispered to Elio. "Is that true?"

Elio said nothing, just stroking his cane. Although he made no sound, the leading killer still looked at him with a mocking look.

“…it’s people like you who are in control,” he said, “people who dress nicely, talk nicely but do nothing, that have brought Britain to this state!”

Jacob turned his head and looked at him, incredulous. "Do you know..."

But before he could finish, Elio stopped him. The Master Assassin stepped out from the shadows, taking one step at a time, as if in deep thought. When he reached the lead assassin, the latter's face twitched slightly, and he leaned back defensively.

"Are you claiming you're doing this for peaceful purposes?" Elio asked. "To protect England?"

"So what?"

"And you're going to pursue it by violent means?" Elio asked. "Spilling the blood of an innocent man is enough to achieve your goal?"

"For the greater good," the leader said, stiffening his neck, "we must make some sacrifices!"

"Sacrificing another's life," Elio said, "is truly noble. Do you know what kind of man Jim Hack was? Do you know his wife and his daughter? Do you know that he was incredibly clean, with no evidence of any foul play against him? Do you really know whether killing him would make Britain better or worse? Or do you simply 'know' that he 'might' be employed by the Ministry of Defence, and are you punishing him for something that hasn't happened yet?"

Jacob stared at him in shock. This was the first time Elio had spoken rapidly, and it sounded almost like English was his native language. Evie also stared at him intently, but Elio didn't look at either of the twins, only at the leading assassin.

He looked so young, no more than 20 or 30. His brown eyes blinked rapidly, like an angry rabbit, and his face was a red flush of excitement and anger. Elio could almost see the throbbing veins in his neck. Elio remembered that when he caught the killer, the young man frantically pulled a knife from his pocket, but before he could hurt Elio—even though he couldn't hurt Elio—he almost cut his own hand.

"Obviously, something got into your head," Elio said.

He drew his sword and staff. Evie instinctively stepped back, but looked at Elio with a complicated expression, wondering what he was going to do. This question was further emphasized when Elio drew his knife, because usually, when a person showed his weapon in such a situation, he would do nothing else.

The leading killer was almost trembling, but he closed his eyes firmly, telling himself that this was a great sacrifice.

"You can't even defeat a bunch of us ordinary citizens who 'dress up nicely' and 'do nothing,'" Elio lifted his chin with the tip of his knife. "How dare you dream of sneaking past layers of British agents and assassinating a Minister of Administration? If you're really as idealistic as you say, you should be smarter."

The leading assassin's face flushed crimson. But as the knife tip ripped free, slicing through the air, he felt a chill on his back. Then, naturally, expressions of disbelief crossed their faces. He opened his eyes sharply to discover that the jackets tied behind them had been torn.

"What—why?" he asked, kneeling on the ground.

"Because there are always more peaceful ways to achieve the peace you want." Elio sheathed his knife. "When you try to break the rules with violence, think about what new rules you will establish."

The killers stood there in a daze, looking at each other.

"Okay, get out of here!" Jacob urged them. "If you don't understand what he's saying, I'll speak some English that you can understand. Next time we catch you, you won't be as lucky as you are now!"

Wearing only their shirts, they helped each other to get up; they first walked away tentatively, looking back every few steps, suspecting that Elio would go back on his word. After walking some distance, they dared to believe that Elio had really let them go, and ran away quickly.

"I'm a little hungry," Elio asked naturally, "How about you guys?"

He pulled his pocket watch from his vest pocket and checked the time. The twins looked at each other and quickly responded, "I'm hungry too." "I just saw a tavern up ahead."

"No, the wine isn't good," Elio said.

"Come on, Elio!" Jacob said, "You've been taking us on an 'evening' tonight, what's a few drinks?"

Elio couldn't help but put the pocket watch back into his pocket and held out his hand to him. "If you hadn't told me, I would have almost forgotten. Give me back my hidden blade."

Jacob yelled and hurried out, heading towards the tavern. Evie laughed, unsheathing her Hidden Blade and handing it back to Elio. "He'll give it back."

"I'd actually love to give you weapons," Elio said with a smile, "but these two hidden blades were given to me by friends. If you like them, I'll go back and make two for you."

Evie's eyes lit up immediately. It proved that, while she was willing to hand over Elio's Hidden Blade, her Assassin instincts kept her from letting it go once she'd gotten hold of it. That wonderful sound! That wonderful mechanism! Evie couldn't help but smile at the thought of getting her new, custom-made Hidden Blade. With a quick thought, she suggested, "Can we keep this a secret from Jacob?"

Elio, who was putting the hidden blade on his hand, was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

"Of course, Miss Frye," he said.

Evie walked beside him as they headed toward the tavern. "Can I ask you one more question, Elio?" she asked.

"Please go ahead."

"Did you intend to let them go?" Evie asked, "or did you just do it on the spur of the moment?"

"That's a really profound question," Elio said. "I don't know, actually. Before I meet them in person, before I talk to them, I tend to hold off on making any decisions. You know."

"So you did it on impulse?" Evie said. "And if I may ask, at what point did you decide to kill them?"

"That's a deeper and more pointed question," Elio said. Their boot heels tapped lightly on the ground, like a tacit rhythm. When Evie tried to observe Elio's expression, he smiled at her and said, "I believe you will find your answer, Evie."

Evie sighed regretfully, "So you're not going to tell me your answer?"

"I don't want to influence your answer, Evie, because there's more to it than just one," Elio said, winking at her. "But I can tell you right now that I have a friend who's tried every beer in every pub in London..."

Evie raised an eyebrow. She glanced at the tavern Jacob had slipped into, then back at Elio, a mischievous smile playing on her face, as if she could already anticipate what he was about to say.

"But he found nearly every bottle terrible in its own way," said Elio, "and he's a very English man, by the way."

"It would be a shame if Jacob didn't know that!" Evie said, suppressing a laugh.

"That's a shame," Elio confirmed.

But in a single glance, they agreed not to tell Jacob this. As for the fact that only Jacob drank some beer tonight and complained about its bitterness, that's a story for another time. Also a story for another time, after spending this weekend under strict surveillance, Huck complained about his lack of freedom and privacy in the administrative department and was delighted to learn that the International Freedom Force had somehow removed him from the list.

"Looks like they finally figured out there's no need to murder me!" Huck happily shared the good news with Elio. "This is all just a misunderstanding."

"Yes, Minister," Elio said with a smile, "this is all just a misunderstanding!"

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The author has something to say: Elio's friend: modern-day assassin Sean Hastings, a historian, is responsible for compiling databases in various "Assassin's Creed" games. In "Syndicate", he carefully reviews the taste of each bottle of beer in his "British tone". I will randomly excerpt a few of his comments here:

*Irish Brewing – Dublin Stout (Excerpt from Sean's tasting notes): This beer tastes like someone poured a bucket of roofing tar into it, diluted it, and then ran the whole thing over a burning tire. It tastes like licking greasy rat, and I'm not going to tell you how I know. I shared this taste memory scheme with a friend in Cork, and he was furious. Please don't give me any more information about this beer.

*Double Stout (excerpt): Just identifying the ingredients in this beer is enough to put me on the bioterrorism watchlist.

*Her Majesty's London Porter: Her Majesty must hate you.

*Bafoul and Beret Vienna Beer (excerpt): I didn't know it was legal to patent sterilized sheep urine. In fact, I would rather drink a glass of hot water in one gulp. I began to have doubts about this whole plan.

*Sir's Dinner Ale (excerpt): I did some historical research on the Ivory Brewery. It burned down in 1879, but you know what? I'm actually glad that happened. I wish the fire department had just stood by and watched the brewery burn to the ground, then salted the land. Because sometimes, when land is so desecrated by something, it's no longer safe to use. This beer is terrible.

It really made me laugh when playing games... Sometimes I really envy the talent of these British people.jpg William Miles, you must protect Sean's mouth!