The Reincarnated Hitman

Ding!

The elevator let out as the doors opened, revealing an exhausted-looking Olivia.

But more than exhaustion, she seemed...sad?

[Hey,] her agent’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, [you okay?]

"..." Olivia remained silent for a while before letting out a sigh and muttering, "Why can’t I just have a normal family?"

She leaned on the wall in the hallway before sliding down, wrapping both hands around her feet and then burying her face between them.

[Olivia —]

"I’m fine," She said with her face still buried, "I just need a second."

No one understood her family situation as much as her agent did, so the agent knew exactly what her hero was currently going through.

[Should I—]

"Are you okay?"

Before her agent’s words could be completed, a much younger voice was heard.

Olivia was reminded that she wasn’t alone on this floor anymore.

Slowly, she lifted her head and spotted Liam’s sister, Lea, crouching in front of her.

"Y-yeah," Olivia said, trying to hide her expression behind a smile, "sorry about this."

Instead of saying anything else, Lea just nodded and silently sat by her.

Olivia looked at the kid who just moved to lean on the wall beside her before smiling and also leaning back.

Although the two just remained silent, Olivia could feel her mood rapidly turning positive; she felt so warm inside.

But that might just be her Pragma reacting to her improved mood.

"Thank you," she muttered, turning to Lea.

The girl just smiled before standing up and asking, "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Olivia was unsure whether or not to accept, but Lea suddenly added, "My brother’s the one cooking."

Olivia immediately froze as she recalled the previous dinner she had with them, causing Lea to grin at her struggle.

After a while, she finally said, "Sorry for intruding."

"Don’t worry about it," Lea waved her hand in dismissal before whispering, "I’m sure my brother would be more than happy to have you join us."

Olivia, very clearly, heard her whispered words, which caused her to recall Liam’s words earlier.

Her face seemed expressionless, but Lea could somehow tell that she was thinking about something, and this time it was related to her brother.

She glanced at their new neighbor for a while before smiling, her thoughts unknown to the Beta-ranked hero.

"I’m back," Lea announced as they walked into the apartment, "and I brought a guest."

Olivia’s eyes immediately moved towards Liam, who was in the kitchen in an apron. He also turned around, noticing her before smiling, "Welcome back."

"Thank you for having me," Olivia muttered, trying her hardest not to get distracted by the fact that he was in an apron.

"Take a seat," Liam said, focused on his cooking.

***

It took a couple of minutes, but the three were soon done with dinner.

Olivia was once again reminded that not all families were like hers, and although that thought would usually ruin her mood, for some reason, she was fine.

"Now then!" Liam suddenly stood up, walked to a certain corner of the living room, and then came back with a box in hand.

He then set the box in the center of the living room, and without opening it, he stood up straight and looked at the three, "Are you ready?"

Olivia seemed a bit confused, but Lea just whispered, "It’s a board game."

"We’re ready," Lea and Eli answered.

"Perfect," Liam said with a smile, "for you three adventurers have been summoned as saviors of this world."

He paused to build suspense before crouching and opening the box on the floor. "Dear adventurers, welcome to Thedas!"

Inside the box was what seemed to be a board game, a couple of cards, a die and what seemed to be monster figurines.

Liam laid the cards on their backs, spread them out before gesturing for them to choose, "Your first task, adventurer, is to choose what avatar you will descend into."

Eli was the first to choose, a large smile on his face as he flipped the card over, revealing that he was a mechanic dwarf.

"What splendid choice, adventurer," Liam said, his voice his best attempt at some type of wise sage, "it seems you truly are destined to be a hero."

Eli chuckled at his voice.

Lea chose next, revealing that she had chosen a healer character, and again, Liam, as the game master, spoke up.

"It seems the gods have truly favored Thedas this time," he said.

He then finally turned the cards to Olivia as he said, "Will this adventurer be willing to descend and save Thedas?"

Olivia looked into his eyes for a while before turning to the cards and selecting one.

"What a spectacular choice," Liam said, defaulting back to his wise old sage voice, "a golden knight is a hero hardly ever seen."

Olivia looked at the card, noticing that her character was in full golden medieval armor and beside said character were his stats.

The character had health points, mana and stamina and just below the character were his skills, each showing how much mana or stamina they consumed.

"Congratulations, dear adventurers," Liam spoke up again before going silent for a while, a frown appearing on his face.

"Unfortunately, there was a problem with the summoning ritual, so you have been sent into the dark forest instead of the kingdom."

Olivia watched as he set up some type of map with grids on it, and on some of the grids were the monster figurines.

He then put three other figures a small distance away from the monsters: a knight, a healer and a dwarf, each representing the characters the three selected.

"I apologize, adventurers," Liam spoke up again, "but you will have to fight your way out of this treacherous forest."

"Alright!" Eli said as he picked up the die first and, after a shake, he tossed it on the board, "fifteen!"

He then moved his own figurine fourteen steps ahead, stopping just a small distance away from a goblin figurine.

And on his next turn... he’d have no choice but to attack.