System in Assassin's Creed

Chapter 148: Chapter 147: ”Even then, it’s not enough.”

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---Pennsbury Manor Guesthouse, 4 PM---

Hours later, after the initial shock had somewhat subsided and plans for their temporary settlement in Pennsylvania were being discussed, Bernard Kenway pushed open the door to one of the rooms in the Pennsbury Manor guesthouse.

This was the room that had been assigned to Caroline before her sudden departure, and now, it housed her infant daughter, Jennifer, and a hired wet nurse.

Behind Bernard, the rest of the core group followed: Alaric and Kassandra, William Penn, Elizabeth and Aveline, Reuben and Flavia, Thulani, Leonard, Eleanor, and Linette.

The room was simple but clean, a small cot tucked into one corner. A middle-aged woman, the wet nurse, sat in a rocking chair by the window, gently cradling a sleeping baby. She looked up, startled by the sudden influx of people, her eyebrows rising in question.

”Excuse me? Who are you all?” the wet nurse asked, her tone polite but wary. Her gaze then fell upon William Penn, Elizabeth, and Aveline, who had visited earlier. Recognizing them, her expression softened, and she nodded respectfully.

”Ah, Mr. Penn, Madam Scott, Mistress Aveline.” She rose slowly, careful not to disturb the sleeping infant. ”I’ll excuse myself then, give you some privacy with the little one.” She carefully transferred the baby to Aveline, who took her niece with a practiced gentleness, before the wet nurse quietly slipped out of the room.

Aveline cooed softly, rocking the sleeping Jennifer in her arms. ”Shhh, there now, little Jenny.”

”Oh, she’s adorable!” Eleanor whispered, stepping closer, her eyes shining with affection as she peered at the baby’s tiny, peaceful face. Linette was right beside her, equally captivated. ”Look at those little eyelashes, Bernard! Just like Caroline’s.”

Kassandra, too, moved closer, a soft, almost wistful expression on her face as she looked at the infant. ”She is beautiful,” she murmured, her voice unusually gentle.

The men, however, were a different story. Bernard and Leonard hovered awkwardly near the doorway, peering at the baby from a safe distance. Reuben and Thulani exchanged uncertain glances, clearly unsure how to react to such a small, fragile creature. William Penn offered a benevolent smile but made no move to get closer.

”She’s... very small,” Bernard finally commented, stating the obvious.

Leonard nodded in agreement. ”Indeed. Quite... delicate.”

Reuben shuffled his feet. ”Wouldn’t dare hold her. Might break her.” Thulani grunted in what Alaric assumed was agreement.

Alaric chuckled softly at their discomfort. He walked over to Aveline and gently stroked Jennifer’s soft cheek with one finger. ”She’s a Kenway, through and through,” he said quietly. ”She’ll be a brave one.”

After a few more minutes of hushed admiration and awkward male hovering, everyone began to file out of the room, leaving Aveline to tend to her niece. Alaric was about to follow, but he noticed Kassandra hadn’t moved. She was still standing by the cot, gazing down at the sleeping baby, a complex mix of emotions playing across her features.

Alaric walked back towards her, his footsteps soft on the wooden floor. ”Penny for your thoughts, misthios?” he asked quietly, coming to stand beside her.

Kassandra sighed, a faint, melancholic sound. ”She is beautiful, Alaric,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

”So small, so new... so full of potential.” She paused, her gaze still fixed on Jennifer. ”But then I think... I will outlive her. I will outlive her children, and their children, and their children’s children.” Her voice caught slightly. ”It is... a horrifying thought, even after all these centuries. I’ve never truly gotten used to the loneliness, to watching everyone I care for fade away while I remain.”

Alaric put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. He rested his cheek against her hair, inhaling her familiar scent.

”Hey,” he said softly, his voice a comforting rumble. ”Don’t worry about that. You’re not alone anymore, remember?”

He tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. ”And as for our children... they won’t be fading away anytime soon. You and I, we’re immortal, in our own ways. Our children... they’ll have very, very long lives.”

Kassandra raised an eyebrow, a flicker of her usual skepticism returning. ”Oh? And how long is ’very, very long’ in your estimation, Kenway?”

Alaric grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. ”Give or take,” he said with a dramatic pause, ”seven thousand years.”

Kassandra’s eyes widened comically. ”Seven... seven thousand?” she whispered, utterly aghast. ”Maláka! That’s... that’s too long! For anyone! Even for a demigod’s offspring!”

Alaric scratched the back of his head, chuckling. ”Well,” he conceded, ”at least our descendants won’t die that easily, eh? Think of the family reunions!”

”Maláka...” Kassandra just sighed, shaking her head, but then a soft smile touched her lips. She leaned into him, pressing a warm kiss to his cheek. ”I’m a bit excited, you know,” she murmured, her voice suddenly shy. ”To give birth to a baby as handsome and as infuriatingly smart as you...”

”And if it’s a girl,” Alaric smiled, his arm tightening around her, ”then she’ll be as beautiful, as brave, and as wonderfully wild as her mother.”

---Pennsbury Manor Rooftop, 9 PM---

The Pennsbury Manor was quiet now, the earlier hustle of arrival and settling in having given way to the calm of evening. Lanterns cast a warm, flickering glow across the grounds, and torches lined the main pathways, but up on the roof of the main house, only the full moon and a canopy of stars provided illumination.

Alaric sat alone, his legs dangling over the edge of the roof, gazing up at the bright lunar disc. He was deep in thought. ’In the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag game, there were no records of Caroline going to places outside Europe or America...’ he mused, a frown creasing his brow.

’She was a minor character, yes, but her storyline was contained. This... this journey to Japan, the Philippines, Korea... collecting artifacts... it’s a massive deviation.’

’Did my actions cause this? Some kind of butterfly effect? My presence, my interference... has it altered her path so drastically?’ Alaric sighed, pulling out the last cigar from the pack in his pocket. He lit it with a familiar snap of his fingers, the tip glowing orange in the darkness. He took a long drag, the smoke a familiar comfort, before exhaling slowly. ’But... Philippines? Japan? With an Apple of Eden? I’d take a hard guess that she’s being influenced by the Apple, no doubt about it...’

”You’ll have to try much harder than that to sneak up on me, misthios...” Alaric called out, a knowing smile touching his lips as he sensed Kassandra’s silent approach behind him.

”Maláka...” Kassandra’s voice came from the shadows as she moved with the fluid grace of a predator, stepping onto the roof tiles beside him. She sat down, her movements silent as a cat. ”Is there no way to surprise you? I climbed like a cat.”

”Yeah, no...” Alaric replied, his smirk teasing, much to her feigned annoyance. ”And you too, Reuben... Thulani. Don’t bother hiding.”

A pair of soft thuds sounded from the balcony just below them.

”Damn...”

”Damnit...”

Reuben and Thulani, with a collective sigh of resignation, parkoured their way up from the balcony with practiced ease, landing lightly on the roof beside Alaric and Kassandra.

”So... do you need somethin’?” Alaric raised a brow, looking from Reuben to Thulani. It wasn’t every day that these two sought him out with such a... hesitant air. ”You guys need money?”

”Ah, no...” Thulani rumbled, shifting his considerable weight.

”No... I mean, sure... but no,” Reuben sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

Their awkwardness surprised Alaric. He took another puff from his cigar. ”So... what did you need? Careful with your feet, you guys could break Mr. Penn’s roof.”

Reuben and Thulani exchanged another uncertain glance. It was Thulani who finally spoke, his deep voice unusually hesitant. ”Alaric... we... we were wondering... about power.”

Reuben nodded, picking up the thread. ”The kind of power you showed back in Bristol. Against those soldiers.” He met Alaric’s gaze, his own eyes holding a mixture of awe and a desperate sort of longing. ”We... we want to be stronger.”

Both Alaric and Kassandra raised their eyebrows. Kassandra tilted her head, her gaze analytical.

”Why?” she asked, her voice was calm but direct. ”You are both already formidable warriors. Reuben, you wield an Isu artifact. Thulani, your strength is... considerable, even before Alaric gifted you Excalibur. Why do you feel the need for more?”

Thulani looked down at his large hands. ”I may be stronger than normal men, Lady Kassandra,” he admitted, his voice low. ”But as you saw in your own adventures, and as we saw in Bristol... there are threats that hundreds of normal men cannot face. I cannot be stronger than hundreds of them at once, not as I am now.”

Reuben nodded in agreement, his expression grim. ”Thulani and I conversed about it multiple times on the voyage here,” he continued, his voice gaining a measure of conviction. ”It’s not just about us. We just want to be more useful to you, Alaric... to protect the family... our loved ones. To ensure what happened in Bristol, the need to flee... never happens again.”

Alaric’s Mind’s Eye of the Kagura was active, and he detected no lies from them. Their emotions were a potent mix: genuine concern, a deep-seated desire to protect, frustration at their perceived limitations, and a burning motivation. ’Yeah... it’s true, although the reason why I suggested or even ordered all of us to flee was that I might end up killing more than just the two thousand they sent if we stayed there any longer.’

’However, there’s no shame in being stronger, I can’t just be the only one to do the killing,’ He decided to test them, just a little.

”Soon, in the nearby future,” Alaric said, his tone thoughtful, ”I will likely have you both lead men. Hundreds, perhaps even more, depending on how things unfold. Won’t that be enough? With command over such numbers, you’ll be able to face armies.”

”Even then, it’s not enough,” Thulani responded immediately, his gaze unwavering. ”I want to be as strong as possible, Alaric. Strong enough to face any number of men, to protect those I care for, even if I were to sacrifice myself in the process.”

”Yes... and you say you’ll have us lead hundreds of men,” Reuben added, his voice tight with determination. ”I want to be able to attack and defend with little to no casualties on our side. To ensure that those who follow us, who trust us, are not needlessly lost.”

”...” Alaric’s Mind’s Eye was reading them like an open book. Conviction, honesty, desperation, inspiration, motivation... it was all there, a potent cocktail of resolve. He turned his head, meeting Kassandra’s gaze. She was grinning, a fierce, almost predatory light in her ancient eyes. It seemed their drive had ignited something in her as well.

”Well...” Alaric said, a slow smile spreading across his own face. ”It looks like I have to train all of you.” He then raised his voice slightly. ”And you too, Jonathan.”

Reuben, Thulani, and Kassandra all raised their brows in surprise, looking around.

”Don’t bother hiding,” Alaric called out, his voice laced with amusement. ”No one can eavesdrop on me unless I allow them.”

A sigh, clearly audible in the quiet night, drifted up from the balcony below. A moment later, Jonathan Hugh’s head peeked over the edge of the roof. He looked from the group on the roof to Alaric, his expression one of weary resignation. With an effortless leap that belied his usual composed demeanor, Jonathan vaulted onto the roof, landing silently beside Thulani.

”Must I really, Master Alaric?” Jonathan asked, already looking harried. ”My schedule is... rather packed with managing the staff, overseeing the household accounts, and ensuring Mr. Penn doesn’t accidentally start a philosophical debate with a lamppost.”

”Don’t worry ’bout it, and about the Penn thing... he has his own butler for that,” Alaric grinned devilishly, a spark of mischief in his eyes that made everyone present twitch slightly. ”In a week’s time, I’ll start training everyone... the family, the Assassins, the employees, Penn and his butler... even you, love.” He turned his head to Kassandra, who looked genuinely surprised, then intrigued.

”I don’t care if I have to pay Penn tens of thousands of Reales every day for food and for the trouble,” Alaric continued, his voice gaining a note of excitement. ”We’re still living in Penn’s manor until he finds me a good lot of land. Until then, I’ll train all of you to the bones.”

A collective gulp seemed to echo across the rooftop.

’I will need to begin a filter process,’ Alaric thought, his smile becoming more calculating. ’I’ll begin interviewing and questioning every single person within the Auditore Assassins and the Kenway household employees before I start applying any significant buffs to them. I’ll also offer to reverse the ages of the elders, if they wish it. And the children... Jenny, Penn’s younger ones... they’ll need protection, subtle enhancements perhaps, as they grow.’

’Thankfully,’ he mused, the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura passively scanning the emotional undercurrents of his companions, ’this ability is an OP item to discover traitors or those with ill intent. I wouldn’t even consider doing any of these widespread enhancements if I didn’t have it.’

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