Chapter 117

                                    

                                          

When a person hears the word Assassin, they usually imagine a figure wrapped in a dark cloak, a face hidden under a mask. They imagine an invisible figure wielding hidden weapons, a figure with an anathema for open combat, and a prediliction for covert murder.
Most of the assassins in the real world, on the contrary, avoid that image with a fervor. A hidden assassin is not really that hidden when they look like an assassin after all.
So as it is with the assassins of the Assassin class that could be summoned by a Master in the Holy Grail War. The Servants of Assassination also varied wildly in appeareance and choice of weaponry. Among the Assassin class Servants there were an assortment of Servants, ninjas, magi, heroes and even goddesses.
In other words, the chance that a summoned Servant, even from the Assassin class, would fit the image of a classic assassin was very small.
And yet, Hassan-i-Sabbah, the leader of the Hashshashin, also known as Hassan of the Cursed Arm, fit this image down to a t. Perhaps it is apropos for the codifer of the word itself to be so stereotypical.
Assassin wore a black tattered cloak that hides the features of his body. A bone white mask that hides his features. Small dark daggers, or dirks, many of them hidden in the many varied folds of his long cloak used for assassination or throwing weapons. And, of course, outstanding stealthiness noted by the A rank Presence Concealment among his skills made him an almost perfect illustration of the word 'Assassin' which would be imagined in the minds of ordinary people.
The only thing that strikingly stood out from his image of a cold-blooded murderer, without a shadow of doubt, was his mind.
Of course, there were many debates and preconceptions about what kind of a person a contracted killer could be. A cold genius who is remote from human society, who sees people like cattle. An embittered and petty avenger, distraught with anger. Or an unpredictable maniac, whose goals and motives are as mutilated as his view of the world and reality.
"I hope the Lord Mage will find my reports useful." It was with such thoughts that the terrifying figure of Hassan slipped out of one of the many ventilation hatches dotted around Chaldea, this one leading to his room. As he entered his room in a manner befitting his class, he then headed towards the nearby table where he kept his notes. Inside a hidden compartment of course.
On the large sheet of paper, several lines of writings were written in neat handwriting. A series of numbers and letters written in ciphers that were insignificant for an outside observer without the correct key, which for Hassan himself, however, represented a very clear and simple record.
"The ventilation access above the main reactor room is too unprotected." Hassan neatly noted to himself, and then reached with his only working hand for a regular ballpoint pen to write down his findings. - "The bolts are almost all rusted, and if the enemy has anyone with even a modicum of infiltration capabilities... "
Hassan of the Cursed Arm spent most of his time in Chaldea doing threat assessments.
Although any Servant of Ainz could complain about being left out of the Singularity in Chaldea, and that their downtime was boring, Hassan was not one of them.
Boredom grows out of idleness and idleness is wasted time. Lost time is unrealized opportunities, and unrealized opportunities are mistakes. Idle hands are the devil's playthings after all
Hassan-i-Sabbah was not completely devoid of a certain amount of pride in his merits and in his days as the leader of the Hashshashin, and therefore endeavoured not to make any mistakes.
Of course, Hassan was not a robot - he also needed rest. And if anyone were to ask Hassan, he might with some embarrassment admit that he usually spent perhaps more time than a normal Servant resting.