VOLUME 5: CHAPTER 19

VOLUME 5: CHAPTER 19

After reading the fragments of memories of the assassin, Lark found the reason why their group was suddenly attacked on their way to the Capital. Although the information he got wasn’t complete, it was enough to link the pieces of the puzzle together. 

It seemed that a high-ranking official was the one behind the attack. 

Lord Hais, a minister of the Kingdom and one of the Royal Advisors of His Majesty. 

When Lark told everyone about this, the Princess and the knights couldn’t believe it. 

According to them, Lord Hais was a benevolent man and was among the most loyal retainers of His Majesty, even before he ascended the throne. He was among the pillars of the King’s faction, together with Lady Ropianna, the retired general Carlos, and Viscount Lakian.

Had Lark not read the memories of the assassin, that man would have been among the last to be suspected among the nobles. 

“Impossible.” Princess Esmeralda was holding the dead body of her knight, Andrew. Tears flowed down her eyes. “Why would uncle Hais order these assassins to kill us?”

“According to the memories of this assassin, there’s another high-ranking official pulling the strings. There’s a possibility that your uncle is merely a pawn,” said Lark. “But this doesn’t change the fact that he’d ordered our assassination.”

The Princess sobbed. She gripped the dead body of Andrew tight. This knight had pledged his loyalty to her back when she was still a child. She still couldn’t believe that the man would die like this.

When was the last time she thanked her knights for always being by her side? She wished she could talk to Andrew one last time. She wished she could tell him how grateful she was to him, that despite her having no political power, he still chose to serve her regardless. 

Lark stared at the sobbing Princess. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save him too.” 

Lark had lost several comrades back in his previous life. He knew the feeling of losing someone special. That wrenching sensation in your heart as you tried to reject the reality in front of you. 

The Princess bobbed her head but didn’t reply. She continued to sob, all the while hugging the dead body tight. 

Lark looked around them. Fallen trees and a few hundred dead bodies littered the ground. Now that the Grand Scale Magic had ended, the forest returned to its silence.

For a moment, he regretted that he spared only one assassin. He should have kept another one alive. 

I tried diving deeper into the assassin’s memories, but no matter how hard I tried, I can’t find any information regarding the other high-ranking official.

Only the name of Lord Hais came out of the memories of the assassin, as though they’d been conditioned to never reveal the name of the other official. 

The demon’s not the only thing we need to worried about, huh?

With this incident, it was clear that they had enemies in the Kingdom. And these enemies wanted them to never step even a single foot in the capital. 

“My Lord.” Anandra bowed his head. “What should we do with the assassin?” 

Lark looked at the last remaining assassin. The man looked like a walking corpse, a man without a will of his own. This was the adverse effect of memory-reading magic. Lark was sure that right now, the man was on the verge of insanity. 

“Tie him up, gag his mouth.” Lark didn’t pity the man in the slightest. Had the situation been reversed, their group would have been the one on the receiving end. “I purposely didn’t shatter his mind. In several days, he’ll eventually recover. He’ll have his use later on.” 

“Understood,” said Anandra. 

This man might become their trump card to force this so-called Lord Hais to confess his crimes. Killing him here would be a waste. 

“Chryselle, can you cast a ward spell to prevent that man from using his magic once he wakes up?” said Lark.  

“Please leave it to me.” 

After Anandra was done tying up the man, Chryselle started casting her spell. A chain of light wrapped around the man’s chest, before disappearing from sight. Although it wasn’t perfect, it should be enough to deter this assassin from casting his magic once he recovered. 

Lark was satisfied at this. His disciples were becoming more and more reliable as time went by. 

Lark turned to the Princess and her knights. “Princess, do you still wish to go to the capital?” 

The Princess rubbed her puffy eyes. “What do you mean? Of course, I’m going!” 

The Princess looked at the dead body in her hands. “I can’t let his death go to waste. We’re definitely going to cure father!” 

Lark looked at the dead horses and coachmen. 

Parzival followed Lark’s gaze and sighed. “The carriages are still intact, but there’s no way we can use it when all the horses are dead. I guess we’ll be walking to the Capital.” 

Lark took out a map from his sling bag. Based by their current location, it would take them at least four days to arrive at the Capital by foot. 

That would be too dangerous. 

They did not know when another group of assassins would attack them. It would still be better to move by cart, since it would at least confer some protection from attacks. 

“Austen, George.” Lark called out the brothers. 

“Young master?” 

“I’ll be borrowing your bodies for a moment.” 

Austen and George instinctively took a step back. Right now, the young master was looking at them with mischievous eyes. 

“Bodies? W-What do you mean, young master?” George asked. 

Lark found those fearful eyes amusing. Did these two really think he was some sort of a demon? 

“My mana’s almost depleted after casting Grand Scale Magic and after reading the memories of that assassin, so the two of you’ll have to help me. It will be a bit painful, but I’ll try to make it as tolerable as possible,” said Lark. “Come over here.” 

Although reluctant, George and Austen approached the young master. 

Lark stared at the brothers. “George should be enough for now.” 

Lark placed his hand on George’s chest. “It will be uncomfortable and a bit painful, but please try to endure.”

Lark guided the mana inside George’s body and started casting an eight-tier spell. Numerous runes started manifesting itself above them, forming a large magic formation. 

At the same time, George felt pain course through his entire body, as though dozens of needles were piercing his skin. An adverse effect of forcefully casting a high-ranking spell.

Seeing the pained expression of his disciple, Lark slowed down the formation of runes as he tried to reduce the pain as much as possible. 

Lark said, “I’m sorry. But this is our best option as of this moment.”

George gnashed his teeth and nodded. After a few minutes, the magic formation was finally complete. 

“Follow my lead,” Lark said to George. “Now, activate your magic.” 

With Lark guiding the flow of mana, George activated the spell. The boy’s eyes widened the moment the magic formation glowed and shattered into particles of light. 

Although he’d been guided by his master, this was the first time George had cast a high-ranking spell. 

Slowly, two translucent white horses manifested itself before them. The mounts were so beautiful that it would have been easy to mistaken them as creatures from the legends. 

The horses neighed. One of them gently rubbed its head against George’s shoulder. 

“T-This…” breathed George. “I was the one who cast this magic?” 

The horses looked like moving crystals. On their head, two small horns protruded. 

“How’s it?” Lark grinned. “Based on the amount of mana the spell had consumed, it’ll take at least a day before the horses disappears. We would have already arrived at the capital by then.” 

George was thrilled. He hugged the neck of the horse and even started thinking of a name. Austen frowned as he looked at the mythical-looking creatures. He wanted one too. 

“Young master,” Austen looked at George with envy. “If we need more of those things to pull the carriages—”

“—Those two are more than enough,” said Lark. 

Austen jealously gazed at the horses. Right now, George was stroking their manes. 

“Someday, will I be able to do that too?” Austen finally asked. 

“Of course,” Lark replied without hesitation. “The two of you are still young. Just keep practicing and you’ll be able to do this on your own someday. You already have the required amount of mana, after all. For someone so young like yourselves, time is your reliable ally.”

After attaching the horses to the carriages, and after removing the trees blocking the road, the group resumed their journey toward the capital. 

But unlike before, for some reason, the Princess now sat in the same carriage as Lark and his disciples. 

There was awkward silence as the Princess took a peek at Lark every now and then. She seemed to have something to say, but would decide to keep the words to herself at the last moment. 

Eventually, Lark broke the ice. “What is it, Princess?”

Lark amicably smiled, as to not frighten Her Highness. 

The Princess’ face flushed upon seeing this. She could still vividly remember that time when Lark almost single-handedly wiped out all of the assassins. It was the first time she’d seen someone so powerful and capable. For a moment, she questioned how someone younger than her could be so well-versed in magic. 

“I… I haven’t thanked you before,” she finally blurted the words out. 

Lark silently listened. 

“I know t-that this might sound foolish, that a princess like me is thinking this way,” said Princess Esmeralda, “B-But I consider those knights part of my family.”

Tears started forming at the corner of the Princess’ eyes.

The Princess bowed her head, her platinum hair covering half her face. “F-For saving Tomas. Thank you. Thank you very much.” 

For a moment, silence befell the second carriage, with only the muffled sobs of the Princess as the background. 

“I understand what you mean,” said Lark. “The butler at Blackstone Town, the mason, the kitchen staff, even the gardener at the mansion.”

Lark looked at all of his disciples seated in the carriage. “And these disciples of mine. All of them. They’re family.” 

George and Austen bewilderedly stared at the young master for a moment, while Anandra simply remained stoic and silent. Chryselle, on the other hand, averted her gaze, her face a bit redder than before. 

The Princess raised her head and gazed at Lark. She softly said, “Family... Even the servants?” 

This was the first time she heard a noble say something like this. And for some reason, she completely agreed with it. She remembered the maids attending to her every needs back in the Capital ever since she was a child. Roseanne, Julie, and Krista – she also considered those three maids as family. 

“Of course.” Lark broadly smiled.

The face of the Princess flushed even further. She started staring at the floor. She mumbled, “Is… that so?”

Lark opened the window and looked outside. At this rate, they would arrive at the Capital one day from now. 

***

Lord Hais nervously paced back and forth in his room in his mansion. It had been more than a day since he’d lost contact with Black Midas. 

“Still no news yet?” said Lord Hais. 

One of the two men kneeling in the room spoke. “We’ve yet to receive any reports from Black Midas, My Lord.”

“What the hell are those bastards doing?!” he snarled, his voice echoing inside the room. “Those incompetent maggots! If they failed in killing the Princess, then they should at least report to me, their new Lord!”

Lord Hais huffed, his face contorted in anger. 

Black Midas was the undisputed strongest assassin group in the entire Kingdom. He knew that there was no way those assassins would make a rookie mistake such as not reporting back to him. If they suddenly lost contact with them, then it meant only one thing – they had all been killed by their enemy.

But that’s impossible. 

There were a few hundred of those assassins. Furthermore, the division leaders of that assassin group were monsters capable of single-handedly killing all of his guards in this mansion. 

“Damn it,” Lord Hais clicked his tongue. 

For a moment, he wondered if this was a ploy of Duke Kelvin. Maybe that fat bastard merely pretended to have transferred authority over his men to him. 

As he was lost in his thoughts, loud knocks were heard on the door. 

“My Lord, we’ve received a message from the crown,” a man’s voice was heard outside the door. 

The two men kneeling on the floor bowed their heads, before disappearing from sight. 

“Enter,” said Lord Hais. 

The butler entered the room, bowed his head, and relayed to Lord Hais a message. 

“My Lord, it seems that the Princess and her men have arrived at the Capital,” said the butler. 

Lord Hais stiffened. A bead of sweat flowed down his forehead. “H-How… Since when?” 

“I believe they arrived a couple of hours ago, My Lord. They’re currently at the King’s castle.” 

Lord Hais lost strength on his legs. He sat on the couch and stared at the carpeted floor for a moment. “If the Princess safely arrived at the capital… then it means…” 

It meant that Black Midas failed. 

He did not blurt the last words out loud. 

“My Lord?” The butler shot a worried gaze at his master. “Are you feeling unwell? Should I call a healer?” 

Lord Hais shook his head. “N-No, I’m fine.” 

He started collecting himself. Even if Black Midas failed to assassinate the Princess and her men, it did not necessarily mean that his involvement in the assassination had been revealed to everyone else. After all, all members of Black Midas were bound by the oath of silence. They would not divulge information regarding their master, no matter what. 

Lord Hais stood up, fixed his garb, and breathed in and out. “Ready the carriage. It’s been some time since I’ve last seen my beloved niece.”

Lord Hais had decided. If all else failed, he could just pin all the blame on Duke Kelvin.