CH 25

Recalling the conversation with Roa, Sethian held the reins tighter.

He was able to confirm that he could use the golden magic as a crown prince. If so, he should first become the crown prince and hold onto Yi-Gyeol. If he does not like him, or if he gets tired of him, he can cut him off without even becoming an emperor. He’ll be heartless once he runs out of interest anyway. He won’t care a hair’s breadth whether he dies or not. If he suffers from lack of vitality and disappears into the ground, he can also give up the seat of the crown prince as if nothing had happened.

He decided not to think too hard and complicatedly.

What he desires is Joo Yi-Gyeol’s leash.

That’s all he needs. With that, he’ll be able to take care of him as much as he wants.

⋆♚⋆♛⋆♚⋆

It was not until the night was completely over that Sethian, who reached the Duke of Antoine’s estate, felt something strange and stopped his horse. The five knights that followed him also stopped one after another.

“They finally came.”

Sethian muttered in a low voice and instructed Lenox who was next to him.

“I don’t want to bother the Duke, so I’ll take care of it here and go.”

“Yes. …Please be careful.”

As soon as Lenox answered, black smoke began to spread around them. Even though they were already aware of the enemy and were vigilant, several knights let out a surprised sound at the sudden smoke.

All sounds soon disappeared.

Sethian was the only one left where the smoke had gathered.

‘So it’s true that they use mobility magic.’

All the knights that seemed to have been completely covered by the smoke disappeared with the horses. Perhaps they were teleported to where the enemy had designated them and were already in a rough battle with those who were awaiting them.

Sethian got off his horse and looked around. Although there was moonlight, there was a limit in visibility because of the thick darkness.

Taking out the sword he wore around his waist, Sethian suddenly struck the horse next to him.

Hiiing-!

The horse fell to the ground with a loud cry at the sudden attack. Sethian pulled his sword from the stomach of the fallen horse, then suddenly brandished it into the air. As a result, the horse’s blood on the surface of the sword flew through the air.

In an instant, he heard the sound of blood hitting something near him. Sethian noticed that it was heard from a distance much closer than the trees in sight, and slashed his sword at it. Something invisible, hidden by the darkness, swung around his sword.

Schwing-!

The sharp sword collided against the other’s blade. Upon closer inspection, a man was standing at the place, whose even eyes could not be seen as if he had completely assimilated with the darkness. The dagger that blocked Sethian’s sword, was not only the handle pitch-black but also the blade, so if you don’t look closely, you wouldn’t even know he was holding it. In other words, if wielded in the dark, the weapon could not be seen properly, and there was a risk of fatal injury.

The opponent who slashed Sethian’s sword upwards immediately jumped straight into his arms and swung the dagger in his right hand. Sethian quickly turned around and managed to avoid it, but as if the man had expected it, he immediately drew a new dagger with his left hand and aimed for his chest.

Clang!

It was a quick attack, but Sethian was still able to raise his blade and blocked it with difficulty. Then, one after another, he swung his sword like crazy.

They had only briefly exchanged swords, but Sethian was able to roughly guess the skill of the opponent. Of course, there was also the groundwork of completing their investigation on them in advance.

The man in front of him was one of Canael’s Deputy-Guild Master Pair. He uses teleportation and two black daggers and has excellent stealth skills as an assassin. As proof of that, even at this moment as their swords collide, he could not feel the presence of the man in front of him.

So, as soon as Sethian retreated into the darkness, he sprayed the horse’s blood on the surrounding to create a sound and locate him then rushed at him. If he missed it even for a moment, it would be much more advantageous to the other side who was used to fighting in the dark.

The other is probably in the middle of a battle where Lenox and the other knights were teleported. The pair used to deal with the target separately in this way when it was with a large number of people. In any case, the target is the priority, so once he is dealt with, they will immediately retreat.

Clang-!

A short spark flared from the place where the swords met. Sethian acknowledges the man in front of him. He doesn’t know when it’s daytime, but it was definitely difficult to deal with him in the thick darkness like now. The two men’s skills themselves were comparable, but because the other side was acquainted with darkness, the situation was bound to be unfavorable. If he relaxed for even a little, Sethian felt like his neck was going to be cut.

At that moment, the man stooped down and rolled silently, then stood behind Sethian’s back. Taking advantage of Sethian’s delayed response due to poor visibility, the man’s sword was about to slash at the nape of his neck.

In a fleeting moment.

“…!”

The man’s body suddenly floated in the air. Then he hung up straight under the thick branch of a tree in the dark. The man grabbed his own neck with one hand, and the other swung over his head and between the branches. Something invisible seemed to hang on the dagger, but that was it.

His neck, glimpsed in the moonlight, was wrapped in something like a thin black string, and as the man struggled, the deeper it dug. The man twisted violently to escape and spilled a lot of blood from the neck where the string had dug.

Shortly thereafter, the man’s neck was cut cleanly. The body, which was floating in the air, rolled on the floor, separated from its head.

Sethian lowered his sword and fixed his gaze on the tree on which the man was hung. Behind it, a man dressed in black just like the man he had just fought walked out.

Seeing the man up close, he thought it would be appropriate to call him a boy because of his size. He seems to have some fine muscle, but a skinny image will really suit him.

‘Is this Canael’s Guild Master?’

Sethian’s eyes shone conspicuously.

After learning that his siblings had hired Canael’s Deputy-Guild Master Pair, Sethian used the bandits guild to find out where Canael’s stronghold is and there he was able to meet a man who has formed a pair with the Guild Master. He was a strong man with a body bigger than Kirsty, and he said that Canael’s guild master was a person who would not appear except in front of his client or target. He thought that having certain skills would be enough, but he didn’t know that such a dwarf-like tiny man would be the guild master.

The sound of horseshoes was heard in the distance. He expected it to be Lenox’s party. The guild master’s partner is also where they are, so they must’ve also easily gotten rid of the opponent on that side. As such, the difference in skills between the first and second-in-command pairs was huge.

Sethian scanned the man’s body with his eyes. He was full of gaps in the surface as if he could be easily struck at any time. Except for the lack of presence, he looked nothing but an ordinary village boy. However, Sethian had no choice but to admit that he suddenly wound a string around a powerful person’s neck in the middle of battle without a trace and silently killed him.

As Lenox’s party got closer, the guild master turned and walked into the darkness.

“Report the rest as soon as it’s handled.”

The man who nodded slowly at Sethian’s words soon melted into the darkness and disappeared.

“Your Highness! Are you all right?!”

When Lenox came near, he saw the horse lying on the ground and shouted in surprise. As soon as he jumped off the horse, he lit the lamps one by one to check if Sethian was all right, and took a long breath after a while.

“Have you secured the contract?”

“Yes, the person who came to our side brought it.”

Recalling the giant man with a terrifying giant axe, Lenox held out the four parchments of papers he had given him. Sethian accepted it and confirmed the content. As expected, all four sheets are stamped with the seals of his siblings.

‘These will be a good excuse later.’

By nature, Canael’s assassins are bound to hide their contracts thoroughly. In particular, the pair that attacked him this time hid it so deeply that it took a long time for the Guild Master Pair to search for it. Even so, it did arrive on time.

Canael’s contract is a little unusual. It was only natural to delete the contract after completing the request and receiving the reward, but the problem was when it was being carried out. To protect the client, the contract must be kept secretly in a place only known to them and immersed in a certain reagent just in case. It depends on the amount of reagent, but if it is not taken out within a limited time, the contract will completely melt and disappear. In other words, it was a device to prevent the contract from remaining even if the request failed.

These four sheets of parchment, obtained before being oxidized by the reagent, were to be used very well when Sethian truly seeks the throne later.

It will turn the whole empire upside-down when they discover that the people with the right to inherit the throne worked together to submit a request in Canael, and the target of the assassination is ‘Sethian Wren Kinelly,’ the legitimate first heir to the throne. Even nobles cannot openly make a fuss about the constant assassination threats on him, but it will be a clear problem when the client and the target of the assassination are clear such as this.

‘They’re digging their own graves.’

Thanks to Yi-Gyeol, who shared the conversation of his siblings with him, he received quite good evidence.

With four sheets of parchment in his arms, Sethian jumped on the horse given by the other knight. He seized the reins at once.

“The rest of the work will be taken care of by those Canael guys, so head straight to the territory.”

“Yes!”

With Sethian in the lead, the knights tailed after him.