novel
| ← Ch.044 | Ch.046 → |
"This necklace, "
Oliver unchained a necklace on his neck.
It was a necklace that had no decorating jewels at all.
"When I was ordered to serve the crown prince on the first day, the queen highness gifted it to me. She said it has special magic on it so that it will replenish my mind clearly."
A magical necklace?
Ian looked at the necklace carefully.
There was nothing special about it.
"When I put on it, it does have some power indeed."
And now Oliver said it does work.
Then what she said must be true.
Oliver was also a knight, with a mana heart.
'Ah, maybe then, '
An old memory struck Ian's head.
The lost royal treasure artifact which was never, of which the queen was the last owner of.
And it was said to be a necklace.
'It can't be. '
It was very likely to be it.
In his former life, Oliver's body was split into pieces.
As numerous high-class spells struck him.
The necklace was very likely to be burnt together with Oliver.
"I will give it to you as payment. I am sure this will work much better on you, rather than me. Mages rely on their head, but swordsmen rely on their instinct, don't they?"
And that's why he needed to duel with Ian many times.
An instinct that needed to be awakened against mages.
His body didn't have such an instinct yet.
"But isn't it the necklace left by the deceased queen?"
"She gave it to me so that I can protect the crown prince highness better. And I want to duel with you to keep her last words. So I think the queen Her Highness will understand my decision."
Oliver was determined.
To Ian, it was not a bad trade.
Mages always had to ready their brain at best.
Those level of high-class artifacts might be quite useful to him.
"Fine, that's a deal."
Gently, Ian received the necklace.
As he injected a bit of mana, it started to oscillate.
A unique reaction that could be only observed by an artifact with high-class magical formulae.
All of sudden,
*BANG!*
A sudden explosion was heard from outside of the royal palace.
A dark smoke was rising.
And that didn't end.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The continuous explosion occurred in order.
It wasn't explosions that were massive enough to shake the ground.
However, it threatened the whole royal palace from outside and inside.
Most of all,
Baaaang!
A similar explosion occurred from inside of the ballroom.
At cornered site, a small fire was burning.
Fortunately, there were no one injured severely.
"Your highness!"
Oliver rushed to the crown prince.
Ian also brought his mother's arm and stood next to the crown prince.
With the princess who was with Vanessa.
"Mana barrier."
Ian generated shields on to the crown prince, his mother, and princess.
Without hesitance, Ian asked princess.
"Do you know how to inject mana to the barrier?"
"....... . What?"
Ian's question contained many meanings.
Embarrassed, Princess Hyree's eyes shook.
It was a secret that she was training with magic.
But how does the youngest archmage know it?
"Calm down, just answer my question."
"I, I did learn.... ."
"Inject a little amount of mana. It will remain for a while."
After ordering, Ian looked away.
It was such an urgent situation that Hyree couldn't ask further.
She decided to focus on the barrier.
"It's too small an area. Shouldn't we leave the room?"
Oliver asked with an urgent voice.
They needed a wider space to defend against further attacks.
Ian had thought in the same way
A few seconds ago.
'Something is not right. '
Precisely, It was too unprepared.
Chain explosions occurred from the outside of the royal palace.
It must've been planted previously.
'What is the purpose?'
As the explosions were from the inside of the palace, so there must be a spy.
It must have been prepared a while ago.
However, It was too weak.
Ian couldn't find any particular benefit of the explosions.
It wasn't huge enough to destroy the royal palace.
Rather, it was not even strong enough to destroy a single castle wall.
Also, it seemed the explosion didn't aim for killing people.
"Your Highness! Are you okay? Your Highness!"
After they had heard the explosions, the 2nd royal knight order arrived quickly.
As they were trained, they made a wide formation.
A formation to protect the crown prince firmly.
"Captain, any injuries?"
"I am fine. what's situation out there?"
"We activated emergency communication orb."
The emergency communication orb of the royal palace.
It was connected with the headquarters of the Knights order, The Imperial Barracks, and to the Ivory Tower.
An emergency call to assemble most of the forces to the royal palace.
An emergency operation was just activated.
'Emergency communication orb?'
Most of the forces were coming to the Royal Palace.
What if this explosion was aiming for this?
What if it wasn't unprepared, but their best?
'Perhaps. '
Ian approached the corner of the ballroom.
There were maids who were shaking body while laying down.
"Turn up your heads, please."
"S, sir! W, we don't know any......"
"You just need to answer my question."
With his saying, maids raised their head slowly.
All of their faces were frightened.
"A maid of the separated palace, Isabel. have you heard of her name?"
All of sudden, why did he ask her name?
A maid who looked afraid opened her mouth.
"Y, yes I know."
"Did she come to the ballroom?"
"Yes? Ah, yes! She said she wanted to visit and experience it, so she swapped with my friend who was supposed to come......"
The maids of the crown prince palace were expected to be here today, and Isabel switched her position with one of them, with the excuse that she wanted to see how the ball goes.
'Coldwalker. '
The maid of the separated palace, the future chief maid of the separated palace, Isabel.
She was one of the Coldwood Empire spies, A Coldwalker.
Ian had mentioned her during combat between Cecelia.
Isabel must be the one who planted the bomb in the ballroom.
'It's a deceiving movement. '
A faint motion that was prepared by spies for a long time.
Fortunately, there was the announcement of the Fashionable Society, so they found the proper time to act.
A terrorist act, that happened while most of the high nobles were gathered at a single place.
It was good enough to confuse them and blind their enemies' eyes.
So they operated the emergency call.
Like now.
'Their real purpose must be to rescue Cecelia. '
When the Ivory Tower lost its guards, they would infiltrate.
Rescue her? No, it wouldn't be possible.
Even a Coldwalker wouldn't able to rescue her.
For a brief moment, they would try to contact her.
And after they took the information from Cecelia,
'They will eradicate her. '
It was a natural process to erase the trail.
The death of Cecelia wouldn't be a problem at all.
However, information related Ian, such as that the boy called Ian Page knew the existence of coldwalker and knew most of their lists.
Ian had to stop that.
| ← Ch. 044 | Ch. 046 → |