“Hah!” Frank lunged, taking the first strike. The tip of his gray spear shot for the princess, yet she dodged it smoothly.
“Good, good,” Rila said. “An admirable opening maneuver… And Almelia made certain not to create an opening as she evaded.”
Frank looked quite surprised. It seemed he hadn’t expected Almelia to dodge so expertly. The princess had a superior eye for combat than before she began her recent training. She carried herself better, too.
Even I believed that.
“So that exercise of her trying to catch and attack you while avoiding being flicked on the forehead…”
“Going up against an assassin means the conventional strength she’s relied on in the past won’t be of much use. I’ve taught Almelia that she must rely on her perception and be mindful of the patterns an assassin might use to approach her rather than her mere physical might.”
Our training had undoubtedly helped Almelia feel like Frank’s spear was moving slower than it was.
“She avoided the blow with the bare minimum of movement, creating the perfect opportunity for a counterattack,” Rila noted.
“Almelia prided herself in being the most powerful person in the world when dealing with large-scale battles, but she was never any good with little details like this,” I answered.
“I am impressed she’s grown so much in a mere week.”
“It’s all the result of her own talents and hard work.”
“What are you saying? You are her teacher, and she is your pupil.”
Teacher and pupil, eh?
“Roland! What did you teach Her Highness?! I haven’t been able to hit her at all!”
“Sir, you can strike with everything you have,” Almelia said.
“Damn it! I already am!”
The princess was devoting herself entirely to evasive and defensive maneuvers. She would need to survive three minutes if attacked by an assassin. I’d stressed that point to Almelia.
Once Frank began to slow, Almelia struck him in the stomach with her sheath.
“Guhf!”
“I won! Without even using my skill!”
Frank collapsed onto his back.
“You no longer resort to brute force… You’re actually capable of shrewd tactics…”
“Ha-ha-ha. I’ve really improved! Tell me who I am! Come on, say it.”
“Damn it. Now you’re getting on my nerves… You’re the hero, all right,” Frank conceded.
“A single victory has made her a braggart, it seems,” Rila commented.
“It’s a bad habit of hers,” I replied.
A common error when facing an assassin was focusing too much on offense. However, if you abandoned attacking and concentrated on your defense, you bought yourself enough time for help to arrive or to look for an opening yourself. We only needed Almelia to survive to win.
“…”
I’d planned my tactics around making sure we could defeat Amy, no matter what methods we needed to use.
Rila looked up at me, worry plain on her face. “I wish we were in bed now and I had you clasped in my arms… If that is what you desire, then I wouldn’t be unwilling.”
That was a funny way of putting it when she was the one asking me.
“Oh, we’re going to be late for dinner! How long are you going to lie there, Frank? Hurry up!”
“All right, enough. Don’t rush me. I’m an old man.” Frank groaned as he stood, then joined Rila and me in following Almelia, who was already on her way.
Since Almelia had been invited to dinner, I’d also requested to join. Leyte was kind enough to allow the guards to come as well, so the meal was lively.
At my feet, Rila lapped at some wine.
Maylee made a racket as Leyte chided her. Almelia displayed an elegance she kept reserved for these types of events, and Frank was as polite as he could be.
“Rila, what would you do?” I asked.
“…Me?”
I’d been mulling over something during the meal and decided to ask for some thoughts.
“I believe you said that she would not harm Maylee or anyone else so long as they do not interfere with her work,” Rila said.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“To put it another way, those who impede her will know no mercy. In which case, I would personally focus on isolation.”
“You mean the target?”
“No, you—the only threat she presently perceives. You are preventing the target from ever being alone.”
Me?
The idea had occurred to me, of course. It was plausible, but did Amy genuinely view me as a threat?
“Do not allow strange ideas into your head,” Rila warned.
“Strange ideas?”
“…” Rila stared at me without uttering a single word before returning to her drink.
Once she was done, she trotted under the table to Roje’s feet and hopped into the elf’s lap. Roje chatted with Rila as though babying a real cat.
The meal continued and concluded leisurely, and I left Shadows to watch Almelia while I departed from the castle. There was a chance I could gather more information if I used the underground guild.
I tried looking for Moyes at the underground guild, but he wasn’t around.
“Haven’t seen him lately,” an ugly man who seemed to be a coworker explained when I asked.
Information traded hands here often, meaning employees could easily come into danger. An absent staffer was probably a common occurrence.
“If you want to see him…” The man told me where Moyes lived.
“Are you allowed to reveal that?” I questioned.
“He said to tell you if you ever came lookin’ for him.”
I thanked the man and went on my way.
“…”
If Amy intended to target me while I was alone as Rila had suggested, this was the perfect time. I hadn’t acted alone much until now. I thought I’d worked hard not to appear as a threat or an obstruction, though…
Moyes had told his coworkers to tell me where he lived, then disappeared. It was almost like he’d planned this absence, even going so far as to leave a way for me to reach him.
There was a high likelihood that this was a trap to lure me out.
“So she’s determined that I’m preventing her target from ever being alone—”
She’d concluded that Slade—Roland—stood in the way of her reaching Almelia.
I couldn’t tell how well connected she was with Bardenhawk’s criminal element, but it seemed possible she employed the same underground guild information network I did.
That meant that Moyes was her source…
It seemed he’d sold me out. That sort of thing happened fairly regularly. I shrugged slightly, feeling something I hadn’t in a while.
If I were focused on defense, I would return to Almelia and cower, fearfully waiting for the assailant.
However, it was obvious that I needed to confront Amy at some point. Doing so when she was after me, not the princess, was best.
I’d turn the tables and bring her down.
With the castle at my back, I headed off to a house on the city’s outskirts.