-Tailong’s Perspective-
ALL THIS LYING IN WAIT had taken its toll on my psyche. I was utterly sick of Master Liu’s foolish games.
I had only one mission: Death Poison—the legendary spell that could turn any liquid into an instantly lethal poison with a single touch. This poison left no trace in the body—perfect assassination magic.
“Master Liu, there are two people in Elshaid who can cast Death Poison. One is Nash Hoffman, the owner of a dessert parlor. The other is Jill Westoria…the younger sister of Saint Leia Westoria.”
“Ooh, that’s interesting.”
“Come, let’s abduct them and end this quickly. The longer we take, the more we risk them catching on to our true objective.”
But Master Liu just smiled playfully in reply. I’d always hated that smile. When he smiled, nothing intelligent would come out of his mouth.
“But kidnapping is so barbaric. I wanna go about this with some class. See, I’d love to bring Linny back home with me while we’re at it.”
“We can just force Princess Lingsha to marry Elshaid’s crown prince. Even if the negotiations take a sour turn, we can use the cover of the ensuing pandemonium to obtain the Death Poison. Master Liu…I highly recommend handling this swiftly.”
Master Liu had several of the best soldiers in his employ working as bodyguards. Kidnapping two people was child’s play. And yet, he had his men spy on them instead, never making a move to abduct them. He seemed particularly obsessed with bringing his little sister Lingsha home for some reason.
“I mean, it looks like separating Crown Prince Eric from Saint Leia is gonna be impossible, so wouldn’t Lingsha be happier if she was by my side when I become emperor? She might be happy here for now, since she has friends, but she’s a refugee. There’s no telling when danger will find her.”
“Understood, Master… What would you have me do, then?”
“Well, stand by, I guess? I wanna take a better look at things for a bit anyway.”
So I complied and stood by, only for that stupid man to suggest a farce of a duel later. I was impressed that Master Liu had gotten the crown prince to agree to our terms if he won, but he still had a policy of inaction regarding the Death Poison spell.
One month was more than enough time to prepare. Now that Master Liu’s death was imminent and my plan to obtain the Death Poison spell was complete, it was finally time for me to act!
I would abduct Nash Hoffman and Jill Westoria.
The wasteland I chose for the duel was equidistant to both of them. Once I received word of their capture, we would retreat.
I felt pity for you, Master Liu, but I had my own mission to accomplish. No matter what, you had to die. As you were next in line to the emperor’s throne, the prime minister had wanted to be rid of you for some time now.
He left the details of the grisly task up to me. First, I considered framing your death as a phoenix accident. Summoning magic was ultra-high level. One wrong move and the spell could blow up in your face. So I waited. Watching you like a hawk, I waited for a chance to strike.
I never dreamed that you would die before I had the chance to kill you, but now that I had control of your phoenix, I could always burn your body to cinders.
Of course, I could eliminate all those witnesses in attendance while I was at it.
“I owe you my gratitude, Johann Olbrun. Killing Master Liu was the one bothersome chore I had left on my to-do list.”
“Y-you wanted to kill him? Why?!”
“He was in the way! He could have just shut his mouth and followed orders—that would have made the lives of the prime minister and me so much easier! But that idiotic prince had to let his emotions take him on a fool’s errand!”
The prime minister hated Master Liu for not rolling over and following orders, precisely why he sent him on this mission.
“Was this the emperor’s bidding?!” Johann demanded. “To kill one of his potential successors?!”
“Ha ha! It wasn’t the emperor’s bidding. The prime minister wanted this done. You played your part well, Mr. Johann. You played right into the prime minister’s hand.”
Johann was clearly in a panic. I didn’t blame him; his chivalric spirit was used for our nefarious plot. He was mortified that the sanctity of honorable mortal combat was tarnished or some such nonsense. Elshaidians were so damn simple, it made me sick.
“Well, my men should bring along Jill and Nash any minute now. Once I have them, I’ll be on my way.”
I had accomplished my mission with flying colors. All that remained was to leave. I didn’t expect what happened next.
“Lord Tailong! We failed to capture the Death Poison spell!”
“Y-you what?! But our spies said they were lightly guarded!”
This was impossible.
We were the mighty Ren Empire. How could we fail to capture two people?
I knew they had guards, but only a handful. And my opponents only suspected we might be after the Death Poison, they didn’t know for certain.
Unless something changed? Perhaps one of their guards was particularly skilled—no, that would mean they were already on to our scheme.
Was one of these peons actually that smart?
“Sorry, Tailong, but nefarious conspiracies and sordid plots are run-of-the-mill for me. I knew you were after Nash and Jill. Your scheme was exacting in detail, but I’d say you made a careless mistake when you set the halfway point between your targets as the site of this duel. Not that it matters; I would have figured out your plan regardless.”
Crown Prince Eric looked at me like he saw straight through me. I hated to admit it, but I’d suffered an embarrassing defeat.
Damn it! Should I have not gone after Nash and Jill? No, even if they were wise to my plot, there was no way our esteemed soldiers could have lost to a handful of their guards!
“I knew your lot brought in the cream of the crop as your soldiers, but I still wasn’t quite sure of your aims. That’s why instead of sending a horde of guards and raising your suspicions, I sent one person to Nash and one to Jill—I knew they could guarantee their safety.”
“Guarantee their safety… Does such a bodyguard even exist?”
That was an absurd notion. And yet here I was, my plot foiled.
Where did I go wrong? This was just so far outside my calculations.
“Oh, they exist. One even served as my bodyguard… I’m talking about a saint.”
“A s-saint?! But your saint is standing right there!” I pointed at the lady beside Eric.
She was the saint of Elshaid. I’d heard that she had protected the crown prince from numerous assassins…but she’d been standing here the whole time. It was impossible for her to protect two people far away.
“Have you forgotten? Elshaid has three saints.”
That’s right! The number three was sacred to the Aegis faith. Therefore, there were three saints.
If I recalled correctly…there was one in the royal capital and two in the borderlands. Together, they protected Elshaid.
But he couldn’t have used the other two saints as bodyguards…
“I, Saint Leia, used my authority to request that the other two saints protect Jill and Mr. Nash. Eric couldn’t have done so, since your men were spying on him.”
I had indeed been distracted by the crown prince’s marriage and Johann’s duel. I had spies watch Leia as well, but when they told me she had done nothing suspicious during the past month, I called them off.
Every day, Saint Leia went about her duties. She did go to the church a lot, but that wasn’t suspicious.
That means that, when she went to the church all those times…
“Are you telling me you met with the other saints whenever you entered the church?”
“Exactly. The other two saints protect the citizens living in the south and north of Elshaid. It was a struggle to ask them to leave their posts, but this was a national crisis, so they helped of their own volition.”
It was perfectly natural for a saint to enter a church several times a month. And the other two saints had completely slipped my mind. I overlooked that they had openly stationed two very powerful bodyguards at the church.
But neither Johann nor Lingsha breathed a word of this. Did Leia do all of this in secret?
“Goodness!” Johann grunted. “The nerve of you, doing that without consulting me.”
Eric shrugged. “I wanted you to focus on your duel.”
Curses! I was right, Johann had received no orders from Eric whatsoever. The crown prince simply waited for me to blunder.
And like a fool, I’d walked straight into their trap. I never thought I’d taste such humiliation.
But it wasn’t over yet.
I could hide the contract and take Master Liu’s body back home. Then we could use the murder of our prince at the hands of an Elshaidian as a pretext for war. The vastly more powerful Ren Empire would never lose a war to Elshaid.
I could just sweep my little failure under a rug. This was my only way out. I panicked too soon. I still had an endless supply of firebirds.
“‘First, I’ll kill everyone here, then I’ll take my master’s body back home with me…’ Tailong, buddy, don’t tell me that’s what you’re thinking.”
I doubted my ears when I heard that voice, and when I looked to its source, I doubted my eyes.
How?! Didn’t Johann kill him?!
“Hey ho, Tailong the Traitor. What an amusing story. I especially liked the part where you thought you could kill me.”
Master Liu, covered in blood, stood up and smiled icily.
Curses…he didn’t die after all. That damn zombie.
Well, no matter. Killing everyone here was always part of the plan. I’d just have to kill him too.