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"My original intention in bringing up Fuhlwine was simply to remind you of the current situation, but Derrick Redbat got us sidetracked."
"The assassination seems to be over? But you and I both know, it's far from over."
"Since Fuhlwine could orchestrate such a 'grand' assassination in Flowing Falls City, and even have people pre-positioned under the Bridgit Bridge in Flowing Falls City, going so far as to use the advantage of artisans for early arrangements..."
"It proves that someone in Flowing Falls City definitely doesn't welcome your arrival, and some have even already sided with the First Prince, providing him with conveniences."
Allen walked to the side of the bed, leaning slightly, his gaze raking across Ariel's and Derrick Redbat's faces.
"So now, the nobles outside are impatiently clamoring to see you. What do you do? How do you handle it? Go ashore and show yourselves? Will you encounter more assassinations after that? If by chance there are no more assassinations, how will you handle the rest of your visit to Flowing Falls City?"
"Do you concede defeat and retreat shamefully, or do you proceed with the itinerary as originally planned by the municipality?"
"Have you thought about it?"
Ariel couldn't smile anymore; her expression was frozen.
Derrick Redbat frowned, his expression extremely grim. After a moment, he spoke.
"Thanks to Mr. Allen, the assassination attempt has... settled. It's time to go out and demand accountability from Flowing Falls City's municipal officials. Assassinating the Princess is a capital crime..."
He paused for an instant, took a deep breath, and then changed tack.
"But the evidence has likely been erased. Any leads to convict will probably dead-end with the assassin; there'll be no way to confirm exactly who in Flowing Falls City participated in this assassination. If we broadly question these officials, it might push those nobles who were already inclined towards Princess Ariel into opposing her..."
Derrick Redbat looked up, meeting Allen's impassive gaze, a few beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Clearly, recruitment and pledging allegiance were often...
...two-way streets.
While you're vetting others, others are vetting you.
He gritted his teeth, finally speaking with difficulty.
"Princess Ariel's wings are not yet fully grown. It's not suitable to make enemies. If we frequently push noble factions away and rely entirely on public opinion to contend for the next king, failure is inevitable, so..."
The next moment, Ariel, whose face was somewhat pale and who had already understood everything before Derrick Redbat even woke up, spoke up, taking the lead.
"I'll explain... So, there are two choices: The first choice is to disregard whether the Flowing Falls City nobles were involved, trust the explanation given by Flowing Falls City unilaterally regarding the assassination, and quietly drop the matter. This way, we don't offend any nobles. Then, we continue with the scheduled visit to Flowing Falls City according to its established itinerary."
Allen scoffed.
"What if there's another assassination?"
Ariel hesitated for a moment. Since Allen had already discerned her intentions, she no longer concealed them and laid her cards on the table.
Once she understood this crucial point, she looked up, gazing directly at Allen.
"Therefore, before that, I need to recruit powerful individuals who can protect the safety of this journey to prevent subsequent assassinations."
Allen nodded.
"So you chose the first option, and all your actions until now were to implement that first choice."
Ariel lowered her eyes without speaking, while Isolte, Sylphy, and Rudy looked enlightened.
"And the second option?"
"If I can't recruit you, I won't disembark. I'll thank the people from the ship, and then, under the pretext of being injured, immediately return to the royal capital."
"This way, I can avoid offending nobles and also preserve my life. However, this trip to Flowing Falls City would likely have a counterproductive effect, gaining neither public support nor the opportunity to win over the Flowing Falls City nobility."
Allen smiled. He squatted down, looking directly into Ariel's eyes, which had lost their earlier confidence but still tried to meet his gaze.
"From the outcome, it's completely within the First Prince's and his strategists' anticipation. They made two preparations. If the assassination succeeded, you'd be dead. If it failed, given your current capabilities, you could only choose the second."
"With the design of this assassination plot, it was predetermined from the start that you would lose either way."
"In this situation, you, Ariel Anemoi Asura, so vulnerable in the royal capital, unaware of being manipulated, leading such a disgraced so-called Second Princess faction..."
"How can you expect me to frankly accept your recruitment?"
"On what grounds?"
Ariel, exposed by Allen so directly, gripped her skirt fiercely over her knees. Her eyelashes trembled, and she was about to pull up her skirt.
Allen had already stood up, slapping out a burst of battle aura with a smack!, sending it against the maid's corpse on the bed.
The skirt was flung up by Allen's battle aura, revealing the still-warm, full backside beneath.
"On this ground??"
Ariel glanced at the corpse, her face paling even further. Her hand immediately stopped its motion of lifting her skirt.
Her body trembled slightly with fear, and Derrick Redbat was speechless, utterly unable to retort.
Allen shook his head, ignoring Ariel, who was intensely pressured yet also "thrilled." He stood up, grabbed the corpse by the ankle, and lifted the entire body upside down.
The head dangled, and the remaining brain matter sloshed onto the floor.
This commotion drew the eyes of everyone present to Allen.
Derrick Redbat turned pale with fright. Ariel felt numb in her lower body and face, completely at a loss for what to do. She wasn't sure what Allen was trying to do, only staring at the corpse in a dazed and bewildered state.
Sylphy, Isolte, and Rudy, though confused, didn't show much distress. Instead, they watched Allen with keen interest.
They also didn't know what Allen was going to do.
But one thing was certain: Allen had said so much earlier, building up to this moment for so long.
Now, he was about to make a grand display.
Sure enough.
Allen carried the corpse to the window, turning to look at Ariel and Derrick Redbat.
"The current situation is indeed very difficult for you, so."
"I'll tentatively lend 'myself' to you for one day. The 'price' will be owed for now."
He stretched out his hand, suspending the corpse outside the window.
The third floor of the pleasure boat was high, fifteen to twenty meters above the deck. The guards and street patrol on the deck, the maids, and even the people on the opposite bank gasped in surprise, a clamor rising. Who knew if it was a corpse or a living person?
The next instant!
Allen released his hand. The corpse plunged, disappearing from the sight of those inside the room.
"Splat!"
A sound like a watermelon cracking echoed from below.
Screams from outside the window, starting faintly and growing louder, rose and fell.
They were carried by the wind and crashed into the third-floor cabin along with Allen's voice.
"The loan period begins now."
While everyone was stunned and hadn't reacted, he poked his head out the window.
And roared!
"There are still assassins!!"
As his words fell, the clamor of the crowd on both sides of the dock intensified.
Allen turned to look at the dock. Sure enough, the street patrol, with their heads down in front of the municipal officials, seemed to have been getting a lecture and completely ignored Allen's words. These people were extremely arrogant; even though Allen had butchered the assassins, it couldn't elicit any awe from them.
Scofflaws.
But now, the scofflaws all turned their heads in astonishment towards the boat, wondering what Allen was up to.
Allen stared directly at them from afar, his mouth moving incessantly.
"Sylphy, Isolte, Rudy, Derrick Redbat, don't move. Ariel, in three seconds, rush to the window and do what you need to do."
Just as question marks were about to appear above everyone's heads, Allen sharply kicked the third-floor window ledge, leaping out!
Only afterimages of his figure remained.
Immediately, a loud "Thump!" reverberated from the deck below the window!
Everyone wanted to rush to the window but stopped, remembering Allen's instruction, and looked at each other. Ariel, however, widened her eyes as if realizing something, and despite her somewhat unsteady steps, she staggered to the window.
Before she could lean out.
A furious, deafening roar came from below!
"Why are you unwilling to investigate the culprits?! Since you refuse to act, I will help you!! This is a clearly premeditated assassination! To all of you on the dock! You cannot escape responsibility for this!"
The nobles on the distant dock froze, then their faces changed dramatically, and they opened their mouths to angrily denounce Allen.
The cold gleam of a blade silenced all the curses on their lips.
In the nobles' eyes, as their anger turned to horror.
Allen turned and kicked down the remaining street patrol members, then immediately pulled a knife from one of their waists. He raised it above his head, the blade drawing a white streak as he swung his wrist. Allen grinned savagely, then, pushing off the bridge with both feet, he bounded up like a rabbit and hawk, leaping onto the bridge in a single fluid motion.
He landed, steadied himself, took a step, his foot suspended in mid-air.
The next instant, his figure vanished from its spot.
"Snap."
One step landed!
He was already standing beside the 'noble sirs' on the dock!
Ariel had already burst out the window. She quickly turned to look at the dock. At this moment, the cold glint of the blade in her eyes shimmered like fireflies along the trail of light created by Allen's raised sword!
It was especially dazzling under the morning sun!
And it suited Allen's savage grin perfectly.
He was the spitting image of a villain.
The noble sirs on the dock had never seen anyone who would draw a blade at the slightest disagreement. They immediately panicked. "Street Patrol!!!"
Then a hilarious scene unfolded: the seasoned street patrol, who had witnessed Allen's entire rampage, scattered like startled birds the moment the nobles' words fell, leaving their noble masters completely exposed!
They stood guard in front of themselves, perfectly aligned!
The nobles, who had moments ago been aloof and arrogant, now pushed and shoved, trying to retreat, but their legs gave way, and they stumbled to the ground in a tangled heap.
Allen, meanwhile, glanced at the street patrol who appeared to be "scared witless" but were actually many of them secretly enjoying the show, and let out a chuckle.
The wind from the blade swirled, and Allen swung his arm, ready to strike the nobles in front of him!
Just then!
"Allen Boreas Greyrat!!! Please stop!"
The blade flashed downwards! It traced an arc just above the nobles' heads, but Allen, with dangerous precision, shifted its direction. The fierce sword aura was flung into the water at the edge of the dock, "Clang!", kicking up a wave several meters high.
The impact was immense, the deterrence absolute.
The nobles' courage had shattered.
Ariel leaned out the window and shouted.
"I trust the officials of Flowing Falls City! I, as the Second Princess, vouch for them that the vast majority of them were certainly not involved in this assassination! You were inadvertently caught in this assassination, but there is a reason for it! Please do not act rashly!"
"Yes! It's a misunderstanding!"
"Don't be rash!"
"Princess's words are true!"
The nobles on the dock were already sprawled on the ground. They stared blankly at Allen's lowered blade, realizing that this man was truly capable of killing them.
And then, someone inside caught on.
"Wait, Bo... Boreas? Could it be..."
Allen looked at them expressionlessly.
"Royal Capital, Boreas Estate, third son, Allen Boreas Greyrat. We were caught in this inexplicable assassination."
"Flowing Falls City, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
As his voice fell, one of the nobles immediately broke down.
Give you an explanation? Who are you? James isn't even a high-ranking minister, and you expect an explanation? Do you really think you're hot stuff?
That's what they thought inwardly, but outwardly, their expressions were pleasant.
"So it's the young master of the Boreas family. One hour, just one hour! We will certainly give you an explanation!"
But two of these nobles' faces stiffened. They instinctively looked up and turned their gaze towards the towering bridge tower in the distance, beyond the canal, behind the Styrian Well.
Allen had been observing these nobles' expressions for a long time. Seeing this, he also turned his head to follow their gaze.
Beyond the distant horizon.
He saw a figure emerge from the window at the top of the bridge tower.
Even though the figure was blurry, Allen still immediately recognized it as James.
The two looked at each other from afar. With just one glance, their intersecting gazes parted.
James withdrew from the window and smiled at the butler beside him.
"Even at the very end, he has to tarnish the name of the Boreas family in the capital. That rebellious son still has the same personality after all these years; he truly can't stand to lose even a little."
The butler chuckled mockingly.
"Young Master Allen... that's just his nature, isn't it? Let's go, Master."
James nodded and hurried out the door.
The butler followed.
"How's the assassin group over there? Any stragglers?"
"Killed them all, along with the communication channels on the First Prince's side."
"Clean work?"
"Clean."
"What about those two municipal officials below?"
"The information was conveyed verbally; there's no evidence to confirm it. The message was passed through the assassin group, and the middleman died last night. Even if they talk too much, in others' eyes, it'll just be a clear attempt to frame others. All leads to the assassination incident end with them."
"Very good. Time to go. This isn't the royal capital. If he acts impulsively and comes to kill us, your safety and mine cannot be guaranteed. Although any rational person wouldn't do something like that in front of so many people, there's no telling if that rebellious son might risk losing his standing in Asura just to kill me and vent his anger."
"True, but I didn't expect him to be so perceptive. In just an instant, he deduced that you, Master, were likely personally watching from Flowing Falls City, and he could even determine our location from those two people's reactions."
"...Go."
The two ceased speaking. The butler grabbed James and, in a few leaps, they descended the spiral staircase.
Twenty seconds later, as the two hurriedly exited the base of the tower, they both turned to look at Allen's location.
Between them and Allen, several hundred meters away, the countless figures of the common people swayed and crowded together.
Allen hadn't come to kill them.
He had already turned and walked onto the bridge, and was now looking in their direction.
The morning sunlight fell upon the bridge.
In just twenty-odd seconds, he had taken another life.
One of the two municipal officials involved in the assassination had been caught by the hair and was suspended in front of him, swaying with the morning breeze.
If one disregarded the fact that he was headless, he truly resembled a puppet hanging beneath the bridge.
Allen, through the dense crowd of people, looked towards James's location from afar and smiled.
Then, with a flick of his hand, he threw the head towards James's position.
Of course, it didn't go that far, only smashing into the crowd about ten meters away, causing a flurry of gasps.
The butler watched this 'ridiculous' scene, visibly stunned, then broke into a helpless laugh.
"Is he... threatening you?"
James narrowed his eyes, gazing at Allen's figure.
"Mere childish bluster."
He turned and walked away.
His pace was extremely fast.
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