Chapter 125: Assassination
As the Memory Worm crawled close to the noble, who was smirking while looking at Wafta—who died with eyes open, tears streaming down from the pain. On Wafta's face, a light purple color appeared; because it was dark, the noble also did not clearly see it.
But suddenly, while the Memory Worm was crawling on the ground, a purple color appeared clearly on its body; it stopped and became motionless.
The noble frowned in confusion, looking down. He sat down and picked up the Memory Worm, observing it intently.
"Huh? What's wrong with it?"
He saw a bit of purple in the dark; his hand created a small green energy ball and brought it close. He saw the worm's body had turned purple at some point.
"Purple? Has this worm ever been like this? I have never used it, so I don't know."
Suddenly, he heard many noises outside, making him frown, not understanding what was so noisy outside.
Then from behind, he clearly felt the energy of many people; light from behind cast his shadow onto the wall and Wafta's cooling body.
He broke into a cold sweat because he felt a familiar energy; a fear enveloped his mind.
Behind was Isek, also a vice-captain of the Tharros city army. His face was solemn as he looked down, eyes sharp like a hawk. Though young, he exuded a cool demeanor. At only 18 years old but sitting in this position, he was truly very capable. A tall stature, red hair covering a scar on his forehead from battles. His eyes did not waver as they glanced over Wafta's corpse lying on the ground bound by iron chains, then glanced at the noble sitting nearby who turned to look at him with fearful eyes.
Walking beside was Selena with anger. She pointed her hand straight at the noble and shouted as if passing a death sentence:
"Karenrt, you plotted to rebel against Tharros and wanted to take information away; today your fate is sealed, don't dream of denying it."
Isek drew the sword at his hip quickly, the friction sound ear-piercing. He rushed forward, ignoring the door. He cut right through the iron bars of the prison and lunged in.
Karenrt stood up in panic and yelled:
"I hold in my hands all the blacksmiths of this city; you dare to arrest me?"
Just as he finished the sentence, Isek rushed up and kicked Karenrt straight in the stomach, making his body smash hard into the wall, letting out a cry of pain. Although he knew how to use energy, it was only a little, and he had no combat skills; thus, receiving a kick from Isek made him unable to react and he fainted immediately.
Selena spoke, ordering the soldiers behind:
"Take him away for me." Having said that, she turned to leave, her expression extremely serious.
She guessed there would surely be a few others who betrayed but hadn't been found yet. This time, this man must be killed to set an example for others, although it might cause some major consequences. But with solid evidence, she used the truth, so how could anyone dare to object? If they objected, it could be protection; they would not be that stupid.
She immediately ordered the two soldiers beside:
"Order the seizure and search of all Karenrt's assets for me. Anyone who obstructs, use strong measures immediately."
The two soldiers then received the order and went ahead.
"Clear."
The situation was very serious; the deadline for the battle to occur was approaching. If the "worms that ruin the soup" were not removed at this time, there would surely be great disaster later.
Engrossed in wandering thoughts, she did not notice Isek was already walking right beside her quickly; she walked very fast.
When walking out the gate of the noble's wealthy residence. The sound of a woman on the other side of the house—Karenrt's wife—was wailing and trying to stop the soldiers from taking things from the house and ransacking everywhere.
She knew that currently, having more money from his house would provide a large amount of human resources, so she didn't care.
Suddenly, a soldier ran up and bowed low, his voice urgent:
"Young lady, it's not good. To the west and south of the city, a group of strangers was found trying to sneak into the city but was discovered. Currently, Lord Soma and Hastk are confronting and stopping them."
Selena was startled, shock clearly showing on her face. Her mind thought that at this time, with the battle about to occur, that Varlen wanted to cause trouble from within to make the people's hearts panic.
She gritted her teeth in anger, immediately ordering:
"Order all soldiers to defend at the highest level."
"Remind the mercenary team to always be in a state of readiness for me."
Selena gritted her teeth, thinking unpleasantly, her head like a mess.
If looking clearly at the present, though Cavensyl was the city lord, there was no command; mostly his daughter commanded—not clear if due to trust or incompetence, but it showed the ruler, though not dictatorial, was not proactive and lacked thought.
She had spent effort arranging very carefully; all the important people she had met and discussed with—they were all placed with a layer of poison membrane surrounding the brain. This poison membrane was not overly harmful, but for a weak creature like the Memory Worm, it was different; when it crawled into the brain, it was also when it was poisoned. This thing was very effective in countering the Memory Worm; after being put into the head, after ten days, the toxin membrane would dissipate.
It sounded good, but actually, it wasn't very effective. When the Memory Worm ate into the head, it was also the moment of certain death, considered sacrificing one life to get a clue, after which it would report back to its owner. Such a power—of an Elemental—how could a young lady of a small viscount have it?
It was a power of a very professional poison user. He had researched and manufactured many things, and among them was the thing Selena used. After he died, he also left the way to create it, so those with the ability to use poison mostly knew how to use it; therefore, it was not rare, but not easy to find either.
He was Whydla, a person quite famous for using poison. But in the world of the strong, he wasn't even a shrimp.
…
Selena's voice was a bit different; it seemed she was mentally exhausted; she needed to rest to calm down:
"Isek, go help them, don't worry about me."
Isek looked at Selena's figure as she turned to leave. He also realized Selena was a bit different and guessed she was ill.
He himself had been saved by this Ravencourt family since he was small, raised and matured together with Selena, making him, one could say, a close friend; and a close friend must understand at least half of how Selena was.
Clenching the sword tucked at his hip, he determined he would end this to make Selena no longer have such an exhausted state.
…
On Cavensyl's side, he was sitting in the room and checking the books for the current war situation.
Suddenly a servant entered, a young girl. Carrying in her hand a large tray, on top was a fresh, hot pot of tea just brewed.
Bowing cautiously and respectfully.
"My lord, your tea is here."
Cavensyl glanced and nodded.
"Put it on the table."
The servant stepped near the table. Suddenly, she tripped on the rug on the floor; her body just like that lunged forward.
Cavensyl was surprised when the maid fell. She was walking to the table and would have placed the tea on the table beside Cavensyl, but unexpectedly fell; the body fell, but not toward the desk—she fell while walking roughly level with the desk.
Leng keng…
Suddenly, the teapot fell onto the edge of the window and broke; the maid fell hard onto the floor.
Cavensyl looked on, his face changing color; he hurriedly shouted, while simultaneously grabbing the sword beside him and drawing it in haste:
"Soldiers? There is an assassination."
At the edge of the window, where the tea water was continuously bubbling black foam, the flower placed in the pot there, when hit by the tea water, suddenly turned purple and withered.
Soldiers rushed straight inside.
Cavensyl was placing his sword on the neck of the maid, who was trembling with tears, his body emitting much energy wanting to prepare for more surprise attacks.
He shouted at the trembling maid:
"Speak quickly, who hired you to kill me?"
The maid trembled, hugging her own body, shaking her head violently, making her image blur because of the fast shaking.
"I-I... don't know... please spare my life..."
The maid hurriedly knelt down, crying and begging:
"Please, lord... I only carried tea, I didn't know about such things, please spare my life."
She knew the city's current situation; if such a thing happened, there would be little good and much bad.
Guards led the maid outside as her two hands were pulled back and twisted hard, making her grit her teeth in pain.
Cavensyl slumped down into the chair, having just escaped and kept his life. He breathed hard from fear, glancing over at the tea water remaining on the window edge.
"Almost died; no matter what, it's truly too dangerous. I am in my own house like this and it still happens; then it will be very dangerous if I go outside."
"In a bit, I must investigate how the kitchen team is. Surely there is someone inside my house being a spy or an assassin."
"Currently, I must find the true identity of those lurking in here. If during battle I am stabbed in the back, it is truly too dangerous; how can I focus on controlling the army?"
He gritted his teeth in anger; he remembered Varlen's face, making him even angrier.
"I didn't expect him to dare hire someone to kill me. Truly a lowly trick."
The sound of teeth grinding could be heard clearly. It seemed he also had intentions to hire someone to kill Varlen. In his heart, he thought: if they dared to play foul, then he would also play just like Varlen.
Although assassinating each other was not forbidden, it was usually not used. This also made him truly have a heart-thumping moment, and he only hoped that tomorrow would be safe.
Currently, he only needed to win; just be the winning side. All deeds, even foul play, would be erased; as long as the people were safe, it was still fine. No one would care about anything; therefore, disputes were frequent.