My heart pounded at the presence of enemies.
I remembered two guardian soldiers standing outside the temple entrance. But I heard that they wouldn’t enter. Why not? Could the assassination attempt have been discovered?
I was drenched in sweat, but the demons’ actions showed no panic. I swallowed, straining to listen to the guards. Then I heard a sound like the ground being swept.
The shadow stretching out from the doorway held a staff and made slow sweeping motions. And the soldier in front of him seemed to be kneeling, visibly picking up trash.
I almost let out a breath, but held it back in desperation.
It seemed that the Demon Lord’s army guards occasionally came in to clean up a bit. With the Demon Lord locked inside the temple, I guess they couldn’t enter or clean. But with the Demon Lord out, it would be a problem to leave trash scattered around. The elite guards’ cleaning was ridiculous, but since the Demon Lord’s death hadn’t leaked out, it was something to be happy about.
The sweeping sounds soon stopped, and the footsteps gradually faded. It looks like they were just sweeping near the entrance.
Somehow we had survived. I let out a sigh of relief, but for some reason, Prince Henry and Princess Lu drew their blades and exchanged a slight nod.
Wait a moment.
As much as I wanted to stop them, it was too late. The two of them lunged out and attacked the cleaning soldiers.
They were elite soldiers who guarded the Demon Lord. Although they were undoubtedly not weak, they must have let their guard down, not expecting an enemy ambush here. And Prince Henry and Princess Lu’s swordsmanship was incomparable, killing the two soldiers instantly and silently with a graceful technique.
“Why! Why kill them!”
I couldn’t help but rebuke them.
“What? Killing them makes no difference, does it?”
Princess Lu looked at me incredulously as she flicked the blood from her blade. Prince Henry also frowned at my rebuke. But they were the ones who didn’t understand.
The guards hadn’t noticed our presence. After all, we had already successfully held out and could use Ekaterina’s invisibility magic if necessary. Why kill her?
The other soldiers would quickly notice the absent guards at the entrance. Once a search began, the bodies of the guards would soon be discovered. Realizing that there were infiltrators, their first priority would be to confirm the Demon Lord’s safety. The Demon Lord’s death would then be revealed, and a dragnet would be set up to catch the assassins.
Why didn’t they understand that?
While Prince Henry was the same, especially Princess Lu always wanted to solve problems immediately with her blade. Slaying the enemies first, then thinking about it after defeating them.
On a battlefield where split-second judgment was required, this might be a talent. But right now, such thinking had caused a big problem.
But it was too late for regrets. We had to leave immediately.
“Ekaterina , now.”
I wanted to ask Ekaterina to cast the invisibility of the colorless magic. But before I could finish speaking, chirping voices came from outside the temple.
I rushed to the entrance, craning my neck to look down, carefully avoiding being spotted below.
At the base of the temple, over a dozen soldiers with reptilian faces rushed out of the checkpoint. The dozen or so soldiers huddled together and quickly climbed the stairs. They had clearly sensed an anomaly.
Too fast, much too fast. Maybe there was a mechanism to immediately report anomalies to their comrades.
It was too late for regrets. The dozen or so Guardians took the long stairs in one go, charging up at a run.
“Leave it to me!”
The mage Ekaterina stepped forward and grabbed her wand. Spheres of light were generated from the wand, unleashing an intense radiance.
Please don’t use an explosive spell!
I wanted to stop her, but it was too late, the wish was drowned in the roar of the explosion.
Known as the Wise Woman of the Forest of No Return, Ekaterina possessed tremendous magical power, capable of powerful spells. The explosion was tremendous, blowing away the dozen or so soldiers climbing the stairs in one fell swoop. And the thunderous boom must have reached as far as the horizon.
“Effortless~♪”
Ekaterina waved her wand as if dancing.
“Never mind that, hurry up and cast Colorless Magic!”
I begged her desperately.
“But why?”
“What do you mean why, look at this!”
I pointed to the puzzled Ekaterina outside the temple. Looking down, I could see hundreds of guardian soldiers approaching. They had come running when they heard the explosion.
Ekaterina had learned some magic, and her magic power was impressive. But since she had no real combat experience and was hiding in the forest, she often chose the wrong spells.
Making such loud noises would attract not only the guards, but all the soldiers in the area, that should have been obvious with a little thought, so why hadn’t she considered it?
“Our presence is exposed, it can’t be helped. I’ll kill the enemies. Come on, demons! The one who defeated the Demon Lord will be your opponent.”
Prince Henry took off his cloak and stood at the temple entrance. He raised his longsword, the green jewel adorning his shining armor reflecting the sunlight.
Though he looked holy as a hero of myth, we had secretly infiltrated and assassinated him, what were we going to do to attract such attention?
Besides, if we didn’t show ourselves, leaving the possibility for demons who opposed the Demon Lord to assassinate him, the fact that humans were the killers would still be exposed.
“Prince! Hide quickly!”
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I immediately covered Prince Henry’s back with the coat, trying to hide him as much as possible, but it was probably too late. I immediately instructed Ekaterina .
“Hurry and use colorless magic! Prince! Escape now!”
We dragged the prince, who still wanted to fight, away by force and fled from there.
Although the demon army was persistent in its pursuit, we somehow survived by the skin of our teeth and took refuge in a safe house provided by collaborators.
“Use your colorless magic quickly, Prince! Escape now!”
We dragged the prince, who still wanted to fight, out of there.
Although the demons persistently pursued us, we managed to escape by the skin of our teeth and took refuge in the hideout provided by our collaborator.
However, this hideout was far from comfortable.
For one thing, it was cramped and dark. With five people and luggage crammed in, there was no room to lie down properly. Even though Ekaterina used magic to create a small sphere of light, it couldn’t be too bright, lest it spill out. Besides, this hiding place was dug under the cattle shed, so it was full of the stench of feces and urine.
“Why are they so slow! Too slow!” Prince Henry complained anxiously.
According to the agreement with the collaborator, they would come to the hiding place at dusk.
I reached into my breast and pulled out my pocket watch to check the time.
It was an expensive artifact made by a craftsman. It had belonged to my father and was given to me on my birthday after much pleading. During the three years of this journey, the watch was covered with scratches and stains, but it could still tell the time accurately.
“Prince, it’s not dark yet. There’s still some time before the appointed time,” I reassured the prince. I suppose we should just wait patiently now.
But the wait seemed long in this terrible environment. Impatience permeated the air with every exhalation.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded from above, instantly freezing the air.
Prince Henry and Princess Lu stood up and drew their swords. Ekaterina also held her wand ready, while I put my hand on my staff. It was dangerous to use magic in such close quarters.
The footsteps stopped directly above us, stamping twice, once, then three times. It was the secret signal of the collaborator. After the signal, the wooden planks above were slowly removed. Through the cracks we saw the faces of a beautiful black-haired woman and a little girl.
“Ms. Michelle, Sela,” I breathed a sigh of relief and called out their names as I set up the ladder to greet them.
“Big sister! Catch me!”
Little Sela jumped down without using the ladder. I quickly reached out to catch her. What a naughty child, though I’m not one to talk.
“Really, Sela. I’m sorry, Lady Romelia,” Michelle scolded her daughter, then apologized to me, but I didn’t mind at all.
“No, we’re deeply indebted to you and Michelle for all your help. I should be the one to apologize,” I said.
They came from a land destroyed by the Demon King’s army and were taken as slaves to the Demon Continent. They were also our collaborators.
When we first infiltrated the Demon Continent, we had no intelligence at all.
We didn’t even know the name of the continent, let alone what the Demon King looked like or where he was.
Gathering information on the spot was a reckless plan, even for me. But it was the only way, so we had no choice. What supported this reckless plan were the people who were brought here as slaves.
They provided us with hiding places, shared food with us. Most importantly, they gathered information about the Demon King for us. The maps of the temples and the Demon King’s route were given to us by them.
Without their help, we would not have been able to defeat the Demon King.
“I’m sorry for being late. It’s not much, but I brought these.”
Michelle handed me a bag of bread and water-filled canteens.
We were hungry and parched. Everyone jumped on the bread and drank water to quench their thirst.
Seeing the prince and others devouring the bread, Sela swallowed her words and remained silent.
“I’m not that hungry. Let’s share half, Sela,” I said, even though I was starving too. Nevertheless, I broke the bread in half and gave it to Sela.
Sela was delighted. Michelle apologized again, but the food was meant for the two of them. I ate slowly.
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