Escaping Alive (Sorry I overslept.)

Over an hour later, Lola and Vina drove the carriage into a sparse woodland. If they continued forward, they would reach the Tower House Stonefield, where a dwarven kingdom was located.

"This should be far enough, right?"

Looking at the completely unfamiliar surroundings, Vina asked Lola.

"Mm, the Queen previously told us to escape in the direction opposite the Corrupted Forest. We should be fine making it here. Now, let's walk back to the Corrupted Forest."

After speaking, Lola prepared to get off the carriage, but just then, Vina raised an awkward question.

"But the Queen and the others..."

Vina glanced at the lead carriage. The "others" referred to Serea and Celia.

"Should we go notify the Queen?"

"Ahem... let's wait a bit."

With that, Lola and Vina released all the elves from the prison carriage. The elves huddled together, looking around in confusion.

"Queen Lola, you saved us! Thank you so much!"

One elf shouted excitedly, overjoyed to have escaped human captivity. But Lola shook her head.

"No, I'm not the Queen anymore. Now, I'm just an ordinary maid of the elves. The real queen is—"

Lola pointed toward the carriage, but as she raised her hand, she appeared a bit embarrassed.

"Huh?"

"Ahem, anyway, our new queen will be out soon. Let's wait here, and then return to the Corrupted Forest together."

Lola spoke with a faint blush as though recalling something unpleasant.

Vina was the same, and together they waited outside the lead carriage.

But just as their conversation ended, the door to the lead carriage opened. Celia, wearing light knight armor, stepped out, followed closely by the unconscious Serea.

"Your Majesty!"

Seeing the red bruises on Serea's body, Lola grew concerned.

"It's alright. I've already treated her, and Serea is out of danger."

At that moment, Celia kept her head low, wishing she could bury it in her clothes out of embarrassment.

But the usually proud Celia shouldn't behave this way, so Lola and Vina curiously examined her.

They saw that her clothes were somewhat disheveled. Processing this, Lola and Vina took a while to react and came to their own (misguided) conclusions.

Celia said nothing, striding ahead of the group. She seemed unwilling to let anyone see her like this.

"Let's... let's go. If we wait any longer, the enemy might catch up."

Celia spoke, quickly walking with Serea on her back.

"Celia, ehehe... Celia..."

Even unconscious, Serea murmured softly. Hearing this, Celia's body tensed at once, and she failed to notice a stone underfoot, stepping right onto it.

Thud!

Unable to bear watching, Lola and Vina covered their eyes as Serea toppled onto Celia, sending them both to the ground.

"Damn it."

Celia cursed under her breath, propped herself up, hoisted Serea again, and pressed onward.

Hearing Serea softly calling her name by her ear, Celia blushed all over again. She had never suffered such humiliation, not even when serving as Serea's personal bodyguard.

"A-are you okay?"

Seeing Celia looking out of sorts, Lola asked with concern.

"It's fine. Let's head back now."

Though she said this, Celia was already at her limit physically. Carrying Serea, she was nearly out of strength.

Yet she kept walking ahead. Seeing this, Lola and Vina said no more, and together with the elves, followed Celia toward the Corrupted Forest.

Beneath the full moon above, Celia silently marked today's 'date' and today's 'grudge' in her heart...

......

Time rewound to over an hour ago, after Serea and her group escaped the town.

Little Black, however, was left behind—he needed to infiltrate the Terence family's estate and fulfill the mission Serea had entrusted him with.

But just as Little Black "infiltrated" through the main gate, another group was climbing over the back wall of the estate.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Six figures in cloaks landed and rolled to the rear of the grounds.

"Hm?"

A guard near the wall turned his head, having heard something. But seeing nothing, he scratched his head and chalked it up to his imagination.

Since the guard hadn't spotted them, the five men and one woman whispered among themselves.

"Remember, gathering evidence is our top priority, assassination comes second. Don't alert the guards unless you must—stick to the rules of our assassins' creed!"

"Understood, Captain!"

The five responded softly, sneaking towards the rear door. But before they could proceed, a piercing whistle sounded.

Oooo! Oooo!

An alarm! Enemy detected!

"Damn it, how were we discovered?!"

"No idea! We were sneaky as can be—nobody came in!"

"So where'd the whistle come from?"

"Uh... could it be someone else?"

The female assassin voiced what she suspected. At the main gate, Little Black looked down at the still-warm corpse in his grasp, slightly annoyed by the whistle's interruption.

"Kill the target without being discovered. Only the result matters—the process is irrelevant. Master, your words are etched in my heart!"

Little Black murmured softly, and seeing six guards converge, he activated Phantom Veil and entered stealth right before their eyes.

Thud!

A body fell. As the guards saw their comrade die and the black figure vanish, they were all stunned.

Splurt, splurt, splurt!

Blood erupted in three bursts. Little Black appeared behind the six guards, and before they could react, only three of them were left standing.

"It was—"

Before the words were out, the bone blade in Little Black's hand defied the laws of physics, slashing in the reverse direction.

Blade Rend!

Splurt, splurt, splurt!

The remaining three fell too. Thus, the first wave of guards was wiped out. Just then, seven or eight more rushed to the scene, and seeing Little Black standing atop a pile of corpses, they readied themselves for battle.

"Who are you to dare—"

Splurt!

An arm blade stabbed forward, Little Black's bone blade piercing the man's gut.

"No one will ever discover this!"

Then Little Black began his slaughter.

These noble guards were all below level ten. As long as they didn't have overwhelming numbers, Little Black could act as he pleased.

What's more, to protect the magic mithril, the Terence family had sent most of their elite guards to guard the warehouse, leaving very few at the estate proper.

They posed no threat to Little Black!

With Serea's orders no longer holding him back, Little Black switched to full 'assassin mode'.

No one would ever discover him.

(To be continued...)

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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