Chapter 24
After her shower, Lian Qi, wrapped in a bath towel, picked up the teacup to drink. She glanced at Qifeng, who was passed out on the sofa, the Holy Light hammer still “barbelling” her chest.
Staring at how Qifeng’s chest sank in softly, Lian Qi looked away, embarrassed.
“So there really… isn’t any gap at all,” Lian Qi said, shamefully clutching the bath towel tighter at her chest.
“Ah, sorry Qifeng! I forgot about you!” I said apologetically.
As I thought, when Lian Qi and Qifeng are pinned by the same Holy Light hammer, the effect is different because of their bust sizes. Take Qifeng, for example; she was completely pinned by the hammer’s long handle.
“I was being neglect-pl…” she mumbled, biting the hair tie she used to tie up her hair, looking all delicate.
I quickly lifted the Holy Light hammer off Qifeng. She sat up and plucked at her collar, looking inside.
“It won’t leave a pressure mark, will it?”
“Hey, don’t unbutton your clothes in public…”
I feel like the Holy Light hammer, which was meant for whack-a-mole, has been completely corrupted…
Time moved to the next morning. Summoned by Queen Tristina, we once again came to the royal palace.
In the grand hall, not only was Great General Filess-jie present, but so was Lord Man, the target we had protected last night.
“These are the impeachment memorials from all the ministers. Do you have anything left to say?”
Tristina threw the stack of memorials in front of Lord Man.
Lord Man knelt before the throne, watching the countless pages of white paper flutter to the ground, a look of despair on his face.
“This subject is willing to contribute his family fortune… to disaster relief.”
He prostrated himself on the floor.
Eh? I had thought he would try to defend himself. After all, I’ve met people like Bishop Rodrigo who would deny things to their dying breath.
Tristina stared at him for a long moment, then said softly, “Go and hide in the prison for a while. That is the safest place for you. From now on… conduct yourself well.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing my life…” Lord Man kowtowed in thanks.
After that, the soldiers led him away.
Tristina sat on her throne and let out a sigh of relief.
“Fei’er, what did you think of how I handled that?”
“Mhm. I think he should be given a chance to atone for his mistakes.”
Even though she’s only been on the throne for half a year, I’ve noticed she’s becoming more and more like a Queen.
“Even if he has faults, I can’t just stand by and watch him be killed by the rebels’ assassins.”
“Your Majesty is truly wise. In truth, I was only using Lord Man as bait. But you, as the Queen of a nation, should rightly protect your own subjects,” Filess-jie said.
“Thank you, Fei’er, Transmigrator, and Qifeng, for helping me catch the assassin wreaking havoc in the royal capital,” Tristina said, turning to me.
“It was nothing,” I said with a smile.
“It’s too early to celebrate. The ‘Seven-Leaf Tree’ assassination organization has seven members. We’ve only caught one,” Filess-jie said.
“Um, General Filess, I heard your subordinates… one died and one was injured?”
“What—?”
I looked at Filess-jie in shock.
“Did it happen last night?”
“Yes,” Filess-jie said, her tone calm. “Last night, while protecting another target on the assassination list, they encountered the ‘Wielder of the Deathblade’ and were sacrificed.”
“Sacrificed…”
I felt how death was suddenly so close to me. We and Filess-jie’s subordinates had split into groups to protect four targets… and someone had lost their life because of it?
“The assassin who targeted Lord Man yesterday was a fourth-tier mage. Is their leader, the ‘Wielder of the Deathblade,’ very strong?” Lian Qi asked.
“She is very likely a mage at the peak of the fifth tier. I’d very much like to meet her myself, daring to kill my subordinate.”
Filess-jie adjusted her cap, her eyes filled with killing intent. It was terrifying…
“But she appears and disappears like a ghost; she’s too cunning. And I also have the responsibility of protecting Her Majesty the Queen.”
I understood my sister. After all, she couldn’t be in two places at once.
“Therefore, you all must also be on guard against her ‘Deathblade.’ Wounds inflicted by her Deathblade cannot heal, leading to death by bleeding out,” Filess-jie warned us with a solemn expression.
I couldn’t help but think of the Guard Captain’s corpse lying in a pool of blood. I’m not going to be able to sleep alone tonight…
“Listening to that… her ‘Deathblade’ sounds like Transmutation-school magic. That’s why it has such a special effect, right? It’s really the kind of Inherent Magic that suits an assassin…” I said.
“Yes. According to intelligence, the ‘Wielder of the Deathblade,’ Yelijia, is a Transmutation-school mage.”
A peak fifth-tier Transmutation mage… that sounds terrifying. Just what kind of malice must a person harbor to manifest such a weapon, one that makes wounds unhealable?
“If we don’t wipe out all the members of ‘Seven-Leaf Tree,’ the assassinations won’t stop, and Her Majesty the Queen won’t be able to rest easy. Now that we’ve captured one of their members, it’s highly likely they will retaliate even more fiercely, so you must be extra careful. And this… is the next target you need to protect.”
Filess-jie handed me a list as she spoke.
I looked at the little girl on the list with golden hair, red eyes, and fair skin. Eh? Isn’t this—?
“Do you know her?” Lian Qi asked me.
“She… should be Marquis Meryl’s daughter, right? Correct?” I looked at Tristina.
“That’s right. It’s Princess Liluo,” Tristina replied.
The last time I saw Liluo was three years ago. She should be seven years old by now… I couldn’t help but wonder, why would Liluo be on the assassination list?
…
“This time, the target we’re protecting can’t be whitewashed, can she?”
Lian Qi said, as we sat in the carriage heading to Marquis Meryl’s estate.
“The assassination organization says she’s a vampire. She lures large numbers of young girls to her mansion, bleeds them to death like animals in a slaughterhouse, and drinks their blood. It’s said that no one who enters her house ever comes out alive.”
That was the gist of what Lian Qi said. As a side note, Liluo’s father, Marquis Meryl, had already passed away, so Liluo had inherited his title.
“…I still believe in seeing for myself.”
I said in a small voice, still unable to connect Liluo with the word “vampire.”
“Doesn’t it say she likes to drink the blood of young girls? I feel like… the three of us going there is just like lambs walking into a tiger’s den,” Qifeng said, hugging my arm in fear.
I gave a weak laugh. Please don’t count me as one of those ‘young girls.’ I’m a boy, after all. Is this the first time in my life I’ve felt that being a boy has this kind of advantage?
To be despised by a vampire, just like I was by the unicorn… it’s just my luck.
“Fei’er, don’t worry. If she’s going to suck blood, just let her do it to me!” Qifeng said to me, her face red.
“That’s enough, you silly girl,” I pushed her away.
The carriage slowly made its way toward Liluo’s family manor.
“Looking from far away… there really are bats flying around. It’s so gloomy and terrifying,” Lian Qi said.
“Don’t say things like that!”
I glared at Lian Qi reproachfully. Her saying that made it really feel like we were lambs walking into a tiger’s den.