Chapter 9
The royal procession consisted of elite royal soldiers and high-ranking magicians who would escort the prince and princess throughout the parade. The servants would stay in the palace to prepare for the banquet, and one of them would be sent to secretly protect the prince and princess. In order to prevent the two royals from being attacked, safety measures were taken.
Harumasa hid in the shadows, silently observing the surroundings from afar with his bow in hand. He took on the role of keeping safe from afar and would notify Lycaon using remote communication magic so that Lycaon could quickly deal with the enemy without disturbing the common people who were enjoying this grand ceremony.
"West, second floor of the tavern."
"Southeast, behind the apple tree."
"Direction..."
Harumasa continuously read out the location of the assassin to Lycaon and Rina. He didn't need to specify who would go where, the two of them understood each other and went to the most convenient place to kill the enemy. The three of them coordinated with each other rhythmically, tightly, and without any mistakes. If any enemy was too far away from Lycaon and Rina, Harumasa would personally kill them with his bow and arrow. No matter how far away, his arrow would chase them until they were killed.
The parade took a long time, and it was past noon when the parade returned to the palace. Both Wise and Belle also ate something before the official banquet began to fill their stomachs, avoiding hunger. The servants had everything ready, and when the palace gate opened, many carriages entered. They were all personally guided by the servants into the main hall, where the royal banquet was held.
It could be seen that everyone was wearing gorgeous clothes, their faces were carefully made up, and they smelled of strong perfume. The nobles all brought their daughters and sons, hoping for a chance to become royalty. It was not easy to enter the royal family, but everyone hoped that the prince and princess would pay attention to them. Especially the prince, who would be the future successor.
No one knew that the prince already had someone he loved.
Wise had to deal with the nobles who kept coming to talk to him, whether it was about business cooperation or introducing their daughters to him. To be honest, he did not like this at all, but he still smiled warmly and accepted their wishes. After toasting the prince and princess's 18th birthday together, the dance began. Wise and Belle sat on the high seats, watching the young nobles dance with each other.
Anyone could ask to dance with the prince and princess, but there was a high chance of being rejected. However, there were still many young ladies and noblemen who came to ask to dance with the prince and princess. The only result was a flat rejection. Wise already had Harumasa, but he didn't know if his younger sister Belle had someone she loved.
The ceremony went faster than Wise thought and in about thirty minutes they would start shooting fireworks. It was the magic of the high-ranking magicians, sending their blessings to the prince. Wise had promised Harumasa that they would watch the fireworks together from the royal garden. He sat on a chair in the gazebo, and took out his pocket watch to check, there were still ten minutes left, he didn't expect Harumasa to be so late.
When there were exactly five minutes left, a person wearing a black cloak appeared. Wise stood up, a little surprised. Normally, no one would come here at this time other than him and Harumasa. But that person definitely wasn't Harumasa, because he always gave Wise a sense of security whenever he appeared and had never worn such a cloak except for escort missions with Wise and a disguise requirement.
"Who are you?", Wise pulled out the sword from the scabbard at his waist, frowning warily at the other person.
The person suddenly disappeared, and Wise's vigilance increased. Did that person just use teleportation or invisibility magic? Wise couldn't tell, he carefully observed his surroundings. And suddenly that person appeared right in front of the gazebo's steps, holding a sword in his hand, pointing straight at Wise's chest, where his heart was. The cloaked person was so fast that Wise didn't have time to raise his sword to block. He thought to himself that he was done for, it seemed like he was going to die. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to retreat as far as possible.
But when the sword stabbed, Wise didn't feel any pain. When he opened his eyes, he saw someone's back blocking in front of him. The sword pierced through the person's shoulder, blood splattered onto his face.
"Harumasa!"
Harumasa immediately used fire magic to attack the enemy. It was only enough to burn the enemy's outer cloak. Wise recognized the enemy's face, it was the butler who served beside him while Harumasa was busy supervising the activities before Wise's birthday.
"Prince, please step back.", Harumasa blocked Wise, he used ice magic to restrain the opponent while communicating with Lycaon that someone was attacking the prince. Blood was still flowing from the wound on his shoulder, wetting his right shoulder.
"Wait, Harumasa. You have to stop the bleeding. Leave the rest to Lycaon.", Wise quickly grabbed Harumasa's wrist and pulled him away as soon as he saw Lycaon's figure appear. Without thinking much, he hurriedly pulled Harumasa into his bedroom.
"Prince, I'm fine. It's just a minor injury, it won't affect my life."
"You're bleeding so much and you say it's a minor injury? Don't forget that your health isn't as good as a normal person's."
Wise said as he searched for something to temporarily bandage Harumasa's wound. Fireworks were set off, exploding loudly outside, lighting up the entire area. The sound of the fireworks was quite loud, mixed with the cheers of the people. Wise temporarily finished bandaging Harumasa's wound, he breathed a sigh of relief, at least the blood stopped flowing.
"Prince, here's my gift for you. Happy birthday.", Harumasa handed Wise a sword, Wise recognized it, it was one of the swords in his arsenal.
Wise took the sword from Harumasa's hand, carefully grasped the hilt of the sword, and pulled it out of its sheath. The blade reflected the light of the lamp in the room, flashing with light. Wise could see a few lines of text, probably an incantation of some kind of magic as he poured a little magic power into the sword. It's a perfectly inlaid sword.
"It took me a long time to complete it.", Harumasa smiled, slowly standing up. Wise saw this and also stood up, his eyes not leaving the sword. Although Wise didn't know how long it took Harumasa to complete it, Harumasa had succeeded in surprising Wise.
"I didn't expect you to do that.", Wise exclaimed, carefully examining the blade. The incantation was perfectly engraved and kept the sword intact, not broken at all.
"Then may I ask for payment now?"
"Huh?"
Before Wise could prepare himself, Harumasa rushed over and pushed Wise onto the bed. Harumasa sat on Wise's stomach, pulled out a short sword, and stabbed Wise in the chest.
And blood splattered, staining his clothes and bed sheets red.