Chapter 309: The Assassin in the Dark
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When he saw that the people were about done with their meals, the king put his cutleries down and said with an air of finality, "thank you everyone for joining us tonight, we enjoyed a really nice dinner. Aside from that, Master Benjamin, I would like to personally welcome you to Ferelden and believe me when I say that choosing this country to settle down in is the right choice."
Benjamin nodded his head and said, "thank you for your generosity, your Majesty."
Except earlier on when he used the emotion card, the king did not request any help from Benjamin the rest of the time. Benjamin actually enjoyed the meal he had.
Moreover, by getting acquainted with the folks in attendance today, it would make his days in Rayleigh much easier in the future.
No matter what, he was still someone who had shared a meal with the king. And if Finch still had bad intentions towards him, at least Benjamin had some support now.
The king and the queen stood up from their chairs and made their way out of the room. The other guest had to wait for them to leave before they could be escorted out of the hall. Benjamin who was invited by the king was allowed to stay the night at the palace and leave the next day.
Even though he had nothing against staying at the palace, but because it was on the king’s invitation he couldn’t refuse.
Then, just as the king turned around.
All the lights in the dining hall went out suddenly. The candles on the table, the oil lamps around them... as long as it was something that gave light, it ceased as though something made it do so.
The dining hall was plunged into darkness.
Everyone was frightened.
"What, what is going on?"
"That’s not right...there is a magical disturbance."
"Quick! Protect his Majesty!"
In a blink of an eye, the dining hall was in chaos. Screams could be heard all around, making such a din that no one could understand what the other was saying.
Benjamin also had a fright, but he immediately came to his senses and quickly used the water element sensing technique even though he was in darkness.
It was as though he was wearing night vision goggles, the entire dining hall could be clearly seen. The frantic servants, all the extinguished candles and lamps, the king who was hiding by the wall with his queen, and the general searching in the darkness...
The strangest thing was that when Aldrich tried to summon a fireball to light up the place, the fireball did not give out any light at all.
Using the water element, Benjamin could sense the presence of the fireball, but he could not see the light with his own eyes.
Is this the extinguishing spell?
At that moment, he suddenly sensed that this might be a preplanned attack.
In this chaotic situation suddenly appeared a man dressed in black, rushing out of the kitchen entrance with a dagger in his hand. He went directly towards the king and queen who were by the wall.
Benjamin didn’t care about the consequences and yelled in a loud voice, "Watch out! Assassin!"
This sentence was like a curse.
The entire dining hall went silent, and the people’s faces became even more panicked, but the king did not panic, instead he pulled out a sword and pushed the queen behind him to protect her.
The masked assassin did not retreat even though Benjamin had called him out, instead he quickened his pace.
Benjamin took in a cold breath.
That kind of speed was not anything even remotely possible for a human, it must be a potion. In the darkness, he moved like the wind, even the water element had trouble catching up and in a moment he was beside the king.
Luckily, when he approached the kind, Benjamin could still do something.
With the movement of the water elements, Benjamin conjured a water bubble and wrapped the king and queen in it to protect them. At the same time, Aldrich used some unknown spell to find the location of the king and conjured a layer of wind to protect them.
With two layers of protection, Benjamin felt as though he could take a deep breath.
He even felt sorry for the assassin.
To assassinate the king in front of two mages made Benjamin speechless. Moreover, when one of the mages was the chairman of the Mages Freemasonry. Which idiot thought of this plan?
Just when Benjamin thought nothing would happen now, the assassin threw the dagger and it pierced through both layers of the wind and water bubbles.
They didn’t know what kind of black magic this was, or what kind of weapon the dagger was. But to pierce through two layers of shields within two seconds was a feat!
Benjamin was shocked.
Even though they made the protective shields in a hurry, but this was too much of an exaggeration.
He had no other choice, he could only cast the spell again to conjure a huge cloud of steam and made a gale in the dining hall. In the gale, the assassin was temporarily stopped, plates and cutleries flew past his head, even leftover turkey. Which immediately smacked him in the face and made it impossible to continue fighting the king.
As for Aldrich, it was as though he could only pinpoint the king’s location and not the assassins. So he couldn’t make his move, instead, he used protection spells to protect the king.
"Everyone don’t panic! Stay in one place and don’t move!" he yelled out to the crowd.
Because of Benjamin, a few more shields appeared in front of the king. In the end, even the assassin looked as though he was giving up on the plot to assassinate the king. He turned around and followed the direction of the gale and headed outside.
Benjamin immediately changed the direction of the steam and tried to stop the assassin.
However, the assassin was too quick. When Benjamin changed the direction of the wind, the assassin was already out the door, disappearing in a moment.
"He escaped from the south door! I am in pursuit!" Benjamin yelled.
"No! Don’t chase him!" Aldrich suddenly opened his mouth and said, "the king’s protection is more important, we cannot go after him. I already set the palace’s alarm off, the guards outside will stop him."
Will the guards outside be able to stop this guy?
Benjamin almost shot back a retort, but he took a deep breath and calmed himself, not making any move lightly. This could be a trap, and he was the only one who could see, he definitely should not leave the king’s side.
Moreover, even if the guy manages to escape it wouldn’t be an issue. In that short time when he used the water element, he saw through the mask and made the System remember the assassin’s features. So now even if he left the palace, he would be on the nation’s most wanted list. Moreover, the guy who casted this place in darkness still had not appeared.
So, he maintained the water element sensing technique, and enveloped the entire dining hall to make sure there weren’t any suspicious people around.
After a while, the magic shrouding the dining hall disappeared and the chaotic surroundings slowly showed itself to the people. The food littered the floor, the tables and chairs that were knocked around... at that moment, the dining hall wasn’t something extravagant and pretty.
"Is it over?"
The king looked around and with a solemn look on his face, he took a deep breath and sheathed his sword.
"Thanks to the help of these two mages," when he came to his senses, he looked to Benjamin and Aldrich, "if it wasn’t for you two, I would be dead."
"It’s my duty to do so," Aldrich nodded his head and a smile returned to his face.
As for Benjamin, he stayed silent for a while before looking at the direction of the kitchen and said, "that assassin, he came out from the kitchen. He must have been hiding in the kitchen this whole time."
Upon hearing this, the people in the crowd were stunned.
The atmosphere around them also changed to become a little delicate.
The king squinted his eyes and the good natured tone in his voice disappeared, it was replaced by a cold look. The green eyes looked just like a wild animal watching its own territory.
He scanned through the dining hall as though he would be able to find a chef dressed as a servant.
The atmosphere in the place became tense.
Just as Benjamin decided to say something, suddenly the outside doors burst open and a familiar looking servant girl came running in.
She rushed straight to the king and queen, her entire body was trembling as she raised her head.
"Your Majesty... the princess is missing!"