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Showing off was supposed to be a joyous occasion.
Especially when thousands of people were watching, cheering him on.
Multicolored Styrian Divine Servants were continuously thrown, striking the boat with a crisp, tinkling clang.
So crisp.
So crisp that a chill ran through Allen's heart.
Not only was Allen displeased, but he was also, quite frankly, in agony.
The problem was—the boat was leaking.
A hole almost a meter wide.
Allen had initially thought that even with the leak, given his speed, he could row back before the boat sank.
But having never played this game with Ariel before, he underestimated the speed of the leak and the public's immense enthusiasm for this knight-hero-saves-princess-from-assassins scenario.
Just as he picked up an oar, ready to start rowing, Styrian Divine Servants rained down thick and fast.
The northern dock, close to where Vita had fled, hadn't been cleared of people, so there were many citizens, many women, and many street vendors.
Thus, there were many Divine Servants.
Even though the young girls, boys, young wives, and older women threw them quite inaccurately.
It didn't stop the boat's bottom from being filled after just one round of throwing. By the time Allen realized something was wrong, a second, third, and fourth round fell like rain onto the deck.
Good heavens, they were fast as hell!
He hadn't even rowed a few meters before the damned boat was about to sink!
The water quickly reached Allen's waist. He belatedly watched the Divine Servants bobbing around his waist, and for a dizzying moment, he felt like an innocent priestess being sacrificed to the river god.
"No? What the hell are you doing? Can't you see there's something wrong with my boat?"
He turned his head in shock to look at the shore.
Accompanying his movement, the cheers grew even louder!
"Ah!!! The Knight-sama's boat is sinking! He's looking over here! He's going to come ashore!"
"Come this way!"
"Over here, don't push me!!"
"Knight-sama!!"
Allen froze, then suddenly realized that this sudden surge of fervent emotion directed at him was more of a collective emotional contagion. The common folk, uneducated, had poor control over their emotions.
The people weren't passionately interested in Allen himself right now; they were simply caught up in the current bustling atmosphere, temporarily forgetting their worries.
In other words, they didn't care about his predicament, whether his boat was leaking, or what he was going to do next. Both men and women were thinking, with every fiber of their being, about how to keep this atmosphere going a little longer. So, naturally, sinking Allen's boat, forcing him to come ashore, and letting everyone have a good time for a bit longer was the real business.
As for whether everyone would go to his house, her house, or their house after they'd had their fill?
That was a concern for the next wave of collective emotion.
Allen shivered.
He plunged into the water, swimming back to the boat in a rather sorry state.
The good news, though, was that the street patrol was quite efficient and thorough in clearing the bodies from the boat.
—If you ignored Eris, who was standing behind them, leaning on her sword with a pout.
Allen shook the water from himself and walked over. He saw the blade broken in half at Eris's feet, and a street patrol member lying on the ground, face bloody and unconscious from being struck.
He roughly understood what had happened while he was off killing Vita.
"Where are they?"
Eris, seeing Allen return, glanced at the head in Allen's hand. When she noticed the 'sword intent' in the severed neck resembled the cuts on the corpses from last night, she frowned and answered with a question of her own.
"Can I really not learn this?"
"Truly."
"Hmph! If you won't teach me, you won't! I don't care to learn anyway!" (`へ)
Allen found Eris's reaction exasperating. He used the hand not holding the head to ruffle her hair.
"Are they still upstairs? So you were watching down here?"
Eris's red eyes didn't look at Allen; they shifted towards the river beside them.
"Yes, those guys kept trying to go up. I heard him upstairs, big brother told them not to come near!"
Allen swept his gaze over the street patrol. Now that Allen had swum in the water, the bloodstains were washed off, and his hair was slicked back, complementing his face.
Though his expression seemed sharp, it ironically made him fit the street patrol's stereotypical image of an 'arrogant' noble even better.
This made the street patrol members feel oddly at ease. They all parted their lips in careful, fawning smiles.
"Knight-sama, may we take over now? Princess Ariel hasn't come out, and the noble sirs from the municipality are quite concerned..."
"This... the people are watching. If we don't act, we won't be able to account for it."
"Yes, there are definitely no assassins among us."
Allen expressionlessly surveyed everyone, then turned his head. The noble sirs on the dock were anxiously watching this spot. Seeing Allen look their way, their faces changed, and they lowered their heads, whispering to each other.
Allen was now confirmed as the Princess's Knight.
The assassins who needed killing had been killed.
So now came the reckoning. Their concern wasn't for Ariel's safety at all, but rather what 'instructions' Ariel had given Allen on the third floor just now, whether it concerned Flowing Falls City, whether there would be an inquiry, and to what extent it would go.
Allen scoffed, eyeing the street patrol.
"Flowing Falls City is practically a den of assassins now. Assassins can mix with artisans; clearly, there are some internal issues with you lot, especially you street patrol. You knew Princess Ariel was coming, and yet your security work was truly 'excellent'."
The smiles on the street patrol's faces instantly vanished.
Allen then shook the water from the head in his hand, as if wringing out a wet rag.
"I don't know if there are assassins among you, and I don't care to know. But one thing is clear: if I were to kill all of you right now, there would certainly be more 'unclean' ones than 'clean' ones."
"But I also understand you need to report back, so you're blocking me here, insisting on seeing Princess Ariel to test her intentions. How about this, I'll give you an option for your report."
"Go back now and deliver a message to your noble sirs: within one hour, thoroughly 'cleanse' Flowing Falls City. See if there are any fish that slipped through the net. Those who should be killed, kill them. Those who should die, let them die. If you find it difficult to act, I don't mind lending a hand."
"Do you understand what I mean?"
The street patrol's faces stiffened at his words. They had never heard such direct, "you know what I mean" type of questioning from another world before, and they were completely flustered. It took them a long time to finally nod numbly.
"Understood... understood."
With that, they were about to leave in a daze.
Allen, however, remembered something and waved his hand.
"Oh, by the way, you did a good job with the body clean-up. Leave a few people. There's another body upstairs, it's Princess Ariel's personal maid, confirmed to be an infiltrating assassin. You'll need to help clean her up."
The street patrol froze at his words, then rejoiced, quickly splitting off a few men to go upstairs. But Allen raised a hand to stop them.
"Wait, I'll send the body down to you shortly."
Everyone was stunned again and could only nod in agreement.
Allen turned and walked upstairs.
The street patrol members exchanged silent glances.
Meanwhile, Eris's lips curved into a faint, triumphant smile as she touched her hair.
She, of course, knew she couldn't learn it, but Allen had been a bit busy these past two days, and she felt constantly ignored.
So, she subconsciously wanted to assert her presence.
See?
It was quite effective, wasn't it!
Allen ascended the stairs, reaching the door on the third floor. He knocked twice.
"Come in."
He pushed the door open, and despite being prepared, he was still slightly stunned by the sight before him.
The maid's body on the bed had been turned around, her lower body positioned to cover the urine stain on the bed, making it look as though she had been incontinent after being killed by Allen.
This was a complete frame-up.
As for the culprit—Ariel, in a sky-blue pleated dress, sat gracefully and elegantly on a chair by the bed. Sunlight streamed through the window onto her face, her pale golden hair swaying in the cabin as she spoke. Her expression was utterly serious, full of purpose, and the scars on her face had vanished.
She was holding Sylphy's hand, resting it on her lap, her eyes curved in a smile as she gazed at her.
Sylphy, meanwhile, was utterly bewildered, her reddish-brown eyes darting nervously across Ariel's beautiful face. Her slender shoulders were tense, like an ugly duckling encountering a swan, her face full of the déjà vu of "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"
During their walk under the night sky outside the Mortalit Inn, Sylphy had been very worried that this first beauty of Asura was another one of Allen's 'fated encounters,' and she was also concerned that Allen might become entangled in power struggles because of her.
If Allen were truly taken as the Princess's consort, would he, as a Boreas noble, have the standing to refuse? If he couldn't refuse? She and her teacher would surely be sent away, wouldn't they?
At the time, Allen's reply was not to worry, just relax.
And at that time, she truly did 'relax.' The subsequent outbreak of the Isolte incident also diverted her attention. Until today, through her contact with Isolte, the 'third' rival, she had completely relegated Ariel to a corner of her mind.
But now, why, had the Princess suddenly descended?!
And why was she holding her hand?
Why wouldn't she let go of her hand? Was it because she had healed her face? But why did she keep staring at her face? Shouldn't she be looking in a mirror at her own face?
Sylphy tried to pull her hand away again.
It wouldn't budge.
@_@!
Rudy stood to the side, looking like a country bumpkin in the city, secretly watching Ariel. Isolte stood next to him, showing no particular concern on her face. On her other side was Dirick, now awake, with long dark brown hair. From their posture, they seemed to have been talking before Allen entered.
Dirick's eyes lit up when he saw Allen. He walked over.
"Are you Allen Boreas Greyrat? I am the Princess's Guardian Mage, Dirick Redbat. Thank you very much for your assistance!"
Allen turned to look at him.
"Hello. A pleasure to meet you. Dirick Redbat. I killed Fuhlwine Redbat."
Dirick's forced smile instantly stiffened. His reaction, however, was quick. After only a moment's pause, he lowered his head and said through gritted teeth.
"My apologies. This is my dereliction of duty. I did not realize that this branch of the Redbats in the Royal Capital had pledged allegiance to the First Prince. I am willing to bear the responsibility for my negligence, resign from my position as Guardian Mage, and let Miss Sylphiette take over as the Princess's personal Guardian Mage. As for you, of course, you would become the Princess's personal escort..."
From across the room, Ariel, hearing this, frowned and exclaimed.
"Dirick!!"
Allen waved his hand, stopping their differing reactions. He brushed past Dirick and walked over to Sylphy, gently patting her stiff shoulder.
Her taut body suddenly relaxed.
Ariel glanced at Allen, then released Sylphy's hand. Sylphy took the opportunity to quickly retreat to Isolte's side, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
Allen continued.
"There's no need to rush to tie us to your ship. I presume Isolte has already explained the general situation to you. Fuhlwine Redbat, the last remaining survivor of Dirick's branch family, is currently the top-ranked assassin in Flowing Falls City's assassin guild. And your ship also had assassins smuggled in by him, leveraging his connection to Dirick."
"It's obvious that this assassination was planned and set up in the Royal Capital before you even set sail."
"Although Fuhlwine was used to assassinate us first, strictly speaking, we were drawn into this assassination plot regarding the heir apparent. I've now helped you deal with the assassination; you should thank me, not put on a facade of apology while actually acting superior, offering me a chance to join your faction."
"Understand?"
Ariel's face tightened. She was silent for a moment, about to speak, but Dirick interrupted her.
His face was extremely grim. He looked deeply at Allen, let out a breath, and lowered his head.
His expression was utterly sincere.
"My apologies, Your Highness, this has nothing to do with you; I was too hasty. Thank you for your assistance. I deeply apologize to all of you for being drawn into this incident. The fact is, as you said, it was due to my dereliction of duty. Regarding your involvement in this matter, though you may not need it, I am willing to offer compensation to the best of my ability."
"And, after this, I sincerely hope you will consider joining Princess Ariel's service. She will be a wise ruler for Asura in the future."
Ariel had been nodding when she heard the first half of the sentence, but as Dirick's latter half concluded, she looked stunned for a moment, clearly showing an expression of anger.
"Guardian Mage! The matter of recruitment should naturally be handled by me! Please do not do anything unnecessary!"
Dirick opened his mouth, his face pale, an expression of lingering fear evident. When Allen killed the assassin earlier, he was kicked awake by Eris and quickly learned the true nature of events from Isolte. He combined the information and, with only a little deduction, concluded that this assassination plot against Princess Ariel had begun with him, the Guardian Mage by the Princess's side, as the lynchpin.
And he had been completely unaware from beginning to end.
If Allen hadn't been involved, the assassination would probably have succeeded by now.
This left him with a strong sense of powerlessness.
That was why, the moment he saw Allen, he was eager to leverage the situation to directly bind them to his faction, seeking strong support.
Who was Allen Boreas Greyrat?
He, of course, 'knew' him.
Far too famous.
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