"I see. And did you know anything about why they kidnapped Isabelle?"
"A little bit. Most likely all three of you were the target. But you, Your Highness and Lady Penelope were absent from the inn at that moment. So I think they had no other choice to go with Lady Isabelle alone. As for the reason, I don't know. Maybe they're some kind of anti-Royalist group."
This could make them frightened a little but this was the only way to hide Isabelle's power. And if they could move on from this, they would only grow more and more stronger.
I decided to go with this because assassination attempts were not very rare among the high nobles.
I also told them other small details about today without revealing anything that shouldn't be said.
"Thank you, Marcel. We are in your debt."
"No problem, Your Highness. Would you mind if I ask you what happened to those monsters?"
"No problem. Isaac, please fill him in."
The guard named Isaac stepped forward on the Princess's orders. To be honest, I was still scared that Isaac would decide to kill me one day for tricking him in the market.
"From everything I heard, their camp was in the West and so no monsters attacked the town from that side. As for other information, the monsters from the East were subjugated by the demigods of the Security group of Stadium."
'The Security group of Stadium has demigods? I really want to see them once. But I can't really expose myself now so let's just forget it.'
"The North was cleared by the Guild Master of Adventurer's Guild and she also instructed the adventurers to eliminate the monsters in the market. Though many civilians died, they were able to hold them off until the Royal Guards arrived. Thus they saved thousands of people too."
'Now that I remember, the Guild Master was already investigating the Doctor's case in Springbell.
'It's really amazing that she was able to see through their intention and also take necessary steps.'
"What about the South? Did the monsters not attack from that side too?"
"Well... they did. But they all died. Nobody knows who killed those monsters but one thing is certain. They were all killed by one person. They were killed in the same way after all."
'What? From what I've heard, there were more than two hundred monsters on everyside. A single person killed them all?'
"Did they say anything about that person? Like what weapons he used or how he killed all those monsters... anything like that?" I was really curious to see what kind of powerhouse can obliterate an entire group of monsters alone.
"No, but still they noticed something unusual. There was a small, tiny hole near the hearts of all those monsters. Other than that, there was no other injury to those monsters."
That... sounds familiar.
The others present around me right now couldn't believe it either. They thought it was nonsense that a person of that level could stay hidden until now.
The Princess and her friends also said it was most likely a made up rumor.
I thought about asking more into this matter, but that would only make them doubt more if they think I believed what Isaac said. And something else was bothering me right now.
Before coming here, I already confessed to the Royal Guards about the letter and the situation where I attacked the criminal's base. I thought they would call me anytime to investigate, so I decided to inform the Princess about that matter first.
But nearly an hour has passed by and no one was calling me.
"Your Highness, did you tell anyone not to investigate me? "
"Uh.. No, not yet. Should I ask them now?"
"No, wait. I mean... it's strange. I mean... they should be rushing in by now to investigate me."
"Now that you mention it, it really is strange. Wait a second, I will check it up"
It was not the Princess but Isabelle who said that.
She called a guard and asked about the situation. The guard went running away quickly and after about ten minutes or so, he returned again breathing heavily.
"Lady Isabelle, they said Marcel Mistmer and Sylas Zyair were both clear. There is no need to conduct an investigation."
'What? No need for an investigation? That is ridiculous. No, wait. They would only skip the investigation and trust me blindly if they already knew about that base. I am really confused now. Just who in the world sent me that letter?'
I made several connections in my mind and only came to a single conclusion. The person who sent me the letter had a power high enough to influence the guards with words only.
I thought about the contents of the letter again.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 '𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯', 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨."
'Someone with high power, someone who knows about 'The Doctor incident' in Springbell, someone who knows that I spread the name of King Johnathan de Graham Serendipity III.'
Suddenly my eyes widened as I connected all these dots. There is only one person that fits all of the above.
The Guild Master of Adventurer Guild.
'I really got used, huh'
The Guild Master had a pet bird watch the area on the day I cleared the Doctor's camp in Springbell. She's also most likely the one who'd keep on investigating the Doctor after the incident.
I was almost hundred percent sure that it was her.
I left the ladies after that and went back to my inn.
On my way back, I met Sylas. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt, just a little tired. The sun was about to rise and I haven't slept yet.
'Sigh! It's really tiring.'
The final was scheduled for tomorrow, but I was sure that it would be postponed now.
I didn't know exactly how large the disaster was. I didn't find out who the Doctor was. I didn't know what all these irregular stigmatas were.
'This incident only led to more and more questions. I already have made some guesses but I don't have a single thing to back it up.'
I didn't even know how many times I sighed in the last hours but after another long sigh, I summoned my profile.
Name: Owen Grey
Species: Demi-God
Age: 16
Level: 24
Strength : 121
Defense : 110
Agility: 133
Intelligence : 136
Mana: 124
Luck: 23
[Stigmata of Void (Active)]
Stigmata of Void: ★★
Passive : Intermediate Swordsmanship (52.77%), Intermediate Spearmanship (8.49%), Intermediate Elven Mana Manipulation(6.81%), 1st Path to Memories of Silence Archery(98.88%)
Skills: Fireball(1-star), Mana Flow(???)
I was already at the peak of level 23 before and after killing the ones that brought Isabelle to the Small Market, I leveled up. As a result, 3 points increased in all stats. But still considering it has only been a month since the competition started, my progress was commendable.
In other words, this competition was a great harvest.
Especially my swordsmanship. If I remember correctly it was around 3% but now it jumped right up to 52%. Of course, I knew the reason for that as well.
Dance of the Dragon.
This dance improved my swordsmanship to a lofty level. But still my intermediate swordsmanship was not changed into Dance of the Dragon. It only improved my swordsmanship.
The reason for this was also very simple. It was because I never learned Dance of the Dragon. I copied Morgan's moves and used them in my swordsmanship. Although my stigmata was active, I failed to completely comprehend it.
That's how difficult the Dance of the Dragon was.
But I didn't believe that I could never learn it. I have already memorised most of his moves and I was able to even copy them to some extent. So if I practice this technique, there is a great chance of learning it.
I killed so many people today but I was not regretting it a bit. Of course, I never thought of those criminals as humans. My major concern was about me changing more and more as I killed.
"Fighting against the 'Chaos' every sleepless night,
He became the only thing he vowed to fight"
The sun was up but there was no way that could stop me from sleeping. I closed my eyes with all those worries burried deep inside my mind.