“Princess! What happened?” Alhen and Katherina were now standing a few feet away from the entrance to the kingdom, and a voice was heard in front of them.

  This was the first time that Alhen had seen the front entrance to the Kingdom of Yhia, and he had to say that he was not impressed.

  It was built for show instead of protection, and there was almost no security.

  ‘It will surely trick whoever gazes upon it, thinking that this is a prosperous kingdom, but it’s full of danger and misery.’

  ‘Only those who are at the top can enjoy a life worth living, and they look down on those they deem below them, like Henry…’ Alhen thought.

  His attention was soon recovered when the guard who had spoken rushed to their location, looking worried for the condition the princess was in.

  He wore leather protective clothing and had a spear on his back. His facial features had the word normal written all over them, with him having a bland face.

  As he approached with a concerned look, Alhen couldn’t help but think that something was wrong.

  His senses were telling him that there was danger; something was fishy, but he didn’t know what.

  Acting out of reflex, Alhen shouted, “Halt!”

  The person looked surprised, but stopped a few feet away from them with a frown.

  “Hey! Who are you? And why are you with the princess? Is he keeping you captive? If that is the case, then I cannot allow it to happen,” the person said.

  Katherina denied his suspicions, but he didn’t believe her. He took out the spear on his back and aimed it at him with a deadly expression.

  “I will save you, princess. Stay where you are,” he said.

  ‘Something is wrong. I don’t believe for a second that he’s stupid enough to charge at me when he doesn’t know me, and I have the princess right beside me; I could kill her if I wanted to. Don’t tell me that…’

  Alhen didn’t have time to finish his thought process when the man charged with the spear in his hand. He activated his blessing, and what he saw made a frown appear on his face.

  Without thinking, he moved and deflected the speartip aimed at Katherina’s chest.

  The torn piece of dress on her face hid her widened eyes of surprise, and she moved back a few steps when she finally realized the man’s intention.

  He was an assassin ordered to kill her! She thought about Bernard’s warning, and a feeling of dread started taking over her heart.

  She looked in Alhen's general direction, and although she couldn’t see, she knew he was defending her with calm eyes and a calculating expression.

  He looked so young, but she only felt safe around him.

  “Princess! Move back, but don’t get too far ahead in case there are more waiting in the shadows!” Alhen shouted, and she took less than a second to follow his orders.

  The man had a nasty scowl on his face, not thinking that the young boy in front of him would have been able to smell his intentions and protect the princess in time.

  “Appearances sure are deceiving, are they not? You are just a young boy, but have already achieved the strength of a hunter.”

  “However, you will not be able to beat me, because strength is not all that matters,” he said before attacking more fiercely.

  As Alhen defended the man’s relentless charge, he noted that the man was slightly stronger and more experienced than him.

  ‘What you said would have been the case normally, but I have Oros’ blessing.’

  ‘Someone like you will never defeat me, not when there are more powerful people waiting for me to kill them,’ Alhen thought.

  Thanks to his blessing, the man’s movements seemed choreographed, and he used that to his advantage, shortening the gap between skills.

  The man looked surprised that Alhen was keeping up with him, and he gritted his teeth, increasing the intensity of his attacks.

  It took a toll on his body, however, and Alhen was still holding on strong. All the stamina training with his mentor had borne fruit again.

  Now that there were noticeable gaps in the man’s posture, Alhen counterattacked by drawing his revolver and shooting where the man would move, making sure that he wouldn’t be able to dodge his bullets.

  “Bang!” The revolver went off, but the bullets didn’t land on the intended target; it missed by a few centimeters. He had aimed at the head, but only managed to take off part of his ear.

  The man gritted his teeth in pain, but he didn’t let out a sound, keeping to himself and looking more focused than ever now that his life was on the line.

  Alhen decided to stop playing around and aimed at the chest, with the general area being the man’s heart.

  He shot, and this time, no matter what the man tried to do, he wasn’t able to dodge it. He crumpled to the ground, dead, with the last thought on his mind being “how?”

  When everything was over, Katherina approached, still wary of her surroundings.

  Alhen took the man’s moon-blocking glasses and gave them to Katherina, who hurriedly put them on.

  “Huff! Finally, I can see. Now I know what it felt like being you back in the forest,” she commented.

  “Princess, we have to be more careful now. If we have encountered danger now, then there is a high chance that we should be expecting more once we enter the kingdom,” Alhen said.

  “Thanks for protecting me. You are right, those bastards who ordered to kill me sure thought of everything.”

  “Let us start moving now to arrive at the castle as soon as possible. I do not feel safe outside these walls,” she replied.

  Alhen, without saying a word, holstered his revolver and grabbed her hand, bringing her closer to him.

  “Stay close to me, I want to react quickly to whatever comes our way. I promise you that no harm will fall upon you,” Alhen promised, and Katherina smiled at his words.

  “I hope you are not a liar, seeing you wanting to protect me like that makes me want you as my bodyguard even more.”

  “Are you sure that you do not want the position? No matter how much time passes, the offer will always be open.”

  “You can change your mind whenever you want,” she tried to convince him, but Alhen didn’t fall for her sweet words.”

  “Don’t even try it,” he responded.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Stop distracting me from doing my job and focus on anything that seems suspicious. We have to be careful once we enter, and probably almost everyone we come across could be a potential assassin.”

  Katherina nodded, dropping her antics and taking his words seriously.

  Alhen made sure that the princess stuck to him like glue and took out his revolver once more.

  ‘Strangely enough, the entrance to the kingdom was only being protected by one individual.’

  ‘Could it be that I was mistaken, and there are not as many assassins as I thought? Either case, I shouldn’t lower my guard,’ he thought.

  Approaching the gates, he noticed that they were not made out of a strong material like the one he had gone through with his mentor in his first hunt.

  They were wooden, designed for looks instead of functionality. As he stood in front of it, his caution reached its peak.

  If someone were to attack him, the moment he opened the gates would be the perfect moment.

  Alhen took a deep breath and activated his blessing, making sure to hurry and open the gates, not to waste time, since he remembered what happened last time.

  Going blind wasn’t in his plans, and as he placed his hands on the solid wood and pushed, giving away without resistance.

  ‘This is weird. I don’t believe for a second that my increase in strength would be enough to push the gate open like that. I became stronger, that’s for sure, but not that strong.’

  ‘It’s also strange that, despite this being the entrance of the kingdom, there is almost no security. I’m almost one hundred percent certain that this has to do with the princess’s situation,’ he thought.

  The gates fully opened, and in front of him lay an empty street.

  ‘There’s no doubt, this is the Pig District. Every time I have come to this place, it was overflowing with people, but now it’s quiet, as if something happened or everyone collectively disappeared.’

  The off-putting ambience was such that Katherina noticed it almost immediately as well.

  “Why is there no one here? This should not be possible, not even when it is time for sleep does it get this empty, especially at the entrance of the Kingdom.”

  She noticed that something was wrong and hugged Alhen’s only arm as she looked around with worry. Alhen gently moved away from her grip and looked at her with a serious expression.

  “Princess, may I remind you that I have only one arm? If you keep latching on to it, I won’t be able to protect you if something were to happen,” he reminded her.

  “You are right, I am sorry,” she apologized.

  Alhen realized that he had been harsh but didn’t apologize, choosing instead to fall silent.

  “Very well, let’s move and reach the castle before something happens. Remember, don’t leave my side,” he said.

  The princess agreed, and they began moving towards the castle. From where they were, it would take them at least half an hour to reach it.

  The night was completely silent; the only thing disrupting this stillness was the sound of their footsteps, which echoed in the empty streets.

  Everything seemed normal, but after a few minutes, Alhen started to get the feeling that he was being observed.

  His heart picked up the pace, but he didn’t allow any emotion to show in his features.

  ‘It’s the same feeling from last time. Could it be that the same person is watching me right now? It could be, but I can’t give away that I have sensed him already lest he raise his guard.’

  ‘I shouldn’t warn the princess either, she seemed not to have noticed, and it's better if she doesn’t, she isn’t exactly careful with what she shows.’

  Alhen felt calmer than the previous time.

  He didn’t know whether it was due to the increase in his power, but he had a mental clarity that would be hard to break under normal circumstances.

  ‘When I absorbed that energy, something in me changed forever, and I am not sure if it was a good or a bad thing,’ Alhen thought.

  He didn’t know whether it was a placebo effect or something else, but he felt more detached from the world surrounding him.

  It was a weird sensation that he wasn’t able to put into words.

  They walked for a few more minutes, and the feeling of being observed increased; he thought it was due to the person coming closer to his location.

  The dark buildings around him seemed to shift and hide dangers that would jump out at them any second.

  Without anyone walking through the streets, the Pig District was deadly silent; such was the silence that it made their hair stand on end.

  As they walked, Alhen felt something small and thin piercing his neck.

  Without waiting for the input in his brain, his body had already moved to dodge a small needle that landed on the hard ground beside him.

  The sound was faint, but it sounded loud in the silent streets.

  Katherina took a second to process what had happened, contrasting with Alhen, who acted immediately.

  Calculating where the needle had landed, he saw the trajectory and had a rough idea where the attacker was hiding.

  He rushed to the princess and took her in his arms as he activated his artifact and ran towards safety.

  She lightly gave off a surprised sound and hugged his neck tightly.

  The feeling of being observed then disappeared out of nowhere, and he got a bad feeling in his heart.

  He hid behind some buildings and moved around strategically, so as not be found.

  Katherina got off his hold and followed quietly behind him, though it was evident that she had been shaken by the revelation that someone was watching them.

  ‘Damn it! How am I supposed to know where our attacker is if I’m unable to sense them? He shouldn’t know where I am unless he has some special ability.’

  ‘If that’s the case, then whoever can spot the other first will have a huge advantage,’ Alhen thought in a slight panic.

  As soon as the attack failed to hit Alhen, the enemy had taken cover and hidden his presence.

  Katherina’s head was turning in all directions, seemingly worried that they would be attacked.

  Alhen focused on keeping his senses sharp.

  ‘I hadn’t noticed before, but I believe the intuition I have inside of me is because of Lord Oros’ blessing.’

  ‘There’s no reason why my senses should be this heightened, but I also don’t know how someone could hide from them. Could they have left already?’ Alhen wondered.

  It was a possibility, but one he refused to entertain.

  ‘Either way, sitting here without doing anything is probably a bad idea; we have to be on the move,’ he thought.

  He gestured to the princess to move forward while hugging the walls of the buildings. The area was vast and spacious, in stark contrast to his district, which felt narrow and suffocating.

  Thankfully, there were still areas where one could hide well, just not many.

  At first, the princess seemed reluctant to advance, but with a little bit of convincing, she followed him without causing trouble.

  ‘Having to protect her makes everything more difficult for me.’

  ‘She sticks to me most of the time, so that’s a good thing, but if I were to choose between my life and hers, I would choose mine,’ Alhen convinced himself.

  They walked for a few minutes, and Alhen was starting to think that indeed, the man had run away, but he knew that not everything might be as it seemed, so he kept his guard up all the way until they reached the castle.

  Outside of it, there were multiple guards, and he frowned.

  ‘Now what do we do? Is there a way we can avoid being detected by them? They are most likely professionals in their field; it should be impossible to get past them at my current skill level,’ Alhen thought.

  “Alhen, I know these guards, I can assure you that they are loyal to the crown, and I do not get a bad feeling coming from them,” Katherina commented, having her blindfold slightly raised.

  “Wait a second, it could all be a trap. We cannot base our actions on vague and unpredictable feelings,” Alhen responded.

  “Fret not, I am sure that they are loyal,” she said before standing and leaving her hiding place.

  Despite Alhen’s attempts to stop her, she didn’t and approached the guards with a steady gait. Alhen gritted his teeth and followed after her without saying a word as the guards had spotted them.

  Their eyes widened, and they shouted in unison, “Princess!”

  They rushed to her.

  She had a miserable appearance with her dress being torn, dirt and traces of blood covered her bare feet, and dirt and sweat stuck to her like glue.

  It was the first time that she truly paid attention to her appearance and felt self-conscious.

  She blushed slightly under the moonlight, and Alhen noticed it, but he was more worried about whether the people in front of him were to trust or not.

  When he met Bernard, he didn’t perceive anything wrong with that man, but he was also a rank lower before.

  The guards seemed to recognize him and started questioning him immediately. They were cautious, but weren’t hostile, as Alhen didn’t seem to be threatening.

  “Princess! You are injured. We will take you inside to be treated and to clean yourself.”

  “I would appreciate that, these cycles have taken a toll on my body and mind. If it were not for the son of the Kovesh standing beside me, I would have perished back in the Kingdom of Levex,” she said.

  The looks of the guards on Alhen intensified, and they saw a battered and dirty boy who seemed overly cautious of them and his surroundings.

  They mentally nodded and said, “Thanks for everything that you did for our princess. Come inside as well; you can use the bath inside and get yourself treated.”

  Alhen tried to keep his caution up, but seeing that they truly meant no harm, he started to relax.

  These past few cycles had taken a toll on his mind and body, and all he wanted at that moment was forget about everything for some time.

  He agreed and was taken inside the castle. He was given fresh clothes and a towel and then sent into one of the bathrooms.

  When he entered, Alhen noticed it smelled of aromatic flowers, and everything was spotless, shining, and even hurting his eyes.

  There was a nearby shower and a bathtub. Alhen decided to rinse off the dirt on his body first before allowing himself to enter it.

  As he turned on the shower after taking off his clothes, water poured down on him, and he saw all the grime and dirt form a small dirt puddle on the floor before going down the drain.

  When he was done, he turned off the shower and climbed onto the golden bathtub, which he filled with warm water using a nearby device.

  As he lay thinking about what happened that cycle, his mind couldn’t help but think about the siblings’ contract and his probable talk with the king, which he had completely forgotten about.

  “Huff! I’m going to be busy, huh? If that’s going to be the case, then I should allow myself to relax and enjoy the moment.”

  “Who knows when I will have another golden opportunity like this one?” he said.

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