Chapter 78 – Assassin
The mastermind must had sent out elites to kill the prince. Putting everything aside, just the magical beasts alone would deter many people. If the assassins did not have any combat prowess, then they would be KOed instead by the magical beasts and become part of the environment…… That joke would then spread as the Assassin’s Tragedy and turned into a bestseller…..
The mastermind was certainly intelligent. They knew they did not have luck on their side and their advantage was that they were still hidden. It was a given that they would spend big money to hire the top assassins. The mastermind would be free from danger and the assassins would not interact with them.
It was a perfect solution! Such flawless preparations! But…… sometimes rain would fall on wedding days, or having a traffic jam when you are already late. Even though the money paid to the underground auction site was high enough, the assassins who received the request were not the elites they imagined……
To be more accurate, the four assassins who received the quest were the second generation of assassins. Their parents were separately the guild leader, vice guild leader, Right Hand of the guild leader, and Left Hand of the guild leader……
Sometimes the second generation would actually have a golden heart despite growing in the midst of darkness….. And the television series would sometimes include these characters inside the drama and use their status to actually send food and water to the locked-up protagonist……
They might even offer up their bodies, dedicating mind and soul to the protagonist like a summoned beast. Depending on the popularity of the characters, they would either betray their dads with tears in their eyes and stick with the protagonist for the rest of their lives. Or they could commit suicide.
(TL check: While it’s true that there is more plot with the assassins and Sue in the future, there’s no LOLI movement here. These assassins did not offer their bodies, and not some crazy ass foreshadowing…… Also this chapter’s level of off-plot paragraphs are over 9000 -.-)
The Assassins Guild was an organization, and political intrigue with personal greed was involved. The current top assassins were already old, while the newer generation was still fighting for the position of the leader…… In order to stand out, they had to accomplish something important.
It was clearly someone from the royal family who wanted to kill the prince. The old generation of assassins started to hype this task. It was the assassination of a prince, after all, and it was a request that might not happen for decades. Furthermore, the target was still a child and it was easy to finish him off.
In the case of the assassins versus the Magical Beasts?! No matter how weak the second generation was, they were still rich enough with sufficient tools to handle them, simply because they were the children of the important people within the guild. With that many high level potions and magic scrolls, surely they could at least keep their lives right?!
This was why the guild leader instructed his son carefully and handed the dossier about the target. The vice guild leader also instructed his son to attempt the mission. So did the Right Hand and Left Hand of the guild leader……
When the four sons moved out on the next day, they realized they had the same goals!
The older generation of assassins immediately stumbled a little. It was a little too late for them to tell each other not to send their sons out, so the four old men gave fake laughs and arranged their sons to form a group. Each person carried the portrait of the little prince……
The mastermind would not have imagined in their wildest dreams that their perfect plan would be used to vie for the guild leader position for the assassins…… When the royal family was fighting for the throne, the other circles also had fights for the top position…..
At least this second generation of assassins were considered as skilled. Their greatest advantage was how clean their background was. Since they had not commit any crimes yet, they were naturally in a blank state.
To them, the outer area of the Magical Beast Forest were easy. They moved in quickly with the aid of effective medicine, but once they got to the inner area, they were more careful and moved slowly as there were magical beasts with higher intelligence.
“According to the data from the Adventurer Guild, there were various races gathered and one of the humans adventurer hadn’t leave the forest, while there was a girl and a wolf boy who matched the prince’s age…… I suspect the little girl to be the prince!”
The temporary leader of the assassins, son of the current assassin leader, analyzed the information seriously. He did not suspect the wolf boy to be the little prince because there was no one who could change their features to a different race.
The only conditions that were fulfilled were the little girl…… About her gender?! Please, there were so many androgynous people around, who could really determine their gender from appearances?!
There were many reasons as to why someone would purposely dress up like that, but the prince was most likely disguised as a girl to throw people off the mark…… (TL: I wanted to write about some ridiculous things about guys cosplaying as a female…… butttt never mind.)
“So you mean to say that the portraits of the prince are not reliable and he is disguised as the little girl…… So our target should the girl appearing in the forest?!”
“That’s right!” He clenched his fist, eyes full of confidence and pride: “That little prince wants to fool us with such a small trick?! He’s too naive!” He did not have experience on assassinating, but his father had constantly told him about stories on targets, and such tricks were seen before…… It made him excited to show off his knowledge so quickly.
“Hohoho…… Little kids are too naive. Just based on that silly noble’s head, how would he know the dangers of the outside world?” The Right Hand’s son followed up with the same confidence.
“That’s right!” The leader nodded again: “So everyone mustn’t be deceived, from now onwards, our target is that suspicious little girl!”
“Right! That little girl!” The three of them nodded.
They believed that they were top assassins…….
“Selling maps, food and potions~ Does the four handsome men over there want to buy something?!”
The assassins were still smiling smugly when a voice came from far away.
“Hmm?! Yes, yes! You’re selling the maps of the Lost Forest?!” Someone yelled out: “That’s great, our maps are not too complete. Right, about your potions, how do you plan on selling them? Do you have any discount or offers?!”
As the Left Hand’s son, he was the most budget minded person because his dad would often buy for the guild.
“Discount?! I don’t have a discount for you, but I can give you one free for every ten bought…… The map is priced at twenty gold coins, with ten potions selling as a set for five gold, how many sets do you want?!” The little boy pranced over with a basket, and he did not appear to be shy at all.
“Hmm, how good is your potion?! Five gold is just too expensive. I recall the best potions in the capital is 4 gold per set, and selling them on batch cuts the price to 3 gold 44 silver 27 bronze coins…… Unique potions are limited sales, but that’s pretty hard to get.” The Left Hand’s son had a picky expression as he checked out each potion like a mother choosing the best fruits from the supermarket. In the end he nodded: “Not bad at all! The effects seemed to be better than the ones you get in the capital…… Can you sell them for 4 gold!”
He looked like he was trying to intimidate the little boy with a loud yell, but the latter pulled back with the same loud yell: “No!”
“Fine!” He yelled again: “I’ll buy it for 5 gold!”
“…….” The little boy and the other assassins looked at him as though he was mentally ill……
Once the deal was successful, the little boy took away the money while the four assassins checked the map again.
“This is really detailed, and it’s even better than the ones that our guild did.” They praised.
“Yeah.”
“Look at this area here, it even indicates where the higher ranked magical beasts appear!”
“Yeah.”
“Whoa! There’s even the suggestion on how to handle monster plants and poisonous insects……”
“Yeah.”
“Hey Lawrence…… Why do you keep saying ‘Yeah’?!”
“Well……” The vice guild leader’s son hesitated: “I just suddenly feel I have seen that boy somewhere?!”
“Haha, he’s not our target, so that doesn’t…… Huh!!!” The leader loud laughter was suddenly cut off and his eyes were wide.
The three men were shocked as well, as they remembered that something with paled faces —
[[[S#^&! That was the prince!]]]
After a while they got angry.
[[[F$#@! Who was the moron who said the girl was the target?!]]]