Life as a C-rank was quite easy. It had a lot of quests that weren’t hard but just needed people of a certain strength. So it could be, beat up this problematic monster or something. I took quite some with bowdude whose name apparently is Jeff and Tania also tagged along for some reason. Months passed. Shania successfully finished her 2-month long quest and also made it to C-rank after her assessment. She was the only one who made it to C-rank during her assessment. Bea was there again and still didn't make it. Shania decided to change her name to Ella Reviha after getting C-rank with the help of Tania’s Daddy and the president. It seems that could be done.
It seems that when adventurers hit C-rank there is a high likelihood they can become famous so if they don’t want their real name to be known throughout the area or the world, they can change their adventurer name. This was a huge pain for me because I had to relearn her name now but since she already knew how to make me remember this wasn't a big deal. Shit was still going down in the capital, Raishin, and Ted reached D-rank and Sally kept asking me for tips.
Ted’s birthday, March 19th, passed, Gregory’s birthday, June 11th, passed and for the first time we met her we got to Shania’s uhm I mean Ella’s birthday on August 37th. Raishin decided to make a big deal out of it but Ella didn’t want it to be something big. Things have changed a bit during this year and more and more shady characters have been spotted in the city.
Ted and I fought off a group that seemed to be after us. We lured them into a dark alley and we beat them up. Ted knew that I had to dispose of them so he told me to do whatever I needed to do as long as he didn't know what I did. But besides those, there were shady characters that didn't seem to be looking for us. There were quite some delivering spirits. I intercepted those I detected. But there were also those that did neither, they seemed to be doing something else. The city had also put in an investigation to find out what caused the power outage earlier this year but so far, they haven't found anything which is good news for me. I have the feeling that it might be wise to leave this city in the near future. I went to the plaza and saw Raishin with a huge sign with a picture of him a heart and Ella. I facepalmed, Ella is going to kick his ass if she finds out. I decided to tackle him and take his sign away but some guy started talking to him. I got closer and Raishin was happily talking about himself and his relationship.
Sup Raishin, do you have a new friend? Oh hey, Gert this is Agnis. Agnis, Gert was wondering what I was doing and I told him that I was showing off Ella and he is thinking of doing something like that too for his girlfriend.
Oh, Hello Gert, tell me a bit about your girlfriend if that’s the case. I wasn’t really interested in his girlfriend but I found this guy suspicious.
“Uhh, she is nice, a bit shy and I love her very much.” How long have you been together?
“Uhh, 2 years, why?” You have been 2 years with her but that is all you have to say about her? And if she is shy, don’t you think she isn’t going to like this? I pointed at the sign Raishin was holding and took it from him and destroyed it.
Hey! She is going to kick your ass I hope you’re prepared.
“Uhh, I haven't seen her that much!” Yeah, that’s bullshit! Who are you?! The guy instantly ran away.
Raishin we’re following him! I activated my Elgards eyes and we chased him down. I have a bad feeling about this.
Hey Agnis, I have a bad feeling about this! Same! I just thought about it. We got into the less crowded part of the city. I intercepted an attack coming at us from the side and Raishin evaded something coming out of a shadow. There were 4 more people. Our target handed notes to each of them and they spread out.
Oh no you don't! I used [Turning leaf] on 2 of them. I could simultaneously swap 2 targets now but the 2nd target would take mana. I froze them to the ground. Raishin teleported and managed to catch 2 but 1 escaped. I sent a clone after him but he seemed skilled at escaping. I created a space with illusions so that these 4 wouldn't escape. Who sent you!
“That is none of your business!” I wasn’t asking nicely! Raishin blasted off the arm of one of the spies.
Why were you poking around my girlfriend!
“Aagh! You have no idea who she is!” Well, then, why don’t you tell us? I froze 2 spies solid that tried to attack Raishin. I shattered the ice and one-shot them. Raishin blasted off the spy’s other arm. Tell me!
“Aaagh! I will die before I tell you that she is a princess!” Wow, this is the dumbest spy I’ve ever encountered. Yes, I know! She’s, my princess! But why are you after her?
And my friend is dumb too! Tell me!
Right, leave this to me. I put him under the illusion that showed his deepest fear.
“Aaagh ahh! Save me!” How about you tell me what I want to hear? The spy pissed his pants and spilled the beans. Whoever hired him truly messed up. But… This information was quite concerning. Ella or Shania as we knew her is actually the princess of Igrini kingdom. This kingdom has a king in power when there is a war going on and a queen when there is peace. The fact that a king is in power means that this country has been in a war quite recently but because the country is in peace, the next ruler will be a queen. And Shania has 2 older brothers and is the only daughter. Which means she will be the next queen.
So, I’m going to be a king? Hoo I surely hope not and I think you will more likely be executed than being a king. Anyways this isn't the whole story, is it? The spy blabbered more while still being under the illusion that he was getting tortured. It seems Shania hates how royalty and noblemen act and treat their citizens in general and that all she wants is to see the world. She can’t be a good ruler if she doesn't know how the world really works.
I knew Ella was smart but this makes a lot of sense. I also feel for her because she has some similarities to my mom. I gave a sign to Raishin that this is probably everything he knows and that he can kill the other spies. Personally, I don’t care that she kept this secret, we have secrets too and just like she would probably not believe ours, we might not have believed hers, the problem is how Raishin sees this.
I can't believe she hid this from me. He seemed quite sad.
You do realize we are hiding that we are mythical creatures, right? But this is different!
How? I don’t know!
Either way now that this has happened, we need to tell her we know and that people are after her. I had the feeling we need to leave this city soon before but now we need to put this as priority number 1. My clone didn't manage to catch the last guy. I cleaned up and dropped the illusions. I talked a bit more about this with Raishin. We would continue celebrating her birthday and tell her the day after. I increased the number of shadow clones to monitor the city. The day continued like how it was planned and Raishin and Ella had a great time. Raishin did a great job at hiding that this was bothering him.
Since I didn’t need to be with them at all times, I wrapped things up on my end. I paid for the hotel telling them we would be staying for 3 more days. I also notified the adventurer’s Association that we would be moving for an undetermined time to an undetermined place. Tania’s daddy wasn’t happy but he knew this was common for adventurers. He told me to talk to Tania before we would leave but I don’t think I will do that. I noticed that someone was following me around in the Association and I confronted him. He claimed to be my friend and that we’d met before. I don’t remember anyone by the name of Kal. He insisted and that he was the son of the president. Playing his Daddy card too, eh? I politely told him that I was busy and shook him off.
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The next day we held a small meeting with the 5 of us in Ted and Raishin’s room. Gregory and Ted didn’t know yet.
Right, this isn't gonna be easy to say so I’m just going to be direct here, Ella. Raishin, and I discovered yesterday that you are the princess of Igrini kingdom. We have no issues with that you keeping this secret but we’re telling you because yesterday Raishin and I encountered someone that was snooping around and it seemed he was looking for you, we extracted this information from him. I already came to the conclusion that we might have to move away from this city but since they seem to know that you are here, we might have to get out of here as soon as possible. I have already wrapped up some things, I paid for the hotel and notified the Association that we will be leaving but including today you have 3 days. I don’t know how fast these guys move but we’re already at a disadvantage, moreover, the capital is quite close so preferably finish everything today so that we can leave.
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“I… I’m sorry… I didn't mean to lie to you all…” I know! You did nothing wrong! Let's flee together and be happy! This feels like a fairytale, you’re not pulling our leg are you Agnis? Judging by how Ella reacted, I think it's safe to say this is the truth. Can you tell us why you escaped? Ella told us about the situation at the palace that it seemed like they were trying to turn her into a puppet leader to further their own agendas and also that since she has had a history of escaping the palace and mingling with the common folk that she knew that what she got taught didn’t match with the reality.
And one day she decided to go in the world and see what her country really was like. She did get caught every time she escaped so she focused on mastering light and dark magic, she also has an affinity for water magic but she thought it was useless until she met me. She wasn’t planning on escaping her duty of becoming a queen but she did want to become a good one. We are on your side Ella but just so you realize, we’re quite screwed you know.
“I’m sorry…” Hey Agnis! Don’t bully her!
“It’s ok Raishin, he is right, I did my best to erase all my traces but it wasn't enough…” Well… I think they found out because this idiot was walking around on the plaza with a sign with your and his image on it and he probably bragged to some spies and strangers about you… We leave you alone for a bit and this happens… Ella looked at Raishin and had a complicated expression but hugged him and forgave him. She did smack him afterward though.
Ow! You deserved this! So, Ella, or Princess Shania, what methods will the royal palace use to retrieve you?
“You don't need to be formal with me, you’re my dear friends. And I don’t think they will use the royal guards… I’m afraid that they will use the silent six…” Let me guess, they aren’t mute but assassins?
“I’m sorry… I think it is better if I escape alone, they won’t hurt me but they would probably kill you guys!” Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, that’s not how we roll, right? Hmm, you’re correct but this is a problem, they are professional assassins, not noobs like we have encountered since we escaped Boshi town. Ted, Gregory, Raishin, and Ella, you escape first, I will create false trails. Absolutely not! We either all go or we don’t! You just said they are professionals; you can’t convince me you can trick and survive 6 of them!
“Actually, there are 7 of them.” Then why are they called the silent six… you know what never mind… Well telling you exactly how many there are as an assassin group is kind of stupid and this information is actually really useful. So Agnis and I talked about this for a bit yesterday and ehh, we also have something we’ve been hiding from you. You see all of us, besides Ted, are mythical beasts.
“Huh? Raishin you, dummy! You are trying to make me feel better with a joke.” I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later. We all got our tails out.
“Huh? You're all beast kin? I’m sorry but I don’t recognize the race of any of you.” Well, I guess that makes sense, what Agnis and I discovered is that the knowledge about our races isn’t common knowledge anymore and what our category suggests, is mythical. Gregory gave a quick rundown. Ella was playing with Raishin’s tails while listening. I sensed something. It was almost noon but some shady figures were moving around boldly. Still within the alleys and stuff but they didn't seem to bother to conceal their presence much. 6 presences were closing in on us but from quite a distance. But because of that, I knew something was up because there are supposed to be 7.
They move fast, guys we have company! Gregory covered us in shadows and shadow-melded us. A shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere that was aiming to assassinate Raishin but he missed because of Gregory’s intervention. We appeared in a dark alley 200 meters from our hotel room.
“Guys, I want you to promise me one thing, especially you Raishin.” Hmm?
“Don’t come and save me when they catch me, they won't kill me, but they will kill you guys, please, abandon me if that happens, I will be fine!” Ok Sure. What?! Guys! She is one of us! I agree with Raishin!
Listen, I think Ella and I are the only ones that know what is going on because both of us are in the field of being assassins or rogues, this shit is serious, you saw how that assassin guy tore down Al in the C-rank assessment in January? They will tear through Greg and Ted’s defenses like that but 100 times easier, our only option is to run or kill them 1 by 1 and that is almost impossible if we have to make sure Ella doesn't get caught, also…
“Thank you Agnis but I got this, Raishin, Ted, please respect my wishes, I don’t want anyone to die or get hurt because of me, especially not you guys…” But… ok… Greg! Yeah, I noticed! Gregory and I created shadow clones of which half almost instantly got killed. I linked my eyes up with my buddies and Raishin tried to teleport but it got interrupted.
Yikes, guess that doesn’t work, can you link your eyes with Ella too? I fended off daggers flying out of nowhere and used [Turning leaf] on my allies to make them evade sneak attacks.
I’m sorry, I can’t do that right now. We need to get out of here! Ted punched with his bear avatar but his target evaded. We were only dealing with 3 of the 7 but the others were closing in.
Screw this! I covered us in 5 layers of illusions. And we got some breathing room and managed to get 10 minutes of uninterrupted escape time.
Greg, take Shania and Raishin and go ahead, Ted and I will lay some traps! I can’t make any traps though…
I need your bear avatar to protect me. I laid some frost traps and got my 5 layers of [Frozen skin]. This would be crucial because with this skill level, they would probably land some hits on me. They managed to break the illusions and took a good 1 minute to figure out our rough location. It was hard to keep to the shady alleys and not bring down the city so our options were severely limited. We were lucky that none of them were shadow users. 2 tried to teleport to us and I messed with their teleports and sent them in the other direction. Take that!
We ran through an alley and encountered a cliché scene of some thugs trying to intimidate an attractive young lady.
Scram! Ted punched the thugs away with his bear avatar and I apologized to her for the inconvenience as we continued running. I sensed a frost trap going off. It caught one assassin. I was hoping for more to get stuck. So, 2 were too far to be a problem and 1 was stuck. One presence disappeared so it only looked like 3 were following us.
Ugh, this shit again! I threw a [frost cloak] on Ted and used [Frozen ground]. The assassin appeared, he didn't slip but his aim was off because of the slippery floor, it broke a layer of my [Frozen skin] and I used [Frozen breath]. He tried to dispel it but this was frost magic. He noticed that it didn't work and evaded backward. Only his right arm was frozen. I sucked as much mana as I could out of him and he made the swift decision to get rid of his arm.
You are right, they aren't messing around. Ted tried to get a hit on the one-armed assassin but couldn't get a hit in but the assassin quickly identified the avatar's weak spot and threw augmented daggers at its joints and gradually made the avatar smaller. I pulled mana out of the surroundings and the assassin decided to retreat because it was at a disadvantage.
Is your bear avatar ok? If we get attacked by 2 of them, we might be in deep shit! I grabbed Ted and tried to teleport but it also got interrupted. I assume one of these guys is in charge of messing with teleports. I guess running it is. I dashed off with Ted. I made sure to stick to the low-populated alleys.
2 of the 4 on our tails headed towards Gregory, Raishin, and Ella. Gregory and Raishin were still linked to my vision so they could see that.
- How about you and Raishin coordinate a teleport at the same moment and see which one goes through? - - Good idea- I coordinated my teleport with Raishin and only ours went through.
Sup! Ours failed. I figured out which one is messing with our teleports, be right back!
Wait! Gregory used [Shadow bind] on me.
Let’s not be reckless, let's escape together. We reached the quieter suburbs so we could use bigger streets to escape. Suddenly an assassin appeared in front of us.
Crap I forgot about that one. Ugh, one arm again? One arm threw something at the ground and it suddenly teleported an army of royal guards and they surrounded us. Shit! That’s cheating!
“Hand over the princess! You're surrounded!” Hand her over or what?!
“Suffer consequences for your kidnapping!” It’s not like you will let us go even if we comply so there is no reason to willingly give her up!
“Guys, please this is enough…” No! Guys, I don’t want to be that guy but if we don’t get out of here those assassins are going to catch up. I pushed Raishin aside and took a dagger aimed at his heart, I was down to 3 layers of [Frozen skin] and this time I froze One arm solid and shattered him into a million pieces.
“He showed aggression! Attack!” So unreasonable! He attacked first! We tried to hold them off but not only them we tried to prevent Raishin from blowing up the whole town. I lost all my [Frozen skin] layers and each of us took some minor damage. And when the assassins caught up, they kidnapped Ella. Noo! My love!
“Guys leave me! I will be fine! Remember what you promised!” I created 7 illusion layers and used [Confusion] on the assassin who kidnapped Ella... He took a lot of damage but didn't flinch. Gregory created a shadow underneath us. I’m sorry Raishin but she’s right, these guys shifted from princess retrieval to kill the kidnappers mode. He shadow-melded us but Raishin broke out of it before the meld happened.
Raishin, you fool! We need to help him! We can’t! Gregory's shadow melded to the edge of the city. It didn't seem like we got pursued any longer.
Good now we can get them back now that they’re not pursuing us! I’m sorry but I don’t think that is a good idea. And that is the last thing I remember because I think Ted knocked me out.