Theo and Sir Arslan walked around the house of the third missing noble. It was the house of Lord Cobra, a criminal underworld figure and a main supporter of Ana. And someone Theo hated.
They checked around, the guard might be missing some clue. But inside the house, there was nothing at all. All the furniture was where they supposed to be and there was no sign of violence or struggle. Even the investigator who was sent there couldn't find anything. There was no way the investigator would lie. After all, Lord Cobra signed his paycheck.
"Sir, can we talk for a bit?" Theo asked Sir Arslan.
"Sure." They walked to the garden, where no one else was around.
"I think this is the start of Aria's plan, Sir. No one would be stupid enough to attack or kidnap Count Cobra from his own home. Since he controls the spy corps and the secret police. It must be Wrath's men doing. " Theo whispered.
"Yes. Lord Cobra is a supporter of Princess Ana, but how do they accomplish this?"
"Is there any trap door or the like leading to the sewer? If the army I saw in the sewer is Wrath's men, then that's a good explanation."
"No. Even the investigator does not find anything like that."
Theo looked around the garden and noticed something strange. There was a fountain with no water there. Cobra was an extravagant man with an excessive wealth. More than almost anyone in this city, he liked to boast his wealth and power. There was no way he has a waterless fountain in his garden, it was simply not good enough.
Theo approached the fountain. "Has the investigator looked at this fountain?"
Sir Arslan knew what Theo meant. "Investigator!" He called them.
Like Theo suspected, some part of the fountain could be moved to reveal a trap door. A trap door leading to The Sewer underneath. "Place some guards here and tell them to watch over this hole!" Sir Arslan ordered.
Theo approached him. "What do we do now Sir?"
"I will return back to the castle and assign some men to investigate this matter. Please come to the Castle tonight, the castle is filled with Aria's subordinate, we will need all the help we can get."
"Of course, Sir."
Sir Arslan grabbed Theo before he left. "And one more thing, be careful. There's a chance you might be another target."
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It was the night of the same day. Theo walked toward Redmound Palace as Sir Arslan requested.
He has made all the preparation beforehand. He left Vivi and Lyana at the inn with some golds and some foods. He explained everything that happened and told them to be on guard in case something happened. He had sent magic letters to everyone he think could be of help to keep Mary safe. He couldn't risk using a physical letter in case it was intercepted. A magical letter could be intercepted too, but it was much harder.
The street of Redmound crowded even during the night. He has been careful after what Sir Arslan said about him being another target, but if the street condition was like that, he couldn't do much. He wore his full plate armor except for his helmet, which was hanging on his back. The guards prohibited the use of full face helmet inside the city so he had no choices.
Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. The presence was strange, it was not a normal person. It was hostile.
He turned. There was no one.
He turned again toward Redmound Castle. It was then, he realized, a dagger was coming toward him from the crowd.
It was the spy woman who has been following him the past few days. She wore a brown cloak that blended perfectly with the crowds.
Theo caught the dagger with both hands and stopped it before it could reach his neck. The dagger was covered with slimy substance, poison.
Another dagger came from her other hand. He let go one of his hand and caught the second dagger.
Unable to move her hands, the spy woman headbutted his face before letting of both of her daggers go and running off to the crowd. She vanished among the people.
Her headbutt did not hurt that much, but he realized something. A dart was sticking on his neck. "That's what she aimed for." He pulled the dart.
The dart didn't get too deep, but it was enough to inject the poison into his bloodstream. Looking only at the dart, it wasn't enough for him to determine what kind of poison it was, and he didn't have the luxury to find out. It would be too late if he waited until he found out what kind of poison it was.
He put the dart in one of his pouches and took out a small green vial. It was a magical potion that could neutralize a weak poison or reduce the effectiveness of a strong one. It was a staple antidote used by experienced adventurers. Since it was impossible to prepare every kind of antidote for every kind of poison there was in the wild, the magical antidote was popular despite its cost. He has a few of those vials in one of his pouches.
He pulled the cap without minding his surrounding.
Another dart flew toward him, hitting the vial and knocking it off his hand.
His eyes darted toward the source of the dart. It was the spy woman, standing on the corner leading to a small alley. She ran toward the alley as soon as Theo saw her. He followed her, assassin usually holds the antidote to their own poison for safety reason.
But as soon as he turned to face the alley, she was gone. There was no trace of her. Even the dust covered ground leave none of her footprints. That left him with only one option, up.
Just as he looked up, another dart flew toward his face. He dodged it and let it bounced off his armor.
The spy woman clicked her tongue and ran away again. This time, Theo won't let her get away. He used all the strength his leg could muster to catch the agile spy woman. He ran through the alley, ignoring the people he shoved and pushed aside. He followed her until they reached a part of the city he was unfamiliar with.
He stopped moving. He crouched down and held his forehead, then grunted and grimaced. His breath became rapid and his face showed incredible pain. He looked around.
The spy woman was nowhere to be seen. But just because he couldn't see her, it didn't mean she was not near. It would be bad if he tried to drink another potion without checking his surrounding.
There was a wooden building next to him that seemed abandoned with the door opened. It was suspicious, but he didn't have the luxury to think about it.
He entered it, and after briefly checking his surrounding, he opened another vial of potion. He didn't have time to check every nook and cranny of the building.
There was a sound of a rope being pulled and metal chain rattling. Before he knew it, a metal chain ensnared his right leg and pulled it upward.
The world turned upside down for him as he hung with his leg upward. He was able to hold to the vial in his hand, but the liquid poured out. A dagger flew out of nowhere and cut his belt, causing his sword and all of his trusty pouches to fell to the floor.
He struggled and flailed his arm wildly, trying to get his sword back. It was useless. He was hung low enough that he could touch the sword with the tip of his finger, but not low enough for him to pick it up. "FUUCK!!!"
From the shadow, the spy woman appeared. Her stare was cold and serious, there was no room for personal emotion there. A trained assassin.
Theo swung his body, hoping to reach the spy woman. In desperation, he tried to grab her that stood just outside his reach. "Give me! FUCK! Give...me! The antidote! Give me!" His movement became erratic. "Give..."
His whole body went limp as his eyes rolled back. "Don't worry. It's only a sleeping poison." Said the spy woman. She looked around to confirm that no one followed them before closing the door. She returned her gaze to her target. She hit his head with her elbow just to make sure.
Her target didn't move nor did he reacted.
He was wearing a full plate armor that would be too heavy for her to carry with him. She sighed and began removing his armor. First his gauntlet, his helmet, then his chest plate. There was a few strange thing she realized when she took off his armor. There were three hidden daggers on his clothes, a few hidden vials of strong poison, and their respective antidote. It was strange because her target was a swordsman, but the hidden dagger and various poison reminded her of herself. A spy, an assassin. Though a warrior who utilized dirty tricks and poison wasn't unheard o-
Her head jerked forward.
No. Theo's hand was pulling it toward his body. The next thing she saw was his knee planting itself on her face.
Before she could recover from the surprise attack, he returned her elbow smash and headbutt. She fell to the ground, dazed, unconscious, and with a broken nose.
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"Wake up!" Theo said while tapping the spy woman's cheek.
He had reversed their position and hung the spy woman using the same chain that hung him before. But this time, he hung her upright with the chain tied to her arm.
She didn't respond. He grabbed her broken nose and forcefully fixed it. "Well, that didn't wake her up." He took a step backward and started reattaching all the items that fell to the floor.
"How?" She asked. Theo turned to face the spy woman who had just regained her consciousness. "How can you not lose consciousness?"
Theo smiled. "How many vials of that potion do you think I bring with me?" He pointed his finger to the empty vial on the floor. "10. Not just one or two, ten. Back then when I saw you running to the alley, I knew that was my only chance. So I opened two vials and take a drink. The rest I just need to trick you by acting like the poison actually worked."
Her eyes opened wide. "Impossible! You started to grab your head the exact moment the poison should begin to act. That mean you know what kind of poison I used."
"Yes, I do."
"How?!!"
Theo chuckled. "Do you think I would just tell you? Give you some monologue exposition about my past and backstory? No. No, I won't." He walked near her. "Now give me the antidote. That potion I drank before only reduce the poison effectiveness, not cure it."
She smirked. "I don't bring it with me. And even if I did, do you think I will give it to you?"
Contrary to her expectation, he smiled. "Good. I was expecting that answer." He grabbed the cloak that covered her body and ripped it open along with whatever piece of clothing was underneath it. He ran his finger over her snow white skin. "If you're not going to give me the antidote, then I'm going to perform some........thorough searching."