Claudian rushed, and Daniel fell back on his training. He had to take this seriously, as the golden-haired lady was an upper Midling.

She slashed forward, golden daggers gleaming under the brilliant starlight.

And Daniel understood that this…may be easier than he had thought.

Dual wielding.

Unless one was a creature with naturally more than two arms, (and there were some fae creatures that had more than two arms,) choosing two one-handed weapons over a sword and a shield or using both hands for the weapon measured poorly.

Any creature weak enough to be killed with a one-handed weapon was not such a danger that having two one-handed weapons offered a benefit. There were slight advantages, such as increased speed, but unless a fae trained specifically in that field, the increase was not worth the loss of power of a two-handed weapon, or the safety that came from having a shield and a weapon.

Of course, that was before magic got involved. The Law of Fae rarely had any interaction with Weapons, outside of the 37 swords that once saved the World from the darkness of the great void of oblivion. But with runes, one could create interesting and useful combinations of weapons.

A fire dagger, a frosting knife, and a hollowing cane. Just to name a few brilliant single-handed weapons that magic made significantly better and more dangerous. And with those magic enhancements, shields could also be overcome with ease. Any number of runes or spells could be used to create total mayhem.

Magic could then be used to create more powerful shields and overcome that…but that was beside the point.

Unless magic was involved, two one-handed weapons had many disadvantages.

And the golden elf had shiny, glimmering, but completely magic-free weapons.

Daniel wanted to run for cover, but if he was being set up, then that cover itself would be a trap.

He needed more information. And with the Game and the Law of Fae, few Fae would miss the opportunity to glean some Influence or Authority by going straight for the kill.

Time to gather some information.

Daniel waded back, looking shocked as he gauged how many people were paying attention. Not many.

That was fine. Small audiences were sometimes best for warming up. “Oh no, someone I’ve never considered turning up as an assassin! That destroys my entire mindset!”

Okay, perhaps not that shocked. He sometimes struggled to know how to play off being attacked by amateur assassins.

Because that’s what this was. An amateur moving in before the professionals arrived.

Claudian.

First to arrive meant fodder. And that was still true for assassins. Fodder was always invited to these events. The very important people always entered exactly when the event was started. The unimportant ones were to be the fanfare, which meant they needed to arrive early enough to applaud when the important people arrived.

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Daniel stepped away from the one with softly glowing hair as she swiped out with her two golden daggers again. He only saw Claudian. But he knew she traveled with two other elfin maidens. They were noble attendants of some minor house. They would have access to some weapons, if not of high quality.

She had some good form, Daniel had to admit. If only she had trained properly.

She lunged again (She did like jumping at people, so she had considerable practice), slashing high and slashing low, and Daniel observed one of the limitations of dual wielding as he side-steps to the left and backward, feet sure over the unlevel cobblestone in the darkness of night.

Dual-wielders. The worst and the best fought with two swords. Matheus had forbidden Daniel from learning. It violated several fundamentals of good swordsmanship, mainly that you lost power slashing in two directions.

Many fae made up for this loss with power or power enhancements. Runed daggers, power armor, guidance magic. Anything one could imagine had already been accomplished somewhere.

But she was not trained, and not practiced. She was bold, and powerful, but had fewer ideas about actually connecting her attacks to Daniel. She must view this like a dance, and not visualize the completion of the attack itself.

Hurting people was difficult. Deliberately piercing someone’s body was not natural to many Fae. Little fae did not fight, needing the protection of the higher ranking.

Daniel scanned the crowds of the street. Most important Fae were still inside their estates and houses, getting ready. Another ten minutes and the crowd would be vastly different. And while there were more lowling Fae slowing to watch, none yet looked truly worried. The twisting Citadel did not even halt to admire the fight.

Daniel kept searching for the other elfin maidens. One had amber hair and the other pink. He spotted the one with pink hair, in the archway of a nearby bridge, wearing a silvery cloak and holding a bow. Well, that would work better if it was stringed, so he promptly went back to searching for the last of the trio as he continued to evade Claudian.

Step, step, step, forward, step, step, step, to the side, went the former Lordling over the cobblestoned road. There was an old barrel that he was near, but he’d save that for later.

He considered that this was a bad place for an assassination attempt. There were multiple escape routes. There were people everywhere.

There were some positives, Daniel considered, as he watched his opponent dash forward. “Why won’t you catch me? Do you like to see a pretty girl stumble and fall?” she said, flipping her golden hair over her shoulder coyly.

No Lordling would consider getting attacked here, so the average Lordling may have let their guards down.

Another possibility was that the crowds were full of other assassins, and anyone coming to ‘help’ may be an even more dangerous assassin than the shining she-elf…

Daniel at last spied on the last of the trio, watching and recording the encounter. Recording with magic was an expensive undertaking. He understood. In the line of sight of the recording device was himself and the golden hair elf, then in the foreground of the shot was the pink-haired elf holding a bow. The other option was that this showed loyalties. Less a real attempt to take his life, and more to propel oneself forward.

All the trio had to do was make an impression.

So…Daniel decided to win this fight in the least dramatic way possible. If he overwhelmed her too badly, she may even get sympathy.

She came in, her twin daggers held at the ready.

Daniel side-swiped the first hand, causing her right hand to jam up the other hand. He stepped forward, taking her elbow. “Claudian, Claudian, always reaching, but never watching.”

She was a midling fae to his lowling fae, so she was stronger than he and easily wrenched her elbow free of his grasp. She flared her nose, upset at his tone. She lunged at him again, off balance.

Even if he had not gotten the boost from the Dungeon, this would be no obstacle for him.

Where was the real attack? Not now, during this attack, but the noose was getting tighter and tighter. Time to find the real assassin.

The Servant Branch moved forward again, and Claudian’s lack of training was self-evident as she flinched.

She flinched too hard, not paying attention to her standing, and more importantly, not paying attention to what was behind her.

She stumbled backward into the barrel, rainwater and murk splattering her golden attire.