Percy kept a straight face as he walked through his small but comfortable room. His eyes threatened to expose Percy for a moment, but he regained control of himself.

Why is someone else in my room, hiding in the shadows with daggers in his hands? I cannot sense any bloodlust, but it is not like you cannot hide bloodlust. That guy must be an assassin. But why would anyone assassinate me? Did I offend someone? The Reeze Duke wouldn’t do something like that while I reside in his Order’s barracks. But then…how did someone else find out I would sleep in the barracks?

Too many questions flashed through his mind, and he wondered if the assassin had been following him for a while now. But if that was the case…why?

Percy was curious who that guy was, who had sent him, and for what reason he had been hired, but his self-preservation was much greater. He tried to stay as calm as possible as he walked past the assassin, who didn’t move an inch. For a moment, Percy wondered if he had been mistaken and the assassin was merely his shadow or something along those lines, but that wasn’t the case.

How much longer will you stay like that? You don’t strike me as impatient or unprofessional with your perfect concealment, but did you sense something off? Was I too obvious?

His mind was bombarded by questions as he reached the shadows where the assassin was hiding. He had to walk past the assassin to reach the bed, but going to sleep was the last thing on his mind right now. No matter how tired he was, Percy wouldn’t go to sleep with an assassin in the room.

[Hawk Eyes] was fully active, depicting the finest details in the corner of his eyes. It showed Percy enough to tell that the assassin wouldn’t attack him right away. The assassin didn’t move an inch as Percy walked past. However, that didn’t mean Percy would stay silent. On the contrary, Percy was angry and frustrated. His curiosity dispersed, replaced by uncontrollable anger as he swung around with [Berserk] active.

His negative emotions amplified while his strength and speed increased drastically. A blade made of [Frostbite] conjured in his hand, and mana churned through his entire body, further augmenting his speed and strength, just like [Basic Strength Boost] and [Basic Agility Boost] did.

Percy’s body creaked and groaned from the power surging through him, but he didn’t care. He stabbed the assassin, who reacted incredibly fast. He was surprised but moved quickly enough to lift his arm and block the frostbite blade with one dagger. Percy’s tongue clicked in annoyance, but his attack was not over. The frostbite blade exploded the instant the assassin blocked his attack, releasing countless icicle shards in all directions.

The assassin was about to counterattack, ignoring the freezing chill filling the air, when a frostbite icicle whisked at him from the left – the Blueflame Hawk was summoned via [Silent Reaper] the moment Percy spun around. The Blueflame Hawk had summoned an icicle and attacked the assassin, who responded too slowly as a Gnoll Warrior manifested next to Percy at the same time. The Gnoll Warrior’s eyes were crimson red as the [Berserk] Augmentation activated, and it attacked at the same time as the frostbite icicle headed for the assassin’s head.

The assassin cursed softly and emerged from the shadows to cleave through the frostbite icicle, only to find one of the Gnoll Warrior’s claws pierce through the assassin’s chest. The Gnoll Warrior had been faster than expected, whereas his other arm moved too slowly to block the incoming attack. The exploding frostbite blade had slowed his reaction, even if it was only by a quarter of a second.

Percy released [Frostbite] to pierce the assassin’s hands with two icicles, forcing the assassin to let go of his weapons. The assassin groaned in pain, but Percy didn’t care. No questions were asked. Instead, Percy’s hands reached for the mask covering the assassin’s face.

However, before Percy could discover the assassin’s identity, something unexpected happened. His high mana perception picked up something odd. It was almost like a storm started brewing in the assassin’s chest. A storm of mana.

“Come with me!” The assassin roared, blood leaking through his mask.

At this moment, Percy realized something bad was about to happen.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He instinctively retrieved the Gnoll Warrior and the Blueflame Hawk, spun around on his heels, and charged out of the room.

“Too late.” The assassin’s voice resounded in a whisper through the tiny room as Percy reached the door.

A moment later, the assassin exploded, taking the room and everything inside it with him.

***

“So…you’re telling me an assassin was waiting for you in your room, and he killed himself by what felt like transforming his mana reserves into a storm?” An elderly man, the head of the Glacia Knight Order, asked in a large office.

Damian Sergon had been busy with the reports of the Glacia Knights, who had been assigned as Melissa’s retinue when the explosion happened. The building shook violently, and everyone feared it would collapse suddenly. However, the structure stood firm. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about its interior. One of the guest rooms in the barracks had been utterly demolished, and even the walls of the adjacent rooms were damaged. The cracks spread from one side of the wall to the other side.

“I’m not sure what you want me to tell you. I nearly died in there,” Percy retorted, seated opposite the head of the Glacia Knight Order with most of his clothes missing. A young man wielding a wooden wand urged Percy to stop moving as he continued healing him. A small lizard with an anti-proportionally long tail screeched happily on the Healer’s right shoulder. It used the same power as the Healer to soothe Percy’s pain and accelerate the healing process.

“I’m just trying to figure out what happened. You have been in the capital for less than a day, but someone is already trying to assassinate you? Are you trying to fool me?!”

Percy frowned deeply.

Is he telling me I instigated all of this? Why in the seven hells would I do that? If I hadn’t made it out of the room, I would be dead now!

He felt like saying a lot of things to the Glacia Knight Order’s head but refrained from doing so.

“To be honest, I don’t care if you believe me. It is a fact that I don’t have a suitable Ego or Augmentations to demolish the barracks like that. If you are still trying to say I did something which I couldn’t have done even if I wanted to – which is not the case as I don’t have a reason to destroy the barracks – you can do as you please.”

“You should mind your manners, kiddo.” Damian Sergon reminded Percy curtly.

“I only show respect to those who respect me. You haven’t shown me an ounce of respect, and you are hinting I did something evil even though you have no reason to do so,” Percy spat back, the aftermath of [Berserk] fueling him with anger, “That being said, you should mind your manners!”

Damian was about to retort but decided against it. He nodded slowly and pointed to some files.

“I guess you’re right. You might not accept this as an excuse, but the Duke and the Glacia Knight Order have been in the court a few times in the last few moons. That might not interest you, but today’s incident can be used against the Glacia Knight Order. The crown won’t trust the Glacia Knight Order with crucial missions if they cannot even protect a guest in their own barracks,” The Glacia Knight Order head explained, the agitation leaving his voice.

That doesn’t mean you can blame me for everything, dumbass!

Percy thought, but he calmed down. There was no need to attack a defeated man. There was no need for that.

“All I want to know is how the assassin knew I would be in the barracks of the Glacia Knight Order and that I would be given this particular room. Either someone in the Glacia Knight Order has been waiting for a guest to arrive, or the assassin has been following me. I guess it is the latter. Unfortunately, my Ego didn’t pick up something, otherwise, I should have been able to find out the Assassin’s name.”

The only time Percy absorbed human corpses was the day he killed the Adventurers. He recalled their faces and the names popping up on the interfaces and that his Ego moved against his intentions. Unfortunately, no interface popped up this time.

“You think the assassin was sent to kill you not because you are a guest of the Glacia Knight Order but because of your eyes and identity?” Damian asked, snorting when he saw Percy’s expression, “I am not blind or deaf. I can see your eye color and have heard enough about the unknown identity of the kid in the Wintermoon estate to put one and one together.”

Percy nodded reluctantly.

“Someone who doesn’t want you in the capital must have ordered your assassination if your guess is correct,” He said with a shrug, “That means the capital holds the secret of your identity. I’d consider that a gain.”

Percy blinked but said nothing.

Would you consider it as a gain if someone ordered your death? Not only do you have problems controlling your temper, but you are also insane!

For a moment, Percy didn’t want anything else than to leave. Still, Damien’s words resounded in his head.

“Someone wants to stop me from discovering who I am…”

Could that be it?