Aile knew that the person hiding in the woods was the young master. He was stealthily there to only appear in the nick of time and dramatically save the princess. Another person was standing far away, waiting for Aile. He would be the catalyst to create enmity between Aile and the princess.
Aile arrived in front of them, and the guard was on high alert, especially, since Aile told him to knock out someone. He was annoyed at how Aile did not let him explain that the "assassin" was at the same level as him. He thought Aile planned to steal the book. He hardened his resolve to stop him if he does that.
As soon as Aile arrived, the person who stood far away got a nod from the assassin, and he inadvertently moved towards Aile.
Aile did not want the initiative to lie with them.
Therefore, Aile quickly said to the assassin, "I do not have time, first show me if you actually have the second part of the book."
The assassin was surprised for a second and then decided to give in, he made a hand gesture to the person that was walking towards Aile to come towards him.
Then the person who was far away changed his trajectory and walked towards him. He received the book and slowly and with respect, he brought it towards Aile.
Aile looked at the 20 years old person with grey skin that looked sick walk towards him lifelessly, weakly holding the book. His hand and feet wobbled from time to time.
Aile knew that this person was doing this against his will, but one thing was clear to him, he was willing to set him up, and that made him his enemy.
The person walked towards him and handed him the book and said, "Boss, here it is."
Aile sneered, he knew their plan. First, they would make this person associate with him. Which he just did by calling him "boss" and acting close to him. Then they would let the princess know about the Ruin book.
As a person who was interested in alchemy, she would either want it herself or prevent Aile from buying as the book was restricted by the kingdom.
Most likely she would want the Ruin book as an amateur alchemist for herself. This is where this person who called Aile, "boss," will start his harassment. First, he would verbally argue with her and then try to physically hurt her with a knife that he has hidden.
This is when the young master will come and protect the princess. Then because Aile was associated with the person who tried to kill the princess, he would not be able to escape punishment for his subordinate's action.
Later, even if they kill him with the testimony of the princess, they would not face any problems. After all, the princess would have seen this person act as Aile's subordinate and then attacked her.
She would accept their version of the story quite easily; that Aile told his subordinate to attack her. She would be grateful to them, and she would do everything to protect the people that saved her. Afterwards, the kingdom could even award the young master for his action.
Aile, of course, had no plans to let this little charade happen right in front of him. Aile quickly took the book and started to read it page by page. He was just scanning it with his eyes. Aile knew that with his superior cultivation and soul, he can memorize this information with just a look.
Seven minutes had passed, one of the groups that came here due to Aile's rumours was getting really close to their location.
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At this moment, Aile felt a stinging pain from his head as a large amount of information was being sent through his auxiliary connection. He had succeeded in achieving more than 70 percent comprehension in the beginning stage of Ruins. The headache was for a short duration, and Aile noticed a lot of new information added in his mind. He was thrilled, he now had all knowledge of Ruins at the elementary level. He got a wide grin on his face.
Aile no longer needed to care about the book, as it no longer held any value. He had reached the first stage of his objective.
He only needed to make a clean exit now to have his goal complete for today.
He did not have time to check the new information, but he formed a smirk of victory. He no longer needed the book.
Just then he heard the assassin comment. Clearly, he too wanted to expedite his plan and entice the princess.
"That is definitely the real Ingredient Concealing Ruin book. No need to check it. We have a reputation to keep."
The princess's curiosity immediately piqued.
"Wait, what is that?" She said with a melodious voice, falling into the trap of the assassin.
The assassin immediately smirked, his efforts had paid off, and he wanted to continue and reap the benefits.
He immediately said, "It is an Ingredient Concealing Ruin book. It is used in Alchemy to hide the ingredients in the pills that are concocted."
The princess replied with a giddy tone, "How much are you selling it for?"
Her naivety and impulsiveness could clearly be seen through that. She was clearly showing her tremendous interest, which would definitely increase the price for no reason and leave her with no bargaining advantage. However, as the princess, money had never had much value to her anyways.
The assassin said, "Two gold coin."
The princess replied, "So cheap, I want it! I will buy it for four gold coins."
Then the person who acted as Aile subordinate growled at the princess, "We got it first, so it is ours!"
Aile sighed, he knew that now that person had officially taken a stance against him. The guilt he felt about knocking him out was gone.
Aile looked at Jake and pointed at the idiot with the big mouth and made a gesture with his eyes to knock him out. What he did not realize was that Jake had his hand tightly rolled into a fist.
Jake had noticed that the woman in the veil was not ordinary from her clothes, so he did not hold back. He threw a punch at the person who clearly wanted to create a conflict between them.
Bam
The person flew up like a kite in the sky and slammed the tree far away.
The young man had blood coming from his mouth, and his hand kept on twitching in the location he was hit. With is already grey coloured sick face it did not look great for him. It seemed that he might not make it alive after that punch.
No one knew why the events transpired like that.
Aile and everyone had a surprised expression.
The assassin was surprised because he did not expect this to happen, his plan had been ruined and by Aile's guard nonetheless. He became furious as it could be seen by his red face and a death glare he gave in the direction of Jake.
The princess was confused because she thought the person was Aile's subordinate, and he did not expect to see an internal fight.
Aile was surprised because he had repeatedly said to Jake to knock him out and he was sure that he had not said, to kill him at any point. This was just too violent of a reaction. He did not expect this. Jake had never shown any sign of anger management issue prior to this. So Aile was really surprised by this behaviour.
He had not taken into account Jake would have figured out their plot and act heavy-handedly due to his past.
Ching
Ching
Ching
Ching
The assassin and his three followers immediately took out their weapons. They were looking at Jake and Aile with hostility.
"What is the meaning of this?" Shouted the assassin.
Aile realized the situation had turned for the worst. There would be no way that Jake could take one fourth-level and three third-level practitioners by himself. He was anxious, but he did not want to show weakness in front of them.
He had eventually expected to be in such a situation. However, in his plan, this would be much later.
He had only prepared a solution for this kind of situation down the line. He had finally learned that plans rarely do come to fruition in the way it was intended.
Aile mind started to work faster to come with a solution that would allow him to escape. He searched the surrounding through his hearing and tried to find a way out.
His heart started to beat faster and faster.
Thump-thumb
Thump-thumb
Thump-thumb
And he gritted his teeth, he thought that if he could get to the young master and threatened them perhaps that would work. But he immediately rejected it, he knew that it would never work. He was too far away from him, and there would be no way that he could make it there safely with so many practitioners blocking him.