War.

"Observe."

With her golden dagger in her hand, Anna displayed a few moves to Vincent. He was finding it hard to follow her movement.

"Look at my feet."

She slowed down a little.

Vincent saw her footwork and kept staring at her feet.

"That's it?"

He had been training for hours now. He was expecting something more flashy, as she was inhumanely fast.

"Practice. You might feel that it is easy, but it took years of effort to temper each part of my movement. As a sword saint, I was trained to use each part of my body to fight."

His comment was insensitive.

"Your turn."

He took out his dagger.

"Take a deep breath in."

He did what she said.

"Begin!"

He moved his feet. His left leg followed her movement, and he felt himself become faster.

"Watch out!"

His legs collided with each other. A moment later, he felt the ground on his face.

Anna gave him a hand to get up.

"You did well for your first attempt."

Her smile tormented him.

"Again."

He took his stance.

Mona was observing from some distance. They had moved to a makeshift tent inside the forest.

"Something the matter?"

James came out of the tent. The food was ready, and he was starving.

"Is this going to become frequent?"

"Maybe. He is a hero after all."

James understood his sister the best. She was worried about Vincent.

"Can we move to another kingdom?"

"We can't. Despite its faults, Malen is a safe place."

Vincent tripped again. His clothes were getting dirty.

"At the rate, there is a chance that grandma can strike a deal with the king. Miss Anna has been a big help."

James frowned.

"Is that really the only option?"

She shared Melida's opinion on royalty.

"I don't know. We will see."

She looked at the pot in front of her. The meat was cooked.

"Miss Anna, Vincent! The food is ready!"

Vincent turned around, and so did Anna.

"Looks like they are done for the day."

James chuckled. All that training was bound to build up an appetite.

---------------------------------------------

"Is there any news for me from the church?"

It had been days since he had gotten a message from Trajan. Gaius wanted to make sure that everything was still alright.

"No, your majesty. Minister Trajan has been busy with all the affairs regarding the church."

The messenger said in a respectful tone.

"Ask him to come and meet me tomorrow."

The messenger bowed down and left the throne room.

"Are we done?"

Today's proceedings had come to their end. The king had addressed all the issues.

The ministers prepared to leave. Gaius himself was the first person to leave the throne room, so he got up and walked towards the exit.

'The king is on the move.'

He looked around. He reached the hallway to his room. After taking a few steps, he paused.

While he was the king, he preferred to move alone. Bodyguards were only used when he ventured outside for hunting trips and his visits to other cities.

"I have been walking down this hall for decades. Although it's not something to brag about, I take note of every change that happens in this palace."

<<Lightening>>

His body was enveloped in strands of electricity.

The assassins revealed themselves. There were 20 of them.

"You have made a big mistake."

He snapped his fingers, and thousands of those strands shot out towards the assassins.

Some of them were able to move around in time, but most of them turned into ash. When they felt the mana coursing around his body, they felt that their fate was sealed.

Gaius dropped his royal coat. He took out his ax and said,

"Which kingdom do you 4 belong to?"

The remaining assassins decided to go through with the plan. It was not like they could escape anyway.

One of them took out a shortsword. He rushed towards Gaius and tried to stab him with it.

Gaius opened his arms and invited the Assassin to try and attack. As soon as the shortsword approached his chest, it exploded. The amount of mana surrounding him overloaded the magic weapon.

The assassins' hand had been blown along with it. Also, the electricity had stunned him to the ground.

The other 3 looked at their comrade and then looked back at Gaius.

"Ready to surrender?"

He placed his foot on the paralyzed assassin's head and crushed it.

The other assassins didn't stop at that. They went ahead with their plan.

A coordinated attack. Gaius swung his ax, and two more of the bodies turned to crisp.

He held back while attacking the last of them. The last assassin fell to the floor.

"Figures."

He removed his mask and looked at his neck. It was a slave mark.

"Hmm?"

His eyes widened. This was a slave mark from the alliance of the 4 gods. They oversaw the functioning of the churches across all the kingdoms. No kingdom had the guts to openly declare war on them. They usually got what they wanted, and it looked like they wanted Gaius dead.

"What a mess."

He summoned a flame and took care of the body.

"I'll have to inform everyone. War is approaching."

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