Chapter 21 - Assassination Attempt

Tring!

The door of the bar opened.

"Goodness, I can't believe there was an attempt on the King's life along with the crown prince."

"I was near the stage, I saw the arrow hitting the crown prince missed and hit his shoulders instead."

"The king is able to live thanks to the healers nearby but I heard that he is unconscious and is in a critical condition."

"They seemed to have caught the assassin that shot the arrows."

Hearing the conversation while the patron was entering the inn, Theo swore in his mind and went to an empty room at the 4th floor of the inn.

He could guess what happened after but hearing the patrons conversation before going up the stairs confirmed his fears.

"The assassin was immediately interrogated on the spot while the healers were bandaging the crown prince in front of him"

"I heard him say that it was under the order of the 2nd prince Maximilian."

Gasp!!!

'Ah shit, it takes a while from the Plaza to the inn. Max must be captured or surrounded in the academy by now.'

Theo then checked Max's location on the tracking skill to see him still in the academy training ground.

Theo then changed his hair brown and wore the White mask he bought.

Having changed into a commoners casual outfit, he tore the transportation talisman paper and teleported right next Max shown on his Tracking skill.

He found himself surrounded by guards working under the crown prince judging by their uniform.

"For the assassination attempt on the king and crown prince, you are under arr..."

The guard stopped speaking as soon as someone suddenly appeared next to Prince Max.

Ignoring all the gaze and the angry turned confused look on Max's face, he grabbed Max by his shoulders and tore his second teleportation talisman paper with his mouth and other free hand.

With Max next to him, Theo returned to the empty room in the inn his was in.

The whole process from when he left the inn to returning took him less than half a minute.

He looked to his side to see a confused an slightly scared Max looking at him with his spear up and on guard at Theo.

Ignoring Max, Theo put a hand up to stop Max from speaking, sat down on the bed while resting his head on his hands trying to process all the information and how to proceed.

Just 5 minutes ago, Max was busy improving his spearmanship at the academy training ground when one of the academy staff that knows of his identity came running in.

"You have to run! There's no time, Caleb acted." He said to Max in a rush when he could suddenly heard many footsteps running in. "Dammit there's no time. Stay strong, we'll find a way to get you out."

Before Max could process what the man was saying, the man disappeared through the back door while the Caleb, his brother the crown prince's guards came rushing in.

"Prince Maximilian Osborn, surrender your weapon and come with us." The leading guard said.

"For the assassination attempt on the king and crown prince, you are under arr..."

While Max was getting ready for a fight holding his spear tightly, someone suddenly appeared next to him while the leading guard was speaking.

He was grabbed and teleported to a small room.

Unsure the person was a friend or a foe, he held his spear in front of him ready to act. Before Max could even ask the question in his head, the person in front of him stopped him before sitting on the bed while contemplating something which cause Max to be even more confused.

He studied person that he guessed was helping him to be quite young with dark brown wearing a casual outfit. Although older than him, he didn't look much older than 20 even with the white mask on.

The first thing Theo did was buying a voice changing skill for 1000 points that can alter his voice in the system store to prevent Max from recognising his voice.

He then got a invisibility necklace from the item Store that would allow the wearer to stay invisible for 5 minutes with unlimited activation and a cooldown of 5 hours for 3000 points.

To avoid suspicion, he put his hand in his pocket and took the necklace from his inventory with his hand in the pocket which made it look like it has always been there.

Taking off his mask he then looked at Max while holding the necklace and started speaking. "Alright, you can ask what you want to ask now."

"Who are you? What happened? Where's my father? What are you planning to do with me?" Max shot out.

Sighing Theo replied, "Who I am isn't important. You just need to know that I am tasked with protecting you for the next four... no... three year"

Since the mission has started almost a year ago, he had less than four years left to protect Max.

"All I know is that there was an assassination attempt on the King as well as the crown prince at the end of the harvest festival. The assassins caught confessed that they had done it under your orders. The king is still alive but according to news I have heard, is in critical condition while your brother, Cale the crown prince is injured but not critical since the arrow missed and hit his shoulders instead."

Stopping Max from speaking, Theo continued, "I know you had nothing to do with the assassination. Looking at things, it's most likely the crown prince acting to take over the throne and from what I can guess, he seem to have external help as well."

Listening to Theo, Max panicked slightly and started to think what he could do onwards.

"Thank you for saving me. What can I call you and where am I?"

"You can call me Ash, you're in an inn I owned. I'll have your meal brought up in a while. If you have any request, you can write it down on a paper and slip it under the door.

You should have most of the things you need in this room which has a bathroom included. I won't be by your side 24/7. Here." Theo passed Max a necklace. "This is an artefact that will allow you to stay invisible for 5 minutes. It can only be used at an interval of 5 hours. I'm sure the crown price will be searching for you all over the place so use this if guards come knocking down the door. Remember to keep the room empty and clean so that it doesn't seem like there's someone living here recently when the guards come."

"I have to leave now, I'll have someone leave your meal outside the door and have them inform you of its arrival and its dishes collected after 30 minutes so you don't have to meet anyone."

"Thank you." Max said to him after his explanation.

Leaving Max, Theo went to the restroom on that floor and changed his clothes as well as his hair colour. He then went downstairs to the kitchen, "There's a customer in room 402 I checked in myself, who would like to have his meal soon. Leave the meal on the floor and knock informing him of the meals arrival. He'll take it himself when he is ready and leave the dishes out when he is done later."

"No problem boss." Emma replied.

"Provide the person in room 402 with 3 meals a day and have the dishes collected 30 minutes after leaving the meal. He like avoiding people so he will be making any request he needs by slipping a paper through the gap of the door. Don't worry for the cost."

The then continued with a serious expression, "If there are any checks from the guards or royal knights, inform them that the room is empty and only used for emergencies when the inn is full. Don't worry about them discovering the person in 402, act as though it's empty other than doing what I have just informed you."

"Cooperate with the officials and let then search the inn if they arrive. Remember to act like it's an empty room and let them check 402 as well."

Understanding the seriousness and underlying meaning of Theo's explanation. Emma didn't ask any question and did as Theo ordered.

Emma understood that there would be guards arriving later in search of someone who is most likely the person in 402. Still slightly worried, Emma chose not to inform the others in case if they were to accidentally let something slip. So she decided to take up the job herself.

After sorting everything out, Theo returned to the bar where he left his drink and informed Frank of what he just said to Emma as well.

Since he is in the innkeeper of sorts when Theo was away, he felt that it was necessary to inform him.

The moment he left the bar and returned only took him 5 minutes. He could hear the customers ordering for drinks and continuing their conversation on what happened earlier.

After gathering all the information he could from the customers, he decided to return to the academy after changing back into his original look.

It would be suspicious for him to suddenly disappear along with the 2nd Prince. It would be wiser if he were to return and turn up in his boarding as well as classes like he didn't know what has happened.