The First Attempt

According to Alex, the new group of priests will actually arrive tomorrow. But rather than attacking them in the capital, where the risk of being found out was higher, Arina thought that it would be better to target them while they were still in the neighbouring town.

That way not many people would recognize her, and the welcoming entourage wouldn't bother her either. As long as no dragons suddenly appeared, Arina should still be able to sleep for a few hours once she got back.

Going by horse to the next town usually takes half a day. But fortunately Arina, who has a private flying black cloud, can arrive in less than an hour. In this kind situation, it sure is nice to have dark magic.

"Well, now where to look..." She muttered while looking around for a while. It was already night, but somehow the atmosphere of the city was a little too quiet.

But after walking for a while, she finally saw that there was a crowd light around the town square. In fact, it wasn't just crowded, it seemed that the entire population of the city had indeed gathered there. Arina wasn't sure what situation this was in, but the sight felt similar to when the poor people were queuing up for royal aid.

Curious, Arina approached a fat mother who was holding her child. "Um, may I ask what is happening?"

"Oh my, I've been waiting since afternoon. Actually, when will the priest treat my child?!" The mother immediately complained. "At this rate my waist will hurt too!"

"Do not say that. Those priests and priestesses have been treating everyone since noon, so they must be tired too." Said a grandmother who was sitting on the edge of the shower pool. "And your child only scratched her knees. Such injuries don't really need a priest, you know."

"But when are we going to meet the royal priests again, right? Like, once they reach the capital, they will just lock them up in the palace to take care of those nobles."

"..." After listening to the conversation for a while, Arina finally left & moved closer to the front row slowly. But unfortunately she had to go inside the city hall building if she wanted to see the priests, and Arina obviously couldn't go through the front door which was guarded by several soldiers.

The high priestess must be inside too. So Arina had thought about stabbing herself in the stomach so she could pretend to be seriously injured and enter. But… She couldn't just suddenly meet and kill the high priestess in front of everyone either. Not to mention she still wasn't sure which priestess to kill--Unless she's bothered to kill 'everyone' as well.

Until Arina could see her face and made sure she was alone, Arina didn't want to put herself in harm's way just yet.

Well, in the end Arina is really only good at protecting herself. She's not an assassin who's skilled at planning assassinations. Thinking of that, she wanted to strangle Alex again. 'I'll definitely kill him too sometime!'

After thinking for a while, Arina finally decided to go to the side of the building first to follow the people peeking from the window. And after pushing people here and there, she finally saw the situation inside, where all the priests and priestesses were busy healing people.

Arina was immediately scanning if there was any priestess who looked different from the others, but she just couldn't find any.

Until suddenly a girl appeared running. "I'm sorry for taking so long. Here." She said while putting a big box. Unlike the other priests who were busy healing people, it seemed like she was in charge of giving the medicines.

And there Arina saw it. The mark on her neck.

She is the incarnation of the high priest.

Arina was a little surprised--first was because the girl looked younger than she thought. The problem is the priests who entered the palace were usually people in their 30s. Because like any other important position in the palace, you usually need to spend many years first before getting employed.

But the incarnation of the high priest must be different. She was at least the same age as Arina, or even younger. With such gold and silky hair, that girl looked so small and cute. Not to mention her bright eyes and shiny lips, yes, she kind of looked like an angel.

"Tsk." Somehow feeling annoyed, Arina walked away again from the building. She had never been bothered by the auras of the priests, but such a holy and kind aura itch her a little.

Arina thought for a while as to how to even approach her. But she only came up with one solution. She needed to make a commotion.

So after quite a distance, she finally took out something from her small pocket. Which is a handful of smoked firecrackers that she brought from home. Arina actually brought a few other things, but for the first step, this is the best.

"..." But as she was about to throw it, Arina suddenly felt a doubt. Not about whether it was the right thing to do or not. But something more… Scary. Will this go smoothly, or…

'It's okay. She's just a little girl'

And Arina finally threw it.

CLANG! SHATTER! "What is that?!" Everyone turned their heads at the sound of windows breaking. BUSH! But it wasn't even a few seconds before the firecrackers started exploding and filled the room with a stinking white mist.

"Cough, cough!" Arina was hoping everyone would immediately leave the building. But instead, they were just busy coughing in confusion. So after quietly entering the building, Arina needed to grab someone by the neck and make him scream.

"Wha--Ugh, help! HELP!" He screamed, but Arina eventually knocked him out.

"Ehem." And after warming up a little, Arina then screamed too. "Everyone, run!!" And just like that, everyone finally started to rush out while screaming here and there.

Arina saw the soldiers leading all the priests and priestesses out including her target. But before she needed to catch up with them, that girl suddenly saw an old woman fell and decided to step back to help her.

Grinning with a free opportunity, Arina immediately reached the dagger she was carrying and started approaching her. And as soon as she was close enough, she immediately raised her hand to immediately stab her in the back—

SLASH! But out of nowhere, a knife suddenly flew towards Arina. And before she even had a chance to worry about her slashed arm, she also saw a silhouette of someone that was about to wield his sword towards her.

"Kh!" The laces of her robe were cut, but at least her neck was still intact.

"Go!" Said the man to the high priestess. She looked confused, but then she hurriedly got up and ran with the old woman.

Clang! And the man wielded his sword again to Arina.

"Tsk." Arina could actually use a sword, so she managed to hold him for a bit. But with her small dagger, it felt so draining.

'Should I use my magic?' She briefly thought to pull her necklace. But then… What for?? The high priestess was already outside and she definitely couldn't show her magic in front of everyone there.

"Damn it!" Deciding that the situation was already too useless, Arina finally decided to cancel her mission and just ran out of the building.

Arina ran into the forest quickly, but unfortunately the man was still chasing her. And just as she looked back to check, suddenly a sword hurtled towards her again.

Arina tried to avoid it, but this time her stomach got slashed.

And not only that, the man also jumped to throw his kick. Arina used her arm to block it, but her body just got thrown until she crashed into a tree. "Ack!"

"So annoying." Said the man while he took his sword. Arina was still sitting in pain, but he was already pointing his sword towards her again. "You guys really don't get tired, do you? Who sent an assassin again this time?"

Arina's robe was off, but she still pressed her face against the tree—Because she still wanted to hide her identity, also because she wanted to grumble about her bad luck tonight.

"Say! Who sent you?" Said the man again who had now put his sword on Arina's back. But because she didn't answer, the man was already going to grab her by the neck and force her to stand up so he could see her face.

ZRATT! But before his hands could touch Arina, something cut his arm first. "ARGH! WHAT THE HELL…?!"

Arina who was still busy clutching her stomach, didn't even bother to turn around and left everything to her shadow after she took off her necklace. Only after the voices behind her grew quiet did she get up to leave.

Or that was the plan. But Arina's anger suddenly blew up and she went back to the man's dead body and trampled his head. "Shit! Fuck! You son of a bitch!" She screamed in annoyance.

"Die! Die… What?" But when the reflection of the moonlight began to slip through the leaves, Arina finally saw the man's face more clearly.

"He…" Her memory was very faint, but it was the man she had seen at a party around 2 years ago. "What's he doing here…?"

"Gin! Gin!" But when Arina was still confused, she heard someone screaming and running from afar. That's the girl from before. The high priestess.

"..." Arina went silent and thought about trying to kill her once again. But apart from being in a bad mood, Arina also needed to heal her stomach immediately if she didn't want to faint in the middle of nowhere.

So with a heavy heart, Arina chose to leave. "Just watch out next time."