Melancholic Chess Game

After the tyrannical King Arcturus fell into bed, the wars between princes and nobles escalated. The war between princes and princesses, who had a right to the throne, caused the nobility to become polarized, forcing them to choose one of the thirteen crown princes.

Eventually, they were divided into five groups as Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern, and Central nobles. Eastern Nobles 1. Prince Arcturus II, Western Nobles 3. Princess Elena, Northern Nobles 2. Prince Arthur, Southern Nobles 7. Prince Tarquin and the Central nobles were the 12th century. He decided to support Prince Alexander.

As the war between the five factions intensifies day by day, the year of the Rat is 1331. In the year, the tyrant King Arcturus I appeared before the people and expressed his official acceptance of the war between the crown princes.

Thirteen crown princes were to elect one of the twenty-three provinces of Arcania by lot and become the head of the province. After two years, the lord of the most developed region would be given the title of 'heir' and the king would leave the throne to the heir.

After the king's announcement, the balance of power changed. A few days before the draw, the candidates had already been determined.

1. Prince Arcturus II and 3. Princess Elena was the lead candidate, followed by other princes supported by the five factions.

In this war, no one cared about the 13. Prince Zephyr was, as usual, ostracized by nobles and princes. It was normal for it to be like this. After all, who would care about someone without any political power or combat capability?

As a prince without support at the age of sixteen, he had pulled the short trash as usual.

The rules were announced and he was appointed governor of Twilight Province.

The appointed governors left the capital the next day after the draw with their lalas and a number of royal knights.

"Damn! They definitely cheated." 13. Prince Zephyr's lala, Count of Santis, Alan Santis, frowns and curses.

As a notorious figure among the nobility, he was aware of the events taking place inside. The war between the princes caused polarization not only between noble households, but also in the palace. It was certain that the officers were secretly doing some work for the prince they were taking the side of.

"Count Alan, please master yourself."

The handsome youth sitting opposite Count Alan spoke in a calm tone. Like everyone else who had spent a long time in the palace, he was expecting this, but he didn't think they would go this far. Whoever arranged this job did not want him to survive the war between the princes.

Twilight Prefecture was not only the northernmost part of the kingdom. It was also the furthest city from the capital. It was certainly the most disadvantaged region among the thirteen provinces. Because they were dealing with the problem of poverty and corruption, as well as the problem of bandits and monsters.

"Prince, don't worry. Of course, you will overcome it and your efforts will pay off."

When the prince was born, Alan was rewarded with the title of count by the thirteenth concubine. That wasn't pure goodwill, of course, from Alan 13. He wanted him to be a bodyguard and teacher for the prince.

Since then, the queen has been with Zephyr for 15 years after she died.

"I'm not sure I'll live by then. My brothers and sisters will do everything in their power to kill me and confiscate the barren land that I have."

"Every blow that does not kill will make you pure, my prince. You have to endure until you have a sword that can cut anything and doesn't break despite every blow."

"The first blow has already come. Stop the convoy. We came to the İkiztepe Valley."

Count Alan frowned again. His face, full of elegant wrinkles, was suddenly distorted. He breathed in silence and clicked on the window. One of the knights escorting the vehicle approached.

"What's your request?"

"Stop the convoy immediately and get into a defensive position. We're probably going to be in the crossfire."

"Excuse me?"

The knight frowned. He didn't seem to believe what Count Alan was saying. His lips were bent sarcastically, and he said confidently, "I want to say with all due respect that the royal convoy is guarded by the royal knights. There can be no thug or organization on this continent that would try to attack such a convoy, count."

Zephyr said he didn't like being questioned about orders, adding, "Only do what you're told." "That's your mission, isn't it?"

The knight's smile fell, and he looked at Zephyr with angry eyes, but he didn't say anything. He turned around and shouted, "Stop the convoy and get into a defensive position!"

"Do you have any other requests?"

"Pretend to send a few men to the mountain for exploration, but they'll be back after a few minutes. By this time, the enemies will have already attacked. First, take care of the mountain on the right, then take care of the left and deal with the enemies in our path. Don't forget to lead the archers. Oh, and I'm going to ask for one more thing."

The knight did not understand what was happening. All he thought about was that the prince should write a novel. His imagination was absolutely unique.

He had heard that the prince was popular among women, and now he knew why.

But he was also a servant of command. He had a family to take care of. He could not take risks and refuse the prince's orders.

So he carried out the orders.

Ten seconds later, several knights went to explore the mountain. He also fulfilled the prince's last wish. All that remained were the eight knights guarding the convoy and the servants in the other cars in the convoy.

A few seconds after the knights disappeared among the trees, something obscured the sun. Arrows! The arrows coming from both sides were filled with magic power. Two of the knights turned to hedgehogs before they could even react. The rest reacted in time and managed to get away with only a few scrapes.

The prince's car was intact. Thanks to Count Alan's defensive spell called the Ring of Fire, the arrows were caught in a ring of fire before they could touch the car, and they turned around and returned to where they came from.

This was a sealed spell that Count Alan received from the royal treasury thanks to his achievements. Although he could only use it a few times because of his current power, he sent more than twenty arrows in the direction they came from.

Moaning sounds were heard as arrows stabbed into figures hidden among the trees. As soon as the knights spotted the assassins, they went on the offensive. Almost all of them flocked to the mountain on the right. The person who led them was the escort knight who had previously despised Zephyr.

Now the words had gained meaning.

In the area where the knights aimed to attack, a team of twenty people pinned the branches of trees. When they saw the knights rushing to them without hesitation, they all panicked. Something was going very wrong. Protecting the prince was their greatest duty because they were professionals, but contrary to what they thought, they were desperately attacking them.

"Ambush fails! We're backing down!"

When the leader of the assassins realized that the knights had entered the forest, he gave the order to retreat without hesitation. The ambush had failed. Now everything was up to the battle team that blocked the way.

The assassins began to retreat using their only escape route. None of them were masters in close range, and engaging in close-range warfare with powerful people like royal knights was suicidal. Luckily they were all agile. If they kept this distance, they could successfully escape.

But at that very moment, a kick landed in the face of the leader of the assassins. His white mask suddenly shattered into pieces and his nose went inside. A young knight descended from the top of the tree and swung his sword at his waistband. The leader of the assassins said goodbye to his head torso before he could react.

"How?!"

The other assassins tried to disperse on all sides, but there was one knight on all four sides.

They were trapped.

The royal knights were professional killers who had undergone special training, although there were only four of them. The assassins were experts in their fields, but they were no different from close-range chickens. As such, they could not pass the opposing knights and were caught by the reinforcements. The battle lasted only ten seconds. In those ten seconds, everyone except one prisoner was slaughtered.

The knights moved again.

They crossed to the opposite mountain at a wide angle and took the assassins who came down from the mountain by surprise. However, some of them managed to reach the prince's vehicle.

Among those who managed to reach the vehicle, one person attracted great attention. This was an old man who had sharp knives in the corners of his bow.

"The trouble is big! They have an expert!"

The old man skillfully escaped from the knights who came upon him and left no obstacles between him and the prince's residence. Despite this, the expression on his face never changed.

He stretched his beam and let go of his arrow. Even Count Alan so closely could only protect himself. He couldn't afford a second person.

Explodes!

When the arrow hit the vehicle, the vehicle exploded like a balloon. Pieces of wood were scattered around, and dust covered everywhere.

"Hm?"

The old man looked at the last parts of the exploding car and the figure that appeared among the dust before retracting. Count Alan was alone. Despite the impact of the explosion and the power of the arrow, it had received only a few abrasions.

"Where's the prince?"

The old man shouted as he regressed, but Count Alan received no answer. All he received was a fire arrow that shone like the sun.

"How dare! How dare you!"

Count Alan seemed to be furious. Without hesitation, he cast his spells. Even basic spells had a devastating effect on his hands. Fire arrows danced around and began to fall like rain. The assassins who kept the knights occupied were riddled with holes.

Even the old man had a hard time. Although he dodged a few arrows, the blow he suffered from behind caused him to falter. This time was enough for a few knights to knock him down. The escort knights knocked him down with a nimble gesture and quickly neutralized him.

Only the old man survived. A total of forty assassins had been identified, twenty on the right and twenty on the left. Thirty-eight of them were executed where they were, and two were taken prisoner.

"Leave the old man alive, and execute the other man after questioning him." Zephyr took off the helmet and handed it back to the knight next to him, "The old man may be of use to us. Bring the other to a painless death."

"Prince Zephyr! Are you okay?" Count Alan anxiously ran to the prince's tired figure. Although the prince tried to stand tall, he was stiffened. Judging by the blood flowing from his arm, an arrow grazed him.

The prince was born and was not inclined to the natural martial arts. So he had an extremely delicate body.

Zephyr smiled to comfort Count Alan and did not refuse his help. He leaned himself against him and exhaled deeply, saying, "Attack the other party without doubting it. Don't hesitate to use the carriages as bait."

"Understood, sir!"

When the knights received the orders, they took action.