Chapter 28:Variables [3]

After setting myself up on the tree branch surrounding the clearing, I patiently waited for the darkness to descend.

*DRIP*

*DROP*

*DRIP*

Unsurprised by the sudden, relentless rain, I silently observed my surroundings.

The problem I spent countless hours trying to solve was how to kidnap Alya.

She was careful and cautious, so I knew that despite any evidence or common sense, she would heed Lily's warning.

As an Elven princess, Alya had endured countless assassin attempts, so this was nothing new to her. I even imagined that she had some sort of protocol for these situations.

The possibility of getting her to leave her room was 0. Unlike the short-tempered Irene, she was calm and calculating.

Then how exactly do I ensure that Alya gets into the hands of the Gemstone order..?

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard a faint rustle in the bushes right below me. Looking below with my enhanced eyesight, I could see right through the bushes and identify 5 figures lurking around the clearing.

My false illusion of Alya being here would soon shatter, and the kidnappers would leave, causing an entirely different future, so I immediately sprung into action.

After scanning the area momentarily, I looked for the easiest target.

One person, adorned with an Iron badge, signifying their rank in the Gemstone Order, was distanced from the others.

Not only that, but the man had a similar body structure to me, making us indistinguishable in the darkness of the night.

Raising my right hand, I tapped my eye and immediately felt my perception of time slow as the rain droplets seemed to freeze mid-air.

Not wasting any time, I used a dash, stepping forward with incredible speed, and lunged at my target with my daggers titled upward.

My dash, combined with my slowing-of-time ability, was simply lethal. At this stage in the game, no one except the top 10 students and some villains could avoid it.

In the vision of others around me, I was simply a blur, indiscernible from their surroundings.

Having calculated the exact distance and position my daggers needed to be in, as soon I moved 10 meters forward with a dash, my dagger was already in the kidnapper's heart.

I didn't even have to move my hands or any part of my body; the man was already dead.

There was no sound or any signs whatsoever.

The perfect assassination.

Laying the lifeless body quietly on the ground, I grabbed his iron badge and attached it to my night-black shirt.

At this point, all my knowledge of the future was useless. I had no idea what the assassin's next actions would be or how long they would wait.

It felt surreal not knowing what would happen next, but simultaneously, a sense of exhilaration washed over me.

Maybe life had gotten a bit dull...?

Well, better dull than dead.

With the mask concealing most of my tone, I let out muffled whisper to my new comrades.

"I can go check out the surrounding area for any signs."

Almost immediately, I heard another rustle in the bush across from me. As I turned my gaze toward the noise, I saw a slender man dressed in a suit with horns protruding from his skull.

Is he trying to reveal his identity as a djinn?

The horned figure glanced around for a bit before cautiously replying.

"... They did say the princess would be here... Looking around might be dangerous... but if she's not here, we must know..."

After another moment, the djinn continued.

"Alright, go scout. Let us know of anything important. Do not be noticed."

Replying with a nod of the head, I backed away from the clearing and faded from sight, using the darkness of the night as a barrier.

Seeing how the group hadn't bothered to search the backpack or items on the ground yet, I guessed that I had at least 5 minutes.

5 minutes to capture Alya, and the sleeping gas requires 5 minutes to take effect.

It was going to be a close one.

After ensuring that the darkness had completely concealed me, I climbed up the tree and moved at incredible speeds through the thick forest toward the dorm building.

Once reaching the roof of the dorm building, I quickly checked to ensure the string with fireworks was intact, and sure enough, they were.

Alya wouldn't dare open her window with Lily's warnings, so she couldn't have detected them.

Walking towards a big round pipe, I slowly uncapped the gas bottle.

Even Alya couldn't account for the ventilation pipe, as she could never imagine that someone could figure out the exact route the pipe took to her room.

After all, this one ventilation pipe led into all 500 rooms within the dorm building, so someone would have to distinguish the 1 route that the pipe took out of 500 that led to Alya's room.

"Fortunately, I'm not just someone!"

Man, I really need to humble myself, or I'll keep going with all this main character stuff.

With my enriched eyesight, I could easily identify the pipe's route to Alya's room, so without any hesitation, I turned the bottle upside down and carefully let the gas into the pipes.

As for why I wasn't being more careful, I had already blocked off all the possible routes except the one to Alya's room.

Although such a task may have seemed difficult, I had almost a full day to prepare for it, and compared to other parts of this plan, this was nothing as it didn't even involve any danger.

When the gas was released, I inwardly started counting down in my head.

Due to her past experiences, Alya could have been trained with these gases, and since she already knew there was a danger at hand, I was sure she would realize the appearance of the gas.

That was, of course, if there were no other dangers.

Why worry about some drowsiness when an entire fireworks show is happening right in front of you?

4 minutes, 30 seconds...

4 minutes...

3 minutes, 30 seconds...

When my internal countdown hit 3 minutes, I slightly tugged at the string.

The match immediately lit the fireworks attached to the end of the string, and they dashed forward, right into the window of Alya's room.

The glass shattered under the impact of the firework, and the firework continued its charge for a moment before I heard it finally explode.

*CACKLE*

*CACKLE*

After tugging on the string 3 more times, I jumped from the roof onto the windowsill of Alya's room and entered the room completely unnoticed.

...

...

...

Rather than being tense and wasting her entire day being scared, Alya treated this as normal. It wasn't arrogance or pride that made her do this. It was just that she had simply grown accustomed to the constant assassination attempts.

Most of the time, she didn't even have a warning, but this time, she had been personally sought out by a hero's family daughter, Lily.

Alya sat down on her lavish armchair with a book in one hand and a glass of tea in the other; however, her mind was not on her book in the slightest.

What was Lily planning?

Originally, Alya planned to go out for elemental training, but after hearing Lily's warnings, she decided that skipping one day wouldn't change anything and decided to rest in her room.

Of course, Alya didn't trust this girl at all, but in this scenario, trusting her was the best-calculated move.

Train and risk dying or stay inside.

Having despised humans all her life, Alya couldn't fathom why the girl had warned her.

Weren't they all supposed to be selfish? The humans she knew were pathetic and ignored the poor to fulfill their selfish desires.

Of course, there was the possibility that Lily was simply tricking her; if so, she would pay dearly.

As Alya continued reading, she subconsciously yawned before glancing at the clock by her bedside.

"Odd... it's not even 7 yet."

Interrupting her train of thought, she immediately heard the sound of glass shattering.

*CRASH*

Already being prepared for anything, Alya picked up the staff behind her armchair and carefully stood up; however, before she could even see the window, a missile flew by her.

*CRACKLE*

The missile exploded the next second; however, instead of her room exploding, there was simply the sound of countless other smaller explosions, and a cloud of smoke appeared in her room.

"Fireworks, not bombs."

Raising her staff, Alya immediately began chanting.

"Whispering breezes, rise and bend / Wind elementals, now descend!"

Instantly, the cloud of smoke disappeared; however, Alya did not relax, and rightfully so. The next second, three more fireworks came dashing into her room.

As three more clouds of smoke appeared, her walls became further damaged; Alya didn't hesitate to scream out despite the damage to her dignity.

"HELP!"

In the next minute, Alya chanted 3 more times and cleared the smoke from her room. The walls were littered with small burns while Alya remained unharmed.

Being careful and cautious, Alya immediately began to search for clues, not allowing her mind to rest for a minute. 

Her head was overflowing with so many thoughts and theories that she didn't even notice her physical state declining.

Only after Alya realized that she didn't even possess the power to lift her staff anymore did she panic.

Not hesitating anymore, she pressed the distress button in her pocket. As she didn't want to involve her fellow elves in this assassination attempt earlier, she had only called for help out loud to the academy guards, but now the situation was dire.

Of course, it was now far too late.

Collapsing on the floor, Alya struggled to leave her eyelids open as her eyes began to dim; the last scene she saw was a figure covered in black slowly approaching her.

"ha, I've really done it this time, haven't I?"

Her parents would cry and worry. 

The entire elven kingdom would come to a halt.

War could even happen between the humans and elves, as this occurred right in the middle of the human realm.

All because of her...

Just how useless was she?

After all her training, when it came down to it, she was weak.

She desperately prayed and wished for another chance.

Why hadn't she taken the warning more seriously?

She had chided her mind and convinced herself that simply hiding in the building was enough, but she was wrong.

It was her fault for being so accustomed to these things, but who could blame her? What was this, the fiftieth attempt on her life?

It couldn't end like this for her, could it?

She hadn't even been able to make real friends.

Everyone around her just respected her because of her status.

She had never had the joy of eating out, playing games, or even doing homework with friends.

It was her own fault; she had secluded herself and suppressed her emotions

Had she truly been living so far, or had she just been playing the role of Elven princess?

No good memories flashed before her eyes; there was nothing to show.

However, her wish didn't come to fruition, and her eyelids involuntarily closed, sealing her in a world of pure darkness.

...

...

...

Grabbing the unconscious body of Alya, I carefully placed her in my arms and walked back to the shattered window.

Instead of immediately fleeing, I instead waited.

Just a second later, the door immediately flung open, and I sensed an intense murdering intent from 3 figures with spears, each having elongated ears.

Just on time.

Who would have thought the officials were late again!?

Even without knowing the future, I had predicted this.

Can these authors get any more unoriginal?

Flashing a wink to the elves under my mask, I taunted them by waving my hand, and before they could react, I jumped out of the window with Alya in my arms.

Although my movement speed was decreased from holding Alya, I was still moving too fast to be seen as I jumped from tree to tree, running back to the clearing.

Upon reaching the clearing, I made myself visible by walking into the middle, and immediately, I heard the urgent voice of the same horned figure.

"Zen, where the hell have you been? I told you to scout around, not to travel to another goddamn country."

"..."

"Forget it any news? She isn't anywhere in sight... the reports must have been wrong."

With a smile under my mask, I raised out my arms, revealing the beautiful body of their target, Alya.

Although I couldn't see the deviled man's emotions through his mask, I could predict them from his next words.

"Zen, how the h-. Where t-. Wh-. You know what, forget it, explain later, let's get going. Good job, you'll be rewarded dearly."

The other assassins had remained silent the entire time, prompting me to believe they were robots.

Shouldn't these guys be grateful that I saved them from being fired for not completing the mission?

We had to teleport out from the secret passageway to leave the academy using scrolls, so our team immediately prepared to depart.

However, before we could do anything, the sound of countless footsteps was heard. The ground seemed to shake as the synchronized footsteps hit the ground.

The deviled figure and the rest of us halted as we stared at this noise's source.

Using my eyesight, I peered past the darkness of the night and saw a shield.

A shield with a silver fox.

Silverbrook.

Ah, Lily had finally made her move.