Chapter 53. Time for the party (part 2)

Why is Bobby here? Isn't he supposed to be back to his village? Did he somehow manage to get in trouble with the royal family in the other country? No, he seems interested to be here, which means he somehow managed to convince the princess to bring him.

Do I only make friends that get themselves into trouble like me? Or do they get into trouble because I'm a bad influence on them?

But I digress, what I wanted to express before losing my train of thought, is that I'm happy to see my friend here and doing well.

I walked towards his group, knowing that I couldn't suddenly barge into the prince's group without getting some unwanted attention.

But like everyone here, eventually, they have to split up and talk with the other people, that is my chance to strike.

As I was slowly walking around the group waiting for them to split up or Bobby to see me, I was tapped on my shoulder by someone.

"Excuse me, Hero, I'm happy to see you doing well in here. How was the palace experience for you?"

I turned around to see someone that made me angry and surprised to see.

"Alexander, I didn't expect to see you here at the party, is your wife here as well?"

The man where all this started, the one house where I cured a poor soul from her undead life and I was rewarded with imprisonment In the palace.

Of course, it isn't his fault, he did pay me for my services, and he even risked getting into trouble by illegally teaching me how to enchant.

But logic doesn't usually work the same way emotions do, and I didn't realize that I hadn't gone over the betrayal that I went through, and I could feel it in my response.

"Yes, she is, she is back to her old self like nothing ever happened. She was furious when she heard you were taken by force by the palace. We managed to pull some strings, and I think we can force the Royal Family to send you on the field to get some experience. Once outside it would be easier for us to help you disappear in an accident."

I wasn't expecting this response from him. Alexander is not a man of words only, with this action he shows me that he's sorry for the betrayal and works for a way where it would free us.

Which I respect, and lessons my anger at him. It was something out of his control, he couldn't predict the Sultan would react like this, so he was in the position of choosing his family, over two people.

"And how long will we have to wait?"

"It would still take one more month."

That is awesome to hear, unfortunately, we don't have that much time. The prince has a dangerous plan that he plans to use tonight and probably blame it on me, and even if he doesn't do anything, the prisoners that are about to escape will make the too much of a mess, where the Sultan will play nice with the other Nobles.

Of course, I couldn't tell him anything about this, so I just nodded in understanding and we went on our ways.

Finally, the princess group split up and I could talk with my first friend in this world.

As I was sneaking closer to him, I thought how should I greet, a normal 'hey' wouldn't cut it after all.

I put my hand on his shoulders, forcing him not to turn his head and see me, and whispered.

"I have a message from your friend. He greets you from the afterlife, and tells you to live your life in peace."

He froze.

Then forcefully turned to see who was talking and we could finnaly see each other face to face after months.

His eyes were wide, he didn't speak, instead, he punched me in the gut.

*Agh-

He then lifted me back up and gave me a quick bear hug before looking relieved at me.

"I knew you were alive, but I feel much better seeing you in person than only knowing."

I was still panting from the punch.

Was he always this strong?

"You knew that I was alive? How?"

"Well, that's the reason I'm here. I heard there's a weird-looking guy in the desert who managed to cure a zombified person. Something that only in theory thought possible. And I happened to know a guy that has a lot of unknown knowledge, looks weird and nobody knows where he comes from."

Looks like I started to get popular internationally not only locally.

"So how did you manage to get into this situation, my friend? I couldn't believe the first time I heard about you how far away you were from me."

"Well you see, the difference between the two dimensions is-"

I talked with him while we went to a quieter corner, I talked about the withered skeleton king, how I managed to trick him, and how I met Froggy whom Bobby was very envious of his skill.

I told him about the cure, how the princess kidnapped us, and how I'd been looking for a way to escape for the past few months.

"And today is the day of action, me and Froggy will go invisible through the gates while everyone will be too confused with what's about to happen."

"Going invisible for an escape? Where have I ever heard about a similar position before? And what's the distraction going to be?"

Bobby looked at me with narrowed eyes, while pointing out how similar this situation is to our last encounter.

"It's different, this time I have a foolproof plan, and unfortunately I can't tell you the distraction because I don't know how it would happen, only that it would happen."

"Maybe I can convince Princess Elizabeth to take you and your friend with us, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to have a master brewer on her side. It would be a little risky but I think it's possible."

Bobby tried to help me with another option to get out of there, which I greatly appreciated.

"Unfortunately that wouldn't work. I'm 80% sure that the prince is going to do something dangerous tonight and blame it all on me. And even if he wouldn't do anything, the Sultan still wants us to accompany the Hero on his journey to defeat the unknown enemy."

"Prince Amun the second is going to do something dangerous tonight, only for you to take the fall? How you even managed to get into this situation never ceases to amaze me. Is there something I can help with?"

"Not right now, but once we get out I was planning on getting back to the village and staying low. You can help us by slowing down the search party."

"I still don't fully approve of your plan, there's too much risk. But I don't have enough power to help you right now, so I'll have to listen to you."

While still hesitant, he accepted to help the plan in his way.

We spent the rest of the time catching up. I found out how he got in contact with the princess.

I was surprised by how well he did at the academy that he caught the attention of the princess, unfortunately, he still got punished unjustly.

He also told me that Undying Flame visited him at the palace just to apologize, which I didn't know was possible until he told me the secret of her still being alive is constantly chugging regenerating potions.

Maybe I should bring some materials and let them craft my stuff.

We joked around until I heard the names that announced the start of the party.

"FROM THE GOLDEN DESERT, THE MOST PROSPEROUS COUNTRY ENTERS PRINCE ENCHANTER AMUN THE SECOND, AND PRINCESS ENCHANTER CLEOPATRA!"

The room was silenced for the second time tonight. The two royal siblings walked towards the podium putting pressure deemed for a ruler.

Once they arrived there the princess stood on the side while the prince spoke from the podium.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I'm glad you all managed to arrive tonight. We've all gathered here to celebrate the passing of another blessed year. But, the prophet has foreseen a dark time in the coming years. Monsters attacking cities day and night, without anyone burning, all led by a leader. But fear not! A hero shall arrive sent by the system itself! And we the Sandstone Kindome will be the one to help the hero on its journey."

Murmurs started all over the room, but once someone started to clap, a wave of clapping and cheering followed.

The prince satisfied, continued.

"As you may have heard, we found a cure for the zombification disease. And the creator of that method, the hero of this world is here with us willing to fight against the otherworldly hero, let's congratulate him for this noble decision!"

He started to clap, and everyone followed him while looking at poor Froggy. He didn't know In what hole to jump and die faster.

Several problems with his announcement. He didn't mention me for some reason, he also didn't mention that Froggy is a master brewer and the most important of them all, Froggy didn't choose to help the hero, he was forced into it.

But it doesn't matter, the presentation is done, and Froggy will die a few times while surrounded by nobles eager to befriend him. We will run to the tunnels before the Sultan appears and most likely when the whole mess will start.

Music started to play, no instruments or people were singing, and the noise came from the walls where the jukebox was most likely hidden.

Not all of them played the same music, but while you were getting further away from one corner, the music faded out, and getting closer to another corner you could hear a different music playing.

So the whole room was split into 4 dance floors, if you didn't fancy one type of music you only had to walk a few blocks in the opposite direction where a different jar of music playing, with different dances.

And if you didn't like music at all, you could go in the middle where the noise was just chatter.

I enjoyed some of the dances, some were done by the servants, while others by young nobles trying to impress their peers.

Finally, Froggy was left alone, and with one tired look at me, I gave the signal.

Both of us went in a different direction. I passed by Bobby and patted him on the shoulder without stopping, he looked confused at me before making a face of understanding and went to talk with some of the guards.

I was out in the garden, the moon was high in the sky and the trees were illuminated by lanterns. I got closer to a tree and checked everywhere in case someone was looking at me.

Nobody was.

I broke the dirt block and fell into a tight tunnel, I quickly covered the hole.

"Time for some action."

I chugged a potion of invisibility and speed and ran towards the gate without caring about the flickering torches.

After a few turns here and there I arrived at the small room under the gate. I looked around and nothing out of the ordinary was present.

"I must be the first."

From my inventory, I took two torches and held them in my hands.

I waited for a few moments before I heard quick steps coming towards me, but nobody I could see making them.

"You got here first, that's good what next?"

"Now we wait and see how the party will get wild."

We got to the surface, since we were invisible we could stay in the open as long as we didn't make too much noise. But just to be sure we hid behind one of the statues that was close enough to hear the guards but far enough so our particles won't be seen.

We waited and waited for what I could assume was half an hour, and then it happened.

The sounds of a powerful horn were blown, and the guards started to panic and discuss if they should stay or join to help. While they were confused about what to do, we silently opened the gate and ran through the empty streets.

We were under the speed effect so it was a weird feeling to see the noble houses go so fast beside us.

As we arrived at the second wall we jumped into one of the noble's lawns and searched for some horses. I mean every Nobel has horses, right?

It was too late, so all the shops were closed, and once we found the horses, I dropped a diamond, drank some milk to get rid of the potion effect, and went towards the gate.

Luckily the walls were open 24/7, and at least if you wanted to leave, the guards didn't even bother to check on us, just let us pass through. We were nobles and if we wanted to leave in the middle of the night, they didn't want to be the ones that needed to be silenced.

With great speed we got to the last wall, the guard seemed to want to stop us be I threw him a gold ingot and they let us pass through.

We were in the desert, we were finally free!

We both started to laugh like madmen but still rode toward the Stone Kingdom.

"We're free Froggy how do you feel?"

"It feels like a dream honestly I can't believe we pulled it off. I wonder what happened at the party."

"Ha, who knows, well find out once it's going to spread like wildfire. Now we need to get into hiding for a while and worst case scenario we go to the capital and ask my friend Bob for help."

"Is he the one you talked to so much at the party?"

"That's him, I'm still surprised how he managed to get here."

We rode in silence for the rest of the journey.

When suddenly the pits of my stomach started to hurt, and I blacked out for a short while.

When I could finally see again, I was back at the party, surrounded by scared nobles, angry guards, and the prince shouting.

"He's the one that killed the Sultan!"