Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 121: The Assassin (1)

"A-Adi, what is, what is going on r-right now?!"

Nothing was making sense. They were just talking in the carriage, and then there was that blinding flash of light, and they were now in some forest. Then Adrian suddenly ran out of the carriage and dragged her along, and the carriage exploded moments later.

It was complete chaos.

Adrian scanned the surroundings with his sharp gaze and then shook his head lightly.

"I don’t know."

After a brief silence that felt incredibly heavy, he began speaking in a tense voice that she had never heard.

"I might not be at a high enough phase to use teleportation, but I have studied it very deeply. Which is why I know the phenomenon that caused that flash of light. It had to be a mass teleportation spell, considering that the carriage was teleported along with us."

He paused and scanned the surroundings once again.

"Mass teleportation is a tier seven spell, and considering how rare space element is, the cause of the spell is most likely a magitool—a spell scroll for mass teleportation."

Evangeline gritted her teeth and spoke in frustration.

"Adi, what does all that have to do with the situation? Why did the carriage explode? How did you predict it beforehand? Where even are we?"

Why did Adrian have to speak in such a way? It made things so much harder to understand, and it was so frustrating now that they were suddenly in a desperate situation.

Adrian finally looked at her and spoke in a grave tone.

"Do you not get it? Since space affinity is so rare, any magitool related to Space element is incredibly expensive. Someone spent more than a few million lux just to teleport us away—most likely to separate us from the knight following us in another carriage. There is no way the perpetrator has good intentions."

Evangeline’s heart began beating wildly once again.

They had been teleported to an unknown forest, and the carriage had exploded. It didn’t take a genius to guess that whoever was behind this wanted them dead.

Adrian suddenly pulled her to her feet.

"We can’t waste more time staying still; we need to run as far away as possible. There is no way they won’t come after us again."

Evangeline nodded.

The two of them then started running once again, navigating through the forest. Their speed was a bit slower compared to before in order to conserve more stamina.

While running, Adrian grabbed the sword at his waist and pulled it out of its sheath. He turned to her.

"Be ready to defend yourself; we don’t know what will happen."

Evangeline nodded and channeled mana into both her hands, ready to cast a spell at a moment’s notice.

But even after an hour of constant running, they didn’t encounter anyone. There was no attack, nor did it feel as though someone was chasing them.

’Did we successfully escape?’

She turned to Adrian.

"How much longer... huff... huff... do we need to keep running?"

She couldn’t continue for much longer. Constantly running while being on edge was far too draining. If this went on for any longer, then she wouldn’t be in any condition to struggle if someone jumped them.

Adrian didn’t reply to her. Instead, he looked around and then suddenly began dragging her in a different direction. Soon, they reached an area that was clear of trees. It was not very wide, just as big as a miniature playground.

He brought her to the center of the clearing and released his grip over her hand.

"This place should be good; nobody will be able to sneak up on us here. I would’ve liked it more if we had run further, but it looks like that’s not possible for you."

She gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything. He probably didn’t say it with that intention, but she felt like she was being a burden and dragging them down.

The two of them sat down back to back in the middle of the clearing, catching their breath. Even Adrian seemed exhausted at this point.

"Why is this happening to us?" Evangeline asked weakly. "Why would someone wanna kill us? I don’t understand."

It was so abrupt and out of nowhere.

Adrian’s voice sounded tired as he replied.

"There could be a lot of reasons. The perpetrator is most likely a noble—nobody else would have the ability to spend millions of lux to teleport us. Maybe they are an enemy noble with a grudge against House Ravenshade, or maybe there is some other reason. In the end, it doesn’t matter all that much."

She went silent, burying her face in her knees.

But then...

"Are you kids done? I was getting tired of this."

The voice of a man entered their ears, and the two of them instantly stood up and turned in the direction of the voice.

Moments later, a man wearing a brown robe revealed himself from the maze of trees and stepped into the clearing. He had dull brown hair tied behind his head and black eyes. Even through his loose robe, they could easily see the outline of his lean yet muscular build.

The man was smiling as he looked at them, making the two even more tense.

With his eyes completely focused on the man’s hands and feet, Adrian asked in a sharp tone.

"Are you the perpetrator? The one behind the teleportation?"

"..."

The man continued smiling, not giving a reply.

"If so, you have made a grave mistake. There is no way House Ravenshade will leave you alone after this."

But the moment Adrian said those words—

"AHahahahah."

—The man began laughing. The sound of his uncontrolled laughter echoed throughout the area.

Chills ran down Evangeline’s spine as she heard the man laugh.

After continuing his laughter for a while, the man spoke.

"What is with all you nobles? Why do every single one of you mention the name of your family whenever you are all in trouble? And to answer your question lil’ boy, I don’t know any more than you do. I am just a hired hand, here to do the job."

Saying that, the man stepped closer.

"Now then, I should start now, wouldn’t you two agree? After all, I am being paid quite handsomely, you know."