The Play (2)

"When did you have a change of taste?" Alexander flashed a grin as he walked towards the purple-clad man. "You're now using women and children?" As the Crown Prince uttered the last sentence, his killing intent leaked for a moment.

However, the necromancer was unperturbed as he lightly smiled and tilted his head. "My, my... are you perhaps, angry?"

"Lato Rhesia." Alexander didn't yell but he said the latter's name with such authority that could make an average soldier's knees weaken.

Hearing the Prince's earnest tone, the curly-haired man's playful manner also turned serious, although he still kept a subtle smile on his lips.

"My apologies, your highness." Again, he bent down. "Reporting to your highness, those corpses weren't from me. However, a few days ago, these undeads and zombies raided a small village not far from here. I didn't have a choice but to overtake them to avoid additional casualties."

"...and to lure the one who summoned them?"

"Yes."

Alexander nodded as he understood Lato's intent. After all, necromancers hate it the most when their 'children' was taken over by someone else. And even if it wasn't a common occurrence for necromancers to fight each other, it wasn't unprecedented.

As they were talking, Lato glanced at the observation mirror and asked, "Your highness, it seems like those magicians are now showing their fangs."

"Yeah. I can see that." Alexander turned his head to look at the mirror as well. "Aren't they cute?"

----

The magicians had already stopped their attacks towards the zombies and undeads, causing their numbers to rise once again.

And because Yrhan had already retracted the barrier, the knights were now having a difficult time dealing with the monsters yet no one noticed that even though the knights were inconvenienced, none of them had lost their lives and if one looked closely, their eyes hinted boredom.

"Hill, you traitor!" Cedar bellowed out as he unsheathed his dual-sword, ready to cut the mage's head.

However, Hill, the mage's leader, was a second faster in chanting a short teleportation skill. He took advantage of Cedar's weakened condition.

He knew that if Cedar was on his peak condition, their plans on killing the Crown Prince and his envoy will fail. However, a few days ago, a very fortunate thing had happened. The Crown Prince's most loyal dog had been poisoned. Knowing that, the higher-ups had ordered them to execute the plan. And of course, as he was a supporter of the second prince's faction, Hill agreed to take on the job.

Moreover, the Crown Prince was an eyesore for Hill because he knew that the selfish prince was always hindering his promotion to be a noble. This caused him to have a grievance against the prince and when he learned about his mission to finally eliminate Alexander, he took it as a chance for him to retaliate.

"It seems like you haven't realized the predicament that you're in?" Hill sneered at Cedar with a laid-back manner. "Your prince had probably run away out of fear. Poor you."

Hearing Hill's provocation, Cedar couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

In his memories, the Crown Prince's true nature were carefully hidden from other people since he was young. Especially when Empress Lillian had died, the Crown Prince started to look like he's lost interest in everything, resulting in his dandy and selfish attitude.

Most of the nobles were displeased by his behavior and had tried to confront the Emperor, asking to strip Alexander's right as the Crown Prince. However, whenever they do so, Kraveil would only laugh about it, saying that the Prince was still young and has time to improve before shifting his mood 180 degrees and coldly glare at them for questioning his decisions.

Only the Emperor and a few loyal servants knew Alexander's real capabilities and one of them was Cedar.

"Yeah... ignorance, is indeed a bliss." Cedar muttered under his breath as his lips curled into a smile.

Hearing this, Hill knitted his eyebrows and ordered his men, "Kill everyone but leave this stupid knight. I will punish him personally."

Knowing that the convoy only had a single priest, and a handful of knights, squires and servants, it's clear that although the battle will be quite troublesome, accomplishing their mission is as good as done.

After all, he was told that a certain necromancer was working with them to assassinate the prince.

"I wonder about that..." Yrhan, who's sitting in a cross-legged position on top of a horse-less carriage chimed in.

He then jumped down to the ground and revealed his true form.

Yrhan's ears gradually became elongated and pointed as his black irises returned to its original golden color with thin vertical pupils that were said to be extremely rare.

"Wha--You... an... an Elf?" Hill and the other magicians were astounded.

They only knew that a new young, foreign Priest entered the palace and was put under the command of the Crown Prince.

No one saw this thing as suspicious for every prince had their own army to command and of course, requesting for a healing class was only natural. They even did a background check to this new priest and confirmed that he was from a rural area, far from the capital, and doesn't have any outstanding records.

It never occurred to them that this was actually an Elf!

"You can now all drop the act." The Elven High Priest commanded with a sigh. "You're seriously giving me goosebumps."

He then walked towards Cedar and gave a sidelong glance at him. "Especially you. Although you almost wiped our props off, I'll admit that you're quite good."

"Sorry. That was a little accident." Cedar grinned as he avoided Yrhan's gaze.

At the same time, everyone from the convoy brought out a small circular gem and crushed it.

As Cedar heard these gems breaking, he winced.

'Ugh... I can't believe this... they're breaking S-ranked items! Just how many thousands of golds were these?' Knowing its worth, Cedar couldn't help but gulp. Still, he knew that this much is not a problem for Alexander.

As the item got crushed, their masks were removed and a light gust of wind followed their release.

All these men and women had leaf-shaped ears and all of them possesses a face that was pleasant to look at and was exuding beauty and grace.

"Impossible!"

"The elf race is already in extinction!"

"They were already considered a myth, aren't they?"

The other mages and magicians were astounded.

Having a single Elf within the convoy was already enough to shake them, but there's actually a whole bunch of them?

Although it was said that some Elves still exists, it was only a rumor and no one was able to confirm it as these Elves were in hiding for hundreds, no, thousands of years. These creatures who love the forest were even said to be peace-loving and avoid siding with any other race.

Why are they showing themselves now?

And they're with the Crown Prince?

What was happening?

"Ridiculous!" Hill shouted as his face reddened both in shock and anger. "Don't be tricked! It was impossible to have gathered this many Elves! It was only an illusion!"

Hill still refused to acknowledge the things happening before him and yelled, "Attack!"

As soon as the command was given, the mages that came with him unleashed their powers, making ripples on the air around them.

"Lightning Arrows!"

"Flame Storm!"

"Mountain Blocks!"

The other magicians also cast offensive spells and directed it towards the convoy.

Watching the traitor's attacks, Cedar rolled his eyes and also gave his orders.

It was given in a calm manner, not even raising his voice. But his orders were loud enough to be heard both by the group of Elves and mages and his tone hinted no doubt of winning.

"Keep them alive for interrogation."