Things Changed

"The stars of our empire, our royal family, are now entering!"

Sharp at 10 am, the Royal family entered the plaza.

Only one entrance to the plaza was open at this time. The crown prince was in the lead, the second prince and princess flanked on his sides, while the emperor and empress entered last.

A group of individuals with beautiful silver-grey hair entered the plaza. This was the royal family that was said to be blessed by the Moon Goddess, one of the most prominent religions in the empire.

Wooaaaaa-

The cheering sound of the citizens filled the plaza. It was so loud that it felt like the ground was shaking. I looked at Prince Theo who was the only one with dark skin.

"His Highness, Emperor Christopher Von Hargan, the star of the Hargan Empire, is now entering!"

Loud cheers reverberated all over the plaza.

The healthy 50-year-old emperor appeared in the plaza on a white horse while the empress sat in a white luxury carriage.

'So they did still use carriage in this world albeit just for events like this.'

Ares thought the Royal family might come in a luxurious car but they stopped and proceed to enter the plaza by riding white horses and a white carriage instead.

The princes and princess looked dignified riding the white horses and their hair shone brightly under the sun, mesmerizing the crowds who cheers non-stop since the Royal family appeared.

Emperor Christopher slowly headed towards the plaza stage from far off in the distance.

Christopher Von Harga had risen to the position of the emperor at the age of 20 after the former emperor's sudden death. He utilized this time of peace to his advantage, killing off all of his siblings to solidify his position of power.

He already ruled Hargan for 30 years and he also became the youngest emperor to ascend the throne at the age of only 20 years old.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

The fanfare for the emperor was still very loud. Emperor Christopher passed through the plaza entrance and headed to the highest platform. I just calmly watched this all happen.

There was a special platform for the emperor in front of the clock tower.

The emperor and the empress waved to the crowd, before walking up to the platform. The empress stood in front of her seat as the emperor went up to the magic vocal amplifier.

I looked at the clock again.

The current time was 10:10 am.

'It seems like the mages decided to turn off the mana disturbance tool to let the emperor give his speech.'

The emperor lifted up his hand, and the cheers slowly died down. Finally, once the plaza was completely quiet, the emperor started to speak using the magic microphone that amplified the emperor's voice to be heard clearly all across the big plaza.

"It has already been 30 years since this emperor has received the blessing of the Goddess to rule over this empire."

The emperor seemed very happy. Unfortunately, the happiness was short-lived.

-Zasp!

"Huh?"

I could hear Steph's confused voice.

"Did someone-?"

I then heard Ramon's anxious voice.

"What?"

"What is going on?"

An arrow coated with orange flame suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grazed the emperor's cheek before it was embedded into the center of the hourglass. Cracks started to appear around the arrow but the hourglass didn't seem like it would immediately break.

The audience was stunned and so did the emperor.

"Arghhhhh! Someone tried to assassinate the emperor"

The crowds started to panic and upon realizing the fact, they started to run since they knew they would get caught in a fight between an elephant and a hippo if they continue to stay there.

*(fight between elephant and hippo is not a real idiom. Just my own words since I saw my nephew watching hippo on national geography)

"Guards protect the emperor and the royal family!"

"Young master behind you!"

Ares was startled by the sudden tense voice from his earpiece before he sensed something dangerous coming toward him.

Instinctively he used the silver steak knife on the table to parry the sudden incoming arrow that came toward him.

"Tskk as I thought it was hard to add guys like you to my collection"

Suddenly a man wearing a weird-looking red robe with Mohawk black hair and weird tattoos on his neck appeared among the nobles. No one knew since when he was there and they only realized after Ares parried the arrow.

His spiky black hair that was styled like a Mohawk made him look crazy enough not to mention the bloodshot eyes.

During the Royal event, except for the knights on duty, the attendees weren't allowed to bring weapons thus they were stunned and didn't know what to do.

Seeing the same-looking arrow, the Guard Captain shouted, "That's the assassin! Quickly catch him!"

'I was worried this guy will just hide but it seems hiding isn't his style.'

If Rodriguez did not show up and chose to stay hidden while directing his mana to activate the bombs, I would have no way to detect him since I'm not a mage who is sensitive to mana flows.

"Oh not so fast" Rodriguez the crazy blood mage said before he sprinted towards Ares.

'What the fuck does this lunatic want from me?' Ares was shocked by the sudden development.

At the same time, two figures suddenly appeared in front of the Royal family and also at the center of the disoriented nobles' crowd and Ares didn't realize about them since he was preoccupied with Rodriguez.

"Do you know what my favorite color is?" Rodriguez grinned like a fool while he conjured a few fire spells towards Ares who have to parry all of them bare-handed.

He couldn't casually use the sealing technique and he could only bait Rodriguez to the corner of the noble area so no one would be implicated by his attacks.

'Yes, I know. This lunatic love anything that has the color red like blood' Ares grumbled dissatisfied with his bad luck lately.

"Your beautiful head will become my most prize collection"

Despite being a talented mage, Rodriguez's attacks on Ares didn't seem to reflect his real abilities which made Ares confused before he suddenly realize the subtle glances in Rodriguez's eyes.

Ares suddenly saw a figure among the crowds wearing all black and have a weird black suitcase strapped on his back.

'What the-'

Knowing what would happen, instinctively he injected mana into the Festia Earrings and in an instant sprinted towards the black figure.

Ignoring his hand that was injured due to the attack from Rodriguez that manage to reach him during the moments his focus shifted.

"Hahaha fool," Rodriguez said before his mana could be seen flowing to certain points around the plaza.

Boom!

Boom!

The two bombs exploded at the same time. The mages protecting the Royal family created a shield surrounding themselves and the Royal family instead of surrounding the suicide bomber and other people who didn't manage to protect themselves properly were badly injured and some even died.

The Royal family didn't seem to faze the slightest seeing the gruesome scene around them.

Fortunately, in a nick of time, Ares managed to grab the suitcase while Ron immediately seized the suicide bomber.

Ares immediately threw the suitcase into the air and used psychokinesis to make it go higher so the explosion wouldn't affect others.

The tremor could be felt by those on the ground despite it exploding in the sky.

"Hey why can't anyone catch him yet!?" the emperor said in anger.

Mages and knights started to surround Rodriguez.

"Fu*k!" Ares cursed while looking at his trembling hands. There was a hole on his palm and he could only endure the pain.

His hand was injured due to being stabbed by one of Rodriguez's ice lances.

He also could see a few Shadows made the other terrorists faint among the crowd and dragged them away while seizing their weapons. Those terrorists would try to commit suicide once they were caught so making them faint was the best way to avoid them from committing suicide.

In the novel, a terrorist caught by Cedric committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill he hide in his mouth and instantly died.

Thus I ordered the Shadows to find anything suspicious inside the terrorists' mouths before they gagged them up.

"Hey let us go through!" Some of the nobles shouted at the guards demanding them to open the gate.

However, the outside of the gate was cramped with people thus the nobles wouldn't be able to pass through even if the gates were opened. It was utter chaos outside of the gate where there were a lot more people.

I saw Cedric start fighting with one of the terrorists but I couldn't see Shino anywhere despite he should be with Cedric right now since they came together and stood in the area.

I took a glance at Prince Theo and was shocked to see he still didn't take out his weapon or do anything other than standing behind a knight.

'That bastard, why the hell did he look so useless over there? Whatever, since I knew that he won't die today,' Ares thought while having an urge to chock prince Theo who looked clueless on what to do.

Ares felt annoyed due to the pain.

"Give me weapons," Ares said through the earpiece before dozens of swords and daggers seized from the terrorists came flying at him.

His Shadows have to always remain hidden thus that was why they directly throw the weapons toward Ares when he asked.

The crowds were dumbfounded seeing the red hair youth surrounded by multiple weapons except for one person.

"By the way, why are there only two bombs that exploded. Where is the remaining one-"

At that moment Ares suddenly felt a thud on his leg. He looked down and saw a boy maybe around 7 years old holding something that looked like a shiny marble ball the size of a soccer ball accidentally bumping into Ares's leg and falling down.

'Oh shit this is one of the mana bombs!'

The kid was holding exactly the mana bomb that Ares was thinking of.

However, the mana bomb still looked intact and didn't explode.

Ares stared at the kid and the kid who suddenly bumped into something hard lifted his head and see someone looking down at him with dozens of weapons flying around.

His worried expression turned into mesmerization.

"Woah it's the cool villain" the kid muttered in a low voice with a hint of admiration.

"Kid, the villain is over there. The red robe guy" Ares who is usually too lazy to talk was responding to the kid who he didn't know where he came from.

'I work hard not to be a villain so I don't want this kid to have a *crow's beak.'

*(crow's beak: a person who has made an inauspicious remark and it actually happened)

"That is a stupid villain. I don't like him. He doesn't look smart," the kid grumbled.

'He's a lunatic, of course, he doesn't look smart' Ares thought the kid was weird.

Prince Theo still standing there doing nothing while Princess Fiona was busy working with the mages. This kind of attitude was one of the reasons why many people supported her to become the crown princess since the empire's rules allowed female monarchs.

The crown prince on the other hand busy instructing the royal knights to help the people and bring the injured to the hospital.

'Is he acting to be useless?'

I tried to guess why someone like Prince Theo who even managed to make the future emperor his puppet, didn't do anything in this situation.

"Hahahahahaha. It's fun playing with you guys but I think it's enough for today so if you please excuse me" Rodriguez said before he tore an instant teleportation scroll and immediately flee.

"Sigh he was alone but those guys didn't even manage to catch him," Ares muttered.

"I know right. The bad villain escaped just as I expected," unexpectedly the kid also gave his own comment after listening to what Ares said.

Ares looked at the kid who was currently hugging his leg like a piece of chewing gum stuck on your hair, hard to separate.

The emperor and empress were currently talking to a high-ranking priest before they were evacuated from the area. Royal Corps also had arrived at the plaza.

"Young master" I heard Ron's anxious voice through the earpiece.

"Don't come here and proceed with the plan. Capture that mage no matter what" I said sternly since I knew there was nothing good in letting him escape as he would continue causing massacres across the empire.

'He would be a pain in the ass later if I don't capture him now and squeeze every bit of information he knew.'

"Yes young master"

"Hey kid, can you give this ball to a lady holding a basket of flowers near the fountain area? She is my friend" Ares said to the weird kid in front of him.

"Oh if it's the villain's friend, she must also be cool. Alright I go first but villain brother must wait for me here" the kid quickly ran towards the fountain area.

"Sigh, I should quickly finish everything here"

Ares quickly tore a teleportation scroll and went to the coordinate where he had already spent his precious time preparing a surprise for Rodriguez since he knew that lunatic would be teleported there.

"Let's see how our crazy mage fought when the area was covered with Mana Disturbance Tools"

*****************************

In another place, there were two figures hiding between the thick trees, observing the area as if waiting for something.

"Boss they said it was a mess around the plaza," Joanne told the figure beside her after ending a call from one of their group members.

"So what?" That figure replied uninterested.

"So what are we doing here? I don't think there will be any treasure here."

"Sana said that the leader of the terrorist will pass this area."

"So?"

"We catch him or maybe follow him to his base. Later you can raid that area clean. Usually, terrorist groups that have mages will own at least a few artifacts or some gold bars."

"Ohhh I understand now."

Not long after that, they did see the mage they had been waiting for but he was currently being chased by a group of assassins while one of his hands have been decapitated.

Mages needed both hands to be able to use magic properly and with only one hand, his mana flow will become unstable when using spells. That was why currently the mage have to run and couldn't teleport elsewhere since teleportation is a high-tier magic spell.

Plus the area was weirdly experiencing Mana Disturbance where it was hard to use mana.

"Haaa do you think you will get what you want after catching me" he shouted after being subdued.

"I will bring you all along with me to hell!"

"Hmm boss, are you sure this crazy mage will have some treasures?" Joanne asked.

"Shhh just keep quiet."

Suddenly, the mage's body started glowing red. The mana around him started to flow uncontrollably.

His eyes become bloodshot while blood started flowing out from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.

"Boss isn't that mana explosion. That mage try to kill everyone along with him" Joanne commented.

Fortunately, both of them were quite a distance away from the assassins and the mage.

Suddenly, a pale blue light showed up out of nowhere.

A red hair youth with a formal lavish outfit suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The mage didn't manage to explode himself as he was instantly sealed with golden chains coming from the red hair youth.

"Joanne this is our chance"

"Huh what-" before Joanne even finished her sentence, her Boss already moved towards the mage in order to snatch him from the red hair youth.

'Shit Boss! Don't you know where that red hair come from?! He's obviously a Zanuki despite looking a bit different.' Joanne grumbled inwardly but chose to wait before saving her Boss.

"Protect young master-ughhh"

In an instant, a few Shadows were immediately knocked out and the attacker didn't seem to have any killing intent.

Looking at the shadowy black mist in front of him, Ares suddenly remembered that it was exactly the same person who attacked Rodriguez in the novel to rob his artifacts after Rodriguez flee from the plaza.

But at that time, Rodriguez manage to flee successfully and it wasn't mentioned who his attacker was until a few years later it was revealed.

"Spider Mercenary" Ares muttered but it was loud enough for the attacker to hear and immediately stopped attacking.

"Ha not bad young Zanuki. I think there might be a reason why they send you and not the other Zanuki. No matter what, a Zanuki will always be a Zanuki huh"

The attacker said in a voice that was hard to determine whether it was a woman's or man's voice. However, that wasn't the important thing.

"Do you want this bastard's artifacts and money?" Ares asked bluntly since he wasn't someone who likes to say something in a roundabout way.

"You're sharp aren't you. Too sharp and it's weird"

"Everyone who uses their brain can come to the same conclusion as me. You knocking off my bodyguards instead of killing them and the way you came out just after I seal this bastard."

"But that doesn't explain what you said earlier"

"Oh, so you really are the Spider Mercenary member?" Ares asked as if confused and also playful tone at the same time.

"Tsk, earlier is it just a blunder? Or do you really know?" The voice sounded irritated.

Just as described in the novel, Boss of Spider Mercenary wasn't someone with skill in negotiation or any kind of taunts despite having great proficiency in various weapons.

Currently, the shadowy figure used a dull sword to knockout the Shadows and didn't think of killing them.

"Whatever you are, if what you want is this bastard's things then you can have it" Ares threw a map from his pocket to the ground after saying that.

Boss quickly picked the map, "What map is this?"

"The place where he stores his things. Instead of storing it in an abandoned underground building or somewhere similar to that, he keeps it in a special vault in a tycoon's house. As long as you show them his fingerprints, a drop of his blood, a few strands of hair, and his mana, you can take everything inside the vault. Or you can just rob the tycoon along the way."

"What is it that you want? How about a split? 50:50 split," Boss suggested.

"Do I look like I lack money? I just want the record of every item you take from him and all the documents are mine. Other things like money, mana stones, artifacts are yours," Ares said calmly while he slowly tightened the seal on Rodriguez.

"Ok deal. How should I send them to you?"

"My Shadows will be lurking around this area for a few days. Tomorrow comes here at the same time as now and I'll give the items needed for the vault."

After saying everything he wanted to say, Ares tore a magic scroll and he was immediately teleported elsewhere along with Rodriguez.

Seeing that everything had finished, Joanne immediately came out, "Boss, that was too dangerous!"

"Heh, but it was fun. Isn't he interesting?"

"Tsk" Joanne was dumbfounded seeing her Boss that always lacks any sense of crisis and loves to rely on instinct to find something thrilling.

The Shadows around them on the other hand acted like the two people didn't exist and continued cleaning their traces on the area.