Another Attempt

"Seeing this meat dish reminds me of the Red Duck meat back at home. I think I'm in the mood for some."

Asher suddenly said following which Luther widened his eyes but recovered almost immediately.

Luther then spoke.

"Would you want me to tell the kitchen or…?"

"I think there are some leftovers in the carriage. Help me get them." Asher replied.

Raven and Isabella didn't find the conversation strange since it was known that their young master had a liking for indigenous meals from Red Maple province as of recent.

Luther nodded and then stood up from his seat, heading towards the door.

With Luther's departure, there were only four people in the room; Asher, Raven, Isabella and the waitress who was assigned by the restaurant to attend to them.

"Alright, let's dig in." Asher smiled as he took a bite from the meal.

With Asher taking the first bite, Raven and Isabella could finally begin eating their meal. Although they wondered why Asher couldn't wait for Luther to return, they didn't feel anything strange about it. Their young master had been in a 2-hours meeting with those delegates with only a cup of tea by his side. It was normal for him to be hungry right after.

A minute into the meal and Luther had yet to return. Asher didn't seem bothered about it, but Isabella couldn't help but furrow her brows.

"Young master, where could sir Luther be?"

Although they were both retainers of Asher, Luther had a much higher authority amongst the trio which led to them addressing him with an honorific.

"Hmm? I don't know. Maybe he still hasn't found it yet. The compartment I kept the Red duck meat is a bit hidden and hard to find. Why don't you go and help him with it? It's in the same place I keep my spare cash." Asher replied.

"Well, alright, young master."

Isabella was a bit confused as to why Asher had her leave, but she didn't tarry and immediately took her leave.

'It's about time.' Asher thought as he took a bite of the seafood dish.

It had been 10 seconds since Isabella's departure and Asher felt it was time they would make their move.

"Young master, do you mind a glass?"

The maid who was standing by the side walked to the side of Asher with a bottle of wine in her hand.

"No problem." Asher smiled as he pointed his cup towards her.

A flash of light burst briefly almost immediately as a dagger made its appearance in the maid's hand. The bottle of wine was already tossed from her hand with the dagger heading towards Asher's throat.

"Die."

From the gentle and smiling face to a vicious look sporting a savage grin, the maid thrust the dagger towards Asher as a burst of mana erupted from her hand and enveloped the dagger. At that instant, her true strength was displayed for all to see; third-stage Guardian mage.

Considering that Asher was still a Human stage mage, he would definitely end up dead with this strike, after all, even a second-stage Guardian mage would turn to nothing more than a corpse under this attack. The ferocity, explosiveness and power of the strike were equivalent to that of a full-powered blow from a peak third-stage Guardian mage, capable of injuring a fourth-stage Guardian mage. A second-stage Guardian mage would find it difficult to dodge this attack much less Asher. It was for this reason that the maid had a smile on her face. In her eyes, Asher was nothing more than a breathing corpse, but the breathing part would only be for a while.

"!!!"

Raven was shocked by the development, but not only was the maid very close to Asher, but she had also attacked with such speed that Raven couldn't even make a sound in time.

"What a pity." Asher sighed.

The girl was a bit surprised that Asher could complete a sentence despite the speed with which she attacked, but she didn't let it get to her as her dagger connected with Asher, or so she thought.

Shatter.

An explosive sound reminiscent of a glass object being shattered into pieces reverberated through the air as a strange green barrier appeared all over Asher's body before breaking into pieces.

"Young master!"

At this time, Raven's yell sounded, but the lady ignored him.

'Charm.' The young lady thought.

Defensive charms and amulets were quite common in the noble society. Usually, they were given to the most treasured descendants of the family or future heirs, to protect them from any forms of assassination at all times. As Asher was the de-facto heir of the Arnhaunts, it was reasonable for him to get one like that. The charm he got was one of the better ones as it was able to take one hit from a fourth-stage Guardian, the equivalent of a full-powered strike from a peak third-stage Guardian mage.

"But that won't save you."

The lady swung her dagger once more at Asher.

Bang.

The dagger struck the chair causing the upper half to explode due to the full force of the strike. However, Asher had already dodged the attack before it came.

While the barrier created by the charm was destroyed by the first hit, it had managed to buy Asher enough time to react to the second.

'I knew you guys held me in high esteem, but a third stage Guardian is a bit too much.'

Applying mana into his right hand, Asher tossed the fork he held right at the lady. Although the attack wasn't exactly threatening to her, it would still serve to buy Asher more time.

"Futile."

The lady brandished her dagger right at the utensil, breaking it into pieces.

Surprise flickered in her eyes as that was never her intention. She had wanted to slice the fork in half, but strangely, it had exploded upon contact with her blade. While this seemed like a similar result to her original intentions, it was not. This was because the metal shards were now headed toward her face, and due to the proximity of her face towards the utensil before blocking it as well as the fact that she never expected such a result, it became too late for her to dodge.

"Ah!"

A horrible scream resounded through the room. The previous charming face of the lady was now covered in blood with a few metal shards sticking out of it. Her right eye was even stabbed by one of the sharp points of the fork that broke off during the collision.

'Success.' Asher smirked as he retreated farther away.

When he had struck with the fork, he injected his mana into it and timed it in such a way that the utensil would explode right when it came in contact with the lady's dagger. Although this sounded difficult, Asher was already a Mid-Human stage mage so exploding a metal fork was no difficult task, although it expended a lot of mana. Together with his battle experience and awareness from his past life, it was easy for him to do so in a timely fashion. In truth, probably Asher was the only one capable of doing so in his generation and power level. This was because, although a Human mage was a mage, they weren't exaggeratedly stronger than a regular human being. Bending metal might be easy but exploding it into small shards was a burden for them. Only Asher could do so easily and timely.

"I will kill you, rotten child."

"Young master."

Luther stepped into the room with his sword drawn.

"Die."

Five years ago, Luther was a peak third-stage Guardian. However, after constant training under Ol' Fang's watch with even duke Darius chipping in once in a while, he had managed to make that step to become a fourth stage Guardian, but this news was suppressed.

As a fourth-stage Guardian mage, his abilities were well above that of the assassin. With Asher having already created a gap between himself and the lady, Luther was able to make it in time and force her attention onto himself.

Clang.

Luther's first strike was blocked, but this did nothing to dampen his vigour.

Clang. Clang.

The second strike was blocked but the lady's face slightly paled. Although she also succeeded in blocking the third one, her face had turned white with her cheeks flushed and her arms slowly becoming numb.

In the end, a third-stage Guardian mage couldn't take on a fourth-stage Guardian mage so easily. Worst of all was the fact that she was already severely injured by Asher's assault, so it would be hard for her to even keep her life when facing Luther.

When it seemed like everything was about to come to an end, the lady screamed.

"Attack!"