Second Arc (His Art of War) - 84. Ambush
"Aaarrrrgggghhhhh!" A scream of pain escaped from one of the captured rebels' mouth and echoed through the Scarlet Stone Castle's prison. The remaining rebels that were still in the jail curled up in fear as they heard that grievous scream.
In front of the rebel, Angel closed his eyes and endured the pain in his head as the rebel's memory moved into it. He opened his eyes, released his grip and gasped breathlessly as he staggered backwards a few steps. Even Frost had to support him to prevent him from falling. While the rebel fell motionless to the ground.
'I can't find any information from him.'
Angel took a deep breath as he returned to his feet.
"Burnpine Village, near the eastern border of Zephyrus," he said.
A prison guard immediately wrote it while two other guards took the rebel body out of there.
It was already past midnight. He had already used 'Corruption of Mind' on the fifth rebel and still had not found any information about their leader. Moreover everything according to their confession. Several delegates in royal attire came to their village, recruited them and said it was King Eudon's order. They were all trained in a hidden camp near Slyhelm Town and to make them believe it, they had given the villagers a uniform and a weapon of the real royal troops. Even though what was taught focused more on how to fight and face the enemy, it was enough to convince them that they were really real royal troops.
Therefore instead of throwing the rebels who had lost their memory due to his spell back to prison, he decided to return them to their villages and said that they had an accident during training which caused them memory loss.
The only clues he had right now were the leader's faces who trained them. He could only hope that he would recognize a few of them tomorrow at the nobles Zephyrus' meeting. Although from their attitudes and gestures, it seemed that many of them were just some commoners and rebels who were wearing royal military uniforms.
Meanwhile, he still had to plan to attack their camp later since the camp location was hidden. Besides that, he was also considering the capital and the castle's unstable condition.
"Your Majesty, don't push yourself." Even though Frost spoke in a low voice, but Angel was clearly aware of Frost's worries from his voice.
"You're right. This will be a waste of time. We'll continue tomorrow." He realized that he was already at his limit, receiving the memories from five different people in a row was not an easy task. Even his head felt so heavy now.
A prison guard gave his report to him and bowed. While he took it and turned around, Frost and several of his guards followed him. His feet continued to move to enter the castle as his mind deep in thought. Building a hidden camp and training the villagers without getting caught like that was not an easy thing, he did not know how many nobles were involved in this.
"Looks like it will be more difficult than I thought," he said as he continued walking through the corridor.
"Do I need to send our 'dark agents' to their camp?" asked Frost.
"No. They may have received the news about their failure. They will increase their guard and will not trust anyone who just arrived. It will become an unnecessary sacrifice."
Frost was silent for a moment, trying to find another way.
"How about sending some of our agents to several villages?" Currently, the rebels were short on troops. Whereas Zephyrus had just fallen, everyone's attention was on Ironwall City. Looks like they would take this opportunity to recruit new members as quickly as possible.
"That's a good idea. Send out our agents, as well as place some of them in Slyhelm Town to keep an eye on the Crowheart residence," he ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Frost and the guards who were following him stopped and bowed as he entered his room.
Meanwhile, as Rose could hear the sound of door opening accompanied by the sound of footsteps, she peered again through the gap.
Angel put his sword on the table, took off his shoes, blazer and gloves. He sat on the sofa as he read the report in his hand to make sure that the report was written correctly since he wanted to discuss it with King Eudon tomorrow.
After a quick check, he placed the report on the table and went to the bathroom. At least he wanted to clean himself before going to bed. And as usual, there were no servants or maids in his room since he had been used to doing everything alone even when he was still a prince of Asteria. Somehow, it had become a habit for him. Other than that he didn't want anyone to see his scars.
Meanwhile, Rose observed Angel closely as he walked to the bathroom to make sure Angel didn't bring his sword and there was no guard or servant there. She actually felt strange about this, because usually a king had more than two servants to help him bathe and get dressed but Angel did not let any servants into his room.
'Is he hiding something?' But whatever it was, this was a golden opportunity for her to kill him without getting caught.
'Well, whatever it is. He didn't carry his weapon and there are no guards to protect him. As long as I can keep my distance, his dark aura won't be able to reach me. This is my only chance! '
Her heart was pounding. Her feelings continued to flare up, refusing to attack him but she knew she had to do it to free Zephyrus from him so she made up her mind.
She came out from her hiding place and walked slowly to follow him to the bathroom. Her feet stepped on the marble floors with a large pool filled with warm water not far away from him. Several small tables filled with towels and fragrances were on the other side.
Angel unbuttoned his shirt one by one beside the pool as he was still thinking about what he should do next. Right now, what occurred to him was to meet Rose and ask her about the Slyhelm Town rebellion. But since it was past midnight, he decided to ask it tomorrow morning before she left for Euphorion.
Behind him, Rose continued to approach Angel. As he was already within her range. She took her poison knife and threw it.
Angel realized her attack and dodged it. As he turned around to see who attacked him, his eyes widened and his heart was also pounding.
'Rose ...'