The time was around 8.30 in the night and the Stone's restaurant was filled with adventurers from big guilds and young couples from big clans going on a date. At this moment a group of 12 members entered the restaurant and entered a corner table with 15 seats which was pre-booked by Liliana before coming here. The group was lead by a stone restaurant's waiter to their table before calling the one of their staff to take the order.
A man in his early 30's came to take the order. "Are you new here?" asked Heben a rank 7 warrior who has graduated from the Academy two years ago and is currently a full time mercenary in the guild. From amongst the 12 members apart from Liliana, Sean, Paval a fourth year student with the strength of Level 6 specialising in scouting all the others were graduates who were right now full time mercenaries.
"Yes sir, I am new here. I had joined a week ago. What can I get you sir?" said the new waiter.
"Well what do you guys want to eat?" asked Heben to other members. Soon all the members decided to order three main dishes and share it to save the cost. Sean had already talked a bit about himself to the other members on the way to the restaurant and had also learned at least the names of the other members.
There were a total of 6 elite attackers in this team, four specialised in close combat while the other two served as long ranged attackers and act as the support to the attackers. Amongst the long ranged attackers currently there was an addition and it was Sean as he had explained that he specialised in long ranged attack. There were also 2 elites who specialises in defense and the last 2 members specialised in assassination, ambush and scouting and investigation. Liliana also belonged to close range elite attackers.
While Heben was making the order and everyone was focused on which dishes to choose, Sean had his focus on the waiter. Sean did not know why but ever since he entered the hotel he felt someone was watching him but could not identify the who it was. As a person who worked as a member of Paramilitary(as a SEAL) and the long years he had worked as PMC had honed his senses and could easily identify if someone was watching him. The waiter who introduced himself to be new at work also attracted his attention as even though it was just for a second when he arrived near the table, he had released his killing intent and it was directed towards him.
Sean observed the waiter for a good 3 seconds before ignoring him so as to not raise any suspicion and alarm him. The feeling of being watched continued for a good 7-8 seconds before vanishing completely. Sean sat on his seat which was a five seater sofa in a relaxed manner as if he was not worried about anything and was accompanied by Liliana on his left and Berta, the only other female in the group on his right. Since both Liliana and Berta were single and did not want to sit near other men even if they were they opted to sit with Sean who was only a teenager.
Berta was one of the long ranged attacker who supports the close combat team and used the elements of wind in her attacks such as wind arrows, wind blades and wind bullets, as she was gifted with wind elements. Under normal circumstances she should have become a knight due to her possessing elemental energy due to reasons unknown to Sean she had opted to be a warrior. Well it's not like Sean could expect her to say matters which were related to her family and personal reasons while meeting Sean for the first time. She had just introduced herself to Sean like the rest of the members.
After making the order the members started to chat with each other joking about their recent missions and the current rumours and the S-rank missions which were taken by big guilds and their status. Sean silently listened while observing the staff using the corner of his eyes. Even though he observed every once in a while he could see the staff making frequent eye contact with another staff and whispering to each other when they come closer to each other, making it look as normal as possible.
Soon the food they had ordered came and everyone started to eat. At first Sean was hesitant as he suspected that it could be poisoned but after giving it a thought unless they had planned to kill everyone it was impossible to target only him after all the food was divided amongst them from three common pots. Knowing that worrying wouldn't help much Sean started to eat along with the rest and as expected of a restaurant which was at the commercial district, it's quality and richness amazed him as the food was even better than many five and seven star restaurants he had dined in his previous life.
It took a full 1 hour for the group to eat the food as they were all talking and joking around, but they were careful not to talk about the upcoming mission at such an open public place. Sean did not talk much and just listened, however the two girls Liliana and Berta knowing that he was new to the group made sure that he did not feel left out and talked a lot with him to keep him entertained and seeing this Sean smiled inwardly. Though it was close to 9:30, the group did not plan to leave anytime soon and ordered alcohol. Though the alcohol in this world was strong, since the bodies of the people were also strong they would not get drunk much and is only kept for leisure purposes. Even then Sean did not order a drink as he did not want to feel sluggish, especially when there could be possible attack on him.
Sean had already figured out why he was targeted. Well it was not a big mystery, after all tomorrow was the day when they would be escorting Cornelia to the capital and like how they had intel on the second Prince's forces, the spy network of the second Prince would also have intel on them. However what Sean did not understand was how they managed to react so quickly after all even Sean did not know he would be a part of the group that escorts Cornelia before the meeting. 'Is there a traitor among the group who attended the meeting?' thought Sean.
'Well things like these, even if I speculate, in the end it would just be a speculation. I don't know much about the members in the team in person to know if someone is acting suspiciously. What I do know is that if there is already a spy amongst this group then there is no need to try to kill me and replace me with another assassin as that would increase the possibility of getting caught, not to mention if they were careless they could even blow the cover of the spy. I don't believe that someone could foresee this situation years ago and sending a spy to integrate into the guild, the only possibility is that if a member of the team betrayed it must be for money and not for loyalty.' thought Sean and decided to forget about this line of thought and just focus on protecting himself from the assassins after all he was just a level 3 warrior even though he could take on a level 6 warrior due to gene enhancement it doesn't change the fact that he is grave danger.
The members were chatting and waiting for the wine. After 10 minutes of wait the same waiter brought 2 plates filled with 10 bottles of liquor, each plate with 5 bottles. Sean just quietly observed knowing that even if he was the target he would not be targeted right before all the team members, otherwise the whole plan to substitute as him would no longer be feasible.
The waiter placed the liquor before each member based on the type they wanted to drink. During the meal Sean had changed seats with Liliana as she wanted to have a girl's talk with Berta and Sean was getting in the way and was currently seated at the corner and the waiter was coming towards him to place the drink ordered by Liliana and Berta.
Knowing that he wouldn't be targeted at this place Sean was not that vigilant. He had already thought of the way for him to get assassinated and that would be getting caught alone. Then all Sean had to do was to stay with the group and not get caught alone. However looking at the waiter coming towards him Sean suddenly had a bad feeling especially after looking at the eye of the waiter which looked Sean as if he was a bug waited to be squashed. At that moment Sean figured what would happen to him, what was their scheme to get Sean alone and just like Sean thought, the waiter acted as if he had tripped and spilled the liquor on Sean getting him drenched in alcohol.
Sean did not have the time to react nor did he want to react. The entire team was silent for a moment before shouting at the waiter for his incompetence and the waiter profusely apologised. The waiter also offered to give the rest of the liquor for free and also offered to Sean two of the restaurant special delicacies for free and also showed him the way to the restroom to change his clothes. The waiter went as far to even give him a towel and also offering to buy new clothes. The manager approved of this as well and it seemed the waiter didn't mind the expense. The members of the team were somewhat pleased with these offers and accepted them.
Sean did not show much reactions on his face, however his eyes had a cold glint. 'I planned on avoiding this confrontation but it seems like I could no longer avoid this, but the thing that bothers me the most is that guy's expression. He looked at me as if I was a bug waiting to be squashed' thought Sean and gnashed his teeth, however he did not change his expression and walked towards the restroom thinking of ways to counter this assassination attempt.