"Hm?" Ein frowned after hearing the scream.
Their room was the corner room on the second floor. The room above them should similarly be the last room on the third floor. If Ein followed normal procedure and ran towards the stairs up to the said room, then he would waste over a minute no matter how fast he ran.
Ein quickly jumped from his bed and locked the front door, ensuring the safety of the two drunk beauties. Then he slammed the window wide open and peeked out, staring upward. As expected, the window above was wide open too; rather, it was broken.
With a bit of acrobatics, Ein stood on the window's edge and jumped into the open window above. He quickly pulled himself into a flip as he landed inside grandly. In a split second, he scanned the entirety of the dark room.
'Three presences. Two are releasing intense bloodlust,' Ein quickly deduced.
After his grand entrance, the two assailants were surprised for a moment. However, as if they had rehearsed, they split up as one held up Ein and the other continued on their target. All of this happened in a span of a second.
The assailant, wearing a black overall, swung a dagger toward Ein. Watching as the blade traced a perfect arc, Ein quickly tapped the arm that was holding the dagger, moving it out of its trajectory. The assailant was surprised, but it was already too late to retract his hand. Ein's right fist slammed into the pit of the assailant's stomach almost simultaneously, and while releasing a crunching sound, he sent the opponent flying toward the other one.
The other assailant, trusting his partner, didn't expect the interruption and was hit. The two tumbled on the floor, wasting their precious time.
"Good night."
Ein, who didn't wait for them to recover, quickly kicked the chin of the other assailant, robbing him of his consciousness. After confirming that the two were out cold, he wiped the trace of sweat on his forehead as he heaved a sigh.
Earning himself some respite, he once more surveyed the surroundings of the room. Aside from the two assailants, three others were lying in pools of blood. Two women, probably maids, and one man who was dressed like a guard. Behind the last woman was a lady in red pajamas, shaking uncontrollably as she stared at Ein.
"Are you alright?" Ein quickly asked.
"Hiik?!" The woman shrank further in fear.
Ein scratched his head, seeing her reaction. Looking closer, she doesn't appear injured in any way. Ein decided to leave her alone for a moment as he looked for something to tie the two assailants with. After not finding any rope, he instead used the scrapped curtain and bound the two tightly.
After admiring his handiwork, he searched for the candles in the room and used a lighter (which he got from Lilith) to light them. Although the moonlight was enough to see their silhouettes, staying in the dark can cause further anxiety for the lady.
After light returned to the room, Ein once more confirmed the state of the lady in red. And the first thing he noticed was that she was covered in red. It wasn't that her pajamas were red; they should have been somewhat yellowish in color originally. The red all over her was the blood of the maid lying closest to her. Even her hair, which could be deduced to be originally silvery white, was now all red.
The maid probably protected the lady from the attack, but she was slashed in the neck. Her blood had sprayed all over the poor lady. Ein pulled the blanket from above the large bed and gently draped it over the lady.
"You should wash off the blood on you before it dries off," Ein warned.
Then, after seeing that there was nothing left for him to do and hearing the rushing footsteps closing in on the room, Ein quickly went away using the same path he took earlier. In less than a minute, he was already back lying on his bed.
After a few seconds, the room above theirs quickly became rowdy. The noise was enough to knock the residents of several nearby rooms awake. The two drunk ladies were still out cold despite all the ruckus, though.
The hubbub only died down when the sun was about to peek over the horizon. Ein, who spent the whole time listening in on the goings-on above, wasn't bored the whole evening. In summary, the two were hired assassins who were aiming for the lady's life. The guard, who was supposed to be strong, was taken out first with a surprise attack. A throwing knife was embedded in the back of his neck, cutting his carotid artery accurately.
The two maids, as Ein guessed, died protecting the lady. Without their effort, Ein wouldn't have made it in time to save her. Speaking of which, the lady who had a guard and two maids inside her room shouldn't be anyone simple. Apparently, she was the daughter of an aristocrat who was supposed to meet with the lord of the city tomorrow. However, due to the sudden attack, her audience would probably be delayed further. Luckily, she had more retainers that were staying in a separate room, so she still had servants to help her around.
As for the two assassins, they both died shortly after gaining consciousness. They used some sort of slow-acting poison that would kill them if they failed, ensuring that no information could be leaked. Ein was amazed at how thorough their employer was.
"If this were a novel, then the flow would lead the city lord to be the one who sent the assassins," Ein mused loudly.
As he was about to get up from bed, a knock was heard coming from their door.
"Excuse me, Mr. Rain, can we ask for a little of your time?" The voice of the inn manager was heard from beyond the door.
"Yes, wait," Ein replied as he paced toward the door.
Looking at the two elves, they were still fast asleep. Ein then opened the door and went outside before closing the door behind him.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, actually, this person here wants to ask you about last night's event," the inn owner said as he pointed to the man at his side.
"An elf?" the man, who was dressed like a guard, asked.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Ein quickly asked back.
"No," the guard said as he shook his head. "I just want to ask you if you are aware of the assassination attempt that happened last night?"
"Yes, I am." Ein quickly nodded. "After all, it was quite noisy, so I wasn't able to sleep thoroughly." Ein smiled wryly.
"We apologize for that." The guard bowed his head apologetically. "However, I would like to further confirm a few things."
"Of course, be my guest."
"Last night, after the assassins entered the room, someone else entered the room and made some quick work of them," he explained. "Milady didn't see the face of her savior due to the poor lighting, but she said that he climbed up from the window."
Ein sighed in relief. Although he knew that the lady wouldn't be able to properly see his face due to the darkness, being involved in a simple assassination and being involved in an attempted assassination of a noble were two entirely different matters. If he were ever identified, he would probably be in for a lot of trouble.
"I didn't see anyone outside my window back then," Ein quickly replied, as if guessing the guard's next words. "I was asleep back then and only woke up after the room above got noisier."
"Is that so…? Thank you for your cooperation." The guard quickly said his thanks before turning around.
However, Ein didn't know that the lady noticed his sharp ears against the backdrop of the moonlight when he saved her. The lady knew that it was an elf who saved her and that the room just below her happened to be the room of three elves that just came into town. The guard was only there to confirm the lady's suspicions and to figure out Ein's intentions.