After I clicked 'Yes' on the blue screen another list of notifications started coming through.
*DING*
[Quest 'Escape from the castle walls.' accepted.]
[Extra Skill: Stealth (Mastery Lv.1)] has been given to the host as an acceptance reward.]
[Extra Skill: Stealth (Mastery Lv.1)]: This Skill reduces the host's presence and helps the host to move around without getting noticed. The Highest Mastery Level is 10 and the effect of the skill on other people is proportional to the Mastery Level.]
[Time left to complete quest: 23:59:59]
When I got the notification of a new skill, I immediately tried to use it and I could feel that I could move around without notice to any non-awakened or lower-rank awakened people but-
'Elsie, my parents, or even some servants of the castle would detect me if I tried to go outside in front of them.'
I concluded that after trying the skill for few more times but, whenever I tried to go outside my room, Elsie or someone else always noticed my presence.
As I was racking my brain trying to find ways how I could sneak out of the castle, I heard the sound of knocking, and Elsie's voice came in disrupting my thoughts.
"Your Dance Instructor has arrived, Your Highness," Elsie said from the other side of the door.
'It's already that time huh.' I thought directing my gaze towards the clock.
"Alright, I am coming," I replied, brainstorming about how I would complete the quest, and went to attend my classes.
**********
After finishing all of my classes for the day I came back to my room, made some preparations, and changed my clothes as my normal clothes stood out far too much.
I wore servant's clothes that I kindly 'borrowed' and opened the window to jump out as it already was Midnight by the time I finished making all the preparations.
"Alright, Let's do this." I released a deep breath as I looked down the window to confirm that no one was down there.
I jumped down the window with the help of a curtain and bedsheet combined. When I touched the bottom floor, I activated the [Stealth] skill and started moving towards the South castle gates. Fortunately, I did not encounter any high-ranked person which I found slightly suspicious and gave me an eerie feeling, but I didn't pay attention to it as it helped me escape from the castle easily.
When I was about to reach the castle's south gate, I took out a huge box from my magic bag that I brought with me containing some things. It covered my entire upper body including my face and was very heavy to lift for a normal 10-year-old child, but I could lift it as I wasn't a normal 10-year-old child, I had endured my father's hellish training for 6 years every day, after all!
I tried to go outside the castle with that huge box in hand but then a guard stopped me,
"Hey, you, where are you going at this time of the night? And what's inside this huge box that you are carrying?" He spoke, extending his hand towards the box that I was holding.
'Bingo!' I danced in my mind after seeing his face because my plan was going as I wanted because the guard was the same person whom I needed to be.
"Si...sir, M-madam stopped me for some extra work a...and this box was also sent by her as she said to drop it at t-this address," I spoke slightly stuttering trying to sound afraid of him and handed him a slip where an address was written, "and s-she even told me that 'no one' should look what's inside until it's delivered." I made sure to emphasize the word 'no one' while speaking.
Seeing me stuttering, the guard smirked seemingly proud of something, but he didn't take the slip I was handing him, instead, he started extending his hand towards the box even more that he almost touched it and raising his tone a little more he asked,
"Who was the person that stopped you?"
"I... I think she said her name was Es... Els... Elsie. Yes, her name was Elsie, sir." I acted to the best of my capability saying that while apologizing to her inside my mind.
After listening to Elsie's name, the guard who was extending his hand towards the box froze at his place for a moment, and then after regaining his senses he said while trembling from fear,
" El... Elsie, that person who has sh... short blonde hair, right?" He tried to sound calm but there was a clear sign of him panicking as he hoped that I might not be talking about the same Elsie that he was thinking.
"Yes, sir. She had short blonde hair and the first time I looked at her, I was so scared that I nearly pi--" I nearly stated the truth as I still remember the day when I first saw her like it was yesterday but before I could even finish my sentence the guard stopped me midsentence and shouted in panic like his life was in danger at this exact moment,
"If Miss Elsie was the person that stopped you, then WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT SOONER!!" He cut my words in a rush, opened the gates, and started to push my back outside the castle.
"But sir slip..." I tried to give him a look at the address where I was going to 'deliver' the box to continue my act of an innocent servant.
"What slip? Just go. If Miss Elsie even heard that I didn't follow her orders, she would kill me!" The guard replied in panic and pushed me out of the castle gates.
After I got pushed out of the castle, I placed the huge box that I was carrying inside my magic bag after walking a considerable amount of distance and turned back to take a look at the castle gates which were now looking very small.
'What have you done, Elsie, to make him that afraid of you?', I chuckled remembering his face when I told him Elsie's name, it was truly a sight to behold. Well, whatever you have done, thank you for that, as without it I might not be able to go out of the castle this easily.
After sending my gratitude to Elsie, I pulled out a map of the Royal Capital, Irin. It was one of the things that I brought with me inside my magic bag.
The Castle is situated at the center of the city, and I exited from the south gate, so right now I am in the southern region of the capital. Now, where should I head to?
I was thinking, looking at the map, where to head next so I could enjoy even in the middle of the night when a notification popped up,
*DING*
[Quest: 'Escape from the castle walls' completed.]
[25 SP has been rewarded to the host for completing the quest.]
[Conditions met to access the hidden reward: Complete the quest in under 12 hours without getting noticed.]
*DING*
[Extra Skill: Disguise] has been awarded to the host for completing the quest in under 12 hours without getting noticed.]
[Extra Skill: Disguise]: With the help of this skill, the host can take the appearance of any person he has seen before if their CHARM is at a lower rank than the Host's. This skill has no mastery levels and when in use, No one can detect the Host's original identity.]
After reading the skill description of disguise that has been awarded to me for completing the quest in under 12 hours; well, actually I finished it in under 10 hours but whatever; I stopped in my tracks thinking,
'Well, I got to know now, how I am gonna sneak back inside the castle.' I felt relieved because before getting this skill, I was not too sure about how I would get back inside the castle walls after enjoying my little trip but now it was far too simple.
**********
When Aiden was enjoying his first-ever outing in this world and exploring the Royal Capital, Aziel received some news in the middle of the night that shook him to the core.
"What did you mean by 'you saw 50 dead bodies of high-ranked knights near the north castle gates'!" Aziel shouted at the soldier who delivered him the news that his ears found impossible to believe. And how can he believe it? '50 High-ranked knights dead inside the castle before anyone even noticed anything', that's just some absurd statement.
"But ...but Your Majesty, I s-saw them with my own eyes, there were s-sword marks all over their bodies. It ...It was a s-sight--" The Soldier who came to deliver this message still terrified tried to express the scene he saw, where the ground and gates of the castle were painted red with spilled blood, more than 50 bodies were piled up on top of another, it was such a gruesome and horrifying sight that made him shiver just by remembering it.
He wanted to tell his majesty that a danger that the kingdom had never witnessed before was approaching but before he could even finish his word, a blast's sound cut his words midway through.
BOOM!
The sound echoed throughout the entire Royal capital followed by more of the same kind. Hearing the blast's sound and judging the direction it came through, Aziel who was still reluctant to admit, finally admitted what he feared the most. Indeed, The Empire of Norbury, the biggest and most powerful country in the whole Melux, has declared war against The Everhart kingdom abolishing "The Treaty of Peace".
**********
[A/N: Lore is incoming in the next chapter.]