"Yes, Young Master," Radnor responded obediently to Linton's instructions, for two reasons. First, Linton had defeated the captain of the City Guard, Qiola, whom Radnor had always disliked. Back when Radnor was part of the City Guard, Qiola often bullied him. After joining Linton's household, Radnor's hatred for the arrogant captain only grew. Linton defeating Qiola earned him Radnor's respect.
Secondly, Radnor's curiosity played a role. Having never left his small town in his entire life, Radnor was eager to experience the outside world, especially as a young man. The current situation, far from scaring him, excited him. He was eager to see what was happening.
The carriage sped up slightly and soon arrived at the scene ahead. Before long, everyone could hear the sounds of combat—clashing swords and shouts from people.
As they got closer, Linton and his group saw the situation ahead. Two groups of around ten people were fighting. One group clearly consisted of soldiers, as they wore uniform armor. The other group all wore cloaks, with their faces mostly concealed, revealing only their eyes—looking much like assassins.
Linton quickly assessed the situation and noticed that the soldiers were at a disadvantage. Numerous soldier corpses littered the ground, while none of the cloaked assassins appeared to have fallen. It was clear that the assassins were stronger.
"Can you tell which faction they belong to?" Linton asked, pointing at the soldiers.
"They're not from our Mellovy family, but they must be nobles. I recognize that crest; I think it's from a noble family nearby," Eck replied.
At this point, Linton's carriage drew the attention of both fighting groups. Initially, the soldiers seemed hopeful, thinking reinforcements had arrived, but their hopes were dashed when they saw Linton's carriage. They quickly realized these people were not there to help.
"Hold back for now. I'll go check it out," Linton said, noticing a few of the assassins wielding bows and other long-range weapons. Although he was confident in himself, he knew Eck and the others were too weak to defend themselves in a fight.
"Young Master, I'll go with you," Radnor quickly offered.
"You can't even beat me, so how would you help?" Linton replied.
Suddenly, a loud bang interrupted their conversation. It sounded like an explosion, and everyone looked up to see two soldiers collapse, engulfed in flames.
"What's going on?" Radnor asked, alarmed.
"A... a mage?" Zag, who had been observing the battle, looked fearful. In this world, mages were revered as more powerful than ordinary warriors, and they were rarer due to the higher talent required to become one.
"How is that possible?" Eck stammered. "Why would a mage... these aren't just ordinary assassins..."
Linton grasped the situation. Mages were of high status, unlikely to work as assassins. These assassins were likely hired by someone powerful, someone capable of commanding a mage.
Despite this, Linton wasn't afraid. He told the others, "Wait here," before stepping forward again.
The assassins were puzzled to see Linton approaching them. They had expected him to flee at the sight of the battle. One assassin nodded to the archer nearby, signaling him to take care of Linton.
The archer nodded back, then drew his bow. With a flash of light, he released the arrow, sending it flying straight toward Linton's face. Linton noticed the arrowhead was glowing, indicating that this archer also possessed powerful energy, likely a form of combat energy.
These assassins seemed to be highly skilled, but Linton wasn't concerned about them. Instead, he was puzzled by something else. He was expecting an automatic combat prompt, something he had encountered in similar situations. But even as the arrow neared him, there was no sound.
"What's going on?" Linton wondered. He was waiting for the automatic combat system to kick in, but nothing happened. In the past, when ninjas threw shurikens at him, the system would respond immediately, but this time, no prompt appeared as the arrow came closer.
With no other choice, Linton had to act manually. Activating his Sharingan, he quickly saw the trajectory of the arrow and reached out, catching it mid-air with his hand.
Everyone, especially the assassins, was stunned. Dodging an arrow was one thing, but catching one mid-flight? That was not something an ordinary person could do.
Among the soldiers, a middle-aged man's eyes lit up. He was clearly different from the other soldiers, wearing luxurious clothing rather than armor. It was obvious he was the noble they were protecting.
Seeing Linton's impressive skill, the man called out, "Hero, I am Baron Wilson Serdes of the Empire! These are assassins! Please, lend us your aid, and I will reward you handsomely afterward!"
"Baron Serdes?" Linton paused for a moment, the name sounding familiar. Suddenly, he looked toward Eck. Eck was also taken aback, but then quickly remembered, "Oh, Young Master, I remember now! That's the crest of the Serdes family!"
"You've got to be kidding me…" Linton muttered, rubbing his forehead. They had just been discussing seeking Baron Serdes' help, and now here he was. From the looks of it, Serdes was headed in the same direction as them—probably to attend Linton's brother's wedding.
It was quite the coincidence, but it seemed like everything lately had been one big coincidence. Linton had just survived an assassination attempt, and now it was Baron Serdes' turn. He couldn't shake the feeling that these assassination attempts were somehow connected, though he didn't know why.
Regardless, Linton decided to intervene. Baron Serdes might be able to help him, and these assassins might be connected to the ones targeting him. Plus, he was still curious why his automatic combat system hadn't activated.
"Hey, Battle AI, why didn't you respond this time?" Linton asked mentally.
"Would you like to enable automatic combat now?" the system replied.
"Huh? Why are you asking me this time?" Linton asked, puzzled. "It used to activate automatically. Can I control this?"
"In worlds classified as low-security, automatic combat can be toggled on or off," the AI explained.
"Wait, low security? How is that determined?" Linton asked.
But this time, there was no response. Still, Linton understood that his homeworld had a low-security rating, which allowed him to control the automatic combat. In other worlds, however, it seemed to activate automatically due to higher danger levels. But how was this rating determined? And did it have something to do with his permissions?
Linton pondered this while thinking back to his previous encounter with the assassins. The system had activated while he was asleep, so maybe it triggered automatically if he was unconscious or unaware of danger. He didn't hear the prompt then, but that seemed to be the pattern.
While Linton was deep in thought, two more assassins charged toward him, realizing he wasn't easy to deal with. Linton drew his sword—a fine weapon given to him by his father, and likely the sharpest blade in their small town.
The first assassin swung his sword before getting within striking distance, likely attempting a combat energy strike. However, Linton saw through the attack with his Sharingan, predicting the assassin's movements as though he could see into the future.
Linton ducked beneath the attack and, with a swift step forward, struck the assassin's waist with his sword. He felt some resistance, likely due to the assassin's combat energy shield, but Linton didn't care. Gripping his sword with both hands, he pulled it forward with a powerful slash.
With a clean motion, his sword cut through the assassin, leaving a trail of blood. In just one exchange, the assassin was cut in half and collapsed to the ground.
(End of Chapter)