"Rise and shine~" Arlott yawned while stretching his body, his muscles felt sore from oversleeping while the dirt had collected in his eyes.
He rubbed his eyes before leaning to pick up a jug of water and drink.
Last night, from the afternoon until the morning of the next day, Arlott slept continuously without a care in the world.
Tied up in the cupboard and gagged, Emily was resisting in the closet causing the low 'thud' sounds.
"Useless." Arlott walked towards the trunk and tied her even tighter.
He wasn't allowed to fight, but since she was considered his family, the system didn't feel any damage to her as a fight.
Of course, that was only because he was only 'tending' to her and not outright hitting her, but this much was fine for now. Arlott didn't mind waiting for 3 more days before he could take out his frustrations.
Though there was nothing to speak of.
'Let's just meet up with Claire and see what's happening.' Arlott shrugged carelessly propping himself up from the bed, 'IP seems to be rising steadily which is a good thing.'
With that thought in his mind, Arlott walked out of the room and headed into the tavern.
'Hmm, where is she?' He thought and then found Alia sitting on a table, munching on food that looked like chicken legs.
Arlott chuckled and pulled a seat on the table, casually sitting next to Alia.
"Where is your dear lady?" he asked.
Alia first frowned when she felt someone sitting with her, but then she scowled when she looked at the masked man sitting across from her.
If she hated men hitting on her, she absolutely despised the sight of this masked knight.
Ignoring him, Alia began to munch on her food.
"Alia," Arlott said lightly, causing a shiver to rundown Alia's spine.
'Right… he is strong enough to go head to head with the 4-circled mage, he can snap my neck with his bare hands.' Alia received a reality check, so she sighed and turned to him.
"Lady Claire is not in the tavern. She had some work outside."
"Where?" Arlott asked.
And as quite obvious, he was taught about public dealings and conversation talents. But in practical terms, he wasn't well-versed in conversations.
His public skills were lacking, as the only people he talked to were the orphans, who were as crazy as him. His kidnappers were manipulative and fake. And the psychotic torturers like Xavier and Emily.
Thus, he didn't even realize that he was being extremely weird by prying this plainly.
Normally assassins are taught various smooth talking to merge into the crowd, but Arlott wasn't any normal assassin.
"It doesn't involve you. She will talk to you when she returns." Alia shook her head and got up to leave.
"It does involve me." Arlott said coldly, "Answer the question, Miss Alia."
Alia fell in a deep thought, but then sighed and revealed the answer. It wasn't that big of a secret anyway.
Arlott could have simply questioned the carriage driver instead of her and he could have got the accurate answer.
Regardless, she said,
"Palace."
"Oh?" Arlott had an amused smile under his mask, 'I guess the relationship between her and the duke's son is better than expected. It will be easier then, heh.
I really did a good job in hunting down the convoy instead of finding any other sneak route. This way I have a better chance of meeting the duke since I don't need to sneak in.'
Arlott and his crew were given the blueprints and secret routes of the Zordian palace to assassinate Duke Zordian, but he had no clue about the Paxley.
Although Paxley Palace wasn't as secure as the Zordian Palace, it wasn't something to scoff at either.
No dukedom in the entire empire was 'weak' to say the least. All of them were powerless to be feared and outright worshipped.
If Arlott wasn't trained out of the loop and manipulated to kill the duke, he doubted he could have had enough courage to even think of assassinating a duke.
"Thanks." With a simple thanks, Arlott got up from his seat and walked off.
He then walked back to his room and swiftly dozed off, planning to wake up at the time of lunch and hope that Claire was back.
If she wasn't he would sleep again.
This was how he planned to spend his 3 days anyway, as he felt this was the most optimum use of his time.
He didn't feel secure enough to go out in the capital when he was most wanted + unable to fight.
Thus locking the door and collecting IP was the best.
***
Just like that, 3 hours ticked by and Arlott was woken up again.
"Haah~" he yawned on the bed and stretched his lethargic body before wearing his robe and a helmet.
He then opened the door.
But with his eyes droopy, his robe open, and his body lazy, Arlott was shocked when he opened the door and a figure suddenly dashed in.
"What the" Arlott's eyes widened and his sleep vanished in an instant.
He had no weapon in hand, but his bare hands were capable of killing lions.
With the speed of a tiger and strength of a bear, he moved his hand to chop at the figure's head.
"WAIT!" the figure yelped and at the last moment, Arlott pulled back his hand.
'I nearly lost my quest.' he sighed deeply.
He looked down and on his chest lay a small lithe figure, her breath hitching and her soft breasts pressed against his chest.
"You nearly killed me…" she pouted a little, "I thought we had a truce."
"You startled me," Arlott answered.
"Who thinks of killing when they are startled…?" Claire said in disbelief before getting up and dusting her clothes.
"Me." Arlott picked himself off the floor before checking his helmet.
He sighed in relief when he saw it was safely covering his face.
"I heard you were looking for me, so I came to meet you. I was just going to knock, but you opened the door yourself.
I thought you sensed me already, so I jumped at you since I missed you too." Claire explained.
But hearing her, Arlott couldn't help but feel weird.
'Is that how you greet a man who threatened to kill you, Claire?'