Ethan was looking out of the window. He closed it and sat down on his chair, thinking,
"In all these years, I've survived these attacks either because of my luck or my cleverness. Otherwise, I wouldn't be alive here today.
But now, I can't just sit and wait for another assassin to come and kill me. I need to do something to protect myself.
The best option for this is to create a gun. However, the problem is that guns haven't been invented in this era yet. But the good thing is, I can design a blueprint for a gun.
The issue is that the technology of this time isn't advanced enough to make a gun perfectly. So, I'll have to go through a lot of trouble for this.
As for hiring guards for my protection, I can't trust anyone because, in the last attack, the assassins turned out to be my own guards. Besides, having a gun in my hands is better than putting my life in someone else's.
Initially, I thought I was born in some magical world, but slowly, I've realized that this world isn't that different from my own.
There's nothing magical here. This world is just several centuries behind mine in terms of time. I realized this after observing the geographical structure here.
Where I am is a vast geographical island consisting of five states:
1. Griffin
2. Phoenix
3. Hydra
4. Kraken
5. Dragon
As for me, I am the son of a Marquess in the state of Griffin. So, I have no shortage of money. Moreover, I've used my future knowledge to make a lot of money.
I've introduced such changes to this world that even I don't know what its future will be. Because things that should appear 100-200 years later are already here due to me.
Ethan then focused on two containers containing Rauwolfia serpentina and Datura. Looking at them, he thought, "I didn't expect to find these things in this time period."
Then he recalled how he had acquired them with great enthusiasm, only to realize he didn't know how to use them.
Late at night, a man entered Ethan's room holding a knife. He walked straight toward the bed and began stabbing furiously. After a series of strikes, he realized no one was on the bed—just some pillows.
Suddenly, he noticed someone behind him. Ethan stood there, lighting a candle, and said,
"Hello! You must be tired. Why don't you have some water?"
Saying this, he threw the liquid from the containers straight at the assassin's face.
The man immediately covered his face with his hands. He turned and charged at Ethan with the knife, but before he could reach him, he collapsed, unconscious. Ethan sighed in relief as the knife stopped just a centimeter away from him.
He immediately called the guards standing outside.
A minute later, the guards entered and said, "Young master, are you alright?" Ethan glared at them in anger. The assassin could have killed him ten times over in a minute.
However, Ethan was pleased that the liquid mixture of Rauwolfia serpentina and Datura worked perfectly as a knockout agent. The thought filled him with a strange sense of joy and relief.
Looking at the unconscious man, one guard said, "This man—"
Ethan interrupted, shouting, "Stop! Cover your noses, you fools, or you'll end up unconscious like him."
The guards quickly covered their faces with cloth and prepared to carry the man out. Suddenly, Ethan looked closely at the assassin's face and said, "Wait!" Sweat dripped down his face as he added,
"I think you'll need to interrogate him, so take this medicine—it'll wake him up quickly. It's very effective."
The guards silently took the medicine and left. Watching them leave, Ethan smirked devilishly and said, "Indeed, it's very effective."
A while later, the guards brought the man to a room. One of them, irritated, said, "This idiot couldn't even get one job done." He kicked the unconscious man, saying, "Get up already!"
The other guard said, "We've got that medicine, right? Give it to him; he'll wake up quickly."
As they fed the medicine to the man, one of them said, "We don't have much time. I think we should just kill him now."
Moments later, the man began foaming at the mouth. Panicking, one guard said, "Did he give us poison?"
The other replied, "It seems he's suspicious of us. Let's kill him before he exposes us. There's no one here anyway."
While they were talking, smoke started entering the room. Both guards quickly realized it was intoxicating smoke, but it was too late. They began to lose consciousness.
Outside, Ethan stood with a cloth over his nose, thinking,
"Did I burn too much of both substances? Oh well, who cares."
He then entered the room with a candle and set it ablaze.
Moments later, screams and cries echoed throughout the palace. Standing outside, Ethan laughed and said, "They came to kill me and ended up arranging their own funeral pyre."
As the count of assassins reached thirty, Ethan thought,
"If this continues, I'll soon hit a century."
Suddenly, he remembered something and panicked, "Oh no! I set the palace on fire!"
Realizing this, Ethan quickly ran away, thinking,
"This has nothing to do with me. Thank goodness, once again, I survived because of my luck and cleverness.
But what if, next time, my luck doesn't support me? Sure, I have a lot of money, but what's the use if I don't survive to spend it? I must start working on my gun plan as soon as possible."