After the meeting with Prince Paul and Duke Lancer, Rick secretly sneaked out of the royal palace and continued living his daily life until night. Along the street in the city, Rick was inside his carriage on his way home after another sold-out show. Rick was alone in the carriage, excluding the coachman. For a certain reason, he told the others to go first. He noticed something odd around him, so he intended to be alone to deal with it. Peering out from the jet glass window pane as he looked at the midnight snow, Rick recalled the thing that Paul told him this morning after they finished the meeting. Paul told him, “I want to dethrone my father and become the king. But my brother is still there, so I want your help to get rid of him by any means.” 𝓁𝑖𝒷𝑟𝘦𝒶.𝒸𝘰𝘮
During their discussion, Paul revealed his plan to usurp his father. However, he was still not the crowd prince. In order to make his plans successful, he asked Rick to take care of him. Paul did not instruct him what exactly to do, but Rick got what he wanted to imply: depriving the crowd prince from the throne by either making him illegible or making him bite the dust. Rick thought Paul probably resented his family so much that he would not care what would happen to them. (Should I kill him or not?) Rick thought to himself. (Well, whatever, as long as Paul becomes the king, it doesn’t matter what method I would use… Hmm?)
As he was watching the sleeping city, Rick suddenly felt a magical activation nearby. But the presence of the magic itself was vague; the user probably wanted to perform the spell as discreetly as possible. However, Rick’s sharp magical senses clearly perceived each of its movements and the amount of mana used. But he chose not to react to it and let them continue their moves. When he looked at his invisible radar, three men were hiding on the houses’ roofs ahead of the street. Since this morning, Rick picked up the group and has been following him around. Rick had been observing the group since this morning, but now they seemed to confront Rick.
Rick did not know what their intentions were, but he already had plans in his mind. That was the reason why he sent his colleagues so soon, but he already told them mentally, so they were aware of what was happening. Soon after, mana took shape into an invisible cloak sphere that entirely covered a portion of the street, including some houses. Once the casting was done, the Pure Magic Level 3: Anti-Sonic Barrier was laid on the road, and they successfully executed the first step of entrapping Rick. Now that the trap had been laid, all Rick needed to do was deal with it.
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Standing on the roofs of houses and establishments, a small group of three men was waiting for a magic carriage to enter the range of the soundproof barrier they had just deployed. The group’s target was none other than Rick, the genius of Astley. “Ku ku. It’s going to be an easy job.” With an evil grin, the leader of the group, who was also the one who set up the barrier, laughed as he saw the carriage slowly getting lured into the trap. He already concluded the result, as neither the target nor the coachman noticed their impending demise.
“Look at them, sir; they looked at an animal about to fall into the trap. It seems that they did not notice the barrier.”
“Could it be that this Rick guy is not as good as we thought?” When his two companions expressed their criticism, the leader gave them a stern look. “Don’t be deceived by what you see. There is a possibility that he noticed it and pretended not to. Did you really remember that he easily sneaked in and out of the palace earlier?” “You are right about that, Sir.” As early as this morning, the three had been keeping an eye on Rick as someone had ordered them to do so. Upon their observation, the leader discovered that Rick was actually a Perfect Concealment user, such as himself, after seeing him activate the skill in order to enter the heavily guarded royal palace. After Rick got out of the palace, they followed him all the way around, from his lunch through his performance at the theater up until the current situation. As per request, the conditions were fulfilled, and they decided to eliminate Rick through an ambush.
“Get ready. He is about to enter the range.” With hand gestures, the leader signaled the group, and they immediately got into the position as the carriage was in the middle of entering the unseen barrier. When the horse and the vehicle reached the center of the barrier, one of the men immediately blocked their way. “Huh?” The coachman pulled the reins and stopped the carriage upon seeing the man. “Who are you? Get out of the w—?!” Before the coachman could finish his words, the man suddenly threw a knife and precisely pierced his throat. A waterfall of blood flew out of his throat, and the coachman instantly died on the spot. “Why did we stop?” Curious, the passenger, Rick, opened the front window and looked for the situation. “What?!” Upon seeing the lifeless body of the coachman, Rick immediately got out of the carriage and quickly approached his body. Rick checked his vitals, and he eventually confirmed his death. “Did you do this?”
After that, Rick turned his attention to the man in front before his ears perceived noises coming from the rear. When he turned his head around, two other men were already standing a few meters behind the vehicle. Rick had been besieged, and they had blocked his escape routes.
“I see. I have been surrounded.” Rick calmly assessed the situation. “You are all here for me, I suppose. Am I right, Sir Austin, the best marksman of Astley?”
“Ku ku. You are rather smarter than I thought, Sir Rick the maverick.”
With the winter winds graciously billowing his long blonde hair, Austin put on a cynical smile as he did not try to hide his identity from Rick.