That's right, that's what adventure is like!

Chapter 94 Castrol

The Kingdom of Kessel had a short history, only about three hundred years.

Its birth was simple, unlike other countries that experienced various upheavals, were not oppressed by external forces, and did not involve a power reshuffle caused by the rise of new supernatural powers.

The only problem was that the previous king's bloodline had ended. After three months of bickering among the nobles, they elected the Duke of Kessel, who was the most prestigious at the time, as the new king.

This founding emperor was a wise man. He knew he was not good at political struggles, so he ceded most of the territory to the nobles to consolidate his rule.

This was the right decision. The monarchy itself represents authority, and this authority has been solidified through the succession of kings.

Through various means, the royal family spent hundreds of years reclaiming the territories that had been allocated to the nobles and diminishing their influence in most of the lands.

But these kings were accustomed to peace, and they would never resort to force if a problem could be solved by political means or money.

Until the current king.

He was called a "vampire" by the common people, and he frantically increased various taxes in order to improve the army's combat effectiveness.

He was called a "madman" by the nobles, and even after the capital was captured, he insisted on fighting the empire, disregarding the consequences of defeat.

Aside from the powerful ministers who benefited from his position, he was almost universally disliked.

In stark contrast was his second son.

Young, gentle, intelligent, and approachable—Kasper Kessel had an exceptionally good image in the eyes of the general public, and many people wished the current king would die immediately so that his second son could take the throne.

For the nobles, this second son was also a very famous figure.

He was adept at political maneuvering and never suffered losses in political transactions. Although he loved the army, he maintained the dignity and elegance of a nobleman when accompanying the army, making him a respectable heir to the throne.

There is only one thing that neither the common people nor the nobles can tolerate.

He wanted to win too much.

He performed exceptionally well in the war against the empire, not only achieving great military exploits, but also orchestrating the kingdom's brief resurgence not long ago.

This is not a good sign.

The people are already looking forward to the arrival of the empire. They will not only pay less tax, but also enjoy the empire's assistance to the lower classes. Judging from the precedents of other kingdoms, life will definitely be much better then than it is now.

The same applies to the nobles. They appear to waver on the surface, but in reality, they have already pledged their loyalty to the empire and are just waiting for the empress's decree to become the more glorious "new nobles".

Even the powerful ministers who were close to the king disliked the king's second son, feeling that he was too harsh in the army and hindered their path to amass wealth.

So they sent Roland, and not just Roland.

"call----"

Casper leaned against the wall, a gash in his abdomen from a sharp blade, blood gushing out and staining the stone slab black, clearly indicating he had been poisoned.

"Your Highness, please open your mouth."

A hoarse voice came from the oldest guard in the group, whose face had a scar that ran diagonally from his jaw to his brow bone and was still bleeding.

He pulled a thumb-sized potion bottle from his pocket. The bottle was engraved with healing runes and contained a pale golden liquid.

Casper did not resist, allowing the older guard to pour the eye into his mouth. His injuries began to heal quickly, and he struggled to get up, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.

How many are left?

"Four," another guard, squatting nearby, his red robe flowing with a blood-red light, answered without looking up as he smeared something on the bowstring. "In that attack just now, eight of us died."

Kasper looked at the corpse on the ground, closed his eyes, and said nothing.

Eight people.

The twelve guards around him had been with him since childhood, had survived countless assassination attempts, and had distinguished themselves on the battlefield. Now, only four remained.

After a long while, he opened his eyes: "Have you figured it out?"

"Your Highness, they are Imperials," a female guard stood up from beside the assassin in black robes, her tone calm. "We found maps on them; it seems they are after you."

, "

Casper remained silent.

The guard who had been applying paint to the bowstring stood up, his voice cold: "Your Highness, shall we investigate further?"

check?

Should we investigate the trusted ministers of the king? The noble alliance in the far south? Or the clandestine organizations lurking in the shadows?

Casper smiled, but not with sadness; rather, with an indescribable conviction.

"Keep going."

He stood up, leaning against the wall, black blood still flowing from his abdomen—the poison on the assassin's sword was very potent, and the medicine he had just taken could only suppress it.

"Keep going," he said, his voice filled with authority and determination. "Keep going, complete our mission, and then find the Blue Heart. Then the kingdom will have a chance."

The four guards exchanged glances, said nothing more, and simply followed behind him.

Deep inside the passage.

Light flickered before Roland, revealing the actions of Casper and the others in mid-air, before returning to silence as they continued forward.

This is the function of the spell scroll in the dimensional bag; it connects to that location to provide Roland with information when the battle occurs.

Thus, Roland witnessed the entire battle.

"The four guards were all professionally trained," he said, putting away the scroll and recalling the situation. "They were a ranger, a warrior, a mage, and a wanderer, and they were all experienced in combat."

"Including Casper, they all suffered injuries of varying degrees, but this will only increase their vigilance—with my current strength, the risk is still too high."

After thinking for a moment, he couldn't come up with a sure-fire way to win, so he could only turn his head to look ahead.

This is the very end of the passage, the location marked by the red circle on the map.

The spacious hall had not yet been paved with stone slabs, and the dome at the top was an opening concealed by a magic circle, through which gray and white snowflakes were now falling.

On the far right of the hall was a row of magic crystal cannons, the runes engraved on them gleaming with a metallic luster under the eerie blue light, and next to them, in a half-open wooden box, were crystal cannonballs surging with unstable energy.

This is the equipment prepared for that raiding force.

Unfortunately, it comes with tracking and locking runes, and the magic crystal cannon is surrounded by a magic circle, requiring special means to use. Otherwise, Roland would have tried to use it to fire at Casper directly.

The figure disappeared back into the darkness. Roland sat quietly cross-legged, waiting for Casper and his group to arrive.

The blade gleamed with a barely perceptible silver light, catching his eye. A cold wind howled overhead, whipping up more snowflakes that drifted in and landed on his eyebrows.

For some reason, a proverb came to mind.

—"The brightest flame is always the first to go out."

Will he be the one to extinguish this fire?

If that's the case, then is he a sinner against the kingdom?

Or, a meritorious official?