Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1232 - 1232: Confrontation and Revelation [Bonus 5]
“Sir Evan?!” Sharon called out in surprise.
Others in the crowd also instantly recognised Evan, who looked at ease despite the current tense situation.
As more gazes fell on him, whispers spread in surprise at the sight of the rising star of the Alpha Continent, one of the youngest and highest-ranked nobles on the planet, someone who’d been constantly in the news for the past few months.
Evan, unbothered by the attention, set his cocktail glass down on the table and looked up at Marquis Franco.
“Hey, Marquis. Did you know that when fishing, you’re supposed to wait until all your fish are in the net before you reel it in?”
Silence pervaded the area for a moment after he spoke, and everyone stared at him in confusion, wondering what he was suddenly talking about.
But in that instant when everyone’s focus was on Evan, one of Sharon’s maids silently slipped closer to the princess and, faster than Sharon’s senses could register, swept her hand toward Sharon’s back.
A dagger slid from her sleeve, and she gripped it, aiming to stab Sharon at supersonic speed.
Naturally, Sharon’s Lady-in-Waiting, standing right beside her, noticed immediately and reacted.
With her left hand, she pushed Sharon aside to create space between her and the blade, then caught the dagger with that same hand and threw a punch with her right, slamming it into the assailant’s stomach and sending her flying.
In that same moment, as the first attacker was knocked away, Sharon’s second maid, standing in the direction Sharon had been pushed toward, dashed at the princess, a dagger sliding out of her sleeve and flying straight toward Sharon’s neck.
Before it could reach her, however, a hand caught the maid’s wrist and crushed it with brute strength, bone crumbling under the pressure.
The dagger slipped from her fingers and clattered harmlessly to the floor as she screamed in agony.
That scream finally snapped the attention of those who lacked the kinetic vision needed to perceive the supersonic exchange that had taken place in those few seconds.
Sharon’s second Legendary Level guard pulled her close, while Evan, who had suddenly appeared between the princess and her would-be assassin, twisted the assassin’s arm behind her back and forced his other hand into her open mouth, searching around inside.
He tore out several of her teeth, blood splattering as he tossed them onto the ground, and from one of the extracted teeth came a faint fizzing sound as gas escaped into the air.
“Oh wow, cyanide,” Evan said after activating his Appraisal skill. “Now that’s one trick I haven’t seen in quite a while.”
Meanwhile, Sharon’s knights moved to restrain the first maid who’d been punched away, but she rose with strength that belied her frame and released a burst of magic power comparable to that of the Lady-in-Waiting, revealing herself as a Legendary Level existence.
The magic power burst knocked aside the knights trying to restrain her, and she ignited her magic, attempting to self-destruct and take everyone nearby with her.
Before she could succeed, Evan flicked his blood-stained finger in her direction, and her body was instantly encased in layers of crimson-gold ice.
He did the same to the second assassin, and as the newly frozen statue fell to the floor, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his fingers clean before looking at Marquis Franco.
“As I said, Marquis, when fishing, you wait until all your fish are in the net before you reel it in.”
“Well, well, well, it seems I spoke too soon,” Marquis Franco replied, withdrawing the magic power that had escaped his body in the instant Sharon’s maid-turned-assassin had moved.
Evan burned the handkerchief in his hand, then turned toward the burning building, looking at the strange white flames contained within Marquis Franco’s stone walls.
He extended his hand toward them and, activating Mesarthim, clenched his fist.
At first, nothing happened, but soon the flames slowly receded until they vanished completely, leaving behind the charred structure.
Murmurs of amazement spread through the crowd, and glancing at them, Evan raised an eyebrow and asked, “What? Why are you so surprised I put the fire out? Isn’t it common knowledge by now that I’ve got a Fire-attribute Unique Skill? Jeez.”
He shook his head slightly after speaking, but Sharon ignored his words entirely as she freed herself from the knight holding her.
She genuinely didn’t care about whether Evan could put the fire out or not, walking straight toward him with narrowed eyes as she demanded,
“How did you know?”
From his earlier comment about waiting for all the fish to enter the net, it was obvious he’d known there were still assassins remaining, and that those assassins were her own maids.
When Marquis Franco’s words had drawn attention to him, everyone’s focus had been on Evan, and that had been the moment the maids revealed themselves and attacked.
The one who’d attempted to self-destruct had released magic power comparable to her Lady-in-Waiting’s.
In other words, they were Legendaries. Level 700.
And they’d concealed themselves so well that even Sharon’s hidden Legendary Level guards hadn’t noticed anything until they acted.
Sending assassins after a princess was one thing. Sending not one but TWO Level 700 assassins was something else entirely.
The power and influence required for that were something few people possessed.
Yet, Evan seemed to have known about it beforehand.
Meeting Sharon’s gaze filled with suspicion, Evan answered casually.
“You had dinner with my fiancée and me a few hours ago, didn’t you?
When you arrived, I noticed your two maids were much stronger than I remembered from when I met them in Tarse during the welcome party Emperor Lloris hosted for you all from the Beta Continent.
Curious, I appraised them, and you can imagine my surprise when I saw that standing in your maids’ place weren’t the daughters of Counts I’d seen before, but two Veiled Legends with different names, assassin-type classes, concealment skills I was honestly jealous of, and not a single title tied to your Aelum Kingdom like the rest of your servants had.”
Shrugging, he continued in the same casual tone. “Now, it’d be strange if I saw all that and didn’t get suspicious, wouldn’t it?
Figuring something was bound to happen, I stuck around, and well, something did.
Thankfully, you’re safe, and your would-be assassins have been apprehended. Everyone except the people trying to kill you goes home happy.”
As Evan mentioned, the assassins being apprehended, attention shifted to something most had overlooked in the heat of the moment.
He’d said both of Sharon’s maids had been replaced by Veiled Legends. They also remembered that he’d somehow moved from his seat to Sharon’s side instantly, catching one assassin’s wrist and crushing it with nothing but brute strength.
Veiled Legend, Living Legend, different titles, but in the end, they were all Legendary Level existences between Levels 700 and 799.
Before their eyes, Evan had crushed the arm of a Level 700+ existence using only raw physical strength.
That realisation dawned in the minds of many and answered the question that had been a point of contention for over a year, ever since the Fallen Celestial Deities incident in Kreah Trade City.
The question of just how strong Evan really was.
Evan’s actions were a public confirmation that he was at least Level 700, and that at 18 years of age, he had joined the ranks of the planet’s Living Legends, the second to accomplish such a feat after ‘Strongest Human’ Rathal.
◇ ◇ ◇
A great deal had occurred in just one night, in less than 30 minutes.
The fire. The first stage of the attempt on Princess Sharon’s life. The second stage of the attempt, after the first had been thwarted by Marquis Franco. Evan’s sudden revelation that he had realised Sharon’s maids had been replaced, and that he had deliberately stayed nearby, waiting for the undercover assassins to make their move.
There were the unresolved questions of how the princess’s Level 700 guards had been immobilised along with several other knights, where those strange magic circles had come from, and how they had been placed on Level 700 existences without being noticed.
There was also the matter of when and how her maids had been replaced, and the uncertain status of the original maids, daughters of Counts from the Aelum Kingdom.
Then came the political questions.
Who stood to benefit from Sharon’s death? Why was she the target?
Somehow, Sharon had a feeling that Evan knew the answer to that last question.
She just didn’t have proof.
She cast a suspicious glance in his direction as he spoke with Marquis Franco, and though Evan clearly noticed it, he ignored her look and continued his discussion.
“My apologies. It seems I spoke too soon earlier,” Marquis Franco said, a soft sigh escaping his lips.
“I did notice those two maids were stronger than usual, but I assumed they were like the Lady-in-Waiting over there, secret guards assigned to the princess. I never expected they were assassins attempting to kill her.”
From his words, it was clear he’d realised the maids were Veiled Legends, but he hadn’t spoken up because he’d misunderstood their role.
“I wouldn’t have known either if I didn’t have the appraisal skill,” Evan replied with a shrug, raising a finger to his chin as he continued in a pensive tone.
“Well, without appraisal, if I’d noticed the difference in power, I probably would’ve warned Princess Sharon anyway. So who knows? Things might’ve unfolded differently.”
Marquis Franco nodded silently at Evan’s words, and then Evan extended a hand toward him.
“We already know each other’s names, but proper introductions are still polite. Evan Del Eris, the Marquis Bourne. Nice to meet you, Marquis Franco.”
Franco accepted the handshake, responding with his full name. “Leoniel Gilbert Franco. A pleasure to meet the Alpha Continent’s rising star.”
“Oh, please. I’m honestly getting tired of that title,” Evan said, chuckling lightly.
Leoniel laughed along with him, and Evan smiled faintly before continuing, “Tonight’s events are troubling. Investigations will probably continue into the morning. Once that’s handled, how about we meet and have a chat over lunch?”
“No problem. I’m up for it,” Leoniel replied.
“Great. See you at noon then.”
“See you at noon.”
With that, Evan turned and walked toward Eliza, who had just finished healing the servants injured by the strange white flames.
She glanced at Leoniel, who had begun speaking with his attendants, then looked back at Evan.
“So, he’s the one you were after?” she asked.
Evan nodded in affirmation. “Yeah. He’s my second target.”
“Is that so? So who is he really?”
Eliza’s question came from a place of curiosity, and at this, Evan glanced at her before asking, “Remember what I told you was the fifth Disaster the Demonic Hand has planned?”
“Yeah. You said it was called the Basilisk’s Stone Festival,” Eliza responded.
Evan slipped his arm around her shoulder as they walked forward, nodding lightly.
“Yeah. The Basilisk’s Stone Festival, indeed. The target nation is Isolon.”
He looked back at Leoniel in the distance, pointing at him as he continued speaking.
“That’s Marquis Leoniel Franco of Isolon,” Evan said quietly. “The Basilisk.”
