Ep. 599 Intrigue in Illium Part 1 (Patreon)

Since she is still sleeping, I gather up the portable ritual and the new teleporter. Then I head through the portal and return to Illium, then head downstairs. To my surprise, the common room is full of people, but I am glad to see guards as well.

Some are having breakfast, but there are more standing guard at the entrance. The locals don't seem to mind their presence, everyone still seems to be in a good mood. Sarah isn't hard to find, but she looks to not be in a very good mood.

"Hey, Sarah, everything alright?"

Sarah says "No, I am going stir crazy! I want to go out and do things!"

"So, why don't you?"

Sarah says "Because, it is hard to move around the city with a couple of dozen beastmen following me!"

"I am not taking the guards away until I can be sure that Illium is safe again!"

Sarah says "Why so worried? Borrik has swept the town a couple of times already!"

"I am especially worried for you."

Sarah says "But why??"

"Because I don't know if resurrect will work on you a second time!"

Sarah says "Oh! I didn't think of that!"

"Even if it does work, I have no idea what side effects may occur. So please, just bear with it for a few more days."

Sarah says "Alright, I guess I can do that."

"Any progress on the bar?"

Sarah says "Trying to distract me, huh? The paperwork went through, we now own it. There is a team over there now doing the renovations and I have most of the staff hired already."

"You sure don't waste any time! Anything I can do to help?"

Sarah says "No, I have everything under control! Don't you go messing with anything!"

"Don't worry, I just have a few things to take care of. I am not going to cause any problems."

Sarah says "Famous last words!"

While laughing I give Sarah a hug and then leave the inn, the guards all salute me as I pass. I don't bother taking any guards with me, if someone wants to try and assassinate me, let them try. Before heading to the mage guild, I head towards the cathedral, but on the way I smell something strange.

It is a scent that is somewhat familiar, but does not belong in the city, so I follow it. As I follow it the scent gets stronger allowing me to recognize it, it is a demon. Since I am not a demon anymore I can't sense them, but I can still smell them.

The scent leads me into a dead end alley, obviously this is meant to be a trap. At the end of the alley are two people who look human, but the scent is coming from them. As I walk closer they both suddenly get pained looks on their faces, they don't seem to like my aura.

While their scent doesn't tell me what rank they are, I don't feel a sense of danger from them. Even when a half dozen humans enter the alley behind me I am not worried. The six humans are dressed exactly like the assassins that attacked Sarah, so much for the city being safe.

"So, are you here to deliver a message, or just to die?"

Without saying anything the two demons draw daggers and charge at me. At the same time the six assassins draw their weapons and charge at my back. Unfortunately for them, the alley doesn't leave them any room to dodge.

Since the two demons are closer I first use Holy Light, then I fire a Holy Shock behind me. Since Holy Shock is a line of lightning, it hits all six assassins, only two of them survive it. The Holy Light doesn't kill the demons, but they are not in good shape after it hits them.

As they scream in pain their disguises vanish and I can instantly tell they are not very powerful. In fact, I very much doubt they would be able to disguise themselves, someone else must have done it. Pulling the naginata out of my pouch, I use it like a spear and kill them both.

1 Rank 3 Demon killed! 3,000 Exp gained!

1 Rank 5 Demon killed! 5,000 Exp gained!

As expected, they were nothing special, not even good exp, but still better than humans. Speaking of, when I turn to check I find six dead humans, the injured two killed themselves. The assassins killing themselves isn't surprising, throughout all of this not a single assassin has been taken alive.

Ignoring the bodies I walk out of the alley and wave down the first guards I see. I send one off to fetch Borrik and have the rest seal off the alley to keep people out. Just me standing there has already caused a crowd to gather, being famous has its downsides.

Before Borrik arrives, more guards arrive and help to keep the crowd under control. Word of this is definitely going to spread throughout the city, meaning Sarah will know soon. I get the feeling I am not going to hear the end of this, even though it wasn't my fault.

Borrik says "Not only are there more assassins, but now there are demons?!"

"Don't look at me like that! It's not my fault!"

Borrik says "If it's not your fault, then whose is it?"

"I would say a mix of Pine and the demons."

Borrik says "And the reason for them to be in my city?"

"Well, I might be to blame for that."

Borrik says "So I have every right to glare at you! Especially since I was positive that I had cleared the city of assassins!"

"When I first encountered the demons they were disguised by illusion spells. They might have used the same spell to get the assassins into the city."

Borrik says "So you are saying it is impossible to keep them out? That's just great!"

"How many assassins can they have? They have to run out at some point!"

Borrik says "The empire is a big place with a high population. I don't think we want to wait for them to run out of assassins."

"So, we should attack the empire instead?"

Borrik says "Are you insane?! Attacking the empire would be suicide! No one can match their military might!"

"Not currently, but that will change soon."

Borrik says "You think your beastmen will be a match for the empire?"

"Maybe not in numbers, but in combat strength, yes."

Borrik says "That would certainly be a sight worth seeing!"

"Well, don't die in the next couple of years and you will see it."

Borrik says "I will do what I can. Now, any idea why there are demons working with the empire's assassins?"

"I'm afraid not. It certainly does not bode well."

Borrik says "That's an understatement! Do you think they were targeting you specifically?"

"No, the demon lords know me well enough that if they were after me they would have sent stronger demons."

Borrik says "In that case, what do you think they were doing in the city?"

"Either acting as spies, or they were here to assassinate someone else would be my guess."