After her warning, there was pure silence within the hall, and everyone simply looked at me with clear animosity.
“So, you want our help to deal with this individual. Is that it?” The queen asked with a serious glare.
I pondered for a moment before answering, “No, that’s not it. We need help finding the Icy Lake, and we will deal with the individual on our own.”
The queen narrowed her eyes as she seemed to assert how powerful I was. However, even after a few seconds, she didn’t say anything at all.
“I cannot feel a lot of strength coming from your body. Are you sure that you will be able to handle such a person?”
I smirked. “Yes. I will be able to deal with that person on my own without a doubt.”
The queen then turned to look toward Phoebe, who was still extremely nervous, her fists tightly clenched, and I could almost see a strand of blood falling from her hand.
“And what’s her deal? Is she supposed to help you fight against that person?”
The queen did the exact same with Phoebe as she did with me as she suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“Mhm, I see. No need to answer my previous question. I know exactly who she is. Nevertheless, I have my choice regarding your request.”
Everyone in the stands became silent, and the only thing that could be heard in the glacial hall was my breathing as everyone else was holding it, wondering what the choice from the queen would be. However, I wasn’t too nervous. I believed that she would make the right decision.
“I will send a few Ice Elves to guide you to the Icy Lake.”
I celebrated in my mind. Happy that she had agreed to my request. However, that bright smile on my face retracted when I heard the word “However” coming from her mouth.
“However, if you even try to use the Icy Lake’s powers for your own benefit, then you will be deemed an enemy of our kingdom, and every single Ice Elf will be under to kill you. Is that understood?”
I nodded. I didn’t care about the Icy Lake or whatever it could give me. I just wanted to kill Zero. That was all I was asking for.
However, as I looked around at the nobles. I could clearly see that a lot of people wanted to protest the queen’s decision. It seemed that even if the queen agreed, we might encounter a few “problems” on the way to the Icy Lake.
It was clear in my mind that a lot of the nobles would try to stop me from reaching the Icy Lake. I couldn’t confirm it, but from the reactions they had, I had a strong feeling that some of them knew Zero very well. After all, it was not normal for their sacred lake to be used by someone they ignored, especially since the reactions to what I said were extremely severe.
There were two options. Either they were allies with Zero, or Zero had used a strange power that made it impossible for the Ice Elves to find out about his presence. I strongly believed that it was the first option. However, I hoped that it would be the second option.
“Thank you for your help.”
To be honest, this went a lot better than I originally thought it would go. I thought that there was a pretty good chance that we would get thrown into the dungeons as soon as we entered this place. But it seemed like the queen was somewhat reasonable compared to the rest of the nobles.
After the queen agreed to help us, she ordered the guards to untie us.
“From my understanding, you want to leave as soon as possible from here. So, I will make sure that everything is ready for you guys as soon as tomorrow morning. Now, the guards will guide you to where you will be spending the night.”
It didn’t take too long for us to reach our room. However, there was something that worried me somewhat. The fact that I was not sharing my room with Phoebe meant that we were split from one another. I wanted to make sure that nothing would happen to her. However, she had been the one who explicitly asked for us to be in split rooms for some reason.
Nevertheless, as soon as I reached my bed, I fell asleep right away. I was dead tired from everything that had just happened recently. All this walking in the cold had been extremely tiring. It was nice to have a nice bed to sleep in that was also hidden from the dark.
***
A few hours later, in the middle of the night.
A man was approaching Caedrel’s room quietly, making sure that he didn’t make the slightest noise. He opened the door to his room and walked right over him. In his hands was a sharp dagger.
The man smiled as he saw the sleeping body of his target. He looked so unaware of everything.
‘This job is way too easy, and I’m getting paid so much from it…’ the assassin thought with a greedy smile, happy to have accepted this assassination request.
All he needed to do next was to cut off the Caedrel’s neck and escape as if nothing happened.
‘Let’s hope that it’s as easy for them with that girl.’
With that thought, the assassin tightly grabbed onto his dagger and tried to slash Caedrel’s neck. However, just as he was about to reach his neck, a strong power held onto his wrist, holding him in place.
“Who are you?” A dark, looming voice uttered before him. “Trying to kill me in my sleep. Did you really think something that simple would work with me?”
The assassin had no idea how to react as the wrist in which he held had been grabbed. He tried to escape, but he couldn’t…this man who he had been ordered to kill was too powerful.
“Who gave you the order to kill me?”
