Lord Summoner's Freedom Philosophy: Grimoire of Love-Chapter 74 The Subjugation Of The Goblin King (8) The Ploy

?"As expected of the captain of the royal knights, you're strong," The leader of the [Crows] praised Julius's strength as he retreated after evading a series of Julius's slashes.

"You too. You're strong as well. As expected of the leader of the [Crows] acting directly under the Duke," Julius's response remains calm. Julius's sword and the leader of the [Crows]'s dual swords had been colliding for quite a while, but none of them had taken a single scratch on their bodies despite of the fierce exchange of strikes between them.

(A single hit and the poison from his blades will be my end, huh...) (Julius)

Julius had been taking the full offensive and forced the man to defense in order to prevent him from getting attacked by the poison-smeared blades.

"I thought the royal knights would lose their valor and quality after losing commander Griselda, but it seems that it's not the case, I see. But even though you're a non-attribute mana wielder, you're still incapable of reaching the same height of the former-" The leader of the [Crows] ducked to the side as a powerful slash of mana suddenly rushed to himself, spitting even the surface of the ground that it went through.

"Don't you dare utter her name... With that foul mouth of yours..." (Julius)

Intense bloodlust is gushing out from Julius, and for the first time, he lost his composure and show his rage. The other knights are surprised because of his actions, but the man he's battling didn't even flinch in response.

"Griselda Alaister Fulmine. The commander with limitless potential that foolishly died without anyone knowing. Do you mean that name?" The leader of the [Crows] continues his provocation as he found his weakness.

"You bas-" (Julius)

Even more mana is getting infused in his sword, if he did so, he'll exhaust his mana faster just like what the leader of the [Crows] intended, but before he could unleash it-

*Slash!*

Another hooded man appeared from the side and attempted to kill him with a slash of a golden flame, even though the man succeeded in evading it, the golden flame that appeared before him made him widen his eyes in surprise.

(The royal golden flame mana? But the prince is-)

When he glanced to see the one he mentioned as the prince before, he saw an impossible scene unfolding before his eyes.

*Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash*

It's a series of slashes that isn't visible even to his eyes. He is focusing all of the white mana to reinforce his hands, his mana utilization must be perfect and flawless, and his magnificent swordsmanship that aims directly at the unguarded spots of his subordinates struck him with amazement, awe, and fear.

The subordinates that he painstakingly trained to the point where two of them should be capable of facing one Mythril-ranked mercenary had gotten killed in an instant. More than a dozen of them got killed in less than 5 seconds.

(That white mana... He's not the prince... Then who is he...? The commotion must be the anticipation plan laid by the prince, then since he follows through with the plan, is he a new person in the prince's faction? I need to let relay the information to the duke. If a person of such caliber joined the prince's faction, then he'll be in danger!)

The leader of the [Crows] immediately shifts his plan from capturing the prince to retreating and informing the duke of the prince's new ally.

"Not that easy!"

Golden flames appeared from the ground, surrounding the leader of the [Crows], preventing him from fleeing.

"Your subordinates had been dealt with, some have been captured and I'll make sure to make them speak. Surrender to me, leader of the [Crows]. I'll could ensure your life if you did, as long as you surrender yourself and follow me, that is," The cloaked man said with a powerful voice.

"Is that so?" The leader of the [Crows] snorted.

"That arrogance of yours is the source of your doom, crown prince," Following his confident words, the man takes out a syringe with some green fluids inside it, and injects them into his body without any hesitation.

"Kuh! Ugh!!" The man groans as his body started to become green, but before it could achieve whatever he is planning-

*Thrust!*

Blood splattered as a sword got stabbed into the head of the man at terrifying speed. The cloaked guy and Julius saw the hint of white aura gushing out of the sword on the leader of the [Cloaks] head and turn their gaze towards the owner of the mana.

"How cruel. You didn't even let him finish his last move. Aren't you sad for the poor guy, Lyan?" The cloaked guy asked as he put his hand on his hip.

"You're the strange one for thinking of letting him finish whatever he's planning. That kind of development usually takes too long to finish so spare me from it, will you, William? Or should I say, your highness?" Lyan stared straight toward William's blue eyes.

"Spare me from that. But before we start, let's finish the rest of them first, I guess? If we let them take all of the work, the Valkyries will be scowling at us, you know?" (William)

"Of course not. They will blame you and your country alone and leave me out, of course. But you're right. Having unnecessary casualties here will only make it more difficult when we're fighting against the goblin king," Lyan replied as he blocked a slash of one of the [Crows] members.

"Right?" William evades a dagger thrown at him and went to Lyan's back. 𝐟r𝒆ℯ𝘄𝑒𝒃𝚗𝒐𝘃e𝗹.c𝘰𝐦

Leaving their backs to each other, the majority of the remaining [Crows] surrounded them since they now knew that William is the crown prince, the target of their master.

"Even though their leader died, they didn't retreat. How persistent," (Lyan)

"Don't get a blow and die here, you hear me, Lyan?" (William)

"Of course. I don't have any wish to die here at all!" (Lyan)

The fight continues and ends not even after 10 minutes. There are no magicians in the opponents' ranks, but they have magnificent skills and have no qualms in dying. No one died, but there are some that got injured and have the poison smeared on the assassins' weapons entered their body.

"Share the antidotes!" William ordered his men quickly.

(So he had even anticipated the poisons, huh? I guess he had suspected who is the one that is targeting him before he joined the subjugation. Those so-called guild staff...) (Lyan)

Lyan's eyes shifted towards the so-called guild staff members that are giving vials of antidotes to the Astellia Kingdom's royal knights and the Valkyries.

(Those are knight armors, and that crest on their chest, seems like they are his private knights) (Lyan)

"I'm thankful with the antidote and all, but don't you think we deserve your explanation? Or were you aiming to finish us here as well?" Alice didn't hide her hostility as she asked her question to William.

Judging from their expressions, the Valkyries seems to have roughly understood the situation about how this is a part of a political war of the Astellia Kingdom, but they need confirmation and compensation for dragging them into their political fight.

"I know we're running out of time, so it's fine if you just give us a short explanation," (Surena)

"You mercenaries, how insolent-" One of the royal knights snapped, but Julius hold him back and gave him a glare.

"You're right. Let me apologize for getting you caught up in this, Valkyries," William opened his hood, revealing a blonde and handsome man to the public. His eyes are sharp and are filled with confidence, just by showing his face alone, a certain air of charisma is being emitted from him.

"I am Erich Wendevar Astellia, first son of the King of Astellia Kingdom. The corpses lying around us are the assassins sent by a duke that opposes the royal faction, Duke Ravindor. Of course, their target is me alone. Since if I died, the duke's faction will get a greater influence due of the sickness of the king and the fact that I am the only son of the king," (William)

"It's very likely that the Golden Thrill had gotten bribed and made a deal with the duke beforehand. But I'm afraid I don't know about the Crimson Talon's leader's matter," (William)

William explained that he had already left 10 of his private knights hiding at a certain distance in case they suddenly got attacked from the beginning. Since didn't do much along the way, they got less attention from everyone, letting them to slip away easily.

"*Sigh!* I should have expected this. The prince getting killed in the middle of the goblin king subjugation, that's how the story will go around after your death, right? And about those hobgoblin assassins..." (Surena)

"It must be a ploy planned to mislead us. Rather than getting killed by hobgoblin assassins, our scouts before must have gotten killed by these bastards. They dress a hobgoblin in an assassin-like attire and brought it with them, bringing it with them and throwing them in case they got caught..." (Alice)

"And how about you, Lyan? Since when did you become the prince's aide?" Emilia shifted his questioning gaze towards Lyan.

"Aide? Surely you jest. I haven't gotten even a single copper from him, let alone becoming his subordinate," Lyan shrugged.

"Eh? Then why did you get along with his plan so smoothly?" (Raine)

"Ah... If it's this guy, he's a special case. You see, he somehow understand my plans when our eyes accidentally met with each other back then. Not only that, he magnificently killed more than a dozen of the [Crows] alone. You made me want you even more now, Lyan," William cheerfully tapped Lyan's shoulder, but Lyan shake him off.

"I'm not interested in getting courted by guys. Rather than that," Lyan jumped to the black horse after pulling the sword stuck on the [Crows] leader's head and putting back his swords to his waist.

"Don't forget. We still have some goblins to slay. I'm afraid to say, but the bad feeling I'm feeling hasn't disappeared yet. Small General, Dancing Gale, let's hasten. There might be a bigger storm brewing ahead," (Lyan)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Gold-ranked Mercenary

Money: 49,722,400 Elnes

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, Shadow Hobgoblin, Papilio Slime, Galewing Butterfly, Rock Golem, Deadlight, Moonlight Butterfly, Ice Golem