Chapter 401

Ajax felt a lot better after he finished his report to the king, despite that however he was starting to get more and more worried. With every attempt the assassin got closer and closer to killing him. The only reason the last one didn’t kill him was because the poison never made contact with him. 

As he lowered the privacy bubble Ajax was prepared to grab Anna, he knew he would need her help to have any chance at getting the arrow. Much to his surprise Anna was already in what looked like a heated discussion with Lioriel and Benedict was standing next to her. 

“What’s going on over there?” Ajax asked Lexi as he subtly nodded towards the exchange.

“Benedict was quick to grab Anna and head that way once we knew you were okay.” Lexi informed him. “He started arguing that we should retrieve the arrow since not only does it have part of your armor wrapped around it but there is also your blood which we wouldn’t want to let them get their hands on. Rare as curse users are, it's frightening what they can sometimes do with the blood of their target even across such ranges.” 

For once Ajax wasn’t all that worried about the prospect of being targeted like that. Despite the flexibility of how curses worked they still relied on the most basic layer of all magic, mana. His [Mana Syphon] would allow him to neutralize any long range attack that came in the form of a curse.

“I trust them.” Ajax chose to be specifically vague outside of a privacy field, he didn’t want to give away information and undermine Anna and Benedict while reassuring Lexi.

Ajax tried to move closer to the negotiations but he found his arm snared as Lexi hadn’t let go of him, if anything her grip had tightened. “Don’t scare me like that again.” Lexi whispered as she blinked away the tears that were blurring her vision. 

Ajax pulled Lexi back into a hug. While he had been the main target of the assassination attempts it seems he had forgotten just how those incidents affected those close to him. “I can’t make that promise.” Ajax whispered back. “But we’ll be away from here soon and once we are back home I’ll be able to take it easy for a few years.” Left unsaid was that he was planning to use those few years to not only help stabilize the foundation of his new Ducal house but also prepare for his trip outside the kingdom’s borders and into the untamed lands. 

Over the next few hours Ajax developed a small sense of respect towards Lioriel. The elf and Anna had been negotiating for hours and everyone could see that the facts gave Anna a dominating edge when it came to the negotiations. The simple fact that Lioriel hadn’t yet been forced to capitulate or add more blame to Deepwood by claiming the arrow and poison as a national secret. 

Four hours in and the haggling mercifully came to an end. For her part Lioriel didn’t even seem to take the loss as a defeat, it seemed more like she was resigned to just let nature take its course. The mangled flesh, armor and arrow were all stored by Xavier as he had the best ring to preserve everything while also keep it secure in a ring that was only accessible to him. 

“Thank you.” Ajax said to Anna as she was taking a drink following the hours of verbal sparring. 

“Oh no, no no no no no.” Anna said as she shook her head. “It is me who should thank you! You have no idea what this negotiation has meant for my skills. This is the best progress I have ever made as a merchant. The only thing that even came close was the trading games I played with father.” 

Over the course of the negotiation Anna had managed to gain two Rare skills and one Epic skill. This had been the first time she had ever been in a situation where everything was real and not just a manufactured incident, her opposition outmatched to such an extent but the facts backed her up enough to overcome the difference in skills.

The atmosphere had barely settled down over the next five or so hours when everything was thrown back into chaos as two elves wearing the royal sigil all but materialized next to their group. Ajax’s stats had grown enough to where he was able to not only track their movements but even understand them, one thing he knew for sure however was that whoever these two were they were above Lioriel in terms of combat. 

“What’s the emergency?” Lioriel asked. Her neutral tone and voice were all thanks to her social skills, seeing the two of them so drenched in sweat. 

“We are here as reinforcements.” one of the two answered her. “Her Majesty has decided that an increase in our manpower here is now required.” 

Ajax was slightly worried about the presence of the two. Sure they would be a stronger protective force against the assassins but with their presence he was worried that for the remainder of their time in this kingdom their escort would actually be strong enough to take down Aranor and the prince.

Ajax wasn’t the only one worried by their presence however, Lioriel had reported the last attack as soon as it happened. Looking at the two champion candidates in front of her she could tell they had been sent out at most one hour after she finished her report, more than that they had to have sprinted over here to cover a quarter of the kingdom in under half a day.

“Baron” the second elf bowed shallowly towards Ajax as he approached him. “Her Majesty has sent you what you are owed along with a small remuneration for the suffering you have endured as of late.” 

With that the elf extended an armguard towards Ajax. It didn’t take long for Ajax to realize that it was spatially enchanted, though he did question why they didn’t just use a ring instead. 

Ajax’s question was quickly answered when he sensed just how large the spatial storage was. It was a hoarder’s wet dream being half the size of a warehouse Judy used in the capital, while most of the space was empty Ajax was surprised to find that not only were there a lot of alchemical ingredients but there were a lot more samples of each type of reagent that they had agreed upon, it was more than double the amount.

“Only for his suffering?” Aranor asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Both of the newcomers frowned at the elven champion for interfering, clearly they disagreed with his actions. After a moment of silence however one of them answered. “Only for his suffering, the Queen still plans to make amends for the attacks themselves as well.” 

The conversation ended there and Ajax proceeded to spend the rest of the time they spent waiting for the prince to exit examining the new alchemical reagents he had at his disposal. He had to admit he was most pleased to see that not only had the elves given him the raw form of the plant be they even included the finished process reagent for a few of them. He was slightly dejected when he realized they hadn’t also included instructions for the refining process but he was sure the alchemists in Gryndor would be more than happy to help him figure it all out. 

Once the prince exited the dungeon the ever growing convoy was on the move once again. Ajax was quick to tell the prince everything that happened since he exited the dungeon when he returned the communication and privacy items to him. 

The more Ajax said the more he could see the prince slump ever so slightly. It was only then that Ajax had realized he had overlooked just how much strain the prince was under. Unlike him and everyone else delving the dungeon he was always on guard while outside the dungeon, more than that he had been like that for months on end now while also being forced to solo high end dungeon floors, everything was starting to add up and for a brief moment Ajax even considered if doing the last dungeon was worth it over just leaving this kingdom.

“You did well.” the prince said with a smile as he patted Ajax on the shoulder. “I expect the reason why those two dashed over here so quickly is because my father sent a message of his own to the Queen.” The prince's smile widened ever so slightly as he knew his father had acted so quickly because he was feeling overly protective from even the idea that his son might have died.

“Are you worried about them?” Ajax asked. 

“Not for now.” the prince shook his head. “Right now they will actually provide protection. It is only after the last dungeon as we start heading towards the border that we will need to keep a more wary eye on them.” 

Over the next three weeks of travel the prince’s words had proven true. There had been five more attacks by the assassins during this time yet with the new reinforcements to the protection detail as well as the increasingly unhinged behavior of the assassins none of those attempts had even made it close to Ajax and the rest of his group.