The Extra Villain's Second Chance: A Hero's System

The palace messenger, who had been waiting for Lev for a long time, continued to utter curses.

Despite continuing to utter curses, he continued to spur his horse to move the carriage. The palace messenger himself was the person who controlled the carriage, also known as the coachman. The arrival of the palace messenger alone, without any accompanying soldiers or coachmen to help drive the carriage, was probably because Lev's arrival at the palace was considered insignificant.

Usually, the palace would organize a grand procession when inviting other nobles, but this was not the case with Lev.

The horse-drawn carriage carrying Lev moved north, leaving the capital city of Frostgard and heading towards the Thalvorn mountain range where Eira'Volin Palace was located.

"Hmm?"

Lev tilted his ears slightly to the side when he noticed something interesting.

The horse-drawn carriage Lev was riding was traveling on a very smooth road. Large stones had been cut so that their surfaces were very smooth and neat, and they had been laid out in such a way as to make the road a solid foundation. The road the carriage was traveling on was a special road for members of the royal family to go to the palace.

Both sides of the road were lined with lush trees, but they were very neat, with no weeds daring to grow, as if the area on both sides of the road was being tended by a gardener.

Maple and beech trees dominated both sides of the road.

If Lev did not detect the presence of suspicious people, he would calmly enjoy the beauty of the trees around him while feeling the fresh breeze blowing.

Although he couldn't see the colors that adorned the maple and beech trees, he could imagine in his mind that the small leaves that were beginning to appear on the trees around him were light green to golden yellow.

There were some tree branches that were still bare and covered with snow because it was the beginning of a new season.

Lev lamented his condition a little because he couldn't see. 'When I get my sight back, I think I should be more grateful.'

"Hey, how long do we have to wait here?"

"Be quiet."

"Didn't they say that the horse-drawn carriage picking up our target would pass by in the morning? Why hasn't it arrived yet even though it's almost noon?"

Lev managed to catch the voices of people who appeared to be hiding behind tree trunks along the road. The distance between the horse-drawn carriage he was in and those hiding was still quite far, so they hadn't seen the horse-drawn carriage yet.

'Are they after me?'

Lev began to wonder.

He wasn't sure if they were really after him or one of the members of the royal family.

The road he was on was reserved for members of the royal family, so it was reasonable for Lev to guess that they weren't after him. However, who would be crazy enough to send assassin soldiers out in broad daylight? And in such an open place?

It seemed rather foolish if their target was a member of the royal family.

'Then, are they really after me?'

He didn't think he was important enough for someone to send a group of assassin soldiers after him.

"Hey, is that our target?"

"Looks like it."

Their heads popped out from behind the tree trunks when they saw the carriage Lev was riding in.

The tree trunks they were hiding behind were quite far from the road—they were in the twentieth row of trees—so they remained invisible to those passing by on this royal path.

'It looks like they really are targeting me.'

Lev exhaled and lowered his shoulders upon realizing their intentions.

Realizing that they were indeed targeting him, Lev lifted his buttocks and poked his head out of the horse-drawn carriage. He pulled back the cloth covering the front of the carriage to signal the palace messenger to stop the horse-drawn carriage. However, before he could tell the palace messenger, the horse-drawn carriage had already stopped in the middle of the road.

A mysterious smile appeared on the palace messenger's face as if he had deliberately stopped the horse-drawn carriage so that the assassin soldiers could come and attack.

'So, you're one of them too.'

Rather than wait for the attack to come to him, Lev decided to be the first to move.

From inside the horse-drawn carriage, he grabbed the palace messenger by the neck.

When the palace messenger felt Lev's cold left hand around his neck, he immediately widened his eyes and his body stiffened for a moment.

Of course, he then reflexively tried to break free, but before he could resist, Lev had already pulled the palace messenger into the carriage.

"Urg!"

"Ssh! Wait here quietly!"

Lev took off the palace messenger's clothes and pants. He used the palace messenger's shirt to gag him and used his pants to tie his hands and feet behind his back.

Luckily, the palace messenger was only a novice warrior, so Lev was able to tie him up easily without letting him put up any significant resistance.

Lev thought that this might not be such a bad situation for him.

'It seems like I can give a reasonable explanation for my delay in meeting Vladislav.'

[Battle Sense - Active.]

[One with the Shadow - Active.]

The important thing for Lev to do was to gauge his opponents' abilities.

If they were strong opponents, his only option would be to flee. However, if they were opponents he could defeat, he could find out who sent them to attack him.

After activating his battle sense and one with the shadow skills, Lev got off the horse-drawn carriage and approached the group of assassin soldiers who were approaching at full speed.

In Lev's hand was a dagger he had taken from his waist. It was the same dagger he had been using all this time. He had taken his magic pouch from Astaroth's magic storage earlier, so he could take out the dagger.

Lev lightly ran his fingertip on the dagger's point, testing its sharpness with a careful, practiced touch—a whisper of pressure to see if the blade would still bite.

"Hmm, looks like I'll have to throw this dagger away."

From the test he did, he realized that his dagger had started to dull.

"Well, I'll get a replacement soon."

Lev didn't mind because he had intended to get a new main weapon when he went to Eira'Volin's palace.

With the thought that the fight against the assassin soldiers would be his last battle with his dagger, Lev became a little bit emotional.

"Aren't you going to ask for my help this time?" Astaroth, who had been focused on enjoying the beautiful scenery along the side of the road, suddenly spoke to Lev. He was annoyingly floating in the air with his head resting on his palms and his legs crossed, but his body looked as if he was lying down.

Did he think he was on a picnic?

He yawned occasionally and lowered his eyelids as if he was still sleepy. "I wish I could eat something here," he muttered softly, his mouth opening and closing as if he were eating something delicious.

"It seems like they're not opponents that require me to ask for your help. Just keep floating around casually and enjoy the show I'm about to put on."

"Heh. If you need my help to fight insects like them, then I'll be very disappointed."

"If they're too strong, I'll just run away."

"Hey, where's your pride as a human who made a contract with a great demon like me?! How dare you run away from battle!"

Before Astaroth could utter more meaningless words, Lev decided to approach the group coming from the right side of the road first.

They moved from one tree to another as if they were playing hide and seek. From the information that came out of Astaroth's mouth earlier, they were not wearing black clothes like those usually worn by assassins—all assassins were those who wore black and covered themselves completely—that kind of stereotype was wrong.

Those people's clothes were indeed very covered, but their robes were bright white.

[Mana String - Active.]

Lev used Mana String to tie to the dagger in his hand.

Swoosh!

He threw the dagger whose hilt he had tied with Mana String.

The dagger he threw did not aim at either of them but at the tree in front on their right.

Stab!

When the dagger he threw had successfully stuck in the tree trunk, he ran in the opposite direction from the direction of the tree trunk he had stuck the dagger in.

What he was doing was setting a trap.

When he finished placing the Mana String in a horizontal line, he waited calmly until the assassin soldiers' feet brushed against his Mana String.

"One, two, three... six."

There were six of them.

Lev didn't expect them all to fall into the trap he had set; he only intended to reduce their numbers.