Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Ram Hwayeon remained silent after hearing Leeha’s remarks. Leeha cocked his head, anticipating her to complain about him ignoring her once more.

-Are you listening?

-……Y-Yes. I’m listening. I understand. I’ll be careful.

The response was incredibly modest. Leeha heard a faint echo of Ram Hwayeon’s voice in her head.

-That’s good to hear. Okay, do your best.

Did she feel better all of a sudden? Leeha thought that Ram Hwayeon’s personality was unpredictable, and whispered towards the border of the eastern wall. No, he was about to.

If only he didn’t receive a knife-like whisper on time.

-East-west-

-Eastern wall, perimeter, clear.

-Spe-

-There’s nothing special. There are 12 detect scrolls remaining. Looks like I have to resupply tomorrow.

-You’re so thorough. Okay. I will contact Jacheong-nim.

-Copy that.

-Ah, what about Biyemi? Are you okay with him?

He did not get a reply from Kidd. Leeha was worried for a while, but he was sure that nothing would happen.

‘It’s better to focus on the wall without saying a word. Biyemi and Kidd were both in the 1st and 2nd place for strange conversation methods.

It was a wonder whether a conversation could happen if the two of them talked for a while.

Leeha whispered to the last team.

-Kijeong-ah, what’s the situation?

-I-I’m nervous, hyung. It’s the first time I will see the king. Did you see, hyung? When I entered the door earlier, wow- the NPCs were extremely solemn…….

– I understand. Don’t get excited. Tell me if there’s anything special. And why are you nervous? Nara-ssi will tell you everything anyway.

The two people who would directly guard the king were Kijeong and Shin Nara.

Hearing Kijeong’s trembling voice, Leeha laughed softly.

‘Anyway, nothing big has happened yet.’

Leeha drew the last check mark on the map.

All the teams consisted of two or more people, so that they could be prepared for any emergencies, and they had secured a position to monitor both the inside and the outside of the fortress walls in the east, west, north, and south.

And Leeha placed the tanks Templar Kijeong and Shin Nara near the king in case they missed anything.

It was the best choice to the extent that everyone present, including Kidd, admired it.

-Nothing special- no, wait a minute. Someone has come.

-Who?

-Shin Nara is greeting him. Reddish-brown clothes. Robe? A magician? It’s a very old NPC. The name-

Kijeong relayed the situation with Shin Nara in real time. Leeha paid attention to the front for a moment, and then concentrated on the whisper again.

-Who is it?

-……Lotzac. The chief royal mage.

“-So I would like to suggest strengthening the traps. My colleagues and I have discovered an intruder, but if the trap had been pierced once, there’s a possibility that it will be pierced again at any time.”

“……Dame Shin Nara is saying this. What do you think, Lotzac?” asked the King of Fibiel. The eyes of the royal officials who lined up in the palace were focused on one side.

“I don’t understand, your grace. It is impossible for an individual to break through the magician’s boundary magic. If a dragon didn’t invade, it wouldn’t be possible.”

The old sorcerer, dressed in a reddish-brown robe, bowed his head politely. The king listened to his answer, as he muttered, and stroked his beard.

Shin Nara, who was in the lined-up group, stared at the lot that was lined up on the other side.

“That’s nonsense! We found them and killed them! It’s irresponsible for Lotzac to say such a thing!”

“I really want to ask. What is the purpose of confusing the royal palace with a message that has no basis and even a horrific content…. Even an assassin that broke through the trap. You say you killed him, but you can’t reveal the body? Heh, I have no choice but to be suspicious of Dame Shin Nara.”

“W-who are you suspicious of! If you are so confident, let’s open the records using the spirits!” Shin Nara strengthened her voice, with her face shaking as Lotzac had a skeptical expression.

“Of course, you can make it public at any time as long as you have the order. However, I’m only thinking of the safety of His Majesty. We have no obligation to show Dame Shin Nara the records. Even if I have the obligation, I don’t know what to do-”

“Lotzac!”

Bang-!

“What safety are you both screaming about!”

As the tone of Shin Nara rose further, the person standing next to the king stamped his feet. They were someone who had different duties from those who were lined up before the king, and they could officially carry weapons at any place in King Fibiel’s palace.

“I-I’m sorry, your majesty.”

“This, I can’t stand her youthful spirit. I’m sorry for causing a scene.” Upon hearing the shout of the guard commander, Shin Nara and Lotzak bowed their heads to the king. The king looked at the two of them, but still trembled and stroked his beard. “Dame Shin Nara, please be careful with your words and actions. I can’t say anything about you carrying the weapon that His Majesty has given you! What’s the point of making a fuss when the Sacred Knights, not the guards, roam around the royal palace?”

“However, Guard Captain-”

“Stop! Besides being a member of the Sacred Knights, you also have the title of a Dame. Even if you are from a foreign land, and do not know the etiquette of Fibiel, it would be wrong to criticize Duke Lotzac, the leader of the Royal Mages. To say that you doubt his loyalty……. If I was Duke Lotzac, I would also be angry.”

The commander shouted at both Shin Nara and Lotzac, but his subtle tone was aimed at one target. Sacred Knights to be exact.

The will of the Guard Captain for them to take a step back and leave the royal palace was contained.

“Phew, okay. Dame Shin Nara’s report was good. Let’s finish this matter first. Lotzak, make sure to be vigilant in the future.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

Hearing the king’s words, Lotzac bowed with respect. And he carefully added a word.

“Ah, there’s something I want to tell Dame Shin Nara.”

“What is it?”

Shin Nara growled.

“You said the magician’s trap is suspicious. Then why not try it yourself?”

“What?”

“As a member of the royal magicians, I don’t really want to recommend it, but……” Lotzac shrugged his shoulders, and Shin Nara’s body trembled at the sight. She wanted to know what would happen if she put her magic sword under his chin, but she could not go any further. Not only the guard captain but also the king were watching each and every move of Shin Nara.

‘Wow, is this a fight with NPCs……? Aren’t they stronger than most people?’

And Kijeong who stood at the farthest spot from the king, at the very end of the officials lined up in the palace, was watching him.

It was an argument that considered logic, laws, manner, status, and fame.

After becoming a guild master of Byeolcho, it was necessary to build relationships with other guild masters.

Among them, there were those related to common interests, and there were those that had developed from minor disputes between guild members in hunting grounds. I thought I had gotten used to it after going through a lot of things, but….

‘It was just children playing. It’s like a political situation in the real world. Especially that old man…” Kijeong shook his head as he looked at Lotzac. A high-level skill that provoked the opponent while taking the appropriate action for one’s interest at the same time!

It was as if he had seen a side of the faction fight that could only be seen in movies or dramas.

Kijeong hurriedly told Leeha the situation.

‘It was a situation about being confident about traps.’

Leeha frowned at the tower in the Central Palace. The locations of the traps were roughly marked on the map that Shin Nara gave them.

‘He is provoking her to try the traps herself? No, is it a trap?’

It was a provocation to make it clear that the traps worked properly, and at the same time cause the annoying ‘Shin Nara crew’ to die.

And there was one thing he could think of. How to operate the trap.

‘It means that it is possible to turn the trap on or off at a specific time or location, or they can set the trap to not react to specific people. Anyway, we can’t trust Lotzac. We should be careful, we can not trust him to stop the assassins from breaking in.’

Others wouldn’t have ever thought this far.

However, Leeha knew another piece of information they did not know.

Because he saw. Because in the records related to the second Human-Demon War, I clearly saw it written to be careful of Lotzac.

‘He is the one who kept the Three Musketeers’ surrender to the Demon King a secret. I don’t know why, but it must be something he’s hiding. I think it’s supposed to be a black growth inside his body. So what is the situation now? Was he openly hostile to Shin Nara and persuaded the commander of the guard? If Lotzac had planned that……

He sounds like the culprit. He is the main instigator of the king’s assassination.

However, it was only Leeha’s conjecture. A conjecture that started from the assumption that ‘Lotzac is a suspicious person’. In reality, there was no evidence.

If there was evidence, Nara-ssi would have turned it over it already.’

According to Kijeong, Shin Nara was getting beat up with words by the high-ranking NPC’s.

What could be the reason as to why she was putting up with it, with her brash personality? Because there was no evidence.

‘The evidence is also vague. The assassination suspect has been confirmed to be Petyr. That means-’

The NPC of Fibiel’s Royal Palace, the Chief Royal Magician Lotzac commissioned the user, Petyr. It was almost impossible to find anything that could be called evidence in that situation.

“Hmmm……”

“What makes you think that?”

“Waah? Bobae-ssi?”

“Your eyelashes are long.”

Beside him, Bobae was looking at his face. Her face was so close that Leeha got startled.

“W-what are you doing? Hurry and stand up.”

“Yes, yes. By the way, it’s already been ten hours. The sun went down a while ago, and I’m bored because I am only looking at the air. It’s rather fun to watch the NPCs passing by the king’s office. I’m going to die if I only look at those kinds of scenery.”

Bobae smiled brightly, stretched out, and headed to the other window. The sight she had been looking at all day today appeared without a single change.

“Still, you have to be patient until today. From tomorrow onwards, Bobae-ssi will be doing other jobs.” The most important thing to watch out for was boredom and familiarity.

If one kept looking at the scenery just now, it was rather difficult to find anything different. Even those who have been on guard in the military can hardly stand on duty for 10 hours straight

Not to mention experts who were looked up to by others in Middle Earth, who were only civilians in real life.

“Something different? What?”

“I asked Nara-ssi for something else. To ask Lotzac to use large-scale magic to search the inside of the royal palace on a large scale. But it doesn’t seem to have worked, so we’ll have to find them ourselves. No, to be precise, Bobae-ssi will.”