"Your Highness Princess, I greet His Highness the First Prince!" Princess Sanolina bowed respectfully towards the First Prince, and her maid followed suit.
"No need for such formalities, we are family!" said the Prince, looking at Princess Sanolina.
"But that is how I was raised!" said Princess Sanolina, looking towards the four horses. She didn't know what had spooked them to bolt like that, as she hadn't felt any vibrations or heard a loud noise; because the power-bearers accompanying her for protection without her knowledge had created a sound barrier preventing sounds from entering or the carriage from being affected by vibrations. But they had canceled it immediately after those vibrations and the impact sound caused by the gate hitting the ground had ceased.
Seeing the surprise in Princess Sanolina's gaze, the Prince said, "Don't worry, Sanu! They were just frightened when passing over that giant gate, because they saw that huge chasm!" He paused briefly and said, "I apologize for receiving you in this manner, I hope you'll forgive me!"
"No... don't say that, Your Highness the First Prince, I don't care about a grand reception at all!" Princess Sanolina replied quickly and said, "Where is Father?!"
"His Majesty the King is in the Royal Advisors' chamber, and he instructed me beforehand to bring you there as soon as you arrived!" said the First Prince, then added, "And I told you before, stop with the formality and call me by my name!"
'Is there something more important than meeting his own daughter? Why has Father treated me with such coldness since my mother's death?!' thought Princess Sanolina and said, "Alright, Uncle Eduardo!"
"No... I don't like the word 'uncle' after my name! It makes me seem old, and besides, you're almost the same age as me, so you shouldn't say that to me! Because it also makes me feel a bit strange!" Prince Eduardo spoke while opening the main door and stood waiting for the Princess.
"Despite all the advancements you've made for the kingdom... it seems your mind hasn't advanced yet!" said Princess Sanolina as she walked carefully in her high heels towards Prince Eduardo, followed by her maid Susan.
"I don't advance, not because I can't, but because I am always a monster!" said Prince Eduardo, entering the palace accompanied by Princess Sanolina and her maid.
The hallway was very long and immense, with many candles on both sides for lighting, along with a small chandelier every few meters on the ceiling for additional light. There were many artistic paintings of the kings who had ruled since the kingdom's beginning.
Many servants were lined up on both sides, bowing to the Prince and Princess, but when they looked at the Princess, deep sadness appeared on their faces.
'What's wrong with them? Why do they show such expressions?' wondered Princess Sanolina as she walked down the long hallway.
...
In a tavern in the middle of Freundinestream city, on White Raven Street!
Xiao Peng was watching the large clock in the center with cautious expressions from behind the window of his tavern on the second floor, sitting on a chair in front of a round table, with a glass of red wine placed before him.
James was also sitting on a chair opposite Xiao Peng, but he was holding his wine glass in hand and took a sip while also watching that large clock.
Xiao Peng turned to him and said, "Do you really have to take things this far? You came up with this stupid plan just to drink wine at my expense?" Xiao Peng asked irritably.. James's plan had cost him three bronze liras.. Fortunately, a gold lira was worth 1000 silver liras, while a silver lira was worth 1000 bronze pieces.
So, only a small amount of his gold lira cash was gone! But Xiao Peng was surprised by the huge difference between the currency types!
"Man! Don't be stingy, it's only three bronze liras! Let me enjoy the taste of wine provided by my dear partner!" Saying that, he took another sip, which angered Xiao Peng internally, who said, "Have you forgotten I bought you a new suit? Don't be so ungrateful!"
"Yes, yes! You're the stingy one who agreed to that seller's request to take my measurements just for some discount!" Xiao Peng spoke while lifting his wine glass and drinking from it.. 'Hmm. This wine is delicious! I've never tasted wine like this in my previous life! And considering this is my first time drinking in this world, if this is just the taste of ordinary wine, what must that high-concentration bottle that waiter Pablo Escobar gave me taste like! Unfortunately, I needed money so I sold it to old Herbert without even tasting a bit of it.' Xiao Peng thought while threads of thought prevented him from getting drunk.
Upon hearing that, James almost spat out his wine in shock! But he gathered himself and vowed to repay him in the future, saying, "Do you see any strange movements?"
"I only see many people passing back and forth! I think we came too early!" Xiao Peng replied while taking a sip of wine.
"I don't think so, because we are not like ordinary invited persons here, we are the 'founders' of the event! So we should be the first to arrive at the location!" James replied, having finished his glass of wine.
"Are we?" Xiao Peng replied before finishing his glass too and said, "It seems this serial killer is very cunning. So I don't expect he will commit the murder only during the night, he might do it before or after! So we must not lower our guard, he could attack at any moment!"
"You're right! That damned serial killer doesn't kill his victims randomly; he targets voters of Viscount Frederick Colasen!" said James, looking towards the giant scorpion that had reached the end of its progress, before the sound of a giant bell ringing echoed from the tower of that large clock.
"It's 5 o'clock in the evening. There are still two hours until the evening!" James spoke.
"I understand!" Xiao Peng replied, remembering what they had been doing for the past three hours, after leaving old Herbert's shop! They had searched and asked many people about specific things: where that woman famous for her passionate vote for Viscount Frederick Colasen lives! What her job is, what she does during the night, and where she usually goes in the evening!
All the clues they gathered indicated that she likes to visit the church in the city center very often at 5 PM, and an hour later she goes to the tavern where James and Xiao Peng are at 6 PM, accompanied by her personal guards assigned to protect her by order of Viscount Frederick Colasen. And because there is an event tonight at 7 PM, she won't go to the tavern and will head directly to the event location!
'It seems my body has undergone many improvements due to breaking through to the second layer on the same day! My endurance has been slightly strengthened, so I can last longer without feeling fatigue and exhaustion!.' While looking at the tattoo on his hand, which he had bought a black glove to cover, and his other hand bore the black Abyss Ring, he said, "Should we move?"
"Yes, we need to go to that church affiliated with the official power-bearers, which is only 50 meters away from the show venue and the city center..." James said as he got up from the chair and continued, "But we must be cautious! Tonight there will be a large gathering of super-powered individuals to catch this criminal, and perhaps they've brought artifacts with them!"
"I know that! But we have these polished artifacts! At least we can resist if they think we are the killer's accomplices!" Xiao Peng said as he also got up and moved beside James.
"Yes, we must resist! But let's not be overconfident, because we haven't tested these polished artifacts yet, and we don't know their effects after actual use!" James swallowed his saliva after saying that, looking at the silver ring with a golden jewel on his finger, and continued, "And I don't think you should use it at your current low level!"
"You're right about that!" said Xiao Peng as he took his umbrella from the hanger and threw James's umbrella to him, and they opened the wooden door before descending the stairs to the first floor, then headed to the exit and went out.
They crossed the street and headed east towards the center of Freundinestream city. Behind two buildings, and after walking fifty meters, they stopped and saw a garden full of wonderfully trimmed trees, with many flowers beneath them. There were many children playing on swings or climbing artistically intertwined metal poles. There were many chairs where elderly people sat reading newspapers while wearing glasses, while other elderly people were feeding pigeons gathered around and in front of them.
In the middle of that garden was a large church, with the lights from lampposts that had started to light up due to evening approaching and smoke covering the city, reflecting on the church's glass windows.
Xiao Peng looked carefully and saw a lady in her twenties walking, surrounded by many muscular guards.
"There she is!" Xiao Peng pointed with his empty hand.
"Let's move and act calmly! Try to minimize the leakage of your energy as much as you can!" James said as he entered that garden, followed by Xiao Peng who, from the first attempt due to the nature of his path and level in "Observer of Mysteries," quickly managed to conceal his energy leakage like high-level individuals, by cutting the energy threads in his body.
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End of Chapter ~ To be continued