Night.

In a mansion in the royal capital.

Baron Burton cowered in the depths of the heavily guarded mansion, and a look of horror flashed in his eyes as he looked at the shadows of the patrols that flashed by from time to time in front of the window.

"Who?"

Suddenly, his face was filled with fear, and he jumped up from his seat and drew the sword that was always at his side.

"Sir, it's me. Madame asked me to bring you dinner. ”

"Didn't I say I don't have an appetite?"

"You haven't eaten dinner for the past two days, and Madame is worried about your body. I specially asked the chef to make your favorite dish and let me bring it over. ”

Hearing this, Burton breathed a sigh of relief. While laughing at his fuss, he touched his belly, which made a sound of resistance.

"Okay. Leave dinner at the door. I'll bring it in and eat it when I'm hungry. ”

Burton did not withdraw his sword, but he remained cautious as he had always been.

"But...... Put it at the door and the food will be cold quickly. ”

"Didn't you hear what I said? That's an order. ”

"Okay. Master. ”

"Dinner has been placed on the right-hand side behind the door, and the villain will leave first."

Burton stood quietly by the door, watching the movement outside, and the attendant sighed helplessly and seemed to have put down his dinner and left. He didn't rush to fill his increasingly noisy belly, just waited quietly.

After listening carefully for a while, and seeing that there was really no movement outside the door, Burton gently pushed the door open.

"Squeak~~~"

With the characteristic sound of the old wooden door, Burton poked out half of his head and quickly surveyed his surroundings. Seeing that there really seemed to be no one, he relieved himself and walked outside the door and picked up the dinner in the wooden box.

"Squeak~~~"

There was another tooth-aching sound, and Burton, who was startled, smiled wryly. It turned out that the damn wooden door had been blown open by the wind.

"I used to think that I should have replaced this door sooner, but now it's thanks to the sound it makes that I can sleep peacefully."

Burton sighed under his breath and closed the door. But before he could turn around, he heard a faint sound of breaking the air behind his ears.

Two tiny black needles wrapped around the black flame pierced Burton's heart and brain, respectively.

Without the slightest struggle and resistance, Burton lay down with an unwilling face under this sudden attack.

It was only after Burton had taken his last breath that the figure hidden in the shadows of the room walked up to him.

It was a thin, ordinary-looking, freckled man.

"Eleventh."

I saw him mumble in a low voice and then reach out and pull it on his face, revealing an almost perfect face underneath. He is Zheng Ming.

As for the face he caught, it eventually turned into a gray-white stone mask after a fluctuation.

[Name: Ghost Stone Mask of Fraud]

[Type: Jewelry]

[Quality: Powerful Treasure]

【Skill: Disguise】

[Effect: Can change appearance, but cannot change breath, gender, body shape, etc.]

[Introduction: Legend has it that it was created by the believers of the God of Deception and was produced in the world of Deception.] I don't know why I ended up here. 】

[Note: It is said that the person who created this equipment at the time was not very satisfied with his work.] The mask was discarded because it could not recover its cost. After all, who would spend a huge amount of money to buy a chicken rib product that can only change their face when touched? Any plastic surgery device is cheaper and more durable than this chicken rib mask. 】

Zheng Ming looked at the introduction of the items in his mind and sighed with emotion. This is a gadget given to Zheng Ming by the old king, although this thing is very chicken in the hands of others, but in the eyes of Zheng Ming, who can change his form at will, it is a very suitable weapon for himself.

Coupled with the skills he learned from Cohen, as well as the black clothes that can be transformed at will and transformed from magic stones, it can be said that he is tailor-made for infiltration and assassination.

Thinking of this, Zheng Ming nodded with satisfaction, put the mask in his hand back, and changed back to the appearance of the previous attendant. He looked down at Burton, who had been breathing for a long time on the ground, and muttered to himself.

"Who made you show your opposition to Arthur before, and your doubts about my Dragon identity? On the day of the engagement, the old king was so angry that he choked. This is not? Now a frenzied retaliation has begun. But don't worry, there will be a lot of people to accompany you down there. ”

After satisfying his desire for explanation, Zheng Ming shook his hand casually, and a petite slime clone slowly wrapped Burton into his body.

After slowly absorbing the slime clone, Zheng Ming walked out of the room with an indifferent expression. He didn't pretend to notice Burton missing and shouted for help, he had been detained by the guards who came before, which made him realize how stupid it was to jump into the middle of the incident. He decided to walk away and stay out of it.

So he picked up the wooden box where the dinner was kept, closed the door with a nonchalant face, and walked away. Before leaving, he didn't forget to shout at the empty room.

"I'm going to call the chef for a hot dinner. The villain retired. ”

In this way, Zheng Ming had no danger all the way, and got out of the way after sending away the guards who came to pick up the stubble on the grounds that he had something to do.

……

Zheng Ming, who had changed his face and clothing style outside the Baron's Mansion, looked back at the baron's mansion and smiled at the lively and lively Baron's Mansion, and calmly walked towards Arthur's Mansion with his hands behind his back.

……

Now Arthur has been taken into the palace to live. The mansion was also empty. The servants and maids therein, the dismissal of those who are dismissed, and the ones who are brought to the palace are brought to the palace. Only a small part remained.

It is precisely because of this that Zheng Ming or Arthur can be taken care of when they occasionally live outside the palace.

Zheng Ming sat in the room that originally belonged to him, and waited until the maid picked up the lamp and left, then turned over and took out the list hidden in the storage space.

After casually drawing a pitch-black cross on the portrait of Baron Burton on the document, Zheng Ming half lay on the chaise longue and exhaled.

"There are four left."

It can be seen that more than a dozen portraits in his hands are marked with the same cross, and only the remaining four are still intact.

"Speaking of which, in half a month, it will be Arthur and Gwynna's wedding. After that, Arthur's reigning ceremony. What a rush. ”

It was indeed very urgent, and not long after the engagement ceremony, the formal wedding was held in a hurry, and the ceremony of becoming the king was hastily launched. All this shows that the old king's time is running out.

This fact is vividly expressed in his increasingly old and tired expression of lateness. So much so that he chose a simple and crude but rather troubled way of suppression.

These days, Zheng Ming has frequently gone out at night, wandering around the various mansions in the royal capital, and the people he assassinated were those who had shown his opposition to Arthur. Some of them may or may not have stirred up the people on the day of their engagement. But the old king, whose time was short, could not wait to find out the truth. Anxious to stabilize Arthur's power, he had no choice but to entrust Zheng Ming and the group of assassins known as the Dark Guards with the task of eliminating the nobles who had the greatest potential to cause chaos.

To be honest, Zheng Ming didn't resist too much. Since he has signed a contract with Arthur, the relationship between prosperity and loss is destined to be inevitable. Those who oppose Arthur will also see him as a thorn in the side.

Since the conflict is unavoidable, and with Arthur's character, it is impossible to be ruthless and kill all the people who oppose him, so it is up to him Zheng Ming to handle it. At least under the influence of the old king, it is far easier to do this work of purging dissidents than it is to suppress it after the death of the old king.

It has been quite a while since he was reborn, and Zheng Ming has also experienced a lot during this period. He is no longer the lucky, innocent and kind student. It's a qualified warrior, a strong man who knows what he needs and what he needs to do.

"Alas~ I hope the old king can hold on for a while longer."

I don't know what I thought, Zheng Ming sighed and blew out the oil lamp on the table.