Chapter 436: The Assassination Attempt
Chapter 436: The Assassination Attempt
"You... What exactly are you trying to do?"
Unaware of the changes occurring outside the carriage, the freckled prince cowered in his seat, staring at Lyon with a mix of fear and anger.
"Just because you're from the Purification Bureau doesn't mean you can do as you please!"
"There's an agreement between the Royal Family and the Purification Bureau. If you dare do anything to me, not only will the Royal Family hold you accountable, but the Purification Bureau will send down an investigator to severely punish you!"
"Oh, right, right, right."
Ignoring Joshua's idle threat, Lyon was currently examining the situation near the palace through the soul vision shared by the Black Goat. He carefully inspected the area around the palace while fiddling with the cufflink protruding from his sleeve.
Through the carriage wall, Lyon observed clusters of soul flames in various shades of intensity, yet they were as lively as ever, dancing steadily. The streets surrounding the palace seemed normal, with no apparent anomalies.
Apparently, the rebels had managed to remain discreet, not attracting any attention. The palace was still unprepared, completely unaware of their actions. So far, everything was going according to plan.
Additionally, over a hundred rebels, who had received military training and were the most elite among them, had successfully infiltrated the vicinity.
Compared to the calm soul flames of ordinary citizens, the soul fires of these rebels preparing to storm the palace were noticeably more "lively." They danced with a mixture of anxiety and excitement.
Due to the patrolling guards and sentries, these rebels couldn't get close to the palace. They couldn't even enter the square directly facing the palace and had to stay on the outer streets, further away.
Since the personnel were already in position...
Lyon first glanced at the eager souls, then at the still-unconcerned palace. He couldn't help but clench his fist tightly.
This was a sure thing!
Next, as long as he successfully entered the palace and brought Luke, who could control others' bodies, they could "replace" the palace's captain of the guard. Then, these pre-prepared rebels could immediately charge through the square and storm the palace.
Although a hundred people might sound like a small number, it was more than enough for this "inside-out" situation. Leading a group to form a line in front of the palace and shouting while charging in wasn't a coup but a death wish.
Those who frequently staged coups should know that a real armed coup required a small, elite force to swiftly capture key targets and threatening officials. The key was to complete the mission before anyone could react, not in how to break into the palace.
The challenges lay in evading defenses, hiding this elite force, bringing them close enough to launch a surprise attack, suppressing the resistance of opposing forces after the armed assault, and quickly stabilizing the subsequent situation.
All these preparations should be made before taking action. When the time came, from start to finish, a span of one and a half hours would be more than enough. Any longer would be equivalent to declaring the operation a failure.
After all, the enemy wasn't stupid. They were openly gathering a crowd to charge the palace. Even if the commander of the royal garrison was a fool, he couldn't possibly have zero reaction.
Tricks like cutting off road foundations and blocking streets were meaningless against a well-organized military force. They could only delay things slightly, and it would take incredible luck to gain even two hours.
Given the distance between the palace and the garrison, if they couldn't make it in one and a half hours, the old king would be so furious that he'd jump out of his wheelchair, strangle the officer leading the troops, and then strangle himself for allowing a pig to occupy such an important position.
So, we need to speed things up a little!
...
After mentally reviewing his plan and confirming there were no obvious oversights, Leon released his fingers from the ram's horn and revealed a kind smile.
"Your Highness, Joshua."
As Prince Freckles looked at him in surprise, Leon, who had never shown him any favor, reached out and pointed to the ground between them, gently reminding him, "Your shoelace is untied."
Huh?
Upon hearing Leon's words, Prince Freckles was momentarily stunned, then instinctively bowed forward, looking down at his feet.
Leon, sitting opposite him, took the opportunity to reach into his cuff and pull out a small silver hammer with a soft pad at its end.
Luke, the Aquarius Director and holder of an anomaly created by the King, could take control of others' bodies while they were unconscious, but before the Director went to the Dream Realm, he had left an anomaly in the palace that could block such 'intrusions' from the spiritual realm.
Therefore, there had to be an 'unconscious' person to carry Luke's consciousness into the palace, allowing him to knock out the palace guard captain and use his identity to reassign the palace guards.
Only when most of the guards were reassigned could the hundred-plus insurgents lying in wait on the outer streets charge into the palace and capture the old king.
As for the unconscious person, who better than Joshua?
...
However, just as Leon swung the small silver hammer to help Prince Freckles get some good sleep, something strange happened, and the carriage they were riding in suddenly slowed down, followed by a violent tremor.
In this sudden braking, Joshua, who was already leaning forward to look at his feet, naturally flew forward from his seat and smashed his head into the empty seat next to Leon, even breaking his nose.
Feeling the pain in his nose and smelling the blood, Prince Freckles was about to curse, but then he heard a dull thud behind him.
Joshua turned his head in surprise and then saw, to his horror, someone holding the hammer used to ring the bell in the parliament, and smashing it into the seat he had just been sitting on, creating a huge dent in the soft leather chair.
From the swing of the hammer, it was clear that if the carriage hadn't braked suddenly, that solid blow would have hit him directly on the head!
"You... you... what are you doing?!"
Seeing Joshua across from him, scared stiff and stuttering, Leon couldn't help but show a sheepish smile.
Although he had already decided to stage an armed coup and throw Joshua to the sea to marry a monkey, it felt really awkward to have his assassination attempt fail and be discovered.
"Um..."
Looking at Joshua's terrified expression, Leon glanced at the small silver hammer stuck in the seat and said awkwardly,
"Do you like my hammer?"
"..."
I don't believe it! Even a fool would know that you were about to hit me with that thing!
It seems there's no point in trying to deceive him...
Seeing Joshua, who couldn't say he believed it, but couldn't even trust a punctuation mark, Leon sighed and grabbed Joshua, who was desperately trying to open the carriage door. He silently clenched his fist.
Oh well, I'm used to it.
His luck had always been terrible, and it would be strange if his plan went smoothly without any surprises. But missing Joshua with the hammer wasn't a big deal...
Knocking him out would have the same effect.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
