Chapter 45: Snow Flower Tower Terror Incident…

The sound of an explosion came from the Snowflake Tower.

The sudden incident naturally caused an uproar.

Grace entrusted Gunter with controlling the citizens and immediately set out for the scene with Elaine.

Naturally, the knight exam was temporarily halted.

An explosion had occurred in the heart of the capital, so all soldiers had to be mobilized. Jimmy and I, too, returned

to the escort unit and stood by Grace’s side.

My body moved instinctively, but my mind was in turmoil.

‘Why did the explosion happen?’

We had captured the terrorist, uncovered his plot, and the Snowflake Tower had intervened to handle the situation.

Despite that, something went wrong.

This meant that either we missed something, or there was an unexpected gap in our plans.

The first thing that came to mind was Gardy’s escape.

Now that I think about it, there was never any guarantee that there was only one spy.

There could be another collaborator who helped Gardy escape.

But that didn’t seem likely.

I was there at the time and heard the arrangements myself.

The prison holding Gardy was guarded by tireless ice golems, and Orlan, the fire mage who was furious over the

incident, had taken it upon himself to monitor the situation.

Orlan’s skills were at the elder level, acknowledged by Sophia herself. Overpowering him wouldn’t be an easy task.

Currently, due to the recent commotion, only the Tower Lord, Dariel, had left the Snowflake Tower to attend the

knight exam, while Sophia and the other mages remained at the tower.

If a second spy clashed with Orlan to free Gardy, they would have been caught by Sophia and the other mages,

triggering a massive battle. Escaping all of them and pulling off a terror attack?

There are only a handful of villains in Brave Road capable of such a feat.

And none of them would go to such lengths to rescue a single mage.

They’d rather take action themselves.

“…Take action themselves?”

As that thought crossed my mind, a lightbulb went off in my head, like a scene from an old American cartoon.

Let’s assume the mastermind intended to weaken the North’s power by using Gardy to orchestrate a terror attack on the Snowflake Tower.

Once the Snowflake Tower was abuzz with talk of the Ice Crystal, that information would have reached the

mastermind through Gardy.

Upon realizing that the North had acquired the powerful Ice Crystal, they must have seen it as a risk to their plans

and decided to send reinforcements as a contingency.

In other words…

There really could be someone else!

‘Damn it, I didn’t consider how they’d react to the Ice Crystal.’

Given the timeline, Aran’s revenge must be in full swing by now, and I assumed their attention would be completely focused there.

In the novel, Grace hadn’t known Aran had survived until he came to the North. He wasn’t one of their allies.

But what if…

What if they were more concerned about Grace’s intervention than I thought and decided to take action?

What if they were willing to take a bit of a risk to eliminate the unknown variable that was the Ice Crystal?

My attention had been scattered across the knight exam, the strengthening of the North’s forces, and the terror

attack at the Snowflake Tower. I hadn’t had the time to expand my thoughts that far.

‘No, don’t blame yourself and dwell on negative thoughts. That’ll only freeze your mind.’

Trying to predict every move of the mastermind and their chain reactions to my actions is impossible. I’m not some

all-seeing god. I’m just a human who happens to know more than others.

I have my limits, too.

So, instead of blaming myself for not foreseeing everything, I need to think about how to overcome those limits.

At any rate, the key figure of their plan, Gardy, has been captured, which must have caused a significant disruption to their scheme.

I need to exploit that.

‘First, I’ll head to the Snowflake Tower and assess the situation.’

Clearing my mind before dizziness set in, I followed Grace to the Snowflake Tower.

“Tsk, so it really was an explosion at the Snowflake Tower.”

Grace frowned as soon as we arrived at the tower, but I quietly let out a sigh of relief.

‘In the novel’s description, the release of frost magic had caused the area around the tower to freeze over.’

The explosion had destroyed part of the outer wall, but the surrounding area wasn’t frozen.

That meant the frost magic was still intact.

Moreover…

‘Gardy’s sabotage targeted at least six artillery points. But despite the large scale, only one point was destroyed.’

The terror attack had occurred, just like in the novel.

But its scale was smaller than I remembered.

The fact that we had captured Gardy hadn’t been meaningless. That reassurance helped anchor my mind, which was

on the verge of spiraling into negativity.

“Escort units Two and Three, surround the tower’s exterior! Unit One, come with me inside!”

“Yes, sir!”

All escort units, except for Unit Four, which remained to protect the Winter Palace, had gathered, and Grace quickly

issued commands.

He assigned Loron, the leader of Unit Two, to manage the reinforcements arriving from the outside and then

prepared to enter the tower with Elaine and Unit One.

However…

Boom! Boom!

“?!”

Explosions erupted in front of us as we approached the entrance to the Snowflake Tower.

Elaine swiftly unleashed a storm with her sword aura to shield us from harm.

But the fact that someone dared to cause explosions in front of the Northern Duke…

“Your Grace, look up at the roof to the right.”

At Elaine’s words, Grace turned his head.

There, on the roof, stood figures dressed in black, their entire bodies wrapped in cloth like ninjas.

“What the hell are those?”

Grace scowled at the unexpected appearance of the black-clad assassins.

Regardless, the assassins swiftly threw their bodies and charged directly at them.

“Guard, stop them!”

At Elaine’s shout, the guards moved forward.

However, the assassins nimbly avoided the fight with the guards by leaping onto the rooftops, and once again threw

something toward Grace.

Swoosh!

The assassins’ weapon was swiftly sliced by Elaine’s sword, but—

Boom boom boom!

As the weapon was cut, fog began to emit from it.

It was a smoke bomb.

“Tricks!”

The smoke bomb was meant to obscure vision and hide their location, but it wouldn’t work on knights who could

sense magical flows with their bodies.

The knights, sensing the magic, kept a firm guard around Grace, while even the non-knight soldiers positioned

themselves with their backs to each other, eliminating any vulnerable spots and carefully watching for surprise

attacks.

“They’re fleeing!”

A knight from the first squad shouted as they located the assassins’ position.

I too, after learning how to read magical flows from Sophia, could sense it.

When the smoke cleared, I saw that the assassins, having deployed the smoke bomb, weren’t trying to make another

attack—they were fleeing in one direction.

“Is it a decoy?”

“It seems like it.”

“Yeah.”

We couldn’t chase them down immediately. We needed to know how they infiltrated here and who was behind their actions.

“Change of plans. Squad three, follow me, we’ll chase them down. The rest of you, stay here and surround the tower

with the soldiers to prevent them from escaping. Squad one, enter the tower and clean out any enemies inside.”

“Your Excellency, what about you?”

“You’re the second-in-command here. I trust you to handle what’s inside.”

“…Understood.”

“Until then, Sir Rine will guard me.”

“You can leave it to me!”

Elaine nodded at Grace’s decision.

Squad three’s vice leader, Rine, was one of the strongest among the vice commanders and capable of protecting Grace.

Though Elaine couldn’t join the chase, the recent fight had made it clear that neither Grace nor even the vice

commanders were a match for the assassins’ skills.

“Stay safe.”

“Same to you.”

After exchanging a brief, wordless gaze, the lord and her loyal servant moved to fulfill their duties.

But just as Grace was about to leave, I grabbed her arm.

“Wait!”

“Hmm?”

“Those assassins are carrying bombs, but instead of engaging in urban combat, they’re trying to lure you in. That

means they have something far more dangerous planned. Also, considering they’ve infiltrated the north with

assassins, their organization and abilities aren’t those of ordinary killers. Someone very capable is likely pulling the

strings behind them!”

I spoke urgently, and Grace and Elaine exchanged a look before turning to me.

“Luke’s right.”

“Well, that’s obvious, but…”

Grace stared at me thoughtfully before replying.

“Someone as clever as you wouldn’t point out the obvious unless you had a bad feeling. We’ll be careful.”

With that, she turned and shouted.

“Start the chase! Sir Kean, take the lead!”

“Haha! Understood.”

The leader of squad three, Kean, dashed out with a loud crash, and Grace followed with Rine to guard her.

Squad two’s leader, Loron, quickly began directing his unit to set up a siege formation.

“Squad one, enter the tower. I’ll take the lead, Sir Anduril, take the rear.”

“Understood.”

Elaine, too, led her squad into the tower.

I followed her orders, moving with the first squad, but my mind raced with thoughts.

“Damn.”

The assassins’ attire and use of tools.

Could it be?

There was a high possibility that these were members of the Black Crow assassination team from the villain

organization in Brave Road.

Of course, given their strength, they wouldn’t be able to defeat Grace by trapping her, but…

The real problem was the boss behind them.

“Could it be that he’s here?”

I didn’t understand why their subordinates were in the north, but if the boss was here too, and he was behind the attack…

This could turn out far more difficult than I expected.

Because the Black Crow’s leader, Ro, was—

The thief of the hero party.

The boss of Brave Road Episode 3, ‘The Night the Crows Fly.’

“If it’s Ro, he could fight Grace too. So, if they’re trying to lure her in, it’s likely that Ro is somewhere nearby. He’s

probably the one who’s orchestrating this, even if I tried to warn Grace.”

I had just confirmed that something I hadn’t anticipated could happen.

If Ro was inside the Snowflower Tower…

“I have to remember every bit of knowledge from the novel to figure out how to deal with Row!”

A sense of foreboding swept through like a cold wind, brushing against the back of my neck.

We entered the tower, praying that he wouldn’t be there.

“Phew, this is tough.”

In the corridor, which had turned black from the scorched flames, Row exhaled deeply and flicked his gloves.

“I told you, head-on confrontations aren’t my thing. I don’t even understand the mentality of those idiots who try to fight head-on.”

“Ugh…”

“Hey, don’t get up. If you take any more hits, you’ll really die.”

Row stomped on Sophia’s hand as it reached out toward her staff.

Crack!

With a vicious sound, Sophia tried to scream, but the shadow rising from the floor covered her mouth.

“Damn, this took longer than I thought. But who are you? I don’t think I saw you when I came to the North last time.

Are you the next Master of the Magic Tower?”

“You’re not as bad as that damn woman, but you’re still one of the best mages I’ve met.”

Looking up at Row, who was crouching down and admiring her, Sophia realized his identity.

It was the hero party that had visited the North when she was away on external business.

Among them, there was only one person who had red hair, wore black clothes, and had a wild wolf-like appearance.

Why the hell was Row, one of the Seven Heroes, here, attacking her? She had no idea.

But it was clear that he was here with malicious intent.

That meant he was an enemy of the Snowflake Tower and the North.

‘This is worse than I imagined…?’

She had blocked the stealth with magic sense, but that didn’t determine the outcome.

In pure combat strength, Row was several levels above her.

To easily deflect even her trump card magic, which she had prepared with the intention of burning the entire floor…

He was a monster in his own right.

‘Is it because of his abilities?’

Sophia glanced at Row’s feet.

Row, one of the most secretive among the Seven Heroes, was someone few knew the full extent of his abilities.

But with her magical sense and vast knowledge, Sophia quickly figured out what Row’s abilities were.

That shadow.

Row grabbed Sophia’s face and stared into her eyes.

“Hm, you’re quite cute. Small and slender—just my type. As expected, Northern women are top-notch. Alright, I

won’t kill you. But as promised, I’ll gouge out your eyes, soak them in a potion, and make you behave… Hmm?”

Row, who was about to look into Sophia’s eyes, suddenly raised his head.

He stared at the ceiling for a moment, clicking his tongue and grimacing.

“This is why I hate the North. Why’s the response time so quick? Or did this girl waste too much time? Damn it, I

haven’t even destroyed the frost magic reservoir yet.”

Row irritably threw Sophia’s head to the floor.

With a loud thud, Sophia hit the ground and fainted from the shock, but Row didn’t even glance at her as he stood up.

“Looks like Grace hasn’t arrived yet, which is a relief. But there’s an annoying guy here. I’ll have to break the Frost Crystal first.”

He licked his lips as if his magical sense wasn’t quite enough, but decided to leave the area rather than waste any more time.

After Row left, footsteps echoed a moment later.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

The person in the lead shouted.

“Over here! Someone’s collapsed!”

At the call, armored soldiers rushed over, and a man lifted Sophia’s body from the floor, grinding his teeth.

“Sophia…”

Luke, with burning eyes, stared down the corridor.

It seemed that the worst premonition had come true.

The most dangerous enemy was here.

“As you suspected, it seems the enemy’s target is the Frost Crystal. Ian, take Elder Sophia to a safe place. We will continue forward.”

Elaine entrusted Sophia to the first squad of knights and, along with the rest of the team, began pursuing the enemy.

Luke, casting a glance at the collapsed Sophia, ignited his determination.

He swore to repay her suffering.