They attacked but not all at the same time. That was unusual or, did they not invent that technique yet. Or maybe they were saving their energy, or they knew their outcome if everyone at the same time attacked.

Instead of stabbing them, I decided to slash so they get weak by blood loss. I knocked two people down. But i was having a hard time as i was breathing heavily. They are quite skilled but not skilled enough to outlive me. One more person to go.

I turned around just in time to get struck by a needle or something. Something that was small,pointy and that pricked.

I quickly pulled it out of my right arm. I was fairly sure he dipped that needle in something, so I had to finish him quickly.

We clashed.

“Your master?” I pressured him trying to flip that sword out of his grip. He quickly withdrew, which was a smart choice. If he hadn’t then he would be forced to let go of his sword, or if he was stubborn he would've broken his arm.

Annoyed, I made my attacks closer to his face.

“Who sent you?” I repeated. I started hearing everything so sensetivably i wasn't so sure if it was my adrenaline or the drug. A sudden ache in my arm. I cursed, as I tried to change the arm of the sword. Sadly, my opponent seemed to see my problem as he came down full force. With sudden slow reflex skills I stumbled down.

I quickly kicked hard on the shins as he stumbled down.

I wanted to stand up but I knew it wouldn't be good for the drug, and i didnt have enough time to use my mana to fix it.

I took out my dagger and just when I was going to stab him as a threat, an arrow shot past my arm and hit the opponent in the chest. A clear shot.

I froze in surprise. I looked around for whoever was responsible for that shot.

I stayed very still to see any movements in the branches but they remained still. I went back to my opponent. He was foaming his mouth. That was clearly an incredibly strong poison tipped on that arrow.

“Hey-” I was about to ask him to stay put and not die.

He started trembling and stopped.

“Hey!” I knew it was pretty hopeless if I wanted to try and save him.

What kind of poison makes someone die so quickly? I’ll decide on that later.

I quickly healed myself with the precious little mana I had left.

TROT TROT TROT TROT

I turned around seeing myself facing a young man on a white stallion.

At first i thought he might be the shooter but that would be stupid. Besides he had a horse, although he wasn't riding it now, and his clothes didn't camouflage this environment if he was the shooter, unless he had a sort of trick up his sleeve.

He took in the scene calmly. The four corpses on the ground, one of them foaming, a woman squatting down in the midst of the mess.

He came closer as I stood up. Blue eyes. Extremely rare for a non-royal family member. He had amber hair, nearly caramel blonde in the sunlight. He looked like someone I have seen before.

I had a feeling I saw him when I was gazing at the paintings of the nobles back at the palace while Ian was making introductions about them.

“Your Imperial Highness.” he kneeled.

Not knowing what to say, I studied his clothes. The emblem of the Imperial knights.

“And you are?” I asked. I resisted the urge to reach out to his hair, where a leaf stuck.

“I am the personal knight for today. I came to announce that the hunting will end soon, so it would be best if we leave now. The other knights will take care of this mess, so you do not need to worry about it.”

“Rise.”

He rose as I followed him to the exit or to the place where we would gather. We didn't stumble across any dead animals. Perhaps they already took them for the counting. I started to wonder why he wasn't near me when I was attacked.

“Rela!” brother Ian ran up to me.

“Where have you been? We’ve been worried about you!”

“Oh the thing is that-”

Aeson came up.

“Report Sir Hal.” Aeson ordered.

Hal? I did not know any people with such short names. Maybe that was his nickname. Or his surname was Harold and nickname Hal because Harold was sort of hard to pronounce.

“Since I finally found you, let's go check the animals we caught! I meant you caught.” Ian steered me away before I could listen to what Sir Hal had to say.

Many people gathered around the animal carcasses. There were 5 mages. Ooh. ok i got it. Maybe the stamps that we imprinted on the animal were contained with teleportation magic to teleport to the checkpoint. Smart. Maybe I should do that on a living thing in case of an emergency.

Ian squatted down. “Dang, sis you caught all of this?” There were roughly 20 or 30 of the animals. Or maybe even more.

Many people around us started to murmur. They probably heard Ian say sis. Which meant I was their ruler. I regretted the decision of hiring 6 big bodyguards to avoid their gaze. But they just bowed respectfully.

We walked back to our tent.

I crashed onto a chair, but sadly it was only made out of wood. I couldn't exactly crash on it like when I was crashing on a……. Hmmm. I forgot the name, but it was something cushioney and big.

“That was tiring.” I muttered.

Ian chuckled. “Well, I hope you were kidding, young Empress.” Ian chided.

I quickly sat up. “What do you mean?” I stammered.

“Oh! You forgot our schedule? No biggie I mean we don't have lots to do today anyways. Anyways at 13:00 we will have guests coming who wish to congratulate you on your ruling. There were many people but we managed to cut them all into one hour. Then after that we go back to the Imperial palace and then do our work!”

Ian had to add that ‘Imperial’ part. But I guess he was proud of it. He would sometimes scold me for not acting like a sort of badass Empress but I guess I didn't have enough time going around wasting my money. I was a little busy assassinating people who were not exactly good people and just acting like someone who works for the ruler and not exactly being the ruler.

“Your Highness the first guests are here.” the personal knight of Ian, Sir Liam informed.

I waved my hands, gesturing to them to let them in.