Chapter 29 – Monte’s Return

It had been nearly three weeks since we had picked up this routine. I had to admit that I didn't mind it. The royal family treated us incredibly well and our days adventuring were always rewarding. Bliss had leveled up and learned how to manipulate vines even quicker. She was always a positive influence. Usually, she stayed on my shoulder. Occasionally, she would join one of the beastkin when I was just reading in the palace. She seemed to enjoy the palace kitchen so Pepper and Bliss would often join the chefs in the palace to improve their cooking skills. This was evident as our meals at home were continuously improving. We always made lots of extra plates of food and stored them in my Storage Vision. Since time did not seem to pass in my storage, we could easily pull out freshly cooked meals when we were on a job in the forest.

We had just spent the day learning from the library and blacksmiths. I managed to gain Blacksmithing skill in just a few hours of training and even raised it to level 2. Midnight had been working at it for three weeks and now, acquiring the skill only recently at level 1. This made me realize how much of a cheat my skills really were. We had planned to go adventuring the following day, but Poppy was having trouble with a foot injury. When we ran into a group of goblins in the forest, I didn't have enough time to activate a barrier in front of everything and an arrow managed to strike Poppy's foot. Even with healing salve, we wanted to make sure Poppy would fully recover before going out again. We also saw the need for better boots and armor. For that reason, Midnight and I had focused more on blacksmithing. We decided to stay at the palace for a few days straight to make the needed armor for our group. We took the proper measurements of each member in our party and prepared to make some mithril armor. I had acquired some mithril from the carriage I looted from Monte the Lizardman.

Princess Danika helped us quite a bit in the mold, formation, and strengthening of armor pieces we were creating for our group. We decided to put some breathable cotton on the inside of the armor to add to comfort since the mithril exterior was light and easy to carry. We managed to finish all 5 chest pieces in the first day. The blacksmith dwarves seemed to be pleased to see us for a second day in a row. Even the queen was smiling when we showed up again. The blacksmith building was of a stadium size with 15 forges and over 20 workstations. For that reason, it was no inconvenience to the dwarven kingdom. They would only be using 5 or 6 workstations at a time.

I was perplexed when my level 4 presence detection started triggering. Of course, there were other presences! There were blacksmiths working all over the place! It was a slower day where there were only 4 dwarves working on different projects. Suddenly I recognized the presence my skill was pointing at. It was someone using the shadow element. My detection allowed me to determine which shadow contained the predator. He was hiding under the shadow at Princess Danika's workstation. The previous attack made much more sense to me now. The kidnapping of a prince and princess were a difficult task. Apparently, they were both taken together when they were alone in a palace hallway. But why did Monte go to all that trouble? This shadow was following the princess again. My mind's fast processing was already figuring things out. This was a hired job. My first thoughts were of the moody crown prince. Perhaps he had hired Monte to do all this? How would Monte get them out of the palace? He would drug the princess, take her into his shadow and escape through the back of the palace. Perhaps the crown prince even left a door open for him?

I tapped Midnight on the shoulder and whispered lightly in his ear.

"Monte is back. I sense him in the shadows near Princess Danika. I don't think he will attack until he believes she is alone."

"Let's inform the guards then," Midnight immediately suggested a sensible thing to do.

"I think that some guards may be helping Monte. If I'm right, it's probably the crown prince that set this whole thing up. Let's armor up and trail the princess. Monte will reveal himself when he thinks he has a chance. Let's catch him and get him to reveal his partner."

Midnight nodded subtly and slowly started to put on his mithril gear. We had just finished a pair of pants for him, so he was better ready to handle a battle. Thankfully, the crown princess was not blacksmithing on this day. The queen had also left the building a short while ago to meet with some dignitaries. As the remaining blacksmiths departed for lunch, the perfect kidnap moment seemed to be approaching. I approached the princess carefully, hiding behind the forge nearest to her. Thinking of the presences in the room, I tried to minimize my own.

Skill Acquired: Presence Concealment Lv. 1

I was surprised that I had never acquired this skill earlier. Midnight was already skilled at concealing his presence. I just hadn't realized that it would be so easy for me to acquire the skill. Both of us stayed near to the princess without revealing ourselves. The last of the dwarves had left the room and it would now appear like the princess was alone at her workstation. Her normal guards in the room had mysteriously departed.

I readied a fire ball while Midnight readied a newly crafted mithril bow and arrow. Just as expected, Monte the lizardman rose out of the shadows from behind the princess. He was holding a spray bottle with a light green liquid inside. Midnight and I did not hesitate. We struck out at the lizardman.