Chapter 280: Beastmen’s Plan

Amira’s plan was rather simple.

They would find a way to get the worker to let them out of the carriage. Once out, they would immediately charge at the royal carriage with the intention of harming whoever was inside.

Such a plan was naturally suicidal, but it also offered them a slim chance to escape their plight.

"I don’t know how many of us will survive, but as long as we do and inform our tribe, these slave traders will feel our wrath." Amira wasn’t a saint. She knew how dangerous and risky her plan was.

"If someone has to be sacrificed, then let me be the one." Amira’s brother, Dayton, said in a calm voice. "Had it not been for me, we wouldn’t have fallen into a trap and got captured in the first place."

"Brother—" Amira wanted to say something.

"The plan was brought by you. One of us has to do the vanguard; otherwise, the rest won’t be convinced." Dayton halted her. A suicidal plan with the death rate as high as 99.99% meant the other beastmen might not obey.

If they wouldn’t cooperate, then their plan was bound to fail.

However, as long as Dayton took the lead, the rest should follow.

After all, once committed, it didn’t matter whether they participated in the attack or not. They were bound to be punished anyway. Since standing idle and helping meant a bad outcome, they might as well risk it all.

"Very well." Amira bit her lip and nodded. She knew it was inevitable that some of them wouldn’t make it out alive from the plan. But it was still one that she insisted on because not doing it meant an absolute death sentence.

"Wait for my signal." She exhaled deeply.

...

Skyreach Iron Zone

At the path just a bit outside of the SIZ, Leonard’s carriage was halted.

"Why did we stop moving?" Leonard frowned. It couldn’t be that someone was already seeking death before they even entered the SIZ, right?

"Someone requests an audience." Curtis approached the carriage and replied.

"Who?"

"Your attendant... Amelia."

’My attendant?’ He took a few seconds to recall Amelia. ’Ah, right, I told her that she would be disguised as a noble while I go undercover.’

He had forgotten about Amelia. His plan was foiled by Eleanor, so his undercover act was essentially over. But truth be told, the undercover wasn’t quite the answer because everyone else seemed to have known about his identity.

Nevertheless, he was confused about her appearance here.

"Bring her over." He instructed coolly.

Curtis nodded and gestured to the guards to let her through.

A few seconds later, Amelia arrived and bowed.

"Greetings, Crown Prince." She greeted him politely.

Leonard narrowed his eyes.

She wasn’t dressed in the academy uniform, but was wearing a black outfit. The material seemed elastic since it appeared tight at a glance, but she was about to stretch it far when bowing.

’As expected, she’s no regular maid or attendant.’ His palace was always filled with these extra talented people. None of them could be considered normal.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned.

"Can I speak inside?" Amelia glanced around and said. She noticed the slave merchant carriage nearby and didn’t want their conversation to leak.

Although she highly doubted they dared to eavesdrop on them, she refused to let even a little possibility off.

"Fine."

"Thank you, Crown Prince."

Once inside the carriage, Leonard activated the built-in sound barrier to prevent eavesdropping.

"Speak your mind." He said calmly.

Amelia nodded and began to relay the events. "I have scouted in advance and discovered that the slave merchants have ties to the incident related to the capital attack."

"Capital attack?" He raised an eyebrow.

"The slave beastmen who went berserked." She clarified. The slave beastmen attack on the capital had alarmed multiple parties. But to prevent mass panic and an undermining of the royal capital’s prestige, a tight lid was placed on those present at the time of the incident.

Nevertheless, the investigation never stopped.

"Wasn’t it related to Velastra?" Leonard frowned. He had also investigated and pinpointed it to be in relation to Velastra. Velastra was essentially a gold mine, and some didn’t want him to get hold of it. Hence, the attack commenced to scare him from departing.

After all, the previous Leonard was a cowardly person. With just a little bit of a fright, he might inadvertently call off the journey.

However, they failed to calculate that the previous Leonard was already gone.

The current Leonard now wasn’t afraid of the dangers. In fact, he was more eager than ever to do exactly what they didn’t want him to do.

"In a sense, it’s related to Velastra, but the beastmen didn’t originate from there," Amelia explained. Velastra wasn’t a city prioritized in beastmen trading. It was more focused on women of high quality to serve the wealthy people.

"So Velastra was merely the scapegoat?"

"That is correct."

"Hah..." Leonard was rendered speechless. If Velastra was used as a scapegoat, just what sort of power was behind the attack?

’They could even sacrifice a gold mine just to impede me. Am I worth that much?’ He took a deep breath and glanced at the window. There was another slave merchant carriage next to them.

They had paused their movement as soon as they stopped as well.

Was that not suspicious enough?

"So what’s your actual power level?" Leonard asked. If she could scout ahead to investigate in the SIZ, it should be evident that her skill level wasn’t low.

"Compare yourself to Curtis’ level and tell me."

"To Curtis’ level? The man outside?" She pointed at them.

Leonard nodded. "He’s the commander here, so he’s a good candidate for comparison."

"I can’t beat him, but he also couldn’t do anything to me." She responded honestly. The confidence in her tone was evident.

"Should we test that?" Little did she know, Curtis’ voice would suddenly resound from the outside.

"Oops, would you look at that?" Leonard gasped and covered his mouth.

"I accidentally turned off the sound barrier."