CHAPTER 112 A Higher Intelligence Means Nothing If You Can’t Use It

Keith

The more time he spent analyzing the pink dome, the more Keith was certain of two things:

One, it was in fact a pocket dimension laced with [Void Damage].

Two, Henrietta had the patience of a saint. He was surprised she hadn't acquired the title while growing up. Anyone who suffered the king and queen of Drendil as parents and walked away a decent person had to qualify for sainthood. Doubly so, as she'd somehow resisted the urge to stab them into oblivion with her [Void Damage] sword.

He'd tried to draw Jacqueline from her sheath and cut through the bubble—as a Void artifact herself, the sword could probably interact with it—but he'd been unable to touch her handle without getting stung with bouts of sword intent. He got the message that she was not willing, and he wasn't going to fight with a sword.

A sword that suddenly vanished from his hip.

It happened so suddenly, from one moment to the next, that he didn't even see it happen. He blinked, then smiled wolfishly. He adjusted himself to ensure nobody else would notice the missing sword, and felt an invisible weight fall from his shoulders; if Ria had her sword, nothing could stop her.

"Monfort, have you figured out how to get us all out of here yet?" King Simon's words pierced through Keith's moment of relief, and he marveled at the sheer audacity of that statement.

"How about I ask you a question," Keith ground through clenched teeth. "Where is Henrietta?"

"Who cares?" the king snapped back. "When we don't even know where we are!"

"This never would have happened if you hadn't sent Havork to escort Henri," Queen Thalia screeched at her husband. Keith flinched. So did her husband.

"You can't blame me." King Simon tsked. "You were the one whose skill promised Marquess Dorset was telling the truth and trustworthy."

"Why, I never!" The queen huffed.

"You did, actually." The king frowned. "Now I see where Henri gets her lack of wits. A higher Intelligence means nothing if you can't use it."

There wasn't much else Keith could do at this point, so he released the lesser [Shield] spell. He massaged an ever-growing headache.

Keith continued trying other perks and spells. Ever one to learn from his mistakes, he took out a mana potion at some point and restored his mana.

Ria would kill him if he died here from his own folly.

Their guard frowned at him but didn't make a move to stop him, so Keith kept his mana full. He continued recasting [Dragon Shield] and drinking mana potions while he kept poking at the barrier.

Hours dragged on; at least two, he was sure. The marquess returned, stepping into place outside Keith's cell.

Keith crossed his arms, ready to cast a second spell if needed, while reactivating [Multitask].

"Dorset!" King Simon walked over to the bars and clanged his cuffs loudly on the metal. "Let us out of here this instant or our knight commander will hunt you down and end you."

He sounded very confident. Then again, his knight commander was a level sixty paladin.

The marquess just raised an eyebrow. "Havork is sworn to obey the king and queen of Drendil, not you," Dorset retorted. "Who do you think that will be when you're dead?"

"I'm too pretty to die." Queen Thalia burst into tears.

"I assure you, that is not the case." The marquess pulled out a vial.

Keith pointed out the obvious to stall for time. "You can't kill the king and queen of Drendil and expect the council to accept you ascending to the throne? You'll have the King Killer title."

"Ah." The marquess smiled at Keith. "But I didn't kill them. You did."

"Are you offering to give me the chance?" Keith turned a thoughtful look on the king and queen. He had been daydreaming about that very thing.

They shrank back from their cell wall.

"That would make things easier."

Keith sighed. "As much as I'd love to, I'll let you do your own dirty work. I'm interested to see how you'll manage this."

"Can we talk this over?" King Simon cut in, but the fight was leaving him. Keith could tell. He had backed down from the cell door, going to stand beside his wife. "It's not too late to let us go and go back to working together."

"I'd like to see you try to get one past Witch Agatha." Queen Thalia stopped sobbing to glare at their captor. "That woman can sniff out the truth like a dog. A most unbecoming ability, but I'll allow it if it means you'll pay for what you've done." She waved at her legs. "Just look what you've done to my dress! This is embroidered with arachne silk, you uncultured, pathetic beast!"

Watching the marquess suffer what Keith had suffered almost made the past few hours worth it.

"Bring in the slave," Dorset snapped, and the servant left. He came back with an unconscious Lieutenant Franni Bertand slung over his shoulder. She looked much the worse for wear, but was still breathing.

"Oh, great!" Queen Thalia moaned. "Another monster."

King Simon eyed the lizardkin and took a slight step behind his wife, putting her between him and Franni.

Keith frowned. The last time he'd seen the lieutenant, he'd sent her to the border with a lot of assassins trussed up with Veralyn's Enchanted Restraint Manacles, one of which Franni was wearing. He didn't like the implications of what that meant … but it explained a lot.

The man handed the marquess a high-level antidote, and Chadwick uncorked it, downing the contents. The servant showed off another Rogue ability when he pulled a glass container holding a small poofy black mushroom with ominous swirling blue mist from out of nowhere.

"A shroomdoom," Keith remarked. "I see you came prepared. You're planning to frame me through a servant?" He knew of a dozen ways that could go wrong, but he wasn't about to tell his enemy that. The mushroom was a very deadly fungi that when disturbed, exploded highly poisonous spores. He had prepared his own shroomdoom antidote, as well as one for Henrietta, and pulled it out of his storage ring now. It didn't hurt to not take chances with his magical prison.

"Correct." The marquess smirked.

"Wait!" Simon cried. "You can't do this, or you'll break the magical contract."

"Actually, you'll be happy to know that I'm not the one who's hired this man. I'm just here to watch."

The servant, who'd presumably already downed his own antidote, smiled as he put the shroomdoom on the floor in front of the royal's cell.

"How much are they paying you. Whatever it is, I'll pay you double—triple!" Queen Thalia wheedled, a hint of fear in her eyes.

The man ignored them, stood up, and tossed the lizardkin onto the shroomdoom. Great billowing plumes of spores filled the room, their glowing blue dots almost beautiful.

"See?" the marquess gloated at the king and queen's unfortunate ending. "My plans are going perfectly."

Keith let the man think that as he hooked a thumb through his belt and calmly waited for his princess in shining armor to come and rescue him.