The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 338: Too Easy

Chapter 338: Too Easy

Days passed, and the time for Ezekiel and Nikolai to infiltrate Helion castle had finally arrived. Of course, they couldn’t do such a dangerous mission with just the two of them. No, they had Zoran with them to help guide them through its halls along with the occasional spellcasting to help them remain hidden throughout this endeavor.

And... that was pretty much it, something that Zoran was honestly pretty apprehensive about.

"Look, I know that we have more than enough firepower to fight off everything with just the three of us, but are we sure we’re not going to take anything else with us?" Zoran couldn’t help but ask even as he prepared himself for the journey. "Are there any other failsafes that we can use?"

"Look, weren’t you the one in charge of that stuff?" Nikolai pointed out as he donned his usual battle garb. "You’re here to help us through this, so shouldn’t you know what to do in case something goes wrong?"

"I already took all of those into account. What I’m talking about is potential plans just in case we get caught out," Zoran insisted. "I know what I’m doing, but there are still things that we cannot put into account. Plans are only plans until the enemy suddenly comes and destroys it."

"You know, you’re too worried," Ezekiel chuckled as the foreign king placed a hand on his shoulder. "We trust you to know what to do in case of a sudden problem like what you just said."

"And besides, we do have a plan in place if we’re ever caught out of position," Nikolai followed up with a confident scoff. "You were there when the plans were made, right? So you should know that we literally have a plan for every conceivable scenario."

Zoran couldn’t help but agree to the two kings in front of him. After all, they were both speaking the truth. In fact, he himself was the one that declared that they’ve done enough planning for what they were about to do. They’ve done all of the preparation that they could handle, and doing any more almost felt like overkill to the point of even being detrimental to the mission.

"I know," Zoran sighed. "Still, I can’t help but feel like we’re missing something. Like we’re walking into a trap somehow despite knowing that they would never see us coming."

"That’s just the nerves talking to you," Ezekiel chuckled. "Now, let’s get things started. We’ve wasted enough time as it is."

"Indeed," Nikolai hummed in agreement. "If we want to get things done quickly, we need to move now."

Shaking his head, Zoran did his best to shake off all of the doubts that were currently swimming inside his head. The kings were right. Maybe he was just overthinking things too much and that they’ll be able to do this mission without even so much as getting discovered.

With a deep breath, he raised his hand to cast a portal leading to one of the lesser known corners in Helion castle. Since he knew where all the blind spots were, none of the castle’s inherent defenses managed to spot them. And such, they arrived at a nondescript hallway without a welcoming party to greet them.

Stepping forth, Zoran took the lead as Nikolai and Ezekiel followed behind him. Taking a look around, he made sure that nobody was present before he cast another spell that would lessen the noise they made while they were walking. It would also allow them to whisper to each other without being heard by any of the nearest guards.

"Right, stick close to me," Zoran told the two kings. "The secret room where all of the magical artifacts are being kept should be right beneath us."

The two kings nodded at him, and he took it as his cue to lead them forward. Making sure that they were light in their steps, Zoran kept a keen eye on every corner that they took, ensuring that they wouldn’t be spotted before they could even get a hand on the books that they needed.

Eventually, they arrived at their destination. Deep within the castle itself, they stood in front of what looked to be an enchanted door glimmering with power as it blocked their way. Clearly, brute force would not be enough to open it, which meant that Zoran had to do things the old magical way.

"Give me a second," he told the kings as he raised his hands. "Watch my back."

The two nodded back at him, and Zoran turned his attention back to the magical door barring their progress. With a deep breath, he began to channel his magic through the door, unlocking it manually as he exploited every crack and loophole he could find before letting out an exhausted sigh of relief.

"Done," he called out to the kings.

"That was fast," Nikolai complimented him.

"I did say to only give me a minute or two," Zoran chuckled. "Still, opening that thing took over half of my reserves. I probably won’t be able to fight properly if we were to get caught."

"Then let’s not waste any more time," Ezekiel firmly nodded. "Let’s get what we came for and leave."

With the three of them sharing a determined nod, they all walked into the secret chamber and began their search. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for either of them to get the arcane books that they wanted out of this mission, and before they all knew it, they were already on their way back to try and return home.

"Let’s get out of here," Nikolai told him. "We got what we came for."

Giving his king a nod, Zoran promptly began casting his teleportation spell. To be honest, he didn’t think that it would be this easy. In fact, it was almost too easy... as if...

"Anytime now, Zoran," Ezekiel told him.

Zoran simply nodded as he continued casting his spell. All the while, his thoughts returned to the ease of their mission. Devon wouldn’t leave massive gaps in his security like this. Sure, he could chalk it up to hubris and negligence, but surely there was something they were missing...

It was then that his teleportation spell fizzled out.