Rowan was overwhelmed by the pain in his lower regions, making his swollen cheeks a secondary concern. Clutching his aching manhood, he curled into a fetal position, tears streaming down his face.
’Looks like even heroes are vulnerable to low blows,’ Adrian shrugged and decided to make a break for it. ’I’m pretty sure this was Vincent’s doing. Too bad I can’t hang around to thank him for creating a distraction.’
Seeing how hurt Rowan was acting, it was unlikely the rest of the heroes would chase him instead of helping their fellow teammate.
Still, just in case, Adrian activated [Nemean Blessing] as he rushed out of the Church, hoping to negate any attacks that might come his way.
As Adrian expected, the elves rushed towards Rowan at snail-like speed to check his condition. The arrow had struck Rowan at the worst possible place and was lodged right in the middle of his personal asset.
"Damn... That looks painful," the males mumbled, not wishing for such an accident to happen even to their worst enemies. "But who shot the arrow?"
"It wasn’t the intruder, that’s for sure," Amelia responded. "He was too engrossed in slapping the prince to have done anything."
"Did he have a partner hiding somewhere?" Theron Hoofstride, a centaur, suggested.
Taking charge of the conversation, Rowan’s closest aide, Lyra Silverleaf, clapped twice to get everyone’s attention. "If anyone had noticed anything, please come forward. Even the most insignificant clue could be of help here."
One after another, everyone shook their heads. Since the heroes were struggling after Libra’s attack, none of them had the strength to look around when the incident happened.
Besides, they were way too engrossed in watching Rowan being slapped into silliness to detect anything. But they did notice something.
One after another, everyone mentioned they saw the arrow fly past them. Although they didn’t point to any names, the elves immediately thought it had to be Vincent. After all, he was the furthest away from everyone, so he could have shot the arrow without anyone noticing.
Besides, Vincent also had a motive to do something like that. He was detested by the elves only because there was someone better suited for the throne of Alfvania.
If he could eliminate the competition, the elves would have no choice but to accept him as their new crown prince. With that, Vincent had a motive and the placement to shoot Rowan.
It was all the proof the elves needed to make Vincent a target, and soon, the elves turned towards Vincent with a murderous glare.
Vincent was planning to come clean earlier and say that he was aiming for the stranger to save his brother’s life. But upon noticing their glare, he knew they would not give him any time to explain himself and probably get him arrested or worse, exiled into the Nether.
’If only that fucker had stuck to slapping this rascal, none of this would’ve happened!’ Vincent thought as his mind raced to give his fellow Alfvanians an explanation.
However, help arrived from an unexpected source as Clara stood in between Vincent and the rest of the elves.
"You fools have some guts to question Vincent," she scoffed, placing a hand on her hips, enhancing her figure. "Let me remind you in case you forgot. Vincent took a direct hit from one of the Zodiacs while trying to help when all of you were stuck to the ground like trees!"
She continued, "The impact knocked him out cold and left him injured, so how on earth could he have attacked Rowan? Has your hatred towards him blinded all of you into mindless fools?"
The elves got fidgety after hearing Clara’s words and avoided each other’s gaze. Regardless, Vincent was thankful that Clara covered his ass. After all, she was by his side when he shot the arrow.
She could have thrown him before the elves like a goblin in front of a pack of wolves if she wanted. Yet she didn’t.
Vincent smiled as the signs surrounding Clara’s feelings for him were blatantly obvious. As an elf, he had always seen Clara and Adrian as nuisances. But tolerated them for Sophia’s sake, who, despite being a human, had caught his eyes since the earlier days of their training.
But now that Vincent was sure of Clara’s loyalty and even eager to use her in the future. But for now, he wanted to enjoy the favour she had done for him.
After all, Clara involuntarily gave Vincent some much-needed ammo to shoot at the elves who had gotten so used to looking down upon him.
"Rowan and I might not see eye to eye, but to believe that all of you would hold such a low opinion of me..." Vincent murmured, perfectly portraying the role of a hurt and betrayed prince.
"I’m sorry, but I need time to gather my thoughts and consider whether I wish to continue associating with you."
The cunning elf was also using the tragedy to gain sympathy from someone special, and upon saying his piece, Vincent began walking out of the Church, but not before taking another look around.
"Sophia, could you-" he scanned the crowd, but the mage was nowhere to be seen. "Where’s Sophia?"
Clara turned around to look for her friend, "I swear she was here a moment ago-"
"She left to do what a hero should," Seraphina interjected. "While all of you were engrossed in petty internal conflicts in plain view of the civilians, she took a hero’s path and chased the intruder alone."
Hearing that, Vincent immediately rushed towards the exit, only to fall after taking a few steps. The internal injuries from his impact earlier were still holding him back. Thankfully, Clara was there to catch him.
"Saintess, please take care of the injured princes," Marcus, the dwarf, requested. "Healers, stay back and assist the Saintess. The rest of us will chase after the intruder and ensure no harm comes to Sophia."
"Right!"
The heroes agreed and rushed out of the Church. Clara lingered there a bit longer, ensuring Vincent was comfortable, before joining the rest of them.