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Chapter: 58

"What sound are you talking about?" a Wolhan Fortress soldier asked, his face filled with confusion.

Maybe I heard it wrong. That doubt became a certainty when I heard rumbling for the second time.

"One of you, go outside the cave."

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?" one of the soldiers asked, rather rudely. Come to think of it, the Wolhan Fortress soldiers really disliked me. Just because the soldiers I knocked down earlier became more friendly didn\'t mean everyone else had changed their tune. Several of them still resented me.

There\'s only one thing to do in situations like this.

"This is an order from the prince. Go outside the cave immediately and check if everything\'s alright."

Immediately, it became quiet, and then I heard the sound of footsteps moving away.

"Did he go?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

These guys are really pushing it. What kind of safety are they relying on to act so defiant? You need to check before you leap. What are they going to do if I go to the Wolhan Fortress Lord like this and tell him everything, and then return to the capital without even using the conscription power?

And when that happens, how much will they curse me? They\'ll nag me, saying a good-for-nothing only does good-for-nothing things. They might even say I came here pretending to help and then just left, making a mockery of the North. Then, not only would I be in the bad books of Bonhyeon, but I\'d also be completely sidelined.

And then the North would be in trouble. The magical beasts would keep coming, but with the conscription order still in place, they wouldn\'t be able to call up troops from the entire Northern region. Even if they manage to gather soldiers from the noble families, one shout from Bonhyeon and they\'ll scatter. They won\'t even get to fight, just waste money, and that\'ll be the end of it.

Hmm. Could Bonhyeon actually want that?

Certainly, if that was his intention, this would be a strategy to get rid of both me and Wolhan Fortress in one go.

Meanwhile, Chaos wasn\'t paying any attention to my conversation with his soldiers and was focused on breaking the egg. Every time he struck the giant eggshell with his sword, a whitish, sticky liquid flowed out from the cracks.

Chaos seemed to be enjoying breaking the eggs. There\'s always someone good, and above those who are better, there are those who enjoy it. That meant I would never be able to beat Chaos in the field of magical beast egg breaking.

Inside the eggshell was an underdeveloped magical beast.

Judging by its appearance, it was still far from being fully grown.

"Hmm."

Even in the darkness, I could tell at a glance that it was a different species from the magical beast’s corpse that the Wolhan Fortress Lord had shown me last time.

"Hey, Deokbong."

"Yes, yes, Your Highness."

Perhaps because of my argument with the soldiers, Deokbong answered in an even more nervous tone.

I don\'t know how someone with such a small heart manages to survive. I\'m no medical expert, so I don\'t know what having a big heart is good for, but still.

"Have you ever seen that?"

"Are you talking about these magical beasts?"

"Yeah, that."

Deokbong bowed his head and answered.

"I\'ve never seen them before."

"Not even once?"

"No, Your Highness."

Thwack.

Chaos kicked an egg. The liquid inside the egg and the underdeveloped magical beast cub fell to the floor with a splat. Deokbong recoiled in horror at the sight of the cub. The torchlight flickered, casting dancing shadows on the walls.

"Strange."

Chaos really seemed to find this somewhat amusing. I don\'t know how many eggs he\'d already broken, tirelessly.

"Deokbong, you said you\'ve been roaming the mountains for how many years? Looking for magical beasts, not just herbs."

"Ten years."

Ten years. No sane person would call that a short time. At least, I wasn\'t that crazy.

"It\'s strange that you\'ve never seen this in ten years, and it\'s also strange that something you haven\'t seen in ten years of scouring the mountain is the first thing I see when I come here."

Deokbong blinked.

I pointed at Deokbong and asked.

"You didn\'t lie, did you?"

"I swear to heaven, it\'s not a lie. I, Deokbong, would never lie to Your Highness," Deokbong replied with a tearful expression that seemed quite sincere.

"I swear, by heaven, by my mother and father, I haven\'t told a single lie!"

"I want to believe you, but the circumstances are just too strange."

Deokbong\'s face darkened visibly, even in the dim light. I didn\'t think Deokbong was the type to lie either. But honestly, the situation was more than a little odd.

If Deokbong wasn\'t lying... then the answer was probably that the parents of these eggs, the magical beasts, had migrated here from somewhere else.

That\'s quite a sudden event, isn\'t it?

And why now, of all times?

Just then, a scream pierced the air.

"Aaaahhhh!"

The hair on my neck stood on end. I immediately looked up.

"What\'s going on!"

But there was no answer. The metallic clang of multiple swords being drawn, the thunderous sound of footsteps, and then another scream.

"Aaaahhhh!"

Screams are always unpleasant to hear.

I shouted urgently.

"What\'s happening!"

A bad feeling. More than just a hunch.

"I\'m asking you!"

Cold sweat ran down my forehead. The screams grew louder. Even the usually indifferent Chaos sensed something was wrong and turned to look at me.

"... Your, Your Highness?"

Deokbong, his face pale, called out to me. I couldn\'t give him any answer. What was happening up there? That\'s what I wanted to ask.

But I already knew the answer. I knew what was happening up there.

Deokbong knew, and Chaos knew too.

So, there was no need to share my thoughts.

Instead of the two people in the same space as me, I shouted to the group above.

"Hey!"

The rope they had lowered to bring me down was still dangling in the air.

"Answer me!"

But still, no answer came.

Instead of an answer, there were screams. The sounds of swords clashing against flesh, strange roars. Groans. I, too, had lived by the sword, so I couldn\'t mistake the meaning of the death cries I heard.

Thud.

The rope, which must have been tied to something above, fell.

Even though I was safe, a shiver ran down my spine.

Along with the roars of the magical beasts, I heard the cracking of bones.

"Aaaahhhh!"

"... No."

Amidst the screams, Chaos quietly despaired. He stopped breaking the magical beast eggs and turned to me, but his eyes weren\'t looking at me. Chaos was looking at the rope that had fallen beside me.

Without that, we couldn\'t get out of the cave. But right now, there was something more important. Were the others safe or not? Could they defeat the magical beasts or not?

The spreading smell of blood made it impossible to stop the ominous thoughts.

"This place..."

This was a nest.

Their nest. Their home.

Perhaps I had realized it the moment I saw the eggs.

"---!"

Instinctively I stepped back. A magical beast fell from the hole in the ceiling of the cave.

The magical beast had someone\'s arm in its mouth. Blood flowed from the severed arm, and pieces of flesh dangled. The bird-like magical beast writhed on the floor as if its legs were injured. It looked like a seizure. Then, suddenly, it raised its head and lunged at me.

It thrust its beak towards me. There was blood on its beak too. No, that wasn\'t the right word. Its yellow beak was drenched in blood. And there were bits of flesh stuck to it. The faces of those who had camped with me the night before flashed through my mind.

Whose arm was that...?

There was no time to dwell on it.

Thwack! I raised my sword, still in its sheath, and struck the beast\'s beak. The beak cracked. The beast shook its head in pain and let out a roar.

"---!"

What a deafening screech. It made my ears ring.

"Your, Your Highness...!"

Deokbong shouted in terror. I immediately drew my sword and sliced off the magical beast\'s head. Blood arced through the air, and with a thud, the beast\'s head fell at my feet. The human arm it had been holding fell beside it. Blood splattered on the ground.

The sickening smell of blood filled the air. If I had been any less strong-stomached, I would have thrown up right there. Deokbong covered his mouth with his hand and gagged.

As expected, the magical beast was much larger than the eggs in the cave. It resembled a chicken or a duck, but its wings were comically small compared to its size. It was a good thing the wings were too small to be of any use. If it could fly, it would have been a disaster. The thought of such a creature flying around Wolhan Fortress was horrifying.

"Eeek...!"

Even with its head cut off, the magical beast continued to twitch. To reassure the terrified Deokbong, I cut the magical beast into several pieces to make sure it wouldn\'t move again. I kept my sword at the ready, in case more magical beasts fell.

"Calm down. It\'s not that threatening. You just saw it."

I said that to soothe the terrified Deokbong, but in reality, it was quite threatening.

I was able to cut off its head because it was in pain from the fall from a height of 10 feet. If I had faced it in its normal state, it wouldn\'t have been so easy to deal with.

Its head was high up due to its tall stature, so it wouldn\'t be easy for me, who was relatively small, to cut it down. It would be even more difficult if I faced multiple of them.

And the group above was facing an unknown number of magical beasts.

There would be injuries. Deaths...? There shouldn\'t be any deaths. Damn it...

"Your, Your Highness."

Deokbong spoke in a cautious tone. He was still terrified.

"They, they seem to be running away..."

"Who?"

I asked, and then I immediately realized. I couldn\'t pretend not to know, even if I wanted to. It was as clear as day.

"Go!"

"What about Your Highness?"

"I don\'t know!"

"Get out of here right now if you don\'t want to die!"

The group in the cave above was running away. A sense of betrayal made my blood boil. Were there any casualties? How many were injured? Just as I was thinking these thoughts, something happened that made me feel foolish.

"Ha."

I felt empty.

"Haha..."