The man, Prince Melo, was so angry that foam was coming out of the corners of his mouth. After scanning the room, he quickly found me and roared.
"Y-You... You brat! H-How dare you... How dare you!!!"
As he yelled, he was moving forward with the intention to either grab or punch me, but of course, I wouldn't allow that to happen. Or rather, Fang wouldn't let that happen.
Before he could even come close to me, Fang was already between the two of us. She then sent a kick to his stomach, sending him flying backward and crashing against the wall outside the door.
"Guhah!"
He quickly crumpled in half, unable to stand up, as a white liquid flowed out of his mouth. It was disgusting, honestly.
There was one problem, though, and that is King Leonard. He saw everything from start to finish. If he wants to, then he already has enough proof to accuse me of treason against the prince.
I slowly glanced at the king and noticed his palm against his forehead. His face was in a grimace as he looked both angry and embarrassed. He sighed before walking forward and standing before his still-coughing son.
"Melo... What are you doing?"
His voice turned cold all of a sudden. Prince Melo, who heard his voice, almost immediately tried to stand up but failed. I guess fear runs deep for him.
"F-Father?! Y-You were here?"
He looked back and forth between King Leonard and Me while sweating bullets. He should've known that I was called here for the audience in the first place. It shouldn't be weird for him to find me with his father.
His face turned from his previous fear to anger once more before becoming a neutral expression as he ran away. King Leonard wanted to stop his son, but he just sighed in the end.
"Somehow, I've let you see something embarrassing. I apologize on behalf of my son. Sorry, Will."
"Please, don't mind it."
After all, it was me who incapacitated him first.
Well, that was basically righteous self-defense, so I'm not at fault. Yep.
The king didn't hold us up any longer and let us off on our way back. We left the castle, then the gate, and then walked around the town leisurely. The girls were checking things out, but only Fina was looking at girly things while the rest had their own priorities.
Ember checked the crafts available, trying to find something that piqued her interest. Fang and Igni were looking at armor and weapons, but since most of them are for decorative use, they were basically useless for battle. Fina, Judy, and Yorm walked around clothing stores, checking clothes for her.
Of course, we didn't have money to buy anything. After all, I just spent literally all I had on hand to buy mountainloads of food. As the girls window-shopped, it took us over an hour just to reach the gates of the town.
Now that we are on the return trip, the forest looks even more beautiful than before. Unfortunately, the land nearby was infested by an idiotic prince, so we would probably not return here of our own volition.
A problem arose quickly as we started walking down the path. After all, there were fresh traces of a lot of heavy footsteps, probably knights, passing through here.
"... I've got a bad feeling about this."
It could be their regular patrol for all I know, but I feel like my hunch was correct this time.
As we headed into the forest, the top of the cliff that we could see every now and then peeking through the forest's canopy was getting closer and closer. Half an hour later, we finally reached the bottom of the hill where the cliff was.
"Dang..."
And just as I feared, the ones who left traces along the path were surrounding the exit of the forest. There were around fifty knights in silver and gold armor with long spears in their hands, held with their tips pointed at us in a threatening display.
In the middle of the group, a thin man with a confident smile stood with his arms crossed.
"Took you long enough."
Prince Melo sneered. He then raised his hand and signaled the guards, making them move closer and tighten the enclosure around us. Looking closer, there were even some of them hidden in the forest, so we were already surrounded.
"Now, who's got the upper hand?!"
His face twisted in an extremely disgusting expression, a mix of excitement and what seemed like arousal. He licked his lips as he pointed to his shiny black boots and muttered.
"If you grovel before me and lick my boots, then I'll let you go! Of course, the girls behind you will need to stay and comfort me for a week."
I looked around, counting the number of guards again. They increased. There were about a hundred of them now. After looking at the inherent energy quantity they all have, I could see that all of them were at the 8th stage.
"But just 8th-stage tamers aren't near enough to stop us."
I pulled out the gold card that the king gave me and raised it up so everyone could see it. The guards, upon noticing what was in my hand, visibly wavered.
This card has the passive attachment of those 9th-stage puppets, after all. With their numbers, they could probably hold back all the puppets, numbering in the dozens, but after that, they can't block our path anymore.
As I saw hesitation flash in their eyes, I kept the card raised as I walked past them. As if I were Moses parting the ocean, the throng of guards quickly moved away from our group.
"What are you all doing?! Grab him! Kill him!"
The guards, even after hearing his order, hesitated to move. After all, moving against someone with the gold VVIP card should be synonymous with going against the crown. They can't risk their whole career and lives just for the whims of an idiotic prince.
"Useless!"
Prince Melo shouted as he moved to grab my shoulders. However, just like before, Fang appeared and sent him flying again. He was able to guard, though, so he was still standing after that.
I looked at him, his legs already shaking just with that hit from Fang, and sighed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Prince Jello, wait, that's wrong. Prince Melo, please stop it this instant. Any further, and we'll really retaliate against you."
In the first place, he's nowhere near our strength. At most, he's around the fourth-fifth stage. Given our power difference, I can't even imagine him winning. However, the confident smile on his face returned as he continued his words.
"Heh! I dare you to try! Don't you know who I am? I am a prince!"
He cackled loudly with one hand on his hip, and the other on his chest, emphasizing his noble presence (nonexistent).
"Heh!"
I copied his pose and cackled. I sneered at him before continuing.
"I know who you are, but you don't even know who I am. I win in mysteriousness!"
"Shut up! Don't copy my pose!"
The prince shouted in anger, his face turning bright red like a boiled octopus.
"If not for you, I would've succeeded in taking Miss Yu Na on a date! And you dare embarrass me in front of her; I will never forgive you!"
"..."
So this matter was that shallow? I thought that he had had his pride shattered since I made him faint and that he was here for revenge. Honestly, this is outside of my expectations.
"Dude, chill. You had no chance with Miss Yu since the beginning. Can't you see she was evading you like the plague?"
Furthermore, she seemed to be in love with Zeshion already. I don't think she has a chance with that happy-go-lucky God tamer given their age gap, but well, to each their own.
"Shut your goddamn mouth, you commoner!"
"Technically, I'm an Earl now, but yeah, well, whatever."
After leaving that as my last word to him, we all started walking toward the cliff again. Nobody was daring enough to stop us. At least not from the guards.
"Hup!"
I waved my hand and caught a small stone. A prince throwing stones around—isn't that cute?
"Hey, that could dirty my clothes; stop it."
I threw the stone back to him lightly, but it still managed to embed itself directly in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't even defend himself given the speed at which it flew, and he blacked out almost instantly, falling face-flat on the ground.
"..."
He didn't even so much as twitch, making me feel uncomfortable. He didn't just die like that, did he? Like a weak heart or something? Soon, some guards approached him and gave a sigh of relief. Good. I thought I was the only one who thought he died.
"Then, I'll leave the rest to you guys."
I waved to the guards and walked towards the cliff. They just stayed silent and gave a small salute before carrying the knocked-out prince away.
As I watched that happen from the corner of my eye, I then turned to look up at the high platform we needed to reach.
"Hey... We don't really need to obediently walk all the way, right?"
Looking around, the knights were already on their way back to the castle. Other than them, there doesn't seem to be anyone around to scold us if it's forbidden to do something.
I gathered energy in my legs and jumped up. With one leap, I managed to reach the part of the path that was one-fourth of the way up. I warily checked my surroundings again, but nothing happened.
"It seems like it's ok. Let's go!"
At my words, the girls quickly moved almost vertically up toward my location. Only Fina and the two little critters, who still lacked strength, were left behind. They could only reach our location after two more jumps.
Still, seeing Judy jump is amusing. Rather than jumping, she coiled herself up and, after storing enough energy, lunged forward at maximum speed.
In the end, the hill that took us thirty minutes to trek down didn't even take us five minutes to reach the top. After reaching the teleportation portal, as soon as everyone gathered inside the magic array, a bright light started seeping out of the ground, blinding us momentarily.
When our vision returned, we were already in the same domed space in the middle of a heavily guarded facility. It was already nighttime here, unlike the space of the Royal Palace, which was as bright as day during the whole duration of our stay there.
"Ah, you must be Sir Will, right?"
A guard quickly noticed our sudden arrival and approached. A letter was held in his hands, or rather, gauntlets.
"The Lord left this letter for you. She said that it was as thanks for your help earlier."
"Letter?"
Is it a gift?
I opened it immediately and flipped the folded paper in half, then, after reading its contents, closed it and returned it inside the envelope. I placed the envelope inside my [Spatial Storage] and turned to Ember, pulled her, and hugged her tight.
"Damn it... I'm dead..."
Ember seemed confused for a moment before finally deciding to pat my head, buried in her soft chest, as if trying to comfort a crying child. The rest looked over us with both worry and envy.
"Master... What's the content of the letter?"
Curious, Ember finally asked. However, I just shook my head for now. There were guards around, and they could hear it after all. It's nothing urgent that would require using a barrier to pass to them, so let's just wait.
"I'll tell you all later; let's return to the training center first."
After all, we still have four days left on our reservation. It'd be a waste if we didn't use it up to the last second. After that, I stayed in the same sport for a few more minutes, gathering my will to live. When the girls started fighting with each other, saying that it was their turn next, we finally moved to our destination.
Walking there was a chore, so Ember just used a portal to connect directly to the entrance of the training center. It didn't even take us a few seconds. After entering, as soon as we were already inside the pocket dimension of the advanced training room, the girls quickly asked me again about the letter.
"It's nothing, really. Just an additional note to the topic King Leonard mentioned."
I heaved a deep sigh, recalling the information.
"It's that hundreds of demigod-level spies have already entered the kingdom and are out for my neck..."
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