Chapter 5 - Chapter 1: Entry #4
"No, if it so important, why didn’t you tell me until now?”
"You didn’t ask and I thought you remembered.”
He didn’t ask.
Yes, he certainly didn’t ask. Carack’s reaction was natural. His actions were normal if In-gong had actually remembered!
In-gong sighed and acted rationally instead of bothering Carack about it.
“When is it happening today?”
It was still morning, so it was okay if it was a little ‘late’. There was still time if the meeting occurred late in the afternoon or evening.
Carack scratched his chin again and replied.
“Eh... It was decided to do it before lunch, so the meeting is at 11 o’clock.”
Rather than thinking about the unit of time in Knight Saga, he zoomed in on the mini-map that had a clock function next to it. It was 9:52 a.m.
’It is one hour away!’
Dammit! Why was he only told just before the meeting?
“Where?”
In-gong asked reflexively and Carack pointed beyond the mountains.
“We decided to do it at Princess Caitlin’s location. It is time to go so you should be prepared.”
It was already like this, so it was impossible to prepare properly.
In-gong calmed his heart and started thinking rationally. What he needed now wasn’t swearing or lamentation.
Information. He had to have information.
"Hey, Carack. Do you remember that I’m a little confused because of the fever?”
"Is Prince really okay?”
Carack looked worried again. Despite being a bit clumsy, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.
“I’m okay. Anyway, can you tell me about Chris and Caitlin? For example, what I call them.”
The honorifics.
When just looking at age, it was natural to call Caitlin by noona and Chris by hyung (Noona= what males use for older females. Hyung= what males use for men older than them). But Shutra, Caitlin and Chris were all part of the royal family.
‘I don’t think I would call them by Hyung or Noona.’
Carack stared at In-gong before saying in a decisive voice.
"I don’t know.”
"You should have seen it at the meeting!”
"Today is the first meeting. I told you, I only met Prince yesterday.”
It was perfect logic. In the end, In-gong lost to the orc’s logic and sprang up.
"Okay, let’s prepare to depart.”
&
In fact, nothing special was needed to be prepared for the departure. He just needed to wear different clothes.
’This is due to the fever.’
They might think it was strange but he would continue to push the idea.
‘I just need to seem okay.’
Of course, there would be some doubts but what could they do? He had Shutra’s body!
Carack hadn’t moved past In-gong’s actions simply because he was an orc.
’Yes, maybe they will just be worried like Carack.’
The crucial part was that Shutra, Chris and Caitlin weren’t close friends. They might be worried but not suspicious.
’Or they might not be worried at all.’
In-gong nodded and looked around for a while. Carack was at the front with orcs walking on either side of him.
’Let me think. I will try to reason it out.’
He had cleared Knight Saga from Zephyr’s point of view. Therefore, he didn’t know the nuances of the relationship between Shutra, Chris and Caitlin.
However, it was possible to reason things out to a certain degree.
Zephyr had little contact with Shutra, Chris and Caitlin as a child. The reasons were different but in Shutra’s case, he had always stayed in a corner while Chris and Caitlin barely spent any time at the palace.
Unlike the other queens, Elaine Moonlight, queen of the lycanthropes and mother of Chris and Caitlin, didn’t have any ambitions to make her children the Demon King. Chris and Caitlin were educated at the royal palace of the lycanthropes.
Therefore, the two of them spend most of their childhood in the land of the lycanthropes rather than the Demon King’s Palace.
‘In other words, Shutra should have had almost no contact with Chris and Caitlin.’
This was probably not the first meeting but there was a high possibility that they hadn’t had a conversation before.
’Okay, I will just push forward. I won’t care about acting different.’
He had a severe fever and couldn’t remember anything. He seemed to have acquired a partial memory loss.
In-gong nodded with a determined expression but he soon found it tough to breathe.
’Pant pant, my body has levelled up but my stamina is still low.’
He was currently level 3. He had nine points in each state but he was still weaker than Villager A. It was hard to climb up the rough mountain trail.
"Almost there. Just have a little more strength.”
Carack said with a smile. It seemed that In-gong looked exhausted.
“Yes.”
In-gong laughed and stepped forward with difficulty. How far did they walk? The uphill slope gradually calmed to reveal a wide vacant lot.
"We are here.”
In-gong stretched and looked around at Carack’s words. The vacant lot wasn’t empty. It was an army base. It couldn’t be compared to In-gong’s base and seemed more like a village.
There were dozens of tents lined up in an orderly manner with cheap and permanent grazing grounds.
The soldiers were also different. Dozens of soldiers with the symbol of the lycanthropes seemed to be Caitlin’s troops. Everyone was wearing black leather armour and they all looked big and wild.
They were obviously elite soldiers.
The orcs among the elite soldiers also looked different. The orcs were obviously local soldiers and didn’t seem much different from In-gong’s but they looked stronger and more resilient.
Carack laughed as he saw the tension on In-gong’s face.
"It’s okay, they are on our side. Isn’t it reassuring?”
It seemed like he thought In-gong was frightened by the atmosphere.
"Yes, they are on our side.”
In-gong replied lightly but he spoke in a low voice.
Carack knocked his shoulders against In-gong’s.
"Let’s go inside. That is the meeting place.”
Located in the heart of the base was a large tent surrounded by lycanthrope warriors.
‘Chris and Caitlin.’
The 7th prince and 8th princess.
Shutra’s half siblings.
They were like two wild beasts in front of Zephyr; the lycanthrope monsters.
In-gong swallowed his saliva and entered the tent with Carack.
&
In-gong was startled by the insides of the tent. The inside and outside of the tent were completely different.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the inside of the tent was like a luxurious palace. The floor had fluffy carpets and the walls were decorated with beautiful silks. Despite being inside a tent, it was completely bright.
A gentle light poured from the ceiling and it was reminiscent of stained glass in a cathedral.
There was a circular table located in the middle of the tent. In-gong was an outsider to this world but it still seemed luxurious.
A large map of a battlefield with elaborate models was laid out on the table.
“Please sit here.”
A young man wearing the emblem of the lycanthropes guided In-gong toward a seat. It seemed like there were only three seats for In-gong, Chris and Caitlin.
Once In-gong was seated, the young man said with a smile.
"Prince Chris and Princess Caitlin will be coming soon. Please wait a moment.”
He had nothing to do but wait. In-gong watched the clock attached to the mini-map. There were 10 minutes left until the scheduled meeting time.
‘This is great.’
As expected from Chris and Caitlin.
Shutra was the child of the Demon King but he was different in many ways.
In fact, In-gong didn’t have good impressions of Chris and Caitlin. It was because they worked hard to block him whenever he played Zephyr.
It had been a nightmare fighting Chris and Caitlin. He’d been able to save and load the game but he had died many times. That’s not even mentioning their soldiers.
As the fight over the succession to the throne deepened, the fighting became more bloody. Sometimes, he barely managed to face them during an event.
Chris had growled at his enemies while Caitlin had watched silently with a frozen face.
‘I could call them middle-ranked bosses.’
He now had to meet those two people. If possible, he needed to maintain a friendly relationship with them. In-gong needed allies to face Zephyr.
’I need to oppose Zephyr while stopping others from joining him.’
He sighed as he thought about it. It was like Yan Baihu standing up to his enemies in an isolated area.
“Prince.”
Carack’s low voice snapped him out of it. He jumped with surprise and heard voices outside the tent.
Chris and Caitlin, the two of them had appeared.
[TL] Occasionally the author will write a note with some facts about the novel. I will translate some of them.
Here is the first one:
I will explain it again but let’s talk about something in advance...
The children of the Demon King take their mother’s surnames. They will only take the name of their father if they are confirmed as the next king or official heir to the king.