Chapter 38 - Chapter 5: Entry #5
‘Level up.’
In-gong was now level 14. Now, his abilities had increased to the extent that he couldn’t be compared to Villager A anymore.
However, it was Aura that made In-gong more excited.
‘I have been wrong so far.’
He’d thought that Aura was growing with every level, but now in hindsight, he felt like a frog inside a well.
‘I am looking forward to it.’
He would need to cross a mountain then another mountain but it felt rather pleasant. He was thrilled to see what type of landscape would unfold beyond the mountain.
‘Caitlin.’
In-gong settled his excitement about Aura and looked at Caitlin sitting in front of him. He could still feel Caitlin’s aura through their entwined hands and In-gong could see something.
Caitlin also crossed a wall. Whether In-gong influenced Caitlin or she influenced him, it was clear that both of them had grown one step further.
As he watched, Caitlin sighed suddenly. She was surrounded by a blue aura as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled.
“Thank you, Shutra. It is all thanks to you.”
She was enlightened after feeling Shura’s aura. She had found a new and unfamiliar road in Divine Beast Authority, a technique that she had been training in for many years already.
Caitlin was able to gain a deep understanding from the aura that came from In-gong. In-gong and Caitlin’s auras had harmonized. They had pushed and pulled at each other like water.
It was a pleasant surprise.
In-gong and Caitlin had both felt it.
"Interesting."
In-gong and Caitlin looked around in surprise as a voice was suddenly heard. A man was sitting inside the tent where In-gong was doing his martial arts training.
"General Vandal?”
As In-gong exclaimed in a shocked voice, Vandal touched his chin and said,
"8th Princess and 9th Prince haven’t slept or eaten in a few days, so many people are worried. In particular, the aide of the princess.”
In-gong and Caitlin were surprised to learn that it had been a few days. It seemed like now was the time to sleep.
A new voice interrupted then.
“Right. Seira is pretty worried.”
Carack was sitting next to Vandal. Carack had a hulking figure but he seemed small next to Vandal.
In-gong asked hurriedly,
"Carack, how many days have passed?”
"Uh... Now, it is dawn.. At a rough guess, I think it has been four days? That reminds me, aren’t you hungry?”
Once Carack rubbed his belly while asking, In-gong also looked down at his belly. Now that it was pointed out, he was aware of an empty feeling in his stomach. Caitlin didn’t say anything but her red cheeks indicated that she was also hungry.
’By the way, four days... Has it been that long?’
He hadn’t been able to feel the flow of time properly until he opened his eyes. It had seemed like a moment or a few years.
‘Was I in a trance?’
It was a fairly fresh feeling.
‘Anyway, it has passed.’
“I am hungry. Give me something to eat. Prepare some for Noona as well.”
He glanced at Caitlin and saw her smile slightly. Caitlin was definitely hungry.
It was at that moment. Vandal, who they had forgotten about due to the sudden switch in topic, spoke again.
"Let’s eat together. I am also hungry.”
"Then I will get some food.”
As a competent subordinate, Carack read the atmosphere and rose from his seat.
Vandal spoke again,
"Both of you are strong. You have crossed one wall. Congratulations.”
As a blood ogre, an ogre variant, the strong Vandal was also a master of Aura. Caitlin smiled at the heartfelt praise.
"Thank you, Vandal."
"9th Prince and 8th Princess, I will have high expectations of you in the future.”
Both of them showed dazzlingly fast growth. In particular, In-gong’s growth was astonishing.
It was difficult for In-gong to miss the admiration in Vandal’s eyes. Once again, Vandal was Vandal.
‘That reminds me, he saw the level-up effect... Does he think it is the effect of Aura?’
He didn’t say anything, so it didn’t seem like a big deal to him.
"Let’s eat!”
At that moment, Carack rejoined them with two large food baskets. As if that wasn’t enough, Seira appeared behind Carack with a basket in both hands.
Whether it was because he hadn’t eaten for four days or because he was starving, he didn’t stop eating once food entered his mouth. Caitlin seemed self-conscious at first, but after seeing Vandal and Carack eating quickly, she started to eat comfortably without worrying about the situation.
Everybody focused on eating for a while. An hour and a half later, the food baskets were empty and they faced each other with relaxed expressions.
"Both of you seem healthy, so I will be leaving. I’ll see you later.”
Vandal stood up first. Caitlin’s posture became more relaxed and she said,
"Oppa will be back in a day or two. Unfortunately, I can only give you this much special training. You should review what you have learnt slowly over the rest of the year.”
The fact that Caitlin was teaching In-gong Divine Beast Authority was even kept a secret from Seira. Therefore, Caitlin lowered her voice.
“I will try to find some extra time later.”
Caitlin was telling him to hide Divine Beast Authority and In-gong nodded with a pleased expression.
“I understand, thank you.”
Although it was the result of a political deal with Chris, he had received so many things from Caitlin that it was difficult to be calculative, especially in regards to her hospitality.
‘I’m glad that I met Chris and Caitlin first.’
If those two people hadn’t been in Knight Saga, he might have died.
‘That reminds me.’
Something probably popped into his mind. In-gong cautiously asked Caitlin who was still looking at him warmly.
“Uh... Caitlin noona. Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Um... You don’t have to answer if it is difficult to talk about.”
“What is it? Please speak.”
There was something he had been curious about. Carack was eating fruit as dessert but he started to look at In-gong curiously.
In-gong laughed awkwardly and said,
"Why is Chris hyung at odds with Felicia noona? Did something bad happen between them? I think there has to be something. Was there an incident in the past?”
It didn’t seem like there was direct hostility between the two of them. Although Chris sounded a little sarcastic, he still called Felicia by the honorific Noonim. It might be ironic but Felicia also didn’t seem to hate Chris.
Felicia was a talented person who had to be brought into his alliance in the future. It would be difficult if she didn’t get along with Chris who was equally important.
"Uhh... I don’t think there was an incident directly related to Chris oppa and Felicia unni.”
“Then?”
"I think it is a problem between Chris oppa and Felicia’s oppa. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened between the two of them.”
Caitlin’s expression darkened as she thought about the problem, but then she smiled brightly.
“Still, it is a good thing. I think that I have become good friends with Felicia unni during this expedition. Unni’s relationship with Chris oppa also seems to have improved.”
In-gong had to agree. The relationship between the two of them had improved after the Red Lightning tribe was defeated.
Caitlin sighed and wriggled her fingers.
"I want to be close to my other brothers and sisters... but my mother and Chris oppa don’t like me going to the Demon King’s Palace. It has been a long time since I’ve been back.”
It made sense if it was the 4th Queen Elaine Moonlight. However, she said that Chris was also nervous about it.
‘Does Chris know? That Caitlin isn’t the child of the Demon King?’
The nature of the lycanthropes meant it was possible that Chris was already king of the lycanthropes. It was likely that Queen Elaine had told him her secret so that he could protect Caitlin.
“Then I will be leaving now. Shutra, have a good night’s sleep.”
Caitlin said while getting up. In-gong also stood up and replied,
“Yes, Noona should sleep well also. Thank you for the last few days.”
It might have been a few days but it only felt like minutes.
“Goodnight.”
Carack also got up and bowed to Seira, who said goodbye back. During the last fortnight, In-gong and Caitlin had been training together, so they were forced to become friendly with each other.
Once Caitlin and Seira left the tent, In-gong lay down. Carack shook his head and while removing the food baskets, he said,
"At least lie down on the bed, the bed. And you should wash up first.”
"Yes, it has been a few days. I don’t know what I did.”
"Well, rest well. I will check up on Prince once in awhile.”
Carack smiled as he left the tent with the food baskets. In-gong closed his eyes instead of following Carack’s nagging and fell into a deep sleep.
&
Chris returned the afternoon after In-gong finished his special training with Caitlin. His face was bright, so it seemed like his negotiations with the lizardmen had gone well.
Felicia returned to the base in the evening of the same day Chris returned. Unlike Chris, her face was upset but they couldn’t delay any longer.
"The princes and princesses are impressive.”
The next morning, Vandal said goodbye to the party that was ready to leave.
Chris faced Vandal with the dignity of a prince while Felicia arrogantly said goodbye to Vandal. Caitlin smiled honestly like always.
Vandal said goodbye to In-gong last. He stared down at In-gong and extended a finger.
"I am looking forward to seeing you again, 9th Prince.”
"I am as well, Vandal.”
In-gong shook Vandal’s finger. It was a brief goodbye but it seemed like Vandal was very impressed with him.
‘Someday.’
Vandal was expecting In-gong’s growth. Then what if they met again? He might be strong enough to acquire Vandal.
In-gong nodded energetically at the thought. Felicia, who was staring at them, gave a strange smile.
“What?”
"No, it is like seeing a connection between a boy and a wild animal.”
After that, she summoned the phantom steeds for the party.
&
The return journey was fairly simple.
Felicia summoned the phantom steed to return to a transfer formation, where the transfer magicians returned them to the Demon King’s Palace.
There were transfer formations installed in various parts of the Demon World to allow for long range space leaps.
In Knight Saga, it had been written that the transfer formations were a key that allowed the Demon King to control the entire Demon World.
The closest transfer formation was far from the base, so they had to travel there using the phantom steeds. It was a short flight, so they hadn’t considered staying at a hostel. They had to set up camp at night but it felt like a camping trip without any discomfort.
’It is good if everyone uses this time to get to know each other better.’
The relationship between Chris and Felicia was still ambiguous, but there was fairly big progress between Felicia and Caitlin.
And on the third day, the party arrived at the tower where the transfer formation was installed.
The tower was small and the number of people staying there was smaller.
As four children of the Demon King appeared at once, the tower’s manager became frantic but Chris handled him. Felicia stepped forward and directly manipulated the transfer formation.
‘Aren’t both of them strangely excited?’
Chris was slightly more subtle but Felicia’s emotion was obvious. As first she didn’t want to go back, but now she wanted to return as soon as possible.
Thanks to Chris and Felicia, In-gong’s party only stayed at the tower for 20 minutes. He prepared his mind for moving through the transfer formation.
In-gong closed his eyes reflexively when moving through the transfer formation. Unlike the dwarf portal, he felt the movements clearly. It was like experiencing a rollercoaster ride.
It was big. The tower that they moved to was much bigger and filled with gorgeous decorations.
The biggest difference was the number of people gathered in front of the binary formation.
“Felicia unni!”
"Noonim, I have been waiting for you.”
"You’re still beautiful, Felicia."
Boys and girl in the mid-teens and mid-20s flocked to Felicia like the fan club of an idol.
"Hung, you came here again.”
Felicia scoffed but her ears and cheeks were red.
‘Are they her subordinates?’
It seemed like three or four of them were children of the concubines while the rest were subordinates.
“Your Highness, Prince Chris.”
“Caitlin, it has been a long time.”
There were fewer people compared to Felicia, but some still came to Caitlin and Chris.
’Is there no one?’
In-gong didn’t have anyone come to greet him at the transfer formation. Most of them weren’t looking at In-gong, but a few people smiled at him.
‘It is easy to understand.’
He roughly knew what type of treatment Shutra received here.
‘Okay, things will change from now on.’
In-gong took a deep breath and straightened his posture.
This was a house, a battlefield and a place of conflict.
He had arrived at the Demon King’s Palace.
Author’s Note: Just to recap...
1. The reaction/effect with the people who saw In-gong level up.
1) Caitlin-> Claimed to be a gandharva blessing.
2) Carack-> It is just magic.
3) Felicia-> Whether she saw it or not is uncertain. Since Felicia never mentioned anything, In-gong guessed that she didn’t see it.
4) Vandal-> No other reaction.
2. There are rules about what In-gong can put into the inventory. This will be revealed through future developments.
See you tomorrow.
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