Ch.6261. The Imperial Princess (5)

# 61. The Imperial Princess (5)

“The right to avoid battle also belongs to the strong.”

Avoiding battle is something only the strong can afford to do.

Of course, it’s different if you’re not stronger than your opponent but have high agility or excellent escape skills.

“That’s certainly a confidence worth emulating.”

“If I were alone, I wouldn’t have such confidence.”

“It’s the first time I’ve received such unconditional trust.”

“A retainer who doesn’t trust their lord is nothing but third-rate.”

In my previous life, she never gave me a single wrong instruction, and I always completed her directives.

I couldn’t help but trust her—she accurately assessed my abilities and gave appropriate instructions.

“Looks like it’s about to begin.”

The professors distributed small watches with buttons to all 9,000 participants and confirmed everyone was wearing them.

After checking the headcount for each team, as soon as it turned 9:25, Gloria began speaking with the microphone on.

-Before we officially begin, I’ll announce one important matter. At 9:30, each team will be teleported to random locations within the set, and the survival game will start immediately.-

Where we land will be a significant variable.

-You’ll be eliminated if you press the small button on your watch or if your life force drops below 5%. And finally, I’ll tell you about the reward for this survival game.-

“Reward?”

She heard my muttering and said:

“It’s given to the person who performs best in the first-place team.”

“What do they usually give?”

“Usually an item worth about 500 million.”

“500 million…”

It was certainly a reward befitting the scale of the event.

-The student who performs best in the first-place team will receive an item from Dren, the world’s greatest weaponsmith.-

When Dren’s name was mentioned, the students began whispering.

“An item from Dren!? That expensive stuff?”

“As expected of our academy… so much money.”

“But we can’t get first place anyway…”

“With those two gone, who knows who’ll win first place.”

I asked her as she checked the time on her watch.

“Didn’t you say they usually prepare something worth 500 million?”

A weapon from Dren would cost at least 1 billion, even at its cheapest.

I was curious what would happen if the recipient asked for something expensive.

“I know… I’m a bit surprised too.”

“But someone of your status could buy something like that just by saving your allowance, right?”

“I don’t receive that much…”

“But you could if you wanted to.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Given her personality, she didn’t seem particularly interested in money, so I figured she’d either decline it or save or donate it if she received it.

“By the way, what time is it? When will it start—”

Just as I was speaking, we were suddenly teleported into the set with a strange sensation of being sucked in.

From where we teleported, we could see a large mountain and a modest valley.

“Talk about raising flags…”

“There’s none nearby.”

She had already activated [Bitter Cold] to scan the surroundings and spoke with a disappointed expression.

“It seems it wasn’t completely random.”

“Who knows, somewhere people might already be fighting bloodily. Let’s take it slow. We have plenty of time.”

The survival game starts at 9:30 and can last over two days depending on the situation.

“We definitely have time. Let’s walk around a bit.”

I began walking through the vast set, following her.

***

Chris spoke to Briton from Team 41, which had appeared before him.

“What bad luck? Landing right in front of us?”

“That’s our line.”

“Want to fight?”

Their childish war of nerves quickly transformed into a bloody battle.

Thus began the fierce confrontation between Team 44, with Chris and Raicle, and Team 41, with Briton and Reina.

“Fighting from the very start…”

Though Raicle complained verbally, he immediately activated his skills and threw his sharp fist at a member of the opposing team.

Raicle’s fist headed toward the student from Team 41.

But it never reached the student.

-Clang!-

What blocked his fist was Reina’s sword.

Raicle sneered at her.

“You think you can be my opponent?”

“You’re not a monster like those two, right? We have a good chance. Besides, I don’t think there’s much difference in skill between us.”

Enraged by her words, Raicle charged at Reina with astonishing speed.

However, Reina skillfully parried Raicle’s attacks.

“You’re not that fast.”

Reina had experienced Albert’s speed—said to be the fastest in the academy—just once.

And compared to that speed, Raicle’s current pace felt excruciatingly slow.

“Actually, you’re too slow.”

“Shut up…”

With his pride hurt from having all his attacks blocked, Raicle charged again, this time using [Leap].

-Clang!-

But even that punch was blocked by Reina’s sword.

And that’s when they both realized:

They were evenly matched.

Suddenly confident, Reina smiled and said to him:

“Now the real fight begins.”

At that same moment.

Another battle was unfolding elsewhere.

-Thud! Thwack!!-

Briton and Chris were engaged in a sweaty close-quarters combat.

Chris used his distinctive martial arts to push Briton back, while Briton blocked most of those attacks with his shield.

“How long are you going to just block?”

“Don’t you know how much it hurts to get hit by a shield?”

Briton swung his shield, previously used only for defense, to attack Chris.

-Thwack!!!-

The impact made quite a loud noise.

But Chris kicked the shield away as if it were nothing.

“Doesn’t hurt at all. Getting punched by Albert would be a hundred times more painful.”

Briton wanted to retort but couldn’t because it was true.

A shield certainly isn’t meant for attacking.

“Just keep doing that.”

Chris pounced on him again with crazed eyes.

-Thud!-

***

“Everyone must be working hard, right?”

“Is it okay for us to be doing this?”

I answered her question with a smile.

“I think it’s probably fine?”

We were leisurely enjoying fishing at a large lake we had just discovered.

“Is this really fishing right now?”

“You’re the one who brought the fishing rod, Your Highness. Oh! Now, now!”

When I signaled, she pulled her fishing rod with all her might.

Something that looked like a fish, almost the size of a fist, revealed itself above the water.

“Is this really a fish?”

“It looks disgusting…”

She placed the grotesque-looking fish in a container she had prepared in advance.

“Is it safe to eat? Just by its appearance, it looks like it might be poisonous…”

“It’s safe to eat, they say it’s quite tasty when grilled?”

I asked her as she spoke while staring into space.

“Does it show in your status window?”

“Yes…”

“Then it’s a monster. Let’s kill it first?”

“We’ll kill it later, before eating.”

While she was looking at the fish with curious eyes.

From somewhere, I felt a surge of magical energy.

-Woong!-

I immediately summoned my sword and absorbed the approaching magical energy by infusing the blade with the abyss.

-Crackle!…-

The light was swallowed by my darkness, and soon after, the owner of that magic appeared before us.

“I told you I’d block it.”

“He really blocked it…”

It was Team 11, with Aelin and Rachel, that appeared before us.

The moment we saw them, we immediately assumed battle positions.

However, they didn’t seem to have come to fight us.

“As the representative of Team 11, I propose…”

Aelin, who called herself the representative of Team 11, made a proposal to us.

“How about an alliance with us?”

“Alliance?”

“Yes, an alliance. To be honest, we don’t think we can win against you, so we’re aiming for second place at least.”

But we still hadn’t relaxed our combat stance.

“How can we trust that? You might claim alliance and then betray us.”

“Exactly.”

When we gave them suspicious looks, Aelin became quite flustered.

I spoke to her:

“Or we might betray you. What would you do then?”

“Then we’d have no choice but to fight…”

I subtly glanced at her, and she gave a slight nod.

“Then how about we fight right now?”

With those words, I activated [Mortal’s End], and startled by my sudden intimidation, they immediately assumed battle positions.

“W-wait! We didn’t come to fight…”

“We were just getting a bit bored.”

As I pointed my sword at them, they trembled but remained vigilant, just like me.

In that tense situation where a battle seemed imminent, she spoke first.

“Aelin, you proposed an alliance, right?”

“Yes…!”

She spoke to Aelin, who looked like she had found an oasis in the desert:

“Alright, let’s form an alliance. But I have conditions.”