Ch.6665. The Imperial Princess (9)

# 65. The Princess (9)

‘When cutting down people…’

Hearing those words from her brought back memories.

I recalled a memory from the past, one I could never forget.

‘How many years ago was it…’

***

His concern had existed for a very long time.

‘Could I kill a person…? Is it right to do so?’

But he never had time to seriously contemplate this question.

He always focused solely on becoming stronger, avoiding serious thoughts about the responsibility that came with such power.

Yet this concern he kept avoiding was a mountain every warrior who stands before others must eventually face, and finally, that “eventually” came for him too.

It all began with her simple statement.

She handed him a map of the Forbidden Forest, just like any other day, and said:

“At the location I’ve marked, you’ll find a rather large group of goblins. Your mission is to completely eliminate them.”

“Yes, Princess.”

At that moment, he thought nothing of it.

Goblins were easy prey for him, so he actually wondered, ‘Why such an easy mission?’

‘I should finish this quickly.’

Of course, considering how she always trained him with Spartan methods, there was no way she would give him such an easy task, and this mission surely involved more than just killing goblins.

Most critically, the location she marked was a place where sixteen murders had occurred in the past month.

Unaware of this fact, he cheerfully headed to the marked location.

“Where are they?”

He arrived at the place she indicated, but there wasn’t a single goblin in sight, not even a mouse.

He thought he might have come to the wrong place and began searching the area.

Completely unaware that someone was targeting him.

As he innocently searched the area, a mysterious dungeon appeared before him.

“Oh? Is this it?”

Without any suspicion, he entered the dungeon and began clearing it as usual.

Just as she had said, the dungeon was filled only with goblins, making it even easier than usual.

“Is this really the mission?”

The boss turned out to be a group of about 100 goblins, which he sliced through with ease.

Doubting whether this was the actual mission, he opened the dungeon’s treasure chest.

-Creeeeak!-

The antique-level treasure chest, fitting for the dungeon’s difficulty, opened with a loud noise.

‘A mask?’

Inside the chest was a mask with a peculiar design.

He picked it up to examine what kind of item it was.

[Goblin Mask: E]

[A mask once used by goblins]

[When worn, prevents goblin attacks and increases the wearer’s defense by 5]

It was an item with rather ambiguous capabilities, leaving him puzzled.

Nevertheless, he took the mask anyway.

Just as he finished clearing the dungeon and was about to leave, mysterious people appeared before him.

About ten armed individuals approached him, and the one who appeared strongest greeted him.

“Hello there, kid.”

“Who are you?”

“You don’t know us… that’s a bit disappointing.”

Those people wore unpleasant smiles, and he remained wary of them.

“Do you know about the serial killings that have been happening around here?”

“Um… yes, I saw it on the news.”

“We’re the ones who did it.”

Hearing that chilling voice, he increased the distance between them and immediately assumed a combat stance.

“How have you managed to avoid getting caught after doing such things?”

“Because this is our territory.”

“Am I your next target?”

“Of course. Kids like you are easy prey. No real skill, but equipped with good items after begging your parents to let you be a hunter.”

That was somewhat true, but not applicable to his situation.

“I don’t think that applies to me.”

“Don’t tell me you think you’re skilled just because you killed a few goblins? We could do that with our eyes closed. Get it? Just die quietly here.”

He stared at them with cold eyes as they rushed to kill him.

Then he activated a skill he hadn’t needed to use during the easy dungeon clear.

-Whoosh!-

His hair instantly turned red, and faint shadows swirled around him.

They were quite taken aback by the pressure they felt for the first time.

“I didn’t want to kill people…”

But he knew that it was something he would have to do eventually.

He slowly approached them as they struggled under the pressure of his aura.

“If you surrender quietly, I won’t kill you.”

He showed mercy to those killers, but they kicked that mercy away with their own feet.

Those foolish people shot arrows and swung swords at him as he approached.

“So that’s how you want to play it.”

He easily blocked their meaningless attacks and pointed his sword filled with killing intent toward them.

Even in that situation, he thought once more.

‘Isn’t there a way to take them in without killing them?’

But those killers didn’t give him time to find an answer to that question.

Despite knowing the difference in skill between themselves and the young man, they refused to surrender and continued to struggle.

“You’re really pushing it…”

He held back as much as he could, but eventually swung his sword at them.

As a result, he killed people for the first time in his life.

He then swung his sword at the remaining people and eventually annihilated the entire group.

“Blood…”

The young man looked at himself, stained with their blood, and at his trembling hands.

With mixed emotions, he touched the still-warm bodies.

“They’re warm…”

Though clearly warm, they didn’t move at all.

They showed no movement and spoke no words.

Yet their bodies remained warm as if they were still alive.

The disgust from that dissonance overwhelmed him, and unable to bear the unimaginable revulsion, he vomited on the ground.

“Ughh!…”

Even after vomiting, he couldn’t take his eyes off the horrific scene and stared at it for a long time.

“Am I a murderer now too…?”

As he asked himself that question, a familiar voice came from somewhere.

“Don’t worry too much about that.”

The owner of that voice was the person who had given him the mission to eliminate the goblin group.

She looked at the gruesome scene and said:

“These people deserved to die.”

“B-but still.”

“Be strong, because from now on, you’ll have to kill people who don’t deserve to die as well.”

Those words pierced his heart like a sharp dagger.

Feeling that coldness throughout his body, he asked her:

“Princess, what do you think about when you cut down people?”

She asked back with a deadly serious voice:

“You mean when killing people?”

“Yes…”

“I don’t think much about it. I kill because I have to kill, that’s all.”

Seeing his still gloomy expression, she continued:

“If you can’t handle it that way, blame others. Tell yourself that you killed these people because they tried to kill you.”

“…”

“Or how about this? Think that you’re killing people to protect others.”

“To protect?”

She smiled and said:

“What happened earlier was for the people who have already died and for the hunters who frequently visit this area. In war, you swing your sword for your country and for me.”

***

‘Swinging my sword for others.’

That thought remained in my mind for a very long time.

Even now, when I feel nothing when killing, it persists.

And that thought has always protected my fraying mental state and helped me take responsibility for my growing power.

“You mean when killing people?”

“Yes, I’m curious about your mindset when you swing your sword.”

“It might sound cliché, but I swing my sword to protect others.”

She smiled, just like back then, and said:

“That is indeed cliché, but the fact that it’s not a lie isn’t cliché at all. Usually, people say such things just to impress me.”

“I could have been lying too, you know.”

“That’s possible, but it didn’t feel that way to me.”

I asked her as she wore a confident expression:

“But why did you suddenly ask that?”

“I was just curious.”

“Then what mindset do you have when you kill people, Princess?”

“That’s a much darker question than the one I asked you.”

Indeed, it was a darker question, just as she said.

But she still answered that dark question.

“It might sound cliché too, but I point my staff at enemies to protect the country.”

“That is indeed cliché, but it’s a good mindset.”

It was the answer I expected, but I was satisfied because I could see her sense of responsibility as someone who would become the ruler of a country.

She was certainly mature beyond her nineteen years.

And just as she was smiling with satisfaction, her face suddenly hardened.

“Huh? Wait a moment.”

It seems enemies had entered her detection range.

I asked her as she kept staring in one direction:

“How many this time?”