Ch.7170. The Imperial Princess (14)
by fnovelpia
# 70. The Imperial Princess (14)
“Withdrawal?”
“Yes, don’t you remember? Albert dropped out.”
Since he was someone I didn’t know in the first place, I had no idea what she meant.
While I was puzzling over it, Gloria provided the answer.
“He’s the one who dropped out when you fell from that tree.”
‘Tree?’
Come to think of it, I did remember something.
When I jumped down from that large tree to rejoin the group, I had eliminated someone.
‘Makes sense he’d withdraw.’
If he could be eliminated by that level of attack, the outcome would have been predictable even if we had fought properly.
I don’t know how he felt about it, but for me, it would have been a waste of time.
“That’s fortunate.”
From my perspective, it was welcome news.
I wouldn’t have to do something pointless.
Just as I was about to drag my tired body back to the dormitory, she approached me and whispered in my ear.
“Something came up, so I need to go. See you on Monday.”
“Oh… okay.”
After delivering that message, she headed somewhere with Riel.
‘What could be so urgent?…’
I was very curious about the answer to that question, but my body was too exhausted.
So I had no choice but to head straight to the dormitory, where I was drawn to my bed as if under a spell.
‘I’ll think about it tomorrow… whatever.’
In my current state, I didn’t think I could process anything, so I chose to just go to sleep.
***
After such an exhausting day, a peaceful Saturday arrived.
-Chirp! Chirp!-
I woke up to the clear sound of birds again today.
I took out my phone from beside the bed to check the time.
“I woke up really early…”
It was only around 5 o’clock, still very early.
Perhaps because I went to sleep as soon as I returned to the dormitory yesterday, I woke up before sunrise.
“Maybe I’ll take a walk for the first time in a while…”
I changed into my usual tracksuit and left the dormitory building.
Needless to say, no one was around.
So I walked very slowly by myself.
Without thinking anything, without saying anything, just walking.
As I cleared my mind and continued my walk, something occurred to me.
‘What exactly happened yesterday?’
She seemed to be in quite a hurry yesterday.
And since Riel went with her, it was definitely related to the imperial family.
“What happened after the conquest of Eden…?”
The future might have changed, so it wouldn’t match perfectly, but there should still be some connection.
I was carefully thinking about what events had occurred after the conquest of Eden in my previous life.
‘Hmm… I can only remember the battles.’
If I had to recall what happened afterward, all that came to mind was the continuous attacks from the Babylon Kingdom… and the 704 Terrorist Attack.
Even that terrorist attack was carried out by assassins from the Babylon Kingdom.
“It must be related to the Babylon Kingdom…”
“What is?”
“Ah! You startled me…”
Surprised by the sudden voice, I let out a loud sound, causing Rachel, who was standing beside me, to look at me like I was strange.
I was quite embarrassed but tried to hide it.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just surprised because you appeared suddenly…”
“But what were you just saying?”
Come to think of it, I was also wondering why she was here.
If something had happened with the Babylon Kingdom, Rachel, the princess of the allied Orion Kingdom, would have been informed.
“Yesterday, the Imperial Princess went somewhere right after the survival test ended.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Do you know anything about that?”
“Was that what you were talking about earlier?”
I nodded.
“If it’s about that, then yes, it’s related to the Babylon Kingdom.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing major, just that demons were discovered nearby.”
“By nearby, do you mean near the academy?”
Rachel quietly nodded at my question.
I was momentarily impressed by Rachel’s incredibly nonchalant attitude.
“You call that nothing major? It sounds extremely serious… Hasn’t this been in the news?”
“They were found in the palace, so I don’t think it made the news.”
“Wait… in the palace?”
“Yes.”
I was suspicious about why Rachel was reacting so calmly to what was clearly a major incident.
Demons discovered inside the palace.
It was truly an unprecedented crisis.
“Were there any casualties?”
“Fortunately not, since the Emperor discovered them first.”
That was fortunate.
Even the weakest demon has an enormous advantage compared to an ordinary person.
All demons are born with an immense amount of magical power due to the skill [Demon’s Heart], which allows them to use powerful magic or strengthen their bodies to levels incomparable to humans.
That’s why demons could establish powerful nations like the Babylon Kingdom despite their overwhelmingly smaller numbers.
Of course, things would be different in front of the Emperor.
“So what are they going to do now?”
“Well… I don’t know… Recently, all the spies operating in the Babylon Kingdom have either been discovered and returned or lost contact, so we can’t even assess the situation… That’s why they said they can’t take hasty measures.”
Indeed, humans cannot match the overwhelming magical power unique to demons, which allows demons to distinguish between humans and their own kind by that feeling alone.
Of course, we can distinguish them the same way.
“This is serious…”
While the Kainis Empire’s defense capabilities were formidable, they couldn’t recklessly attack the Babylon Kingdom.
They hadn’t properly confirmed the enemy’s strength and didn’t know what variables might exist.
If they attacked hastily and the dragon race suddenly joined the battle like before, they could be annihilated immediately.
Rachel looked at my face and said:
“Why are you so worried? Unlike our country, there are plenty of incredibly strong people here.”
“That’s true, but…”
Rachel had a point.
While demons were tremendously strong, the Empire had quite a few people who were even stronger than those demons.
For example, the Knight Commanders and their executives, the Heroes, and members of famous parties.
And there were also the imperial family members.
Certainly, it wasn’t something to worry about yet… but it still felt unsettling.
‘This never happened before…’
Not only was this a major incident, but it was something that had never happened even once in my previous life.
That fact gave me unnecessary anxiety.
As I stood there with a gloomy expression, Rachel offered some valuable advice.
“Instead of worrying, wouldn’t it be better to train?”
Rachel’s words were so perfect that I couldn’t refute them.
And they were so obvious that I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it myself.
“You’re right, that’s absolutely correct. So…”
I summoned [Sword of the Distant Abyss] and pointed it at Rachel.
Then I naturally continued:
“Want to spar after so long?”
“‘After so long’? We fought yesterday, you know? We just got crushed.”
Rachel said this with a bright smile that contradicted her words.
“Sure, let’s do it.”
We headed to the training ground and began our duel as soon as we arrived.
I dismissed the sword I had summoned earlier and instead picked up a small dagger.
“I’ll just use this.”
“You really… know how to annoy people, don’t you?”
Looking at Rachel’s frowning face, I said:
“I won’t use skills either.”
“Then I should definitely win.”
Rachel pulled out her staff with a confident expression.
***
“Huff… huff.”
I sat on the ground, clutching my burned left arm, while Rachel looked down at me with a satisfied expression.
“Are we done?”
“Yeah… let’s stop here.”
“Finally, this is what it takes for me to win.”
Without skills, my movements were definitely too restricted, and I ended up taking hits that I would never have taken otherwise.
“But are you normally this fast at recovering? Recovery speed is proportional to vitality, but yours wasn’t that high.”
“[Regeneration].”
“You have [Regeneration]? What on earth are you to have [Regeneration]!?”
“You seem really surprised.”
[Regeneration] was indeed a difficult skill to obtain.
It was a highest-difficulty acquisition skill that required consuming 5 million vitality points.
“Of course I am! How did you get it? What kind of things have you been doing at your age to…”
“You know my skills consume vitality, right?”
“Even so… is that enough? Maybe it is?”
Rachel seemed skeptical at first but somehow convinced herself.
“Wow… there’s someone our age with [Regeneration]… Seriously, what kind of person are you…?”
“I wonder…”
“You might be even more amazing than the Imperial Princess.”
“That’s going too far.”
As we were resting and chatting, someone entered the training ground.
Reina, also wearing the academy tracksuit like us, looked back and forth between Rachel and me.
“What are you two doing here?”
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