Chapter 29: Survival Guide (1)

“Let go of this, I need to go now!”

“Ouch! Hold on. You know as well as I do that infected people could be hiding in the bushes at night. That’s why we decided to move in the morning.”

“But if we don’t hurry, the prince, the prince!”

The atmosphere quickly turned tense.

Argin, who had decided to join after seeing the faces of the descendants, Frennila, who had been worrying about the prince from afar, and Erka, who was caught in between.

“Explain in detail what exactly happened.”

Erka ordered the messenger to report in detail what had occurred.

“Monsters appeared. Tigers, bears, elephants, snakes, pigs. Monsters that seemed to be stitched together from various animals suddenly appeared all over the camp.”

Not infected, but who would dare to attack us in the northern lands?

Such questions were fleeting, as dozens of warriors were thrown into the air to stop Frennila.

No, perhaps it’s more accurate to say they were flung.

Even seeing it again, it’s hard to comprehend the strength coming from such a slender body.

Erka, who had been lacking in strength and motivation due to age, pondered how to calm Frennila down.

Maybe if a few chieftains join in, we can subdue her.

“Don’t worry too much. The prince is still fine.”

At the first words of Svioha, who had been quietly observing the situation, everyone’s attention turned to her.

Even Frennila, who usually disliked her intensely, looked at her with desperate eyes.

“I read the stars. The beautiful and brilliant star connecting the north has not fallen. He is alive.”

The declaration of the prince’s survival by the Tengri priestess brought relief, and Frennila’s legs gave way momentarily.

Thank goodness, really thankful.

If Werhe had seen this, he would have sulked for a month about why no one worries about him, but no one paid attention to that.

Frennila, who had stayed up all night unable to sleep, headed straight to the front lines at dawn.

*

“Let’s see your back, your back.”

“Eek!”

Perhaps due to the difference in physical strength, it wasn’t long before I was caught by Werhe and got my back slapped several times.

Ouch, it hurts, but since it’s a spot I can’t reach, I can only endure the throbbing pain. 

Pushing the pain aside, I looked around and saw nothing but wasteland.

“Werhe, do you have any idea where we are?”

“I don’t know either. We followed the water downstream, so we must be somewhere between Partiaros and the eastern coast.”

Werhe looked defeated.

From the moment we found a temple whose existence we didn’t even know, we had abandoned positive thoughts, but it seems we’ve come much further than expected.

“We can’t ignore the possibility that those monsters might follow the water and chase us. We should prepare just in case.”

Without any weapons, encountering those monsters again would be a disaster.

It would be wiser to wait for a rescue team rather than trying to find the main camp ourselves.

‘If it’s Latia, she might have contacted Frennila by now.’

If she’s as capable as I think, she surely would have.

“How long would it take for a rescue team to arrive?”

“At least 2-3 days?”

Even with the keen eyes and mobility of the nomadic warriors, it would take that long to search along the long waterway.

“I see. Then we should secure drinking water and food first. After that, let’s try making some weapons.”

You’re taking this quite calmly.

You handled it well yesterday too, are you used to this kind of situation? 

That can’t be. You’re the prince of the empire, you must have had survival training.

‘Self-reliant man, I like it. Bonus 10 points.’

The scoring system, initially meant to judge suitability for Frennila, had unknowingly turned into a judgment of whether Werhe himself met his own tastes.

He himself was unaware of this.

“We can just drink the river water.”

“Shouldn’t we boil it at least once?”

There might be sand or parasite eggs in it.

In a situation like this, getting sick could be fatal, so it’s better to be cautious even if it’s more work.

“That would be better, but this river is from melted glacier water, so it’s safe to drink as is.”

“Glacier?”

“Yes, from the northernmost part of the north, the melted snow from the Akkalek Mountains flows down to the eastern region.”

I see. 

No wonder the water felt colder than expected. 

So the water problem is solved.

“Kyukyu!”

“Turtle, where have you been again?”

The turtle that had been following me was mysteriously elusive.

Plop.

Instead of answering, a small fish fell from the turtle’s mouth.

“What’s this, did you catch it for us to eat?”

“Kyukyu!”

“What a clever little thing.”

Gently patting its head, the turtle made happy sounds.

“But at this size, we’d need about ten per person, is that possible?”

The fish were indeed quite small.

What to do, looking at the turtle’s face, it seemed to say just trust me, thumping its chest with its short arms. 

Reliable?

Is it fast at hunting? 

Is it going to catch them quickly? 

Looking at the turtle with hopeful eyes,

Gwaaaak.

The turtle opened its mouth wide and began to regurgitate something.

Flop flop.

And from the spilled liquid, dozens of fish flapped about.

Is this for us to eat? 

Looking at the turtle with a subtle gaze, it seemed to say no need to thank me, making kyukyu sounds.

But the visual impact was too much,

“I, I’m not hungry, it’s okay.”

For Werhe, who claimed to be a maiden at heart, this was a tough challenge.

Admittedly, I’m not entirely comfortable either. 

It’s a bit gross, but we have to survive, so I guess we have to eat. 

Anyway, this solves the food problem, right?

I picked up the fish one by one and put them in my coat.

“Ugh, are you really going to eat that?”

“What’s there not to eat? They’re still alive and flapping, seems fresh to me.”

“Kyukyukyuk!”

As Werhe continued to react as if her stomach was turning, the turtle eventually stepped up in protest.

“So, you’re saying not to eat it?”

“Hmph, hmph! I wasn’t going to eat it anyway! How can anyone eat something that’s been inside someone else’s stomach!”

“Order received!”

Why is she like that, humming a tune and walking ahead briskly, the prince’s demeanor somehow didn’t sit well with Werhe.

*

A short but sweet one-week vacation.

Soaking in the recently developed hot springs at the southern tip of Velot territory and drinking alcohol was a heavenly experience.

This is why we work hard and live, nodding his head, Rii regretfully ended his vacation and returned to Partiaros.

After storing the luggage brought from the north in the warehouse, he went to find the prince to report.

He needed to actively show the prince that he was working hard to possibly get another sweet vacation.

Unknowingly, Rii had developed a thought pattern similar to a well-trained dog.

‘What’s going on, why is everything so chaotic?’

But as he wandered around the camp, the atmosphere felt unusual.

The nomadic warriors were busily moving about, and feeling something was off, he headed to the central training ground where he saw the stern faces of the chieftains.

Have they returned already? 

I heard it would take at least half a month to return.

“Hey—I’ve returned from my ‘mission,’ has something happened?”

Even though he had properly taken a vacation, Rii felt inexplicably guilty and emphasized the word ‘mission’ as he asked.

At Rii’s question, a tired-looking Frennila turned her head.

Startled, sometimes Frennila’s pupils seemed to lack light, and at those times, it was scary to see her eyes. 

It felt like staring into an abyss.

“I’ll tell you in a bit, every second counts, it’s urgent.”

Covered in dust, it seemed Frennila had just arrived here.

But what’s so urgent that she needs to go somewhere?

Naturally, his gaze fell on the large corpse lying in the middle of the training ground.

“…Isn’t that a chimera? Why is it here?”

“Do you happen to know about this monster?”

Frennila, who was about to spur her horse, turned her gaze towards Rii upon hearing his mutter.

“A life form created by black magic, a chimera. How did it appear here?”

Chimera, an artificial life form that shouldn’t exist in this world. 

Along with its terrifying appearance, this creature is made by sacrificing many animals.

The technology that makes this horrific act possible, black magic.

Because it costs the lives of living beings, it’s taboo not only in the church but in all countries across the continent.

Occasionally, some mad mages are caught secretly researching black magic.

But even then, it’s just small-scale experiments, nothing of this size has ever been heard of.

We must report this to the homeland immediately. 

With just the infected, it’s already tough, but now chimeras have appeared too, something big must be happening in the north.

“Anyway, it’s a relief you managed to defeat the monster safely. The scary thing about chimeras is that the resentment of the suffering animals relentlessly targets their prey.”

“…What does that mean?”

“It means either the chimera dies or the target dies. Anyway, it looks like nothing happened, that’s good. By the way, where’s the prince? I have something to report…”

Yah!

Frennila didn’t even wait to hear Rii’s full sentence and galloped out of the camp. 

Simultaneously, dozens of cavalry followed her.

Frennila’s hands began to tremble.

According to Latia’s report, it felt like the chimera was persistently targeting the prince.

Thanks to Ehi’s efforts, the immediate danger was averted, but there were five chimeras that attacked the camp.

But there are only four bodies in the training ground, which means

‘Prince!’

It’s a race against time, we must hurry.