Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Princess's Power
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Why are you popping out from there...?”
“Oh.”
Ji Hwa-yeon said nothing. She just busied herself with an innocent smile, as if she’d done nothing wrong. I made eye contact with Haena standing beside her. But Haena just smiled back brightly too.
“Judging by your outfit, you must be a student.”
“Yes. And you, Miss Ji Hwa-yeon?”
“We’re the faculty. There are quite a few of us on the faculty side.”
“But I don’t see many around right now?”
“...Haha.”
Ji Hwa-yeon smiled and furrowed her brow. Just as I was about to ask what that meant,
Boom! The person who’d flown over the wall earlier attacked Ji Hwa-yeon’s group. Before I could even figure out what was happening.
“The teachers are fighting!”
Students swarmed in around us. My jaw dropped at the sudden crowd. Thinking I should help first, I started forward, but...
“Han Ji-eon! Catch!”
Ji Hwa-yeon tossed something to me. I caught it on reflex.
“A flower?”
More precisely, inside a transparent pentagonal prism gem with sharp points top and bottom, there was a turquoise flower with a glowing outline.
That’s when Haena’s shout rang out.
“That’s it! Treasure! Run!”
“Huh?”
I looked up to ask what was going on, but it wasn’t the time. The moment I decided to run as Haena said,
Whoosh.
“What...?”
Something flew at me, and I dodged in a hurry. A dagger embedded itself in the face of a student behind me. At the same instant, the face with the dagger twisted and—boom!—black blood sprayed everywhere. The crowd stirred.
“The treasure’s over there!”
Hunters in red uniforms with black sashes unleashed indiscriminate attacks. And their numbers were growing. Four or five I could handle, but there looked to be about a dozen.
As they became overwhelming in number, Haena shot a red gem toward the students, pushing them back. Two came flying at me, and I bolted after them, running too.
“Haena!”
At Ji Hwa-yeon’s call, Haena smashed through the wall blocking the front. At the same time, a diving board-like gem rose up to make jumping easier. Haena’s ability.
The chase that ensued for the next half hour or so finally ended when we hid in some alley in the village.
“What the hell is all this?”
“It’s a long story.”
Ji Hwa-yeon’s explanation went something like this.
The black-sash people and yellow-sash people warped underground together, but the problem was the black-sash people’s role wasn’t treasure hunting—it was treasure stealing. And if they failed to steal it, the black-sash people died. That’s why they’d clashed and wrecked everything. They’d split them into opposing sides from the start.
After hearing Ji Hwa-yeon’s explanation, I spoke up.
“Conversely, if the other sashes besides black lose their treasure, we’d be the ones dying.”
“Probably?”
I’d split the others into three directions thinking nothing big would happen. Bad call.
‘They’re not weaklings, so they’ll be fine. And most of the black-sash people are hanging around the school anyway.’
The surroundings looked so peaceful, I thought the game would proceed peacefully too. No, I’d misinterpreted the warning that trouble would come later. I took it as no danger right now, but it really meant we had to find the treasure fast before the black-sash people snatched it, or we’d die.
Just sleep. But...
“How did you know this was the treasure?”
I pulled out the gem I’d stashed in my inventory.
“Because it was explained exactly.”
“Huh? Explained exactly?”
“Yeah. Didn’t the red sashes tell you?”
“We were just told we’d know it when we saw it.”
“How unhelpful.”
Haena, who’d been listening quietly to our conversation, suddenly spoke up as if struck by a thought.
“Wait. Doesn’t that mean each group has a different treasure?”
“...Ah.”
It made sense. If there was only one treasure, they wouldn’t have split into treasure-hunting teams.
But in this situation, finding the treasure wouldn’t be easy. The black-sash people were probably lying in wait everywhere.
Ji Hwa-yeon asked me, lost in thought.
“Han Ji-eon, did you happen to see any green-sash people?”
“No, not on the way here.”
“We should probably link up with them first... This is getting complicated.”
We needed to meet the green-sash people too, but right now, we had to find the red-sash treasure first. And that treasure was most likely...
“Given our role as students, our treasure’s probably at the school, so we need to figure out how to—”
Tap. As I was about to plan strategy, someone tapped me from behind. I turned to see a pink head standing there dumbly.
Oh, right, she was with us. About to ask what was up, the pink head pointed behind her with a finger. Wondering what the odd gesture meant, I looked back to see her fluffy tail greeting me. Or more precisely...
“You...”
Behind the pink head, her tail was coiled up, with human arms and legs sticking out awkwardly from it. I wanted to smack the pink head’s beaming face.
“You kidnapped someone in the middle of all that?”
“You’ll change your mind when you see the face.”
With that, the coiled tail unraveled. The person inside was gently laid on the ground.
“......”
I didn’t say a word. Just one thought filled my head.
“Right?”
Ji Hwa-yeon glanced at me standing silently, then muttered in surprise too.
“The treasure... looks like we found what we were after.”
I agreed. You could tell at a glance.
I let out a deep sigh and looked at the fallen figure. Turquoise hair, blue beads, golden ornaments. Even with eyes closed, the nobility was palpable. Her appearance... was identical to the tower’s owner, not just similar.
“Good job?”
“......”
I’d thought treasure meant an object. Gold, jewels, a chest... something like that. Especially since the yellow-sash team’s treasure looked the part, I hadn’t imagined something alive.
Honestly, Gel-tan had done well.
“...Yeah.”
I sighed deeply and rubbed my face.
First things first: decide what to do next. I looked up at Ji Hwa-yeon’s group. But before I could speak,
Tap. Roll...
Familiar fruits rolled across the ground. I turned toward where they’d come from. Ji Hwa-yeon’s group looked at the fruits and turned too.
Outside the alley, a middle-aged woman saw us, dropped her fruit basket, and stood dazed. No, from her gaze, what she was looking at was...
“Princess!”
She rushed into the alley, pushing past us toward the turquoise-haired figure on the ground. With no hostility or anything, we all decided to watch for now—no one stopped her.
But... at a glance, it looked like we’d done something bad. Not wanting that, I carefully spoke up.
“She was collapsed. Do you know her?”
“Oh, collapsed... How much stress must she have been under...”
As my words ended, Ji Hwa-yeon followed up.
“Any place to hide? We saw her being chased.”
“My goodness... You protected the princess?”
“...Unintentionally.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Let me at least treat you to some tea, so come to our house.”
With that, Haena picked up the princess and we moved. We arrived at a nearby ordinary house.
‘The princess under stress and chased, and she’s not surprised...’
Princess getting hunted by assassins, huh.
But the middle-aged woman’s words made me realize I was terrible at guessing situations.
“The princess... no, she’s no longer a princess. Habit makes me call her that.”
The middle-aged woman poured steaming tea into cups and freely shared the backstory no one had asked for.
In summary, the princess was the former princess of a kingdom defeated and annexed by the empire in the war with it, now just a regular citizen.
But people from the defeated nation wouldn’t sit idle after a sudden attack that cost them their country, so a resistance formed soon. The princess became the leader of those dreaming of rebellion and was undercover at the school.
What kind of story is this?
“So, everyone! If it’s not too much trouble... would you join the resistance?”
The middle-aged woman wiped tears and looked at us. Yeah, they needed every person they could get. Especially against an empire.
‘Either way, one thing’s clear...’
I made eye contact with Ji Hwa-yeon and Haena. We all nodded at once, thinking the same.
“Sure.”
“Oh, thank you so much.”
Our reason for agreeing was simple. The green-sash people were probably there.
With a just-in-case thought, I asked.
“Any reason the princess was undercover at the school?”
“It’s the empire’s biggest school, so they figured start there, memorizing the layout. And...”
The middle-aged woman paused, then continued.
“The princess’s power is sealed there.”
“Isn’t this it?”
I showed her the gem in my hand. She jumped in shock and confirmed.
“That brilliant, noble aura...! Yes! It’s definitely the princess’s power! Oh my...”
Now we had a clear reason to go where the resistance was. The yellow-sash treasure was the princess’s power. The red-sash treasure was the princess. It all connected.
‘The odds of green-sash people being with the resistance just went up.’
The game not ending with one treasure meant we probably needed all of them. Couldn’t just call out the underground resistance, so we had to go to them.
“Um, then guide us to where the others—”
“Why should I trust you to take you there?”
Shing. The princess, awake who-knows-when, sat up and drew a dagger.
She strode over, grabbed the middle-aged woman, pulled her close in one motion, checked her body for anything unusual, then glared at us once confirmed.
“Princess, these people—!”
“Nanny. I heard the story. But are we sure they’re not with the empire?”
“We don’t know, but... they helped you.”
“No. I wasn’t chased by anyone. I was kidnapped by that one. Then I collapsed.”
She aimed the dagger at Gel-tan.
‘Situation’s gone sideways.’
The mood flipped in an instant. We needed to link up with the green-sash people ASAP to move forward.
‘What to do.’
After a moment’s thought, I walked toward the princess. Ignoring the dagger still aimed at me unwaveringly, whoosh.
The princess shuddered slightly, then calmed as if nothing happened and spoke.
“...What?”
I held out the gem, close enough for her to grab.
“Don’t you need this?”
The princess bit her lip silently. Close enough to reach, but she wouldn’t get it, so she stayed put. Besides, what I held was her power. Meaning she had none now. Couldn’t take it by force.
I pressed on without hesitation.
“With your power sealed, you don’t have the strength to take it from us right now.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
I smiled brightly at the princess.