The Masked Princess and the Silver-Haired Youth
From the Masked Princess: “Haru.”
One of the two masked individuals asked the other.
“Yes, Your Highness. What is your command?”
“How do you feel, Haru? Wouldn’t it be better for us to help those people?”
Haru, seemingly choosing his words carefully in response to the princess’s question, gently pursed his lips and took a moment to gather his breath.
“If I speak from the standpoint of a participant in the Danju Selection… we too are under considerable pressure. In my view, the best choice is to refrain from intervening and observe as we have been doing now.”
As Haru’s opinion registered with her, the princess’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“That does make sense. I had already considered something similar….”
“Your Highness, do you wish to assist them?”
“Um… somehow, I feel that to take even one more step toward our purpose of reaching the continent, we must move together with these people.”
“If Your Highness feels that way, then this…”
“Shh!”
“Yes, Your Highness. I will do my utmost to serve as your aide.”
“Ah, Haru, you’re always like this. Listen to the opinions of the other members too, then decide.”
After consulting with Haru, the princess turned to look at the remaining members in the rear.
“Your name is… Rui, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right! Uh, um… what should I call you?”
“This one is Haru, and I’m Jin. Please call me that.”
“Ah, yes, I understand!”
Rui, the silver-haired boy with wide, sparkling eyes, answered with a bright smile.
“Rui, how do you feel about helping those people?”
“Hmm… I don’t really know, so I was wondering if I could ask why we should help them? Ah! It’s not because I don’t want to—it’s because I genuinely don’t know!”
“From what I can tell, it seems nearly a hundred applicants have made up their minds to knock them down. Watching them fail isn’t ideal, and we might end up in trouble ourselves.”
“Hm? So the next gate could target us as well? Because without teeth, the gums ache? That’s the idea, right?!”
Rui, furrowing his brows as he stared into empty space, finally understood the hidden meaning behind Jin’s words. He suddenly clapped his hands and his eyes sparkled.
“Exactly. Rui, you’re far more clever than your age suggests.”
“Whoa! Thank you!”
“If we succeed with this strategy, the same situation could arise in the following gates as well… Well, even if the Danju intervene under the pretense of a fair test, otherwise it seems wiser to eliminate these people right here.”
“I fully support helping them! Actually, I’ve always wanted to meet them once!”
“Good. Haru.”
After receiving Rui’s approval, Jin called out to Haru in a gentle voice.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Since Rui also agrees, how should we assist those people?”
“Direct assistance won’t be necessary. Even if a large number gather, their chances of failing are extremely slim.”
“Then…?”
“If they don’t fail here, they’ll do the same thing in the next gate. So by attacking and eliminating any others heading toward the peak, and then simply watching the situation unfold, we’ll be able to help them enough.”
“Then, as Haru says. Rui, is that alright?”
“I understand, Your Highness.”
“Yes! It’s fine!”
* * *
“Hah… it’s happening again.”
Looking at the twenty other people blocking their path, Hyeondo let out a deep sigh.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Hm? Why are you suddenly apologizing?”
Hyeondo looked genuinely confused and pulled his chin back.
“It seems I’ve unintentionally dragged you into troublesome business because of us. If only we had teamed up with someone else instead of you, we wouldn’t have had to deal with this.”
“It’s not your fault. There’s no need to apologize.”
He chuckled. “Why are you apologizing over something like this?” and shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s a relief, then.”
“In any case, their goal is to neutralize a strong competitor. Even if we hadn’t teamed up with you, we would have faced something similar. Eliminating them right here isn’t such a bad idea… It seems my turn is next. You go ahead first.”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
“You? Wouldn’t it be better for me to stay?”
A question mark appeared on Hyeondo’s face at my words.
“Maru is carrying weapons on her back, so I can’t carry Teraden. And I have no Ineung, so if we encounter more enemies, it would be difficult to continue fighting while carrying Teraden.”
“Your reasoning is sound, but can you handle that many alone?”
“Oppa. Then I should stay too and help you….”
“That’s out of the question. At least one of us must reach the peak. If Maru stays here as well, our group will have no one left. So leave this to me.”
Maru hesitated, clearly wanting to stay too, but to be firm, I deliberately cut her off.
“Please take good care of both of them.”
Then I entrusted Hyeondo with Teraden, who had fainted, and Maru.
“Even though we once fought as enemies, you trust me far too readily.”
“Hearing that actually makes me trust you even more. Rest easy, and leave the rear to me.”
“Understood.”
Hyeondo, his expression hardening, nodded shortly.
After nodding, he carefully moved Teraden from my back to his own.
Meanwhile, the others watching Teraden being transferred with wary eyes began to whisper among themselves.
“It seems the one being carried is someone who wields Hwigwang. He has black hair, too….”
“Why did the master of Hwigwang fall? Did he suffer a major injury on the way here? Or is this an attempt to lure our carelessness?”
“No way. There’s no chance of that. Anyway, the fact is that this is the perfect opportunity to eliminate them all right now.”
“They’re talking like they’re planning to finish us off here. Go ahead first.”
“Who says so? We’ll just send you off quietly…!”
A few hot-tempered ones separated and tried to slow Hyeondo and Maru’s advance, but instead I blocked their path.
“Don’t worry about this side. Go ahead quickly.”
“Understood. Come on, follow.”
Hyeondo called Maru and took a side route, circumventing the blocked path to climb the mountain.
“Go quickly. It’s fine.”
“…”
Maru, biting her lip, reluctantly followed behind.
* * *
While Maru and Hyeondo continued running toward the peak after leaving, and I was carrying Teraden.
“Eh?”
Teraden’s body, which had been lying on my back, began to stir slightly.
“Hm? Has he finally woken up…?”
“Uwaaaaaah! Get off—!!”
The moment I sensed Teraden’s movement and stopped, he sprang up with a yell, still on my back.
“What?! Why am I on your back?!”
“That’s because you passed out. By the way, your sleep talking was pretty nasty.”
“Ah, I must have fallen asleep dreaming about meeting that ghost-like uncle again. My head feels all messed up.”
“That uncle? Who was he?”
“He was some ridiculously weird old man. No, more importantly, where did the others go? Why are only the three of us here?”
Teraden, now on the ground, frowned and looked around.
“Aaron Blanser and Amerk Junior are dealing with the others down below. It seems quite a few groups have allied to eliminate us.”
“Eh? I get those two, but then what about the rest of the day?”
“He….”
“Oppa was left alone earlier to stop another group that appeared….”
Maru, looking utterly dejected, answered on Hyeondo’s behalf just before tears welled up.
“What? Alone?”
“That’s right.”
“Crap, I should have gone too… Wait, hold on.”
Teraden yelled and immediately turned his body, but then he stopped and approached Hyeondo with his back turned.
“Please take good care of Maru. I know this is wrong, but… she’s our precious little sister.”
“He said the same thing. Stop worrying. I was planning to do it anyway.”
“Well, even if it’s a little, since you’re a bit stronger than me, I can trust you, right?”
Teraden extended his thumb in Hyeondo’s direction.
Hyeondo looked at the single finger Teraden offered and let out a breath as if his lungs had deflated.
“It’s not even that much, is it?”
“Ah, it doesn’t matter. Let’s move on. Anyway, please take care of it.”
“As expected, you’re still as bold as ever. Understood. Since the peak is close, we’ll push a little harder.”
Teraden stared at Hyeondo and Maru’s retreating backs for a moment before descending at a terrifying speed toward the place where the day would end.
* * *
“…”
In the situation where the others had left and only I remained.
It was clear they held a huge advantage, yet for some reason they hadn’t rushed in to attack me, watching my every move.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could retreat either.
“I heard that in this generation, only one member of the clan has awakened their Ineung… Aren’t you the one without it?”
“…”
“Since you’re not answering, it seems that’s the case. Hey, so this guy only has Cheneung. Why the need for such caution?”
With a sigh.
They accepted the silence as positive and exchanged glances before spreading out widely.
It wouldn’t be right to underestimate the opponent just because they have no Ineung…
The carelessness of the other applicants I hadn’t encountered, such as Ohban, worked in my favor, so I stayed silent.
If it had been dark, there would have been more things to consider—ambushes, traps, and so on. But fortunately, a faint red glow was slowly rising beyond the horizon.
Due to the sunrise, the darkness had lightened, meaning at least the field of vision was no longer restricted.
By now Teraden should have woken up, so even if the remaining ones were many, there wouldn’t be any problems.
That was the moment the dispersed groups, maintaining a good distance, were about to approach me.
Kwaaaang—!!
Suddenly, something fell from the sky straight into the middle of them.
Since it was a fairly heavy object, the thing crashing from the sky made a thunderous noise upon impact with the ground and kicked up a thick cloud of dust.
“Huuu…”
“Hm?”
Amid the swirling smoke, a familiar voice rang out.
“Whose voice is this…?”
“W-what?!”
The applicants, startled by the sudden drop, were thrown into confusion. In the meantime, a second familiar voice echoed from within the dust.
“Release (Gaebang).”
Saaaaaaa.
Soon the dust cleared, revealing a cheerful face.
“How did you end up here?”
“As soon as I woke up, I came running right away.”
“You didn’t have to come. It was unnecessary.”
“Leaving you alone felt weird, so I had to come. Well, with Maru having someone as reliable as me, there’s no problem. By the way, I was shocked at first. When I woke up, I thought I was on Hyeondo’s back?”
“You’re not hurt from fainting, are you?”
“Ah… forget about that. I’d rather die than face the shame.”
Teraden’s face flushed as he quickly waved his hands a couple of times.
“I roughly heard the situation. Alright, then let’s begin.”
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