Chapter 23: Who are you guys? (3)

The Second Imperial Princess saw that the two of them had come alone unlike her, who had come with her team members, and started to speak.

"…But why are you alone?"

She was asking Mary, but it was also directed at the First Imperial Prince.

"...."

First Imperial Prince Sanders didn't even look at the Second Imperial Princess and observed the wall.

'Man, he really doesn't seem human.'

The Second Imperial Princess kept those comments to herself. She heard Heni Wishrop's stiff voice.

"We decided to all investigate separately."

Neither Team 6 members, Fourth Imperial Prince Noi nor mercenary Zero, could not be seen.

"…Isn't this supposed to be a team mission?"

"It would be good to do it together, but…"

The Second Imperial Princess and her team members saw the clear look on Mary's spider-web-filled face.

Heni Wishrop, the woman with clear eyes, continued to speak.

It would be good to do it together, but Team 6 has already…

"It has already turned into a mess."

Mary told the truth without any reservation.

"…Uhh..."

Mary heard a shocked candidate's voice behind her back.

The First Imperial Prince was looking at Heni Wishrop's back instead of the wall now. His gaze was showing his shock.

The Second Imperial Princess felt the same way.

"…A mess?"

"Yes. It is total chaos."

The Second Imperial Princess wondered if this was a form of smoke screen for a moment. However, the nineteenth candidate in front of her seemed quite honest for it to be something like that.

And Mary was telling the truth.

Last night… The candidates of Team 6 got settled in their respective lodgings and gathered in their strategy room.

Fourth Imperial Prince had said the following.

'You just need to do as I tell you. So, follow my orders.'

'No thanks?'

Noi and Zero… One was looking down at the other and the other was smiling brightly as their confrontation continued.

It had continued for one hour.

Mary, who had shown up without Cale, sat and watched the two of them for an hour before finally speaking.

'We will gather information separately tomorrow and meet in the afternoon to determine each person's role based on the information brought back. I think it would be a good idea to listen to the orders of the person who brings the most beneficial information.'

'…Hmph.'

'Sounds good!'

Both of them agreed with her method.

'Looks like we will just be wasting a day. It would be good if you just listened to me.'

'Oh my, our esteemed Imperial Prince is sooooo slick of a talker. Hahaha!'

'You little bastard!'

'Oh no, I better get to work!'

Both of them left the room after the conclusion was made while Mary remained in the room to contemplate whether the two of them had a good or bad relationship.

Eruhaben, who had been the only one to come with her, looked at her with an odd gaze.

'What is it?'

Mary asked, sounding as if she was speaking to her subordinate, just to be safe.

'It's nothing, my liege. You just reminded me of someone I know very well.'

'I tried to copy them.'

She tried to mix Cale and Alberu together and copy the result.

'That was wonderful, my liege.'

Mary had to hold herself back from smiling as she thought about the satisfied look on Eruhaben's face yesterday.

"...."

The Second Imperial Princess and her team members looked at the happy-looking Mary as if she was weird.

'…Does she prefer to work alone? Is it a good thing for the team to have no harmony at all?'

Second Imperial Princess Olivia could not fathom what was going on.

'Sanders is looking at her as if she is weird too.'

Olivia had never seen the First Imperial Prince looking at anybody like this.

"Hello everyone."

A knight walked over with a group of knights at that moment.

"Are you all here to go outside the wall?"

The knight in front was a Dark Elf.

"We are."

The knight picked up a document and checked the list after hearing Olivia's response.

"Mm, candidate 1… All the way down to candidate 19. It looks like everybody who has requested it is here."

Mary's eyes turned toward the large door behind the Dark Elf knight.

The door was small compared to the wall, but the iron gate that was close to seven meters tall seemed quite thick and heavy. It looked as if nothing could break it.

'Mary, you need to go out and pretend to investigate alone during the day. Do you think that it is possible?'

She recalled what Cale had said.

'We can't show our powers right now. That is why we plan on going out to investigate at night while avoiding all the gazes.'

The official investigation would happen in the middle of the night, not by going out the front door, but by stealthily going over the wall.

'Of course, Eruhaben-nim will be waiting close to the wall. Eruhaben-nim will immediately head to you if you send an emergency signal. Of course, I will be going as well.'

Eruhaben had handed Mary a small orb this morning. Eruhaben would head to her location immediately if she broke the orb.

'Mary, will you be okay?'

Choi Han, who had been by Cale's side, asked with concern.

Mary addressed the whole group who seemed worried.

'I will go out as if I am going on a walk.'

'Good plan, little Mary! Don't struggle on your own!'

The corners of Mary's lips curled up.

"…Are you looking forward to it?"

"Excuse me?"

Mary turned her head after hearing a voice. First Imperial Prince Sanders was standing next to her, looking at her with deeply sunken eyes.

'Why is he acting like this?'

Mary found the First Imperial Prince to be weird but decided to talk to him.

She had met the First Imperial Prince outside the doors of the Lord's Castle when she was leaving.

Sanders had followed behind her and the two of them had arrived here without saying anything to each other at all. Mary had only learned about Sanders going out to investigate because of Second Imperial Princess Olivia.

"…You have a look of anticipation in your eyes despite the possibility of death."

Sanders looked away from Mary as he nonchalantly commented.

"It looks like you are not afraid of death."

One of the Second Imperial Princess's team members commented in a mocking tone.

"She probably doesn't know the dangers of outside. Do you think that a royal would ever have been outside? She probably gained her strength through the dead mana someone gave her."

Mary turned toward the person.

'Was he the twelfth candidate?'

Mary stared at him, trying to figure out who he was. The candidate looked away after seeing her gaze while Olivia smiled awkwardly and got in between the two of them.

"…I'm sorry."

Mary tilted her head to the side.

"Is there anything to be sorry about?"

"…Is that so?"

Mary continued to speak while Olivia smiled bitterly.

"I have been outside."

The Church of the Fire of Purification existed in the middle of the eroded land beyond the walls that they called 'outside.'

That place had the Wall of Purification that was preventing the temple from being polluted, but Mary had seen how it was beyond the wall.

Furthermore, she had seen the bursting liquefied dead mana and the black fog.

"It is dangerous outside."

It was dangerous.

For her friends that is.

Honestly speaking, Mary didn't want to take her friends when they went out to investigate at night either.

However, Mary decided to follow Cale's plan.

The reason was simple.

"It is something that needs to be done even if it is dangerous."

Mary was a necromancer.

Her home was the Underground City beneath the desert.

She had seen and heard people dying from consuming the dead mana from the desert.

'Cale-nim.'

Choi Han had asked Cale last night.

'Beyond the scope of the test, are you planning on taking care of the source of the rain cloud if we find it?'

'Yeah. Of course.'

There had been no hesitation in Cale's response.

There were many reasons, whether it was to hinder the Black Bloods household or to increase their influence in the Imperial Palace, but…

'How can I just let that be?'

Mary agreed with Cale's nonchalant comment.

"…That's right. It is something that needs to be done even if it is dangerous."

The Dark Elf knight did something to the door the moment the Second Imperial Princess agreed with Mary.

Boom-!

There was a loud noise before the large iron gate slowly started to open.

Screeeeech-

There was an uncomfortable screeching noise before the door opened just enough for one person to walk past.

Swoooooooosh-

They could hear the wind.

"There is a shield in the area right outside the gate. However, it is just the black ground once you get past the shield. The density of dead mana in the air is thick and mutant monsters and mutant plants will appear the farther you get from the wall. Please keep that in mind."

Mary walked out the gate.

There was a black shield the size of the gate.

This shield was the thing keeping the dead mana fog from entering through the gate.

'It's dark.'

The grey sky and the dead mana fog made it feel like night despite being morning.

"There are all sorts of unexpected climate issues as well, so please be careful."

Boom-

The knight closed the gate.

"I will be stationed inside the shield, so please feel free to return at any moment."

He then added.

"You are allowed a maximum of six hours of investigation at a time. We will withdraw if you do not come back in that time and whether it is myself or another knight, someone will be here between nine and ten in the morning to guard the gate."

The meaning behind this was simple.

Even if you don't manage to come back today, we will be here every morning, so come back.

"This will continue for the duration of the test, but it will stop after that."

The test was taking place for a week.

They would not wait any longer for anybody who did not manage to return by the end.

They would simply presume that you had died.

"Now then, I pray for your return."

The knight bowed respectfully.

Olivia quietly looked at the knight.

'It's my first time outside.'

Olivia, as a member of the Imperial family, had seen the outside many times but had never been out there before.

'I'm sure that it is different for Sanders.'

The House of Huayans. Sanders, who was close to the daughter of the Emperor's instructor, must have been outside.

'…Noi probably has too.'

Olivia thought that it was possible that she was the one who had been the plant growing in a greenhouse.

'I still need to remain alert.'

Olivia looked toward her team members who were waiting for her orders. There were Dark Elves and black mages with them in addition to the candidates.

They needed to be individuals experienced with dead mana in order to see outside.

'…Heni Wishrop's subordinates seemed like regular people.'

Olivia quickly got rid of the thought that suddenly popped into her mind. That was not important right now.

"Then I'll be heading out."

One person took a step into the area outside the shield that was filled with black fog.

'Heni Wishrop!'

She had put her hood on and walked out without any hesitation.

"It'll be dangerous to go around alone."

Olivia watched as Sanders talked to Mary again.

Sanders doing something like this was quite unfamiliar but did not seem weird.

'Sanders probably sees her as his only competition. Heni Wishrop is strong.'

"I'm fine."

Strong enough to say that she was fine.

"...."

Sanders headed outside the shield as well instead of responding. He then followed behind Mary.

"Your Royal Highness?"

"We should head out as well. Everybody packed properly, right?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Of course."

Olivia's team headed outside the shield as well.

Mary did not look back.

– Mary. I'll be here in the shield as well. Don't go too far and just take a walk near the wall.

Eruhaben was waiting for her and watching her from inside the shield.

She didn't have anything to worry about to look back towards.

However, Mary did have something on her mind.

'Is the young master-nim able to contact the crown prince-nim?'

Cale had said that he would remain in the lodging to contact the Roan Kingdom today.

* * *

"Fuck."

Cale was frowning at that moment.

He was tapping on the table looking quite annoyed.

"The God of Death is always like this. Tsk."

He even clicked his tongue.

"He sucks at work."

Sui Khan was next to him in his little boy form drinking tea while agreeing with Cale.

"Hey Sui Khan, here, eat this bread!"

"Thanks, Raon."

Sui Khan petted Raon's head while Raon chuckled and filled his mouth with bread.

"Hmm."

Choi Han looked at the mirror Cale had placed on the table and mumbled.

"…Optimizing?"

Choi Han asked Cale and Sui Khan.

"What does optimizing mean?"

"…Ha."

Cale let out a deep sigh.

The divine item that the God of Death had given him had carried on the abilities of the cintamani.

< Currently downloading the abilities of the cintamani. >

< Developing communication routes between the dimensions that the owner of the divine item has visited... >

He had seen those messages as well.

The loading time had been 24 hours.

However, a new message appeared once the loading time had ended.

< Optimizing... >

Sui Khan peeked warily at Cale before speaking.

"At least it is at 98 percent now."

Yes, only two percent was left.

Cale looked away from the mirror and up at the ceiling.

"Team leader."

"Yes?"

"Did you locate the Margrave's room?"

"He seems to be using the room right next to the fifth-floor central advisor's office as his bedroom."

"I see."

"Are you planning on chatting with him?"

The corners of Cale's lips twisted up.

"Of course. Shouldn't I have a deep conversation with him at least once soon?"

"That's great. Deep conversations are great."

Raon, who was watching Sui Khan, quickly started to speak.

"Hey Sui Khan! It's weird seeing you smiling like that! It makes me feel oddly tired but anxious!"

Sui Khan petted Raon's smooth back.

Riiiiiiiing-!

They heard a cheerful ringing at that moment.

Cale looked down at the divine item.

< ver. 1.01 update complete >

A picture of the cintamani appeared on the screen.

It was placed next to the invitation.

"This must be it."

Choi Han sounded a bit excited as he said that and Cale touched the cintamani on the screen without any hesitation.

< Individuals from connection routes of dimensions visited >

< 1. Lee Soo Hyuk >

< 2. Alberu Crossman >

< ...Updating other individuals... >

< Please wait a moment! You will soon be connected to all worlds you have visited! >

"It's me?"

Sui Khan chuckled while pointing to number one and Cale chuckled back at his mischievous comment before moving his finger to touch the screen again.

There was no need to wait for the update to finish.

< Attempting to contact Alberu Crossman. >

The most urgent thing right now was to contact the Roan Kingdom.

Ringringring- ringringring- ringringringringringringring–

"Human, this music is nice! Hmm?"

The excited Raon's eyes opened wide.

Cale leaned against the back of the chair.

Paaaat-!

A screen appeared on top of the mirror on the table.

'It's the same as a video communication device screen.'

He had a pretty good idea as to how the call would go through.

The crown prince's bedroom slowly started to appear on the screen.

– It's been a while, young master-nim.

'Hmm?'

Cale flinched.

– …It looks like you've lost some weight while I haven't seen you.

Ron had quite a benign smile on his face while looking at Cale.

"…Uhh-"

It was shocking that Ron had suddenly appeared, but the two people visible on the screen…

Ron and Alberu…

Cale subconsciously started speaking after looking at the two of them.

"…Why are you hurt?"

They were both injured.

Alberu was so injured that he was lying on the bed.

—
Translator's Comments

Our homeboy is injured?! What?!

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]