Chapter 38

Chapter 38 – Chapter 5: Entry #5

‘Level up . ’

In-gong was now level 14 . Now, his abilities had increased to the extent that he couldn’t be compared to Villager A anymore .

However, it was Aura that made In-gong more excited .

‘I have been wrong so far . ’

He’d thought that Aura was growing with every level, but now in hindsight, he felt like a frog inside a well .

‘I am looking forward to it . ’

He would need to cross a mountain then another mountain but it felt rather pleasant . He was thrilled to see what type of landscape would unfold beyond the mountain .

‘Caitlin . ’

In-gong settled his excitement about Aura and looked at Caitlin sitting in front of him . He could still feel Caitlin’s aura through their entwined hands and In-gong could see something .

Caitlin also crossed a wall . Whether In-gong influenced Caitlin or she influenced him, it was clear that both of them had grown one step further .

As he watched, Caitlin sighed suddenly . She was surrounded by a blue aura as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled .

“Thank you, Shutra . It is all thanks to you . ”

She was enlightened after feeling Shura’s aura . She had found a new and unfamiliar road in Divine Beast Authority, a technique that she had been training in for many years already .

Caitlin was able to gain a deep understanding from the aura that came from In-gong . In-gong and Caitlin’s auras had harmonized . They had pushed and pulled at each other like water .

It was a pleasant surprise .

In-gong and Caitlin had both felt it .

"Interesting . "

In-gong and Caitlin looked around in surprise as a voice was suddenly heard . A man was sitting inside the tent where In-gong was doing his martial arts training .

"General Vandal?”

As In-gong exclaimed in a shocked voice, Vandal touched his chin and said,

"8th Princess and 9th Prince haven’t slept or eaten in a few days, so many people are worried . In particular, the aide of the princess . ”

In-gong and Caitlin were surprised to learn that it had been a few days . It seemed like now was the time to sleep .

A new voice interrupted then .

“Right . Seira is pretty worried . ”

Carack was sitting next to Vandal . Carack had a hulking figure but he seemed small next to Vandal .

In-gong asked hurriedly,

"Carack, how many days have passed?”

"Uh . . . Now, it is dawn . . At a rough guess, I think it has been four days? That reminds me, aren’t you hungry?”

Once Carack rubbed his belly while asking, In-gong also looked down at his belly . Now that it was pointed out, he was aware of an empty feeling in his stomach . Caitlin didn’t say anything but her red cheeks indicated that she was also hungry .

'By the way, four days . . . Has it been that long?’

He hadn’t been able to feel the flow of time properly until he opened his eyes . It had seemed like a moment or a few years .

‘Was I in a trance?’

It was a fairly fresh feeling .

‘Anyway, it has passed . ’

“I am hungry . Give me something to eat . Prepare some for Noona as well . ”

He glanced at Caitlin and saw her smile slightly . Caitlin was definitely hungry .

It was at that moment . Vandal, who they had forgotten about due to the sudden switch in topic, spoke again .

"Let’s eat together . I am also hungry . ”

"Then I will get some food . ”

As a competent subordinate, Carack read the atmosphere and rose from his seat .

Vandal spoke again,

"Both of you are strong . You have crossed one wall . Congratulations . ”

As a blood ogre, an ogre variant, the strong Vandal was also a master of Aura . Caitlin smiled at the heartfelt praise .

"Thank you, Vandal . "

"9th Prince and 8th Princess, I will have high expectations of you in the future . ”

Both of them showed dazzlingly fast growth . In particular, In-gong’s growth was astonishing .

It was difficult for In-gong to miss the admiration in Vandal’s eyes . Once again, Vandal was Vandal .

‘That reminds me, he saw the level-up effect . . . Does he think it is the effect of Aura?’

He didn’t say anything, so it didn’t seem like a big deal to him .

"Let’s eat!”

At that moment, Carack rejoined them with two large food baskets . As if that wasn’t enough, Seira appeared behind Carack with a basket in both hands .

Whether it was because he hadn’t eaten for four days or because he was starving, he didn’t stop eating once food entered his mouth . Caitlin seemed self-conscious at first, but after seeing Vandal and Carack eating quickly, she started to eat comfortably without worrying about the situation .

Everybody focused on eating for a while . An hour and a half later, the food baskets were empty and they faced each other with relaxed expressions .

"Both of you seem healthy, so I will be leaving . I’ll see you later . ”

Vandal stood up first . Caitlin’s posture became more relaxed and she said,

"Oppa will be back in a day or two . Unfortunately, I can only give you this much special training . You should review what you have learnt slowly over the rest of the year . ”

The fact that Caitlin was teaching In-gong Divine Beast Authority was even kept a secret from Seira . Therefore, Caitlin lowered her voice .

“I will try to find some extra time later . ”

Caitlin was telling him to hide Divine Beast Authority and In-gong nodded with a pleased expression .

“I understand, thank you . ”

Although it was the result of a political deal with Chris, he had received so many things from Caitlin that it was difficult to be calculative, especially in regards to her hospitality .

‘I’m glad that I met Chris and Caitlin first . ’

If those two people hadn’t been in Knight Saga, he might have died .

‘That reminds me . ’

Something probably popped into his mind . In-gong cautiously asked Caitlin who was still looking at him warmly .

“Uh . . . Caitlin noona . Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Um . . . You don’t have to answer if it is difficult to talk about . ”

“What is it? Please speak . ”

There was something he had been curious about . Carack was eating fruit as dessert but he started to look at In-gong curiously .

In-gong laughed awkwardly and said,

"Why is Chris hyung at odds with Felicia noona? Did something bad happen between them? I think there has to be something . Was there an incident in the past?”

It didn’t seem like there was direct hostility between the two of them . Although Chris sounded a little sarcastic, he still called Felicia by the honorific Noonim . It might be ironic but Felicia also didn’t seem to hate Chris .

Felicia was a talented person who had to be brought into his alliance in the future . It would be difficult if she didn’t get along with Chris who was equally important .

"Uhh . . . I don’t think there was an incident directly related to Chris oppa and Felicia unni . ”

“Then?”

"I think it is a problem between Chris oppa and Felicia’s oppa . Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened between the two of them . ”

Caitlin’s expression darkened as she thought about the problem, but then she smiled brightly .

“Still, it is a good thing . I think that I have become good friends with Felicia unni during this expedition . Unni’s relationship with Chris oppa also seems to have improved . ”

In-gong had to agree . The relationship between the two of them had improved after the Red Lightning tribe was defeated .

Caitlin sighed and wriggled her fingers .

"I want to be close to my other brothers and sisters . . . but my mother and Chris oppa don’t like me going to the Demon King’s Palace . It has been a long time since I’ve been back . ”

It made sense if it was the 4th Queen Elaine Moonlight . However, she said that Chris was also nervous about it .

‘Does Chris know? That Caitlin isn’t the child of the Demon King?’

The nature of the lycanthropes meant it was possible that Chris was already king of the lycanthropes . It was likely that Queen Elaine had told him her secret so that he could protect Caitlin .

“Then I will be leaving now . Shutra, have a good night’s sleep . ”

Caitlin said while getting up . In-gong also stood up and replied,

“Yes, Noona should sleep well also . Thank you for the last few days . ”

It might have been a few days but it only felt like minutes .

“Goodnight . ”

Carack also got up and bowed to Seira, who said goodbye back . During the last fortnight, In-gong and Caitlin had been training together, so they were forced to become friendly with each other .

Once Caitlin and Seira left the tent, In-gong lay down . Carack shook his head and while removing the food baskets, he said,

"At least lie down on the bed, the bed . And you should wash up first . ”

"Yes, it has been a few days . I don’t know what I did . ”

"Well, rest well . I will check up on Prince once in awhile . ”

Carack smiled as he left the tent with the food baskets . In-gong closed his eyes instead of following Carack’s nagging and fell into a deep sleep .

&

Chris returned the afternoon after In-gong finished his special training with Caitlin . His face was bright, so it seemed like his negotiations with the lizardmen had gone well .

Felicia returned to the base in the evening of the same day Chris returned . Unlike Chris, her face was upset but they couldn’t delay any longer .

"The princes and princesses are impressive . ”

The next morning, Vandal said goodbye to the party that was ready to leave .

Chris faced Vandal with the dignity of a prince while Felicia arrogantly said goodbye to Vandal . Caitlin smiled honestly like always .

Vandal said goodbye to In-gong last . He stared down at In-gong and extended a finger .

"I am looking forward to seeing you again, 9th Prince . ”

"I am as well, Vandal . ”

In-gong shook Vandal’s finger . It was a brief goodbye but it seemed like Vandal was very impressed with him .

‘Someday . ’

Vandal was expecting In-gong’s growth . Then what if they met again? He might be strong enough to acquire Vandal .

In-gong nodded energetically at the thought . Felicia, who was staring at them, gave a strange smile .

“What?”

"No, it is like seeing a connection between a boy and a wild animal . ”

After that, she summoned the phantom steeds for the party .

&

The return journey was fairly simple .

Felicia summoned the phantom steed to return to a transfer formation, where the transfer magicians returned them to the Demon King’s Palace .

There were transfer formations installed in various parts of the Demon World to allow for long range space leaps .

In Knight Saga, it had been written that the transfer formations were a key that allowed the Demon King to control the entire Demon World .

The closest transfer formation was far from the base, so they had to travel there using the phantom steeds . It was a short flight, so they hadn’t considered staying at a hostel . They had to set up camp at night but it felt like a camping trip without any discomfort .

'It is good if everyone uses this time to get to know each other better . ’

The relationship between Chris and Felicia was still ambiguous, but there was fairly big progress between Felicia and Caitlin .

And on the third day, the party arrived at the tower where the transfer formation was installed .

The tower was small and the number of people staying there was smaller .

As four children of the Demon King appeared at once, the tower’s manager became frantic but Chris handled him . Felicia stepped forward and directly manipulated the transfer formation .

‘Aren’t both of them strangely excited?’

Chris was slightly more subtle but Felicia’s emotion was obvious . As first she didn’t want to go back, but now she wanted to return as soon as possible .

Thanks to Chris and Felicia, In-gong’s party only stayed at the tower for 20 minutes . He prepared his mind for moving through the transfer formation .

In-gong closed his eyes reflexively when moving through the transfer formation . Unlike the dwarf portal, he felt the movements clearly . It was like experiencing a rollercoaster ride .

It was big . The tower that they moved to was much bigger and filled with gorgeous decorations .

The biggest difference was the number of people gathered in front of the binary formation .

“Felicia unni!”

"Noonim, I have been waiting for you . ”

"You're still beautiful, Felicia . "

Boys and girl in the mid-teens and mid-20s flocked to Felicia like the fan club of an idol .

"Hung, you came here again . ”

Felicia scoffed but her ears and cheeks were red .

‘Are they her subordinates?’

It seemed like three or four of them were children of the concubines while the rest were subordinates .

“Your Highness, Prince Chris . ”

“Caitlin, it has been a long time . ”

There were fewer people compared to Felicia, but some still came to Caitlin and Chris .

'Is there no one?’

In-gong didn’t have anyone come to greet him at the transfer formation . Most of them weren’t looking at In-gong, but a few people smiled at him .

‘It is easy to understand . ’

He roughly knew what type of treatment Shutra received here .

‘Okay, things will change from now on . ’

In-gong took a deep breath and straightened his posture .

This was a house, a battlefield and a place of conflict .

He had arrived at the Demon King’s Palace .