#176 Footsteps of a Hero (3)
The moment the topic of escape came out of Hesperon’s mouth, Princess Riley unconsciously looked around in every direction, putting herself on guard.
It had already been nearly two months since she had been imprisoned here in the Immortal Castle.
In the political arena, where enemies and allies could switch places in a single day the moment one let one’s guard down, two months was a fatally long time. Naturally, she, as the head of a faction, could not help but grow anxious.
It was also true that she was worried Lee Se-ah might overexert herself trying to rescue her quickly and get hurt in the process.
So it was only natural that she reacted sensitively to the word escape.
There was a simple soundproofing barrier around them for now, but this was the stronghold of the Immortal King. How far such a low-grade level of security would be accepted here was… ‘Wait.’ But her reaction lasted only a moment.
Soon, the thought crossed her mind that the one who had brought it up had only crossed over into this world a little over a month ago.
Hadn’t he, until just a short while ago, been in the middle of learning magic from her? ‘Still, he isn’t the type to suddenly make that kind of joke. And perhaps it really might be true…’ In the end, rather than truly believing him, all she showed was a subtle expression filled with the desire to believe.
“…How?”
“Oh? You don’t seem to believe me?”
“Hoo, I wish I could believe you too. I’ve only been here for two months and it’s already this hard, but if things go wrong, I may have to stay here for years.”
At first, since there was nothing she could do about her situation, she had tried to think of it as a vacation and keep her mind as relaxed as possible.
But given the circumstances she was in, even the mind control that was almost a kind of self-hypnosis was slowly reaching its limit.
If Hesperon had not been here, she probably would not have lasted for nearly these two months.
Teaching him magic and focusing on something else had been a great help in turning her eyes away from reality. …Though now that he had even surpassed her level, the future only looked bleak.
As if he understood how she felt, he opened his mouth with a playful smile.
“Come to think of it, I still haven’t told you what my unique skill is, have I?”
At those words, Riley’s eyes widened, and she slowly nodded.
It was something she had once asked about in passing out of curiosity, but at the time she had not received a clear answer.
“…What is it?”
Originally, prying into another person’s abilities was rude in itself, so after that she had simply waited until he told her on his own…
And apparently, he intended to tell her now.
At her expectant reaction, Hesperon showed her through action without saying this or that.
The ability of something he claimed was… his unique skill.
He lightly stretched his hand into the air, and before long, a skewer threaded with appetizing meat was in his grasp.
“…A skewer? …No, a subspace?”
At that, Riley unconsciously made an awkward expression, then focused on it again as her nose twitched despite herself.
The meals provided in this castle were not particularly bad, but that did not mean they were good enough to satisfy her, who had been a member of the imperial family.
The appetizing meat glistened as though freshly cooked, and the stimulating aroma rising with the hot steam mercilessly provoked her salivary glands. ‘Judging by its state of preservation, it certainly doesn’t seem to be a simple subspace, but still, how does he intend to escape with an ability like that…’ “Here.”
Contrary to those negative thoughts, she accepted the skewer Hesperon handed her as if entranced, then suddenly realized what she had done.
But there was nothing she could do about food already in her hand.
In any case, he was not someone she needed to put on airs with at this point, so she simply did as her desire dictated and took a large bite of the meat.
The smoky aroma burrowed into her nose, the springy texture filled her mouth, and explosive meat juices burst out from between the crushed fibers under her teeth, blending together with the sweet sauce.
By the standards of someone like her, who had tasted all kinds of delicacies from land and sea, it could not be called a particularly refined dish, but compared to the food she had eaten here all this time, it was overwhelmingly superior.
To be a little more honest, personally, this was far more to her taste than most high-class dishes.
“…Don’t tell me you brought this from Earth?”
“No, I didn’t take it out of a subspace. It’s food that exists somewhere in this world. I merely paid a certain price and called it here.”
To be precise, it was a skewer procured from “Dancing with Orcs,” a restaurant that had been established with investment from the Hubert Company, which was attempting a many-pronged expansion, and had since become a specialty of Tarak.
The seasonings and sauces used in it were from Earth, but the food itself had indeed been made in this world.
“A summoning-type ability? So that’s why you were so interested in summoning magic?”
“It’s a little different… Well, I suppose you could say it’s similar?”
At his ambiguous answer, a faint crease formed between Riley’s brows.
The fact that he had been subtly attempting to speak more casually with her since earlier was just as irritating.
She revealed her displeasure by fiddling with the stick of the skewer she had already finished eating.
“To be precise, it’s not just that I can summon things. It’s closer to an ability that lets me break free of spatial restrictions under specific conditions. Also, perhaps thanks to the enlightenment I gained while learning magic this time, the skill evolved, and I became able to use it in a different way.”
At that, as if gauging her mood, he once again began explaining politely.
The sight was annoying, but compared to what he said next, that much was not very important.
“…That is, by leaping across space.”
Immediately after he finished speaking, Riley’s eyes flew wide open, and her heart began to pound violently.
If spatial movement was truly possible, then escape was more than plausible.
Judging from the fact that he had summoned the skewer, it also seemed there was no problem activating the ability even inside this Immortal King’s castle.
Hesperon looked at her two eyes, which had begun to shine with hope, and nodded in satisfaction. ‘Originally, I was planning to summon even a complete Harley and get out, but the level of this Immortal Castle is too high to break through head-on. As expected, sneaking away is much cleaner and more convincing.’
So he had roughly mixed together “Avatar Cloud” and “Footsteps of a Hero” and created a suitable spatial-type skill.
Since it was a hastily improvised skill, he had not yet thought of its name or its conditions, but he intended to gloss over the details by saying they were secret anyway, so it did not matter much.
“Then, even right now…!”
“Ah, but there is a small problem with that.”
However, he first doused her expectations with cold water in a firm tone.
He said that perhaps because he was still lacking, it was a little difficult to move together with another person.
At those words, Riley’s face drooped in disappointment once more.
Her expression, changing in such colorful ways as if riding a roller coaster up and down, was amusing, but he did not show it and slowly continued.
“There is one thing I thought of, though…”
Though they had shared hardships together in this extreme environment, strictly speaking, it was still only a bond of a little over a month.
A shallow relationship that could be severed at any time and in any way once they left this place. ‘I can’t just leave it like that. If Riley returns, she’ll become the most likely next emperor, and as long as I stick by her side, all sorts of opportunities will pour in. The connection with Lee Se-ah that will arise as an awakened one will also be helpful.’
That was why what he needed was to leave behind a link by force through this opportunity.
“It’s still a bit difficult with a complete stranger, but if we were bound by a contract, wouldn’t that raise the possibility a little more?”
“…A contract?”
Fortunately, contract magic was a general-purpose spell that even those at their level could use.
Since its performance increased the higher the caster’s level was, in the opposite case, one could not expect that great of an effect…
“Would contract magic between magicians only at our level really have that much binding force? I don’t think it would be of much use.”
“Ah, that will be fine.”
Hesperon smiled meaningfully.
Because he possessed a skill called “String of Bond,” which bound the caster and the target more strongly together and even provided additional correction during a contract. ‘I didn’t think I’d end up using it like this.’
Thus, only a few days before the scheduled day of the great escape.
It was the moment Hesperon, a novice awakened one who had crossed into another world only a little over a month ago, succeeded in firmly sticking a straw into a powerful heir of the world’s strongest nation.
***
The New Kingdom of Thalia suffered various growing pains amid rapid change.
No matter how many circumstances one anticipated, how many countermeasures one devised, and how much one prepared in advance, there was no way a change to the foundation of an entire nation could take place without any pain at all.
The royal castle located in the center of Thalaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Thalia.
Inside the splendid royal office whose master had changed not long ago, “Heinz Hybrid II” frowned as he examined the documents sent up from below.
“Tsk, as expected, things aren’t going to go smoothly just because I want them to.”
He had made extensive preparations in advance to create a country where vampires and humans could coexist, but affairs of the world did not always flow according to one’s wishes.
Seeing conflicts between humans resisting change and vampires distorting his intentions being reported from all over, it seemed a considerable amount of time would still be needed before this chaotic political situation could be stabilized. ‘Still, it’s a relief that there hasn’t been much noise from the officials’ side, since I paid thorough attention to them. If even that side had been a problem, things could have become quite troublesome.’
In return, the excessive workload pouring onto them was grinding down public officials, but the arrangements he had prepared in advance for such times were now shining brightly.
Starting with fatigue recovery potions, then awakening potions to chase away sleep, vitality potions to boost life force, and all sorts of other health potions besides!
To think he had prepared this much for the sake of humans, who were weak compared to vampires. Was this not truly the foresight befitting a wise monarch who thought of everyone?
After praising himself like that, Heinz soon rummaged through the documents again and stroked his chin. ‘Still, vampires really are more convenient to work to the bone. I have to control the population, so I can’t increase them indiscriminately, but for the time being I should keep prioritizing applicants on the civil servant side.’
Although he was trying to avoid discrimination against humans as much as possible for the sake of normal national administration, it could not be helped that the vampires, as the ruling class, received somewhat more benefits.
Most of all, unlike humans, whom he could not control perfectly, the vampires subordinate to Heinz could not refuse his orders.
But benefits were only benefits. In the New Kingdom of Thalia, which advocated strict meritocracy, even a pure human could rise to a high position as long as they had ability. ‘That way, work becomes easier. If idiots occupy positions, I’ll be the only one getting needlessly exhausted.’
Practical affairs were entrusted to capable individuals regardless of race, while vampires who had no talent in that area were made into inspectors, regional public security heads, and the like, then spread throughout the country.
The nobles of the old kingdom, who could generally be called the intellectual class, had also held government posts, but among them there were quite a few commoners who were quickly standing out as well.
Discovering such people was also the duty of the vampire inspectors, so the kingdom would likely stabilize quickly as time passed. ‘The problem is right now. Humans are one thing, but I didn’t think problems would erupt from the vampire side like this too.’
He thought he had made them understand sufficiently in advance, but it seemed the elitism and sense of superiority that had accumulated over many long years were naturally manifesting themselves.
In such cases, he would first issue a warning, and if it was still not corrected and the same thing happened again…
There would be no choice but to turn that fellow into material for blood crystal.
[Lord, Lady Briki has arrived. Shall I let her in?]
At that moment, a telepathic message came from the Royal Guard stationed throughout the castle.
Briki, another Sacred Blood of Hybrid who had left on a certain mission, had returned.
[Let her in.]
And of course, since a Sacred Blood had personally acted, there was no need to mention the importance of the mission she had been assigned. ‘I can’t leave an existence on the level of a Sacred Blood idle. Especially since there is no one more suitable for this kind of work.’
Yes, Hybrid’s next objective was.
An unavoidable task so long as they bore the name “Auterica Vampire Clan Alliance.”
It was none other than the unification of all vampire clans across the continent into one.