Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 418



Only Noblemtl

418. Lee Seong-jin’s Exploration Journal (7)

In a dark room where not even moonlight shines in well.

A bright quest window suddenly appears, flashing in the air and revealing a strong presence.

[Sudden Quest? History is made at night! new!]

[Quest Level: E]

[Most people think that after finishing their busy work, it is time to rest and prepare for tomorrow. But did you know? The wise and diligent people never rest their bodies even at this moment when everyone else is asleep? The passion of those few people may be the true driving force that creates the great history of the world.]

[Reward: 150 P Cash]

[*This product is available in the Pangea Chronicles store window.]

The first thing that came to Owen’s mind at that moment was the question of compensation.

‘What? Why did Status Window set the cash price so generously?’

The next thought that occurred to me was that I had no idea what the quest was asking of me.

‘What does this have to do with me? What is the driving force of history?’

Owen stared at the glittering window with his mouth shut.

I had a feeling that, like most of the recent quests, this one might have something to do with Mores. The status window guy was strangely vague when it came to him.

‘By the way, what on earth do you want me to do?’

It was then that Owen read the window over and over again, mulling over its contents.

ping!

Suddenly, a faint light pours down from afar, accompanied by a small sound effect.

I absentmindedly looked out the window and, sure enough, there was a thin pillar of light rising across the night sky in the distance. That must be the destination of the quest.

‘… So he’s telling me to go there first.’

Owen jumped to his feet.

‘This is good because I can’t sleep. I should spend my time doing quests or something.’

But just as Owen was leaving the room, carrying an axe,

Sharp!

Again a small window appears, blocking his view.

[It is recommended to activate the following skills to progress the quest.]

[‘Aura Concealment’ activated – Consumes 2P cash per minute]

[For the event only, skill proficiency will be applied at the maximum proficiency, S-Rank. Would you like to activate the skill?]

[Trigger / Activate]

Owen blinked.

‘What? There’s only one choice anyway. Somehow the rewards are higher than the rank!’

If you do this, you will lose all your skills if you receive cash.

‘It’s fatal, Mr. Status Window.’

However, it was rare for the status window to force the use of a skill. This meant that this skill was absolutely necessary to complete the current quest.

Owen sighed and pressed the button.

[*Activate* / Activate]

Slurp-

Soon Owen’s presence completely disappeared. It was a perfect aura concealment befitting his S-rank proficiency.

While Owen quietly made his way out of the lodge, most of the group was fast asleep, oblivious to anything.

Only Captain Bruno got up from his bed for a moment and looked out the window with slightly worried eyes.

* * *

Tick ​​tock.

[00:57:22]

The cache is consumed quickly with the timer.

[Cumulative consumption? 116P cash]

Luckily, Owen arrived at his destination a little early and tried to cancel the skill before the cash that was supposed to drop as a reward was completely depleted.

But the status window was completely static, just showing a timer without any new options.

Tick ​​tock.

[01:00:01]

‘… It looks like I still need to use my skills.’

Owen eventually gave up on canceling the skill and stood in the designated spot, waiting for the right moment.

[01:05:18]

The place he arrived was a quiet alley on the outskirts of Regina. Unlike the bright downtown area, this deserted place was overly eerie, with not a single ray of moonlight shining through.

[Cumulative consumption? 138P cash]

‘Even if I receive compensation, I don’t think I’ll have anything left?’

Just when he was starting to worry that the cash he was consuming was exceeding the reward, Owen opened his eyes wide as he noticed a small light flickering in the distance.

‘…huh?’

Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a red light coming from a lamp.

Then, the silhouettes of three people walking, relying on that small light, come into view.

‘What about them?’

The distance was quite far, but Owen, who had focused his eyes as much as possible with his auror, could soon make out the figure of the person walking in front.

A slightly smaller body compared to the other two, and delicate facial features faintly revealed by the red light.

It was Mores.

‘Then that’s it! It was all a lie that I was going to rest at the villa. I had some urgent business to attend to, so I decided to leave the group and move.’

Then, it was obvious who the sturdy man following right behind was. It was his older brother, Martha, who never left Mores’ side.

The other person was a stranger, but at first glance she looked like a tall woman.

Owen stared at the three people slowly approaching him, lost in thought.

‘Well. Thanks to Mr. Status Window, I managed to follow you here, but what do I do now? You’ve already decided to leave me alone, but even if I say I’ll follow you now, will Mores listen to me? … .’

It was at that moment that another small notification window suddenly popped up before Owen’s eyes.

[The event has ended, and the skill will be automatically unlocked after a while.]

[Countdown begins until skill ends.]

…what?

[5]

‘Hey, wait a minute, Status Window! If I release the skill now… …!’

Huh?

As Owen was panicking, Mores, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped walking and looked around as if he sensed something.

[4]

“Your Majesty? Why are you suddenly like this?”

I can hear Brother Marsain’s voice.

“There is someone hiding nearby, making no sound, Sir Marsain.”

“yes?”

[3]

Mores, who had been looking around like that, soon stares straight at where Owen is standing.

Gulp.

Owen swallowed dryly at the tension that was suffocating him.

‘Surely you didn’t notice this, did you?’

No matter how much I thought about it, it was impossible. The S-rank ‘Aura Concealment’ skill clearly hadn’t been unlocked yet.

[2]

Sreung!

Oh, was it not a mistake after all? I can hear the sound of a sword being drawn without hesitation.

While Owen was startled, Mores came running towards him in one hand, holding a nutcracker in the other and a red lamp in the other.

“lowering!”

“lowering?!”

[1]

The other two men ran after him in shock, but by then Mores was within arm’s length of Owen.

In an instant, images of pale blond hair, dirty with dust, and a young face covered in soot rush before my eyes.

Perhaps he was trying to disguise himself as a slum dweller. However, Mores’ face had an innate elegance that could not be hidden by soot alone.

And the inanimate, murderous intent that lingers in that familiar face, without any hint of hostility.

Owen was completely frozen, helplessly taking in the surreal sight.

[0]

At that moment, the countdown in the status window ended.

Pot!

As Owen’s presence was released from the skill, Mores froze in place, his eyes wide.

“…Owen?”

The boy had, arguably, the most surprised expression on Owen’s face he had ever seen in a while.

“What? You suddenly came from somewhere without any notice… And how did you know about this place?”

Even as he asked that question, Mores’ sword stopped almost in front of Owen’s nose.

Owen, who faced the eerie blade with a hardened face, realized that if Mr. Status Window had released the skill just a little later, the sword would have stabbed his torso without hesitation.

* * *

“I almost got into trouble. When His Majesty Mores suddenly rushed out, I was so anxious… … .”

The masonic man with the giant hat shook his head. He was currently wearing shabby clothes that did not match his gorgeous blond hair at all.

“Hello, Your Majesty the Imperial Prince.”

Beside him, a woman with dark skin like Barsha bowed her head. Judging from her sleepwear, she seemed to be Mores’ informant.

“… … .”

And standing between them was the sullen-faced Mores. Judging from his tattered cloak, he seemed to have tried to disguise himself as a local. Of course, Owen didn’t think his disguise was very successful.

“By the way, your Majesty. How on earth did you know about this place?”

Owen answered Marsain’s question with a suspicious tone, trying not to arouse suspicion. He couldn’t bring himself to say that he had come on a quest.

“That… It just so happened, Brother Marsain. I couldn’t sleep so I was walking down the street, and then I happened to see the red light of the fairy from afar.”

“Hmm… By chance.”

Oh. I think this has actually made Brother Marsain more suspicious.

“But your Majesty. When did you learn to conceal yourself? Not only I, but even our skilled informants were completely unaware of your hiding.”

It was simply an event driven by the status window. But that couldn’t be explained directly either, so Owen racked his brain to make it look as awkward as possible.

“I’ve been doing all sorts of things in the South, so I’ve been able to naturally use the Aura concealment. However, I haven’t mastered it yet, so it’s not always possible.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Oh. It seems like it would have been better to keep my mouth shut. My suspicions grew deeper.

But somehow Owen’s words were being taken, and suddenly Mores’ informant staggered slightly on the spot. She looked as if she had suffered a great mental shock.

“How can this be! Even without proper training, if you have talent, you can hide your Aura? Is that so? This dirty world where even geniuses get everything!”

Judging from the faint sound of her muttering, it seemed as if she had momentarily forgotten that she was in the presence of royalty. It seemed that the psychological damage had been considerable.

But unlike the reactions of those two people, Mores, who was in charge of them, didn’t seem to be curious about Owen at all. He simply confirmed his intentions briefly.

“So, are you going with me?”

“… Uh, yeah.”

“Okay, then.”

In response to Owen’s answer, Mores gave a short reply and then turned away.

“Since we’ve already met, follow me. Oh, and don’t forget to put soot on your face.”

Because of this, Owen was the one who was more embarrassed.

‘That’s it? That’s all you want to know?’

Chuck chuck.

Owen’s expression is filled with complicated emotions as he looks at the boy walking ahead.

The attitude of already knowing everything without having to hear a detailed explanation. Doesn’t it remind you of a young mountain goat that confidently leads the party members without wavering in any situation?

-I’ll give you a more detailed explanation later, but for now, let’s just finish the dungeon. It’s still a time challenge.

If you think about it, that newbie guy back then also acted like he already knew a lot about Owen without having to explain anything. That’s probably why he approached Owen so strangely and readily handed him that precious ice heart.

-I don’t need it, but Owen, don’t you? You’re meeting a goddess, aren’t you?

And that’s not all. Out of nowhere, he came to Owen with a limited edition rabbit eye patch and proudly handed it to him.

-Newbie, how did you do this… … .

-Oh, there is a way.

Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I wonder why I didn’t think deeply about the identity of a newbie at the time.

-Now that I think about it, it’s really strange. Why is it that the more I look at you, the more I feel like you’re familiar?

Owen felt so familiar with the newbie!

‘No matter how much I think about it, there’s only one answer. As expected, Mores is… … !’

Just as Owen was thinking that far ahead, Mores, who had walked without hesitation and arrived in front of a shabby building, opened his mouth.

“Owen.”

“…huh?”

Owen, who had been lost in thought, answered a beat late, and Mores turned around and urged him in a gentle voice.

“Remember well. From now on, you are Barshain.”

“… Huh?”

“You have just fled to the Empire for religious reasons. As such, you do not yet know a word of the Imperial language. So from now on, no matter what I ask you, you will answer in Varsha. Do you understand?”

“… … ?”

“okay?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Owen nodded absentmindedly at Mores’ firm attitude.

But if Owen had known what would happen later, he would never have answered so easily.

As Mores strode into the building, he was soon confronted by a gatekeeper with a fierce look on his face. Then he spoke to him calmly.

“I have come to deliver the goods. You must be one of those who have converted to the underground sect.”

For a moment Owen doubted his ears.

‘Huh? An underground church?’

Hey, wait a minute! Isn’t that the power of heresy? Is that something you, as the prince of the Holy Empire, can confidently say?

But it didn’t end there.

Mores nonchalantly adds that if the Inquisition knew about it, they would immediately bring him to trial for the Inquisition. And he does so while pointing directly at Owen.

“I intend to use the free underpass to the north. I intend to welcome this heretic from Varsha as a brother in penitence. So, please call your superiors quickly.”

…what?

Mores, wait a minute! What did you say?!