Raising the Princess to Overcome Death

Chapter 135: Engagement - Feather

135. Engagement - Feather

After returning from the hunt, Leo shut himself in his room. Lena asked, "We're going to drink with the great warriors tonight. Want to join us?" but he declined, citing fatigue.

‘What on earth happened?’

The beast, Noguhwa, had disappeared.

Since they couldn’t find its tracks, Leo convinced Lena to descend into the valley.

But in the valley where Noguhwa absolutely should have been...

- Yip! Yip!

There was a family of foxes.

In front of a smaller burrow, a pair of white foxes growled, baring their teeth.

When the fox cubs inside the burrow poked their heads out, Lena clapped her hands in delight, saying how cute they were.“Wow- look, Leo. There are cubs too.”

Leo felt suffocated.

This had never happened before.

Every time, Lena had found the beast’s tracks and alerted the hunting team. In the previous round, they had captured it together using traps...

[ Achievement: Beast Hunt - '2', Mana is faintly infused into your body. ]

‘Could it be that this happened because we caught Noguhwa last time? But why? I've killed people before, and they were still around...’

Leo Dexter had no way of knowing why Noguhwa was gone or understanding its mechanics.

Unlike Minseo, he found it hard to grasp the concept of a ‘game.’ However, he did understand that they were in serious trouble.

A war was imminent. Lena, who had gone hunting, would become a warrior, and according to the tribe’s customs, as the daughter of a great warrior, she was certain to participate in the war. Then...

Herman Forte, the Swordmaster.

She would meet him. Minseo had been certain it was an {event}, something inevitable.

“How many are there? One, two... three cubs. Ah, they’re so cute.”

Lena extended her hand towards them from afar. The wild foxes weren’t going to approach and lick her, but she smiled happily.

“At least the old man wasn’t entirely lying. There are foxes.”

“...”

Leo was at a loss for words, and Lena teased him.

“Dummy. Who told you to believe the senile old man? What are you going to do with all those skewers?”

“...”

“Leo!”

“Huh? Oh. What?”

“I’m asking what you're going to do.”

“Do what?”

“The skewers, dummy. You brought so many... What? A beast? Grandpa Boris’s boasting is something. We came down here for nothing. Let’s go back. Or should we catch them?”

Lena pointed at the fox family, but it seemed like a joke. Soon, the two climbed back up the valley.

The pair of foxes, who had built a humble home, watched them warily before disappearing into the burrow with their cubs.

Leo didn’t know how they finished the hunt and returned home. Pale and shut in his room, he held his head.

‘Damn. Damn. Damn.’

The warriors who went hunting with Dehor were pleased with their good haul, but Leo didn’t care about that.

He had no idea what to do.

Unprecedented situations like this had occurred before. Each time, Minseo had found a way to understand the situation and devised a plan.

But Minseo wasn’t here now. He was lost in memories of horrifically killing tens of thousands, rendered catatonic.

Leo was at a loss.

Pacing his room, Leo Dexter thought for a while before hastily heading outside. He ran towards the village square.

There was no market today. In the square, Ainar tribe warriors were diligently butchering the game they had caught the day before.

Of course, Lena wasn’t there.

It was only natural for the hunting team to rest for a few days while the other team handled the butchering.

The merchant group was in one corner of the square.

Seven wagons lined up. They had been here for weeks, having sold all their goods but unable to leave due to the blizzard.

Without any inquiries, Leo used {Tracking} to find the person he was looking for. He called out to the warriors lounging idly under blankets in the empty wagons.

“Do you want to go hunt a beast with me? Are you a warrior?”

A rather tall female warrior (though still shorter than Leo) looked him up and down.

They were warriors with elaborate feathered hair ties. Leo had seen them recruiting people to undergo the great warrior’s trial when he visited the market earlier.

Leo couldn’t understand exactly what was happening, but he felt he knew why these events were occurring.

Because Noguhwa had disappeared.

Thinking back, when they caught Noguhwa in the last round, Leo had noticed a long gash on its side.

That healing wound was probably...

Leo, eyeing the pair of battle axes leaning against one side of the wagon, spoke up.

“Does that matter?”

“Not that it matters much... But why? You don't seem like a warrior. Do you even have the skills for the trial?”

Another female warrior asked.

They had the same black hair and thick upper lips, making it clear they were sisters. The woman who spoke was shorter, likely the younger sister.

Judging age by height was silly (Prince Leo, who was a year older than the other Leos, was the shortest among them), but there was a certain feel to it.

“Do you need a reason to take the trial? And as for skills, I'm more than qualified. Better than you lot, even.”

Leo provoked them. Warriors tended to look down on those who lacked confidence, so there was no need for humility, provided the skills backed it up.

Besides that, Leo naturally spoke informally to people older than him.

“Oh really? Let's see your skills then. You look the part, but you seem too... noble-like to be convincing.”

[ Quest: Noble Butcher 50/50 - {Nobility} skill level has increased. ]

[ Quest: Traitor 10/10 - {Royal Blood} skill level has increased. ]

Though it seemed oddly emphasized, the younger sister intervened.

“Sis, we agreed to do the test all at once. Hey, come at noon when the 'Blue Moon' rises.”

“I don’t know when that is.”

Northern warriors often counted days by the color of the moon.

Simply put, it was a lunar calendar.

What was unique about the moon was that its color changed daily.

Its shape went through phases like the crescent, half-moon, full moon, and new moon, but it also shifted colors, from blue to red and back again.

Long ago, after the Arcaea Kingdom established the solar calendar, so-called civilized people no longer counted days by the moon's shape and color.

However, barbarians, especially northern warriors, projected their superstitions onto the moon's color. They called the blue full moon ‘Blue Moon’ and used it to mark dates.

“You’re not a warrior after all. It’s the day after tomorrow. We’ll gather other warriors then, and if no one impresses, we’ll forget the whole thing. Whether we go or not, we'll decide then.”

I agree. It would be troublesome if your skills were poor. Leo nodded and asked,

“I have a question before that. Do you know where the beast is?”

“Of course. Why do you think we’re gathering people? That's obvious.”

The older sister shrugged.

“Where is it? If it's too far, that’ll be a problem.”

“Not too far. We saw it on the way here. It’s a three-day journey, and it’s called ‘Snow Horned Deer.’ It looks magnificent. By the way, we claim the horns. We should get credit for finding it.”

“Fine. I’ll come back the day after tomorrow. Can I bring one more person?”

“Sure. But only five people can participate in the great warrior’s trial. So, you can only bring three others.”

Without responding, Leo turned his back.

At least they found the beast. The north was rich in beasts, so he had expected to find another. It was fortunate.

No, there was no time to consider it fortunate. If Noguhwa had disappeared because they had caught it in the last round...

Leo felt a chill run down his spine.

  *

“What? You want to take the great warrior’s trial?”

Lena, who was lounging in her room, sleepily asked back.

Having returned from her first hunt and become a proper warrior of the Ainar tribe, she had drunk a lot last night.

She no longer had to mind her mother, so she celebrated becoming a warrior by drinking heavily with her father, leading to this state.

“Ow- my head. But Leo, bring me some water. Why did Dad make his daughter drink so much? Even the other great warriors did. They poured two extra glasses beside me, like they wanted me to drink...”

Leo was a bit taken aback by her complaint. ‘Isn't it also her fault for accepting and drinking it all?’ he thought as he brought her water instead of tea.

It wasn’t the time for jokes.

After drinking the cold water and regaining her senses, Lena spoke.

“Suddenly taking the great warrior’s trial, what’s that about?”

Leo explained the situation.

Since he couldn't mention the yet-to-come {war}, he talked about the warriors in the merchant group taking the trial, but Lena cut him off abruptly.

“Are you doing this because you couldn’t catch the beast last time? You tried using skewers for traps then, but traps are banned in the great warrior’s trial. It won’t be easy. Who knows how skilled they are.”

“They seemed competent to me. Let’s hunt the beast. Come on, taking the trial isn’t a big deal. If you complete the great warrior’s trial right after becoming a warrior, you’ll surely be hailed as a legendary warrior...”

Though Lena spoke negatively, there was room for persuasion in her tone, so Leo pressed on.

Fortunately, Lena seemed interested in the great warrior’s trial.

Perhaps because she had drunk with the great warriors of the Ainar tribe, including Dehor, last night.

The great warriors likely showered Lena with praise, boosting her confidence.

However, that confidence probably came from not having seen a beast yet.

In the previous round, after seeing Noguhwa, Lena had expressed concerns despite being told how to capture it and laying traps.

Hunting a beast was difficult. Though they had caught Noguhwa twice, it was because they knew how to hunt it, and there were two knights to take down Apodon. They used traps both times.

So, the great warrior’s trial, which prohibited the use of traps, would be much harder.

Lena could get hurt, and I could die.

‘But...’

If they failed to catch the beast, they would have to go to war. If they went to war, they would surely die.

Leo Dexter continued to coax her.

Like Minseo often did, he sweet-talked her, causing Lena’s ears to twitch with interest.

“Fine. But I need to see what kind of people those friends you mentioned are first.”

Succeeding in capturing Lena’s interest, Leo sighed in relief.

Like Minseo often did, he let out a deep sigh filled with worries and frustrations.

The constraints of the round.

The threat of death.

Leo Dexter had different but similar constraints.

This time, it seemed they could avoid the {war} by catching the beast, ‘Snow Horned Deer.’ But if that beast disappeared in the next round... what then?

Just as the priest event at the cathedral was forced in the childhood friend scenario, it seemed impossible to avoid war in the future.

Then in the next round, Lena Ainar and I...

At that moment, Lena, sensing his worries, took Leo’s hand. She led him to the backyard and asked for a sparring match.

She had felt something during the hunt.

Naturally, she wasn’t a match for him and was easily defeated.

Lena, looking frustrated, muttered, “Damn it,” then started training again, her hangover forgotten.