MPNS Ch 29

Chapter 29

Lucien did not realize that on the way here to deal with the magical beasts, while hunting them, and even during the cleanup after the hunt, he had been thinking about Nikiel the entire time.

He also failed to notice that he kept replaying in his head the moments when Nikiel’s honey-colored hair swayed and brought with it the faint scent of lotus blossoms, or the subtle thrill he’d felt when those blue eyes — like a clear lake — looked up at him.

In the meantime, Jikari circled in the air twice — a sign that the Yollok had been dealt with as well. Raymon pulled the sword he had driven into the ground back into his hand.

Wielding the enormous weapon, he let his presence swell in an instant and spoke.

“Our mutt hasn’t shown up at all. I really want to hear the reason for that.”

Lucien, who had been lost in thoughts of things as trivial as Nikiel’s fingernails with their sheen like inlaid pink seashells, let his gaze lose focus at Raymon’s words.

This was because an image came to mind — of a massive reindeer locked in combat with a wolf. If he got caught up in the clash between those two, his already worn nerves might be completely burned out.

Besides, Lucien had been out and about far too much today. He was beginning to long to return to the darkness of his snake’s den-like laboratory, to pore over magic tomes and commit them to parchment.

With a wan expression, Lucien bid Raymon a farewell so low it would not be heard, then turned away. As Raymon said, Yullan had not shown himself at the site of the monster’s appearance, so discovering the truth of that would be Yullan’s affair alone.

He decided that until the cause was unveiled, he would shut himself in his lab and contemplate… not Nikiel — no, rather the magical research he had been pursuing lately.

To have a magical beast appear right before his eyes — and yet be unable to see it?

Despite trying to resign himself, Nikiel’s heart bled with frustration. It was similar to the feeling of discovering that a batch of exquisite experimental samples had arrived, only to realize they were for the lab next door, not his own.

But a gentleman knows when to bide his time. Nikiel reminded himself that today’s retreat would be tomorrow’s hundred-step advance.

If he suddenly pushed himself forward now, not only would Lucien be looking at him with contempt again, but Nikiel’s own life might be endangered.

Wouldn’t that be the same as throwing himself, completely unprepared, into the jaws of a predator? And he was determined — if nothing else, he would avoid a senseless death.

Dying once had been more than enough.

Still, he could not completely give up and do nothing. At the very least, he could head to the main palace and glean some scraps of information about what had happened.

Nikiel didn’t hesitate. But first, he would have to deal with the two dimwitted grunts currently “escorting” him as if under arrest.

“You there, sirs.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Under normal circumstances, he knew these two would be picking their noses and dozing off, but after Lucien had been through earlier, they were now so stiff with military discipline that it was an eyesore.

‘Honestly… wouldn’t it be nice if you treated me like this once in a while too? You obey a duke’s words as if they were law, but your prince’s words are worth nothing to you?’

Nikiel was displeased with the two guards posted at the Prince’s Palace who ignored him. So he smiled all the more sweetly.

“You gentlemen understand that Duke Turun ordered you to attend to me with the utmost care just now. But, now that we are within the grounds of the Prince’s Palace, I am already safe. There’s no need to treat me as if you were hauling a criminal away.”

“But, Your Highness—”

“Or… perhaps you’re acting like this because you want to… do something with me? Now that I think about it, your handling is rather suspicious. When simple guidance would do, why are you linking arms so tightly? Are you both dreaming of some courtly romance with me?”

“N-nonsense, Your Highness…!”

“Then let go!”

Startled, the guards quickly drew their arms away. They had practically been leading him along in deference to Lucien’s command, yet if some rumor about an affair with Nikiel — one of Lucien’s potential betrothals — were to arise, they would never be able to face him again.

A palace guard never knew when he might rise through the ranks into the Royal Guard, and then he would be serving in the presence of the highest-ranking nobles — Lucien among them. Avoiding awkwardness was essential.

‘Pathetic. You lot clearly don’t have the skill for the Royal Guard, yet you dream of it — and now you treat Lucien’s word as gospel while ignoring your own liege, like some private thinking the sergeant from another company is his buddy.’

Nikiel wanted to scold them further, but then he realized he didn’t have much energy left for the day.

Though training had improved his stamina compared to before, his natural reserves were still meager. Even with more muscle mass, the amount of time he could remain active hadn’t grown much.

He either needed to take a nap or have a snack — but the events in the western forest took priority.

So he had to ditch these tagalongs quickly and head to the main palace, before his strength ran out entirely.

“Come to think of it, I left a handkerchief with Duke Turun. I’d like one of you to go fetch it for me while I rest in my room.”

Guards who looked almost like Lucien’s personal fans were not going to refuse such a request. Both immediately blurted out pointless competitive boasts — “I’ll go!” and “No, I was born to run errands!” — practically bristling in front of Nikiel.

Nikiel waved them both off with a tone of thinly-veiled disdain, telling them to both go. They vanished like arrows shot from a bow.

“Those fools… they’re both done for. I’ll remember their names.”

If he tipped off Paul that they had abandoned their posts before the afternoon shift change, the master of courtly political maneuvers among the palace attendants would handle the rest without issue.

With the confidence of a man with Paul as his backing, Nikiel turned his steps toward the main palace.

His destination was the Incident Management Division — a department under the Chief of the Imperial Household, handling all the minor events and accidents occurring within the palace.

From there, he could learn how many monsters had appeared, and roughly what species they were.

That alone would be a great haul. Afterwards, he could peacefully return to the Prince’s Palace, review the species that had appeared, and perhaps add a line or two to his report on their life histories.

‘I’m excited. What could they have been? From that rumbling in the ground, probably something that digs through the earth to travel…’

Muttering scraps of monster lore to himself, Nikiel resumed walking. This time, he made a point not to wander off into the undergrowth.

At the very least, he had to stick to well-trodden paths — it was the only way to avoid the kind of “Critical Nuisance Incident” that often plagued main characters in stories like this.

No matter how well he adapted to this place, Nikiel never forgot that this was a fictional world. Even if events had strayed far from the “original text,” the major happenings still unfolded.

By this point in the narrative, there was usually a cliché arc in which the protagonist’s troublesome behavior dragged the commanders into danger and forged their camaraderie.

Since that was how story arcs worked, his only option was to take the busiest route possible to reduce the chance of an accident.

In any case, his destination was the main palace — solidly built from bricks blessed by a bishop to ward off monsters.

The Prince’s Palace was built from the same. The paving bricks along the avenue linking the palace and the main compound were also blessed.

No matter how close the magical beast had appeared to the palace, there was no way it could simply burst into the main compound. That was why it had emerged in the western forest, which was relatively far from the palace.

Nikiel was still deep in thought as he walked when something large, entirely black, and tent-like in shape seemed to be moving ahead. He flinched — only to realize it was Yullan, cloaked in a black mantle.

‘Isn’t that hot? And why so much black cloth…’

He was so tall and broad-shouldered that the fabric of his cloak alone could probably make clothing for three grown women.

Nikiel watched him stride off, expressionless, and then quickly turned his head away. Nothing good could come from catching that man’s eye right now.

Besides, Yullan’s temperament was no better than Raymon’s — running into him would be a headache for sure.

Nikiel was about to hide himself completely and wait for Yullan to pass before continuing on to the Incident Management Division when—

“Your Grace, there were three Hiohkan and twenty Yollok.”

A red-haired man approached and gave Yullan a brief report.

Nikiel’s eyes went wide.

Three Hiohkan?

A Hiohkan was usually a magical beast that moved alone once it reached adulthood. Their immense size — their length — meant that if they were underground and their tails became entangled, starvation could easily follow.

The same was true even for juveniles. An adult Hiohkan did not hunt alongside its young.

Their hunting method was extremely simple, leaving nothing to teach the young — they hunted by instinct, as written in their genes.

Because of that, the young became independent quickly.

An adult’s size easily exceeded ten meters, while a newborn measured barely fifty centimeters. Yet before a juvenile reached three meters in length, it would leave the nest and claim its own territory.

This conclusion — drawn by Nikiel after reviewing various literature — was not something the people of Ossinis knew, since they had no interest in the life histories or ecology of magical beasts.

‘But three of them? They all came to the capital at the same time?’

Nikiel furrowed his brow.