I burnt the fruit that was crawling with worms as calmly as I could, then followed Ren to see the children. Now that I thought about it, there was no way I wouldn’t have noticed the brain worms’ mana. Of course, it was too late for regrets. The milk was already spilled.

There was a saying that said: Our eyes are placed in front because it is more important to look ahead than to look back. As such, I walked facing forward.

Ren piped up, “Crown Prince…You have a pretty cute side.”

I snapped, “Shut your mouth, Ren.”

“Scream again, Rookie. One more time,” Lebuik said teasingly.

I growled, “Shut your mouth, Lebuik.”

I was annoyed that my embarrassing moment had dispelled the last remaining awkwardness between them. When it became clear that my temper was rising, they finally became quiet as we headed to where the children were sleeping. Of course, they weren’t too far off. They were in a mud hut that Ren had constructed. Lebuik lost her lighthearted smile and examined the sleeping children.

She said sadly, “Lina, Uruto, Demi…With just Your Highness’ power, they…”

“I lost two children on our way. I still can’t forget the way they looked at me,” Ren remarked calmly and patted the children’s heads. There were three beastman girls and two beastman boys. Two of the humans were girls and the other was a boy.

I expected them to be around 15 to 16 years of age on average, but all eight of them looked between 10 and 12. Perhaps, they were even younger. Ren’s situation was indeed grave… Thinking about how long they would need before they could grow strong enough to enter the dungeon by themselves, I sighed.

“Ren oppa?”

“Sleep, Teeke.”

“Mm.”

A human girl who woke up closed her eyes again after seeing Ren. Ren brushed the girl’s hair and looked up. His eyes flashed sharply.

“I’ll show you the map to the coast, Crown Prince.”

“I want to hear Ren’s plan.”

“Do as you wish, Your Highness.”

Lebuik and I replied and nodded. Ren also nodded in response, then suddenly looked back at Lebuik.

“Don’t call me that, Sir Lebuik. There are no longer any countries on this continent.”

“But Your Highness—” she sputtered.

He shook his head. “Call me Ren. That is the only name I have left. You don’t need to address me with an honorific either.”

She stuttered, “H-H-H-How could I dare call you by name! T-T-T-That would be like if we were lovers…”

“…Lovers?” Ren asked, slightly mystified.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just calling each other by your given names. Stop overreacting….”

It was clear as day that Lebuik was in love with Ren, but, as expected of Ren who had been single his entire life, he couldn’t see a single one of her obvious signals. Come on, Ren! Why do you think Lebuik came back after she abandoned this world!? It’s because she has a lingering attachment, you idiot! I felt like I was going to explode from wanting to shout this out loud.

“Crown Prince, you look like you want to say something…?” Ren said.

I decided not to speak my mind. “No, I know I’m not in the position to say something like that, so I decided not to…”

“Crown Prince, you are truly mysterious…” he murmured.

Your head is more mysterious!

“Ahem, Your Hi…Ren-nim, I still cannot…talk to you without using an honorific. I hope Ren-nim understands…”

Ren said dismissively, “Don’t talk respectfully either. Talk to me as if I was Crown Prince.”

“I-In that case…Okay. Is that…good?” she asked bashfully.

He gave her a thumbs up. “Excellent. I’m happy, I feel like I’ve gotten closer to Sir.”

“Ren-nim…”

Lebuik’s breathing became unpleasantly rough. I wanted to leave so she could express her carnal desires, but apparently she still had a hint of humanity left as she restrained herself.

“I, I’m not a knight anymore, so please leave out ‘sir’. Just call me Lebuik,” she said, her eyes sparkling.

It felt like she was just trying to advance their relationship by changing the way Ren called her, but I stayed silent and just looked at the map Ren had opened. He hesitated at first, but conceded and decided to call her by her name after Lebuik repeatedly pestered him.

She immediately messaged me, [I can die happy! Re, Ren-nim is calling me by my name… Thank you for bringing me, Rookie!]

You don’t need to thank me, just go die.

There was about a thousand miles between the forest we were in, Celbitz, and our destination, the Mileet coast. To hide our tracks as much as possible, we needed to travel through mountain ranges. However, there was about a fifty mile distance from the end of the mountain ranges to the coast where we would be in a completely open area. There, we had to be ready to face attacks from the enemy. I couldn’t help but sigh when I thought about how Ren would have fared without me.

Ren explained his plan, “We’ll move around fifty miles per day. Thankfully, the children are well-trained for their age, so they can keep up. They were all members of the royalty or the nobility, so they can read, write, and even wield mana. The beastman children are especially outstanding. If needed, they can run while carrying the human children on their backs. Huhu, they’re truly admirable.”

“Is that how you’ve been traveling through the forest until now?” I asked.

He nodded. “That’s right.”

I bitterly smiled. Traveling a thousand kilometers by foot… I could only laugh in vain. I checked the map again and took out a piece of paper to draw on. Eight small circles and five large triangles swiftly appeared. These marks were ‘written ‘with mana, so they didn’t solidify but instead floated around like ice on water.

I suggested, “Let’s speed up. We should be able to since we’re explorers.”

Ren replied. “That’s true, but what about the children?”

“We’ll carry them,” I responded instantly.

I took the small circles and placed them on the triangles. Ren was looking at the paper, so he asked carefully, “Crown Prince, there are other dangers in the forest other than the El Patiz. It’s full of strong monsters and monsters that like to ambush. If we’re carrying the children, how are we supposed to react? I would have carried them in turns if I didn’t have to deal with that.”

I grinned. “Hear me out. We’ll put Lotte in the back to protect the children from ambushes.”

I took the black triangle representing Lotte and dragged it behind the other shapes. In her human form, Lotte was a lot more mobile and still retained her strengths as an attacker. She would be able to deal with most situations by herself. Even if we met with someone on par with the Luka continent’s Demon Army Commander, I believed she would be able to hold on. Of course, to ensure her maneuverability, she wouldn’t be carrying any children.

He grimaced. “That’s not enough. We might be safe from enemies ambushing us from behind, but what about the front? I can tell that this woman is strong, so wouldn’t it be better to put her in the front to charge forward without caring about our back?”

I pointed out, “Then we’ll have a glaring weakness. You can leave the front to me. To be honest, I’m the strongest out of anyone here.”

I dragged the golden triangle representing me and placed it in the front. Ren nodded in response, while Lebuik’s eyes narrowed before she interjected, “What? You may not know, but I’m a level 69 explorer! I acknowledge that you’re strong enough to work as a Dimensional Mercenary, but in terms of strength, I—”

“Lebuik, this…uh, Crown Prince is the guild Revival’s master,” Ren said somewhat helplessly.

She screeched, “What!? You mean, the savage who toys with an administrative guild master!?”

I felt my temper rising. “Oi, you, meet me outside.”

Five minutes had passed before we got back on track. Ren let out a dry cough, trying to ignore the giant bump on Lebuik’s head.

“Since Crown Prince will be in charge of the front, Lebuik and I will have to carry four children each.”

I shook my head. “No, the two of you have to guard the sides.”

I placed two of the triangles on the left and right sides. There was now one large triangle and eight small circles in the middle. Ren tilted his head.

“Crown Prince, sorry, but I’m bad with puzzles.”

Lebuik grumbled, “Rookie, stop beating around the bush and get to the point.”

I grinned widely. “It’s simple. We’ll let someone else carry them.”

From the very beginning, I had drawn five triangles. Realizing this now, Ren tilted his head. I grinned and summoned Ruyue. She immediately took my mana, materialized into her humanoid wolf form, and jumped on me.

[Shin!] she shrieked happily.

“Hi, Ruyue. I’m sorry, but can you materialize in your wolf form?” I asked.

She whined, [But I like the beastman form more!]

“Please.”

[Okay!]

I liked that Ruyue listened to whatever I asked her to do. I was thankful that she met a master like me and not one with lecherous intentions.

When Ruyue transformed into her giant wolf form, Ren and Lebuik nodded as they finally understood what I meant.

Ren commented, “So she can transform into different forms. Amazing. She was a beautiful human girl, and her wolf form is just as beautiful.”

“…Grrr.”

Lebuik must have gotten jealous after hearing Ren’s opinion about Ruyue, but because I was too lazy to say anything, I just ignored her.

“Ruyue should be able to carry all the children on her back. She has the intelligence to protect them from falling off, and, more importantly, she’s quick and silent when she travels.”

[Shin, are you praising me!?] she asked happily.

I nodded. “Of course, you are amazing.”

[Ehehehe.]

I scratched her chin. Ren looked jealous for a moment, then went back to his serious expression.

“So we’ll leave the children to her and focus on guarding them.”

I winked. “Exactly. Much better, right?”.

Ren took a deep breath. “…Crown Prince, you are really amazing. I don’t have the words to express my admiration for your abilities.”

I replied, “Ren, you are amazing too. No one will be able to win against your desire to protect these children.”

“Whoa, don’t flatter me.”

Ren blushed and turned his head. His lion ears were twitching as if he was unsure of what to do. Lebuik started to glare at me. Wait, was she considering me as a competitor for Ren’s affections!?

Before the sun rose, Ren woke up the children one by one. They all got up silently without a word of complaint, immediately stretching and dusting off their bodies. As if they promised beforehand, they became shocked after seeing me, cheered after seeing Lebuik, and exclaimed in surprise after seeing Ruyue.

“Who’s this cool oppa?” one girl asked curiously.

A boy exclaimed, “What cool armor! Between Hyung[1] and Ren, who wins?”

“Ren oppa is still cooler!” another girl chimed in.

“Unni, you were alive?”

“Knight noona, I wanted to see you!”

“Look, look! A cool wolf!”

“Wow! What beautiful fur!”

“Could it be the ancestor-nim from the myths?”

“So soft…!”

A child asked adoringly, “Wolf-nim, did you come to protect us?”

Thinking just how overwhelmingly popular Ruyue was, I looked at Lebuik. She was somberly looking at the morning sky.

“I, I’m a deserter…but still, losing to a wolf…” she said sadly.

I tried to comfort her, “They’re kids, Lebuik.”

She shook her head quickly. “Whew, I only have Ren-nim.”

“Why don’t you confess already?” I teased.

After breakfast, we put all the children on Ruyue’s back. I could handle Ruyue’s materialization with Peruta Circuit’s natural mana recovery, so I didn’t even need to drink a mana potion. However, the children felt hesitant to ride on her.

“Riding on this Wolf-nim’s back…”

“No, Wolf-nim will get our bad luck!”

“What soft fur!”

I gently said, “Guys, Ruyue doesn’t mind you guys being on her back, so don’t worry.”

[I hate everyone other than Shin, but I’ll allow it since you guys are kids!]

“Wolf-nim talked!”

“Wolf-nim really was an unni!”

I asked Ren why the children treated Ruyue so respectfully

He explained briefly, “The beastman empire’s founding mythology starts with the meeting of a golden lion and a silver wolf. That’s probably why the children like the girl so much.”

“Is that why Ren likes Ruyue too?” I asked.

He instantly sputtered, “Uh, n-no! I didn’t have any impure thoughts! I just thought she was beautiful!”

“Stop, Lebuik!”

“…Lebuik?”

Ren tilted his head and turned around. Lebuik was holding her claymore, but quickly hid her hands behind her back and smiled.

“It’s nothing, Ren-nim!” she said with false cheer.

Ren asked me suspiciously, “Crown Prince, did Lebuik do something?”

I suppressed a grin. “No, nothing. So Ren, what do you think about Lebuik?”

“Mm, Lebuik is extremely beautiful and strong. She became my guardian knight at a young age. Even during a war, many soldiers became lovesick because of her,” he said.

Lebuik threw her weapon down, put her hands on her cheeks, and squirmed. I sighed in relief and stopped Ren.

“That’s enough.”

Ren suddenly grinned and whispered in my ears, “…Are you interested in Lebuik, Crown Prince? Now that I think about it, you did bring her here…Should I introduce you to her?”

“How did you come to that conclusion, you idiot?!” I hissed back.

We didn’t have the time for such silly conversations. Once the children got on Ruyue, we quickly set off. Ren was the slowest, so we had to lower the pace down for him, but we were still traveling about seven times faster compared to when Ren was alone.

Like he said, we had to deal with the forest’s monsters. Most of them were quite grotesque and usually popped out from the ground or jumped down from the trees. However, I didn’t make a formation that thoroughly protected the children to protect them against monsters. Forest monsters no longer posed any threat to me.

[Kiaaaa!]

[What are you trying to achieve by entering this forest!?]

An orangutan-like monster with a melted body that looked like it had bathed in hydrochloric acid jumped down from a tree, while another monster that looked like a spider magnified hundreds of times and wrapped in iron armor popped out of the ground. Ren and Lebuik both held up their claymores and prepared to face them. I, on the other hand, simply stared at them with my eyes.

They became stone and clunked down.

“Eh!”

“What’s this!?”

“What do you mean? They’re stone. What, you’ve never seen Evil Eyes of Petrification before?” I replied with a hint of sassiness and broke the petrified monsters with my spear.

Then, I urged them on, “Let’s hurry! Don’t just stand there!”

Ren exclaimed, “This is the first time I’ve heard of the Evil Eyes of Petrification!”

“Warn us earlier if you have such an ability!” Lebuik scolded.

I ran forward as I snickered at my astonished party members. They gritted their teeth and followed suit. Whenever monsters appeared, I turned them to stone, and we marched forward as we broke them.

In the end, we covered seven hundred miles in just one day. There were only three hundred miles left until we reached our destination.

1. Hyung = older brother (male to male) ☜