Chapter 52: The Third Prince of Narta

Two weeks later, at the outskirts of the Kingdom of Narta.

Aelonen took out a cellphone from his storage ring and started typing something on the keyboard.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "You actually have a phone?"

"It was gifted to me by my friend, the Prince of Narta. It’s just that it doesn’t work when I’m too far away from his country. I only use it to contact him when I’m here." Aelonen explained.

"How many times have you come here before?"

"This is my third time. The elves are forbidden from wandering away from Ael’Zoria before becoming adults, so I wasn’t able to visit before that. But as soon as I met Prince Kelvin, I knew we would become great friends!" Aelonen explained with a smile.

Chris nodded. "So his name is Kelvin. I heard there are many princes in Narta. It’s no secret that the king has many wives and concubines. In this modern age, that’s not as widely accepted as it was in the past. I’ve heard that many people call him a lustful king."

Aelonen nodded. "Yes, I’ve met the king before. He indeed has many wives and children, but he seemed like a good person."

"Then, is this Prince Kelvin the Crown Prince?"

"No." Aelonen shook his head. "As far as I know, they don’t have a Crown Prince yet. There are ten princes and five princesses, but most of them aren’t talented enough. Kelvin is the third prince. Besides him, the ones competing for the throne are the first prince and the first princess."

"So he’s competing for the throne? Interesting. Seems like your involvement is also quite important in their competition for the throne." Chris added.

"How did you know?" Aelonen widened his eyes.

"Heh, I’m not that stupid. The fact that only the royal family of Narta knows about the existence of elves, combined with the fact that elves are very strong, tells me that they consider their relationship with your race quite important. Keeping that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of them were competing to become your friends."

"Big brother, you’re too smart." Aelonen replied with a wry smile. "Indeed, as soon as I appeared among them for the first time, all of them tried to get me on their side."

"Then what made you choose the third prince as your friend?"

Aelonen thought for a moment before replying. "Out of the three of them who are competing for the throne, he seemed the most honest. The first prince always has a smile on his face, but I can’t help thinking that he’s constantly plotting something behind that smile. There are also rumors that he’s very ruthless and controlling."

Chris nodded. "That’s not so unusual for royalty. What about the first princess, then?"

"Honestly, she’s scary."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, she always seems to be in control of everything happening around her. She’s always collected and doesn’t show much emotion, and she’s very smart. I think everyone around her, including those who support her, is completely under her control. There are rumors that she’s the most ruthless one among the royal family."

Aelonen shuddered as he spoke. "I heard that she once executed an entire family just because a young man from that family looked at her lustfully."

Chris nodded again. "That sounds about right. Royal families are just like that, born into power and without morals. So, what made you choose the third prince?"

At that, Aelonen showed a big smile. "Kelvin isn’t like them at all. He’s humble and a true warrior. He’s always honest with himself and always stands up against injustice!"

"Hahahaha, are you sure that’s not all a ploy to get you on his side?"

"I’m sure." Aelonen nodded repeatedly.

"If you say so."

Suddenly, Aelonen’s phone buzzed, and he looked at it. In the next moment, his eyes widened.

"Big brother, it’s Prince Kelvin. He seems to be in danger!"

"Eh? How can a prince be in danger?"

"He came to the border of the kingdom to receive me, but I don’t know what happened after that. He sent me his location."

"Then what are you waiting for? Point me in the right direction."

"I... I don’t know how to track this location..." Aelonen felt embarrassed.

"Give me that." Chris took the phone from his hand and checked it.

The prince had sent his location clearly. Chris tapped on the directions, and the phone immediately displayed where they needed to go.

The location was quite close, only a few kilometers away. What surprised Chris was that it was outside the kingdom’s border, in the Wilds.

"Azreon, that way!"

*ROAR!*

...

A few minutes earlier, a couple of kilometers away from Chris.

"AAAGH!" A man’s painful scream rang out.

"Uncle Derek!" Prince Kelvin yelled.

In front of him, his guardian was currently engaged in a fierce fight with a powerful wild beast. It looked like a bear, but it was surrounded by dark smoke that gave off an ominous feeling.

Just earlier, he had arrived at the small town on the border of the country with his party and a protector. While waiting for his friend, Prince Aelonen, they received information that a powerful wild beast had appeared just outside the small town. The city lord had sent soldiers to intercept the beast, but none of them had returned.

They had asked the Adventurers’ Guild for help, but the adventurers wouldn’t be able to arrive until the following day.

Since they were already there, the prince decided to intercept the beast with his party. They were all talented and powerful young people, and they even had a protector with them, the man he called Uncle Derek, who was a very strong soldier. What could possibly go wrong?

But contrary to their expectations, the beast was far stronger than they had anticipated. Not only was it powerful, but it also emitted an ominous energy that seemed to slowly corrode their armor and weapons, weakening them in the process.

After a fierce fight, Prince Kelvin and his party were completely exhausted. Some of them were even injured and had been forced to stop fighting much earlier.

At the moment, only Uncle Derek was still able to fight. Although he had severely injured the beast, he was quite injured himself.

The beast acted as though it had gone mad. Usually, beasts would retreat after suffering such injuries, but for some reason, this one refused to back down and attacked even more fiercely.

"Prince, quickly run away! I’ll hold the beast back!" Derek yelled.

"There is no way, Uncle Derek! I won’t just leave you behind like that!" Kelvin yelled without even thinking.

"Your safety is more important, Prince! You must return safely!" Derek continued.

At that moment, the prince’s phone buzzed. He quickly checked it, hoping that help was on the way.

As soon as he saw who had contacted him, a look of hope appeared on his face, and he yelled, "Uncle Derek, it’s Prince Aelonen, the one we came to receive! He’s just arrived at the border! He must have a strong protector with him. I’m sending him my location so he can help us!"

Everyone around him wore hopeful expressions as they waited for help to arrive.

However, just another minute later, their expressions turned even worse.

*ROOOAR!*

They heard a powerful roar in the distance, and when they looked in that direction, their eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

An enormous beast was flying towards them, its wings spread wide as it dived in their direction.

"Shit! Prince, quickly run away! We can’t afford to fight another beast!" Derek yelled.

"But Uncle Derek, Prince Aelonen is about to arrive at any moment. Surely—"

"No! Run away! We don’t have time to wait!" Derek cut him off.

But it was already too late. The enormous beast dived down and opened its claws towards the place where Derek was fighting the bear-like beast.

Derek wore an ugly expression. He didn’t care whether he lived or died, but the prince was still in danger. If he died while failing to protect the prince, it would be a great dishonor.

The beast approached closer and closer, and it seemed there was nothing he could do to avoid it.

’Sigh... I’ve failed in my duties...’ Derek thought with resignation.

But in the next moment, he was completely stunned by what happened.

The beast didn’t attack him or grab him as he had expected. Instead, it grabbed the bear-like beast he had been fighting. Holding it firmly in its claws, it ascended into the sky.

*ROAR!*

The bear roared and swung its claws wildly, trying to free itself, but it was useless. The enormous flying monster held it firmly in its claws as it ascended to a great height.

Then, it opened its claws and let the bear fall straight towards the ground.

The onlookers couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Falling from such a height might not kill it, but it would injure it enough that it wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.

But in the next moment, something completely unexpected happened.

A figure dashed out from behind the enormous flying beast and dived straight towards the falling bear. The figure held a sword with both hands as he descended.

Just before the bear hit the ground, the figure caught up with it and buried his sword deep into its chest.

*BOOOM!*

The bear’s back hit the ground, sending dust flying in all directions.

When the dust had cleared, everyone opened their mouths in shock, unable to process what had just happened.

In front of them, the bear was lying in a large pit in the ground, showing no signs of life. A young man stood on its body with an indifferent expression, as if what he had just done was of no importance at all.

The young man was none other than Chris, who had just arrived at the scene.

When he had approached the scene earlier, he couldn’t help but smile happily at what he saw. The bear-like beast was very strong, much stronger than him. Its level was so much higher that Chris couldn’t even see it with his system.

But the beast was clearly severely injured. It wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. If he killed it himself, he would gain plenty of experience points. He hadn’t gained any XP in so long that his eyes had practically lit up as soon as he spotted such a powerful beast.

Without even thinking, he ordered Azreon to attack and finish off the beast.

Pulling the sword out of the beast’s chest, Chris smiled slightly.

[Level increased.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

Finally, after a long time, he had managed to increase his level. While the increase in strength was negligible at this point, he was still getting closer to his next evolution.

Jumping off the beast’s body, he landed on the ground and looked around.

Seeing that everyone’s attention was on him, he waved his hand.

"Sup!"

Azreon slowly landed beside him, and Aelonen jumped off his back.

"Big brother, are you insane!? That was very dangerous!" He looked at Chris in shock.

Chris simply waved his hand. "Meh... Not dangerous at all."

Compared to what he had experienced in the past, this confrontation hadn’t seemed dangerous to him at all. If the beast hadn’t been severely injured, however, it would have been a different story.

"Prince Aelonen, you’ve arrived!" Prince Kelvin finally snapped out of his stupor and rushed forward with his arms spread wide.

"Prince Kelvin! It’s good to see you again!" Aelonen also approached and hugged Prince Kelvin for a moment.

"It’s good that you came. It’s good. You and your protector have saved us this time. We owe you one." Prince Kelvin said with a grateful expression.

"Oh, let me introduce you. This isn’t my protector, but he is indeed protecting me temporarily. This is my big brother, Chris!" Aelonen looked at Chris and introduced him happily.