Two-Faced Princess

Apollonia was on the cheering side. Because she saw that Caelion, who had been hit by a Kaya’s front paws, landed on his buttocks in an unsightly way. But he skillfully rolled sideways and avoided the Kaya.

“Get out of my way!” Paris made a grand entrance as he swung his sword in the air several times. In an instant, five or six giant rats were knocked down with blood splattered everywhere.

“Oooh! As expected, the first person who defeated the monsters was His Highness Paris!”

“It’s like seeing His Majesty during his prime!”

This time everyone cheered. Eckart then swung his spear and knocked down some of the Kayas.

A small smile tugged up the corner of Apollonia’s lips as she watched Caelion. He grabbed his head and pretended to tremble in fear, but after Paris defeated the Kayas, he shook the dirt off his butt and got back on his feet.

‘Can we use this trick until the end?’

Apollonia was relieved, albeit still a little anxious. She glanced at Petra, who was watching the hunting grounds with a frown on her face.

Ping-! Ping-! Ping-!

As the giant rats were cleared up to some extent, the beeping sound came one after another. Monsters of various appearances attacked participants both from the sky and on the ground. There weren’t too many of them, but the size grew bigger each time.

Uriel observed Caelion’s movements, hiding in the shade at a reasonable distance and avoiding confrontation as much as possible. The boy was doing well. It might be unnoticeable from afar, but this boy was moving calculatedly. Uriel was quite impressed to see the boy dealing with a gigantic, hawk-like monster.

“Ouch!” He pulled out his sword and wielded it erratically to aggravate the monster. As a result, the hawk snatched his collar and tried to fly up with him.

“Ha! What a stupid guy.”

When the monster flew about two meters, Paris, who was nearby, cut the monster’s feet. The hawk screeched and dropped Caelion.

“Haha. I can’t believe he’s trembling. The Grand Duke of Evinhart, who once defended the northern border, is not a big deal after all.” Gareth Leifer openly laughed at Caelion and shoved his shoulder.

“Ouch!” He fell to the side with a scream.

Paris laughed at him as he jumped toward the big hawk. Soon after, the monster became Paris’ fifth prey.

‘He purposely chose a monster that Paris wanted.’

He was repeatedly playing the role of being saved by Paris. If he kept positioning himself as someone who needed to be saved, he could stay hidden and unnoticed.

“It’d be dangerous to keep using the same trick,” Uriel muttered as he watched Caelion fall weakly to the ground.

“Don’t worry about me. Just take care of yourself. As you can see, I’m doing well without an escort.” Caelion, putting on a tearful expression, spoke in a way so that only Uriel could hear him. He got back on his feet and pulled his arrows towards his target. When the arrows flew in different directions, the audience started laughing at him.

“That’s hilarious. I think you have the talent to be a comedian,” Uriel said, eyes full of mockery.

But Caelion didn’t lose a word. “How about you? All you did was avoid the monsters and use your sword once or twice. I think you have the talent for hide-and-seek instead of swordsmanship.”

It was true. If he took down the monsters, he would climb up to the ranks and his name would be written in the official record. So Uriel purposely avoided the monsters. The plan was to avoid getting people’s attention.

Ping-!

“It’s going to end soon,” Uriel murmured when the beeping sound resounded again, and a snake monster big enough to wrap the entire hunting grounds appeared.

From the looks of it, this monster was the final boss of this hunting competition. It was apparent by looking at Paris’ excited face. He was getting all jittery upon imagining that his sweet victory was within his grasp.

***

“Waaaaaa!”

It was a long battle. The giant creature finally tumbled when Paris’ sword lodged in the snake’s neck.

Eckart, holding a broken spear, heaved a sigh as if he was upset, and Caelion was seen trembling near the scene. Of course, no one was critically injured.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty!”

“As expected, he’s truly His Majesty’s son.”

“I’m sure the prince will be a great emperor in the future.”

The competition hadn’t ended yet, but some of the nobles were already celebrating.

“We’ll conclude the competition after all the remaining monsters are subjugated.” The emperor spoke with a satisfied voice.

The only thing left was a few rats and other small monsters, so Paris’ victory was already decided. The Grand Duke and Duchess of Evinhart breathed a sigh of relief.

But then,

Boom-!

Auuuuuuu-!

The hunting ground shook along with the sounds of a monster.

“What the…”

Auuuuuu-!