ETL – Chapter 6

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I drew closer quietly. The demon knew what direction I was in and its tentacles slammed down right in front of me.

[Grrrr, krkrkr.]

The sound of grinding teeth echoed through the forest.

Grabbing its antennas seemed impossible…

I stayed away from the antenna’s range and calmly observed it. Due to its large size, the place I assumed to be its back was also quite large but thankfully, its tentacles did not extend that far.

At the same time, there were long scars on its body that seemed to be injuries. It was as if it couldn’t control its swaying tentacles properly.

As I circled it, the demon flashed its sharp teeth and went for the crown prince who had the strongest smell of blood. I sped up as its antenna wriggled towards the prince.

It was disgusting but I reached out towards it.

With a shudder, my hand plunged deep into the wound on the demon’s body. Then I just had to expel my power.

It was just as I expected. Despite its gallant appearance, the demon spurt green and blue blood, its mouth opened wide and it collapsed.

“It’s dead,” I uttered with a calm gaze.

My voice was extremely low and as I stood resolutely alone in a puddle of green and blue blood, my eyes met the Crown Prince’s eyes.

I didn’t expect the crown prince’s burdensome gaze to be fixed on me.
Trying to ignore that gaze, I walked up to him, dragging along my trembling legs and held out my hand. Then I realized my hand was smeared with the demon’s blood and tried to pull it back but the Crown Prince grabbed my hand and stood up.

While I was surprised, the princess also stood up but rather than thanking me, she was busy holding the prince’s arm to support him.

I wiped my bloody hands, wondering if I’d even get one thank you.

After getting the two up, I leaned against a tree, thinking maybe I should rest a little.

But the Crown Prince grabbed my wrist and pulled me to his side.

(Crown Prince)“Let’s go.”

I blinked at those words then I nodded my head. My wrist was a little sore from the prince’s clutches but I tried to ignore it.

Princess Ronella was holding onto the prince’s arm, trying to supporting him and tears kept running down her face.

Normally, the crown prince would have wiped away those tears but I guess he was distracted by something because he was staying mute and just walking forward.

The smell of the demon’s blood hung over my body.

I looked at the terrible state I was in, covered in blue and green stains then I heard a groan from somewhere.

We were still in the mountains so my head spun towards the unknown sound and I tried to find the source. When I turned towards the sound, I found something lying on the floor.

They looked like a victim of the demon but thankfully, they only seemed to have sustained fall injuries.

(Emilone)“Your Highness.”

(Crown Prince)“…”

(Emilone)“Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

He stopped and looked at me.

As I fidgeted with the edge of my stained clothing, I resolutely pointed at the people collapsed on the floor.

The members of the temple knew about the demon’s appearance today so they responded quickly but it seems there weren’t enough hands to take care of everyone. This was a miscalculation on my part so I had to take responsibility.

In addition, unlike myself who had an abundance of divine power, ordinary priests had to wait for their divine power to return after healing people. So, I had to take care of the people in front of me at least.

“What is it?” the Crown Prince scanned my entire body.

I know I didn’t look great so instead of making eye contact, I just stared at the white shawl on his shoulder.

Then the princess suddenly grabbed him.

“Your Highness, we have to hurry to the Imperial Palace and get you treated…!” her voice was trembling as tears fell from her eyes.

“My heart hurts knowing Your Highness is in pain. You said you don’t want me hurt! Then let’s hurry up and get treatment…”

Eventually, the princess couldn’t bear it anymore and slumped to the floor, breaking down in tears.

Meanwhile, I was thinking, ‘Amazing!’ and looking forward to the reaction of the crown prince but then another groan cut through the cries of the princess and a heavy sense of responsibility fell upon me.

I wanted to see the crown prince’s reaction a little more but instead, I turned around and went to area where two men in servant uniforms had collapsed.

“Are you okay? First, try to inhale and open your mouth.”

I didn’t see any external wounds so I had to treat their internal injury. To heal, I had to touch the injured area and release my diving energy. Hence, most of the time when I treated internal injuries, I used parts that could communicate with the body such as the mouth, nose and ears.

I was overflowing with divine power anyway so I healed the people nearby, one by one. Honestly…it might be a little odd to say this but it was nice to see people relying on me and feeling at ease because of me.

Of course, that was different matter. I had to get this situation over with and get some rest.

Come to think of it, Sage Helio, whom the princess invited to watch the hunting competition, seemed quite angry earlier. If I were to guess, it was probably because the princess ran into a forest with a demon lurking after hearing that the Crown Prince was in danger.

As I was healing people, I kept imagining the power struggle between the two. Whose side will the princess take? The situation in front of me was depressing but my imagination was lively so I was satisfied.

Ah, now that I think about it, I realized that the princess had invited several people such as Reneben and Helio to attend this hunting competition.

With our current situation, that bothered me a little and my eyes narrowed. Then I heard a voice calling me and I had no choice but to push that thought aside.

The crown prince’s gaze kept following me but I escape from his sight once I strayed further to find more victims of the demon.

Thanks to the preparations we made beforehand, this incident was resolved pretty quickly.

After confirming the number of victims and the extent of the damage, fortunately, no lives were lost.

The crown prince was getting treated by a doctor in his tent.

My pink hair kept getting in my way so I stuffed it behind my ear and gathered all the nobles together.

First of all, I needed to appease the chittering nobles and tell them I’m truly glad they are alive and what not. But I felt somewhat embarrassed to talk in front of so many people.

I had to do it though so it couldn’t be help. Reneben even pleaded with me to do so.

I thought of Reneben who kept talking about how the previous Saints had held hands together and offered comfort and consolation then I opened my mouth.

“Quiet.”

And I decided to borrow the crown prince’s usual method. I was so thankful that there were no casualties so I was actually sincere when I looked at the nobles.

One person met my eyes and was so startled that they wrinkled their forehead to avoid my eyes. Other than that, I like how quiet it got after I said that.

“I am relieved to know that the damage was not that great. I find it fortunate that I could be of help thanks to Princess Ronella’s summon for me.”

It felt nice to see the look of respect in their eyes. I smiled softly. Still, it was true that I expended a lot of effort so I figured it should be okay to be thanked like this.

Because the injured were either knights or servants, the nobles were satisfied with those few words.

And so, they went back one by one, and after heaving a sigh, I headed over to the tent that the crown prince was in.

Inside the tent, I could see Helio the Sage, Duke Cassian, the princess, and the crown prince who was on the spare bed.

And the High Priest Reneben, who came in with me, also joined their group.

Princess Ronella slowly got up from her seat, stretched out her arms to me and hugged me like she couldn’t hold back. She seemed to have realized I wouldn’t react badly to this kind of behavior and would try to be understanding.

While thinking that Ronella was excellent at reading people, I looked down at her.

(Ronella)“We survived because of your help, Your Holiness. Thank you so much.”

(Cassian)“Nella.”

Duke Cassian who was standing beside her called her nickname in a low voice. I was the first to react to that frighteningly low tone.

(Cassian)“Don’t do something so dangerous again.”

Even though everyone but the Crown Prince was mad, the situation didn’t seem strange at all. They must be seething with anger at the fact she ran into a very dangerous forest for the crown prince, of all people.

The princess quietly let go of me.

“You’re always so over-protective! I did so because I knew the Saintess was there. I couldn’t stay calm once I knew His Highness could be in danger.”

I glanced the crown prince.

He was sitting at an angle, with bandages all over his upper body. But sadly, his face was obstructed by Helio.

At Ronella’s words, Duke Cassian growled in anger, “You could have been in danger.”

She put her hands together and stepped back. At that, the Duke ran a hand through his hair and bit his lips.

“…”

He looked like he would get angrier at her if he stayed any longer, so he turned to the Crown Prince, bowed and left the tent.

To someone who didn’t know anything, it seemed wrong for anyone to criticize Ronella for running forward to help the crown prince of the country…

But they all seemed to agree so I kept my mouth shut.

Ronella had tears in her eyes as she watched Cassian leave, while Helio tried to comfort her.

I was going to keep watching but my eyes met the prince’s bloody face on the bed. I missed the timing to turn away and we were staring into each other’s eyes for a few second.

I tried to find something to say, “I can heal your wound quickly if you would like but it will be a little painful. Personally, I think it will be better to remove the poison slowly.”

I had a hunch that my time escorting the princess was coming to an end.

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