Hero's Coffin Chapter 76

Chapter 76

The monster subjugation was set to depart the morning after everyone had gathered.

The companions were bustling about from early morning. Though they had said they would only provide light assistance, the intensity with which they were warming up in the room was quite serious. Perhaps they felt a sense of mission to completely sweep away the monsters in this subjugation to eliminate the residents' anxiety, given how startled they had been by the monster attack.

As he watched them, so energetic from the morning, as if they were a different species, a strange visitor came to the room.

Knock knock–

At the sound of someone knocking on the door, Noi stepped forward. Guessing it was probably the lord's servant coming to deliver instructions about the subjugation, he went out, but as soon as he opened the door, he jumped. Puzzled by such a large reaction, he turned to look and was surprised himself.

The being wearing the splendid golden robe he had seen yesterday.

"It's been a while."

That being now stood in front of the door and greeted them.

Though the hood was pulled down deeply, Noi's eyes bulged as if he knew the person, and he shouted "Eeeeh?!" before hurriedly ushering her inside. Only after carefully closing the door did he utter truly shocking words.

"Your Highness?! How are you here, Your Highness?!"

Swish, as the hood was removed, a small oval face was revealed. Deep golden hair flowed down softly to her chest, and the eyes within her deep, clear gaze boasted an intense aura of orange-tinged gold. They were eyes that seemed to contain the sun. Though her build was petite, the innate elegant dignity she exuded never made her presence seem small.

He dazedly mulled over the word used to address her. Your Highness? Did that mean she was a member of the Holy Empire's imperial family? Why would such a person come here?

Even in this surprising situation, Haren asked in a calm tone,

"How did you know we were here?"

"Huhu, once I knew you were in Nadael. And given your and your subordinates' nature, I expected you would absolutely not ignore the monster attack that occurred in the city."

The one presumed to be the imperial princess curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled confidently. Seeing her attitude as if her deduction was perfect, he could grasp several things.

That Haren and the imperial princess were quite close, and perhaps, no, certainly, she was the person he had contacted every time he visited the city. The only being who knew the truth about the hero's death besides the current companions, and the person in power who had blocked the path to the Encroachment Zone as Haren had requested.

As an imperial princess, she would naturally have that level of power, but...

"...?"

Weren't the imperial palace and the temple on bad terms?

It would be natural for the empire's hero and a member of the imperial family to know each other, but they seemed to go beyond mere acquaintances to being very close, which was puzzling. Moreover, if they had been in contact all this time, it meant she even knew that the hero had been searching Encroachment Zones, right?

Before he knew it, all the companions except him were bowing their heads to greet the imperial princess. It was just a simple, polite greeting, but from that sight, he could guess that the companions were also well acquainted with her.

While he alone was plunged into confusion, the conversation between Haren and the imperial princess continued naturally.

"You could have contacted us in advance."

"I was curious about how you were moving around. The combination of a hero faking his death, the vice commanders and aide who joined that plan, and 'that' death row inmate. Of course it would pique my interest, right? So I secretly infiltrated this subjugation team as a mercenary and observed you first, and thanks to that, I got to see a very interesting scene."

"Cough."

A cough suddenly burst out. He felt goosebumps all over his body as he seemed to know all too well what that 'interesting scene' referred to. It was chicken skin raised from shame.

The imperial princess chuckled as if just recalling that moment made her laugh.

"I really didn't expect it. To see you escape that crisis in such a way, and also to see all of you getting caught up with that guy."

Saying that if she had told them in advance, she would never have seen such a scene, and that secretly observing had been a wise choice, the imperial princess wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Kalterik mumbled awkwardly, "We weren't exactly caught up..."

Suddenly, the imperial princess's gaze turned towards him. The aura with which she walked towards him, step by step, was very confident. As if nothing dared to block her path, and as if it were only natural, she approached boldly and grabbed his chin, lifting it up.

Until then, he had been sitting in a chair, and he met the imperial princess's gaze with his upper body half-raised awkwardly. Her eyes, intense like the sun, looked down at him intently.

"You're an amusing fellow, Isaph Dina."

"..."

"I've always been curious about you. What kind of guy would dare use necromancy in the Holy Empire, and how the guy who had evaded all pursuit until now would look being dragged along with a collar around his neck by the hero..."

Her voice, tinged with laughter, continued quite joyfully.

"It was interesting. I thought you would be obeying while secretly harboring a dark knife inside, but the atmosphere wasn't like that at all. You spouted more amusing remarks than I expected, and even acted kindly towards strangers you met for the first time. It was completely different from my expectations."

She seemed to be referring to his conversation with Jade yesterday. He had only reluctantly given family counseling because he was the brother of the boy he had been entangled with in Rus, but it seemed to have appeared as a very unexpected action to the imperial princess who had witnessed that scene.

"Even the familiar you're said to go around with was fascinating when I saw it with my own eyes. Usually, familiars should have traces of being hypnotized, but there was none of that. Rather than an ordinary cat... it was more like a lump of soul had coalesced."

"...?"

"Well, other mercenaries soon gathered around, so I couldn't look closely. It's quite a clever familiar. If it had run away far, I would have caught it to research, but as if sensing my intention, it stayed among the mercenaries."

Ah, so the reason En had stayed quietly surrounded by mercenaries yesterday was because of the imperial princess. Coincidentally, the moment En had moved away from him was also after the imperial princess had left. By the way, what did she mean by a lump of soul? Was it because it was an NPC?

As he was dazedly recalling yesterday's events, the imperial princess tilted her head.

"This is unexpected. Why aren't you bristling? Since you even gave a name to your familiar and hold it preciously, I thought you would at least bristle at the fact that I tried to research it."

"Not particularly..."

Somehow it felt like he was being treated like an animal along with En, but it was a natural reaction for him. Though he had a special affection for black cats and might unconsciously find En cute at times, he clearly knew it was an NPC in this terrible game. An NPC wouldn't be harmed by a character appearing in the game, right?

Rather, he found it strange that the imperial princess showed curiosity towards En. Sometimes in games, characters with high intelligence stats would grasp the essence of the world, was this that kind of meta-awareness? As he just blinked blankly, the imperial princess grabbed his chin forcefully.

"Is it confidence that your familiar wouldn't be harmed by the likes of me, or have you become docile from being tied with a collar? It's amusing to see that mass murderer become so obedient when a knife is at his own throat..."

"Ugh."

"Hmm, this face isn't bad either. It might be fine if tamed well."

As he winced at the stinging pain, her face drew closer. Her golden eyes, looking down at him intently from a distance close enough for their noses to touch, were persistent as if thoroughly rummaging through a person, and for a moment, a strange possessiveness flickered in them. It was absolutely not an emotion directed at a person, but closer to a feeling towards a pet.

Swish, just then, Haren approached and grabbed the imperial princess's arm.

"Beatrice."

"Biche."

"...Right, Biche. Let's stop the strange hobby now."

As Haren restrained the imperial princess, whose name was Beatrice and nickname was 'Biche', she shrugged her shoulders.

"What's strange about it? I'm just enjoying seeing interesting things up close. And I never forcibly drag anyone away, you know?"

"They would naturally choose the latter if asked whether to go to the underground prison or the imperial palace's greenhouse. Usually, that's expressed as being forcibly taken away."

"Hmm, how amusing to see trash who committed acts deserving of execution clinging to my feet saying they don't want to die. They should at least become my experimental subjects to be of use to the world..."

"Stop."

As Haren cut off her words, Beatrice glared at him with dissatisfied eyes. By now, he had also naturally removed her hand that had been holding his face.

However, Beatrice instantly changed her expression and turned to him elegantly.

"Ah, I said unnecessary things in front of you. I quite like you, so I have no intention of treating you harshly. So after you receive your reduced sentence later, it'll be hard to find a place to go anyway, so why don't you come to my castle? I'll give you a specially good room, separate from the greenhouse."

Beatrice's gaze turned to the collar on his neck. He felt a chill at her eyes that sparkled as if wanting to change the owner. He slowly moved behind Haren, away from that gaze that made going to an uninhabited island feel like a happy ending, and being stoned in the holy city feel like a normal ending.

He quickly shook his head at Haren who turned to look at him. No, don't. He was afraid Haren might hand over the collar to her due to his friendship with the imperial princess.

A faint smile appeared on Haren's lips. You're smiling? I'm trembling at the sudden appearance of a bad ending route, and you're smiling? Is it funny?