Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 75
75: Engagement - Enen
‘Ah! That's right. The Uena tribe is nearby.’
Thanks to chasing the Doheukpoma south, the Uena tribe wasn't far off.
The Uena tribe, known for growing and selling mushrooms. Thinking about it, this was the time Leo left the Uena tribe in the childhood scenario.
No, it was almost exact.
On the day the merchant caravan came to buy mushrooms from the Uena tribe, he was discovered with the mark of divinity and had to flee.
He had escaped to the Hatata tribe with the help of Euta and Enen's grandmother.
‘...Should I visit them now?’
Euta, who taught him hunting, and the cute Enen, who would brush through the undergrowth to catch insects...
‘Yes. There's still time before my promised day with Lena.’
Remembering the warm-hearted siblings calmed his troubled mind. Leo turned his horse south.
Even if it would be their first meeting, he could briefly teach Enen how to set traps for 'Heaven's snails,' see Enen again, and greet their grandmother, who had done so much for him...
Seeking small comfort, his gaze turned towards the dense forest beneath the plains.
"A knight! A knight has arrived!"
It was midday when Leo arrived at the Uena tribe village after a full day's ride. The village hadn't changed since his last visit, but the villagers' reactions were different.
At the cry of a young man loitering at the entrance, the villagers rushed out, surrounding Leo and buzzing with excitement.
“A knight! A monster has appeared!”
“But why did you come alone?”
“We sent a messenger yesterday, how did you arrive so quickly?”
Leo, dismounting in confusion, asked, “I'm not a knight... What's going on?”
“Oh... you're not a knight.”
Disappointment evident, the villagers dispersed, muttering. They had mistaken Leo for a knight because he rode a horse and carried a two-handed sword.
Leo grabbed the young man who had shouted first.
“What happened?”
Could it be that the escaped Doheukpoma had caused havoc in this village? That shouldn't happen in the forest...
The young man, equally disappointed, rubbed the back of his neck in distress.
“Are you a traveler? Oh dear... You've come at a bad time. Actually...”
He recounted the events of the past few days as if seeking solace.
The trouble started when a village child went missing in the forest. The village youth and adults had mobilized to search the vast forest and encountered a giant monster.
A monkey-like beast, ‘Oantahu.’
The beast, several times larger and more ferocious than a person, was an uncontrollable monster for the villagers.
The Uena tribe, a savage tribe that grew mushrooms, lacked hunting skills and couldn't deal with it, leading to numerous casualties among those who searched for the missing child.
They had urgently sent for help, and while guarding the village against further monster attacks, the young man explained.
Listening to his story, Leo shivered with a rising sense of dread.
‘Could it be...? No way...’
He hurried towards Euta and Enen's house, his heart sinking.
And his foreboding proved true. Before he even arrived, he heard Euta shouting from afar.
“Grandmother! Please stop!”
Euta was holding onto his grandmother's clothes, pleading angrily.
The grandmother, dressed in her usual distinctive shaman attire, was setting up an altar.
“We don’t know yet! She’s not dead! She’ll come back soon!”
Enen was nowhere to be seen.
Ignoring Euta’s desperate pleas, the grandmother bowed repeatedly at the altar.
“Seares, the god. Please watch over Enen. She was your follower and destined to become a shaman. I pray...”
“Grandmother! Please!”
Leo's feet froze in place. The grandmother, bowing as if she already knew her granddaughter was dead, and Euta, shouting that his sister was not dead, created a scene of despair.
I just came here to find solace, to meet the beloved siblings, and to see the grandmother who had shown me kindness.
But even here, there was chaos. As if there was no place for him to find peace...
Leo lacked the courage to intervene in the family’s turmoil.
He turned back and found the young man again, asking where the monster was sighted.
The young man, though warning him of the danger, gave him directions, but Leo was not afraid.
Enen's fate was still uncertain.
Despite a nagging sense of the outcome, he forced himself into the forest. And by dusk, he found Enen.
+ + +
A few days ago, the Uena tribe sold all the mushrooms they had grown in celebration of the harvest season.
Until they could search for new logs to grow mushrooms in the winter, they had time to relax.
Enen, who helped her grandmother with mushroom cultivation, had some free time to play.
Soon she would be caught by her grandmother for shaman training.
Until then, she intended to play to her heart’s content!
Enen, who loved insects, was rummaging through the undergrowth. Her brother Euta was practicing archery by shooting at a target hung on a tree.
Euta, who wanted to hunt, had no interest in insects.
“What’s so fun about those tiny things?”
“They’re so fascinating! Look at this.”
“Ugh... I’m not interested.”
While Euta was engrossed in archery, Enen spotted a fluttering butterfly.
“Wow...”
She chased after the butterfly.
The butterfly, leaving a trail like pollen, seemed within reach but always eluded her.
‘If it lands somewhere, I can catch it...’
Enen didn't realize she had ventured deep into the forest. Nor did she know someone was watching her with curious eyes.
‘It landed!’
Holding her breath, Enen reached out towards the butterfly.
Just a little closer...
Then her world flipped.
“Ahhh!”
She saw a huge face. Rectangular teeth, a squashed nose with upturned nostrils, and wrinkled red skin.
The crescent-shaped eyes showed no mercy or compassion.
- Screech! Screech screech screech!
The violent laughter of the giant monkey rang in the young girl’s ears.
Enen fainted, and the Oantahu examined the girl it held upside down.
A fun new toy!
- Screech! Screech screech! Screech!
The giant monkey's gleeful song and the girl's screams echoed for a long time.
There was no rescue.
+ + +
Leo gathered Enen’s torn body.
Legs chewed and spat out, delicate arms forcefully ripped off, and a head bleeding from the ears...
If only I had come a few days sooner!
He knelt before Enen’s body, filled with self-reproaChapter And then,
“Ahhh!! You bastard! What do you expect me to do!!”
He screamed at the sky.
“Damn you! Why?! Why-! What did she do wrong!”
Enen's death felt like it was my fault. As if she met this tragic end just because I became attached to her.
I couldn't take it anymore. I really couldn't stand it any longer.
Feeling like my mind was shattering, I clutched my head tightly. Wrapping my arms around my head, I pressed down with all my strength.
“Ugh, ugh… Ahahaha! Yes! This is a game! This is a game! It’s just a game...! Please...”
In the end, I uttered words I had never spoken before.
This is just a game. It’s not a human life but merely a puppet moving according to a scripted story. It’s not a living person.
So, there’s no reason to become attached, and she was just fated to die.
Leo brainwashed himself, trying to hold his fragmented mind together.
But when he embraced Enen's body, the coldness of the stiff corpse tormented him.
This can’t be a game.
This fluttering hair couldn’t be fake.
He cradled Enen's body and head to his chest, gathered her limbs, and returned to the village. He handed over Enen's body to the villagers.
Hoping for revenge, he searched the forest for several days, but the Oantahu had disappeared.
There were huge hand-like footprints near Enen's body, but there were no signs of movement, making it impossible to track. It probably climbed the trees.
Not all monsters, like the Apohan Don, stayed in one place.
The Doheukpoma roamed the plains, and the Noguhwa had a territory centered around its nest.
The Oantahu was different. It was a roaming type of monster without a fixed home.
Leo left the Uena tribe feeling more depressed than when he arrived.
The cries of the brother who couldn’t accept his sister's death seemed to echo far and wide.
Returning to Count Simon’s estate, Leo waited for Lena’s training to finish and then set out on a journey again.
Heading towards Lutetia.
He couldn’t catch the Doheukpoma, so he didn’t receive a letter of introduction from the count, but he set off regardless.
His vision had narrowed.
During the journey, he heard a tragic story about the 'Agnac family' in one territory, but he paid no attention.
Leo had no energy to listen to unrelated stories, and during the trip, Lena tried to talk to him several times, but he only responded coldly.
Enen's death haunted him.
He shouldn’t become attached. Becoming attached would only bring more pain.
This cruel game was dragging everyone associated with him into the abyss of tragedy.
It happened with Kasia and Katrina.
Lena was undoubtedly the primary target among them all.
All versions of Leo in the scenarios loved her.
Lena, who had tried to speak to him, fell silent in response to his cold demeanor.
As autumn fully set in, the two arrived at the capital, Lutetia.
Settling into a lodging with a small open space, Leo told Lena, “Wait here while I find a sparring partner for you.” Leaving her to train alone in the small yard, he went out.
He needed to find the prince quickly.
His distress grew day by day.
The more he assimilated with Leo, the more the real Leo’s wishes clashed with his harsh reality.
There were already several moments when he almost apologized to Lena. In those moments, the hard-won distance between them threatened to close.
Fortunately, finding the prince was not difficult as expected. The unrealistic ability of {Tracking} precisely indicated Cleo de Frederick’s direction.
He was in the royal palace. Meeting him would be easy if he came out... Getting official permission to meet the prince was challenging, not physically locating him.
Leo considered the possibility that the prince might not come out.
He inquired about when the ‘Royal Guard entrance exam’ would be held and sought out nobles. To prepare a way to meet the prince.
However, everywhere he went, he was turned away at the door. Not being an official knight and lacking a letter of introduction, no house would let him in.
The knight order and royal guard entrance exams were already over, so he had to wait for next year.
With no other choice, Leo loitered around the royal palace, waiting for the prince to come out...
A few days later, on the weekend, the prince came out.
Leo, who had been keeping an eye on the situation late into the night, fell asleep late and woke up around noon, discovering that the prince had headed south.
Hurriedly dressing and stepping outside, he found Lena.
She was diligently practicing swordsmanship in the yard as usual.
“Lena, we... Never mind. I’ll be out for a while.”
Leo decided not to take Lena with him.
He didn’t know what might happen yet.
Not knowing why the prince had gone south, he couldn’t take Lena along.
Most likely, the rumor that the prince often went hunting was true...
He rode south.
The downside of {Tracking} was that it only indicated direction, not distance. However, since the prince had likely left only this morning, he couldn’t be too far.
Calming his anxious mind, Leo steered his horse around the small southern mountains of Lutetia... then slowed down.
The prince's direction was shifting from south to east as he rode.
{Tracking} pointed to the mountains he had tried to avoid.
He must be hunting.
Lutetia was a city bordered by mountains to the south and east, with a river flowing from the northeast to the southwest.
Major facilities of Lutetia tended to be located to the east, where the main church of the Cross Church was situated at the eastern gate.
For example, the royal family's mausoleum was located halfway up the eastern mountain.
In contrast, the southern mountains the prince entered were unremarkable.
At most, a woodcutter might roam there?
The mountains were small, so there would be no hunters, making it perfect for hunting incognito.
Leo entered the mountains, tying his horse to a tree midway and hurrying on foot.
Following the direction indicated by {Tracking}, Leo finally met the prince for the second time.
[Achievement: Met Cleo de Frederick - Gained slight favor with all nobles serving the Frederick royal family. Gained slight favor with Cleo de Frederick.]
Though Cleo de Frederick was dressed plainly to conceal his identity, the popping achievement revealed him to be the prince of the Holy Kingdom.