First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19

“3 gold.”

“…Didn’t you say 2 gold earlier?”

“That includes the price for overlooking your impersonation of royalty, kid. You seem to have plenty of money anyway.”

The coachman spoke with a sinister smile.

“If you don’t pay up, I’ll go straight to the Government Office and report you right now. My patriotic spirit can’t stand idly by while a reactionary like you runs free.”

What a patriot, this piece of trash.

I let out a rough sigh and scratched my head irritably.

If I actually gave him 3 gold here, I’d be the biggest fool of all fools.

‘What should I do.’

If we went to the Government Office as the coachman suggested, naturally he’d be the one getting punished.

In severe cases, he could even face execution.

But I didn’t particularly want to choose that method.

“Kyaaaah!”

“It’s an Iron Rat! Catch it!”

I turned my head at the high-pitched scream.

A disgusting rat the size of a forearm was scurrying around on the market floor.

It was an Iron Rat, a subspecies of rat and also the lowest-grade monster that served as the children’s practical training target.

The Iron Rat, with its mouth full of grain, skillfully dodged between people with its characteristically quick movements.

“A monster…!”

One of the mercenaries who had been negotiating with another coachman nearby drew his bow.

The arrow tip aimed at the Iron Rat’s predicted path.

“Stop! You might hurt the civilians!”

A Long-Haired Man who appeared to be his companion hurriedly stopped him.

Shing.

The Long-Haired Man drew his sword from his waist.

I could feel sharp killing intent from the well-maintained blade.

He didn’t seem to be lacking in skill, and the quality of his sword was quite good as well.

“I’ll handle this. It’s just an Iron Rat.”

The Long-Haired Man stepped forward and prepared to charge.

But I was faster than him.

Whoosh—!

Quickly activating my aura, I rushed forward at wind-like speed.

The 3-star aura wrapped around my body, forming a blue membrane.

I controlled my aura with the superhuman control I had built up since the Demon Realm.

Abandoning endurance, I poured all my capabilities into explosive power.

Swish—!

I leaped into the air, spun once, and brought my sword down.

The strike point was exactly where the Iron Rat was moving.

The Iron Rat, discovering me charging with the momentum of a bull, was paralyzed with fear.

But it was already too late.

CRASH—!!

With a thunderous roar, a massive crater was carved into the ground.

Landing on the other side, I gathered my aura and sheathed my sword at my waist.

White smoke was rising from the crater.

“Gasp! What was that!”

“What just happened!”

The onlookers all rushed over and gathered around the crater.

In the center of the crater.

A red lump presumed to be the Iron Rat’s corpse was flattened against the ground.

The flesh and organ fragments, dismembered as if sliced by a blade, showed no trace of their former life.

“…”

The citizens’ eyes focused on me.

Their gazes were as if they were looking at a monster.

The mercenary who had tried to shoot his bow but was stopped looked at the crater, crossed his arms, and commented.

“…Pretty impressive for a kid, but making such a fuss over just one Iron Rat is unnecessary.”

Then his companion, the Long-Haired Man, turned pale and covered his mouth.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! That swordsmanship was…!”

The Archer struggled, making “Mmph mmph!” sounds.

When my gaze turned toward them, the Long-Haired Man froze in terror.

Soon, as if making some decision, he swallowed hard and immediately bowed deeply.

“I-I greet Your Highness the Prince!”

At those words, the Archer, who had been forced to bow along with the Long-Haired Man’s grip, was startled.

His voice had been so loud that everyone nearby heard it.

“P-Prince?”

“Did he say Your Highness the Prince?”

The citizens’ murmuring grew intense.

Uncertain, the citizens whispered among themselves.

Then someone shouted from among the crowd.

“It’s real! It’s really His Highness the Prince!”

“I saw him at the baptism ceremony 5 years ago!”

There were more than a few people saying such things.

The citizens finally came to their senses.

They didn’t know why he was here, but that armor really belonged to royalty.

If they stayed idle like this, they could be tried for insulting royalty.

“We greet Your Highness the Prince!”

“We greet Your Highness the Prince!”

With cries that shook the heavens, the crowd all bowed toward me in unison.

The scene of many people performing the same action as one body even felt somewhat sacred.

“Hm?”

The coachman who had threatened me tilted his head with a stupid expression, not understanding what was happening.

I approached him and spoke.

“Did you hear that?”

“Y-Yes… what?”

“If you have ears, you should have heard what kind of situation this is.”

I spoke in a chilling tone.

The coachman turned pale and his lips trembled.

“S-Surely… r-really royalty…”

“You still seem to not believe it.”

I turned my money pouch upside down and shook it out completely.

Beyond the 2 gold the coachman had initially proposed as a fair price.

4 gold, 8 gold, 16 gold.

The gold coins that had been in the money pouch scattered onto the ground.

A total sum of 100 gold.

The insane wealth of carrying such an amount in cash, custom-made full plate armor and sword that money alone couldn’t buy.

And decisively, the military power to create a crater in bare ground at such a young age, plus the people’s reactions.

The coachman finally seemed to grasp the situation he was in.

“I-I have committed a mortal sin!”

The coachman slammed his head onto the ground with a thud.

“Please spare my life, please spare just my life! I have a pregnant wife and a young daughter…!”

“Enough.”

I grabbed the coachman by the hair and forced him to meet my eyes.

“How much?”

“…Pardon?”

“To Gerpelt Forest. How much?”

The coachman, still held by his hair, shouted desperately.

“Fr-free! Of course I’ll take you for free!”

I released the coachman’s hair and smiled refreshingly.

The deal was made.

* * *

The ride in the carriage pulled by Hisan was incredible.

Despite running at speeds much faster than ordinary horses, it was comfortable with almost no shaking.

As expected, we arrived at Gerpelt Forest in less than an hour.

However, the forest was so vast that it took another hour to travel through the forest paths to reach the depths.

“Good work.”

I handed the hardworking coachman 1 gold as a tip.

In fact, even that was an amount far exceeding the proper fare.

But I had no bronze or silver coins on hand, so 1 gold was the smallest amount I could give.

“Y-your grace is immeasurable.”

The coachman broke out in a cold sweat as he accepted the money.

He asked anxiously with a hopeful tone.

“Sh-should I wait here?”

“No, go ahead.”

This was the depths of Gerpelt Forest, a dangerous zone where monsters appeared.

Moreover, I had no idea whether investigating traces of the Baal Sect would take hours or days.

Waiting here endlessly during that time would make him perfect monster food.

‘Though he’s annoying.’

He hadn’t committed any crime worthy of death.

The coachman breathed a sigh of relief, then turned the reins and departed immediately.

The clattering sound of hoofbeats gradually faded away.

“…”

Chirp- Chirp-

Was it because the sound echoed due to all the trees?

Even the simple cries of migratory birds felt extremely eerie.

“Hmm.”

I looked around at the forest scenery.

The concentrated scent of phytoncides hit my nostrils.

“So this is the infamous Gerpelt Forest.”

The first thing that caught my eye was the abnormally giant trees.

The smallest ones easily exceeded 20 meters, and some of the large ones were over 30 meters.

Their distribution was also very dense.

It felt like entering a prison made of trees.

Caw- Caw-

Strange cries of unknown origin frequently echoed from deep within the forest.

Judging by the intervals of the sounds, quite a large number of creatures seemed to live in this forest.

‘I’ll need to go deeper from here.’

Since Gerpelt Forest was so vast, even within the range called the ‘depths,’ there were further classifications.

The center of the forest located at the very innermost part.

The outer area surrounding it.

And beyond that.

This place was the entrance corresponding to the outermost part within the depths.

Low-grade monsters like goblins mainly inhabited here.

Going further inside from here, high-grade monsters that couldn’t be faced without using magic would appear.

‘Let’s go for now.’

I moved my steps toward the interior of the forest.

Following my movement, four presences also moved together.

They were the Imperial Guard knights supervising the practical training.

They seemed to be following me by leaping between the giant trees.

-Gyaak!

A monster appeared even though I hadn’t moved very far.

It was a creature with a spider’s body and an anteater’s head.

Its elongated snout split wide open, revealing countless sharply grown teeth.

Thinking of me as prey, it charged fiercely while emanating killing intent.

Slash!

The result was a clean cut in two.

I bisected the monster’s body cleanly with a single swing.

I didn’t let my guard down and waited obediently in place.

In the Demon Realm, there were often demons that remained alive even when their bodies were split in two.

Fortunately, this one wasn’t to that extent, as insects soon appeared and began devouring the monster’s corpse.

Step by step.

Leaving the first battle behind, I walked deeper inside again.

Though it was a clean victory, question marks kept arising in my head.

‘Why Gerpelt Forest of all places?’

Seeing the first monster that just appeared, I had an intuition.

No matter how high one’s martial achievements.

This wasn’t a place for a 13-year-old child with no real combat experience to come.

There were speed limitations to how the knights could respond.

Blocking all threats to me from a distant position was practically impossible.

‘…Could it be.’

One hypothesis suddenly came to mind.

A slimy and damp sensation, like a spider gradually tightening around its prey.

I recalled what Gabriel had said to me.

-Traces of the Baal Sect were discovered nearby. Specifically, in Gerpelt Forest. One of my paladins who happened to be patrolling the area tracked him down, but ultimately let him escape.

I don’t doubt the reliability of the information he provided.

However, the fact that this practical training mission site was assigned to be precisely the location Gabriel mentioned was too coincidental.

Of all the many places, why this one in particular.

Doesn’t the situation seem too artificially arranged?

At that moment, another sentence flashed through my mind.

-Black Robe! Black Robe gave me a flower pot and told me to present it to Your Highness!

Words left by the maid who tried to kill me five years ago.

I still haven’t caught the real culprit.

A chill ran down my spine.

‘…Yes. That’s how it was.’

Why didn’t I notice sooner?

Something had been strange from the very beginning.

Things couldn’t possibly go so conveniently.

Everything was a trap.

Starting from my mission site being assigned to Gerpelt Forest.

-Kiyaak!

-Kiyak!

Just then, a goblin settlement appeared before my eyes.

Several flashes of light flickered.

Swish-! Scrape-!

The sword gracefully circled like a dance.

The goblins, who were merely low-grade monsters at best, had no ability to block my sword strikes.

The goal of this practical exercise. Extermination of the goblin settlement.

It didn’t even take a minute to complete the mission.

“….”

Now that the exercise was over, the knights who had been watching should have immediately crawled out to congratulate me.

But they showed no reaction whatsoever.

The surroundings were quiet as if time had stopped.

At some point, I could no longer sense the presence of those monitoring me.

Thud- Thud-

Four human figures fell lifelessly from the trees as if they had been waiting.

They were all wearing armor engraved with the Imperial Guard’s insignia.

There was one more thing they had in common.

Each of their chests had been pierced through by something thick.

The knights who had been supervising me had all become corpses in an instant.

What this meant was….

Swoosh!

Something flew toward my chest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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