I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 27
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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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27. Ally (3)
The problematic Crown Prince candidate was located in a place that was harder to reach than expected.
“Can we really say we found him now?”
No one answered Ryuie’s question.
What they were looking at was a human-sized amber fruit hanging from a withered giant tree.
It was the nest of a crow monster called the hunter of travelers.
The giant crow monster kidnapped lone humans and imprisoned them in that tree.
The tree branches looked exactly like a birdcage, and as time passed, the tree’s sap would completely cover the cage and suffocate the prey.
Only then would the traveler’s hunter crack the fruit with its beak and suck out the food.
It looked like a crow but had the eating habits of a complete spider.
“It’s the monster I hate most.”
Ryuie left a one-line review.
Thanks to that, the trapped person became even more desperate and burst into tears and snot.
“Please save me!”
He flailed his limbs that stuck out of the fruit and shouted.
Ryuie looked up at him just once. In fact, she had sensed it even before looking.
“Yeah. No.”
Ryuie said cheerfully.
“No. Wrong. Don’t need to check. Even if he dies, he’s not the Crown Prince.”
“I said save me!”
“Be quiet!”
Listening to him screaming, Ryuie plugged her ears with both fingers.
She pulled up the corners of her mouth, but anyone could see she was extremely pissed off.
Still plugging her ears, Ryuie spun her body around as if dancing.
“Are you guys messing with me right now?”
The knights exchanged helpless glances.
“He said His Highness the Crown Prince’s name exactly.”
“I’m telling you I’m Yosua Albenheim!”
Right on cue, The Man screamed again.
Ryuie’s eyes became even colder.
“Yosua doesn’t scream like that. Doesn’t shriek like that. Doesn’t show such ugly behavior.”
“He doesn’t look like His Highness the Crown Prince at all. Maybe he’s speaking from seeing the Crown Prince’s wanted poster?”
Catsy couldn’t accept it either. The knight shook his head.
“That’s exactly why we had our suspicions.”
“Looking at the cage’s condition, he’s been trapped for over a week. Therefore, it’s impossible time-wise for him to have seen His Highness the Crown Prince’s wanted poster.”
“His Highness the Crown Prince’s name is supposed to never be revealed to ordinary people.”
It was a reasonably valid explanation.
You could calculate how many days someone had been trapped based on the fruit’s progress.
Since the amber fruit had walls built up to halfway, he had definitely been trapped for a week.
Usually, for the Crown Prince’s name to be known even to the Empire’s borderlands, at least a coronation ceremony would need to be held.
Even in the capital, the people who knew his name were extremely limited even among the nobles.
The name Yosua that Ryuie casually called out was actually quite a privilege.
‘It’s not unconvincing.’
Reluctantly removing her fingers from her ear holes, Ryuie still wiggled the back of her hand in dissatisfaction.
‘But it’s too unpleasant that bastard is calling out Yosua’s name.’
She felt like she was being insulted too.
The thought that such impersonation would work. The idea that if Yosua were cursed, he could fall to that level.
As Ryuie just glared silently, the trapped person became almost exhausted.
“Hmph.”
Ryuie clicked her tongue once strongly and turned around.
Since she seemed ready to leave just like that, Glem hurriedly blocked her path.
“What?”
“Aren’t you going to save him?”
“If you want to, you do it.”
Ryuie snapped back.
“Don’t you care that bastard is impersonating the Crown Prince’s name of all things?”
“Why. Does that look like a trap set for me?”
Ryuie also stepped closer.
Their noses came close enough to almost touch.
“I don’t like it. There’s no sincerity. Not enough effort put into making me want to fall for it.”
The content was an argument, but the people watching became nervous about when lightning might strike.
‘She’s acting like that because she dislikes it, right?’
Bendam was very worried that Ryuie might plant a kiss and return with her lips swollen from burns.
When Bendam gave the knight a look, the knight cleared his throat.
“Anyway, it would be better to handle this before the monster returns.”
“I’ll go.”
Glem said.
Still in a standoff with Ryuie, Glem extended his hand to the knight while maintaining eye contact. His attitude toward someone else’s subordinate was natural.
The knight, who only then realized Glem had no weapon, hesitated briefly before handing over his sword.
It seemed better to send him on a rescue mission rather than continue like this.
Shing.
Glem didn’t even touch the scabbard of the sword he received and drew it holding only the handle.
After lightly swinging the sword once to check its weight, Glem brushed past Ryuie and headed straight for the tree.
“Ah. He climbs well.”
“He’s skilled.”
It seemed like he had just lifted his feet off the ground, but he was already up that high.
The Crown Prince impersonator who had been squawking also stopped crying when he saw Glem approaching.
It was because he had climbed up the tree at a speed that seemed miraculous even to himself.
Everyone was watching in admiration, but Ryuie had an unimpressed expression.
Meanwhile, Glem, who was trying to drop the prey before the monster returned, hesitated for a moment.
‘The position is awkward.’
Cutting the top of the nest and pulling it up whole would be too heavy, and dropping it as is would be too dangerous.
Ryuie, who was watching with her arms crossed, said.
“Just drop him.”
She hadn’t shouted, but strangely Ryuie’s voice stuck well in his ears.
Glem pretended not to hear and gave instructions.
“Lean to the right.”
“What?”
“I’ll cut it so it catches on the branch below, so lean to make it tilt right.”
“How can I trust that! Don’t cut it, just bring the other people down there up and get me out!”
“The branch is weak, so it’ll break if more people come up.”
“B-but there must be another way!”
The terrified man showed no sign of complying obediently.
His struggling actually made even the branch Glem was on shake.
Ryuie hated being frustrated.
“Haa.”
Ryuie cracked her neck once and suddenly fired her gun at the two men.
Bang! Bang bang!
“!”
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
The man who had been captured screamed enough for two people since Glem, startled, had prostrated himself on the tree branch.
Fortunately, it didn’t hit anyone, and the nest floor was precisely shattered by bullets flying in from three directions, leaving it dangling precariously.
The man, suddenly left hanging in mid-air, squeaked as he struggled not to fall.
“Let go.”
Ryuie casually threw aside her gun and spread both arms wide.
It was a gesture indicating she would catch him.
“Miss!”
“Just stay there since it’s fine.”
Though her tone was light, it was an order.
How could she possibly catch a person with those frail arms? The others were restless, but when Ryuie stubbornly insisted on something, not listening would only lead to bigger accidents, so they reluctantly waited.
Having assessed the situation, Ryuie spread her arms wide and looked up, pretending to be gentle.
“I told you to come down, didn’t I?”
Glem looked down with a dismayed expression at Ryuie, who appeared as noble as a goddess.
In the end, it wasn’t that he came down voluntarily, but rather the man’s arms gave out and he dropped straight down.
“I caught…!”
“Aaaaargh!”
Sizzle!
The man who was thoroughly fried let out an even louder scream than before.
It wasn’t from the impact of the fall, but because Rkultu’s oath activated the moment he touched Ryuie.
Whether unfortunate or fortunate, the curse’s repulsive force was so strong that it lessened the impact of the fall.
“I knew this would happen.”
Ryuie, whose hair had all blown backward as if struck by weak lightning, carelessly rolled the man onto the ground.
Her pupils flashed back, half-rolled or perhaps filled with venom.
“Confirmation’s done, right?”
It was a sharp rebuke asking if that thing still looked like the Crown Prince.
The knights who had wanted to confirm despite the low probability bowed their heads on their own.
Originally, when the person in the highest position took the initiative to work, it only meant death for those below.
Right now, Ryuie’s own arms were considerably burned from doing that just once.
‘Too scary.’
Purely from a subordinate’s perspective, Bendam trembled in fear.
It would be better if she were the type to threaten with words like “Want to try dying once?”
‘She definitely grew up pampered as a ducal house’s daughter, so why is the result so rough?’
Bendam wanted to cry.
The priests soon began treating Ryuie.
Glem also just jumped down from the height where the man had been struggling not to fall just moments before.
When she heard the landing sound behind her, Ryuie spoke without even turning around.
“I don’t feel any emotions toward that man.”
Ryuie brushed off the ash remaining on her skin since even her clothes had burned.
“So the fact that the oath activated now means that man dared to harbor lustful thoughts toward me, his life-saving benefactor.”
“…”
Glem silently watched as Ryuie’s reddened flesh turned clear again while receiving prayers.
Even after frying two people, Ryuie still seemed far from having her anger appeased. Only now could he see it. Just how furious this woman was right now.
“The crime of impersonating the Crown Prince isn’t even settled yet, and now there’s this lewd crime too.”
Ryuie spoke once more as if for everyone to hear.
Glem felt that wasn’t directed at that man, but at the Crown Prince.
Surely when they first met, she had said she expected the Crown Prince to be a complete mess.
Yet when he wasn’t what she had imagined, Ryuie was the one who became most enraged.
‘Could it be.’
Glem became curious.
Could it be that Yeongae truly didn’t want to break off the engagement?
“Cough!”
Once Ryuie’s treatment was finished, the priests continued by treating the fallen man as well.
As the prayer spell enveloped his body, the man who barely regained consciousness thrashed about wildly.
“Eek! Hic! I’m falling! It hurts!”
“Get a grip.”
As soon as it was confirmed that he wasn’t the Crown Prince, Catsy kicked the man.
“Miss is waiting for your answer. Can’t you kneel properly?”
“Wh-what?”
The man who got properly kicked in the rear scrambled to get up.
From up in the tree, he couldn’t see clearly how well-armed the people who had gathered were.
Now he could see too well, and that was the problem.
How the swords worn by the fully armed knights gleamed. The mages with clasped hands ready to cast spells at any moment, and priests recognizable just by their attire.
It was like being completely put on public trial.
The black-haired woman who had seemed only beautiful before now looked absolutely terrifying when paired with the tall, white-haired man standing behind her, their impressions combined.
Afraid of being cursed again like before, the man covered his head and shouted.
“I just did what I was told to do!”
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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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