Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 91

91.

Leoden waited for my hesitation.

“I’m coming with you.”

Karen was highly likely to know Goran’s location. Although Karen didn’t write the process of killing Goran itself, Karen would be the one to prevent Goran’s resurrection if I, as a variable, didn’t exist.

‘This world is a living world. Still, if there are no major variables, most things go according to the settings.’

A prime example was Ken.

Before I met him, Ken was exactly as he was in the novel. He was pickpocketing in front of the Imperial Palace and lost his younger sibling during the war. Ken’s younger sibling, Susan, was exactly where I knew she would be.

The information from the novel I wrote wasn’t entirely useless. Thinking positively, I held high-quality information about the future.

‘Most of it was correct anyway. Karen preventing Goran’s resurrection is one of the major events, so it can’t be wrong.’

While Leoden found the path, I organized my thoughts.

‘Karen must have gone to catch Goran, and following her will naturally lead me to Goran’s location.’

What if Karen deals with Goran first?

‘As I wrote, he will gain his first fame as a hero.’

I bit my lip tightly.

I wanted to take the credit for preventing Goran’s resurrection.

The biggest purpose of coming to the West was to rescue Gale, but it was also to create friendly forces outside the Imperial Palace and to clear the stigma I had accumulated as the Crown Prince by preventing Goran’s resurrection.

Of course, my achievements so far were enough to somewhat dispel the stigma, but I wanted to firmly imprint the existence of the Crown Prince in the minds of the Empire’s citizens.

‘Indeed, he is the son of Ron Carl Leord!’

To make people say that, I needed not only the fact that I had become a High-Level Spirit Master but also a great achievement in the West.

‘I have to be faster than Karen.’

I ordered Leoden.

“Is it possible to know the time as well?”

“Time, Your Highness?”

“I mean… when these traces were made, that kind of time.”

Was it an unreasonable request?

Leoden tilted his head for a moment but soon opened his mouth.

“It probably hasn’t been long. Usually, a normal person’s traces disappear after about two days. This place doesn’t have many wild animals and doesn’t get any rain, so it will last a bit longer, but these traces probably haven’t been here for more than two days.”

I nodded at Leoden’s answer.

‘Traces from a maximum of two days ago.’

I checked the system window.

-A. Goran’s Death.

The quest hadn’t ended yet, which meant Karen hadn’t prevented Goran’s resurrection.

‘The security might be too tight, and she might be waiting for an opportunity.’

I also asked the spirits.

‘Is there anything unusual?’

Ignis’s urgent voice was heard.

-Orcs. More than thousands of them! Approaching from the east.

I quickly opened my mouth.

“An orc legion is advancing nearby. More than thousands of them.”

Since there were only ten people in the search party, hiding itself wasn’t difficult.

Even though the Dark Forest had fewer trees and fewer hiding places than other forests, knowing the orcs’ location made it possible to hide or avoid them.

“They seem to be trying to get out of the forest from the east.”

At my words, Leoden quickly replied.

“Your Highness, the owner of the footprints seems to have gone straight north. Let’s keep going for now.”

“Hurry.”

Using the flow of wind and earth, I ran at maximum speed.

Leoden and the knights also increased their speed.

‘Ignis, how far away are they?’

I asked Ignis while running.

-If you keep running like that, you won’t run into them. Those guys seem to be heading to human cities. They are heading out of the Dark Forest.

I didn’t inform the knights yet and continued to advance.

Leoden kept looking around without rest to avoid missing the traces, even while running so fast.

“Your Highness, the traces continue without interruption.”

No sooner had he spoken than Leoden’s eyes widened.

“The traces lead that way.”

Karen’s traces led in the opposite direction from where the orcs were.

The problem was that it led outside our search range and away from the orc legion’s main base, where Goran was expected to be.

“Follow the traces.”

Ignis’s voice was also heard.

-It’s getting farther away. You can go a little slower now.

I raised my hand to the knights to stop running.

“The distance from the orcs has increased. Let’s adjust our speed now. Leoden, are the traces still there?”

“Yes.”

That was fortunate. If we had missed Karen’s traces because we were running too fast, we could have wasted time.

Leoden opened his mouth.

“Your Highness, the sun will set soon. We’ve marked this far, so it would be best to return for today.”

I was disappointed but accepted Leoden’s advice.

Karen was already one step ahead, but I let go of my impatient heart.

If I didn’t move according to the plan, not only I but also others could be in danger.

There was no need to expose my knights to danger for fame.

“Let’s go back.”

I turned my body.

* * *

When I returned to the cave, the sun had already set.

We had searched quite far, and the other search parties had all returned and were preparing for tonight.

The squad leaders gathered in my tent.

Each one reported on the results of today’s search, but no one had found Goran.

I told them about our squad’s search results myself.

“We didn’t find the seed of evil, but we found traces of the wandering knight Gale met.”

“Are you talking about the wandering knight Karen?”

I nodded and replied as if Karen knew Goran’s location.

“That’s right. It was a trace leading into the Dark Forest, and she probably… knows the exact location of the seed of evil. I think she said something similar to you, didn’t she?”

Gale nodded.

“Yes. She offered to remove the seed of evil and asked me to guide her, so she must know.”

I made a decision right away.

“Tomorrow, follow Leoden to track the wandering knight’s traces. It seems the seed of evil hasn’t been removed yet.”

I also had a basis to support my opinion.

“While searching, we discovered more than thousands of orcs leaving the Dark Forest. Seeing them move in an orderly manner means that the Orc King and the seed of evil are still alive. Since the seed of evil is using the Orc King, if the seed of evil had been killed by the wandering knight, the orcs would have been in chaos.”

Ken agreed with my words.

“That’s probably right. Above all, the Orc King is serving the seed of evil, so the nearby security must be tight. It’s hard to believe that one wandering knight broke through that security and killed the seed of evil.”

David chimed in.

“The Orc King was not an easy opponent either. He was completely different from ordinary orcs, and his movements when fighting the Ruler of the Ruins were almost Sword Master level. There’s no way a wandering knight could kill the seed of evil that such a guy serves as his master.”

Thompson interjected.

“An orc showed Sword Master-level knight movements?”

David nodded.

“It was definitely Sword Master level. It’s troublesome to recognize the Orc King as just a slightly stronger existence than other orc warriors.”

Thompson’s face twisted.

“Where did a mercenary learn to speak so casually…?”

I coldly cut off Thompson’s words.

“There isn’t a single knight here who is of lower status than you. I appointed them all as knights with the authority of the Crown Prince, and they are knights belonging to the Crown Prince’s direct knight order.”

Just as Thompson was about to say something, I spoke first.

“Or did you receive a title from His Majesty?”

Thompson closed his mouth at my words.

Knights or mages without titles were only treated better than commoners, but they were not strictly nobles.

Even if Thompson was from the Riverhill family, he was not a formal noble.

This was because noble status was only inherited directly.

In other words, Duke Austin and his sons and daughters were nobles even if they didn’t receive separate titles, but Thompson was not.

It was an unintentional act of hurting Thompson’s pride.

‘In the future, my knights can always be ignored outside. I’m not going to appoint only nobles as knights, and if they have the ability, I’m even thinking of accepting slaves as my knights.’

I could have let it go appropriately, but I had no intention of simply ignoring my knights being insulted by others because of their status.

“I don’t want to make the same point again.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I spoke firmly but didn’t harshly push Thompson. One warning was enough.

I turned the topic back to Karen’s route.

“The wandering knight is likely to know the location of the seed of evil, and since we found the wandering knight’s traces, we will not divide the search party tomorrow and will all follow the wandering knight’s traces.”

All the knights nodded.

There were no other opinions.

I ended the meeting as it was and ordered everyone to rest except for Ken, who I asked to stay behind.

“It’s tough.”

The search was tough, but dealing with Ram and Thompson was just as tiring.

Because I was cooperating with people who were practically enemies, my nerves were on edge.

I leaned back in my chair and asked Ken.

“Is there no possibility that Ram and Thompson will not target me and will only faithfully carry out their mission?”

If the two people’s intentions were pure, I would be trying to kill them just because they were from the Atran and Riverhill families.

I wasn’t a murderer, and it was still not easy to decide to kill someone.

Ken replied.

“They were not friendly to Your Highness from the beginning. After coming to the West, they consistently looked for opportunities. And when a stage was given, they did not refuse to step up.”

The stage meant this expedition.

Ken’s words continued.

“It’s already too late to respond after something has happened. Your Highness, sometimes you may have to deal with people who have done nothing wrong.”

My body stiffened without me realizing it.

“If you want the process of seizing power to be beautiful, just be satisfied with being the Emperor’s son and stop there. If you want to rise to a position that encompasses the Empire, that path will inevitably be a path of blood.”

Ken added.

“It is a position that can only be reached by creating a river of blood.”

I sighed.

“Even if you create a river of blood and build a mountain with corpses, if it is to prevent greater pain and damage, then a leader must endure it.”

I nodded at Ken’s resolute words.

Ken’s personality and beliefs always clashed with Karen, but I was different from Karen.

Karen took a long time to conquer the Empire because of her frustratingly righteous heart and belief in justification.

In the process, even greater wars broke out.

‘A leader must be ruthless… yes, that’s right.’

Why else would I have spoken of ideals and purpose to accept Ken as my subordinate?

I trusted Ken’s ability to use even despicable means at times, and I felt it was justified.

“It seems my heart has weakened because my knights are actually dying and getting hurt. I will definitely deal with Ram and Thompson in this expedition. For my future.”

“Perhaps we will find the seed of evil tomorrow.”

I nodded.