How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 40

Living as the Third Son of a Trash Novel – 40

It was the monster that had beheaded Ricese last night with a single strike.

The torches, soaked by the rain, flickered.

The man who stepped forward quickly scanned me up and down.

He then looked at Fleta and Ilia, and the cliff behind us. Then, he chuckled softly.

“So, this is where you ran to?”

He threw off his hood and crossed his arms as if watching a child’s antics.

The revealed face was illuminated by the torchlight.

His black hair barely covered his ears. His eyes seemed to smile, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised.

If not for the situation, he would have seemed like an ordinary, playful young man.

A black-haired master-level expert.

He wasn’t among the characters I knew. He didn’t seem to be active publicly. Even if he belonged somewhere, he must live only in the shadows.

“Let me guess your next words? You’ll hand over the princess in exchange for your life? If I take one more step, you’ll throw the princess off the cliff?”

My prediction was correct.

During the first attack, he had exchanged jokes with Ricese more than necessary. It was like a predator toying with its prey.

It seemed to be a kind of morbid hobby. So, I thought he would do the same this time, and my prediction came true.

“That’s right. So, don’t come any closer, and spare my life.”

I acted appropriately cowardly, but with a hint of resolve.

The man chuckled at my performance and stopped, showing both hands.

He stopped when I told him not to come closer. If he had ignored me, I would have acted according to the plan right away.

Roughly estimating, the distance was about twenty meters.

Not too far, not too close.

“You’re putting on a hostage situation, but what a pity. I wasn’t exactly told to bring the princess back alive.”

He wasn’t told to bring her back alive.

That meant he was acting under someone’s orders.

“Then?”

“Well, if I had to put it, it’s because of you.”

Furthermore, the hypothesis became certain.

These guys were after me.

“Why?”

“You found out something you shouldn’t have.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? The mountains, the Blade Tribe, the cave. Still don’t get it?”

The basis for the hypothesis also matched.

He was a diligent guy, answering everything I asked.

Well, for him, this act was nothing more than a game. He must have been confident that he could catch me no matter what I did.

Thanks to that, I managed to get most of the information I needed.

“I didn’t go around blabbing about it. I have no intention of digging into it. I just wanted to live quietly.”

“I know. You didn’t go around blabbing about it. That’s a relief. If you had, we would have had to catch and kill all the guys who heard it. I’ll give you credit for that much.”

“…If you kill me, the rumors will spread quickly. Do you think I didn’t set up any safety measures?”

“Oh! Then, of course, we should spare you. Understood. I’ll spare your life. But instead.”

The man, with exaggerated gestures, spread his hands and smiled.

“Hand over the magic stone.”

“I threw it away.”

“Don’t joke around. Do you think we didn’t look for it?”

“I really threw it away.”

The man tilted his head at my assertion.

“Where?”

“Will you spare me if I tell you?”

“Yes. If it’s really there, I’ll spare you. I promise.”

“What do I trust?”

“My honor? Hmm. I guess you wouldn’t believe that?”

The man, who had mentioned honor, scratched the back of his neck as if embarrassed.

“Listen. We don’t want to provoke Count Rindaier by killing you. He’s scary when he gets angry. In other words, even if the princess is destined to die, it’s not the same for you.”

Fleta’s death should be framed as related to the incident in the West. It was an expected story.

“We don’t want to kill you, and you want to live. Our interests align, right? The only problem is that you know too much, so let’s do this.”

The man tapped his head with his index finger.

“We have a skilled magician. We’ll erase your memories. Then you’ll live, and we’ll be happy. Isn’t that a win-win? What do you think?”

What a load of crap.

Unless it was a great mage like Kerwyn, mental magic performed by ordinary magicians usually leaves severe aftereffects.

You’d become an idiot, or, if you were lucky, you’d suffer from minor mental illnesses. Above all, there was still no guarantee that they would spare me.

“If you just guide us to where you threw the magic stone, we’ll erase your memories and send you back. Seeing as you were going to offer the princess tied up like that, didn’t you mean to negotiate?”

The man shrugged.

I was a little doubtful at the man’s appearance. Why was he so obsessed with the magic stone? Simply because the Chimera’s seal was engraved on it?

Looking at that alone, it wasn’t a clue to identify someone.

On the other hand, the man seemed to mistake that I was deep in thought and continued softly.

“We’ll treat you according to your status, not as a prisoner. That’s assuming you cooperate willingly. You have nowhere to run anyway, right? You’re not going to jump off the cliff, are you? Even if you survive miraculously, you’ll be half crippled, which is worse than dying, right?”

The man’s expression changed leisurely, as if he thought I had half accepted.

After the man gestured, two black figures standing at the end began to approach.

They were slowly approaching with their hands up, as if to show that they had no other intentions.

Perhaps they had relaxed because they thought I was alone. Fleta, whom they had been wary of as a magician, was also tied up. My skills were known to be insignificant to the outside world.

‘Hey.’

[Yeah.]

As I grabbed my sword and thought, Aphen responded immediately.

‘You’re ready, right?’

[Of course. It’s been a while since my belly was this full!]

That’s right. I poured all the mana stones I brought from the capital into you.

‘So, how long will it last?’

[Ten seconds at most?]

That’s absurd.

Didn’t you say ten seconds when we talked at the inn the other day?

I invested over two hundred gold coins in mana stones, but why is the time the same?

[You have to consider that there are three of us now. The weight has more than doubled.]

‘…Alright, just time it well.’

[Will I ever not do well!]

Listening to Aphen, I quietly gathered mana.

Shall we begin?

“I don’t think I can do it.”

“What?”

The man narrowed his brows at my sudden words.

“I don’t think I can do it. Even if I survive like that, I won’t have the face to see my father because of the guilt.”

“What does that mean……”

After taking a light breath, I grabbed the rope connecting Fleta and Ilia and threw them off the cliff.

“Catch them!”

The black-haired man, seeing my suspicious movement, shouted and kicked off the ground.

But he was too relaxed.

The distance between the black-haired man and me was twenty meters. It was a distance that could be closed in an instant with his skill, but what he overlooked was that I could also handle mana.

“You bastard!”

“Using such shallow tricks……”

As Fleta and Ilia disappeared below the cliff, I gathered mana and unleashed my sword.

The target was the two men who were approaching within reach.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

“Kuh-ugh……”

The unleashed sword cut the legs of the two unsuspecting men.

At the same time, the rope tied to my waist became taut because it was connected to Fleta.

Whoosh!

Afterward, my body was pulled towards the cliff by the connected rope.

“I won’t let you get away!”

The face of the black-haired man, who rushed in an instant, was greatly magnified. As if determined to capture me, he reached out his hand instead of his sword.

At that, I summoned the Avatar.

Afterward, feeling a sharp sense, I muttered the Warrior’s Path.

A blue flash, a single flash, burst out like the wind.

Kwaaang!

A rough explosion occurred. It was because the black-haired man had drawn his sword and blocked it. Due to the recoil from the impact, my body was bounced even further.

Cough!

I coughed up red blood while floating in the air.

It was the price of facing a top-tier expert knight with a sword. Even after summoning the Avatar and gathering all the mana I had, I felt a twisting sensation inside.

I could feel it without having to look. I must have suffered serious internal injuries.

But it wasn’t bad.

Seeing the distorted face of the slippery guy made me feel rewarded.

“You son of a bitch!”

The guy, standing precariously on the edge of the cliff, glared at me and spat out his anger.

I lightly raised my middle finger at him and then disappeared into the darkness below the cliff.

* * *

Cough!

The blood I coughed up while falling into the deep ravine scattered in the air.

But there was no time to delay.

I strongly gripped the rope connected to Fleta and Ilia and tightly held the sword with my remaining hand. Aphen’s words pierced my mind.

[You’re not dead, are you?]

‘No.’

[When are you going to use it?]

‘Wait!’

Not yet, not yet.

Because the given time was short.

How many seconds did I wait, suppressing the creeping anxiety?

Splash!

The sound of the river crashing against the rocks reached my ears.

“Now!”

Sss…….

At the same time as my shout, golden energy flowed out from the amber jewel embedded in the sword.

[Iyaaap! Fly!]

The moment I wondered if I really had to shout it out loud even though it was a magic sword, the speed at which my body was falling began to slow down, defying gravity.

Crack!

At the same time, a strong impact was transmitted to the arm holding Fleta and Ilia.

“Keuh!”

Did my shoulder dislocate? Intense pain struck. It was fortunate that I had gathered mana; if I had been empty-handed, I would have dropped them.

‘Where?’

There was no time to check the injured arm. Time was still running out every second.

Looking around, I saw that the river was quite swollen due to the rain. The depressing feeling I got when I actually saw it with my own eyes was only temporary.

Even if the sky falls, there’s always a way out.

Soon, a relatively gentle terrain caught my eye at the edge of the cliff.

Of course, it was only relatively gentle; in reality, there were rocks sticking out here and there, making it just as dangerous.

But there was no more time to hesitate.

“Heeup!”

Giving strength to my good arm, I sent the two women flying there, and then my body was pulled along by the connected rope.

Thud!

“Kyaaak!”

“Keuht!”

The two women seemed to have regained consciousness from the impact.

At the same time, my body, which had rushed over them, collided strongly with them.

“Aaaah! Huh? P, Prince?”

“What is this…… Third Prince!”

The two women, who had screamed in shock, were horrified when they saw my figure illuminated by the moonlight.

“Bl, blood!”

“What on earth is going on, Prince!”

“First, the light……”

Fleta, biting her lip tightly, raised her hand without hesitation.

As if she was about to use light magic, I hurriedly raised my arm and grabbed Fleta’s wrist.

“No light.”

“Why?”

“They might be watching from above.”

For now, the darkness had hidden our figures, but it was better to be sure.

“What on earth happened!”

“Ilia, my arm first.”

Ilia, who had touched my shoulder at my words, nodded.

“Bite down hard.”

Damn it.

I gritted my teeth at her words.

Crack!

“Kueueuk……”

“I, I’m sorry, Prince!”

I reassured Ilia, who was restless, with a gesture, and then opened my mouth with difficulty.

“Ugh, magic scroll…… Damn it, I used the Fly magic scroll.”

Fleta’s eyes widened at my lie.

“Did you just say Fly magic scroll? Where on earth did you get that precious scroll, of which there might only be a few in the Magic Tower……”

“It’s a secret. Anyway, I had it, so I survived like this.”

“Then why did you knock me out? You didn’t tell me in advance.”

“Because you’re a magician. I had to induce the enemies to let their guard down.”

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t we have just used it from the beginning and escaped? Why bother getting cornered until the very end and then using it……”

“If we had, we would have been chased continuously.”

Fleta shut her mouth at my words.

“They’re the kind of guys who would chase us to the very end. Even if we disappeared suddenly, the encirclement would only widen. Besides, since we didn’t say anything, they would have caught up quickly.”

“So…… you faked a suicide instead?”

“Yeah. At least they’ll look for the bodies downstream. Well, even if they chase us right away, we’ll have bought enough time by then.”

“Indeed. No matter how high their level, they can’t come down this cliff right away.”

Her words were correct.

It was a bottomless cliff with no place to set foot. No matter how skilled they were, they wouldn’t be able to climb down that cliff.

If they came down normally, they would have to go all the way around the mountain, and by that time, our traces would have been roughly erased.

The worst-case scenario was that they would divide their forces, assuming that I had even used a scroll.

But that wasn’t a bad result in its own way. The division of forces meant that the encirclement would be loosened.

“Ilia.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to rest for a while, so go and scout the surrounding terrain. We need to move soon.”

“Understood.”

Ilia, who had risen with a determined face, carefully went down.

As we were left alone, Fleta suddenly trembled her eyes and looked at me.

“Are you alright, Third Prince.”

“I don’t think I’ll die.”

“I will definitely repay this debt.”

“Of course. I’m going to get my money’s worth for your life. The Count’s treasury might be emptied.”

“……If it’s the price of my life, then of course it should be.”

“In addition to that.”

“Yes?”

I smiled at Fleta’s face, which seemed to ask what more there was.

“You roughly know how much a Fly magic scroll costs, right?”

“I’m a magician, so I know it well. As precious as it is, you’d have to pay at least four or five hundred gold coins to get one.”

Wow, it’s just a scroll, but it’s that much?

I didn’t know well either, so I just casually brought it up, and Fleta eagerly took the bait.

“Pay that back in full as well.”

“Understood. I will definitely repay it.”

“And I’m a little thirsty, can you fetch me some water?”

“Of course!”

Fleta, who had jumped up, rolled up her sleeves and headed for the river.

After confirming that she was completely gone, I quickly put my hand into my pocket and took out the magic stone.

The scratch where I had embedded Aphen in the cave and the seal engraved with the Chimera were still there.

There was nothing else to look at besides that.

But now there was a need to look at it.

‘Why were they so desperate for this?’

At first, I thought they were targeting me just to prevent information from leaking. So, I was going to jump off as soon as they got even a little closer.

But the black-haired man listened to my words not to come closer, and then tried to coax me with gentle words.

It was as if they would be in trouble if I died.

Why would they do that.

Thinking about why they did that, there was only one conclusion.

‘It must mean there’s something in the magic stone.’

It wouldn’t be just because the seal was engraved on it.

Even if this was widely known to the outside world, it wouldn’t be a clue to find or identify anyone.

Even so, they struggled to get it back.

I had a feeling.

I strongly gripped the magic stone with both hands.

Then, I began to apply force along the grain of the scratch.

It was hard. It wasn’t something that could be broken with mere human strength. But when I used mana, a powerful force resided in my hand.