Chapter 42 - Chapter 6: Encounter #4 (1/2)
Chapter 42 - Chapter 6: Encounter #4
“Prince, Prince! Wake up!”
Hearing Carack’s rugged voice, In-gong turned around reflexively and blocked his ears. However, it was useless. Carack’s crude hands shook In-gong’s shoulders.
He wanted to say, ‘Five more minutes...’ but woke up reluctantly from his sleep instead. Carack spoke with an apologetic voice as he looked at In-gong’s sleepy face.
”I know you are tired from yesterday, so I was going to let you sleep in. However, a letter from the Merits Department arrived.”
“Merits Department?”
Although he was still sleepy, In-gong expressed his curiosity. It was very rare thing for the Merits Department to contact someone first.
”Here is some water to wash up. You should wake up first.”
Carack extended a washbasin filled with cold water. After In-gong finished washing his face, he realized that Carack wasn’t the only one in the room.
”This is the letter from the Merits Department. Would you like me to open it?”
Flora, the butler he hired yesterday, was holding a tray containing a letter. In-gong nodded.
“Yes.”
In contrast to Carack’s excitement, Flora dutifully opened the envelope and politely handed the letter to In-gong.
‘It is a summons.’
The letter told him to come to the Merits Department because there was a new mission.
In-gong read everything and nodded. It was better to visit in person than to keep worrying about it.
”This is a mission from the demon king.”
“Huh?”
”This is a mission from the demon king.”
In-gong blinked and thought that he had heard wrongly. However, Isabella repeated the exact same words. She was speaking to In-gong but her eyes and voice also showed surprise.
In the end, Carack couldn’t bear it any longer and asked,
”The demon king picked a mission to give to Prince?”
His voice was tense from the confusion. Rather than take offense at Carack’s rudeness, Isabella folded her arms and said,
”I don't know the details. I was just given a command to leave this mission to 9th Prince.”
Just like how it was rare for the Merits Department to contact someone first, it was also very rare for the demon king to entrust a mission to a specific prince or princess.
'No, has it ever happened before?’
As he searched through his memories, he couldn’t recall a time when the demon king had given someone a mission.
First, there had been the encouragement at the court gathering. Now, there was a mission.
“A special mission?”
In-gong’s voice was tense. Isabella quickly shook her head.
“No, it is a mission that was already on the list.”
It was one of the missions already prepared for the children of the demon king.
Isabella was telling the truth but he felt like the reason wasn’t that simple.
“I understand, I will receive the mission. Do I need to sign anything?”
”Ah, over here.”
Along with the mission letter, Isabella extended a piece of paper containing the names of the demon king’s children. It seemed to be a mission confirmation sheet.
After signing it, In-gong received the letter and left the Merits Department. Carack followed him swiftly and asked,
”Prince, what is the mission?”
”Let’s go back first.”
There were rumours about the court gathering, so he felt people gawking at him from every direction.
In-gong felt very awkward, so he didn’t want to stand in the corridor talking to Carack.
&
”I heard that the Merits Department contacted you. Did you just come back from there?”
Chris and Caitlin were sitting side by side in the mansion’s drawing room.
In-gong laughed as soon as he saw them.
”News travels fast. Do you have a source of information?”
“No way, I just asked around.”
Chris laughed and In-gong nodded. It wasn’t a secret, so it wasn’t strange that Chris knew about it.
This time it was Caitlin who asked.
”Shutra, have you already received a new mission?”
“Yes, this is the mission.”
In-gong took out the letter and showed it to Chris and Caitlin. Chris narrowed his eyes and read it out loud.
”Subjugate the group of casios... It is a subjugation mission.”
”Is that at Enger Plains where the centaurs are?”
Chris nodded at In-gong’s question.
”Yes, I’ve been there once with Caitlin. Subjugating the casios is an annual event, so it will be good.”
The casios were wolf-like creatures that rushed in groups. Like Chris said, a large number of them appeared every year on the Enger Plains, so a periodic subjugation was needed.
‘In other words, this is a repeat quest.’
It was a mission that In-gong had performed repeatedly in Knight Saga.
Chris looked once again at the mission letter. The demon king had handed him a simple task but it could be a bit too much for the current In-gong.
He didn’t know what the demon king was thinking when he gave In-gong this mission. Was he really showing favouritism to In-gong?
”Well, it will be fine if it is Shutra. You can do it.”
Rather than questioning it, Chris gave In-gong words of encouragement while Caitlin stroked his head with an expression of worry.
”Although Caitlin and I would like to go with you... We don’t have an unreasonable number of appointments like Felicia noonim but we still have a schedule.”
”Are you going back to the land of the lycanthropes?”
Chris nodded at In-gong’s question.
“Yes. Not yet, but soon. I delayed my departure for a few days because of my promise to teach you Aura. So, you will leave first.”
”Shutra is departing tomorrow. Today, I will definitely teach you.”
Caitlin made fists enthusiastically. She felt a little bit bad for the delay on her promise to teach him Divine Beast Authority and Aura.