Chapter 131 - Chapter 23: Cross (1/2)

Chapter 131 – Chapter 23: Cross

The requirements for becoming demon king could be divided into three parts.

The first was having high merits. Merits were the basis of everything. The higher the merit level, the stronger the support from the Demon King’s Palace would be, and there would be more obtainable things. It was also the basis of the competition between the children of the demon king. So, no matter how much better they were in other aspects, they could still lag behind in this competition.

The second was strength. The strength of the demon king was just as important as merits in the Demon World. It was the royal children’s strength that was looked at when the Merits Department assigned missions. If their strength didn’t reach a certain level, they could only be assigned a few missions. Moreover, it was natural, but they couldn’ t become the demon king unless they were strong in the first place. The strongest royal child would become the demon king.

The third part was networking. It was important to become friendly with key figures of the Demon King’s Palace, such as the captains, as well as having alliances with outside forces or securing competent subordinates. These connections were just as necessary as merits and strength. There were many advantages to improving the reputation of a royal child.

There were many cases where the other party would inform them of information beforehand. Of course, depending on the type of fame, there could be more enemies than allies.

The reason why social connections were important was based on the ideal of the strong in the Demon World. Even if the demon king was strong, the people wouldn’t trust the strength of the heir if it was below a certain level.

The power of their forces, high merits, reputation and a solid network of people inside and outside the Demon King’s Palace…

These were the things necessary in order to become the demon king.

&

“Prince. Prince, get up. It is already morning. The sun has risen a long time ago.”

A rough hand shook his shoulder.

As expected, In-gong opened his eyes to see Carack’s face. Carack helped the sleepy In-gong raise his body and handed him a cup of green liquid.

“Come on, drink this. It is a drink for your hangover.”

In-gong didn’t have the energy to resist, so he drank it, but the taste was truly terrible. Still, the drink had an effect as his mind cleared.

Carack laughed and handed him a cup of water. The clear, cold water was great.

“Carack, you seem fine.”

After clearing his mind, In-gong spoke while pressing a hand against his temple. Carack laughed again and hit his chest.

“Huhu, this is an alcoholic’s body. I continued drinking even after Prince slept, but I am still fine.”

The green colour of the orc skin made it difficult for In-gong to tell if there truly was no hangover. Therefore, In-gong decided to just nod.

“Yes, well done, well done.”

‘What’s an alcoholic’s body? Does he bathe in alcohol?’

After picturing the futile delusion, In-gong closed his eyes again. Then Carack shook In-gong’s shoulder once more.

“Prince, I truly waited until the latest possible moment before I woke you. There isn’t much time left until the meeting.”

They had achieved a great victory in the battle against the barbarians, but that wasn’t the end of it. Just like the case where they had defeated the Red Lightning tribe, there was still work to do. They had to restore the bases they had abandoned as well as secure the fourth base that might still contain barbarians.

The person responsible for this battle was In-gong, so all the clean-up was also In-gong’s responsibility. He couldn’t take a backseat and watch.

“Come on, get up. There really isn’t a lot of time. You need to eat a big meal in the morning.”

“I don’t think… Nayatra?”

In-gong raised his head before anyone entered. It was because Nayatra had appeared on the mini-map, which he had opened through habit.

As In-gong spoke, Nayatra entered the tent with both hands holding a large tray of food.

“Your Highness, breakfast is served.”

Nayatra said gracefully while keeping her eyes down. As In-gong stared at her with a blank face, she put the tray down in front of him.

“Breakfast is the start of the day. You have to eat. It is ridiculous if you don’t.”

There was a feeling of affection which couldn’t be hidden in the calm voice. It was nice but embarrassing. Was she doing this to gain favour with In-gong?

In-gong stared at Nayatra before turning his gaze toward the tray.

There was the smell of hot soup and freshly made bread. Some of the dishes were really hot like they had just been made.

“Hoh, is everything homemade?”

Carack moved closer to the tray with a face of admiration. Nayatra stretched out her hand to restrain Carack with sharp eyes.

“This is His Highness’ food. Step aside. As I said before, this food is for His Highness.”

Carack flinched at the cold voice, and there was a tinge of embarrassment on his face.

In-gong felt his appreciation for Nayatra rise as he watched the scene. She was a woman who was cold to Carack. It was indeed fresh.

“Thank you, I will eat it well.”

In-gong smiled and started eating breakfast, while Nayatra’s chill melted as she smiled back. As the two people smiled at each other, Carack had a wounded expression while he watched In-gong.

Some time passed.

After a quick breakfast, In-gong got dressed with the help of Carack and Nayatra. Then he headed to the tent where the meeting would take place. Nayatra wanted to come along, but In-gong’s aide was Carack.

‘Nayatra was always with me in Knight Saga.’

She was both a counselor and escort knight.

“Prince, what is with that look?”

“No, nothing. I was just thinking about a possible personnel adjustment.”

Carack’s eyes asked what he meant, but In-gong just laughed. He didn’t intend to change his aide, but it was quite fun teasing Carack.

In-gong tapped Carack’s shoulder and started moving quicker.

Felicia and Caitlin were already waiting inside the tent with Delia and Seira. Felicia was particularly noteworthy.

“Shutra… Noona wants to die… Divide Noona’s legacy in half with Silvan…”

Felicia lay on top of a big table and spoke in a dying voice. She had drunk so much yesterday that she was now suffering from a huge hangover.

In-gong sat next to Felicia and used a magic spell.

“Recovery.”

It was a powerful status recovery magic. It was slightly strange using it for a hangover, but the effect was clear.

“I can live a little bit now.”

Felicia groaned and raised her upper body. Her complexion was still bad, but she certainly looked better than before.

“Why didn’t you use it on yourself?”

“I can’t use magic because my head hurts too much.”

Felicia replied with a frown and drank the cold water on the table. In-gong turned his head toward Caitlin.

“What about Noona? Is your body okay now?”

“Yes, I am fine.”

Caitlin had gone to sleep right after the battle.

She smiled gently and then asked a question while tilting her head slightly,

“By the way Shutra, what happened yesterday? Your aura suddenly got stronger. It seemed like one more aura heart had grown.”