Chapter 11 - Chapter 2: Alliance #2

"My little brother is a pervert! My little brother is a pervert!”

Caitlin shouted toward Chris from the middle of the tent. It was loud enough to be heard from outside the tent as In-gong waved his hands frantically.

“I-is that possible?”

He had certainly made a mistake. He asked her to hit him with her aura; it was certainly a strange request.

However, a pervert? Shurta was a young man who was only 14 years old. Moreover, In-gong didn’t enjoy those types of hobbies.

"I thought you were respectful but...”

In-gong didn’t know why and Chris just clicked his tongue, seeming to enjoy teasing In-gong. Caitlin alternated between looking at Chris and In-gong and muttered,

“Pervert...”

Her eyes were looking at her younger brother but they had changed a little bit. The misunderstanding seemed to have deepened during the time they washed up. In-gong groaned and opened his eyes wide.

"I told you the reason why!”

Of course, he hadn’t explain everything but they didn’t seem to believe in his innocence. Although Chris and Caitlin had heard quite a bit of the story, the two of them were still teasing him like this.

He had always been interested in Aura. So, he explained to Chris and Caitlin that he just wanted to feel the aura directly with his body.

Chris wiped the teasing smirk from his face. He placed his arm around In-gong and said seriously,

"Hmm, although it doesn’t seem like an impossible story... I’ve never heard of someone awakening Aura like that.”

Aura was life force.

Therefore, all creatures living on the Assenba Continent had the possibility of having a small or large aura.

The most common way to awaken an aura was through training.

If they repeated an action a thousand times a day, there might be an ‘oh!’ moment. This was indeed the most universal and reasonable way to awaken it.

Of course, there were individual differences between species.

The lycanthropes were overflowing with vitality, so they were capable of awakening it easily. On the other hand, the orcs were a tough warrior species but the odds of them awakening an aura was low.

Caitlin and Chris had both awakened an aura despite being in the mid-teens. It was an amazing feat despite it being the racial characteristic of lycanthropes.

They were talented but had to work very hard to achieve it. Shutra hadn’t seen an aura before, so it wasn’t unusual that he wanted to feel it.

Caitlin and Chris thought about it with a serious expression before asking In-gong.

“Is it possibly because you are a gandharva?”

Gandharva. Shutra’s mother and the 5th queen was from the Ignus tribe.

Gandharva had a great talent for ‘sensing’ things. It didn’t matter if it was the wind or a power flowing in the atmosphere.

Chris thought it was a good story and stared at In-gong with curious eyes. In-gong laughed awkwardly and said.

"Uh...well, that might be the case. I just want to feel it for a little bit.”

"You want to feel...”

Chris’ eyes became a little bit mischievous. He squeezed In-gong’s tired shoulders while Caitlin kept an eye on Chris. Chris chuckled at the expressions on his younger siblings’ faces.

"Okay, let me do it. I’ll be polite.”

He raised a big fist filled with aura. It seemed like In-gong would die if he was hit by it.

"Ah, no! I would prefer Noona rather than Hyung...”

In-gong frantically looked at Caitlin. Chris also glanced at Caitlin with joy filled eyes and she sighed.

“I understand. I will try it.”

Caitlin stood in front of In-gong and swept a glance over his body. It seemed like she was worrying about where to hit.

"Uh, how about your shoulder or your arm?”

In-gong turned and showed her his shoulder. Despite levelling up, he still felt like it would be a hard and painful blow.

Caitlin nodded with a grim expression and lifted her right hand. Unlike Chris, the blue aura around Caitlin’s hand felt cold.

“Should I do it now?”

“Yes.”

In-gong was tense but Caitlin was even more nervous. Rather than hitting In-gong, Caitlin touched his shoulder gently.

“Is that it?”

There was nothing. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a simple contact.

In-gong laughed to reassure Caitlin and said,

“No, a little bit harder.”

"This much?"

Caitlin hit In-gong’s shoulder with the palm of her hand. He sensed something but it was subtle.

"A little bit more!"

At In-gong’s shout, Caitlin turned toward Chris with a restless expression. In-gong didn’t know why but he enjoyed it a little bit. It was because Caitlin’s restless face was so cute.

‘No, now isn’t the time for something like this. Regain your spirit, your spirit.’

In-gong shook his head and urged Caitlin.

"Properly!"

Chris nodded toward Caitlin’s unspoken question. She closed her eyes and struck In-gong’s arm.

“Keok!”

In-gong cried out and fell to the ground. He was hit in the arm but his whole body was sore.

“Shutra?”

“Hey! Are you okay?”

Caitlin and Chris approached with surprise. He had screamed so loudly it could be heard outside the tent.

In-gong endured the pain and nodded. He was literally in tears but there was an achievement.

[You have learnt Aura Lv1.]

"Huhut.”

Aura Lv1. However, he felt sick as the new power spread deep inside his body.

“Hey! Hey! Are you really okay?”

Chris' voice seemed somewhat distant. Why was he losing consciousness from being hit in the arm? Was it due to awakening the aura?

“Shutra!”

In-gong smiled with satisfaction as Caitlin’s cries faded away. He had fainted.

&

In-gong was in the dark.

His eyes weren’t open, so it wasn’t strange that his vision was dark.

There were people gathered in this space. He was able to see them easily despite the darkness around him.

He saw a woman with white hair wearing a golden crown. It was the woman dressed in white that he had seen before.

The woman wasn’t alone. It was blurry but there were three more people with her.

There was a woman with reddish blonde hair and a fire-like, red aura around her body.

There was a skinny man dressed in black clothes that made him almost indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness.

The last man was wearing a blue cloak and a skull-shaped helmet.

In-gong wanted to look at the three people more closely. However, he couldn’t reach them.

The white woman turned in his direction. Her red and blue eyes stared at In-gong and he woke up.

“Are you okay?”

"Hiiik!”

In-gong stared straight into the face of an orc when he woke up. He tried to move his body away as much as possible.

"Pant, pant...what a surprise.”

It was shocking to suddenly go from looking at a beauty to an orc.

The orc who he saw was Carack. Carack stared at In-gong and sighed with relief.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

"Uh, that is...”

In-gong made a confused sound. He obviously had a dream but couldn’t remember the contents. They were all just blurry images.

"Well, it was just a dream. By the way, why did you ask the princess to hit you? The princess has been restless.”

In-gong checked the time before answering. It had only been approximately five hours, so a day hadn’t passed yet. He knew it was dark without needing to go outside.

‘Was she really worried?’

He recalled Caitlin’s face from just before he fainted. Her face was cute when she was confused.

"Prince?"

"Ah, no. It is nothing.”

Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about this. In-gong leaned against the wall in a sitting position. He ignored Carack’s suspicious gaze and held out his palms.

"Wait a minute.”

He closed his eyes and focused his senses. He was able to sense the new energy in his body without difficulty.

“Ohh, I sense it.”

This was Aura. It was only level one, but he still had Aura!

In-gong’s eyes shone while Carack’s eyes widened.

"I can feel something.”

"Aura. I asked Caitlin noona to hit me with her aura so that I could feel it.”

“Huh? Then you’ve awakened Aura by feeling it?”

Carack was dumbfounded. In-gong quickly dismissed it with his hands.

“No, that’s not it. It is hard to explain.”

It really was difficult to explain.

Carack bit his lip, like he was thinking, before nodding.

“I understand. Anyway, I am glad that you are safe. Congratulations on awakening Aura.”

"Yes, you should also celebrate. Killing Kaichin is a big achievement.”

‘By the way, what about the reward for the merits?’

In the game, a prince who achieved great merit would receive compensation from the Demon King’s Palace. Things like getting an increase in monthly living expenses, receiving good items or receiving permission to access various facilities in the Demon King’s Palace.

‘Should I ask for Carack?’

Carack had originally been a local warrior.

'Yes, I shouldn’t separate from him. That boat had already sailed after I gave him the axe.’

So be it. He might even give him another dwarf weapon later on.

While In-gong was nodding to himself, Carack stared at him with a strange look. He looked around for a while before saying in a cautious tone,

"That- In fact, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What do you want to ask?”

"Well, there was something strange when we were fighting. All of a sudden, power suddenly burst into my body? Besides... Um...”

“What is it?”

“That... It is strange but I felt loyalty toward Prince? The emotion was like a burning flame.”

Below the King’s Flag.

A king could give power to his followers by drawing out hidden power from them.

In-gong answered with a smile.

"That’s right. I enhanced your power.”

“Ohh? Nevertheless, Prince is also a prince!”

"Yes, so serve me well.”

“I understand.”

Carack grinned and nodded. He was happy but his face still looked quite fierce.

‘Should Carack just be my subordinate? He fought well today.’

His first subordinate wasn’t a beautiful succubus or dark elf but beggers couldn’t be choosers.

"By the way, can I hear about the progress of today’s battle? I haven’t heard from Caitlin or Chris.”

He wasn’t able to hear any important news due to the conversation about Aura.

Carack nodded and explained with clenched fists.

"Prince Chris and Princess Caitlin have destroyed Kaichin’s position. We killed Kaichin and Kaidum. It was a sweeping victory thanks to us! We succeeded in taking over a military headquarters.”

In-gong cocked his head for a moment after hearing the story.

"Wait a minute, military headquarters?”

“H-have you forgotten this as well?”

Carack asked with wide eyes. In-gong frowned.

"Wasn’t it only Chris, Caitlin and I who came to quell the Red Lightning tribe?”

“That is impossible. The Red Lightning tribe isn’t lacking troops.”

This made a lot of sense. Including Carack, Shutra only had 31 troops. Caitlin had dozens more soldiers than Shutra. However, if they combined their troops with Chris, it would only reach up to 400.

There was a military headquarters. Chris, Caitlin and In-gong didn’t have enough troops to take it over.

"Who took the military headquarters?”

In-gong asked quickly. He felt an ominous premonition.

Carack scratched the back of his head and replied.

"General Vandal.”

The ogre Vandal that was the match of 100 warriors.

He was the one closest to Zephyr.

Author's Note: These questions will come up sooner or later, so I will answer them in advance.

Q : What species is the Demon King?

A : The Demon King is a ‘sura.’

Therefore, all of the Demon King’s children are half sura + half another species.

E.g. Shutra: Sura + gandharva/ Chris, Caitlin: sura + lycanthrope (Gallehed who is Caitlin’s father is also a sura).

The rest of the children will gradually be revealed (the species of the queens are different).

See you tomorrow.

Today is a happy day. :D