Chapter 182

“If it’s going to be like this, I shouldn’t have bought all these items. Maybe I should have returned them…”

The Princess, who had made an impulsive purchase, regretted it only after sending the merchants away. However, Lady Kisea firmly grabbed the Princess’s wrist.

“No. Once we lift the petrification of our clan, all these items will be necessary.”

Items popular among the Beastmen Race would naturally be popular among the wolves as well. Although the Princess had bought these items with her own money, they had inadvertently become the property of the wolf clan.

Once the petrification was lifted, the wolves would essentially be left with nothing but their bare bodies, so these items would be necessary for them. There was nothing to be said about it.

[More importantly, what about the plan? I understand infiltrating the Beastmen Liberation War Victory Museum, finding the statue, and lifting the petrification. But what happens after that? Do we just run away?]

“Right? What do we do after that?”

Lady Kisea scratched her head.

“Didn’t you think about it?”

“We plan to head north to the Arctic. What about you, Lady Kisea?”

“Me? I have to lead my clan back to the Empire. But it seems difficult to do it alone… Wait, I just thought of a better idea!”

Suddenly clapping her hands, Lady Kisea gathered us and shouted.

“If our father wakes up, we’ll have four Masters. Let’s just attack Epirna! That way, the threat will be gone, and your journey to the Arctic will be safer. It’s a win-win! We’ll show that tiger what we’re made of.”

I silently shook my head. I didn’t come here to interfere in such matters. If Lady Kisea truly wants to avenge her clan, I won’t stop her, but I can’t help her either.

If she wants to claim the throne as the new Beast King, she must do so without the Lord’s help.

“That’s a bit… I don’t have any personal grudge against her…”

The Princess also looked uncomfortable, her gaze shifting around.

The Beastmen Kingdom is another nation, and Epirna is its ruler. As the Princess of the Empire, participating in the overthrow of another nation’s ruler is indeed awkward.

“Roka, what about you? If I cause trouble, will you help me?”

“I’m going to the Arctic.”

“Why, why? You’re a wolf too, aren’t you? Don’t you hate the tiger?”

“I’ve never even met her… I don’t know, sister.”

In the end, Roka also scratched her head. Disheartened, Lady Kisea had to come up with a new plan.

“Even if you leave, we’ll still have two Masters, so escaping with the clan shouldn’t be too difficult. If we escape before Epirna notices, even if she later realizes the statue is gone, she’ll just think it was stolen. She won’t suspect that the stone turned back into a person and ran away.”

With that decided, we set off again. Now that the plan was set and the path was clear, I hoped everything would go smoothly. But whether it would or not wasn’t up to me. I just hoped we could carry out the plan without issues and part ways with Lady Kisea with smiles.

*****

Kugugung!

How much longer had we been riding when we started to feel vibrations? A heavy, rumbling sound could be heard from far away. Something massive was slowly approaching.

No, should I say walking? The vibrations weren’t sporadic but continuous, like a prolonged roar that gradually filled the surroundings.

The sound grew louder, drowning out even the chirping of birds. Naturally, our party stopped and paused for a moment.

Gooo…

Now, there were no mountains around, just endless plains. The view stretched far into the distance.

Something massive, kicking up clouds of dust, was writhing its way toward us from afar. Even through the dust, a large figure could be seen. The dust couldn’t fully conceal its enormous size.

It was terribly large, but it didn’t seem to notice us. It just happened to be heading in our direction.

“Hydra…!”

Lady Kisea hurriedly dismounted. We also stopped our horses and carefully got off. Was that the infamous venomous monster, the Hydra?

A giant serpent with nine heads occasionally shot blue flames as it slowly advanced. I had heard that even a Master would be lucky to survive a direct hit from its flames, though they might still die young.

Indeed, except for Roka, who seemed unfazed by the Hydra, the other two Masters looked visibly panicked. Even if they could fight and win, they clearly didn’t want to clash with such a creature.

“Do we really have to fight that thing?”

“There are rumors that just getting close to it can poison you. Do we really need to test that rumor with our own bodies…?”

Both were clearly uneasy, and Roka also didn’t seem eager to fight it. And honestly, even if they wanted to fight, it was a situation where they should be stopped.

We needed to avoid causing a commotion, achieve our goal as quickly as possible, and disperse. There’s hardly anything more disruptive than provoking a monster.

The nine-headed serpent slowly moved. We decided to hide until it passed. We created a Night’s Shelter and took refuge for a while.

“By the way, Ranga. Wasn’t the Hydra originally a monster that lived in the southern regions?”

“Who knows? It seems the Demon King summoned it. It doesn’t seem like it’s native to this area. Considering its size, its movements are too slow, as if it’s sensitive to the cold.”

“To think such a creature roams these lands… What is the Eastern Plains…?”

The Princess and Lady Kisea exchanged words. Roka, who had encountered a Phoenix before, was merely curious about the Hydra, but the Princess, seeing a monster for the first time, seemed deeply shocked.

“Phew, today has certainly broadened my horizons.”

Even the dragon, Azahadaka, kept pestering the Princess after seeing the monster.

[What a fascinating creature. How about it, Ardein? Shall we go collect a sample?]

“I don’t want to get poisoned by the Hydra’s venom in a place like this.”

[With such lack of courage, what’s the point of having a Priest like you here!]

“Even so…”

The Princess glanced at me and whispered to her sword.

“Of course, I believe in the Saint, but if things go wrong, I could die. I don’t want to take such a dangerous risk.”

I also don’t want to test whether I can heal someone poisoned by the Hydra’s venom. The Hydra’s venom is the most notorious poison in the world.

All I know is that much; I don’t know the symptoms or the antidote. I’m not even sure if I can heal it. As always, it’s wiser to avoid creating problems rather than solving them after they arise.

In the past, when I was in the Hero Party, the Slime Demon King Marmanun, who served Harmail, had boasted about the Hydra’s venom. He had injected the venom into his body and attacked our party, then self-destructed when cornered, sacrificing himself to poison us.

I did manage to heal them back then, but whether it was truly the Hydra’s venom or just a bluff, no one knows. Maybe Harmail knows.

Since I can’t be sure if what I healed was the Hydra’s venom, I can’t recommend such a dangerous challenge to the Princess. Especially since she herself doesn’t want to do it.

“But over there…”

Roka pointed somewhere with my arm. Bang! It wasn’t thunder or lightning, but suddenly, the distant sky became chaotic. Flashing lights seemed to burst out from far away.

“Who’s fighting over there?”

It was too far to distinguish by scent, so Roka strained to see. Unfortunately, her vision wasn’t as good as her sense of smell.

The sound of something colliding echoed through the air before it quieted down. It was clearly not a natural sound. Lady Kisea muttered.

“Are monsters just playfully fighting each other?”

“Either way, it seems like a bad time to try to sneak through.”

The Princess, arms crossed, sighed as she looked out the window.

“No, this might be better. Look. The Hydra’s gaze is also directed that way.”

“Really? Whatever that is, it’s certainly drawing attention.”

“Let’s take advantage of this and quickly move past the Hydra.”

I strongly suggested, and everyone nodded. Whatever that phenomenon was, if it kept Epirna and the monsters’ attention focused on it, it was a blessing for us.

We left the shelter and started running as fast as we could. As expected, the Hydra paid no attention to us. It didn’t even notice us, hissing toward the explosive sounds coming from the sky.