Chapter 290 - Disguising As A Daemon
"Your highness, mou…!" Daisy looked at me and pouted dissatisfied.
She was not the only one like that, though. Andrea, Louise, and Clara had similar pouting and regretful expressions.
The reason? Well, it's due to sister Dina.
When night arrived, and it was time to decide our sleeping arrangements, Daisy, Louise, and Clara seemed completely ready to share a tent with me.
They even looked as they were about to fight to see who was the one that was going to sleep with me.
Here lies the problem. When Dina noticed it, her eyes turned ice-cold and her jealousness showed its power. She instantly looked at the four girls with a stern gaze and arrange Daisy to sleep with Rose, Louise to sleep with Katherine, and Andrea would sleep with sister Dina herself.
As for Clara, she was the saintess of the church of order so Dina did not think she would be so daring as to invade my tent during the night, but even like that, she asked teacher Tear to keep an eye on her.
In the end, under Dina's firm gaze, teacher Tear reluctantly agreed while muttering 'it's good to be young'.
Just like that, Dina erased most of my possibilities for tonight.
I wanted to look at the sky and cry. Sigh, sometimes, having several women is not so good.
I stared at the lonely tent behind me and shrugged. Well, it looks like there will be no fun tonight. Such a shame.
Anyway, before going to sleep, there was something I needed to do.
I left the camp secretly and teleported away. When I reappeared, I was several kilometers away.
In front of Alan's camp.
Alan was currently frowning while looking at a bonfire. Beside him, there was Christine and his thirteenth-layer bodyguard. The other students were a bit away, unable to hear their conversation.
But their conversation could not escape my ears.
"Are you still unable to contact the others?" Alan asked gravely. The thirteenth-layer practitioner frowned and shook his head. "Not yet… Your highness, I fear that we should assume the worst situation possible."
Alan did not answer. Instead, he looked at the bonfire while his eyes flashed with different emotions.
Finally, he sighed.
"Do you think it was him?"
The thirteenth-layer practitioner fell silent for a brief instant before opening his mouth.
"Prince Claus is very mysterious, more than we thought. His strength is incredibly high for someone his age, and we can now make sure that the people behind him are not weak. At the very least, we can confirm he has the complete support of the Imperial Institute. Moreover…"
"What is it?" Asked Alan.
The thirteenth-layer practitioner hesitated slightly before speaking again. "I noticed something strange when we meet him this morning… Prince Claus was too calm… Even when facing the dragon or us, he was too calm. That was definitively not the normal reaction of someone facing beyond-twelfth-layer practitioners."
"… So do you think there is a possibility of Claus using an unknown mean to kill them?"
"Maybe. I don't know. However, I can���t think of another reason."
Hou. So they have started to suspect me, huh.
Well, lately I have been messing with them a lot.
I decided to appear at that moment. To continue messing with them, of course.
Before that, though, I decided to make some changes to my appearance.
With a wave of my hand, my eyes turned yellow, and two horns grew in my forehead. At the same time, my hair color turned from blue to white and my skin turned a bit grayish.
I also modified slightly the shape of my face. Like this, my image changed completely from a charming prince to a bloodthirsty demon.
Then, I walked out of the shadows towards the bonfire where Alan and the others were seated.
"… So it's true." I said with a pleased expression. "When that coward prince told me that the crown prince was nearby, I didn't want to believe him. After all, how could he betray his family so easily? Unexpectedly, he did not lie to me."
"Careful your highness!" The thirteenth-layer practitioner stood up protectively in front of Alan.
"You… Who are you?" Alan asked in a hoarse voice. He could feel the pressure I was emitting. It was the pressure of a thirteenth-layer practitioner.
At the same time, all the other students in the camp felt the same pressure. When they looked towards me, their faces paled.
I chuckled softly and walked forward in a leisure mode. "Mm, I'm sure the daemon emperor will reward me nicely if I bring two princes to him. Moreover, one of them is the crown prince. Today is my lucky day."
"Two princes? Do you mean you have Bryan?"
I nodded. "Of course. Otherwise, how do you think I found that you were here?"
The thirteenth-layer practitioner hmphed and unsheathed his weapon.
"Do you think you can touch the crown prince with me here!?"
I smirked and nodded. "Of course I can. I already killed your other two companions. What is stopping from killing you?"
"You…"
"It was pretty easy, to be honest. One of them was too busy protecting a burden to fight me properly and the other was very tired after fighting a dragon. A few minutes was everything I needed to kill them."
"… Bastard!" The thirteenth-layer practitioner's killing intent erupted powerfully. It surged towards me like a powerful wave of energy and several nearby trees were blown away by it!
However, it was nothing more than a breeze for me. Not enough to make me change my expression.
When the thirteenth-layer practitioner saw it, his expression turned ugly.
"… Your highness, leave. I don't think I can win, But I'll try to stall him as much as possible."
Alan did not hesitate to nod and turn around. "Don't worry, the empire will take care of your family after this."
"I hope so."
Then, the thirteenth-layer practitioner opened his eyes wide and released all his mana!
At the same time,
"Let's go!"
Alan and the other students started to run away.
I looked at them without any intention to stop them. In the end, my purpose today was not to kill Alan. I only wanted to chip away a bit more of his strength while taking away any suspicion linking me to Bryan's disappearance.
But as expected of a thirteenth-layer practitioner. He quickly found the fact that I did not chase the prince suspicious.
"… You don't seem eager to stop them."
I smiled. "Well, they are nothing more than bugs I can crush anytime. You, on the other hand, seem like a very enjoyable prey."
Then, I unsheathed my sword too.
The fight started instantly. The thirteenth-layer practitioner put his life on the line to stall me.
But I just swung my sword–
–And his head was severed, flying in the air.
I sighed. "Not even able to last one attack. Well, I'm a bit sleepy, so used a bit more of strength than normal."
After I said that, I turned around and left. Before leaving, though, I snapped my fingers to cast a spell.
This spell would cause a commotion in this zone of the forest, making Alan think that the fight is still going on.
Only half an hour later would it disappear.
And by then, Alan would have escaped far enough to not suspect anything.
Now that my work here was done, it was time to sleep. I yawned and teleported back to my tent.
But just when I arrived, I saw a figure hesitating outside.
After a bit of surprise, my mouth curved into an excited smile.
It looks like my luck today is not too shabby.