The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 226

As they exchanged private greetings, another conversation was unfolding around the magnificent carriage.

“Hmph! It’s small. Is this all the houses there are in the village?”

“Yes. There are only a few, and they don’t really have a set name, so in official documents, we just call it the Border Village.”

“Pathetic.”

Asar, who had stepped out of the carriage, took a deep breath with an arrogant air. The capital was in an unpleasant season where pollen visibly floated around, but here, the air was clear, and the sky was bright, which was the only good thing.

The attendant was fidgety, having escorted the precious Prince so far. If they spent too much time here, it would get dark, making the return journey difficult. Though it was called an inspection, in reality, they only needed to see Dendra Village from earlier and then turn back. This place was a border connecting to the elves’ country, which humans didn’t intrude upon, so it was safe and didn’t need to be seen.

‘Oh, right!’

To appease the indifferent Prince, the attendant quickly brought up the topic.

“Your Highness, do you know this? A little further from here is the Jupiter Border. A long, long time ago, elves used to live in this village, they say. When they retreated to their own lands, they dug up everything, not leaving a single building or tree behind….”

“Quiet. Do I need to know such idle old stories?”

“Ah, no, Your Highness.”

“Hmm!”

Asar’s intense interest wasn’t in trivial chatter that could be had anytime. The Prince, with his hands clasped behind his back, subtly glanced toward the village chief. Indeed, a striking man was visible. He didn’t at all fit in with this countryside, and wouldn’t feel out of place even if placed in the royal palace in the capital.

‘Is that him?

When his grandfather, the King, had suddenly lost consciousness for several days, Asar had been subtly excited, even as he secretly handled the matter as a royal authority. He wondered, ‘If he doesn’t recover and passes away like this, will I become King?’

His grandfather, who had been bedridden for four days, had finally regained consciousness, but was still having trouble moving. The royal physician urgently whispered to none other than him, implying that even with time, His Majesty would likely no longer be able to engage in vigorous activities as before. What did that mean?

Asar neither got excited nor acted rashly, hoping for the crown that would soon be his. Instead, he behaved more cautiously than before, awaiting that day.

While merely seeing Dendra Village would have sufficed, there was a specific reason he had deliberately come to this distant and irritating village. It wasn’t to seize and beat the audacious village chief who dared to offer a resident of Devran to the elves’ country; it was something that definitely needed to be confirmed. At least, that was his wise thought.

“Hmph hmph, hmm!”

As Asar continuously cleared his throat, a coachman descended from the carriage behind them, leading a horse and beginning to pass by. In truth, it was Asar’s intention to forcefully precede it once he knew the identity of this carriage, so it couldn’t go first.

The sound of hooves crunching on rustling grass was incredibly irritating. He wondered if that was even considered a horse worth taking. The attendant, gazing in the direction the Prince was idly watching, quickly approached and whispered.

“Your Highness, were you perhaps interested in that wandering knight the village chief mentioned?”

“……”

“Oh, you should have told me sooner…”

What an insensitive fool!

Asar wanted to kick the backside of the man who had figured that out so quickly. He was, by title, a respectable Prince, and that man was merely a knight without a contract. Shouldn’t he be the one to approach and introduce himself? And the one who should be facilitating that introduction was this fellow, who was still just running his mouth and dreadfully dawdling.

Indeed, it was said that new wine should be poured into new wineskins. His ‘humble’ wish was that, upon his ascension, he would wear the brilliant crown with a couple, or at least one or two, of his own knights, rather than the boring, old knights his grandfather’s influence had shaped over decades.

Well, it wasn’t that he definitely intended to take that knight. Once he was brought before him, it would only be right to examine him carefully and then decide.

The Prince’s attendant peered at the village chief and the knight standing near the coachman who was leading the horse away. He was tall, not wearing impressive metal armor, with only a longsword at his hip. Yet, perhaps from his experience of living off the royal family’s largesse, the attendant managed to discern the well-tanned leather shoes, the bracers visible beneath his sleeves, and, most importantly, the expensive-looking cloak.

Seeing that his attire was decent enough, he seemed not to be a poor or incompetent knight. In that case, it wouldn’t be an imposition on His Highness!

The attendant, having made a slow but reasonably sound judgment, nodded his head.

“I’ll go and tell them to pay their respects to Your Highness… Oh dear! It seems they’re about to depart with that woman. I thought she was a man since she wasn’t wearing a veil or a bonnet. I’ll hurry.”

Meanwhile, the knight hoisted a woman onto the horse the coachman had led over, then prepared to mount himself. Only then did Asar click his tongue, seeing the attendant scrambling away in a hurry, tail between his legs.