Free Web NovelChapter 158: Preparations
The sun had already started dipping below the horizon, painting the evening sky in deep shades of orange and purple over the cratered field.
"No more," the large man wheezed, his face pressed directly onto the ground. "Please... I am begging you... no more."
He didn’t even have the energy to lift his head. His armor was dented, his clothes were completely soaked in sweat, and his entire body was trembling uncontrollably.
A few feet away, the third guy was curled into a tight ball, taking fast, shallow breaths that sounded exactly like a dying dog. He hadn’t moved a single inch in the last ten minutes.
Cassie was lying flat on her back staring blankly at the twilight sky. She was covered in dirt, minor bruises, and grass stains, her defensive mana completely drained to the point where just keeping her eyes open felt like a massive chore.
"My entire body... is completely numb," she gasped out, her chest heaving heavily as she refused to even look at the terrifying rabbit girl standing near the tree line. "I think my soul... actually left my body for a second there."
Hajin stood a few feet away, watching the three of them with a satisfied smile.
"Alright, that’s enough for today," he announced, clapping his hands together twice, the sharp sound making all three of them flinch violently on the ground. "You guys actually did really well. Your dodging instincts improved significantly toward the end there."
"Only because the alternative was getting crushed into paste," the large man sobbed into the dirt.
Hajin ignored the crying and reached into his inventory, pulling out a small leather pouch. He walked over to Cassie and casually tossed it onto her stomach, the heavy clinking sound of coins shifting inside making her blink.
"What is this?" she asked, her voice raspy as she forced herself to sit up, her hands trembling as she pulled the drawstring open.
She looked inside, and her eyes practically bulged out of her head.
"Fifteen gold," he said casually. "Five for each of you. Consider it payment for your services as training partners today."
The three adventurers froze, even the guy curled in a ball stopped wheezing for a second.
"P-payment?" Cassie stuttered, staring at the glittering gold coins like they were a mirage.
For ordinary 2-Shard adventurers like them, fifteen gold was an absolutely absurd amount of money. They would have to risk their lives clearing low-level monster gates for two solid months just to make that kind of coin. And he was just tossing it to them for running around a field for an hour.
They hadn’t even known they were going to be paid. They honestly thought they were just being tortured as payback for what happened in the forest.
"Yeah, payment," Hajin shrugged, adjusting the collar of his coat. "It’s hard to find live targets that can dodge well enough to actually give Loccy a challenge. If you guys are free next week, we can do this again."
"Next week?!" the third guy shrieked from the ground. "I’ll be dead by next week!"
"We’ll be there," Cassie interrupted instantly, her hands locking onto the pouch of gold with a death grip. She looked up at Hajin with a terrifying mix of sheer exhaustion and absolute greed. "We will absolutely be there."
"Cassie, no!" the large man cried out. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Shut up," she hissed back at him. "Do you know how much healing potions we can buy with this? I will let her throw a mountain at me for five gold."
Hajin let out a small laugh, shaking his head as he turned away from them.
"Suit yourselves," he said, waving a hand over his shoulder as he started walking back toward the main road leading to the capital. "Get some rest. I’ve got a meeting to get to."
Meanwhile, inside the Royal Palace, the atmosphere was entirely different.
The main throne room was a flurry of chaotic, organized movement. High-ranking nobles, royal advisors, and members of the council hurried across the expansive room, adjusting the ceremonial banners and making sure every single detail was absolutely perfect.
This wasn’t just a standard audience. The King had explicitly ordered all the noble houses residing within the capital and the prominent members of the court to be present, along with their heirs and academy-aged children.
A commoner being officially rewarded for clearing a Beast King Gate was a massive, unprecedented event.
It was a blatant political move by the King to force the nobles to acknowledge Hajin’s achievements, and everyone in the room knew it.
Up in the overlooking royal gallery, Princess Didi stood near the edge of the balcony, her hands gripping the gilded railing tightly as she watched the frantic preparations below.
She was wearing a formal, elegant silver dress that matched her frost affinity perfectly, her long hair pinned up in a complex royal style that her maid, Elina, had spent over an hour agonizing over.
But despite how regal she looked, her expression was complicated.
’He cleared a Beast King Gate,’ she thought, her fingers tightening slightly against the railing.
She remembered the night he had returned from the Gate. She had practically dragged him into a side room, completely exhausted and covered in dried blood, forcing him to tell her everything that happened.
Listening to him casually describe surviving a catastrophe-level anomaly had been terrifying, but above all else, she had just been relieved.
Not only was he safe and alive, but he was also continuing to turn the entire capital upside down just by existing.
But beneath that relief, there was a quiet, heavy sense of sadness settling in her chest.
She remembered the boy who had carried her unconscious body for miles through the border forest. The mysterious, quiet exile who had somehow managed to get her to safety after her own royal knights were slaughtered by that demonic anomaly. Back then, they hadn’t felt that far apart in strength.
Now, though? Now he was a Ranker who was casually conquering legendary Gates and forcing the entire royal court to assemble just to formally recognize his power.
’He just keeps rising up,’ she thought, letting out a soft, tired sigh as she leaned forward slightly. ’At this rate... will I ever be able to catch up to him?’
Before she could dwell on the thought any longer, movement near the edge of the room caught her eye.
Down on the floor below, slipping quietly behind one of the pillars, she spotted her older brother. The First Prince was moving quickly away from the main assembly area, his dark coat swishing behind him.
He wasn’t stopping to speak with any of the nobles or council members, his face set in a stiff, unreadable expression as he headed toward a set of side doors that led deeper into the palace. freёwebnovel.com
Didi’s brow furrowed slightly, her grip on the railing loosening.
Her brother had always been a quiet, intensely private person, but ever since Hajin’s name started circulating through the court, he had become increasingly withdrawn and cold.
’My father explicitly ordered all the royal children to be present,’ she thought, watching the doors click shut behind the Prince’s retreating figure. ’Where exactly is he sneaking off to right before the meeting starts?’
