ETL – Chapter 5
The princess was pretending to be in a close relationship with me in order to show off.
A saintess was an admirable and praiseworthy position. As a result, I felt like I was the main character when I first came to this dimension.
However, this world’s protagonist was Princess Ronella. I acknowledged that instead and decided to watch as if it was a play.
The moment I picked up a hot cherry muffin and put some of it in my mouth was when I heard the screams.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
“Ack!”
“Saintess!”
I couldn’t tell where the screams came from. The smell of blood and commotion ensued.
I put down my muffin and tension started to build within me as my heart started racing. I tried to suppress my rising anxiety.
I rose from my seat and walked quickly towards the center of the commotion. I covered my face with my sleeve to suppress the smell of blood.
Anger surged up against God. It looks like there were victims already. My fingers trembled slightly as I went towards the victim. I shuddered at the sight of vomited blood but I pretended to be fine. I had to perform my duties as a saintess.
One of the prince’s escort knights was kneeling on the ground. He was trying to support the wounded knight.
A demon was behind this. Demons live to destroy nature and ecosystem. They would attack and eat any living creature.
As I glanced down, I saw that the bloodied knight was about half dead..
“Majesty… Your Majesty… Demon!!”
“Oh!”
“Your Highness!”
“The Prince!”
“Is the prince safe?!” the knight spoke with the last strength he had.
I quickly reached out to close the knight’s mouth and touch the wound.
“The goal was to have no victims…”
“Sorry! But the signal did not light up properly-….! ” the pale faced knight replied. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured.
Blood was all over my hands. It was a terrible sight that I wanted to cry, but I had to do it.
I touched the flesh with my hand and energy flowed out. Fortunately, the treatment was completed safely. I stood up and looked towards the direction of the trees.
The knight rose from his spot and began to control the chaos of the confused people.
At that moment, someone bolted up and ran off.
‘Oh my god!’
I frowned, knowing that it was Ronella and not anyone else.
Eventually, I told the knights to search the hunting ground to make sure that there was nobody else. After that, I went in the direction where the princess had run towards. A knight told me that the prince was also believed to be there.
I don’t know what to say in this situation, but I wondered what the princess was thinking. I took a deep breath.
I was always preparing for this situation but it feels completely different when it actually happens. I knew it was something only I could do. I stared at the place where the missing princess went. There was no way that Ronella had run away without thinking, there must have been a reason.
I knew the geography of the area really well so I went quickly without hesitation. The mountains were calm, I could no longer hear the voices of people.
I resent the God of this world. After sending me here, He entrusted me to solve all the problems. However these days were a little better as I watch love stories in real time. It was better than watching dramas back in Korea.
I wanted to avoid the situation where the demon might destroy the crown prince. Thankfully, I had better stamina and physical endurance here than in Korea.
Going through the forest, I ran between the trees and plowed through the branches. I felt relieved when I finally saw the princess.
The smell of blood getting stronger, I knew it was coming from the prince.
The prince was wounded across his back to his shoulder. The princess was embracing him while weeping. She was definitely an impressive person.
“The saintess will be here soon. Your Majesty, you’ll be taken care of soon.”
“… you’re the only one who would come for me in this situation.”
“Even if it’s not me, someone else will find Your Majesty.”
That’s right, how did she find the prince that quickly on the vast hunting grounds. It looks like the prince moved to a safe spot away from the demon.
“Don’t cry, this can be healed with treatment.”
Snap
The prince was wiping away the tears off the princess’s face when he reacted to the noise I made from clearing the tree branches. He threw a dagger before I could even open my mouth to speak. The dagger flew right under my eye, causing a cut and blood to appear. The prince was surprised to see me there.
“Saintess…” the princess spoke softly as to not attract the demon’s attention. She grabbed me by my arm and led me to the prince. The fact that I was just injured by the dagger did not matter to her. The prince was the most important person to her right now.
I wiped my wound and muttered under my breath.
“It hurts…” the prince said through clenched teeth.
I approached and checked his injury. It was pretty bad. I extended my hand out and poured energy over it.
“Saintess… why is the treatment not working?” the princess said in a flustered manner.
“It’s healing, just slowly. The damage from the demon’s poison continues to grow. I think we need to get the poison out quickly.”
The prince’s blood was everywhere, it started to stain my clothes too.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
There was also a growing sense of guilt over whether the hunting competition should have been canceled and other countermeasures should have been taken. Frankly speaking, the men who took part in the hunt today were like bait for evil spirits.
The Oracle spoke of a demon. However, when the demon appears it’s hard to predict where it’ll go. To catch a demon on the hunting grounds, we would need bait. That bait would have been humans. If the nobles had known ahead of time, they would have used innocent people from slums as bait.
Unfortunately this had happened before shortly after I became saintess. When I let the nobles know about the Oracle, the poor were used as bait.
I narrowed the gap by raising the prince up a bit. I poured energy out again but the poison interfered with the treatment. It’s possible to use more power but it’s better to treat it slowly due to the indescribable pain that comes with it.
“Saintess, that’s good for now… is it possible to get out without being noticed by the demon?”
The risk of getting caught was high, that I knew.
“It might be dangerous, I’m not sure when the demon will come out again…. Argh.”
Of course, as soon as you talk about it, the demon appears. The demon was a dark red liquidly disgusting creature.
“Demon… it’s here.”
This particular demon was shaped similar to a children’s toy. It was known as a liquid demon and it was approaching us at a slow pace.
My guess was that the demon found us due to the scent of the prince’s blood.
‘If I can do it, I will do it,’ I thought to calm myself down.
If I return safely today, I will complain to God. Why did you subject me to this?
Fortunately, the demon was slow. Whenever its two tentacles-like antennae touched the ground, the ground shook. It looks like the crown prince was struck by that. It had no eyes but it did have a mouth filled with pointed teeth.
I had no choice but to move the prince to a tree and put him there. I’m glad I was wearing my shawl today. I took off my shawl and put it over the crown prince’s shoulder. He seemed a little out of it since he lost a lot of blood. At least he was still conscious due to my treatment earlier.
The poison has to be taken out for him to recover.
Looking directly into the eyes of the prince, I said “I’ll save you.”
When I was young, I used to watch action cartoons where the characters would say those lines. Talking like this, I felt like a hero. The crown prince’s pupils dilated.
I turned around and looked at the disgusting demon. I really, really hated it.
Even if I touched it and poured out my divine power, I was not confident enough that I could destroy it. There was also the matter of getting close to it without being hit by its tentacles.
I couldn’t even escape. That only leaves one option.