Chapter 24: The Princess and the Rogue Money

A royal carriage appears ahead. From inside steps Maelis Gray Hart, the third princess of Astrina. Her guards fan out instantly, swords drawn.

“Asual of Elude,” one of them shouts. “Kneel before the royal blood of Astrina!”

You watch as Asual raises an eyebrow, calm but clearly unimpressed.
“Bad idea,” he says.

The guards charge anyway. You barely blink before Asual moves. In less than a heartbeat, every soldier lies dead on the ground. The silence that follows is deafening.

The princess stumbles back, trembling. “You… you monster!”

Asual wipes the blood from his blade and smirks. “They attacked first.”

Then, with an almost casual tone, she says, “Take me to my palace. I’ll reward you with gold, silver whatever you want.”

Asual shrugs. “Fine. We’ll escort you. But only because I like shiny things.”

Later, while the group walks, Ofurd studies a map.
“Boss, is it really a good idea to let her live?” he asks quietly. “She and her guards did attack us first.”

Asual doesn’t even glance at him. “Only her guards attacked. We attacked back. Fair trade.”

You can’t help but glance at Lorfer, who seems lost in thought. He’s remembering the moment Asual killed nearly fifty men in seconds. Is he even human anymore? you wonder. He’s our captain, commander, boss, chief… maybe we should just pick one title for him.

Asual suddenly turns toward Mateo. “Hey, is there anything else I should know? Like don’t eat anyone, or I’ll explode or something?”

Kamil groans. “When are we even getting there, anyway?”

You sigh to yourself. This guy told me not to talk earlier, and now he’s asking every dumb question in the world.

Maelis crosses her arms, glaring at all of you. “You men should behave better. Look at your clothes you’ll embarrass yourselves in the royal palace!”

Before she can finish, Asual steps forward and kicks her lightly to the ground.
“Cry all you want,” he says coldly. “If I let this slide, it’ll be a bad example for the others.”

Maelis bursts into tears, clutching her skirt. “Please… don’t!”

Ofurd looks away. What if I asked these guys to join the Elude? he thinks. They’d fit right in.

Then suddenly, a faint sound rings in your ears
[Quest Completed.]

You look up, startled. Luar clears his throat. “Uh, boss, I… need the washroom.”

Asual blinks. “What are you talking about?”

Ofurd sighs. “He means he needs to take a leak.”

“Fine,” Asual says, waving him off. “We’ll wait here.”

You, Mateo, Ofurd, and Kamil walk off together, pretending to search for a place to rest. As soon as you’re out of earshot, you whisper:

“Okay… we all got the same notification, right?”

Ofurd nods. “Yeah. Something triggered it when I thought about Elude earlier.”

Kamil crosses his arms. “If we stay with Asual, we might never finish what we came here for.”

Mateo says, “Then we tell him. Maybe he’ll join us.”

You all agree and head back. When you return, Asual greets you with that unsettling smile.
“Take your time,” he says.

Mateo shakes his head. “No, we came back right on time.”

You resume walking. For a moment, everything feels normal again.

“Does anyone have food?” Maelis complains. “I’m starving!”

You reach into your pack and pull out a banana. Kamil does the same. Then Ofurd, then Lorfer, then Thrynn, Valtor, Qyren, Qephric, Orvian, Kryndel, Jorvek,even Asual.

One by one, everyone starts eating bananas like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

You think, This has to be the weirdest group on the planet.

Maelis stares, wide-eyed. “Can I have one? Please?”

Mateo sighs and hands her his. “Here. Eat this.”

She blinks in shock. “You’re the first person who’s ever given me food.”

“What do you mean by that?” Mateo asks.

“Everyone hates me,” she whispers. “They treat me like they treat you all,like dirt.”

Before anyone can respond, she throws her arms around Mateo.
“Thank you.”

Mateo stiffens. No way,the devil literally told me not to accept hugs.

The entire group bursts out laughing.

Asual’s voice cuts through the laughter. “Enough.”

Instantly, silence falls. You feel it,the change in the air. The forest still grows. Even the wind stops.

Then you hear it: THUD.

Another. THUD.

A massive shape moves between the trees. When it steps into the clearing, your breath catches.

It’s not just an ogre. Its skin shimmers with coins and chains, like armor made of treasure. Its eyes burn gold.

Asual draws his blade slowly, his expression calm.
“…That’s not an ogre,” he says.
“It's Rogue Money.”

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