The Hidden Prince

Chapter 10 — The Hidden Prince 

Saelor vanished through the teleportation circle. The moment the light faded, Ren walked toward the scorched mark left on the floor. He knelt, brushing his fingers over the burned pattern.

“It’s easy to catch him. What a fool,” Ren muttered. He stood and turned to Takashi.

Takashi looked uneasy. “What are we going to tell the soldiers and servants?”

Ren motioned him closer. “This is even simpler than tracking Saelor. We just need to bring the real prince back before anyone notices.”

Takashi frowned. “How do we do that? And… what if we fail?”

Ren spoke casually, “Then you’ll act as the prince for a while and save me from this hassle.”

Before Takashi could argue, Ren teleported both of them to the place Saelor had fled.

As they appeared, Ren wrinkled his nose. “This place is filthy. Even the table has piles of dust.”

Takashi ignored him, walked to the wooden door, and smashed it open. Inside was an empty room. The two stepped carefully through.

Ren stopped beside a wall and pressed his palm against it. “A fake wall.”

Takashi punched straight through it, revealing a hidden chamber. “A secret room!”

Ren leaned from behind Takashi. “Looks like it. Takashi—someone’s on that chair.”

Takashi nodded. “Yes. Someone tied up.”

They rushed forward and turned the chair. Takashi’s eyes widened.

“Prince Aldrich Valmor!”

“So he was the real prince,” Ren said calmly.

Just then, Saelor entered, unaware of their presence. He froze. “H-how did you find me?! I teleported to the other side of the planet!”

Ren smiled. “Did you forget? I created this world.”

Saelor tried to flee again, but Takashi grabbed him. “You never 

learn, do you? You can’t escape us, Saelor.”

Ren stepped close, staring into Saelor’s eyes. “Strange… you’re full of life energy. But I remember—you were one of the human spies during the Great War.”

Saelor laughed. “You want to know the truth? Then let’s make a deal. I tell you everything, and in exchange, you let me go.”

Ren considered it. “Fine. We have a deal. Takashi—leave the room.”

Takashi, confused, accidentally loosened his hold. “Why are you sending me out?”

Ren placed a hand on his shoulder and glanced at the unconscious prince. “You see his condition. Take him to the castle. Heal him, explain what’s needed, and help him get ready.”

Takashi obeyed and teleported away with the prince.

Prince Aldrich gasped awake after Takashi used healing water.

“My lord! You saved me again?”

“You could say that, Aldrich.” Takashi handed him water. “Listen carefully. When you were kidnapped, a fake version summoned me and my friend. Just follow the flow we set up. After this, everything becomes political.”

The prince nodded. “As you command.”

Takashi summoned a teleportation card. “I’m leaving now. Handle things here.”

He vanished, returning to Ren.

Ren stood up as Takashi entered. “Good timing. We’re done here. Now we head to the Kemonomimi planet—Kemora.”

He took a few steps, then glanced at Saelor. “By the way, you deserve to know how I saw through your perfect illusion. Every being—creature, entity, human, even planets—has a spiritual form made of three things: consciousness, mana, and soul. Species share common patterns, but each individual has a unique combination. Your physical form looked like Prince Aldrich, but spiritually, you were no longer human.”

Ren smiled coldly. “Don’t worry, you’ll forget this soon. I normalized your spiritual form. You’re no longer immortal.”

Ren teleported himself and Takashi away.

Back in the dusty hideout…

Saelor fell to the floor, shaking in terror. The temperature plummeted. A man appeared from thin air, carrying a sword on his back. Anything in his path shattered.

In seconds, he stood before Saelor.

“Saelor, you disappointed the Master. You’ll pay with your life.”

Before Saelor could speak, he was frozen solid.

The man turned to leave—

A voice echoed behind him.

“You’re not the Master of this association. Leaving him in that state ensures he meets the Master soon. But it’s fine. I’ll defeat you all without revealing my true power. You schemed for thousands of years—you deserve a reward. So I give you… this hand.”

The man swung his sword. The entire area was obliterated, leaving only objects shorter than the height of the slash.

“Tch. A prerecorded message. So this still wasn’t my Master’s greatest enemy…”

Elsewhere — With Ren & Takashi

As Ren’s magical message self-destructed, he smirked. “He’ll be forced to move. Takashi, find us a suitable quest.”

They stood at the guild entrance. The receptionist called out, “You two! You left your registration unfinished. Complete it first.”

Takashi approached. “I don’t understand. Explain?”

She slid a paper toward him. “You registered as A and B ranks yesterday. That’s extremely rare. The crystal shows capability, not current level. So you must pass an evaluation mission to receive your official rank IDs.”

Ren glanced over from the quest board. “So the crystal didn’t show our present level.”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

Outside, Takashi sighed. “Your trip to Kemora is on hold now.”

Ren read the mission paper. “This mission is worth doing. A small delay won’t matter.”

They rented a carriage and headed toward the assigned village. Takashi cleaned his sword while Ren stared out the window.

“So we have to hunt wolves attacking the village? Ren, are you even listening?”

“I am. Those wolves aren’t normal—they’re from the Eighth Planet, Eithralis.”

Ren sighed. “The Great War’s worst impact fell upon that world…”

Takashi sheathed his sword. “I know you regret it. But that was the only way. Otherwise, all eight of their planets would have died.”

Soon the carriage driver called, “We’re almost there!”

By sunset, they reached the village. Warm orange light filled the sky as the village head approached.

“Welcome, young adventurers. I’m the one who requested the quest.”

Takashi bowed. “Sir, what must we do?”

“No rush,” the old man chuckled. “Wolves appear only on the night of the full moon.”

Ren stretched. “We have two days then. Hey, old man, show us 

where we’re staying.”

Laughing again, the old man led them to his home.

After dinner, Ren and Takashi prepared to sleep.

“Takashi,” Ren said, “contact Justar. Send him to Kemora and tell him to watch the royal family.”

Takashi nodded and carried out the task before resting.

Ren stood alone in the small garden, staring at the glowing moon.

“Someone with a spiritual form similar to mine… and those puppets looked like entities. This is going to be fun, don’t you think, buddy?”

[To be continued…]