My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 176

#176

Footsteps of a Hero (3)

The moment the topic of escape came out of Hesperon’s mouth, Princess Riley unconsciously looked in all directions and was alert to her surroundings.

It’s already been almost two months since she was imprisoned here in the immortal castle.

In the political world where allies and enemies can change in a single day the moment you let your guard down, two months was a fatally long time, and naturally, as the head of a faction, her mind became impatient.

It was also true that I was worried that Se-ah might get hurt if she tried to save herself quickly.

It was natural to react sensitively to the word escape.

First of all, there was a simple soundproof barrier around the area, but since this is the home of the Immortal King, I wonder how effective this low level of security will be…

‘Wait a minute?’

But her reaction was short-lived.

It soon occurred to me that the person who said those words had only just entered this world a little over a month ago.

Wasn’t he even learning magic from her just a little while ago?

‘But I’m not the type of person to suddenly make a joke like that. It might be true…’

In the end, she only gave off a subtle hint of wanting to believe rather than truly believing.

“…how?”

“what? “I guess you don’t believe me?”

“Hehe, I wish I could believe it too. “It’s been so hard even though it’s only been two months, but if you’re not careful, you don’t know how many years it could last.”

At first, since I was in a situation where I couldn’t do anything, I tried to relax as much as possible, pretending that I was on vacation.

However, given the situation she was in, her mind control, which was almost like self-hypnosis, was slowly reaching its limits.

If it weren’t for Hesperon, it probably wouldn’t have lasted nearly two months.

Teaching him magic and focusing on other things was a great help in ignoring the situation.

…But now that we have finally reached the point where the future is daunting, the future seems daunting.

He opened his mouth with a humorous smile, as if he understood her feelings.

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t told you what my unique skill is yet, right?”

At those words, Riley opened her eyes and slowly nodded.

There was a time when I vaguely asked this question out of curiosity, but at that time I did not receive a clear answer.

“…What is it?”

Originally, it was rude to ask about the other person’s abilities, so after that, I just waited for him to tell me first…

It seemed like he was going to tell me now.

Hesperon responded to her expectant response with actions without words.

The ability to claim something as your own unique skill.

He lightly stretched his hand into the air, and before he knew it, he was holding a skewer with delicious meat on it.

“…stick? …No, subspace?”

Riley made an awkward expression without realizing it, then focused on it again and wrinkled her nose without realizing it.

The meal served here at the castle wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t good enough to satisfy her as a member of the royal family.

The delicious-looking meat was shiny and shiny as if it had been freshly cooked, and the pungent smell rising along with the warm steam stimulated her salivary glands without mercy.

‘Looking at the state of storage, it certainly doesn’t seem like a simple sub-space, but still, how are you going to escape with that kind of ability?…’

“Here.”

Contrary to those negative thoughts, she took the skewer as if possessed by Hesperon, but for a moment, she missed it.

But there’s nothing you can do about the food that’s already in your hands.

Since she wasn’t someone to show off now anyway, she just did what her desire told her to do and took a big bite of the meat.

The scent of fire penetrates your nostrils, the chewy texture fills your mouth, and the explosive juices bursting out from the meat being crushed between your teeth, mingling with the sweet, sweet sauce.

Although it could not be said to be a very luxurious dish by her standards, as she has tasted all kinds of delicacies from the mountains and the seas, it was overwhelmingly superior to the food she had previously eaten here.

To be more honest, I personally liked this dish much better than most high-end dishes.

“…Could this be brought from Earth?”

“No, I didn’t take it out of subspace. It’s a food that exists somewhere in the world. “I just paid a certain price to bring it here.”

To be exact, it was a skewer sourced from ‘Dancing with Oak,’ a restaurant that became a Tarak specialty after being founded with investment from Hubert Company, which is seeking to expand its octopus menu.

Although the seasonings and sauces that went into it were from Earth, the food itself was actually made in this world.

“Summoning-type ability? “So you were interested in summoning magic?”

“It’s a little different, but… could it be seen as similar?”

Riley’s forehead wrinkled slightly at the ambiguous answer.

Also, my attempts to gently talk to him earlier were just as annoying.

She was shaking the stick of the skewer she had already finished eating, showing her discomfort.

“To be precise, it is not only possible to summon, but it is closer to the ability to escape spatial restrictions under certain conditions. Also, thanks to the enlightenment I gained while learning magic this time, my skills have evolved and can now be used in other ways.”

Then, this time, he explained again politely, as if he was watching her.

Although the sight was disgusting, it was not that important compared to the content of the words that followed.

“…That’s what goes beyond space.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Riley’s eyes widened and her heart began to beat violently.

If space movement was truly possible, escape was quite a possibility.

Seeing that he had even summoned a skewer, it seemed like there was no problem activating his abilities even inside the Immortal King’s castle.

Hesperon nodded in satisfaction, looking at her eyes that were beginning to sparkle with hope.

‘Originally, I tried to escape by summoning the complete Halie, but the level of this immortality was too high to go through from the front. After all, sneaking away is much neater and more persuasive.’

So, I roughly mixed “Avatar Cloud” and “Footsteps of a Hero” to create an appropriate space-based skill.

Since it was a hastily made skill, I hadn’t thought of a name or conditions yet, but since I was going to gloss over the details by saying it was a secret anyway, it didn’t really matter.

“Then right now…!”

“Oh, but there’s a little problem.”

But he first poured cold water on her expectations with a firm tone.

Perhaps because he is still lacking in confidence, moving with others is a bit difficult.

Riley’s face drooped again in disappointment at those words.

It was fun to see his facial expressions changing in various ways as if he was riding a roller coaster, but he didn’t show it and continued speaking slowly.

“There’s one thing I thought about…”

Even though we went through hardships and hardships together in this extreme environment, strictly speaking, our bond lasted only a little over a month.

It’s a shallow relationship that I don’t know when or how it will break if I leave this place.

‘I can’t leave it like that. If Riley returns, he will be the most likely next emperor, and all kinds of opportunities will come to him just by staying next to him. The relationship with Isea that will develop as an awakened person will also be helpful.’

So what was needed was to use this opportunity to leave a connection, even if by force.

“It’s still a bit difficult to be a complete stranger, but if we are bound by a contract, wouldn’t the chances go up a bit?”

“…contract?”

Fortunately, contract magic was a general-purpose magic that could be used even at their level.

As the performance increases as the level of the caster increases, in the opposite case, we could not expect such a great effect, but…

“Is there such a binding effect on contract magic between wizards of our level? “I don’t think it will be of much use.”

“Oh, that’s okay.”

Hesperon smiled meaningfully.

He had a skill called “Tether of Binding” that created a stronger bond between the caster and the fish warrior and even provided additional compensation when making a contract.

‘I never thought I’d use it like this.’

Just a few days before the scheduled day of the great escape.

It was the moment when Hesperon, a novice awakener who had been transferred to this world for just over a month, succeeded in sticking a strong straw in the hands of the likely successor to the world’s most powerful nation.

***

The new kingdom of Thalia suffered from various hardships along with rapid changes.

No matter how many different situations were assumed, response plans were devised, and even prepared in advance, changing the foundation of a country could not be without pain.

A royal castle located in the center of Talaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Thalia.

Inside the king’s luxurious office, which had recently changed hands, ‘Heinz Hybrid II’ frowned as he examined the documents uploaded from below.

“Tsk, things don’t always turn out as easily as I thought.”

He made a lot of preparations in advance to create a country where vampires and humans could coexist, but things in the world did not always go as planned.

Seeing the conflict between the humans who opposed the change and the vampires who misunderstood his intentions rising from all over, it seemed like it would take a considerable amount of time in the future to stabilize this chaotic political situation.

‘Still, I’m glad there wasn’t any major noise as the officials paid thorough attention. If that was the problem too, it would have been quite annoying.’

Instead, public officials were being divided by the heavy workload pouring on them, but the arrangements that had been prepared in advance for such a situation were shining at this moment.

From fatigue recovery potions, to awakening potions to help you sleep, to vitality potions to boost your vitality, and all kinds of other health potions!

Isn’t it truly the foresight of a wise monarch who thinks of everyone to prepare this much for humans who are weaker than vampires?

Heinz, who was praising himself like that, was soon shuffling through documents again and stroking his chin.

‘Still, vampires are easier to manipulate. We cannot increase it indiscriminately because we need to control the population, but for the time being, we must continue to give priority to civil servant applicants.’

In order to run the country normally, discrimination with humans is avoided as much as possible, but it was inevitable that the vampires, the ruling class, would benefit more.

Above all, unlike humans who cannot be completely controlled, vampires subordinate to Heinz cannot refuse his orders.

However, in the Kingdom of New Thalia, which advocates a strict meritocracy, benefits are just benefits, and even pure human beings can rise to high positions as long as they have the ability.

‘Because that makes things easier. ‘If stupid things are taking up space, I’m the only one who gets tired.’

Practical work was left to competent people, regardless of race, and vampires who were not talented in that field were made into inspectors and regional public security officers, and spread them out across the country.

In general, the nobles of the old kingdom, who could be considered the intellectual class, also held government positions, but there were many who quickly rose to prominence even though they were commoners.

Since it was also the mission of the vampire inspectors to discover such people, the kingdom would probably be able to stabilize more quickly over time.

‘The problem is right now. ‘I never thought problems like this would arise among vampires, let alone humans.’

I thought I had made it known enough in advance, but it seemed like the sense of being the chosen people and sense of superiority that had been built up over a long period of time was naturally expressed.

In that case, if a warning is given and the same thing happens again and again without correction…

there will be no choice but to turn that guy into a material for blood lust.

[Lord Bricky has arrived. Shall I let you in?]

At that time, telepathy was transmitted from the SS scattered throughout the castle.

Briki, another hybrid hybrid who left on some kind of mission, has returned.

[Send her in.]

And of course, since the Holy Blood herself came forward, it goes without saying how important the mission she was in charge of was.

‘I can’t just leave a being with so much blood alone. Especially since there is no one qualified for this kind of job.’

Okay, this is Hybrid’s next goal.

A task that cannot be avoided as long as the name ‘Auterica Vampire Clan Alliance’ is put forward.

It was to unify the vampire clans of the entire continent into one.