395 Return.
Contrary to what they expected, the commander actually called on the soldiers to help the remaining recruits.
They helped the injured and nursed them back to life. These were all the people who had enough resolve not to run away in the face of death.
‘So they just needed people who would absolutely follow orders?’ Ozul considered, but such a trial could hardly produce such results. Many of them had only persisted for the rational fear of death upon running away.
Could it be called absolute resolve in the face of death? He thought not.
But he didn’t really care about that; what mattered right now was the outcome of the battle between that woman and the Imperial Prince.
They watched the destruction caused by two different elements of nature and heard the air reverberate with such intensity as to shake the ground. It continued on for a few more hours when something happened.
The dark clouds remained, but the splashing of water streams and the cracking of lightning came to a sudden halt.
Only Ozul, Kumaou, and the commander could actually witness the fight.
They saw how suddenly both the Prince and that woman came to a sudden halt at one point and dropped back to the ground.
.....
They didn’t stop because one of them died, and neither did anyone intervene to stop them; they simply stopped fighting at one point.
After they dropped to the ground, Ozul couldn’t see them, but he also didn’t go there to see what was happening. He was only concerned with the fact that the Prince was alive.
And just as people wondered why all that noise had come to a sudden halt, the Imperial Prince seemingly materialized in front of them as a gust of wind followed shortly after.
Not surprised at the Prince’s disheveled appearance, the commander arched his back slightly and spoke, “Your Highness, the Black Horned Fox was killed. Would you like a change of clothes?”
The commander had already stored the Black Horned Fox’s corpse in his spatial storage, so he dutifully reported the outcome.
They nodded with a half smile and glanced in Ozul’s direction. He also eyed Kumaou for a brief moment before coming back to the commander. “Prepare the horse. The subjugation of the monsters in the north was a success and now we are returning to the palace!”
All those who survived finally released the breaths they didn’t know they were holding.
While the soldiers helped the Prince put on new armor, Ozul focused his senses on the woman who was fighting the Prince. She lingered in that place for a while before leaving.
When the Prince noticed him looking in that specific direction with a thoughtful face, he smiled and spoke, “She won’t come back. Did you think we would fight to the death?”
Ozul only stared back at him with a deadpanned face from afar. How could he say that with a trail of blood dripping down his nose?
‘Not to mention, their killing intent was obvious to everyone, much less me,’ he thought knowing full well that they wanted to kill each other.
The Prince seemed to notice that he didn’t believe him, so he explained, “We don’t start wars just because we find each other unpleasant.” He shrugged at the end.
“I see,” Ozul replied back. That lady was also someone important from the neighboring kingdom. If either of them died in this battle, the war would have been inevitable. ‘No wonder that commander didn’t help him. They were simply enjoying their fight.’
Still, their killing intent was real. They really wanted to kill each other, but decided against it in the end.
While their small conversation took place, Rose clenched her fists until her nails almost tore through the skin. Not only did she, but everyone noticed how the Prince treated Ozul differently from others.
While people died earlier, he didn’t even spare them a passing glance. Yet, here he was, having a one-sided conversation with this oddball beside her. But in the end, people could only blame themselves for being too weak. This realm only respected the strong and it showed.
After the Prince tidied up and got on his horse, blazing off a majestic aura, he shouted for the survivors to hear, “Since you all managed to survive and didn’t run away, I will keep my word. You all will be my soldiers from now! You are the soldiers of the Blue Lion Kingdom!”
The people were happy, but they didn’t cheer as they previously did. They only survived because death knocked on the other doors first and time ran out.
Uncaring of their lacking enthusiasm, the Prince pulled his horse’s reigns and they began to move. He couldn’t control his gaze going back to Ozul and his team again and again.
‘As expected of the Dragon Hatchlings. They live up to their name.’ The Prince smirked thinking about the future. He had been keeping an eye on their battle from the very start, and if he were honest with himself, he had to admit that he was impressed with Ozul’s performance.
‘Those three weren’t much help...’ He thought about the trio who he had to save by throwing that woman in the beast’s way. Indeed, it wasn’t a coincidence that the woman was thrown between them at that exact moment.
From what they knew, they were also in the Nascent Soul Realm which was an achievement in itself. Only that quiet kid seemed to be an anomaly even among the Dragon Hatchlings.
‘You will be of great help to me, kid.’
He thought while eyeing the clearing sky. This turned out to be a great day.
. . .
At this point, Ozul was sure that the Prince was scheming something.
But since he didn’t detect any negative emotions directed at him, he could be sure that they weren’t in trouble.
‘The reason he pays me attention is that he must have known from the start that we were Dragon Hatchlings,’ he concluded, thinking of many possible situations that he could take advantage of.
It took them less time to get back to the capital city since there were no more Black Horned Foxes haunting the path.
More than a hundred had gone on the ‘expedition’, yet less than half could make it back alive. And among the losses, not a single soldier was injured much less dead.
Soon, they reached the royal palace and were welcomed by the cheering crowd until they hadn’t entered the gates. The Imperial Prince was apparently quite popular among the citizens.
Only at that point did Ozul feel one burden of emotions lifting from his shoulders. These emotions were from the survivors who had lost their brothers or sisters. The cheers and jeers of the crowd helped warm their hearts.
The loud noise only lessened after they had entered the gates.
‘Fuu...’ sighed Ozul. He had noticed people being excited around others soldiers as well. If this was going to be like this for the next few months, he didn’t know if he could survive for long.
‘Can I even die?’ he had a sudden thought which jolted something inside of him. Something he didn’t quite understand.
He felt the need to ask that question since his body was abnormal, to say the least. Even his limbs which were severed in his childhood grew separately from his body and even reattached once put back together. So, it was obvious that cutting his body apart wasn’t going to kill him. There was no heart or blood either, so those weren’t a weakness either.
After thinking for a while, he could only consider one thing, ‘My head... or at least the brain?’
His thoughts sprang to the fact that he didn’t have a heart so there might not be a brain either, but he could only smile at his foolish thoughts, ‘That is impossible.’
“Uncle!” there came a shout from the distance as the Imperial Prince got off his horse.
The voice caused a smile to bloom on the Imperial Prince’s face as he turned to face the beloved Princess of the Blue Lion Kingdom.
“Hua’er,” smiled the Imperial Prince as he greeted the Princess.
A girl wearing a lavish dress befitting of a princess cheerfully hopped toward them. She had a spotless and fair face and her hair had a similar hue to the Prince’s.
Behind her trotted another girl of her age. She seemed to be her servant.
After inspecting the girl thoroughly, Ozul was clear that the princess had achieved the initial stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
‘But compared to other cultivators in the same stage, her Spiritual Essence is diluted?’ He raised his brow at the peculiarity before the answer came to his mind, ‘She grew up pampered.’
It wasn’t that her Spiritual Essence was just diluted. She had very little of it, to begin with. It was as if she never cultivated. And if that were the case, her cultivation base could only be explained by the fact that she was a pampered princess.
“I heard from my maid! You subjugated the disgusting beasts plaguing the northern cities! You are the best, uncle!” The princess almost jumped in excitement as she held her uncle’s hands.
“Alright, alright. Brother must be waiting for me. Be my escort, will you?” spoke the Imperial Prince as he held the princess’ hand and walked towards the palace.
‘That girl is our target,’ Ozul sighed, shooting a look back at Raven and Blaze, confirming they remembered the mission as well.
Unlike the Imperial Prince and the Princess, their destination wasn’t the tall palace, but the camps outside the royal estate.
Ozul shot one last look at the palace before being escorted to their place together with everyone else.
