<Wasn’t This a Strategy Game? Chapter 56>

Asmun came to save me and took the blow instead. A strange emotion welled up inside me, and I couldn’t help but let the tears flow.

Asmun looked at Eden, who was crying, and slowly reached out his hand.

“That won’t happen.”

Despite his firm voice, Asmun gently stroked Eden’s tear-streaked face with careful movements. The soft tips of his gloves touched her cheeks where the tears were streaming down.

“From now on, Priest, you cannot go anywhere without my permission.”

It was a persistent statement that I couldn’t tell if it was meant to comfort or threaten.

Eden burst out laughing despite the tears. Seeing that even those harsh words no longer scared her, I realized I was also losing my sanity.

“Shoulder, heh… let me have it…”

As Eden reached out, Asmun looked at him with a puzzled look.

Eden raised himself and hugged Asmun, who seemed unwilling to move. Then he removed Asmun’s hand that was applying pressure on his own shoulder to staunch the bleeding.

As Eden suddenly embraced him, Asmun froze, not knowing how to react.

Eden, unaware that Asmun was stiff as a statue, fumbled over his shoulder and touched the wound that was revealed through the torn fabric.

While holding him, Eden placed both of his hands over the wound and pressed down firmly.

As his hand touched the gaping wound, Asmun frowned in pain.

“Just hold on a little longer. It’ll be over soon.”

Eden comforted him, focusing all his strength.

‘Can I really heal a wound this severe?’

I wasn’t sure of my abilities’ limits, but with this much blood spilling, I couldn’t just let go.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on imagining healing Asmun’s shoulder, and suddenly, I felt a bit dizzy. Unlike when healing minor wounds, it seemed like it was draining my stamina.

But that didn’t matter.

As long as Asmun’s wound could heal.

“……”

Asmun, who had been looking confused, quickly realized what Eden was doing. The intense pain that had been gripping him was gradually fading away.

Asmun looked at Eden with surprise in his wide eyes.

Eden, still pale, was awkwardly checking the wounds on Asmun’s body. When he saw the blood stop and new flesh growing over the wound, he finally felt relieved.

“Is this enough?”

However, even with the horrific pain gone, Asmun’s expression remained tense.

“……Is there something else?”

Eden, taken aback by the sudden question, looked at Asmun with teary red eyes.

“I mean, the abilities you’re hiding.”

Ah.

Finally realizing, Eden flinched away from Asmun and rolled his eyes. Asmun’s gaze was intensely fixated on him, demanding an answer.

Eden recalled what had just happened before going nearly insane.

The Chupi that he had touched had been completely eradicated. It disappeared in a manner far more appropriate to the term “annihilation” than “defeat.”

A skill for eradicating low-level monsters.

Thinking of Jepar’s expression when he had inadvertently witnessed the power of that skill, Eden felt a strange unease creeping in.

Indeed, he had never heard of such a skill. The skills of hidden characters were always magnificent and rare.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been thrilled to have a hidden character, but the more mysterious the skill became, the more peculiar unease enveloped him.

“……”

Eden glanced at Asmun again. Asmun’s red eyes were still boring into him as if they could see right through him.

Usually, he would have lied in the face of such a gaze. It was too dangerous to reveal all your cards to anyone.

‘But right now…’

Eden realized just how cunning he was being. He felt embarrassingly flustered at how sly he could be.

How could saving my life once lead to this…?

“……I can eradicate monsters.”

Ultimately, as Eden confessed his secret that even he hadn’t known until yesterday, Asmun’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“What did you say?”

“I said I can eradicate monsters. Though only low-level ones…”

Nevertheless, Asmun’s expression was still one of confusion, as if he didn’t fully understand.

Finally, Eden raised his blood-soaked hand, which had just healed Asmun’s shoulder.

“If I touch a monster with this hand, it will get eradicated. It turns into light, shines white, and then disappears in an instant.”

As the detailed explanation hit him, Asmun’s expression froze completely. It was similar to the look Jepar had worn, causing Eden to become uneasy and quickly lower his hand.

“……Is that strange?”

Eden quickly regretted saying that when Asmun’s expression turned overly serious.

‘I shouldn’t have brought it up, damn it.’

Asmun opened his tightly shut lips as though he was deep in thought.

“……Does the Grand Duke know?”

At the sharp question, Eden’s heart tightened.

Of course, Jepar had realized this fact at the same time he did. If he hadn’t been involved as his aide, there would have been no quest completion or discovery of the skill’s nature.

But the gaze quietly asking made him feel like it was too sharp, so Eden involuntarily shook his head. Then his expression softened slightly.

“You must not tell anyone about that story, understood?”

At the quiet warning, Eden simply nodded. An awkward silence hung between them.

Eden realized that the distance between him and Asmun was much more secluded than the place where Madam Marens had been.

There was truly no sound or movement at all. The surrounding forest was thick with fog and cold air, more so than before.

As Eden pondered what to do, Asmun abruptly spoke again.

“Why didn’t you ask me for help?”

The unexpected question turned Eden’s gaze back to him, which had been scanning the area for no reason.

Compared to me, Asmun’s eyes were clearly fixed on him, dripping with the dissatisfaction he had seen at the eve’s ceremony, so Eden quickly understood what he meant.

He was still angry at me for joining Jepar as his aide.

It was clearly my fault, so Eden stammered out an excuse.

“Ah, you wouldn’t have agreed anyway…”

But that excuse didn’t seem to satisfy him, as his icy gaze remained locked on Eden.

“Right now, I’m asking why you were the Grand Duke of Yuren.”

Each word dripped with annoyance, leaving Eden utterly speechless.

‘Because Jepar is also a target for conquest I have to win over…’

But there was no way Asmun would accept that reasoning. He would never say such things out loud either.

“I thought I could avoid suspicion if it were the Grand Duke of Yuren.”

Eden crafted a plausible excuse.

But it was a valid point. Grand Duke Jepar wasn’t aligned with any prince, and pulling in his aide would have at least dispersed the growing attention directed solely at him.

“It seems I… have failed, though.”

Given that Kiris had already figured out my identity, all of this seemed pointless now.

“Is that the only reason?”

Asmun was relentless.

“Is there not even a single other reason?”

The calm voice demanded a response, yet there was a sense of urgency laced throughout. His red eyes glaring at Eden held a relentless intensity.

‘What other reason could there be?’

Eden blinked in confusion.

“What other reason could I have? I’ve only met the Grand Duke a few times…”

“……”

“That really is all.”

Eden, oblivious to the problem, nodded resolutely as if trying to prove his innocence, and finally, the tightly wound tension in Asmun’s red eyes began to loosen.

Watching those eyes, Eden continued to ponder.

The episode of the hunting competition hadn’t ended yet. Eden recalled the quest that had popped into his head just before things got hectic.

『【!】Basic Quest

: Make the 3rd Prince Asmun Dekland the victor of the hunting competition!』

Perhaps this was an opportunity. Somehow, he had gained the chance to aid Asmun as his aide.

‘But with the sun setting soon, the competition will conclude… how might I…’

Even after half a day of searching the advanced hunting grounds with Jepar, finding game had been no easy feat. Plus, Asmun had lost his voice and all the signs of the game tethered to the horses.

Then, it struck him. Suddenly, an idea popped into Eden’s head.

Flustered, he dug into his pocket and pulled something out. It was the map of the hunting grounds received as a reward for clearing the event quest last night.

『You have received the special reward ‘Map of the Hunting Grounds.’』

Seeing the audacious notification window from yesterday, Eden had blown up in anger.

「What? Are you kidding me right now!」

No matter how he looked around, it was just an utterly ordinary map, tossed at him as if it were a special reward, which infuriated him, but he had brought it along just in case.

Even if unfolding the map served no purpose if he didn’t know where he was, right now, he had to grasp at straws.

“Your Highness, just a moment.”

Asking for his understanding, Eden unfolded the map and his eyes widened in shock.

Huh…?

The map looked different from yesterday.

“……”

Eden’s eyes widened as he looked at the moving icons marked on the map.

Every participant’s icon and the monsters’ icons were displayed, constantly shifting, showing their locations.

Whoa…

Only then did Eden realize this map was no ordinary map.

‘Of course!’

If so, clearing the Ibthan quest yesterday had truly been a stroke of genius.

Secrets of the Portal and a magical map.

Eden couldn’t help but feel his lips curl up in excitement.