“Wasn’t this a strategy game?”

….

A frightened-looking Asmun stared intensely before letting out a short sigh and sheathing his sword.

“Next time, you should follow the military rules too, Priest.”

Asmun still had an annoyed expression, but he no longer threatened Eden’s words. Eden, caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events, gazed at him in disbelief.

‘Did he just let me off the hook?’

Once I realized I was alive, my heart, which had come to a halt, began to race again. Eden turned away, brushing down his chest, and softly apologized to the aggrieved-looking horse.

Sorry, but there was no other way to clear the quest. This was the only method.

“We need to head back before sunset.”

Karon urged, looking up at the dimming sky. Only then did Eden nod, petting the now anxious-looking horse before mounting it.

Asmun continued to stare at the horse with discontent. There was a glint of regret in his eyes for not having struck the horse’s head with a clean blow, sending a chill down Eden’s spine.

“D-Don’t worry. I won’t do it again. Right?”

Eden awkwardly blamed the horse as he stroked its mane, and the aggrieved creature blinked back with sad eyes. We had to hurry back before Asmun changed his mind; however, the clear quest window hadn’t appeared yet.

29/30.

We still needed to take down one more monster.

If only more monsters would show up, but perhaps they were scared off by the earlier commotion, as not a single ant could be seen in the desolate forest.

But if I pushed my luck any further, things would truly go awry. The only thing I could do was hope a single monster would appear on our way back.

“Should we just head back, Commander?”

Eden asked cautiously, but Karon, with a serious face, didn’t budge.

“Commander…?”

“I think we might be lost.”

Karon replied calmly, leaving Eden a bit dumbfounded.

“Excuse me?”

“I was so flustered I didn’t memorize the way back. This should be…”

Karon meticulously examined the trees and terrain around us with a grave expression.

“It seems we are in the forest of the Yuren Grand Duchy…”

At those words, Eden’s breath caught in her throat.

Yuren Grand Duchy?

Eden internally shouted, ‘Event Quest Window!’ Suddenly, the previous quest window reappeared.

‘Ah, so we’re in the forest of the Yuren Grand Duchy, which triggered Jepar’s quest.’

I must have unintentionally crossed over into the duchy’s forest while bumbling around.

“What are we going to do now?”

Asmun asked casually, as if this weren’t his problem. His gaze fixated on Eden, making her insides twist. Of course, it was all her fault that things had escalated to this point.

“Why don’t you say a prayer to Hamun? Who knows?”

……

“The blessed Hamun might just provide us with a map.”

As he chuckled coldly, Karon’s eyebrows tightened in displeasure. He clearly took offense to the mention of Hamun.

Amid the tension of what seemed like a potential round two between the two men, Eden burst out.

“The rescue team will be here soon!”

At her words, both men turned their gazes towards her.

“In a place like this?”

Asmun tilted his head in disbelief with a scoffing expression. It was indeed a ridiculous idea, even to her. A rescue team in a forest where they were lost? However, Eden was confident. If there wasn’t a rescue team, she could just summon them.

“Yes.”

Eden smiled reassuringly, mentally shouting ‘Yes.’ A new window appeared before her.

‘Of course, since it’s an event quest, it comes with a title.’

Then something unbelievable happened. They heard the sound of galloping hoofbeats from afar, and armed soldiers emerged between the massive trees. Talk about a lightning-fast turn of events.

Eden was about to break into a dazzling smile, but the soldiers rapidly surrounded the three of them with weapons aimed at their necks.

……!

While Eden froze in shock, Asmun stared expressionlessly at the sword aimed at his throat. Just then, the sound of calm hoofbeats approached, and a familiar face appeared behind the soldiers.

“What’s going on?”

Eden recognized the owner of that emotionless voice.

Amidst the dense trees, a figure with shining silver hair and piercing blue eyes stood out even in the dark forest, emanating a bizarre atmosphere of cold dignity and leisurely calm. It was Jepar.

“Hmm?”

Jepar’s gaze changed as he recognized the faces of Karon and Asmun.

“What brings you two here…?”

His attention soon shifted to Eden standing next to Asmun. At that moment, the final profile window popped up.

Beep.

‘Wow, a power level of 90…’

Eden swallowed hard without realizing it. Even the 3rd Prince Asmun only had a power level of 50. Of course, one could chalk that up to Asmun being a powerless prince, but even Kiris had never touched a power level of 90.

……

Jepar stared at Eden for a moment, then frowned. With his great memory, he surely remembered where he had seen her face before.

However, it seemed he was trying to figure out what the Apprentice Priest, the 3rd Prince, and the Commander of the Holy Knights were doing in a place like this.

Jepar recalled the rumors he had heard previously. A priest who could read information about monsters. The pieces of the puzzle, which had been scattered, began to fit together, and the look in Jepar’s eyes towards Eden changed.

“How long are we going to stand here?”

Asmun asked bluntly, prompting Jepar to finally break his gaze from Eden.

“Ah, I completely forgot.”

Jepar smiled as if he hadn’t forgotten at all, and ordered his soldiers to lower their weapons. Only then were the weapons surrounding the three of them sheathed.

“So, we really are in the forest of the Yuren Grand Duchy.”

Karon mentioned, and Jepar nodded.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“We got lost while hunting in the western border forest. I never expected to meet the Grand Duke here, what a lucky coincidence.”

Asmun, listening to their conversation, glanced at Eden. He was clearly skeptical of Eden’s claim that a rescue team would come, but she avoided his sharp gaze.

“But about the Grand Duke…”

Karon shot a glance at the fully armed soldiers.

“We were also out here hunting. Lately, there has been a troublesome monster bothering us.”

Jepar smiled as he spoke, exuding confidence that he could easily handle such nuisances.

Karon responded with a peculiar smile.

“If it’s an unknown monster appearing in the western forest, we’ve already dealt with it. We were on our way back after capturing it.”

At those words, Jepar’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“You captured it? Such a monster shouldn’t be so easily subdued.”

“Of course it wasn’t easy. But thanks to Priest Eden’s remarkable abilities, we were able to find out how to capture it.”

Immediately, Jepar’s gaze turned back to Eden. Embarrassed, Eden averted her eyes, but Asmun stepped forward, blocking Jepar’s gaze.

“Sorry to interrupt your friendly chat, but if we stick around here, we’re all bound to become the monster’s dinner. Shouldn’t we head back first?”

Jepar looked at Asmun for a moment. Recently, he had not been in a good mood due to the magic stone mine discovered by the prince standing before him.

“I apologize too, but I just received reports of sighting the monster. I must capture it today. His Highness, I hope you understand.”

With his cheerful smile, the expressions of the three men turned stiff for various reasons. Eden suddenly recalled the event quest.

So, that means they had to eliminate that monster before they could return.

It was infuriating to think about how many monsters they had to take down in a day.

At that moment, Karon loosened a small capture net he had attached to his horse and presented it to Jepar.

“This is the monster you’re looking for, Grand Duke. We captured it, so please wait a moment, and we will send a hunting party back.”

Jepar’s eyebrows furrowed in an unusual shape before his smile returned.

“You must have caught Chupi.”

At that, the faces of the three became tense. The most flustered was Eden.

‘He knows about Chupi?’

As if he could read her thoughts, Jepar replied.

“Our Grand Duchy’s scholars uncovered the identity of Chupi a few days ago. We must have been a bit late.”

Eden’s face fell at his smile. However, Karon and Asmun did not appear surprised or flustered at all.

It was a well-known secret that the Yuren family kept significant portions of the bestiary about dispersed monsters. Among them was Chupi’s bestiary.

“So, the monster the Grand Duke mentioned is…?”

“Oh dear. It seems the news hasn’t reached the capital yet.”

Jepar looked at them with a somewhat regretful expression.