Emperor! Can You See Stats!?

Chapter 135: Arrival?

‘I have to go to the Blue Dragon first.’

Eurius, who had escaped from the imperial palace, rode his horse day and night to the rendezvous point.

There, the people he had promised in advance were already waiting. 

Jegal Hwayoung, who greeted him, expressed a slight concern.

“My lord, I don’t mean to question you, but are you sure it’s okay to leave the imperial palace empty?”

“This matter is one of the most important things to me.”

Eurius said firmly, but in fact, it was an unacceptable act to leave his position without permission as the crown prince.

But he had a reason why he could do so. 

It was his confidence that there would be no big problem even if he left his seat for a while, since he had no enemies within the empire.

‘Anyway, there is no one who can challenge me in this situation. If I make some excuses for a few months, I can come back without anyone noticing that I was gone.’

He had also cleaned up the nobles who had other intentions beforehand to buy time to go to the east.

[Main Quest – The Dark Clouds over the Royal Family]

[Content: Investigate the forces behind the royal family of Hwan Empire.]

[Main Quest is a quest related to the player’s ‘clear’.]

[Clear: The player’s ultimate goal. You need to raise your achievements to access more information.]

According to the quest he got from the Northern Mountains, he could find clues to solve his questions about the player in the east.

‘And the last descendant of White Tiger who left this quest disappeared at the same time as the eastern delegation was cut off.’

The eastern delegation stopped sending envoys from the Hwan Empire thirty years ago, and since then, there was no one coming from the east except for traders.

That meant that the royal family of Hwan Empire that Leonhardt was sent to as an envoy was very likely a tiger’s den.

‘It might be better to prepare thoroughly outside and then enter.’

The key was in Jegal Sega’s hands. 

No matter how high Eurius’s position was in the western continent, it was not very helpful in the eastern continent.

“Are you still getting news from your Sega?”

“I heard that there was a lot of damage due to the war with Makyu, but regular contact is still coming.”

“That’s good. I’ll have to repay you for your help this time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, my lord.”

Jegal Hwayoung answered seriously, but Eurius’s help was not insignificant for her either.

First of all, he brought people who were extraordinary in every aspect, so having one more master was very reassuring at this point.

She looked around at the people Eurius brought with him.

“Rize, this trip to the east is dangerous, so please be careful.”

“I understand.”

The first one was Beatrice. 

She was obedient, so there would be no trouble with her.

But from the second one on, they were people who were a bit distant from common sense, so Eurius had no choice but to warn them firmly.

“Nuada! When you arrive in the east, even if there is something you don’t like, follow Jegal Sega’s instructions.”

“If my friend says so, I can’t help it. But they can’t treat me like a servant. Unless it’s that senior who defeated me.”

He looked reluctant, but he agreed for now.

And the last one was someone who was not originally planned, but he recognized his skills and brought him along this time.

“Cains, you probably don’t know much about the east either?”

“That’s right, but…”

Eurius looked at him scratching his head and said in a decisive tone.

“If you’re going to do business, go back to the western continent and do it. I’m not joking, this place we’re going to is really dangerous.”

Cains also instinctively realized that Eurius had no intention of deceiving him this time by looking at his serious expression.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Your Highness!”

“Hmm?”

As he warned them three times, Eurius turned his head and noticed a strange gaze on him.

“…”

The source of that gaze was Jegal Hwayoung. She looked at Eurius with an indescribable expression.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

“No… It’s nothing.”

She tried to say something but stopped. She had something on her mind, but she decided it was not a big deal.

‘I’ll help him well by his side. Then maybe we can get through this safely.’

She thought so and opened her mouth.

“Then I’ve prepared a ship for you.”

Eurius and his party boarded a ship prepared by Jegal Sega. It was Eurius’s first time on a ship, so he looked around the ship with interest.

“Does it take about ten days to get to the east?”

“If there are no weather changes, it should be.”

Swoosh

The voyage was smooth. One day before the arrival, Eurius was watching the sea while standing on the deck in the pouring rain.

Jegal Hwayoung, who was watching him quietly, opened her mouth.

“The captain said that we would arrive on land tomorrow morning without any trouble.”

Eurius turned his head and looked puzzled.

“It’s been raining heavily for three days, but we’re faster than expected?”

“The route between the east and the west is known to be safe. I don’t know of any ships that have lost contact in the last few decades.”

“Then how about we check the plan again? Tell everyone to come inside.”

“…”

“Why is that?”

“Should I tell Nuada to come in too?”

“Ugh!”

At the same time, a loud sound came from the bow of the ship, and Eurius gave a bitter smile.

“Let’s leave him alone for now. I’ll tell him later.”

“…”

Nuada, who was lying on the bow like a dead man, was at his wit’s end. He had never ridden a horse, and he had lived his whole life roaming the mountains. Traveling by ship was quite humiliating for him.

‘It was fine until a few days ago, damn it…’

The problem was that the weather worsened recently and the ship shook violently due to the storm. No one expected that someone who was as strong as a superhuman would get seasick, but he lost his strength and collapsed after three days.

His hope was that this voyage would end in half a day.

“I’ll be free from this hell tomorrow morning. Ugh!”

He endured the nausea and got up.

‘Did my friend tell me to come inside earlier?’

He felt a little better and tried to move from the bow. But then! He heard something ominous.

Swoosh!

The raindrops became several times thicker than before. He felt a chill on the back of his head and turned around. Nuada’s face, which was already pale from seasickness, turned almost blue.

“Crazy!”

A huge wave that seemed to be tens of meters high was crashing down on the ship.

Splash!

The ship survived once. The mast broke and the hull shook, but it was a sturdy ship and it held on.

But Nuada, who was standing unprotected on the bow, couldn’t do that.

“Aaaah!”

His body was swallowed by the violent wave and sucked into the swirling sea.

Meanwhile, in the cabin, a conversation was going on.

“Did you say it was Murim?”

“Yes, that’s right. Unlike the western continent, the eastern continent has groups that act independently without belonging to places like the royal family. Our Sega is one of those groups in Murim.”

To be honest, Eurius didn’t understand it well because he was a westerner, but he nodded his head.

“So you’re going to join Jegal Sega first?”

“I think we’ll have to think about the detailed plan after we hear from Sega. And some of you, including Your Highness, will have to hide your faces for a while.”

“Hmm? Is my face known in the east too?”

Eurius and the other westerners in the cabin tilted their heads. But Jegal Hwayoung shook her head.

“That’s not it…”

“Aaaah!”

Splash!

At that moment, water poured into the cabin and the ship rocked violently.

Eurius was the first to regain his balance and ran to the bow. The scream he heard just now was a familiar voice.

“Could it be Nuada?”

But that was a very dangerous move. Jegal Hwayoung, who quickly assessed the situation, shouted urgently.

“My lord! It’s dangerous to go outside now…”

“…!?”

Swoosh!

Before she could finish her words, Eurius was swept away by a fierce wave.

Everyone in the cabin could only watch that scene with pale faces.

And the ship couldn’t withstand several waves that were tens of meters high.

Swoosh!

The third wave that came over turned the ship upside down. It was a route that boasted of its safety, but an unexpected storm shattered the ship.

Swoosh

A quiet beach with only the sound of waves.

“…”

Eurius looked at the distant horizon with a hollow expression. He was in a position where he couldn’t even go out alone, but he was standing alone on this beach.

He muttered with an incredulous expression.

‘How did this happen?’

[Head, strange, storm.]

‘No, I know that.’

He had nothing but his wet body and the Yellow Dragon Sword on his waist on this beach.

He was a superhuman, so he regained consciousness in the sea and managed to reach this beach by following the current.

But in the meantime, the crew of the ship scattered and he drifted to this deserted beach.

“…”

Eurius could only stare at the horizon with a blank expression for a while, feeling helpless and guilty.

‘Beatrice, Nuada, Cains… And Jegal Sega’s people too…’

The sea last night was a terrible memory for him too. He somehow saved his life, but what about the others?

There were people on the ship who were not very good at martial arts, and Nuada had lost his energy from seasickness for three days.

Hmm.

[Idiot, survival, possibility, high.]

‘Hmm?’

The Yellow Dragon Sword rattled and Eurius snapped out of his despairing thoughts.

‘The first thing is to check the situation.’

He shook off his dazed expression for a moment and tried to sort out his thoughts.

The first thing was to confirm the life and death of others.

‘At least I arrived at this beach half a day after drifting, so I’m not far from land. Beatrice and Nuada are superhumans, so they have a high chance of surviving!’

Eurius also drifted aimlessly in the waves until he reached the beach, so they might have drifted to some other beach too.

As soon as he reached this assumption, Eurius felt a little relieved about Beatrice’s life and death.

The second thing was how to move in this situation.

Eurius thought carefully and came to a conclusion.

‘I can’t stay here like this. I’ll find a way if I go to where people live.’

Fortunately, most of the people in the eastern continent had black hair and black eyes. 

Eurius’s appearance would stand out too much.

‘Everyone has enough ability to protect themselves, so if they survived safely, I’ll be able to find them by asking around.’

Eurius decided to look for a place where people lived. 

He seemed to regain some of his usual cheerful personality as hope rose.

‘The surroundings are all surrounded by mountains? If I’m unlucky, I might have to run for days?’

He had to get to the village as soon as possible to join them or search for them. He kicked the ground and dashed through the mountains in a straight line.

***

“Ugh…”

Jegal Hwayoung barely woke up and looked around. 

She was the weakest in martial arts among them, so she had to suffer more than anyone else last night.

“You’re awake.”

She looked around with a weak expression and suddenly came to her senses when she heard a voice.

“Lady Beatrice?”

“You’ve been asleep for half a day. It’s been about a day since we drifted here.”

Jegal Hwayoung vaguely remembered last night and quickly got up and hugged her.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

The reason why she, who had weak martial arts, could barely save her life last night was because Beatrice, who was in the same cabin, held her and swam desperately.

“It was only natural.”

“…”

Beatrice was basically expressionless, but she had a strange tendency to sound colder to her. 

Jegal Hwayoung guessed why and gave a bitter smile.

“Are there no others?”

“It’s just us here.”

Jegal Hwayoung looked at Beatrice, who answered shortly, and sank into her thoughts. 

Her head was still fuzzy and she couldn’t think clearly.

‘I need to join Sega first. And His Highness’s life or death… He must be alive.’

Her thoughts finally reached Eurius’s whereabouts. 

She thought that there was a high possibility that Eurius was alive if she judged calmly. 

Beatrice, who was relatively weaker, managed to drift to the beach with her as a burden, so Eurius must have survived.

‘Come to think of it, His Highness also drifted separately… I tried to guide him to Sega as discreetly as possible, but things got messed up. There was never a shipwreck on this route before. I need to update the information.’

Jegal Hwayoung and Sega’s people had crossed the continent several times through this route, but they had never been swept away by a storm that could break the ship, so they couldn’t help but wonder.

‘If I don’t find him soon, His Highness might catch the eyes of Murim people. If that happens…’

As she thought that far, Jegal Hwayoung suddenly snapped out of it as if she had been splashed with cold water.

“Ah!”

At the same time, her face turned pale as a sheet of paper. 

Beatrice saw that and tilted her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to find His Highness… quickly!”

Jegal Hwayoung shouted urgently, but Beatrice didn’t show any emotion. 

She even opened her mouth as if she didn’t know anything.

“His Highness is not someone who would die from being swept away by such a storm. I’m fine too…”

“That’s not the problem!”

“…!?”

***

At that moment, Eurius was running through the forest at a wind-like speed. 

He had been running for half a day, but he didn’t see any signs of people and he was getting anxious.

‘It seems to be quite far from where people live. I don’t see any place to stay if it gets dark…’

“Hmm?”

But at that moment, he sensed a faint presence in his senses. 

He cheered inwardly and moved his steps toward it.

Rustle

The source of the presence he felt was four young people. 

They were composed of three men and one woman, and they were running through the forest at a fairly fast speed.

“Namgung Sohyup! Are you okay with your wound?”

“Honestly, I’m not. But I don’t have time to whine until we reach the branch of the alliance…”

“Did you stop the bleeding properly?”

“Haha! I’m always causing trouble for you, Seomun Sojeo. You don’t have to worry too much.”

They were having a friendly conversation while crossing the forest with light steps. They were wearing different colored clothes, but they all had the same character of Jeongdo (正道) embroidered on their left sleeves.

The only woman in the group sighed.

“Phew… We barely escaped with our lives. Luckily, they didn’t chase us this far.”

“Gangnam is our Namgung Sega’s territory. No matter how strong the Magyo is, they can’t invade it recklessly.”

Namgung Sohyup, who was called by that name, answered with a proud expression. 

At that moment, a gust of wind suddenly passed by them.

Whoosh!

“…!?”

“I finally met some people.”

The wind was none other than Eurius, who followed the presence and ran like an arrow. 

When he stopped, dust rose up and blocked his sight.

“Gasp!”

“Who are you!”

The four young people tensed up. 

They had just been chased by Magyo until a while ago, so they felt gloomy.

‘He’s a master!’

They were considered promising late-stage masters, but they didn’t notice him until he approached them so close, and the amazing skill that he used to pass by them just now proved that he was not an ordinary master.

They tensed up and looked at the man who walked out of the dust. 

Eurius slowly opened his mouth. .

Fortunately, the language was the same even in the eastern continent.

“I’m sorry to ask you this. Can you take me to the nearest city?”

He asked humbly without caring about his dignity. 

He didn’t think he could find a place where people lived by himself.

Swoosh!

“Hmm?”

But before he could hear the answer, the four young people drew their weapons. 

As soon as they saw Eurius’s appearance, they decided that there was no need to talk.

“Did you send a pursuer all the way here…”

“How dare you, Magyo’s villain!”

“What?”