Chapter 4: Piqued Interest

The caravan, consisting of the carriages of the princesses of the kingdom of Satirica, traveled towards the town of Brookhaven. With the help of the adventurers of the town of Brookhaven, they passed through the maze route of the forest. Encountering monsters on their way. Battles occasionally occurred, but their movement still continued.

The night came, and the caravan stopped to take a rest. Campfires were lit up to light up the night. Darkness dominated the sky, with the moon in the sky. Everyone began to cook their boar meat on the fire. The trees around them began to dance.

Killian joined the other adventurers, sitting on a stone, while his hand was holding a stick of boar meat getting cooked with the campfire.

"We just cleared the route, but monsters are still coming. It's making me wonder if monsters can actually be extinct," one of the adventurers said.

"I don't know about you, but I don't have any complaints about it. Monsters are the reason why I have a stable source of income," the other said. "What do you think, Killian?"

Killian just nodded. "The only thing important to me is to come out of this mission alive."

One of the adventurers put his arm on Killian's shoulder. "I had a feeling that is what you are going to say—that's very Killian to say." He laughed.

"As long as you stay on our back and continue healing us, nothing will hurt you behind our protection," one of the adventurers said with an assuring smile.

Killian chuckled. He was very good at acting weak, despite being monstrously powerful. "That's reassuring to hear."

Killian took a bite from his boar meat; however, their campfire's attention was darted to the captain of the adventurers as he approached their camp.

The captain of the adventurers stopped right next to them, looking at the people sitting with no emotion in his eyes.

"Yo, captain," said one of the adventurers.

The captain just nodded and darted his eyes at Killian. "Killian, Princess Hyuna wants you to join our campfire."

Killian furrowed his eyebrows. "Captain, aren't you the only one allowed in their camp? The highest-ranking adventurer in our guild?"

The captain scratched his head. "That was supposed to be the case, but the princess especially asked for your presence, so why not just ask her that? I am just following order here."

The captain walked first. Killian, shaking his head, stood up and followed the captain. On the other hand, the adventurers left behind looked at each other with meaningful gazes, slowly showing a knowing smile while nodding.

One of them raised his hand. "I won the bet. Hand me the gold."

All at once, all the other adventurers sitting on the campfire handed him one gold coin each, shaking their heads.

"I can't believe it; Killian didn't even do anything; all it takes is the princess seeing his face," said one while shaking his head. "How I wish I was that handsome."

The camp was filled with laughter.

Killian arrived at the campfire, where he found Hyuna and Vahili sitting on steel chairs in front of the fire. Their beauty was fully visible, which was complimented by the moonlight above. Upon seeing Killian, Vahili's eyes stopped at him for a while before darting to her big sister, Hyuna. Hyuna, on the other hand, smiled upon seeing him.

The captain of the adventurers who guided Killian bowed his head towards the two princesses. "Princess Hyuna, as you requested, Killian is here to join us at our camp."

"Thank you for your help, captain," Hyuna replied, darting her eyes to Killian. "Please take a seat, Killian."

Killian sat in front of them, allowing both Hyuna and Vahili to properly examine the features of his face. And what they observed brought them satisfaction and more curiosity to find out more.

Hyuna and Vahili talked using their eyes; Hyuna expressed a meaningful smile, while Vahili just slowly narrowed her eyes.

"Killian." Hyuna started as she darted her eyes to Killian, who was just watching them two. "I saw your feat earlier. You really are a remarkable healer, like they say; we fought battles without casualties due to your potent healing capabilities."

"Such a feat is expected of a Class D adventurer as I am, your highness; there's nothing special about what I did or what I can do," Killian said, and he started to eat the boar meat he had been holding since earlier.

"You believe so?" Hyuna said, darting her eyes to the captain and compelling him to talk.

"Actually, Killian's healing capabilities are more than what Class D adventurers can do. If he takes the test for promotion and with luck, he would be promoted to Class C—which doesn't sound impressive that much in your perspective, but for us living in a small town, it's already a high rank." The captain explained. "To be honest, for a person who has been an adventurer for only two years, rising from Class F to D is impressive growth."

"Thank you for your kind words, captain. But as you heard, there's nothing else interesting about me. I bet there's hundreds of healers in the capital much better than me. I just stand out here because there's not much competition," Killian said, his eyes fighting the gaze of Hyuna focused on him.

Hyuna slightly tilted her head. "There's nothing interesting about you, you say? That's one thing that you would say that I would completely disagree." A meaningful smile emerged on her face.

"I hope it's not only about my face, your highness," Killian could not help but say.

The two of them stared at each other, and seemingly all the people around them started to blur. Slowly, half of Killian's lips slowly rose, showing a sly expression against Hyuna's dominating regal gaze.

It was interrupted when Vahili cleared her throat. "Anyway, how long before we reach your town?"

Immediately, the captain responded. "Give it two days, one night, your highness, and we will reach our town."

Killian took a bite of his boar meat and focused his eyes on the fire. While Hyuna was watching him with interest intensifying in her beautiful eyes.