Leaving the Palace

When Kenneth passed through the palace gates, he realized that apart from him, the other princes were not ready to start the journey to reach the Audoran Forest. Of course, unlike him, who used to go out of the palace, the other princes, who mostly spent their entire lives in the palace, would not be able to act immediately when they were required to go outside. From the palace gatekeeper alone, Kenneth had heard that Queen Consort Helena had requested the guilds in the capital to gather their best adventurers. From the order alone, it was clear that the princes intended to hire adventurers to accompany them on their journey to the Audoran Forest.

At the very least, their preparations allowed Kenneth enough time to roam freely without having to worry about running into one of his brothers. For the time being, Kenneth could finally focus on carrying out this mission alone.

After Kenneth had gone far enough from the royal palace, the prince looked for a place where no one went and started casting magic to change his face and hair color. Kenneth changed his appearance whenever he had to leave the palace. Of course, that was because it would be dangerous if someone saw him leaving the palace without King Ducan's permission.

Under the face-changing magic cast by Kenneth, Kenneth's appearance, which completely resembled King Ducan, turned him into an ordinary young man with brown eyes and hair.

Kenneth reached the capital easily from the royal palace. The prince observed that the capital hadn't changed much since the last time he visited and immediately made his first decision.

After changing his appearance to the most common appearance in the Lucano Kingdom, Kenneth intended to find a horse to travel faster than on foot.

In the palace, Kenneth had a horse that he used to practice horse riding. But since the royal family's horses were a special breed, Kenneth could not take them outside the palace, or could his identity be easily discovered.

Furthermore, although their kingdom did have a teleportation magic circle that could bring one to instantly arrive at another place, the magic circle was owned by the Mage Association, and everyone had to pay a load of money to use the magic. The fee was so expensive that even if Kenneth combined his money with Uri's, he would still be unable to pay for it. Kenneth left early for this purpose as well. He knew he didn't have much money, so he had to work harder than everyone else.

Kenneth passed through the streets he had memorized, then arrived at the place that used to sell horses to adventurers on the Royal Capital of Lucano. The prince looked at the healthy horses there, then subconsciously nodded with satisfaction.

Although Kenneth had never bought a horse before, the prince knew which horses were good or not, thanks to the teachings given by the groom in the palace. The groom's palace was a commoner who was very good at taking care of horses, so they hired him to take care of the horses belonging to the royal family. Thanks to his expertise, the horses rarely got sick and grew great. However, due to his status as a commoner, no one ever appreciated his hard work.

The only person who was willing to talk to him was probably Kenneth. And thanks to that, Kenneth gained a lot of knowledge that he didn't get from ordinary royal teachers.

"Are you interested in these horses, Sir?"

Kenneth's attention was diverted when the horse seller approached him and asked in a friendly tone. The prince nodded in response to the seller's question. "That horse, how much is it?" Kenneth asked while pointing to one of the best horses for long journeys. The seller followed the direction pointed out by Kenneth, and then answered in a friendly tone as before.

"The horse costs 50 gold coins, Sir. For such a good horse, this price can be considered cheaper than other horse sellers."

Kenneth involuntarily gulped as he realized horses were more expensive than he expected. Although with the money Uri gave him, he could buy the horse and save the rest for food, Kenneth wanted to avoid spending too much money on his first day out of the palace. Kenneth eyed his chosen horse with a regretful look. The prince was debating whether he should still buy it or find another alternative to reach the border of Lucano Kingdom.

"Argh! How could they cancel our request at the last moment!? Do they think of us as a joke?"

"Please calm down, Dear. Is it possible for us to hire another adventurer? There should be one or two adventurers who have free time to take us, right?"

"Forget it. I heard almost all adventurers no longer take on any tasks after the people in the palace asked adventurers to gather at the royal palace. I don't know what the royal people want from those adventurers. But compared to the palace, which has a lot of money, our request must be nothing for them."

Not far from where Kenneth was, a man in his mid-thirties was talking to his wife in front of a freight caravan. From their conversation alone, Kenneth could tell that they needed an adventurer to protect them on their journey. Carrying a freight caravan out of town was risky if not accompanied by an adventurer. Kenneth stared at the couple for a long time before his attention returned to the horse seller.

Although Kenneth could have helped them and gotten a free ride, with his status, going with others was too risky. Kenneth didn't want to inconvenience anyone else on his journey. Thus, the idea of helping the couple was quickly dismissed from Kenneth's mind.

"Hey, adventurer over there! Can you help us?"

But even if Kenneth was not interested, the man who happened to see Kenneth immediately called out the prince's name while approaching him. Kenneth and the horse seller who was talking turned their heads when the man in distress approached Kenneth in a hurry.