The Regressed Prince Holds Many Secrets Chapter 49 : Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Athus had a al in Sortia.

In a city famous for its gourt food, especially delicious at dishes, he deliberately sought out a small pub and ordered pancakes.

There were over twenty types of at dishes at the pub, but he didn't even glance at them.

He was the type of person who felt a certain distance from the things people liked.

It had a shabby taste.

He knew that the expression 'shabby' was not appropriate for food, but he couldn't find a more suitable word.

It felt like eating a ball of paper mixed with water and sprinkled with syrup.

As he was about halfway through his pancakes, a slender finger tapped his shoulder.

“It's been a while.”

It was a woman with curly gray hair.

Her dark skin, rare in the capital area, was noticeable.

The woman swept her hair back with a strange smile.

“It has been a while.”

Athus greeted her, putting down his fork.

“Aren't you even going to ask to sit?”

“Sit.”

The woman, before he had even finished speaking, plopped down opposite Athus and crossed her legs.

The jade-eyed man silently held out his palm.

The woman placed a bundle of papers on his palm.

“Here, what you wanted.”

“Thank you.”

Athus flipped through the docunts.

They were the entry and exit records of the southern cities of the Sobel mountain range.

Even though it was only for ten days, the personal information of tens of thousands of people was packed in.

The woman watched Athus flipping through the docunts and opened her mouth.

“I've also given the order to strengthen the checkpoints. It's right before the next emperor's coronation, so there's no reason for it to be strange.”

“The agents?”

“I sent them to each city as you said. Three to a team, a total of seven.”

She recited the nas of the cities.

Penren, Holbit, Gesem… a total of seven.

The gateway cities leading from Sortia to the southwest.

The woman counted on her slender fingers.

“I've received reports that they've already arrived in Holbit and Penren, and the rest should arrive by tomorrow.”

“You're as skilled as ever.”

“It's thanks to you, Captain.”

“You still call captain.”

“I can't think of anything else to call you, Captain Athus.”

The Imperial Security Bureau, Special Operations Unit.

The most secretive security unit, composed of the most skilled security knights.

The jade-eyed man was once its leader, and this dark-skinned woman was his subordinate at the ti.

It had been a long ti, but he was grateful that she was still so friendly.

“Even if I ask the purpose of the order, you won't answer, right? Since it's an imperial matter.”

“No, it's a personal matter of mine.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

The woman said so and smiled, revealing her even teeth.

She already knew that Athus was the next emperor's favored confidant.

He put the pile of docunts in his bag and said.

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“Then have so.”

Athus pushed his half-eaten pancakes towards her.

The woman's face imdiately turned sullen.

She picked up Athus' fork, but her expression was full of displeasure.

“…Couldn't you have just ordered a new one?”

“There's no ti. I'm heading to Gesem imdiately.”

“I just ca from Lutilium and you're still working people so hard.”

She stirred the pancakes with her fork.

Even though it was Athus' leftovers, she was hungry, so it wasn't a ti to be picky.

Still, her pouting lips did not easily go back in.

“Ah, poor Shadi, no point in getting dressed up. I ca running at my old captain's call and what I got was cold pancakes.”

“…Are you using your real na?”

“You're really not interested, are you? Shadi Shandor, I'm wearing it proudly.”

Shadi gave a faint smile and took off a small brooch from her chest and held it out.

It was an item given only to high-ranking officials of the Security Bureau.

Special Operations Unit Captain Shadi Shandor was engraved on it.

“As soon as you left, Captain, I entered the main office. I was sick and tired of using a fake na.”

The missions of the Special Operations Unit were secret.

Only the captain of the Special Operations Unit, who needed to operate publicly, could use the na given by their parents proudly.

Before, it was Athus and now it was Shadi Shandor.

“How long can I hide my na and wander the back streets? I don't want to die old and alone either. Or will you take responsibility, Captain?”

“…I'll get you a good position when this is over.”

“No thanks.”

Shadi whipped her head around.

“Let's go, Captain Athus.”

She had already polished off the remaining pancakes.

The woman, who hadn't even missed the syrup on her fork, shot up from her seat.

“I don't know what you're looking for, but we have to find it quickly for the Empire to be at peace, don't we?”

***

I felt a sense of foreboding.

‘…The checkpoint line is too slow……’

It was on the way out of Penren.

I had eaten plenty of delicious fruit, and I had also bought dried fruit to use as travel rations and put it inside Valziart.

All I had to do was leave the castle, but the checkpoint was taking strangely long.

‘…Should I slip out.’

I looked around.

There wasn't a single person who wasn't complaining, and the guards also looked sowhat on edge.

I felt a sense of crisis.

My build was currently swollen with Valziart.

If they were to search under my clothes, I would be found out imdiately.

‘Alright. They haven't noticed.’

I slipped out, avoiding the guard's gaze.

Since the person who had been standing behind in line was looking, I pretended to have an urgent need for the restroom, hobbled a bit, and then dashed off.

The looks of understanding that followed gave a strange sense of displeasure.

Soon, I was in an empty alley.

‘What on earth is going on.’

I walked alone through the dark alley.

My height gradually shrank, and the sound of my footsteps subsided.

The swollen shadow armor thinned, just enough to cover my skin.

I lted into the space between the alleys like a shadow.

I climbed the wall as if sliding.

No one saw .

My original build was small even for an eleven-year-old.

With the mories of old training and Mana Armor Valziart, it was not difficult to move through the streets without being noticed, even in broad daylight.

‘……Let's see.’

Sinking like a shadow, I looked at the long line of people and the soldiers coming and going from the checkpoint.

Though I couldn't hear their voices, I was close enough to observe their features.

My blue eyes turned sharp.

Among the soldiers coming and going, there were so who were out of place.

‘Is it because of those three.’

Even their attire was different.

It was because they were dressed as officials from the capital.

Since they weren't wearing armbands or the like, it was hard to identify their exact affiliation right away.

However, it wasn't a difficult problem.

I touched my lips.

‘They're from Lutilium. Which side are they on……’

My eyes were sharp.

‘They're not knights.’

They had swords about the length of a forearm hidden at their waists, but a knight wouldn't wear their sword like that.

Above all, their movents.

Their quick but heavy steps told that they often didn't wear heavy armor.

‘They're not nobles either.’

I could tell from the way they treated the guards and the rchants waiting for inspection.

If they were of noble birth, it would be difficult for them to be so skilled at handling commoners.

If it were just one, maybe, but all three were like that.

‘But their skill is top-notch.’

Even though they were quite a distance away, their gazes were fierce.

Just by looking at their walking posture, it was clear that they had gone through considerable training.

‘Considering that, and the fact that they are capital officials with the authority to stop a checkpoint.’

The answer ca imdiately.

‘Yes, damn it, there's only one……’

A small sigh.

I covered my face.

“The Imperial Security Bureau, Special Operations Unit……”

And when you say the Security Bureau's Special Operations Unit, there was a man you couldn't help but think of.

“…Yes, I thought you, of all people, would notice. I thought you would follow .”

The tireso jade-green eyes, the terrifyingly sharp double-edged sword, the connection that continued from before my regression.

I let out a sigh mixed with annoyance.

“But aren't you a little too fast, Athus?”

***

One of the Special Operations Unit mbers, feeling a gaze, turned his head.

It seed as if soone was watching him from the rooftop, but there was no one there.

I had already hidden.

Now that I had confird the identity of the n, there was no reason to be close by anymore.

‘I'll have to stay a few more days, I guess.’

I clicked my tongue softly.

It was not a welco developnt.

If I were to run into Athus directly, it would be the end.

No, if a wanted poster of the Fifth Prince Zionis were to be circulated, I would have to completely revise all my plans.

‘…It's not dangerous yet. He must be just probing.’

My head was cool.

A slight sense of bewildernt was quickly resolved and disappeared.

‘How much has he figured out?’

I hid in the shadows and quickened my steps.

My thoughts accelerated accordingly.

As urgent as it was, it was fast.

Many hypotheses rose and disappeared.

Inference thus illuminated the truth.

‘…Hmm. He's not yet convinced that I'm alive.’

If he were, there was no way he wouldn't have inford the First Prince, Ferbias Caseptus.

If Ferbias had known, it wouldn't have been just three Special Operations Unit mbers who ca.

‘Suspicion, just the level of suspicion.’

That's why it was unpleasant.

‘To think he would co at so quickly, so sharply, with just a simple suspicion, a simple anxiety.’

The fortuneteller Athus, his intuition was so unreasonably sharp even before my regression.

Then again, that must have been why he had risen to the 3rd seat of the Ten Great Generals.

‘…It was like this back then too.’

Suddenly, an old mory ca to mind.

It was a future that had not yet co, but to , it was the past.

Back then too, I had had such a chase with Athus.

I even felt a strange sense of nostalgia.

I wiped my face.

‘He's faster than I thought, but I won't change my plan. I'll take a boat from keros.’

There was no other sharp solution.

If I hastily changed my plan due to anxiety, there was a possibility that I would fall into a more dangerous situation.

In my experience, it has always been that way.

So, according to the plan.

From city to city, to keros.

Since I was in the body of an eleven-year-old, I wouldn't be able to reach keros without resting in a city in between.

‘However, traveling alone is no longer a good choice.’

But where could I suddenly find a group?

Even if I asked to join a rchant caravan, there was no way they would let .

And the Empire's security was not so lax that I could pass just by pretending to be a clumsy rcenary.

‘Now, what should I do……?’

I walked, sorting out my complicated thoughts.

It was to find so way by looking at the people coming and going.

And so, I trudged on.

Passing by the street stalls, passing by the children, passing by the fire-breathing magician…….

“Oh.”

…I, who had been passing by, stepped back.

“People of Penren, weren't you disappointed that the next emperor did not make a procession here? How could he go only as far as Sortia and not co to Penren!”

A cheerful voice.

Round glasses perched on the tip of his nose and a long pipe in his mouth.

When he blew, butterflies of fire and smoke erged and danced flutteringly.

I knew that man.

Henry Horbi, the man who would later beco the security chief of Erta, and was now a Western spy pretending to be an acrobat.

“We have co for those who held such disappointnt. It is not an opportunity that cos every day, but finally, like this, we have co!”

They say misfortune and fortune are two sides of the sa coin.

I raised the corner of my mouth.

A brilliant move ca to mind.

Though it was impromptu, it was flawless.

“The best in the Empire, the best on the continent! The Juet Acrobat Troupe is coming to Penren in three days!”