đźź Chapter 60:
🟧 Takeru POV:
After Elithius managed to pull himself together, we stepped out, ready to confront Number One.
But the moment we exited the room, Elithius grabbed my arm and stopped me.
"Let's wait here until they come out."
It seemed he wasn't emotionally prepared to face the minister yet.
Well… he can't change overnight. I agreed to stay with him.
"Alright, we'll wait."
I didn't think the minister would surrender easily. He was terrifyingly strong when we encountered him before.
Could Haizen and Elnar handle him?
Previously I had been with Haizen and Ryo, but now he was with Elnar—and I had no idea how strong Elnar truly was.
So I asked Elithius:
"Is your brother a good fighter?"
"Since childhood, he trained in swordsmanship and learned all sorts of combat skills. You could say he's talented."
Good. But I wasn't sure if that talent was enough. The prime minister was extremely dangerous.
At that moment, the sounds of clashing steel echoed from the interrogation room.
"Did you hear that, Prince?"
"Yes… what do we do?"
"I'm injured, so I'd be useless. As for you, I don't even know if you have any combat experience."
"Well… I've tried sword training before, but I'm nothing compared to my brother."
Great. We're both useless. What now?
Before I could think about it, Haizen appeared with a group of guards. It seemed he had gone to fetch backup. He halted when he spotted us.
"You two are here!"
"Wait, I thought you were with Elnar?"
"No, he told me to get some guards, so I went to look for them."
"That was fast—you're impressive."
"No, honestly, I didn't know where to go and just found them by accident."
…Yeah, that makes much more sense for someone like him.
Suddenly, the sounds of battle stopped completely.
The fight must have ended.
The guards rushed into the room as soon as the noise faded.
We followed them inside—
and saw the minister collapsed on the ground before Elnar, surrounded by guards.
Elnar… actually beat him?
I didn't know how strong Elnar was, but I never expected it to end this quickly.
Even Haizen was shocked that the minister had fallen before reinforcements even arrived.
"Is the prince really this strong?"
Orfin's face was expressionless, as if being exposed as a traitor meant nothing to him.
Elithius was hiding behind the door, too overwhelmed to look at him—
but after the guards dragged Orfin out of the interrogation room, he appeared before Elithius.
Elithius was trembling, confused and hurt, but he forced himself to speak.
"After all these years… how could you betray me like this? I considered you someone dear to me."
Orfin gave a small, dismissive smile—indifferent to the prince's pain.
And then he crushed him further with cold, merciless words:
"And that is precisely what made it so easy to exploit you.
All these years, I never had even a trace of respect for a naĂŻve prince like you."
Elithius couldn't say a single word after that.
He stayed silent—
not collapsing, but clearly struggling not to.
It wouldn't be easy for him to recover from this.
Elnar gave the order to continue escorting the minister.
"Let's take him to the palace dungeon. Once he's secured there, I will report everything to the king."
He placed a hand on Elithius' shoulder, speaking quietly:
"Elithius… my little brother, you should know that I did this for you. If you want to let out what's in your heart, I'm here for you."
But Elithius only said one thing:
"I'm going to my room. No one follows me."
Then he left. Elnar didn't try to stop him; he understood, and simply walked forward.
Haizen and I returned to our room.
As soon as we arrived, a knock sounded on the window—it was Ryo, and he had Number Five with him, unconscious.
Ryo was the one who hid him.
He asked how things had turned out with Orfin:
"So? What happened? Did you catch the traitor?"
"Yes. He tried to fight back, but he couldn't defeat Elnar."
"So Elnar actually beat him? Looks like he's gotten stronger."
Even Ryo didn't seem fully aware of Elnar's capabilities.
Ryo asked us how Elithius was doing after what had happened; he understood how hard it must have been on him.
"How is the prince? Is he hurting after discovering the betrayal?"
"Yes. He went to his room and asked that no one come to see him."
"I see…"
Ryo lowered his eyes in disappointment; it was obvious that Elithius was crying heavily at that moment. Then he lifted his gaze and said:
"Well, I'll go talk to him later. I won't leave him like this."
Heee… this dragon is truly loyal to that boy.
Now all that remained was finding the rest of the gang and taking them down.
Maybe our role here was finally coming to an end.
I told Ryo the deal between us was over at last.
"So, Ryo, I think mine and Haizen's part of the job is finally done."
Haizen wiggled his fingers in a money-sign gesture:
"Now it's your turn to pay us—
for saving the prince earlier
and for helping expose the palace traitor."
I expected Ryo to agree instantly—
but he told us something unexpected:
"You two aren't leaving that easily.
You haven't even completed the job you were hired for.
The deal was to protect the prince during the exam."
"You stupid lizard, are you ignoring everything we did? We did save him!"
"True, you saved him.
But a deal is a deal, and you still need to fulfill it.
And don't think I don't know—
I found out you spent all the gold I gave you earlier.
You think I'd let that slide?"
Noooo he found out.
All because of Haizen's obsession with bananas.
I glared at Haizen, but he turned his head away, hiding his face.
Ryo smirked mockingly.
"Don't worry. The Elite Exam is fun.
All you have to do is stand next to the prince while he takes it.
We'll handle the rest of the gang."
We had no choice.
If they were going to fight the gang themselves, then babysitting the prince would be nothing.
And we'd still get paid afterward.
But was the prince even ready?
He still hadn't recovered from the shock.
People here are insane—
despite everything going on, they haven't postponed that ridiculous exam.
I asked Ryo who was responsible for the exam arrangements.
"Ryo, who's in charge of managing the exam?"
"The exam management?
That would be the Director of the Examination Bureau."
"The Examination Bureau Director?"
"Yes. He's the one in charge of designing the exams.
He was appointed five years ago, and since then, the pass rate has become higher.
Last year it was 91%."
That's… suspicious.
[Alright, let me guess—you think there's exam leakage, don't you?]
my system asked.
"Exactly, system. You understand me so well."
Ryo and Haizen stared at me when I spoke to the system.
"Who were you talking to?"
"No one… just thinking."
They didn't care enough to question it.
My mind was already forming a plan.
This exam… would be fun.
"Is the bureau located inside the palace?"
"Yes, there's a special section for it."
Perfect.
I can definitely pull this off.
I left the room to find someone who could tell me where it was.
Haizen asked:
"We just got here—where are you going?"
"I'm going for a little walk."
Ryo sighed irritably:
"Do you think the palace is your house, wandering around like that?"
"I won't be long. I'm going."
---
🟧 Narrator POV:
After Orfin was sent to the cell, magic-suppressing cuffs were placed on him to disrupt his mana abilities.
Elnar ordered one of the guards to deliver the news to the king.
Shortly afterward, the king and his retinue arrived at the dungeon.
The king was shocked at first—
he couldn't believe it.
He even tried to get the minister to deny it:
"Orfin… this must be a lie, right?
Tell me you didn't betray me?"
But Orfin didn't try to hide it.
"No, King—you're mistaken. Everything happening is real."
Hearing that, King Orik erupted in rage.
"You shameless man… how dare you—
HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME!?"
Elnar and the royal attendants tried to calm him down.
"Father, please. I understand this is difficult.
Even I found it hard to believe at first, despite how poor my relationship with this man was."
Elnar then looked coldly at Orfin.
"Tomorrow will be busy.
We have an exam to conduct—
and before that, I will make you tell us everything about your gang,
so we can wipe you out completely."
Orfin responded with a small laugh.
"How interesting.
Tomorrow will be a tiring day for you all…
and an entertaining one for me."
This was the beginning of the final arc.
One of the two sides—the gang or the royal palace—
would claim victory.
And tomorrow… would determine which one.