Escaping civilization and leaving behind all responsibilities, from time to time, worked wonders.

Percy slept like a stone. The tension left his body throughout the night as the nocturnal creatures opened their eyes. The creatures of the night weren’t silent and probably a threat to an unguarded young man like Percy, but he wasn’t worried. He slept through the night without any worries on his mind.

The wake-up call arrived with the rise of the sun. A cacophony of sounds followed dawn. The hungrily chirping birds woke up at dawn, creating a chorus of high-pitched noises, which transformed into an opera as a strong morning breeze brushed through the royal forest. The trees creaked happily as if rejoicing at Percy’s presence.

Percy stretched his body on the thick branch and turned around. The last few days hadn’t been good on him. A myriad of thoughts prevented him from sleeping, and his body wanted to make up for the missed hours.

Unfortunately, Percy had to get up. He opened his weary eyes slowly and stared at the cloudless sky through the narrow gaps in the canopy. The scent of hundreds of magical herbs filled the surroundings, and Percy activated [A Hunter’s Smell] without a second thought. He closed his eyes again and welcomed the strong scents all around him.

This is so much better than staying in the storage.

He chuckled and would have stayed where he was if the Blueflame Hawk didn’t forced Percy to get moving.

“What’s the problem now?” Percy mumbled incomprehensibly, but the Blueflame Hawk wasn’t with him. The monster couldn’t hear him. It screeched again in his mind.

That feels weird.

It was almost like the Blueflame Hawk used the link with the Monster Card to pull on his soul.

How is that possible? I haven’t read anything about that before. Are Cardists capable of doing something like that?

While the new discovery was interesting and worth paying more attention to in the future, he paid more attention to the feelings accompanying the Blueflame Hawk’s pull. Something was off.

We’re in the royal forest. There shouldn’t be anything strong enough to scare or worry the Blueflame Hawk.

Percy followed his gut feeling, climbed down the tree, and traveled deeper into the forest, where the Blueflame Hawk was at. Finding the Blueflame Hawk wasn’t a challenge, but what he found could only be described as confusing.

The Blueflame Hawk conjured a [Frostbite] icicle and released it into a small clearing in the middle of the forest, which was followed by a roar and azure flames flickering through the clearing.

A magical beast?

Percy was confused and retrieved the Silvron Sword as he charged ahead. He burst through the bushes, revealing a lion with a blazing mane. Its azure flames flickered dangerously, but they didn’t burn anything.

The Blueflame Hawk circled the lion and would have released a few more [Frostbite] icicles if there hadn’t been one issue. There was something underneath the lion, and it wasn’t moving away from that thing.

There is no need to worry. Just attack it. Oh…nope. Nevermind. Don’t attack!

Percy’s eyes widened.

There wasn’t a thing underneath the lion but a human! A child, to be precise.

“Come back!” Percy commanded the Blueflame Hawk, which followed his orders, though unwillingly.

The lion spun around, but not without forgetting to avoid trampling the child by all means.

It’s…not attacking the child.

Percy’s eyes narrowed, and he recalled the Blueflame Hawk. His monster didn’t want to leave but had no choice but to obey. Percy looked around and discovered only a few important details.

First, the clearing was covered in blood. Some of it belonged to the lion, but most of it belonged to the monster corpses, which Percy recognized as Dwarven Wolves. They were small, but that didn’t mean the wolves were weak. Their strength was comprised and magically enhanced, which was similar to the theories revolving around a Dwarven’s strength and durability.

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The azure-maned lion was exhausted. It breathed heavily and bled from several wounds. Nonetheless, it didn’t leave the child’s side. It protected the child – a little girl – with its life on the line. Like a guardian.

“I’m sorry that my monster attacked you. It misunderstood your intentions and thought you would hurt the little girl,” Percy said in a hurry while the lion roared at him. However, the roar was weak. Percy could kill the creature if necessary, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to go that far, “You’re protecting her, aren’t you? How about you let me help her?”

The lion roared at him again, but it stepped back to look at the child. She wasn’t moving.

“If you want me to help her before it’s too late, you have to trust me,” Percy declared in an urgent voice. He stared at the lion and made eye contact with the beast. The creature looked at him for a few seconds and Percy couldn’t help but feel like the lion looked in the depths of his soul, but it pulled away.

Not only that, the lion collapsed to the ground and transformed into a Monster Card, which manifested above the unconscious girl. The Monster Card returned to the girl, leaving her amidst a bloody battlefield.

“That…was weird…” Percy muttered before rushing forward.

Since the beast was not there anymore, Percy had no reason to hesitate. He arrived before the girl while retrieving several potions. The girl looked mostly fine on the outside. She had a few scratches on her arm and a cut in her face, but [Hawk Eyes] didn’t discover anything a potion couldn’t solve. He removed the cap of a Healing Potion and gently lifted her upper body, only to freeze.

She’s cold, but her breathing is normal. Her mana is drained!

Percy was surprised to see a young child – the girl couldn’t be a day older than seven years old – to have access to enough mana to become a Cardist and control a beast like the azure-maned lion. That was a shock, to say the least, but it explained the current situation.

She summoned the lion and collapsed because she wasn’t strong enough to handle the strain of controlling a beast this strong. Who was stupid enough to give the girl such a Monster Card and to leave her alone in the royal forest?!

Percy cursed but fed the Health Potion to the girl. He fed her with a Mana Potion and reached for some blankets in his spatial rings to cover her in several layers.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips when the girl’s cheeks warmed up a little, and he slumped to the ground.

“What a way to start the day! " he chuckled nervously. But where are you from, little girl?”

He wondered where the girl came from and how she ended up in the middle of the royal forest, but her appearance quickly answered those questions.

Only now that the child’s condition improved did Percy look at her features properly.

The girl had soft features and smiled vibrantly even though she wasn’t awake. She clearly had a nice dream, which Percy didn’t want to interrupt.

Though he certainly felt like flicking the girl’s forehead for sleeping in the middle of the royal forest. Even if it was mostly safe, there was no guarantee that animals wouldn’t evolve and mutate under the influence of mana.

Percy looked at the little girl and felt a little weird. Her long, silky black hair was well-kept but it reminded him of something of the past. But that couldn’t be it. Whatever he tried to remember happened too long ago to recall it. Furthermore, the child wasn’t even born at that time yet.

“This doesn’t make any sense.” He chuckled.

Her childish features were still present – not really a surprise given her age– but it was clear that she was raised in a clean environment. There was not the faintest speck of dirt underneath her fingernails, even though she must have been in the forest all night. Yet, something about her features was weird.

Was that a sense of familiarity?

Percy shrugged.

The young girl’s clothes were also of high quality. They were probably – no. Definitely! – more valuable than Percy’s clothes. Runic enchantments were woven in her flowery dress to keep her warm and protected. Percy noticed the runic enchantments a little late, but he removed the blankets when he did. Instead of putting her into a cocoon of blankets, Percy infused mana into the runic enchantments to keep her warm and protected.

The girl wore several pieces of accessories. Everything you could think of. Runic ring, runic bracelets, runic necklaces, and runic earrings. Everything she wore was an Artifact.

It wasn’t far-fetched to conclude that the girl was of high birth. She was a Cardist with a powerful Monster Card. The azure-maned lion was most definitely stronger than the Blueflame Hawk and Gnoll Warrior combined. It was probably stronger even if Percy was included in the equation.

Percy must have been busy for a few minutes because he didn’t notice the girl stirring in her sleep.

“Hehe,” Percy heard a high-pitched giggle, “Someone found me.”

He turned to the girl, where he discovered a pair of vibrant azure-colored eyes.

Oh shit. She saw me.

That wasn’t what Percy wanted, but it could have been worse. Well, it was worse.

The little girl was none other than the Princess of the Kainesh Kingdom.

The only heir to the throne!