The Crown Prince Who Raises a Side Character

#8 The Novice Adventurer Bern (6) – Swift Decisiveness

#8 The Novice Adventurer Bern (6) – Swift Decisiveness

The first thing Bern and Blanca did was scout.

Without knowing the enemy’s numbers, their strength, the precise location of their stronghold, they could not even begin to fight.

Bern’s sharp senses accurately discerned the movements of the goblins patrolling the area, allowing him to observe them unilaterally, unseen.

“…These goblins,” Bern began, his voice a low murmur, “are they usually so… organized?”

“Of course not. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Blanca replied, her brow furrowed.

Astonishingly, the goblins weren’t simply wandering about, scavenging for food as they pleased.

Groups of at least four moved together, minimizing the chance of unforeseen troubles, and even if some fell, the survivors relayed the news to other goblins nearby.

Wild animals with a certain heft, like boars or bears, weren’t easily overcome by the goblins, sometimes even repelling them. But even these creatures eventually succumbed when the goblins called in reinforcements and overwhelmed them with sheer numbers.

Rather than devouring their kill on the spot, the goblins meticulously divided the animals into pieces they could carry, and then carted them off somewhere.

It wasn’t just animals, either. Blanca watched, unnerved, as they meticulously salvaged everything as a ‘resource’ – berries, fish, even the corpses of their own kind who had died during the hunt.

The further they ventured, the more frequently they encountered goblins, while signs of other creatures dwindled to nothing.

It was a mercy that the goblins seemed to leave plants and insects alone; Blanca suspected that if they consumed even those, the land would be reduced to a barren wasteland.

Furthermore, the quality of the goblins’ equipment visibly improved the closer they got to the center.

The goblins roaming the outskirts were armed with crude stone axes or wore clothing that was simply animal hide tied together with string. In contrast, the goblins here wielded spears with blades affixed to the ends of long wooden shafts, and wore clothes that had clearly been sewn together.

The goblins’ stronghold was a large cave, its entrance guarded by no less than ten goblins, who stood watch like sentries.

Bern lowered his voice even further.

“Most mansions only have one or two guards, but it seems goblins have a surplus of manpower.”

“Is this really the time to be making such remarks? With that many guards, it’s impossible to subdue them one by one and sneak in.”

“Is it impossible to just blast them away with magic all at once?”

Blanca paused, a moment of calculation flashing in her eyes, before answering.

“Lower-level spells wouldn’t do the trick. A mid-level spell, perhaps, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Wasting half my mana when we don’t know how many enemies remain could cause problems later. And more importantly, fire magic is too flashy; it will draw them in from all directions.”

Bern was inwardly impressed.

Blanca’s demeanor was more composed and rational than he had anticipated.

Bern, being confident in his own abilities, considered this task easily within his reach, and even in the worst-case scenario, he was sure he could at least ensure Blanca’s safety. But she…she was different.

She didn’t know the extent of Bern’s power, so the possibility of defeat was surely on her mind. And knowing goblins well, she could only imagine the gruesome end that awaited them.

Ordinarily, someone would be frozen with fear, changing their mind and declaring they couldn’t do it after all, or conversely, abandon all thought, expecting Bern to somehow solve everything. But she was neither.

She said what she could do, she said what she couldn’t. And for each, she gave a clear reason.

Truly, she was an exceptionally capable individual.

Frankly, someone this talented should be brought to the Imperial court…

‘…No, this won’t do.’

Bern swiftly banished the ‘Crown Prince mindset’ that threatened to surface once more.

He was not the Crown Prince of the Empire now, but an adventurer of the Guild.

Wouldn’t it be strange for an adventurer to see a fellow adventurer and think, “Ah, I should scout her and put her to work for our side”?

RP, role-playing. Immerse yourself in the character.

He took a small, calming breath and said, “It seems best to conserve our magic after all. Area-of-effect firepower is valuable, so it’s not the time yet.”

“Then what are you planning to do?”

“No need for some clever trick. They’re already creating openings on their own.”

Blanca frowned, as if she couldn’t understand.

As she silently urged him to explain, Bern said, “It’s not always true that more guards are better.

“Huh?”

“Take a good look at them, those fellows over there.”

More than ten goblins swarmed.

Yet, truly devoted to guarding the perimeter, there were precious few.

Most dozed against the wall, played idly with the sand using the spears in their hands, or gathered in chattering, giggling groups.

“Any threatening creatures were likely swept away during their ‘hunt’ to secure this place, and more than that, they have plenty of comrades to watch over them. Even a human would struggle to stay focused in a similar situation, and for impulsive, childlike goblins, it’s all the more improbable.”

Presumably, whoever ordered them to stand guard had witnessed it in a raided village, or acquired the knowledge and grasped its usefulness.

But they couldn’t have known that too many bodies can actually hinder efficiency.

“I’ll give you the signal. Count to exactly ten from that moment, then fire a flare into the air, somewhere the goblins can easily see it. The potency doesn’t matter, even the weakest will do.”

“Understood.”

“Begin.”

The words barely left his lips before Vern darted off to the side.

How did he move so swiftly through the brush without a single rustle?

Even with such thoughts flitting through her mind, Blanca was already counting down in her head.

Preparing a low-tier fire spell, *Kindling the Wood*.

Hopelessly inadequate to wipe out the goblins at once, but more than enough if all she needed to do was attract their attention.

Three seconds to launch.

A stone, hurled from somewhere unseen, struck two goblins with unusual diligence in guarding, hitting them squarely.

Two seconds to launch.

They slumped to the ground, drawing the gazes of the sand-playing goblin and the gossiping ones.

One second to launch.

They were caught off guard, a dawning sense of alarm struggling to coalesce into vigilance.

“Now!”

From Blanka’s hand erupted a fiery bloom, painting the void with vibrant strokes, drawing the goblins’ attention entirely to itself.

And Bern, he did not let that moment slip.

Springing from the undergrowth, he closed the distance to the goblins’ flanks in a breath, severing their necks in swift succession.

Lost in the spectacle, the goblins offered no resistance, unaware even of Bern’s shadow as they met their abrupt end. He moved on, dispatching even those drowsing, with the same brutal efficiency.

Truly, a display of lightning speed and skill.

Bern spoke towards the thicket.

“You can come now.”

“…Did you even need my help?”

It felt like he could have just gathered stones, or charged right in, and finished them all.

Bern offered no false modesty.

“Perhaps ninety percent of the task would have been accomplished without issue.”

“Then why?”

“Better to ensure one hundred percent completion than risk failure on the final ten. One should never place too much faith in the dice, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Sounds just like the gamblers who lose everything, down on their luck adventurers”

Bern merely shrugged.

Strictly speaking, the dice he knew had nothing to do with gambling, but there was neither need nor way to explain the difference.

“Are we clearing away the corpses?”

“Leave them be. Whether they are here or gone, suspicion will fall upon us, so it is a waste of time, I reckon.”

“Then wait here just a moment.”

Bern tilted his head, and Blanca, from the depths of her satchel, produced a handful of dried, brittle weeds. She scattered them near the entrance, then retreated a respectable distance before igniting them with a spark.

“’Green Hunter.’ It’s a weed that goblins and other green-skinned monsters detest. Unless absolutely necessary, they won’t venture near the smell. It’ll at least make any stragglers hesitate before rushing back in.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to rub it on ourselves, then? If it deters them from approaching?”

“It would also make it easier for them to pinpoint our location. And it’s useless when they’re really agitated, so it’s not much help in a fight.”

Bern conceded the point.

*Three years a sellsword is good for something,* he thought, stepping forward.

Deeper into the cavern they went, their strategy brutally simple.

Spot them first, strike them first, and neutralize them before any real alarm could be raised. Repeat. That was all.

Of course, simplicity didn’t equate to ease.

Wandering through enemy territory, aiming to crush them before they could even react… if *that* were so easy, then base defenses and patrols would be considered worthless and vanish from the world entirely.

As Blanca saw it, the only reason this improbable assault was even remotely possible was Bern’s overwhelming physical prowess.

*He sees twice as far as I do, even when we’re both looking ahead. And his stone throws are devastating.*

Still, even with exceptional senses, some situations defied brute force.

Deep within the cave, they encountered a three-way split in the tunnel. The path ahead was uncertain and the duo paused, lost in contemplation.

Without knowing where each path led, they risked becoming hopelessly lost within the warren of the cave.

Bern inquired, “What would a typical adventurer do in this situation?”

“A typical adventurer wouldn’t raid a goblin nest with just two people. …But if we’re speaking generally, they’d block the unused paths. That would prevent the worst-case scenario: being flanked by enemies pouring out of routes B and C while proceeding through route A.”

“A concrete method?”

“If there’s plenty of debris around, they’d use it as a barricade. If they had a large party, some would stay behind to hold this intersection. And if neither of those is feasible, they’d simply set the paths on fire.”

“It seems our last resort is all we have left to us.”

“Though, depending on the cave’s structure, this could suffocate us all.”

“Can’t you do something with magic?”

“I’ve heard tell of such incantations, but I can’t perform them. The only spells I know, to begin with, are two for hurling fire, one for enhancing the body, and another for healing wounds. You think spells are so easily, readily learned?”

Blanca grumbled about the exorbitant cost just to learn a single intermediate fire spell.

[The Crown Prince, who has only to think of wanting a spell and his vassals will rush to deliver it, wouldn’t know such hardships.]

Vern, ignoring Lucidra’s snide remark, paused in thought.

There weren’t any wooden furnishings within the cave to speak of, and even a pile of goblin corpses wouldn’t make for a credible barricade.

Splitting the mere two-person party was out of the question. Vern himself was confident in his survival, but Blanca would be utterly doomed.

Setting a fire was just confirmed to be a no-go, which left Vern with but one remaining course of action.

“Quick and decisive, we simply must move with haste.”

“Well, I agree, but… what’s with that stance?”

Vern, squatting with his back turned towards Blanca, said, “Climb aboard.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“I can carry you and run faster than trying to match your pace. Carrying you only requires one arm, leaving the other free to fight. And if you could cast spells from up there, even better. A mobile artillery platform, no?”

“No matter how you slice it, it’s a bit much to just demand I hop on your back! What kind of acquaintance are we, anyway?”

“Fear not. I’m not so starved as to harbor lewd intentions toward a comrade in the throes of battle.”

“What wonderfully reassuring words.”

Blanca grumbled, but knowing full well that bickering was its own form of folly, she eventually sighed and entrusted herself to Vern’s back.

“From this moment forward, you are my bomb. When I say fire, you fire.”

“I’ve half a mind to fire a ball of burning slag into your mouth. Perhaps you could be silent?”

“Then let’s go. No need to grip so tightly. I’ll keep us steady.”

And immediately after those words.

The shadows of the two of them launched like arrows.