After passing the first checkpoint in the southwestern territory four days later, Ryuu ended up staking out in the forest near the mansion. The place was pretty empty, having only a few guards outside. According to the info Ryuu had received, there weren’t any inside.

But he didn’t let go of security entirely. The prince hired a personal guard after dismissing the royal guards. One guard to replace fifty. So the organization recorded the guard to be stronger than fifty guards combined.
‘That’s an obvious exaggeration, but who knows? There’s a dragon egg involved after all. Anything could happen.’
Considering there were still about 26 days left until the deadline, Ryuu chose to take the safe route and be as cautious as possible.  

Well, at least it was the initial plan. After lurking around the forest and spying for two days, Ryuu was contemplating his choices.
It wasn’t that the plan wasn’t working. The problem was of a different kind. 

The world of KS was diverse in every sense of the word. From people to animals, terrains to lifestyles, there were countless variations. Talking about forests alone, the Yinistia continent had over two hundred areas comprising small to large-sized forests and groves. Each with at least one unique feature. Some were filled with deathly poisonous plants, and some had monsters. There was one in the north known for being haunted, while many were too dangerous and yet to be explored. 

This small woodland Ryuu was holed up in was not of that kind; likely on the opposite end of the scale. Other than being too dense for a forest with only fifty acres in area, there were no other dangers.
But this density had attracted some annoying creatures here. Such as the royal family, who built a castle at the edge of the forest. And the cotton fairies swarming around him. 

At least there weren’t mosquitoes. 

Ryuu wished it were mosquitoes instead; at least he’d be able to get rid of them then. But that wasn’t the case for these creatures. On top of being harmless, they were just too adorable. The latter, that is. Ryuu would probably kill whoever lived in the mansion for a potion manual. 

The multicolored cotton fairies followed him around the place, no matter where he went. The largest one was three inches, and the rest fluctuated between one to two inches in size. So they weren’t too noticeable on their own, but hard to ignore when in a group. The cotton-like creatures were known for being intelligent. Despite being unable to talk, they had an innate ability to assess other creatures. Some were even capable of gauging a person's strength and personality, and thus didn’t interact with humans easily. 

So, being the center of their attention was probably a once-in-a-lifetime incident. Most people would consider it an honor. 

Ryuu wasn’t most people. He was an assassin on a mission who didn’t want to be under even one gaze, let alone so many of them. He wasn’t soft enough to happily welcome these creatures into his circle, nor harsh enough to scare them away. So the last two days had been an endless cycle of him waving away cottons from his line of sight as he went about his daily schedule. 

To add to his dismay, his observation for these two days was not fruitful. He’d been taking advantage of the density to observe the castle from outside, but there wasn’t much to gather other than the prince’s daily routine. The guard followed the prince around most of the time, but nothing about the guard was discernible from a distance. Their whole body was covered in a dark cloak much like Ryuu’,s and their movements left no gaps. Ryuu wouldn’t be surprised if the guard was an assassin as well. 

But that wasn’t possible. All the assassins on this continent were under the same organization. This was to avoid random conflicts. Some worked independently, and some whose identities weren’t clear even to the organization, such as Aoi’s. But in the end, they were all part of GREY. 

GREY held an account of all tasks to avoid mix-ups. That’s why, even if the other person was currently the enemy, as long as he was an assassin, Ryuu would have been informed beforehand due to the severity of the mission. 

Because Ryuu couldn’t figure out the guard’s strength, he couldn’t take a step. Otherwise, he would have snuck inside the castle by now. If he had to wait another few days like this, he would be driven to craze by the swarm of cottons, and later he’d be killed by a dragon because he failed to meet the deadline. 

He shuddered just from the thought of it. ‘Why do I have the worst luck? Just how long do I wait?’ 

Fortunately or unfortunately, luck shone upon him that very evening. The prince, along with his guard, left the castle for some business, and they didn’t seem to have taken the egg along.
This wasn’t just speculation. Moving around with a dragon egg wasn’t an easy feat. Looking aside from the size of it, the unborn child emitted an aura that attracted many troubles.
‘I guess he didn’t fall that low on the idiocy scale.’ 

Hoping for the best, Ryuu sneaked into the castle. 

Just as he had known, there was no one inside. ‘How is the prince even getting by? Overworked employees or whatever, royalty is still royalty.’ 

Due to the lack of personnel, the castle was dusty and covered in spiderwebs, as if left unattended for over a year. Only the rooms in use were in livable condition. Following these traces, Ryuu located the dragon egg soon enough. 

The room was cleaner than the rest, as if it were cleaned regularly. At the center of the room, a round, dark blue object was placed on a heap of cushions. 

‘How do I carry it?’ It was quite a long way to the destination. If he took it just like that, it was sure to draw in trouble no matter how careful he was. The cotton fairies already circling around it were proof of that. 

‘Should I put it in the inventory?’

[Living beings cannot be stored inside the inventory.]

‘Is it possible to shrink it?’

[You do not have the resources for that.]

‘Give me a good idea then!’

[. . .]

After considering the odds, Ryuu finally approached the egg, deciding to think about the rest later.
But since when did his plans go well?

Before he could pick it up, something flew by his nose, grazing the mask and the robe. If he hadn’t moved back by reflex, it would have gone right through his head. ‘Damn it!’

“Who are you? How did you get in?”

‘How is that a valid question? There was literally no one to stop me.’

The prince ran forward while shouting, the person who threw the knife right behind, ready to throw another. 

‘I know I’m not supposed to harm him unless the situation is dire, but isn’t it dire enough?’

[Do not look for excuses to kill the crown prince.]

‘I’m not! It’s just— Ryuu’s argument came to a halt the moment his eyes landed on the guard, who had been hidden behind the robe thus far. The robe only managed to hide him from the side. From the front, Ryuu finally got to see he face of the mystery guard.
Taking advantage of his distraction, the prince made his way to the egg and took it in his arms. 

The three stood opposite one another, as if unsure of what to do next, frozen in time.