Chapter 36 - The Foolish Prince

🟠 Chapter 35:

Haizen lifted his fishing rod—and what he caught wasn't a fish. Just as I suspected, it was a human. Not an ordinary one, though. His clothes were lavish, almost royal, and his eyes carried an arrogant gleam.

"Hey! Pull me up already, idiot! What are you waiting for?!"

Haizen, who looked startled at first, didn't hesitate to drop the man right back into the water.

"Not a fish. My mistake."

That easily?! …He really didn't even think twice about it.

Well, fine. If that's how it is—

My own rod started moving too. Looked like I caught something.

"See? That's how you catch a fish, you—wait, what the— it's the same guy again!"

He'd somehow managed to get hooked on my line this time.

"Why aren't you helping me, you morons!?"

"You're the one who got yourself in there. Why should we save you?"

"It's all because of that weird magic cube! It turned me into a fish!"

"Yeah, well… not my problem."

His arrogant expression quickly melted into a pitiful, desperate one.

"Please! Get me out of here! I can't swim—I don't want to die! Please!"

Ugh… what a pain. After enough begging, Haizen and I finally pulled him out. And as soon as he was safe, his arrogance returned like nothing happened.

"I'm not thanking you, idiots! Who just watches someone drown without helping!?"

After saving him, that's what he says? Unbelievable. I was about to punch him, but Haizen beat me to it—by grabbing him and tossing him back toward the lake. Honestly, that was a better choice.

"Well, let's put you back where we found you."

As soon as Haizen lifted him again, the guy panicked like a scared child.

"I'm sorry! I won't say that again! Thank you for saving me!"

Only then did Haizen let him go. Thinking about it, I realized something strange—how did he even survive underwater that long? So I asked,

"How did you manage to stay alive down there?"

"You might not believe it, but my body and a fish's body were switched."

"I believe that. But how did the fish stay alive inside your body underwater?"

"Not like that! It was swimming as my body. Whenever it felt short of breath, it poked its head out of the water."

So his body had been swimming around here all this time without us noticing?

"Then when we caught you as a fish, you pressed that cube to return to your original form, right?"

He looked at me, surprised that I knew about the old man's items.

"I don't know how you know that, but yes. I found a cube with a button, pressed it, and turned into a fish. I was searching for it ever since—until you guys caught me as one. I saw it again and pressed it to change back."

"How did you even find it?"

"I saw an old man tossing it into the water."

That explains why the old man gave up on the fish idea—it would've been pointless. Haizen, who had been staring at the man's expensive clothes, asked,

"You've got fancy clothes. Are you a noble?"

The guy replied in a proud, almost haughty tone,

"A noble? Hah, I'm much more than that. I'm the prince of this kingdom."

Wait, what? A prince!? We… fished up a prince!? He had to be joking. What would a prince be doing in a lake? Haizen didn't seem to care.

"I didn't expect the prince of this kingdom to be such an idiot. Anyway, whether you are or not, it doesn't matter."

Honestly, ignoring him was the best choice. We'd already pulled him out—he could deal with his own problems now. We continued fishing, but the so-called prince didn't seem happy about being ignored.

"You two, stop ignoring me! I told you I'm the prince of this kingdom! How dare you!"

"And what exactly do you want us to do about it? Return you to your daddy the king?"

"You insolent fools! You'll regret this!"

He pulled a small horn from his pocket. Haizen looked unimpressed.

"What, you gonna summon a dragon with that?"

The guy blew into it, and the sound was so loud it nearly burst our eardrums.

"Stop, you idiot prince! Are you trying to make us deaf—wait, what's that!?"

Something appeared in the sky—a lizard with wings… or maybe a dragon? Hard to tell. But judging from the prince's grin, it was clearly coming for us. When it landed, it went straight to him.

It was a brown creature with an oval head, a slightly protruding snout, big eyes, and a long, slender body covered in scales. Its tail was long, and its wings were about half its body length.

The prince hugged it like he hadn't seen it in ages—and the dragon-lizard even looked happy to see him. Then the prince turned to us with a smug grin.

"Look, this is my dragon—his name is Ryo. He'll teach you how to respect a prince."

Ah, perfect. Haizen's turn to deal with him. I looked around to tell him that—but he was gone.

"Wait, where did that idiot go? Did he run away? He even took all the fish!"

[Looks like you didn't notice him leaving when that flying lizard showed up. You should've run too, idiot user.]

What am I supposed to do now? Great, the situation's flipped on me. Maybe if I play along...

"Your Highness, I didn't realize you had such a magnificent dragon! As you can see, I was only joking earlier—no need to take it so seriously."

"I'll forgive you… on one condition: kiss my feet."

What? Kiss his feet!? What kind of condition is that!?

"In your dreams, idiot! Who'd kiss your stinky feet?"

"Stinky!? How dare you! Ryo—attack him!"

What a mess. The dragon lunged toward me, and I had no choice but to dive into the lake. The prince laughed mockingly.

"Ha! You think you can run from my dragon? Ryo, go after him!"

But the dragon stopped and turned to him.

"Sorry, Prince Elithius, but this is annoying. Let's just leave."

"You stupid lizard! Catch that man—he insulted me!"

"Who are you calling a lizard, you spoiled crybaby? You're the one who insulted him first!"

Oh great, now they were arguing. And the dragon could talk, apparently. The prince kept shouting commands anyway.

"Come on, Ryo! Go after him! You know I can't swim!"

"Prince, could you stop being ridiculous? Don't forget you're on the run from your father because of your selfishness. The Elite Exam is coming soon, and you're here playing around?"

Wait, what? This prince is a runaway? Well, that explains a lot. Suddenly, I heard fast footsteps approaching from behind—it was Haizen, sword in hand, charging straight for Ryo.

"Come here, you flying lizard! I'll cut off your wings so you stop bothering me!"

The dragon felt Haizen's killing intent and froze in fear. He immediately took off, flying high to avoid him. Haizen tried provoking him to come down, but it didn't work. The prince looked completely shocked by his dragon's cowardice.

I climbed out of the lake and asked Haizen, "Where'd you go earlier? And where's the fish?"

"I hid it. Didn't want that lizard ruining it."

Sometimes I can't tell what's going on in that guy's head. Meanwhile, Ryo turned to Elithius and made a suggestion.

"Prince Elithius, how about we let these two help us with our little problem?"

Wait… what did he just say?

Was this dragon trying to drag us into another mess?!