32. Princess Run (7)
***
The princess, who had been unable to speak for a while, suddenly tensed up and cowered.
“?!”
As the dwarf approached her as if he had noticed something, the princess held out her hand to stop him, as if to deny him access. Then she abruptly stood up from her seat and shouted.
“Ggg …
That’s what it sounded like to Minjun’s ears.
In response to that, the dwarf made a similar noise. Then the princess ran off to the largest room in the suite.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This was followed by a noise that would have caused quite a few complaints from downstairs if the entire hotel had not been rented out. Then came the sound of the door being roughly shut.
Only then did the dwarf speak in the quiet living room.
“That’s strange. The princess already succeeded in producing once this morning.”
“······Ah, then what about that now?”
“That’s right. You suddenly got a signal.”
The princess suddenly went to lay a golden egg.
“Hmm.”
Minjun looked out the window. Common sense that he had never learned came to mind. It was a contradiction to the scene he had just seen. Do Shutan women these days lay eggs even when the sun is high in the sky?
The thought was interrupted by Bradley’s words.
“Hey, Agent Ye Min-jun?”
He was looking at me with an expression that demanded an explanation.
The immigration office kept the information that he was being dispatched a secret from Bradley until the very end.
***
“What? Human Rights Solidarity?!”
Bradley’s expression became serious when he heard the reason after they were moved to another room and left alone together.
“I figured they wouldn’t welcome it, but if we get any concrete reports that they’re moving, that’s a different story!”
He tapped his fingers on the table and thought for a moment.
“Minjun, are you here to speak on behalf of the Korean Immigration Office?”
“okay.”
This is also something I was asked to do by Blair.
“Even a secret from the princess? Wait a minute. If this is the case, then I too will have to···.”
The conversation was cut off just as Bradley was about to say something else. It was because a sound like a monster roaring through the wall was heard. Its source was the next room.
“······.”
Bradley spoke calmly to Minjun, who was looking in that direction with a frightened expression.
“Don’t be surprised. It’s the sound of a princess laying an egg.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Minjun felt a sense of foreboding at the sound. After searching through the drawers of his memories for a while, he finally remembered the object. It was similar to the scream that the ‘Crow Bahra’ had let out when he had caught it in the dimension just before coming to Earth.
He was a fearsome Elder Dragon who was already over five thousand years old at the time, and he was wanted by the committee and was being chased, so he hid in that dimension. The dimension was a mess because restoration work was in progress, so it wasn’t an easy place to find an Elder Dragon if he tried to hide there.
The process of capturing the dragon, which had both extremely strong physical defense and magic resistance as it had lived for a long time, was not easy. The raids failed several times, and each time the dragon would run away to a farther galaxy and hide.
Then one day, during a fierce battle, the prisoners obtained a single scale that had just fallen off, and Minjun, who examined it, predicted that the dragon would shed its skin within a few days. However, the reaction from his colleagues was not favorable.
‘Is that true? I find it hard to believe.’
What Minjun had said was information that even the committee’s analysts could not be sure of. Just as the genes of creatures classified as human species differ slightly in each dimension, their biological characteristics differ subtly depending on their intended habitat, and the committee had no research data on old and powerful entities like Crow Bachra.
But Minjun was confident, and his prediction eventually turned out to be true. A few days later, the prisoners poured 3,000 tons of sulfuric acid on the dragon’s body, which had just finished shedding its skin and whose scales were still soft and moist. It was the end of a long escape.
Minjun didn’t know why he had such rare knowledge, then or now, and he didn’t bother to wonder. It was because only a part of his ‘functional memory’ that wasn’t directly related to his identity from before his arrest was still alive.
Instead, I sometimes wondered about this. What body is that dragon assigned to it now, and in what dimension is it performing its missionary work?
‘I’d like to see that sight once.’
With that thought, Minjun pushed away the old memories and said that he felt sorry for the princess.
“It must be a truly horrible pain.”
“Shutan women call what they have to endure almost every day ‘the curse of nature.’”
‘Every day? Has it always been like this? I don’t think so.’
“Anyway, I digressed. Let’s get back to the main topic.”
Bradley opened the conversation.
“Anyway, you’re saying that I should continue to command the twelve superpowered individuals that were already dispatched? You’ll move individually without my orders.”
“That’s correct.”
Minjun came to replace Jenkinson and Blair, proposing that the thirteen of them, including Bradley, accept a changed mission: acting as a messenger for the immigration office.
“Then we should discuss it among ourselves.”
“Okay, there’s plenty of time.”
Bradley immediately called the other security guards who were on guard around the hotel, and soon informed Minjun of the agreement.
“Now that the risks are clear and greater, everyone wants three times the originally promised compensation. And I asked for talents in addition to Earth currency in the contract terms, and they want three times that too.”
Min-jun called Blair and relayed their demands. She emphasized the importance of keeping it a secret, thanked him for staying, and promised to pay four times the amount instead of three.
Bradley grumbled that he should have paid five times as much if he had known.
***
The next day, Princess Vermi’s official schedule began. From early in the morning, she appeared before her bodyguards in a very splendid appearance.
“Huh!”
Bradley squinted his eyes. The moment he opened the door and the crocodile alien appeared, a dazzling halo like a thousand Christmas tree lights flashed behind her.
Painting nails with dye or covering them with various materials is called ‘nail art’. Then, should the act of decorating them in a scale-like manner be called ‘scale art’?
She was wearing a dazzling array of jewels and thinly sliced metal ornaments covering each scale. It was a traditional outfit worn by women who had never given birth to a child. There was a reason why, in her hometown of Gelanco, she did not bring any security personnel, and instead, she had dozens of maids in charge of her appearance.
Dwarf, Olga muttered in wonder.
“You’ve put on a lot of weight in your outfit. Today isn’t a banquet, it’s just a day of business meetings. Why are you like that?”
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“······.”
Minjun, who somehow felt like he knew the answer, didn’t say anything.
And a moment later, the princess’s declaration, interpreted by the dwarf, left Minjun and Bradley confused.
“Huh? You’re saying you’re going by vehicle instead of teleporting?”
“I heard you changed your mind. You want to go sightseeing. I heard that a vehicle tailored to Shutan’s body type has been prepared in case of an emergency.”
“That’s true, though.”
Bradley, who exchanged silent glances with Minjun, eventually nodded.
“Okay, I understand. Then let’s go by car.”
Then she whispered so that only Minjun could hear.
“It looks like they’re really preparing for mass immigration. Do you want to see the immigration with your own eyes?”
Minjun shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn’t interested.
Bradley, who had moved to the hotel parking lot, divided the delegation and security personnel attending today’s meeting into cars. It was decided that the princess’s largest car would be taken by her, her interpreter Olga, and Bradley and Minjun, the chief security officer.
However, the princess who heard this once again showed a strange reaction. The dwarf shifted the princess’ question.
“I’m very sorry, but I’m wondering which of you two is the stronger agent.”
The two exchanged glances again. Bradley, who had guessed something, volunteered to answer. Pointing at Minjun.
“This guy is better than me.”
Then Olga said firmly.
“Even though you are a race with a different physique from the Shutanians, it seems like it would be cramped for four of you to sit in the back seat. I’m sorry, but would you please move to a different vehicle, Agent Bradley?”
“······.”
In the end, only the three of them ended up riding in the backseat of the princess’s car.
There was a strange silence inside the departing car. Princess Vermi, who had said she wanted to look at the street, fixed her head toward the window as if to prove her point, but her eyes were moving very busily. She was so busy stealing glances at Minjun, who was sitting across from her.
The princess, who had been watching for a long time, finally opened her mouth and said something to Olga. While they were spitting out the sound of chewing metal to each other, Olga’s face hardened slightly. Then, she finally made a face that seemed to agree and finished her story with the princess, and this time she spoke to Minjun.
“······I said the same thing to the princess, and I will say the same thing to the agent. I will adhere to my work ethics as an interpreter. From now on, whatever conversation goes on between Princess Vermi and Agent Ye Min-jun, I will completely forget it here and I will never relay it to anyone else, so you can rest assured about that.”
The expression was even a little tragic. Minjun wanted to shout when he saw that. Hey! Don’t do that, just don’t translate it! If it’s a sensitive and inappropriate story, just don’t translate it!
but···.
‘Money is the enemy.’
It’s never easy to take someone else’s money, whether it’s the currency of the Earth or talent. For now, it’s better to please the princess to some extent. Of course, if you feel like you’re crossing the line, things will be different.
And so the conversation between the two began, with Olga between them.
“Did you say your name was Minjun?”
“Yes, that is correct, Princess.”
An uncomfortable silence followed again.
The princess asked again awkwardly after a while.
“······Have you ever been to the Gelanco dimension?”
Minjun decided to remain polite and remain true to his status as an immigration agent.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance. What kind of place is it?”
I may have been there before I lost my memory, but I can’t be sure now.
The princess answered with her head turned outward, still unable to look at Minjun straight in the eye.
“It’s a very beautiful place.”
After that, the princess talked about the nature of Gelanco for more than ten minutes.
She described how breathtaking the view of two moons painting the silvery blue night sky was, how gentle the breeze was as it blew gently through the swamp, and how, as spring approached, the aquatic plants and amphibians stretched refreshingly, and the beautiful melodies of the four-winged birds singing intoxicated by the fragrance of flowers.
Minjun simply replied with a proper amount of sarcasm. Olga must have already realized that he was responding insincerely. However, as long as it didn’t reach the princess, that was the end of it.
After talking about her hometown for a while, the princess asked.
“I heard you were born and raised here.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You have elf blood in you? How old are you?”
Minjun revealed that he was born in 1945, the year of liberation, as recorded in external documents, and that he was born to a half-elf who came to Earth while pregnant during the first mass immigration.
Then, the princess, who had heard the interpreted words, turned her head for the first time and looked at Minjun. Her expression looked as if she was shocked.
“So young?!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You’re not even half my age now. So how long do quarter-elves live?”
“I’m not sure either.”
“······I see.”
The princess seems to hesitate, then asks again.
“Have you ever thought about living in a dimension other than Earth?”
Minjun thought. Yes, it’s right here.
I decided to end the conversation at this point.
“Princess, I’m sorry, but······.”
But before he could finish his sentence, the princess shrank back again. Minjun’s gaze interpreted Shutanin’s expression and gestures. It was the expression of someone who was ashamed and regretting what he had just said.
“······.”
The princess turned her head again urgently and stared out the window. Her plank mouth opened wide, revealing her teeth. Olga translated her words almost as a simultaneous interpretation.
“I’m sorry. I wish you would forget what I just said.”
“······.”
After making that shape in silence for a moment, the princess spoke in an awkward tone.
“It was just that… it was the first time in my life that I had seen a creature as beautiful as you.”
“?!”
A thought that was both absurd and at the same time strange came to his mind.
As expected, the common sense he had acquired before his arrest said this to Minjun. ‘That can’t be true? There’s no way a Shutan would be biologically attracted to this kind of appearance. Just like humans or elves wouldn’t be attracted to crocodiles.’
And then another voice whispered.
‘They say they lay unfertilized eggs every day, they emit pheromones when they see the appearance of a humanoid race, they say that even princesses of old age have never laid a fertilized egg while still single… What on earth is going on with the Shutan people right now?’
Immediately after that, Minjun felt a strange sense of discomfort again.
‘And why on earth do I know things that conflict with the current situation?’
