đźź Chapter 41 :
Alright, let's rewind time a little to just before we left for the capital so we can understand what happened.
"Prince's necklace is here?"
That was my first sentence when Ryo showed me Prince Elithius's necklace while we were still in the southern province.
"We don't know if he forgot it here or left it on purpose."
I didn't understand then what he meant by leaving it on purpose. True, it was a royal necklace — but what use could it be? Curiosity was killing me; I wanted to know more.
"Maybe the prince just didn't want it to be damaged by the gang. I mean, what else could it be — it's just royal jewelry."
"No, it's not."
Ryo said, gripping the necklace tightly, then continued: "This necklace can track the prince's location."
Track the prince's location? Was he serious? How could that be?
"How can a necklace track the prince? It's just a necklace."
"It's not just that. It's also a magic item — a mix of gold and magical materials that can track mana. The first person who possesses the necklace will have some of their mana absorbed into it, and so if the prince disappears or gets lost, he can be found with the necklace."
"He went missing once at the lake."
"The necklace was with him then, so I couldn't find him."
A question occurred to me about the gang — whether they knew about the necklace.
"Does the gang know about this? Wouldn't they try to take the necklace from us?"
Ryo answered, "I'm not sure if they know, but we have to prepare for the worst-case scenarios — so let's assume they do."
That was solid thinking. But even if they did know, how would we prepare for that? Then a decent idea came to me.
"Guys, what if we make a fake copy of the necklace?"
Haizen and Ryo looked at me in surprise, not expecting the idea. Haizen asked, "Can you actually make a necklace?"
"Of course. Why not? I just need some gold paint. Can we go back to the city to look for paint they sell?"
We returned to Orivia and searched the city for gold paint until we found a paint factory. We bought a certain amount, left the city, and headed for the capital. Of course, the necklace indicated that Elithius was in that direction. While we were flying over on Ryo's back, he asked me how the plan would work.
"All right, Takeru — explain your plan now."
"It's simple. If we meet any of the gang members, we'll give them the fake necklace, then track them afterward."
Haizen said with a faint smirk:
"A simple idea but a good one."
In reality, a plan like that had a low chance of success. My goal wasn't just to track the enemy but to capture him. We didn't even know if we could defeat him if we confronted him, so since it was risky and even a little foolish, I decided to let the enemy take the real necklace.
While we were on the way to the capital I didn't only make a fake necklace — I made a copper necklace coated in gold paint and hid fast-detonating powder inside it.
Here's how it was going to go: when the enemy took the necklace and left, we'd follow him. I'd take the real necklace and swap it with the fake one, then let him take the fake. When he's in front of me, I'd detonate the necklace and drop him. At the time we first encountered the enemy I had no idea of his abilities, so losing was a possibility and I had to think of the worst-case scenarios.
The good thing was that the enemy didn't care about us at all. His gravity power was annoying but only worked in a small range it had stopped, and he hadn't moved far enough away.
When we were above the city I realized I hadn't considered the people as an obstacle because I didn't realize the capital was so crowded. I wanted Ryo to drop down as soon as the necklace was dropped — but I ended up being thrown by Haizen toward the necklace.
It was a crazy idea but it worked. As soon as I grabbed it I told the system to switch it with the fake necklace right before I collided with what looked to me like an exhibition.
When I got up from there I lowered my guard just enough for the enemy to take the necklace easily, and as soon as he took it I pulled out my pistol. He was someone who underestimated us, as if we were no match for him, and that worked to my advantage — if he'd been serious, things would have been different.
"Ooo... you'll use that strange weapon?"
"Fine... let's see which falls first your gravity or my bullet?"
"Ooo... a challenge then."
He wasn't far - It was like an easy game for him, and that worked in my favor. I pulled the trigger while he crushed me with his gravity. The bullet went straight to the fake necklace and exploded. The plan was full of loopholes, but in the end it worked. A strong blast dropped the enemy to the ground while the gravity crushing me vanished completely — the enemy was down.
The explosion wasn't large; it was confined around the enemy only, but the citizens moved away after hearing it. The looks they gave me were a mixture of fear.
"Takeru, you idiot!" Haizen shouted down at me after the explosion, jumping directly off Ryo's back. He came to me and grabbed my shirt collar. "The plan wasn't supposed to go like this. We agreed the enemy would take the fake necklace. So why did he take the real one?"
That was true — Haizen and Ryo weren't naive enough to not realize the enemy had taken the real necklace from the start. Ryo descended to the ground to figure it out as well.
"That's right, Takeru. What happened? Wasn't the enemy supposed to take the fake necklace? He took the real necklace and now this explosion happens."
Although I'm bad at explaining, I had to clarify what happened. I told the system to give me the real necklace.
"Look — this is the real necklace. The thing that exploded was the fake necklace. It's true he took the real necklace at first, but I swapped it for the fake when Haizen threw me to grab it. The fake necklace was explosive, and since we didn't know the enemy's abilities before meeting him, I thought this was the best idea."
They both looked at me in irritated tones; the idea didn't seem to please them. Ryo said, "You must be joking. You say we didn't know the enemy's power — what if he killed us or knocked us unconscious? Then everything would be over."
"You idiot — what good would it do if he took the fake necklace and we died? Or if we fainted, think a little: it's a fake necklace — wouldn't he realize and come back to take the real one while we're unconscious?"
Despite the success, Haizen was still objecting. "But your plan is still crazy. Didn't you think about the worst-case scenarios?"
"No, I did think about it. Stop repeating 'worst-case scenarios' — how many times has it been said in this chapter?"
Ryo tried to calm things down. "Okay, okay, let's calm down. Takeru's idea worked after all. Now let's go and take the enemy."
We went to see the enemy; he was lying completely on the ground. The explosion had torn the clothes covering his face. He had blond hair and his face looked ashy from the blast, but he still looked handsome.
"Wow—what is someone that handsome doing in a gang?"
"Takeru, you must have killed him. He doesn't look alive; he looks like a roasted chicken."
"No. It's impossible for these people to die — they're not normal. But if he died, we could continue tracking Elithius with the necklace as if nothing happened."
Ryo was watching the enemy's hand closely. "Look — his pinky finger is moving. Oh no… nothing. Look at his thumb — it's moving. Oh, nothing either."
Then I noticed evidence that he was still alive. "Look at his right sock — it's torn."
"Why do we have to look at that disgusting sock?"
"Look at his little toe — it's moving."
"Wow, you notice the tiny details."
After discovering he was alive, Ryo carried him on his back and we mounted as well. I asked Ryo where we were heading.
"Where to?"
"We're going to a special place to interrogate this person."