Yirina's sharp eyes were fixed on Kondo.
Even though Kondo couldn't clearly tell who Yirina and the others really were, he could feel it—
Whatever they were… they were extremely dangerous.
Suppressing the fear rising inside him, Kondo forced himself to stay calm and stared back at them with equally sharp eyes.
Yirina was slightly surprised.
She never expected to find human children and monster children together this deep inside the forest. According to her experience, human children were usually cowards.
She spoke her thoughts aloud.
"So strange… human children and monster children together like this is quite rare. Normally human kids are scared of even worms crawling on the ground."
Kondo continued staring at her without looking away.
That made Yirina curious. She had seen eyes like those before… yet despite the pressure she gave off, this human child was still talking to her confidently.
"And how is that any of your business?" Kondo replied calmly. "Besides, we don't talk to strangers… especially ones we meet in the middle of a forest."
Hearing that, Yirina smiled faintly.
"Oh? Then I suppose I should introduce myself first."
She pointed toward the others one by one.
"My name is Yirina. This is Yina, this is Yokzo, and these two are Yonk and Yeld. We're travelers who got lost while searching for something."
Yirina glanced toward Yina.
Yina pulled out a folded paper from her waist and showed it to them.
"Have any of you seen a magic circle like this somewhere nearby?"
The five children looked at the rough drawing on the paper.
The sketch wasn't very well made, but it showed a large circle with smaller circles inside it, along with a star-shaped pattern in the center.
Kondo, Shin, and Lable had never seen anything like it before, so they shook their heads.
But Kint suddenly seemed to remember something.
"I haven't seen it myself… but I think I've heard about something similar."
Yina's eyes immediately lit up with excitement.
After wandering around for five days, they had finally found a clue.
"Kid, tell us properly," Yina said quickly. "Was it really something like this?"
"It wasn't exactly the same," Kint replied, "but it sounded similar."
"Finally… after searching everywhere for days, we found something useful. So where did you hear about it?"
Kint pointed toward the east.
"There's a cave in the eastern mountains. Some hunters from our people once sensed strange magical energy there. The ones who entered the cave said they saw a structure similar to this."
Yirina looked toward the eastern side of the forest.
"Thank you," she said softly. "If you hadn't told us, we might've wandered around for who knows how long."
Without wasting another second, she turned around.
"We shouldn't delay anymore."
Then she glanced back at Kondo.
"I hope we meet again very soon."
After saying that, the five of them began walking eastward.
Once they were far enough from the children, Yokzo finally spoke.
"That boy… wasn't he staring at us a little too much? It almost felt like he could see through these fake bodies."
Yirina remained silent for a moment.
"You're right," she admitted. "And those eyes of his… I don't know why, but they reminded me of someone."
Yina crossed her arms with an irritated expression.
"The other kids seemed normal," she muttered, "but that boy… his aura felt strange. For a second, I almost wanted to cut his head off."
Yeld sighed as he walked beside her.
"Good thing you didn't. Otherwise we wouldn't have gotten this information either."
"Huh?" Yina glared at him. "Can't you ever keep your mouth shut? Looks like your head is ready to be chopped off again."
"Ehhh?!"
Meanwhile, Kint and Kim walked ahead while Kondo, Shin, and Lable followed behind them.
Shin looked toward Kondo.
"Kondo… weren't you staring at those people a little too much? What was wrong?"
"I don't know," Kondo replied quietly. "But something about them felt strange… like they weren't what they appeared to be."
Kint nodded slightly.
"You're right. Their aura felt very different from normal humans… almost like they were suppressing it."
Kondo looked at him curiously.
"By the way, Kint… what was that sketch about? And how did you know about it?"
Kint smiled.
"To be honest, I don't really know either. I once heard my dad talking about something similar, and the drawing reminded me of it. I'll definitely ask him later."
Shin and Label were already exhausted from walking.
"How much farther do we have to go?" Lable complained tiredly. "Are we seriously not there yet?"
Shin smirked slightly.
"What happened, Label? Tired already?"
Then she looked toward Kondo.
"You're really selfish sometimes, Kondo."
"Eh?! What did I do now?"
"You never think about us," Shin huffed. "You just drag us along for your own curiosity, and we end up following behind you."
She moved closer and whispered softly into his ear.
"And that monster girl, Kim… she's been staring at you for a while now."
"So?"
"Kondo… I heard monsters eat humans."
Kondo sighed helplessly.
"Shin, stop worrying so much. I don't think they'd do something like that."
Just then, Kint suddenly pointed ahead excitedly.
"Look! That's our village. We're finally here!"
The five of them stopped before a gigantic gate.
The village was surrounded by enormous walls, and the iron gate was so tall that Kondo had to tilt his neck upward just to see its upper edge.
Through the open gate, they could see monsters moving around inside, each busy with their own work.
Everyone slowly entered the village.
Kondo, Shin, and Label looked around in amazement.
Despite being monsters, the houses looked no different from those of humans. Many homes even had beautiful flower plants outside them.
As they walked deeper inside, Kondo noticed something strange.
Except for Kint and Kim, the others truly looked like monsters… yet their faces didn't seem cruel at all. Instead, they looked surprisingly kind.
Suddenly Shin lightly tugged on Kondo's shirt.
"What is it?" Kondo asked.
Shin lowered her eyes nervously.
"Kondo… aren't all these monsters staring at us a little too much?"
Label quickly nodded.
"She's right. It's not too late—we can still go back home."
But Kondo looked more excited than scared.
"You two are worrying for nothing. Nothing's going to happen."
Before he could say anything else, several armored monsters carrying spears suddenly came running toward them.
"There they are! Hurry!"
The monsters rushed toward Kint and Kim, breathing heavily as if they had been searching for a long time.
Frightened, Shin and Label immediately hid behind Kondo.
The monsters bowed respectfully before Kint.
"Where did you go?" one of them asked anxiously. "We searched everywhere for you!"
Kint smiled awkwardly.
"Sorry… I guess I wandered too far away while playing."
The monster let out a relieved sigh.
"Thank goodness you returned safely. Otherwise things would've gone terribly for us. The King has been furious wondering where Prince Kint and Princess Kim disappeared to."
Hearing those words—
Kondo, Shin, and Label froze in shock.
"PRINCE AND PRINCESS?!"