The Abandoned Prince Heals an Enemy Soldier on the Frontlines, Only to Discover She’s the Seventh Imperial Princess - Chapter 48: The Abandoned Prince Gets Surrounded

Chapter 48: The Abandoned Prince Gets Surrounded

A wasteland stretched as far as the eye could see.

Withered, lifeless plants. Cracked, dried-up soil.

There wasn’t even a hint of life anywhere.

It really was a land of death.

This actually felt familiar—like that time I triggered a teleport trap while visiting Salion’s dungeon.

Just like back then, I realized immediately:

I’d been teleported somewhere far, far away.

Anyway…

“No way… Why did I get dragged along too!? He was supposed to go alone!! Why meee!?”

The silver-haired maid girl—the one who threw the teleport item that sent me flying into this wasteland—was now having a full-on meltdown.

I decided to speak up and try to get her attention.

“Hey, yoo-hoo?”

“D-Don’t talk to me!!”

“Well… I kinda have to. If I want to get back, I’ll need your help.”

“Like I’d ever help you! Just die already, you idiot!!”

“Wow. That insult sounded like it came from someone halfway between middle school and elementary…”

She glared at me with a mix of suspicion, frustration, and pure hostility.

This is a problem.

She was the only one here who might know where we were… and without her cooperation, I had no real way to fix the situation.

While I was thinking of how to talk her into working with me, the maid girl suddenly jumped to her feet.

“I’m going back alone!! No way I’m sticking around with you!!”

“Ooh… now that line totally sounds like it’s setting up a flag…”

The maid girl tried to walk off—heading in the exact opposite direction from where I stood.

But just as she did…

Something started moving in the middle of the vast wasteland.

A giant worm.

But not just any worm—it was easily several hundred meters long, its entire body covered in tough, scale-like armor, and its head had a massive gaping mouth.

Honestly, it looked even bigger than Alcarion in her dragon form.

The colossal worm slithered forward, tearing up the ground as it moved.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to have noticed us or be heading in our direction…

“…Tch. Okay, not going that way.”

With a sigh, she turned sharply and tried heading in a new direction.

But then—something else moved.

This time, it was a huge lion-like beast.

Its body had to be at least several dozen meters long.

Its tail was a snake, and it had massive wings on its back.

A whole pack of them—maybe a few dozen—were lying around together.

They were probably some kind of herd animal, all quietly napping in the sun… but if we got too close, we’d 100% get eaten alive.

The maid girl quickly turned her back on the lions and tried heading in the last remaining direction—

“BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!!!!”

A massive, bull-like creature walking on two legs was ramming its head repeatedly into a giant boulder.

It wasn’t as huge as the giant worm but was definitely bigger than those lion beasts.

What made it terrifying was its horns.

Every time it headbutted the boulder, it punched holes into the stone—and at this rate, it looked like it might completely destroy it.

No matter which way you looked, none of these creatures were something a regular human could take on.

With a deep, frustrated sigh, the maid girl stomped over toward me.

She clearly hated the idea but finally gave a reluctant nod.

“F-Fine! I’ll help you, alright!? Just don’t get the wrong idea!”

“I-I see. That’s… good to hear.”

When I asked her again where exactly we were, she looked away with a huff and muttered:

“This is the Land at the End. It’s an entire continent full of nothing but wastelands and monsters.”

“‘Full of’… huh?”

“I only know that because I heard it from someone else, okay!? Damn it… Why is this happening to me!?”

The Land at the End, huh…

Yeah, that made sense.

If a place filled with monsters that powerful actually existed on the main continent, humanity would’ve gone extinct by now.

“But this is bad. If this really is outside the main continent… we’ll probably need a ship to get back.”

Obviously, I’ve been on ships before… but I’ve never sailed one myself.

And I seriously doubt the maid girl has either.

It’s safe to assume people don’t live out here—so escape might be totally impossible…

—Wait. Hold on.

“That’s right—it’s fine!! I’m sure Alcarion will use her Dragon’s Eye to find me and come rescue us!!”

“…That’s not happening.”

“Huh?”

“I said it’s not happening!! Because I’m here!!”

The maid girl snapped, shouting with visible frustration.

“I’ve been modified to cancel out the Dragon’s Eye!! As long as you’re near me, no one’s coming to save you!! Ha! Sucks to be you!!”

“Oh, really? Well, I’ll just come up with another plan then.”

“…What?”

“I mean, it’s not like I know how to sail a ship or anything. Maybe I could find a wild flying monster, tame it, and ride it back to the continent? Though I bet Salion would get jealous later…”

“HEY!!”

“Whoa—don’t yell like that!”

She suddenly raised her voice, completely cutting off my train of thought.

It really caught me off guard.

“Are you stupid or something!? If I’m the problem, why not just kill me and be done with it!?”

“Eh? No way. That thought never even crossed my mind.”

“Don’t mess with me!! I’m the one who got us into this mess, aren’t I!? You should be furious with me!! Get mad!!”

The maid girl suddenly started yelling for no real reason—like she was upset just for the sake of it.

“Uh… okay. Wanna sit down and talk it out?”

“Shut up!! You always do this!! You’re always like this!!”

Always…?

Had I met this maid girl somewhere before?

There’s no way I’d forget meeting a girl this insanely beautiful…

And yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen her before.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

“…Hmm. Why isn’t it reacting…?”

I glanced down and placed a hand over my crotch—checking to see why my beloved blade was oddly silent.

Weird.

Normally, just being near a girl as gorgeous as this would be more than enough to trigger a reaction.

Had it… broken? Was something wrong with me?

Just to be sure, I summoned up some fantasy versions of Rosemary and Alcarion in my head for a test.

‘Heh, Reyshel. You’re still such a perv. I guess I’ll punish you gently today.’

‘Sweetie, Mama’s here. Come cuddle as much as you want.’

Yup. Fully responsive.

So for some reason, it was just this girl that my blade refused to acknowledge.

It wasn’t exactly a problem… just a really strange feeling.

“Well, fighting about it won’t help. First, let’s focus on finding food and water.”

“…How?”

“We find monsters we can handle, take them down, and eat them. Even if they’re poisonous, I can heal us. Same goes for bad water—no problem.”

“Like I’d ever rely on you!!”

She huffed loudly and started marching off.

Ah—wait. I just realized there was something pretty important I forgot to ask her.

“Hey, what’s your name? I’m Reyshel.”

“…Hek.”

“Hek, huh? Nice to meet you!!”

I held out my hand for a handshake, but Hek ignored me completely and just kept walking.

Oof… getting brushed off like that kind of hurts…

Well, no big deal. I’ll just win her over with time.

Or so I thought… but trouble came way faster than expected.

“Look!! A male!!”

“And there’s a girl with him too!”

“Kill the girl! Take the male back with us!!”

“A human male!! We have to present him to the queen!!”

“And he’s totally the type she likes—such a cute little boy!!”

I suddenly found myself surrounded by over a dozen women.

Only, they weren’t normal women.

Their upper bodies were barely covered with thin cloth—just enough to hide their chests. Their sun-kissed skin wasn’t the issue either.

The real problem was their lower halves.

From the waist down, they looked like giant snakes.

Lamia.

Straight out of fantasy—real, living lamia women were now closing in on me.


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[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

Author: “Welcome to the Monster Girl Harem Arc!!”

R: “O-Oh!! Let’s go!!”

Author: “Also, I’ve posted a new series! The title is: ‘Veteran Old Man Adventurer Pulled Out a Holy Sword and Turned Into a Cute Girl!?’ Check it out if you’ve got some time!”

If you found yourself thinking, “Who is Hek really!?” “Why isn’t the blade reacting!?” or “Lamia girls are totally a win,” —then please leave a comment, bookmark, ★ rating, or review!