ISEKAI? More like I See Crap!-Chapter 123: Secrets and Spoils ( )

Faria quietly covered her mouth again, clearly enjoying the family chaos a little too much.

"Faria!!" Ellyn snapped.

The knight straightened her posture, though amusement still danced in her eyes.

"Princess..."

"Hmph!!" Ellyn turned her head with a dramatic pout. "By the way, I’m going out tomorrow."

King Lioness narrowed his eyes immediately. "No can do."

"But Father!!" she whined. "I already promised to meet him tomorrow!!" freēnovelkiss.com

Before either royal could reply, Faria stepped in smoothly, her tone polite but clear.

"Pardon me, Your Majesty..." she said with a small bow. "...but Princess Ellyna did not promise anything to Mr. Hazuki."

Ellyn spun around, shocked. "Faria!!"

Faria gave a serene smile. "You simply said you’d like to meet him again."

"Same thing!!"

The Queen sighed, watching her daughter and trusted knight argue like sisters. King Lioness rubbed his temples. "One day, that boy’s going to walk into this palace, and I’m going to have questions."

Ellyn groaned, stomping her foot again. "Ughhh!! You’re all impossible!"

"And Ellyna?" King Lioness called, his tone layered with warning.

She turned with a dramatic spin, arms crossed. "Hmmph!!"

"No sneaking out," he said firmly.

"But—!"

Queen Meira raised a hand gently. "You can go... but only if you’re heavily escorted."

"No!!" Ellyna shot back, her ears twitching with panic. "Hazuki’s dumb—but he’s not that dumb! If he sees a bunch of escorts following me, he’ll definitely ask questions!"

"Then say they’re guards from your mother’s side," the king suggested flatly.

"That makes it worse! He’ll ask where my ’mom’ works, and I’ll have to make up an entire backstory about a bakery or something!!"

"She already used the bakery lie in Yumia," Faria added calmly. "It was surprisingly elaborate."

Ellyna threw up her hands. "Exactly!! I can’t keep lying about fake bakeries forever!"

King Lioness groaned. "Then take just one group of shadow escort. Hidden. Silent."

"Ugh... fine," she grumbled.

Faria bowed slightly. "I’ll assign the best one."

Ellyna muttered under her breath, "This is why I didn’t want to be born a princess..."

Lioness III crossed his arms. "Too late."

Meanwhile, in the Inn...

Steam drifted lazily from the wooden bathing room as Hazuki stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist, hair still damp and shoulders relaxed.

"Oi, Ridan! Get out!" he shouted, spotting the cloudy spirit phasing through the wall, floating into the room like he owned the place.

"What?" Ridan mumbled, his cloudy form shifting lazily, big eyes half-lidded with boredom. "I got nothing to do. Besides, I’m not interested in looking at your snake."

"Ugh! Suit yourself, pervert!" Hazuki grumbled, then grinned wickedly.

He dramatically swung his hips left and right. "Here! Look! This isn’t little! This is a gift! A blessing from GOD!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Ridan spun slowly in the air like a spiraling marshmallow. "Still looks like a salted carrot to me."

Hazuki scowled. "That’s slander."

With a loud slap, he whipped the towel from the back to the front, wiping down like some warrior of hygiene, before tossing it onto a nearby chair.

Ridan drifted closer, poking a cloudy cheek against the ceiling. "...haaaaaa..."

Hazuki glanced back, drying off the last of his hair with a smaller cloth. "You bored?"

"Kinda," Ridan admitted. "Floating around and watching you shout at air all day is... boring."

Hazuki shrugged. "Well, that’s your problem. Me?" He cracked his neck, then smirked like a man who had just discovered the meaning of life.

"I’m about to do something amazing." He pointed dramatically at the bed. "Sleep. In. A real. Bed."

His grin widened.

Then, with a clap of his hands and zero shame, Hazuki jumped onto the bed like a kid on vacation.

"Haaaa... this pillow... this bed... so comfy!" he groaned, sinking in like a melted marshmallow. "This is it. This is luxury. This is life."

Ridan floated beside him, then flopped down mid-air, his cloudy form settling softly onto the other side of the bed like a lazy puffball. The sword rested quietly on the small table nearby, gleaming faintly in the room’s soft lamp light.

"Go to sleep, Ridan," Hazuki muttered, his eyes half-lidded.

"Haaaaa... if only I could..." Ridan sighed.

Hazuki rolled over slightly. "Why not?"

"I’m a spirit, dumbass! I don’t sleep!"

"Then at least pretend—close your eyes or something."

"I don’t have eyelids, you walnut!"

Hazuki threw a pillow at him, which passed straight through with a faint fwomp.

"...If you don’t sleep, then where do you get all your energy from anyway?" Hazuki grumbled.

Ridan floated closer, his cloud-mouth curving into a smug grin. "Huh? Where else? From you, of course. Your mana."

"WHAT!!?? MY MANA!?" Hazuki shot upright, eyes wide.

"Oi! Stop shouting!" Ridan waved a smoky tendril at him. "You have plenty of mana."

"Still! That’s my personal stash! What if I run out?!"

Ridan rolled his eyes. "You won’t. Don’t be stingy."

Hazuki narrowed his gaze suspiciously. "...How much mana do I have, anyway?"

Ridan shrugged, visibly trying to dodge the question. "Enough."

Hazuki squinted harder. "Like... a bucket? A well? A lake?"

Ridan floated away toward the ceiling, whistling innocently. "Good night, Hazuki~"

"Oi!! Get back here!!"

After a while—once Hazuki’s snoring reached that familiar "dying animal" rhythm—Ridan floated quietly back from the ceiling and rested beside him, hovering just above the bed like a lazy puff of mist.

He glanced at Hazuki’s dopey sleeping face, mouth half open, one leg awkwardly poking out from under the blanket.

"Heh... this idiot," Ridan murmured to himself. "He doesn’t even know his only skill—Elemental Control—is one of the rarest damn skills in the world."

He drifted in a slow circle, casting a quiet gaze over the sleeping human.

"Probably got transferred from that Absolute Eye catgirl," he muttered. "And I’m sure those two... are the ones behind it all."

He turned back toward Hazuki, who muttered something in his sleep about "melon bread" and rolled over, face buried in a pillow.

"They really set you up, huh?"

Ridan hovered in place a moment longer, watching the rise and fall of Hazuki’s back.

"...I wonder what your real mission is," he murmured, the last part slipping out like a thought.

Hazuki just snored softly, tangled up in a blanket.

Ridan smirked faintly, then turned his gaze to the ceiling, letting the silence settle in.

"...Whatever it is... I just hope you’re ready for it, dumbass."

( End of Chapter )