Chapter 5

About thirty minutes after finishing our meal, we finished our preparations and set out for the Shoisa Cave.

Even though I was a prince, since I was still only twelve years old, I had no official duties, and no one would pay any attention to wherever I went.

Since Rasta, the useless prince, didn’t even know how to ride a horse on his own, we had to resort to the setup of me clinging tightly to Gina’s back.

Even though she was a servant he had picked up, she was capable of handling horseback riding just fine, whereas he couldn’t—which was one of the reasons why I was looked down upon.

“My lord, we have arrived.”

With those words, Gina stopped the horse, leaped down, and landed gracefully.
She then reached out a hand to help me down from the saddle.

The surrounding gazes scattered away in an instant.
We were dressed in well-tailored clothes, and our equipment was top-notch.

Even if I was universally disliked and ostracized, the annual budget allocated to me was equal to that of the other princes, allowing us to acquire high-quality gear.

To the commoners, we probably looked like some wealthy noble’s spoiled brats—the kind of people you’d better avoid getting involved with if possible.

“[Storage]”

Once we dismounted, Gina packed away the horse as a precaution against theft.

It was a high-end magic item in the form of a pouch called [Asset], which could even store living creatures and keep them sustained inside.

The fact that I possessed such a rare, luxury item right from the start—something the protagonist could only hope to acquire somewhere around the middle to late game—made me realize that no matter how pathetic I was, I was still a member of the imperial family.

Naturally, since she was stronger than me, it made total sense for Gina to hold onto an item like that.

“What was that just now?”

“Did the horse just disappear?”

Ignoring the murmurs of the surrounding crowd, we charged straight into the cave.

“Today’s goal is for me to reach level two.”

I declared as soon as we stepped inside the cave.

Players in the original game could easily power-level up to around level three in one go, but considering the gap in specs between the protagonist and Rasta, I couldn’t push my luck.

“Understood.”

Gina nodded, looking slightly relieved.

Though it was called a cave, this was a man-made dungeon managed by the authorities, so torches were hung along the rock walls to keep it brightly lit.

“What kind of monsters appear in here?”

“Goblins and kobolds. It’s a relatively shallow dungeon with only four floors in total.”

It was impressive how smoothly Gina answered my question.

With only goblins and kobolds and just four floors deep, it clearly served as a beginner-level training dungeon.

That said, while I might manage one-on-one, facing two-on-one made me uneasy.

After all, weak as the early game was, he was the guy people joked about by saying,

“Even though he’s the boss, his retainer Gina is stronger; Gina’s the real boss.”

“Let’s proceed with caution.”

“Understood.”

Naturally, Gina knew that too, so she would prioritize protecting me above all else.