Transmigrated as the ill 2nd Prince (BL)

Chapter 8: Searching (Rewritten)

"I can't believe I'm separated from Allea and Paladin."

Earlier, after the Dart game, I suggested we explore more of the festival. We hadn't seen everything yet, but then the streets became packed. That meant only one thing, the parade had just ended.

_____

FLASHBACK

"Y-Your Highness, please hold my hand!" Allea said urgently, her voice rising above the crowd. I reached out to grab her hand when, suddenly, the tide of people pushed me aside.

"Your Highness!" Paladin and Allea shouted in unison.

"Allea! Paladin!" I called back, but the crowd swallowed my voice.

"Your Highness! Where are you?!" Paladin’s voice echoed from somewhere in the chaos.

"I'm here—" I started to shout, but a cough interrupted me. It wasn’t anything serious, just an annoying tickle in my throat. Maybe I had strained my voice. I tried to push my way through, but the crowd's relentless surge forced me to the outskirts. No matter how hard I searched, Allea and Paladin were nowhere to be seen.

END FLASHBACK

_____

And now here I am, stranded on the edge of the crowd, unable to find either of them.

‘Guess I’ll just wait until they find me.’

Or at least, that was the plan, until a nagging thought hit me. Something important.

‘Wait... What was I supposed to do again?’

I crossed my arms and paced in a small circle, trying to jog my memory.

"..."

‘Riko Touma!’

Panic shot through me. I was supposed to find Riko before the heroine did! How could I forget such a critical detail? I got so distracted by the festival that it completely slipped my mind.

‘No matter what, I have to find him before she does.’

Without a second thought, I slipped into a narrow alleyway.

‘Sorry, Allea... Paladin… I’ll find you later. Right now, I need to stop the heroine from getting to Riko.’

The alley was dark, but not enough to obscure everything. Trash littered the ground, and the air reeked of stale food and rot.

The sight reminded me of the slums from my past life. Dirty, forgotten places where the homeless fought to survive. It always felt unfair. I remembered hoping that someone in power would finally do something to help them, but those hopes had always been in vain.

Maybe Riko would be here, hiding in the shadows...

___

After what felt like hours of searching through endless alleys, frustration began to bubble in my chest.

‘I’ve been through half the backstreets by now. Where the hell is he?!’

I sighed and turned another corner,only to hit a dead end.

'Perfect...'

Before I could even consider retracing my steps, a voice echoed behind me.

"Hey."

I spun around to see two figures emerging from the shadows. Both were tall, with rumpled clothes that hinted at their lower status. One was slim, the other stocky.

"...Who are you?" I asked cautiously.

"We’re just ordinary folks passing through," the stocky man said with a grin. "You lost, kid? You’ve been wandering these alleys for a while."

Something about them felt off. I hadn’t seen anyone else in these alleys. Suspicious, I kept my expression neutral.

"Yes, I got separated from my companions. Could you help me get back to the main streets?"

"Sure," the slim man replied, flashing a sly smile. "But only for a price."

"A price?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Everything comes with a cost."

The stocky man’s grin widened. "Looking at the way you’re dressed, you’ve got to be a noble, right?" His greedy eyes glinted as he spoke.

"I don’t have any money on me," I said flatly.

"Yeah, right," the slim one sneered.

"No, really." I shrugged, keeping my tone calm. "I have nothing to offer you."

The stocky man’s eyes narrowed, and his gaze landed on my ear.

"How about that shiny earring you’ve got there?"

I touched my earring without thinking, a luminescent gemstone crystal. It was rare and worth a fortune, just like the game vendor had boasted when I won it. I couldn’t just hand it over to a couple of thugs.

"I’m sorry, but that’s not an option. I worked hard to win this."

"Too bad," the stocky man said with a sinister chuckle. "We’ll take it by force if we have to."

‘Great. These two are worse than I thought.’

On the outside, I kept my composure, but inside, anxiety began to creep in.

"You really think you can get away with this?" I asked, hoping to stall them.

The stocky man let out a laugh. "No one’s gonna find you here. This part of the alley is completely deserted."

He raised his hand, chanting a spell. A swirl of water gathered in front of his palm.

‘Chanting magic... Definitely amateurs.’

I remembered reading about this in one of Hiroka’s books. Only weak mages relied on chanting because they couldn’t control their magic properly. It gave me a slim advantage.

The water shot toward me, but I ducked just in time. Another spell came flying, and I dodged again.

"Dammit, quit moving!" the stocky man growled.

"Hey, help me out here!" he barked at his partner.

"I-I told you, I’m not good at this yet!" the slim man stammered, clearly panicking.

The stocky one clicked his tongue in frustration and chanted again, sending another blast of water my way. I barely managed to avoid it.

‘I can’t keep dodging forever. I need a way out.’

But with every second that passed, the walls of the alley seemed to close in tighter around me.