The Princess Kidnapping System Made Me OP-Chapter 89 - 80 Year Old Knees

"Mist flower, Crocodile nuts, Canary weed and Silver lotus," Mirabell said as she counted them with her fingers.

Then she paused, a crease forming on her head as she tried to figure out if she was forgetting something.

"Yeah, that should be everything."

"With these four items I should be able to concoct something that will help you with the seal..."

Wise nodded, although some were oddly named, her list seemed easy. There were only four items, after all. "Sounds simple enough."

He was about to stand up when he noticed the shaman glancing from side to side, her hands clasped nervously.

"There is just one problem," she added, lifting a finger for emphasis.

Wise sighed, drumming his fingers on the table in anticipation.

Things had seemed easy enough so far, the last thing he needed was some stupid obstruction like, ’It can only be found on a full moon four months from now.’

Or ’You need a heart of gold to harvest this plant.’

They were just stupid obstructions placed by the author in novels he had read in his past life.

"Let’s hear it," he said blankly.

"Well..." she began.

’Here we go.’

"...They can only be found in the middle ring of the Skentic ruins."

"Of course it would be something impossible to—wait, run that back."

"I said it can only be found in the middle ring of the ruins."

Wise chuckled before moving to a full blown laugh that caused everyone to turn their attention to him.

The middle ring? That was far too easy.

The only place even he needed to fear was the inner ring. That place housed demons and monsters so vile that even he had to tread with caution.

"Middle ring?!" Charlotte screamed so loudly that Mirabell had to clasp both hands around her ears.

For whatever reason, Charlotte seemed just as ecstatic as him. "The middle ring is swarmed with monsters..." she said, her breathing heavy.

"It’s just too perfect," she muttered underneath her breath before rising from the couch. "That is no problem for Wise!" she boldly declared, grinning wide.

’She just wants me to kill some monsters for her to sell, doesn’t she...’

Seeing how confident Charlotte was in his abilities, Mirabelle rose to her feet and then ushered them towards the door, eager to get rid of them.

"Alright, good luck. When you have all the items I can—"

"What do you mean good luck?" Wise asked, cutting her off.

Daphne walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders before she could run.

Wise smiled deviously. "You’re coming with us, you’re the only one that can identify the plants after all."

"Heh? Noo!" she screamed, kicking and squirming as Daphne wrapped her in her shadows and hoisted her out of the room.

•••

The middle ring of the Skentic ruins had a different, more oppressive feel than the outer ring.

Due to its wide land mass, there was a huge thick forest spanning several meters, burying what was left of the civilization in roots, vines, and moss.

The wildlife was rich with a healthy mix of bugs and animals—normal looking animals and not monsters, which Wise found amusing considering that this was a den of demons and monsters.

It was nice to know that no matter how severe the condition, animals would always learn to adapt and thrive, just like humans.

Occasionally they would pass a wrecked house but those occurrences were few.

This was because even though the middle ring was largely a city, not every part of it had been inhabited. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

To get the ingredients they needed, they stuck to the forest instead.

"You know, Daph. This is not the first time I’ve been in these ruins," Wise said as he slashed a branch that was obstructing his path.

"Knowing you, I’m not really surprised. You must have traveled a lot in the past few years."

Wise silently agreed with her. "It was partly because of my master, she always had the most exciting jobs."

Daphne perked up at the mention of his master and turned to face him. "You’ve mentioned her before, but it’s hard to believe you ever had a teacher."

Wise laughed as old memories flooded his mind. "That woman was a handful, I met her not long after I lost my memories."

Technically, that was when he regained his memories, but Wise did not want Daphne to know about his peculiar circumstance.

"She was a Sword Saint so she often got requests from all around the country. Even after my training, I never managed to beat her once."

The worst part was that now, even after gathering new skills, Wise was still not sure if he could beat her.

That only went to say how powerful she was...

Daphne was about to speak when someone else cut in from above them.

"I think I’ve found the first plant!" Mirabell said, her voice ecstatic.

The shaman was currently sitting on his shoulder due to her ’knee issues’.

It was the only way they managed to stop her from crying as they dragged her into the ruins, since they didn’t have Charlotte with them.

Mirabell jumped down from his shoulders and rushed forward to the plant.

"Canary Weed..." she whispered, her eyes glittering as she moved around the flower like an excited child.

The flower in question was bright yellow in colour. The flower petals were not the only coloured part of it, the entire plant was yellow.

She went down to a knee and rubbed her hands before grabbing onto it.

Then she pulled—

Whoosh!

Dust blew up from the hole as the ground erupted.

Mirabell froze, her eyes wide in shock as a shiver ran up her spine. And then she screamed, her voice echoing through the forest.

What she had in her hands was far from being a plant...

"AHHHHH!" Mirabell shouted once more, her voice high pitched and piercing.

Her hands were still clasped around the plant’s yellow stalk, but below it was a large plant-like monster.

Its head was large, round and lumpy like a potato, and by its side, green hands and thick green limbs emerged from its body.

The little monster stared at Mirabell and smiled, revealing rows of sharp teeth dripping a red, viscous substance.

A plant mimic?

Drop!

Mirabell immediately let go of the monster and darted away, running towards Wise with tears in her eyes when her knees suddenly buckled, and she crashed face first to the floor.

The monster let out a weird rustling sound as it charged at her, its movements wonky.

It leaped into the air, its maw wide when it suddenly shrieked loudly, its body completely engulfed by a bright blue flame.

In an instant, the mimic was no more, completely reduced to ashes.

Wise blew the smoke off his fingertips and sighed while Daphne walked over to Mirabell and offered her a hand.

"It looks like she wasn’t lying about having bad knees..." Daphne said.

While running, one wrong step was all it took to send her crashing down, and now Wise knew why...

Mirabell’s knees had twisted in an awkward angle and were currently red and bruised.

She would not be walking anywhere anytime soon.

Which was inconvenient, considering that a group of goblins were currently heading their way.