Reincarnated in the Royal Family with a Plunder System-Chapter 48: Going to ask for help?

The shadow bird tore through the Great Wilderness like a streak of living darkness.

Beneath a heavy, ash-colored sky, the wilderness stretched on without end. The trees were ancient things, towering and gnarled, creaking like old bones in the quiet. Mist curled low to the ground, thick as breath, moving slow enough to make time feel broken. Far away, the mountains sat like sleeping gods no one prayed to anymore. Rivers wound through the earth like silver scars.

And then—slam—the bird suddenly slowed.

Its claws scraped violently through the dirt, skidding to a halt, dust pluming around it like a cloud.

Then, for the first time, the shadow bird spoke: "You are just short of a human city. It is to the north, and has a powerhouse protecting it. Look for a man with golden wings. He is a human that looks somewhat inhuman. He will protect you. Wait there till Lady Eleanor returns. My time is over."

Ryan took a deep breath.

For a heartbeat, the shadow bird froze. No sound. No motion. Just... stillness. Then, in a flash of darkness, it disappeared. Like a puff of smoke. Gone. Vanished.

Shadow birds were never meant to last.

They weren’t alive—more like a natural phenomenon. A thing that existed only for the blink of an eye. It was nothing short of sorcery that Eleanor had even managed to make one her own. But like all things, even magic had an expiration date.

And that was it. The bird was gone.

Ryan’s body slammed into the ground, a dizzying rush of sensation. Dirt in his mouth. His vision swam. His pulse hammered in his ears. He didn’t know how long he lay there, just staring into the empty space where the bird had been, the silence crashing down on him like a weight.

After what felt like an eternity, he forced himself to move. A burst of raw energy surged through him—Speed Burst. He shot forward, his body a blur of motion, rushing through the forest with a speed that would have astonished his former self. But even as he moved, a sense of dread clung to him like a shadow, a sensation that the very world around him was stirring, waking to something horrific. Every crack of a branch, every rustle of leaves felt like the prelude to something worse.

His legs moved on instinct, carrying him through the wilderness as if driven by some primal force. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? He didn’t know. But eventually, he reached the wall.

The city.

It was massive, a towering fortress of stone and steel, rising up like an ancient monolith. People moved beneath it, a mass of humanity flowing like a river towards its gates—traders, beggars, and soldiers alike.

"Ah, the trades are so hard with these forest roads being so narrow."

"The Armedius King does not want to create better Trade Routes in this region. Look how much money he sanctioned for the cities surrounding the capital, and how much we got."

"There are also too many goblins in our path. Are there no good warriors nowadays?"

Ryan took a deep breath.

It’s humans.

The queue outside the gates was long, people standing idle as they waited to enter, carriages parked, the sound of voices mixing with the clatter of hooves on cobblestone. Rich and poor stood side by side, all bound for the same place. Humans were checking in, carriages parked outside. Merchants yawning. Rich and poor mingling together.

Ryan slowed down, instinctively checking his waist.

There was a pouch full of money.

I have enough to enter the city. I have to warn whoever the powerhouse of the city is.

He walked upto the queue, sweating, breathing heavily.

I shouldn’t be waiting in a queue. I should be cutting line and going in.

Yet, he needed a breather.

The voice of a child pierced his thoughts.

"Big brother, are you alright?"

Ryan blinked, startled. He turned to face her—a little girl, no more than seven or eight, her ponytail bouncing as she looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. She had a big ice cream in her hand, eating it happily. Her dumpling face was filled with concern, a soft wrinkle between her brows.

Her presence immediately calmed Ryan half down.

"I... am alright," he said, his voice rough.

He forced a smile, though it felt alien, strained.

"But you’re so pale," she said, her voice soft, genuine.

Ryan touched his face, realizing it was true. He could feel the cold sweat slicking his skin, his pulse still racing in his chest.

I need to be calmer. Eleanor should be safe. She is strong and capable.

"Ah, Sonja, don’t bother the young master."

An older woman bowed at Ryan and took hold of the little girl’s hand.

Ryan shook his head. "It is not a prob—"

Blood.

A thunderous crash.

A giant foot slammed into the ground some meters infront of Ryan, crushing men and women into meatpaste. He saw it in slow motion, human flesh folding in on itself before being crushed into nothing but slime.

Ryan looked up in horror.

An ice cream, bloody and broken, slammed into his face.

Ah...

Giants.

A presence rose up from inside the walls.

No.

A hand slid through the dirt, pulling up men like tearing through an ant house.

Ryan passed between the fingers.

He stood frozen.

The giant hand crashed into the wall.

BOOM!

The wall was broken through.

The world quaked.

Ryan looked into the city, rooted in his position.

His enhanced vision allowed him to tear through the dust and broken stone to see directly into the core of the city.

Inside the city, one giant after another appeared.

Their shadows loomed over destroyed buildings.

And in the very center of the city, a giant bigger than all giants spread its arms. In its hands was a man

Ryan’s ears shook as it roared.

In the hand of that giant was a man with golden wings, headless, dead.

The giant continued to roar.

Ryan’s world came to a still.

Screaming humans. Blood. Fear. Terror.

The insignificant feelings of an ant facing the power of giants.

The giant in the center threw the man with wings into its own mouth.

Ryan’s heart sank.

Then came the voice. "I got the human prince."

Darkness loomed over him as a hand effortlessly fell over him. It took him up effortlessly, its palm closing around him.

Ah, this giant’s hand obviously did not miss me by luck earlier.

Ryan’s pupils became blank. freewёbnoνel.com

It had deliberately let me live because it recognized me.

He tried to push away the hand, but it was just like trying to push the walls of a rock house.

Impossible.

An utter, wrathful scream coiled around in his throat.

But before he could scream, the hand made the wind leave his chest.

Just before he blanked out, he had a single thought running through the back of his mind.

This was punishment from the heavens.

He was the heaven’s outcast.

Someone who tried to steal from the world itself—and it was paying him back with rotten luck.

He was knocked out.