The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

Five days have passed since I had dinner with the king.

   “Huff, huff, huff, huff!”

   I was breathing heavily, half-walking, half-running across the royal palace’s training grounds.

   I had already been coming to the training ground for five days to exercise.

   “You can stop if it’s too hard, Prince.”

   Precia had been saying the same thing for five days, worried about me.

She ran beside me, not exhausted and not breaking a sweat.

   “Twenty, laps…! Don’t talk to me!”

   I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t going to give up before I reached my goal of 20 laps, but I was out of breath and couldn’t speak.

   Honestly, this frail body had reached its limit after lap 4 and I was now on lap 9.

   My heart was beating like crazy, screaming at me to turn around, but I ignored it and kept running.

Damn, this frail body. I felt like I was running every day and not increasing my threshold at all.

   I stripped off my clothes and kept running, even though it was the dead of winter.

   It wasn’t a fast pace, but I didn’t give up, and the knights from the morning training cheered and clapped.

   “Keep it up!”

   “Wonderful!”

   Just because the queen runs the palace doesn’t mean everyone in the palace is on her side.

   Most of the knights were either directly under the king or part of the military, and most of them had no animosity or favor toward me.

   So I’m sure they’re purely cheering for my efforts.

   “Twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty!”

   I collapsed to the ground, having finally completed my goal of 20 laps.

   “Okay, let’s take a break. Huh~! Haah~!”

   As I lay down, Herion brought me a water bottle and a towel that he had prepared in advance.

   “If you drink it while lying down, you’ll hear a death knell, so please drink the water while sitting up.”

   “Okay, sir.”

   I pushed myself up on my shaky arms and accepted the water bottle.

   While I drank the water, Precia worriedly wiped my sweat with a towel.

   “I’m worried that you’re pushing yourself too hard all of a sudden, Prince. Maybe you could start at a lower intensity and take your time….”

   “No, I disagree.”

Cutting off Precia’s almost nagging words was a man wearing a robe with the coat of arms of the Knights of the Golden Lion, who were using this particular training ground.

   Judging by the way he oversaw the knights, he must have been a knight of high rank.

“The most important thing in physical training is to set a goal, and to achieve it, but if the goal is merely something that does not burden the body, the body will not become stronger, which is something that you, who became a knight in the body of a young woman, should know better. In my opinion, the prince is doing well.”

“Well, that’s true, but the prince is not a knight….”

“No.”

   This time I cut Precia off.

   “You’re right,” I said, “The human body needs to be pushed beyond its limits to become stronger. If you don’t push your limits, you can only remain stagnant.”

   Of course, for my health, I didn’t want to overdo it.

   Especially with such a fragile body.

The knight of the Order of the Golden Lion, who seemed to recognize Precia at my words, nodded.

   “You know what you’re talking about, Prince! More exercise, more trials, only hardship can make a knight stronger!”

   What a passionate, macho man.

“Ahhhhh, that’s a good point, and I’m glad you offered me a piece of your training ground when I was in the way, by the way. Uh… well, I’m sorry to ask now, but what’s your name?”

When I asked for the knight’s name, the middle-aged knight smiled cheerfully and saluted me.

   “I’m sorry I’m late in introducing myself, my name is Horazon de Grain, Deputy Knight Commander of the Order of the Golden Lion.”

   “Horazen? Swordmaster of the Ten Swords of Heaven? The ‘Crimson Fang’ that is said to be within the five most powerful swords in the kingdom?”

   I asked in amazement, and the middle-aged man laughed embarrassedly.

   “Hahahaha, it’s just a bunch of exaggerated hype.”

   He said so, but his strength was equal to that of Demi Wei, the Great Lord of the North.

   Horazon was one of the Ten Great Swords, a sword that is always mentioned when one talks about the strongest warriors.

   His power and accomplishments were not to be underestimated by me, a mere prince with nothing more than a princely title.

   I stood up and apologized.

   “My, how rude of me. I’ve heard Precia talk a lot about you. You’re her teacher, aren’t you?”

   Among other things, Horazon was Precia’s teacher.

   And he was one of the people Precia had tried to contact sometime ago.

   Somehow, when I was looking for a place to work out, she recommended this place to me because her teacher was here.

   For someone who cared so much about Precia, Horizon was willing to give me a place to train.

“Ahahaha, more of a daughter than a teacher-student relationship, which is why I’m telling you, I was actually against Precia becoming a knight.”

   I know. To discourage Precia’s desire to become a knight, Horazon had subjected her to trials no child should endure.

But Precia persevered through it all and became a knight at a young age.

   Of course, discrimination forced her to become a bodyguard knight for an unsupported and weak prince like me.

In retrospect, Horazon’s objections were valid.

   It’s unlikely that I’ll ever gain proper recognition among the knights, an extreme group of men who believe in force, but the palace is a dangerous place where you can get your head cut off for political reasons.

In particular, in The Sage of the Winterwood, Precia was banished to such an extreme land for failing to escort Prince Yuan when he was assassinated.

“Then you won’t like me much, for I am a weak, powerless prince.”

   Horazon flinched at my playful comment.

   My point had been made.

   “But I am grateful to you, Sir. You have raised the best knight I could ever hope for.”

   At my words, Horizon looked momentarily displeased, then surprised as he looked me in the eye.

   “You mean that?”

He seemed to read that I was being sarcastic or that I thought of female knights as trinkets like the other nobles.

   “Of course I’m serious, Precia is not an easy opponent, even for the revered Sir of Crimson Fangs.”

At my words, Precia blushed and threw up her hands.

   “No! How dare I compare myself to Lord Horazon.”

   It was likely that Precia would lose to Horazon now.

But that would not last long.

   Precia would be stronger from now on.

“Have confidence. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a great eye.”

   At my words, Horazon laughed heartily, as if amused.

   “Hahahahaha, that’s a very nice thing to say, Prince. You certainly have a good eye, Prince.”

   Horazon smiled at the Seven Star Sword hanging from Precia’s waist.

   Precia then hid the Seven Star Sword behind her back as if to hide it from his gaze.

   She looked like a child hiding a treasure from prying eyes.

   Most of them thought I must have brought an insignificant sword, given that I had the king’s permission to take a sword from the treasury.

   Most of the swords in the treasury were more ornamental jewelry than valuable as swords.

   As someone who had never held a sword, I had no idea how to recognize a great sword.

But there was no escaping the Crimson Fang’s glare.

   “Then it would be fun to fight you after all these years.”

   There was a tingling sensation coming from Horazon’s direction, as if he were being bathed in hot flames.

   “Lord Horazon, in the presence of the prince, please cut down your aura!”

   At Precia’s shout, Horazon scratched the back of his head, wincing.

   “Ahhhhhh, my mistake, my apologies, Prince.”

With his apology, the tingling sensation gradually faded.

So this is what it’s like to kill someone in a novel based on pure aura.

   A weakling like me could really get killed.

“Precia is my bodyguard now, Lord Horazon. I appreciate your loyalty, but when it comes to business, you must separate duty from pleasure.”

At my point, Horazon nodded in agreement and apologized to her.

   “I have been rude, Sir Precia. Forgive me.”

   “No, I’m fine.”

   Precia seemed pleased to be recognized as a knight by her master.

   “Now, then, since you’ve rested enough, let’s get back to your exercise.”

   Horazon smiled at me as I stretched lightly.

“If it’s all right with the prince, would you mind if I oversee your training?”

   His invitation surprised all the knights in the training hall.

The Crimson Fang’s teachings were not an opportunity given to just anyone. But…

“I’m sorry, but no.”

   I flatly refused.

   I could see the surprise and indignation on the faces of the knights around me.

They must have felt like I was an ass and a fool for turning down a golden opportunity.

   “It’s not every day that I get to teach someone, you know?”

I said, holding up two fingers in response to Horazon’s invitation.

   “I decline for two reasons. One is because I don’t think I could do justice to your teachings, and the other is because your invitation is so precious.”

   Horazon looked at me as if he didn’t understand my words.

   “I don’t know about the former, but if it’s the latter, shouldn’t I be the one to oversee your training?”

I shook my head at his words.

   “No, it is not, and it is even more unworthy of me than it is of you. There are many young knights in this room right now who are full of talent and eager to learn from your teachings.”

   At my words, the knights laughed, as if they had forgotten their earlier displeasure.

   Gee, that’s nice, you single celled bastards.

   “But if I take up your time,” I said, “it is no different than taking away the knight’s opportunity to make your teachings more valuable, and that is a great loss to this country.”

   The knights seemed moved by my words.

   But the truth was, I was refusing because I feared I might die if I fell into the wrong hands of those crimson fangs.

Horazon’s training, as I had read in the novels, was hell itself.

   It’s a horrible experience that I don’t want to imagine being a part of, even if it’s just for fun when it has nothing to do with me.

   Hearing my words, Horazon closed his eyes for a moment, then suddenly bowed to me and began to apologize.

   “I apologize, Prince. I must have misunderstood you without even knowing you.”

   I smiled bitterly at his apology.

Perhaps it wasn’t a misunderstanding.

   But if the country’s greatest monster thought well of me, that was as good as it got.

   It’s easy to see why Horazon would apologize for something he didn’t need to apologize for.

   “That’s fair enough, and I understand. Hold your head up high, for it is not for you to apologize.”

   I smiled my best personable smile.

The Crimson Fang’s name and exploits were too great for me to earn his loyalty on this occasion.

Alas, what I had now was too little to invest to win an advantage, so for now, I was content to earn Horazon’s favor.

I was considering going to the bottom of the barrel of life, where I could invest with what I had now.

Invest in the pile of trash.

   That’s my philosophy.

(Continued in next installment)