The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

At my suggestion, Abassael let out a dumbfounded sneer.

“Ha! What nonsense! Give me freedom and what I want most? Do you even know what I want most?!”

Seeing him getting worked up, I replied as if it was no big deal.

“What would a wizard who lost his magic want most? Obviously to regain his magic.”

“You’re saying you’ll give me what I want even knowing that?”

He mocked me with an expression that looked like his ears would rot hearing it.

Watching him, I approached him and sat on the desk.

“Yes. I’m proposing it because I know. I know how to lift the curse you’re under, ‘Mistletoe that Grows in Reverse’.”

At my words, his empty, dead eyes began to blaze with intense rage.

“There’s no way such a thing exists! If it did…if it did, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

But the momentary flame quickly subsided, consumed by deep despair.

Looks like I need to deal with that apathy first.

“Listen carefully. Your curse is a wretched one modeled after a tale from mythology. It forces part of a mythological phenomenon and corrodes your entire body. But the fact that it’s modeled after a mythological tale also means that the tale contains clues to lifting the curse.”

Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what it means since it’s something Jade said in the novel, but I said it verbatim anyway.

Abassael, who was praised as a genius, should know something about it.

As I expected, something seemed to occur to Abassael at my words as his eyes widened and darted around.

“The clues are in the mythological tale… Yes, so that’s what it was!”

I don’t know what he figured out on his own, but he calmed down after getting excited by himself.

“I understand what you’re saying. Damn it, if I had known that earlier, I would have at least died an unnatural death rather than being locked up in a place like this.”

I patted the shoulder of Abassael, who was mired in severe self-loathing.

“There’s no need for self-reproach. Either way, it was thanks to Boutique’s cooperation that the witch cursed you, so from the moment you were cursed, you were destined to be trapped here.”

At my not-quite-comforting words, Abassael jumped up.

“What?! You’re saying Boutique was in cahoots with that bitch?!”

The reason Abassael lost his magic, was imprisoned by Boutique, and ended up working as an engraver was more absurd than one would think.

This naive fool failed to recognize the witch deliberately approaching him and tried to give her everything, only to fall into a trap and get cursed.

Of course, the witch who made him lose his magic left his side once she got what she wanted, and Boutique approached Abassael as he wandered after losing everything.

They coaxed Abassael, promising to help him make a living and find a way to regain his magic together.

Taken in by their smooth talk, all Abassael gained was the same daily hard labor of engraving and three meals a day.

“Didn’t you think it was strange? There’s no way an organization would so conveniently offer help to someone who lost everything, right?”

At my point, he let out an empty laugh.

“Ha, hahaha. No way. They weren’t just approaching me to take advantage of my downfall? They were working with that witch! To put such a curse on me! And reached out saying they’d solve the curse with me!”

The young wizard who was praised as the future sage that every wizard dreams of becoming was truly ignorant of the ways of the world and foolish.

In the extinguished wick of his heart, the flames of rage and hatred began to burn.

It wasn’t a very good mindset, but it was much better than being apathetic and doing nothing.

With strong will emerging, Abassael discarded his previous indifferent attitude and began using his clever mind.

“How did you know that? No, before that, what’s your reason for telling me?”

Finally acting like a wizard.

I really like it.

“The reason I know is simple. This place, Boutique, is pretty much a subordinate of those trying to kill me. To be exact, my enemy is Boutique’s biggest client.”

Precia looked at me in surprise at my words.

These words were meant for Precia as well.

“I’ve been investigating my enemies who have been trying to kill me for a long time. One day, Boutique’s existence was caught in my information network, and I finished figuring out Boutique to some extent. Information about your existence and the curse you’re under… honestly, it was something I obtained by chance while investigating.”

Of course it’s a lie.

It hasn’t even been a month since I entered this body, so there’s no way I could have built such an information network.

Still, he should know that Boutique is hiding its existence from the outside, so saying I knew from the start and investigated would seem more convincing than saying it was by chance.

As I thought, Abassael’s hostile expression changed as he felt a strange persuasiveness in my words about chance.

“I see. Then I have one more question. Julian, that young man, called you a valued customer. If Boutique is your enemy, how did you come to meet me as a customer?”

At his question, I pondered for a moment before answering.

“That answer is difficult. If you don’t become my person, you could tell Boutique, so it won’t work.”

When I refused to answer, Abassael narrowed his brow.

“Are you saying I’ll side with Boutique?”

“No. Considering what happened to you, you won’t side with Boutique.”

“Then why?”

At Abassael’s question, I let out a light sigh.

“Seems like you haven’t used your head for too long. Are you confident you won’t spill under torture? Are you that confident in your endurance?”

“That’s…!”

He lowered his gaze slightly, seemingly lacking confidence himself.

Seeing him, I laughed inwardly.

I guess people’s mental faculties really slow down after repeating simple labor for several years.

If it was him at his prime when he was brilliant, he would have easily noticed that Boutique isn’t so easy that I could use the same method again regardless of what method I used to enter.

Deliberately sighing as if doing him a favor, I said:

“Alright, to gain a person’s trust, you have to take risks. I’ll tell you how I got in here.”

Abassael’s eyes widened in surprise, not having expected it.

“I got in by impersonating the subordinate of a Boutique customer. By the way, the customer I impersonated is the Queen of this country.”

At my words, Abassael and Precia were shocked.

Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t tell Precia.

“You’re crazy…! You must be crazy! How could you impersonate the Queen when you had nothing else to impersonate?!”

At his shout, I scolded him as if berating.

“Get a grip! My enemy and your enemy are so powerful that we can’t deal with each other without doing that! Do you know who the witch that cursed you belongs to? It’s the Shadow Tower!”

When I revealed the shocking information again, Abassael’s face turned pale.

“The, the Shadow Tower?”

The Shadow Tower was a secret known only to those in the know among the wizards of the Magic Tower, one of the secret organizations hidden within the Magic Tower.

The wizards of the Shadow Tower were all lunatics who believed that for the advancement of magic, law and morality must be discarded.

To join the Shadow Tower, one didn’t necessarily have to belong to the Magic Tower as long as they had the skills.

“Yes. You don’t seem to have realized, but the Shadow Tower highly valued your talent and tried to recruit you. But you, a sensible person, were negative about the Shadow Tower, and those lunatics were going to give up on you meekly. If only they hadn’t accidentally left traces of the Shadow Tower on you in the process of trying to recruit you.”

At my explanation, Abassael held his forehead with a shocked expression.

“They did that to me for just that reason?”

He seemed to have some idea.

“Considering the Shadow Tower’s notoriety, from their perspective, it was a serious problem that could cause the organization to collapse. Especially since you were close friends with the young head of the Wizelga family at the time and were considered a candidate for the next sage.”

Abassael trembled and shed tears.

Deep hatred was etched in his eyes.

“…Is your enemy the Shadow Tower, like me?”

At his question, I shook my head.

“No, higher than that. The Shadow Tower is just a subordinate organization of my enemy. Of course, when dealing with my enemy, we’ll inevitably face them.”

Abassael looked at me with an unbelievable face.

But soon, he made a wry smile and asked me seriously after pondering.

“You said you would give me back my freedom and magic. Then there must be a way, right?”

“Of course. Have you made up your mind now?”

At my playful question, he slowly knelt on one knee before me with a determined face.

“Whoever you are, whatever enemy you fight, it doesn’t matter. If you keep your promise, from this moment on, my magic and staff are yours.”

At his pledge, I smiled satisfactorily and patted his shoulder.

“Good, then take off your clothes.”

At my words, Abassael made a perplexed expression.

For a moment, anxiety flashed across his face, wondering if he had been tricked again, but it was too late.

In for a penny, in for a pound; we live in a world where we turn a blind eye, and if we’re not careful, our hands could be cut off.

“Have you finished your business?”

At Julian’s question, I answered naturally.

“Yes, thanks to you. But for someone called a genius in the past, he was excessively arrogant beyond expectation. No motivation either.”

When I complained, Julian bowed his head, asking for understanding.

“That’s why I tried to convey the errand on your behalf… Our engraver was very rude.”

“Well, it’s fine. I got a lot of good items and finished urgent business, so I should get going now.”

At my words, Julian smiled and guided us to the backyard.

“While you were taking care of business, all the items were loaded onto the carriage.”

As he said, there was a small, old carriage in the backyard.

There was nothing peculiar on the outside, but the windows had curtains drawn so the inside of the carriage couldn’t be seen.

“Would it be alright to take a look inside before departing?”

“Yes, feel free to look.”

I entered the carriage to check the interior.

The carriage was filled with large bags, all expensive space-expanding bags.

I tried to put the bags in the ingredient warehouse, but as if the spatial magic was clashing, small sparks occurred and they wouldn’t go into the storage.

“Tsk, no choice.”

I took the ring off my finger, pulled out the string stored inside, and made a large circle using the ring as a loop.

Then I lifted the bags and poured them into the circle.

“Ugh, damn heavy. Is this only space expansion?”

The string became the entrance to a subspace, and like a bottomless container, the items poured in.

The ingredient storage is the best indeed.

Long live the great Dalanta!

After putting all the items in the storage like that, I had Navi fill the bags with air.

As I got off the carriage, I said:

“Everything looks good. You go inside and guard the items. I’ll drive.”

At my instruction, my companion nodded silently and entered the carriage.

I sat in the driver’s seat and bid farewell to Julian.

“Then you’ve worked hard. If there’s a chance next time, let’s meet again.”

“Yes, if you visit again next time, we will welcome you grandly.”

That probably won’t happen.

By then, I will have already left the capital, and Julian will be demoted.

But how do I drive this carriage? I’ve never even ridden a horse, let alone a carriage.

Well, I’ll just wing it.

I lightly whipped the horse’s butt with the whip.

Woah woah woah! It, it’s moving!

The horse slowly started moving forward, and I pondered.

But how do I stop this thing?

The speed of the carriage was slow, but I felt an inexplicable sense of fear.

Damn it, did I say I’d drive the carriage for nothing?

The carriage went straight along the street. Not knowing how to drive the horse, I stayed still, frozen, and after about 5 minutes, an explosion was heard from far away.

Kwang-!

Because a large explosion occurred at the cathedral where we were until just now, the horses pulling the carriages on the street all neighed and stopped in place at once.

I thought they would bolt, but is it because they’re trained horses?

I was rather relieved that the horse stopped and said:

“See, I told you escaping is very easy, right? Right, Abassael?”

Abassael, who was inside the carriage, took off his mask and answered glumly.

“I…see.”