The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

Nivel, who had stayed up for several nights, collapsed on the desk and groaned.

“Ugh… Arisa, I envy you. Since you have no background, you don’t get mobilized for things like this.”

Nivel, who came from a noble family and held a high position in the Magic Tower, had been meeting with nobles who would advocate for the Queen, using all her connections to prevent the Queen’s deposition over the past 3 weeks.

“Nyahaha… Who says I’m not mobilized, Nivel?”

Arisa, limply sprawled on the sofa, weakly raised her hand and stuck up her middle finger.

Arisa had also been busy running around.

Although not a noble like Nivel, Arisa, who had connections in the underworld, had been busy with various behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

The Queen’s abuse incident was a huge event that threatened to collapse the political foundation prepared by the shady organization they belonged to, Arcana.

Therefore, Arcana was doing its utmost to deal with the situation.

“Ugh… This is a nightmare.”

“Nyahaha, I agree. I heard that to resolve this incident, ’00, The Fool’, ’01, The Magician’, ’09, The Hermit’, and even ’03, The Empress’ are coming here.”

At Arisa’s words, Nivel was startled and got up from her seat.

“What?! Even ‘The Empress’ has been mobilized? That person who never leaves her throne actually left the empire?”

“Nyahaha. I was surprised too. There’s no way the Emperor would have easily let that monster at the center of the empire’s politics go. That’s how bad the situation is.”

Nivel sat back down with a dejected expression.

“Well, the 1st Prince, one of the main targets that must be killed, left the capital so carelessly, so there’s not even enough leeway to deploy a Number.”

The 1st Prince leaving the palace was a golden opportunity for them.

They had to be extremely cautious when setting foot in the palace.

Not only Horazon but also Wisel, one of the Eight Sages of the Magic Path and the pinnacle of all mages in the world, had to be wary not to be caught by the Grand Duke.

Although Horazon’s senses as one of the Ten Heavenly Swords were formidable, there was currently no mage in the kingdom who could use magic in the palace while evading the eyes of Count Wisel.

“By the way, the King is really cruel. Nyahahaha! To create a justification, he assaulted that weak prince over a long period.”

Arcana judged that it was the King, not the Queen, who had abused the prince.

In fact, since the 1st Prince had publicly shown traces close to long-term abuse, the King must have temporarily removed the prince so that he wouldn’t say anything strange later.

At Arisa’s words, Nivel seemed to have no strength to even respond and banged her forehead on the desk without answering.

Seeing no reaction, Arisa grumbled, finding it boring.

“The escort was mediocre, and we deployed more than enough manpower, so it should be fine. Come to think of it, the results report should be coming in soon.”

As soon as Arisa finished speaking, one of her subordinates hurriedly entered the room where they were.

“We have a big problem! The operation has failed!”

At those words, Nivel, who had been lying on the desk, got up again.

“What?!”

Arisa, who had been lying on the sofa, also sat up with a serious expression.

“Nya… Report in detail.”

“Yes. According to the report, our abduction team and the 1st Prince’s escorts annihilated each other.”

Arisa frowned and grabbed the collar of the reporting subordinate.

“What? The preliminary investigation showed that they were nothing special! At best, they should have been scum clinging to those in power!”

“Kuk! Kuk-kuk!”

When Arisa released her collar, the subordinate, able to breathe again, gasped for air and answered.

“Th-that’s because according to the informant planted on the palace side, it seems the escorts used special drugs to temporarily enhance their physical abilities.”

“Drugs?”

“Yes. We’ll have to obtain blood samples from the bodies the royal family recovered to know the details, but it’s presumed to be a drug circulated by the Poison Institute. In fact, the report sent by the guys who went to investigate the scene suggests that there was a considerable chaotic battle.”

At the subordinate’s report, Arisa rubbed her forehead as if having a headache and cursed.

“The Poison Institute, those money-crazed bastards…! What about the 1st Prince? Since it failed, he should be alive. Did he return to the palace?”

“Ah! No. The 1st Prince is reported to be missing.”

“What?!”

The 1st Prince’s disappearance was troublesome.

To be precise, it was troublesome if he died without them knowing.

In the 1st Prince’s blood, a seal placed by the founding emperor in his bloodline was dormant.

When the host dies, that seal is transferred to one of the founding emperor’s newly-born descendants.

Therefore, they had to prepare to release the seal in time with the 1st Prince’s death, but if the prince died somewhere, they would have to search for the newly born seal again.

The founding emperor lived several hundred years ago.

He already had many concubines.

It was impossible to keep track of all his descendants, even for Arcana, who moved the world from behind the scenes.

“More importantly, the 1st Prince’s disappearance isn’t the critical issue right now!”

At the subordinate’s words, Arisa looked at him as if asking what he meant.

“An order letter bearing the Queen’s seal was found on the corpses of the abduction team we sent! And it was an order to kill the 1st Prince!”

At those words, Arisa and Nivel shouted simultaneously.

“What?!”

“What?!”

For them, the real hardship was just beginning.

*******

“Ah, the weather is nice.”

I rode my horse, gazing at the clear blue sky without a single cloud.

Quite a few horses survived the attack by the assassins targeting me, so we could each ride one.

Originally, the plan was to procure horses from a nearby city, but fortunately, we didn’t have to.

“Prince, I mean, Young Master.”

When Gilbert called me, I turned to look at Gilbert riding to my left.

Although nervous as it was his first time riding a horse, Gilbert quickly got used to it with his innate athletic sense.

He’s already having a conversation while riding.

It took me about a week to ride like that, but he’s riding like that after half a day.

Realizing the difference in our bodies anew, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“What is it?”

“Even though there was an attack, wouldn’t it be better to return to the palace?”

Gilbert was worried about me and advised me to go back.

Come to think of it, I had explained the rough reason to Precia, but I didn’t have time to do so for Gilbert.

“Hmm… Gilbert. Right now, the palace is full of people who want to kill me, you know?”

It’s not just Arcana.

Since I was the one who cornered the Queen, the nobles belonging to the Queen’s faction would want to tear me apart right away.

The King would try to seize the nobles’ privileges on a large scale this time, and the palace would currently be in the midst of a full-scale political turmoil.

“So it’s more dangerous to go back now. At least while we’re on the run like this, the enemies won’t know my location.”

“Ah… That makes sense.”

Gilbert seemed slightly disappointed by my explanation.

It was a natural reaction since the longer my journey, the longer he would be separated from his sickly sister.

“Then where are we going? To Ziliville, the resort city that was our original destination?”

Ziliville was a famous resort city bordering the sea, but it was also known as a trade city.

I plan to visit there at least once if I get the chance, but not now.

“No, we’re going north to Bastille.”

At my words, Precia and Gilbert’s expressions hardened.

“Is Bastille the place I know of?”

“That’s right.”

When I affirmed, Precia spoke in an urgent voice to dissuade me.

“Young Master! It’s dangerous! Why on earth are you trying to go to such a place?!”

Because deep in the Bastille Mountains is Jade, the protagonist of “The Sage of the Winter Tree”.

“Well, there’s something I need there, and it’s a good environment for you and Gilbert to train.”

At my answer, Gilbert was taken aback.

“But Bastille is called the end of the world, the hell of the human realm?”

I chuckled and nodded.

“That’s why it’s a good place to train. Ah, but there’s a place I need to visit first, so we’ll stop by there before going. Going to Bastille isn’t an urgent matter right now.”

The place we’re going to from now on is where the worst weapon that must not fall into enemy hands is located.

If it’s the current time period, it should be before it falls into Arcana’s hands.

We must somehow destroy it before it falls into the enemy’s hands.

*****

Late in the morning, an elderly man woke up from his sleep.

Opening his eyes, the old man blankly stared at the ceiling and shed tears.

“I woke up today too. It would have been nice if I just didn’t wake up.”

Muttering the words he said every morning, the old man wiped his tears with his sleeve and got up from the bed with no strength.

As the old man got up, a beautiful woman with skin like white jade approached him, holding a tray with a glass of water and medicine.

“Good morning, Master. Did you have a peaceful night?”

Even at the woman’s question, the old man silently drank the water and threw the medicine out the window without answering.

Despite the old man’s actions, the woman smiled and said, “It’s good to see you taking your medicine well.”

As if acting mechanically in a predetermined manner, she slightly extended the tray to the old man, and he placed the water glass on the tray.

Receiving the water glass, the woman placed her right hand on her chest and bowed slightly in greeting.

The old man looked at her hand and asked, “Why aren’t you wearing gloves? Zillian No. 79.”

The finger joints of the one called Zillian No. 79 were distinctly divided joint by joint, like a doll’s.

“Searching the records for the answer to Master’s question, ‘Why aren’t you wearing gloves?’. Please wait a moment. Thank you.”

After saying that, Zillian No. 79’s eyes glowed blue and then faded.

“…Search complete. 5 hours, 53 minutes, and 23 seconds ago from the current time, the Young Lady requested gloves, so I gave them to her.”

“Silua did… I see.”

At Zillian No. 79’s answer, the old man had sorrowful eyes.

“Where is Silua now?”

“Searching for the answer to Master’s question, ‘Where is Silua now?’. The current coordinates of the Young Lady’s location based on her living room are 0.05, 0.13, 0.00. She is in the registered location ‘Backyard’.”

“Backyard? Is she with the antique again?”

Zillian No. 79 nodded at the old man’s guess.

“Affirmative, she is helping Antique No. 5 carry firewood.”

“Tsk! Useless thing to do.”

Clicking his tongue, the old man put on the coat hanging on the hanger and infused mana into the coat.

Then, the magic engraved on the coat activated, warming up the coat that had cooled down.

Although spring was approaching, the northern weather was still chilly for the old man.

“Give me my cane.”

At the old man’s instruction, Zillian No. 79 activated the spatial magic formation built into her arm and took out a not-so-long magic cane.

“Here it is, Master.”

Receiving the cane, the old man leaned on it and limped.

“Master, do you need support?”

“No need.”

“Yes, understood.”

Zillian No. 79 put the tray and water glass into the spatial storage, and with a default smile on her face, she silently followed behind the old man.

The old man left the bedroom and headed to the backyard.

In the backyard, there was a small golem made of iron chopping firewood called ‘Antique No. 5’, a small girl with white hair called ‘Silua’ carrying firewood next to it, and a blond young man he had never seen before.

Seeing the unfamiliar young man, the old man shouted in surprise.

“Who are you?! How did you infiltrate this place?! Get away from Silua right now!”

At the old man’s shout, Zillian No. 79, who had been following behind, took out a claymore too large for a person to wield from the spatial storage.

“Intruder detected. Shall I eliminate him, Master?”

The young man with a frail-looking impression put down the firewood he was holding and raised both hands.

“I surrender.”

The young man showed a bright smile.