The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

“Phew~! It’s cold.”

I exhaled pure white breath and put on a thick coat.

It felt like the temperature was dropping rapidly as we got closer to the Bastille Mountains.

Even Gilbert shivered despite wearing thick fur clothes.

“It’s April now, so why is it so cold here?”

At Gilbert’s question, I answered while looking at the castle visible in the distance.

“They say it’s due to the magical phenomenon spanning the entire Bastille Mountains. Areas farther from the mountains are warmer than here even if you go further north, so that says it all.”

Still, this weather was considered spring weather in Bastille.

Bastille’s winter lasts a total of 5 months from November to March.

Even though nearly half of the year is winter, the people of Blantzbarg closely located to Bastille don’t lament about the long winter.

To them, winter is a time of rest when monsters don’t invade.

In fact, this cold was almost like a seal the then-current Sage of the Winter Tree had spread across the mountains long ago to seal the monsters’ movements, so calling it rest wasn’t wrong.

“I see. Then it must be hard to farm, will the people here be alright?”

Gilbert, befitting of his dream to be a knight who saves people, worried about ordinary people.

“All food is supplied from the central government, so it’s fine. Of course, it’s distributed with priority to the warriors fighting monsters, but they receive enough support for the people to live on, even excluding the stockpile for emergencies.”

It’s in exchange for defending the border from the Bastille Mountains.

In other words, it was like receiving food in exchange for the warriors’ lives.

“No, I guess the support is reduced during this time of spring poverty? Was last year a good harvest?”

At my question, Gilbert pondered for a moment before answering.

“No, I heard there was a drought last year, although not severe.”

“Really? Then this year’s supply will be reduced, and they’ll be saving food.”

Even if there’s a drought, the support to Blantzbarg doesn’t get cut off.

History records what kind of damage occurs if Blantzbarg is breached.

About 60 years ago… no, 57 years ago from now.

57 years ago, the fortress was breached when the Blantzbarg commander from 3 generations prior died in battle. That incident resulted in nearly 30,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

Thanks to all the monsters in the mountains going into hibernation that winter, the fortress was easily restored, but alot national power had to be spent to suppress the monsters that had settled in the area.

“Then the marquis of Blantzbarg at the time must have been in trouble.”

At Sillua’s question, I shook my head.

“No, in the first place, the reason the fortress was breached was because the central government barely provided supplies. It ended with a few supply officers and related nobles being beheaded. I heard there was no major reprimand for the marquis of Blantzbarg at the time.”

Of course, the fact that the commander at the time died in battle could be seen as a big enough loss.

In the territories near the Bastille Mountains, ‘Blantzbarg’ wasn’t just a family that had served as commanders for generations, but an existence like a guardian deity.

“Aha~! I see!”

As the two of us were talking about this and that, Precia, who had been scouting the castle, returned.

“How’s the castle situation looking?”

“As you said, young master, it seems the monsters are slowly waking from hibernation and coming down the mountains in search of food.”

At Precia’s answer, I nodded.

“Good work. It doesn’t seem like the full-scale monster overflow has started yet, so we should be able to meet the Sword Demon.”

When it’s busy, the fortress commander Demiway goes around the mountains with knights to suppress monsters, so it’s impossible to meet him.

To freely roam the mountains outside the designated areas, Demiway’s permission was needed.

It was because if a group of explorers who don’t know much stir up a monster den without permission, it could cause damage to residential areas.

Of course, it would be fine to move in secret, but it was better not to create a situation where the relationship with the Sword Demon goes awry for the future.

We headed towards the castle visible in the distance, the ‘Cradle of the Sword Demon’.

******

Demiway scanned the large map hung on the wall of the commander’s office with his eyes.

“Northeast, 700 meters northwest from Shell Rock. From there, 1300 meters southward. Then 1800 meters westward again. And northwest, 300 meters southeast from Cross Rock, then 2100 meters westward from there.”

The places Demiway’s eyes passed over were all spots where new monster colonies had formed during the last winter.

There were so many monsters in the mountains that no matter how much they suppressed them, new colonies formed in just a few days.

“Are these all the colonies confirmed to be annihilated?”

At his question, the Special Forces Captain nodded.

“According to what has been discovered so far, yes. Reports from areas outside the regular search range have not arrived yet.”

At the Special Forces Captain’s report, Demiway became serious.

The reason his expression wasn’t good even though monster colonies were annihilated was because they didn’t suppress the monsters.

“Possibility of territorial fights?”

At Demiway’s question, the Special Forces Captain shook his head.

“As written in the report, in the case of territorial fights, there should be traces of group battles, but we couldn’t find any. What we found were… piles of bloody bones and traces of a giant moving.”

Monsters in the Bastille Mountains are more ferocious and numerous than monsters in other regions.

The fact that monster colonies were annihilated one after another in just a few days meant that a monster strong enough to annihilate that many monsters had started its activity.

“As expected, that thing has awakened from its slumber after 20 years.”

At Demiway’s words, the commanders of each unit gathered in the commander’s office hardened their expressions.

“If it’s that thing, do you mean the monster that was injured by the previous generation’s sword and went into hiding?”

At the question of the man wearing a knight order uniform with a snowflake emblem, Demiway nodded.

“Yeah. The one that swallowed my father’s arm and killed my great-grandfather 57 years ago is rampaging again.”

At Demiway’s confident voice, the commander’s office was filled with tension.

“The snowy plains’ great demon beast ‘Red Eyes’ has started its activity again…!”

“How can this be. That monster…!”

The snowy plains’ great demon beast ‘Red Eyes’ was a deeply rooted symbol of fear in nearby territories.

It was also a monster commonly mentioned by adults to scare children who were throwing tantrums.

“To properly deal with it this time, I requested for them to send Horazon, that rascal, from the central government a few days ago.”

At Demiway’s words, the unit commanders murmured noisily.

“Commander! We alone are sufficient!”

“That’s right! Those central bastards might mock us as cowards!”

At their protests, Demiway slammed his fist on the desk.

“Shut up! It’s the soldiers who die for your vain fame and pride! It’s the soldiers’ mothers who shed tears of blood!”

At his shout, the unit commanders shut their mouths.

“Of course, I’ll be the one to take it down. I’ll have that rascal handle the surrounding cleanup. If it’s him, he’ll sufficiently fill my absence.”

At Demiway’s words, the unit commanders nodded heavily with relief.

For the safety of the soldiers, they could whine a few times.

The Sword Demon’s eyes shone with fighting spirit and murderous energy.

“This time, I’ll definitely end that thing’s legend.”

*****

This place, a huge fortress and city, had no special inspections, perhaps because it wasn’t a place to fight against people.

“Even though it’s a fortress, there’s no inspection. Aside from other villages or cities, don’t cities where a lord resides usually have at least a simple inspection?”

At Precia’s question, I chuckled.

“This is Bastille. Even if criminals sneak in, they won’t be able to rampage here, so they don’t bother with inspections.”

At my answer, Precia and Gilbert looked around and soon understood.

The people walking around, regardless of gender, were all muscular.

This place is a barren land of frigid cold.

Even if supplies come from the central government, hunting is a must to survive here.

In this place teeming with monsters, even to become a lumberjack, one had to be able to handle a horde of orcs alone.

“Another alias for Bastille is ‘Homeland of Warriors’.”

Bastille’s specialties were monster byproducts and rare magical ingredients that grew in the mountains.

Both were things that could only be obtained by entering the mountains, so one had to risk their life.

I crossed the city and headed towards the lord’s castle in the center of the fortress.

The size of the lord’s castle didn’t look that big, it seemed more like a military facility with high towers for monitoring all directions rather than a lord’s castle.

Arriving in front of the castle gate, a soldier blocked the way.

“What business do you have at the lord’s castle?”

At the soldier’s question, I immediately took out the royal knight identification badge.

“We are these people.”

The soldier blankly looked at the badge and blinked, asking,

“What’s this?”

I didn’t expect him to be surprised upon seeing the badge, but this was a refreshing reaction.

“Perhaps you can’t read?”

Even if he didn’t know the royal emblem, it clearly said ‘Royal Knight’, yet he asked what it was.

At my question, the soldier scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

“Ahahaha, a soldier just needs to be good at beating up monsters, do they need to know letters too?”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

This land prioritized survival, not academics.

In the first place, considering the high illiteracy rate in this world, it would be unusual for a low-ranking soldier to know letters.

“Hey, Jack! Can you read?”

At the soldier’s question, a soldier who seemed to be a comrade answered with a yawn.

“Dude, if I could read, I’d be looking at documents inside, not standing out here in the cold.”

“Ahahaha! That’s true! Then what should we do?”

The soldier called Jack looked at me again.

“Then someone who can read… no, just call the highest person you can. You came to see a high-ranking person anyway.”

At my request, the soldier pondered for a moment.

“Uh… what should I say when calling them?”

“Just say someone with a flashy and expensive-looking identification badge has come.”

“Aha! Simple! I thought I’d only ever shout about monsters invading, it’s the first time a guest has come.”

The soldier, laughing to himself, spoke to the soldier standing next to him.

“Hey, Jack. I’ll be back in a bit, so guard well.”

The soldier called Jack waved his hand as if it was troublesome, and the soldier went into the castle.

Not long after, a knight with a sash came out leading the way.

“I’m Centurion Hans. Are you the ones with the flashy and expensive-looking identification badge?”

At his question, I showed the royal knight identification badge.

“Yes, to enter…”

“Ah! Royal Knight! You came earlier than expected, so I couldn’t inform the soldiers in advance. This has been very rude of us!”

Centurion Hans grabbed my hand and shook it as if shaking hands.

But what does he mean by coming early? What is he talking about?

Before I could ask, he looked around as if searching for something.

“But where is Sir Horazon? Ah! You all must be the advance party! No wonder you came so early.”

Doing his own thing, he came to a conclusion on his own.

“Come in. I’ll guide you straight to the Commander.”

What is this situation?

Before I could grasp the situation, we were guided to the commander’s office where the Sword Demon Demiway was, as if being pushed from behind.