Chapter 15 - Not Everything Was Gone After All (2)

In magic and foraging, they could not match the elves,

and in fortification and metallurgy, they could not keep up with the dwarves.

In combat and hunting, they were inferior to orcs,

and in military might and wisdom, they could not compare to giants.

Humans were merely one of the many races that existed in this world.

Elves despised human savagery, and dwarves laughed at the primitiveness of human cities.

Orcs hunted humans, and giants trampled human cities underfoot.

It was an age when they were desperate simply to survive.

An age when being robbed and killed was commonplace.

There were those who put an end to that history of living like livestock.

Saviors who gathered the scattered humans, led them once they were united as one, and after a long Great War, finally made humanity the dominant species of the continent.

People called them the 「Five Prince-Electors」.

Among them was one who beheaded 「Eda」, king of the giants, and ended that long history of exploitation.

「Iron-blooded Sword Marquis」 Agnes Bayern, my master from my past.

I recalled the battlefields I had shared with her.

I could vividly see her charging without hesitation toward hundreds of giant soldiers, beings said to trample a city alone and bring down an entire castle when ten gathered.

["What did these ■-damned ■■ crawl in here again hoping to scavenge!"]

["You ■■■ bastards! Do you think those ■-damned bastards will back off just because you fall on your asses and whine! Stop talking ■ and get up right now and fight until your ■ falls off!"]

Mm.

Just remembering it made me feel as if my ears were being defiled.

I stopped reminiscing.

At any rate.

She was a knight without equal, and a great commander.

Among the knights of that era, there was not one who did not worship her.

In a way, it was only natural that the surviving knights gathered around her family when the war ended.

The Iron-blooded Sword Marquis and her powerful knight order.

The forces gathered under the Bayern family were enough to make even the other Prince-Electors fear them.

If a king were to be born, it would be from the Bayern family.

That was the extraordinary house known as the Prince-Elector House of Bayern.

And now the maid before me claimed to be her descendant.

"Ha."

It was so absurd that it went beyond disbelief and nearly gave me a headache.

On top of that, judging by the look of her, she seemed to have no idea how remarkable her ancestor had been.

I could not even begin to guess what had happened during all the time I had been asleep.

"You..."

Just then, the carriage stopped.

BANG BANG.

Someone knocked on the shutter.

Adelia Bayern asked my leave, then opened the window.

"Your Highness. We have arrived at our destination."

Karl reported, peeking in from beyond the window.

"What timing."

For a moment, I considered turning back, Eli or whatever be damned.

But the thought did not last long.

Adelia Bayern was my personal maid.

There would be many chances to speak with her from now on.

The Eli side was different.

After today, I would never attend a gathering like this again.

"Your Highness?"

"Never mind. And you, you and I are going to have a little talk later."

I glanced at Karl, then spoke to Adelia Bayern.

At my words, she replied that she understood, with a face like a frightened deer.

Seeing that put me in a needlessly foul mood.

When I opened the door and stepped out, Karl looked back and forth between me and Adelia Bayern.

"Your Highness. Did she perhaps do something wrong..."

Then he asked me cautiously.

"Stop asking."

"My apologies, Your Highness."

Karl turned away with an awkward expression.

"I shall lead the way."

The carriage had entered a well-kept garden.

Not far from the carriage stood a large building.

It was a mansion decorated entirely in white.

And around it, soldiers armed with spears and swords stood in formation.

Judging by the crest engraved on their chests, they were clearly soldiers sent from the royal palace.

And in the middle of them stood one man dressed to the nines.

The man dropped to one knee with exaggerated movements.

His face, like that of a priest welcoming the Holy Spirit, was rather burdensome.

"Bernard of the Eli family greets Your Highness Prince Adrian Leonberk. I cannot say how glad I am to see you safe and sound."

I quickly looked the man up and down.

"Yet seeing Your Highness, who once possessed such an imposing presence, looking so lean now fills me with sorrow as I imagine the hardships you must have endured..."

This talkative bastard from the Eli family...

Looking at the blond pretty boy with his greasy air, I immediately used my power.

A status window rose into the air.

"Your Highness? Are you perhaps still feeling unwell?"

When I stared wordlessly into the air, Bernard Eli put on a show of concern.

"No. Just. I was thinking it was a good thing I came."

I smiled as I looked at him.

"Thanks to you, today is going to be very enjoyable."

Seeing my smile, he wore a puzzled look for a moment, then quickly replied in a deeply honored tone.

"I only hope I can live up to your expectations. Then, this way, if you please."

He turned to guide me, then looked back again.

"Ah, yes. We have prepared a separate place for Your Highness's knights."

Karl looked at me.

I nodded to him.

Karl looked reluctant, but he did not disobey the order.

"Then let us go."

And so, leaving the Royal Knights behind, I headed inside.

The inside and outside of the mansion were completely different worlds.

The clear air of the summer night was nowhere to be found, and a strange incense stung my nose.

As I watched smoke like mist waver in the candlelight lining both sides of the corridor, I somehow felt as if reality were slipping away.

"Your Highness."

The maids passing through the corridor bowed their heads when they saw me.

Each time, the masses of exposed flesh on their bodies dazzled my eyes.

Were they wearing clothes or not?

The strong scent of powder suddenly pierced my nose, and my mood grew strangely unsettled.

Beside me, Bernard Eli spoke in a boastful tone.

"The real thing is inside."

"Uh, sure."

I gave a perfunctory answer and continued down the corridor.

From time to time, when we passed beside tightly closed doors, embarrassing noises leaked out.

["Oh, stop...! If you...!"]

A sound that somehow made me want to prick up my ears.

"Your Highness?"

It seemed my steps had slowed without my realizing it.

Bernard Eli looked back at me.

His expression seemed to peer into my thoughts, and the corners of his mouth were twisted.

"Yeah, let's go."

I followed him down the corridor.

After walking for quite a while, we reached a fairly large door at the end of the hall.

"Now then."

He grinned broadly, turned the doorknob, and opened the door.

Through the gap that widened little by little, I saw what lay beyond.

Beyond the pale smoke, I saw scantily clad women.

I also saw men in a state of complete disarray.

Some held wineglasses in one hand and women in the other, while others had women on both sides.

Men and women who looked as if they were melting away filled the room.

What a complete mess.

Watching them revel without even knowing who had arrived, I naturally frowned.

"Look at these fellows. You do not even know who has come! Hurry and rise!"

A step too late, Bernard Eli shouted.

He cried out in a great fuss, but there was not the slightest hint of rebuke in his voice.

"Who is it?"

"A new member?"

The men looked at me with dazed eyes and tilted their heads.

It seemed they could not connect the bloated scoundrel with the current me.

"What do you mean, a new member! This is His Highness Prince Adrian Leonberk!"

At those words, the men's eyes went round.

"Why, Your Highness! How have you become so fine-looking! I failed to recognize you!"

"Seeing you come here and show us that you are safe and sound brings tears to my eyes!"

The wineglasses in their hands, and the women tucked under their arms, remained exactly as they were.

There was none of the etiquette that ought to be observed when dealing with royalty, nor the bare minimum of respect due to a prince.

And no one pointed it out.

Ha.

So this is how it is.

It was a sight that told me plenty about how the scoundrel had usually mingled with them.

"Your Highness."

Bernard Eli, who had at least worn the face of a nobleman when we first met, even if it had been false, no longer existed.

"This way."

With the same hazy face as the other men, he led me to the innermost seat.

SNAP.

The sound of fingers snapping.

"Seeing how fine Your Highness has become, this girl's heart is pounding so hard I don't know what to do."

"My heart has been running wild for ages already."

As if they had been waiting, women appeared and approached me, fawning.

"Then, now that Your Highness has arrived, let us have ourselves a proper good time!"

Bernard Eli shouted, raising his glass high.

* * *

"So the daughter of that Norn family, you see. As if nothing had ever happened, she lifted her skirt like this! Wide open!"

"Goodness! The rice was cooked and the meal was ready, then!"

On one side, lewd jokes were being exchanged,

"My, my. What nice soft flesh you have."

"Oh. I hate it when you tease me too much."

and on another, nasal cooing voices were leaking out.

"My old man said he would dig me out of the family register."

"And what happened then?"

"What do you think happened! Who else is there to inherit the Balson family but me!"

On one side, I heard heroic tales that were not heroic tales at all.

And the First Prince watched all of it without a word.

Bernard Eli tilted his head as he looked at that prince.

By now, whether it was wine or women, the prince should have been thoroughly drunk on something and out of his senses, yet he was far too sober.

Perhaps it was because he had lost weight, but somehow, even his atmosphere seemed different.

It bothered him strangely.

"Hmm."

After watching him, Bernard Eli slipped closer and spoke in a deliberately stern tone.

"You wench! What are you doing instead of properly attending to His Highness!"

The women he had paid a high price to bring in clung to the prince with coquettish smiles in their eyes.

"How about you move away? These are expensive clothes."

"Oh, my. What a joke."

"It isn't a joke."

He was smiling, but it was impossible to tell whether the words he spoke were a joke or the truth.

With an awkward expression, the woman looked at Bernard Eli.

Nod.

At his nod, the woman slowly lowered her hand and drew away.

"Is something making you uncomfortable, perhaps? Shall I send the women away?"

When Bernard Eli asked while gauging his mood, the prince waved a hand.

"No. Don't mind me and keep doing what you were doing."

Judging by that cocky tone, he was certainly the usual First Prince.

But Bernard Eli could not do as he said.

So he was about to refresh the raucous atmosphere when someone plopped down beside the prince.

"Your Highness, how have you become so fine-looking? If there is a secret, please tell me as well."

It was the son of Baron Balson.

"Could it be that if I stick a sword into myself, I might become like that too?"

"Come now, man! Would an ordinary sword do? It would have to be at least the royal treasured sword that His Highness used!"

Before Bernard Eli could stop them, one man after another rushed in and spouted nonsense.

Without realizing it, he checked the prince's expression.

Fortunately, the prince was smiling.

"So if we have that treasured sword, does that mean we can become handsome men like Your Highness too?"

"Your Highness! Please lend me that sword as well! There is a woman I have been putting effort into lately, but she simply refuses to fall for me."

The members cackled as they tossed jokes back and forth.

It was certainly the same scene as always.

And yet, why was it?

Bernard Eli kept feeling as if his heart were shriveling.

"Ah, right. I hear you plucked the flower of Iron Lion Castle?"

And that feeling grew even stronger when the son of Baron Balson brought up Arwen Kirgayen.

"I had my eye on her for ages myself, and if I had known this would happen, I should have taken her oath first. She was already so lovely just wearing armor, so how splendid must the bare flesh beneath it be..."

"Hey."

A low voice cut off the lewd talk.

It was the prince's voice.

"Balson or Ball-sack or whatever. You."

Bernard Eli felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him, and he examined the prince's expression.

The prince was still smiling.

"Do you have a younger brother or a sister?"

"Have you forgotten already? I have one younger sibling."

"Really? That's good."

The prince took hold of a wineglass.

"Your line won't die out, then."

"Y-Your Highness? What do you mean by... Ah!"