Chapter 80 - The Princess's Awakening Ceremony (2)

The king looked younger than I had expected. When I heard that his two sons were gearing up to fight over the throne, I’d pictured a decrepit old man. From a distance, though, he looked to be only just entering old age. But when I channeled mana into my eyes and looked closer, the signs of illness on his face were unmistakable.

‘So he really is sick. Is the mana acting like some kind of medicine?’

I could sense mana spilling from the king even at this distance. It was chaotic, as though it had been forced into him until it overflowed.

‘He really may not have much time left.’

I could see that he was keeping himself going by sheer force of mana. His body had to be close to its limit. As a powerful ability user, the king might hold on longer even in that condition, but all he was doing was buying a little time.

‘Well, that’s not my problem.’

Queen Ria followed half a step behind the king. Unlike when I had seen her before, her face was rigid. Two young men walked behind them. One glance was enough to tell me they were the princes: the elder looked to be in his late twenties, the younger in his early twenties. They were the two people closest to becoming the next king.

Since I’d been counted as part of the princess’s faction, they were practically my enemies. Not that either of them knew anything about me.

Behind the princes walked little Princess Aisha. More than ten years younger than the second prince, the ten-year-old followed the king with a tense expression.

Seeing her reminded me of my own awakening ceremony. I remembered my reincarnation, and repeated lives had left me mentally much older than my body, but I had still been terribly nervous. Aisha looked pale with nerves too, though she seemed to be bearing up well for her age.

‘Maybe “wise beyond her years” suits the princess better than it suits me.’

Knights and priests followed behind the princess. This really was a private royal ceremony; only the king’s direct descendants were taking part in the awakening. Yet among those standing at a distance to watch with me, I couldn’t see any of the highest-ranking nobles.

Granted, nobles with territories to govern would have trouble making the trip to the capital. But they could at least have sent representatives, and plenty of nobles lived in the capital. I couldn’t see anyone of that standing among the people around me.

‘I suppose that says a lot about the princess’s position right now.’

She was the daughter of a queen who was still alive, but the age gap between her and her two older brothers was enormous. The king was visibly unwell, and the princes had already built their power bases. Of course few nobles would risk attending the princess’s awakening ceremony and inviting suspicion.

The academy students thought it impressive that I was here to watch. People who knew better might laugh. Then again, perhaps my position wasn’t so different from hers.

Unlike the tomb behind the ducal estate, the royal tomb was far grander and more ornate. The king’s party walked between statues of former kings and entered it. We waited for them to come back out.

Time passed. The royal party was nowhere to be seen, but everyone waiting remained quiet.

Then, a little while later—

WHOOSH.

I felt mana surge inside the tomb. The princess had finally awakened. People whispered among themselves, wondering what inherited ability she had received. Before long, the king and his party emerged.

Their expressions varied. The pale-faced king clicked his tongue. Both princes looked pleased, while the knights and priests seemed a little disappointed. The Queen’s expression had barely changed, and the princess looked composed.

‘Though she doesn’t seem merely composed... Is there a hint of happiness there?’

I couldn’t make sense of the result from their faces. Then I heard Katrin beside me.

“It looks like it went well.”

I turned to look at her. Her face was wreathed in smiles.

* * *

Once the awakening ceremony ended, everyone dispersed. Contrary to what I’d expected, the gathering broke up immediately. Katrin and I went to the Queen’s palace at her summons. We met the Queen and the princess in the large reception room where we had met before.

HUMMM.

A wall of mana surrounded the room. It was different from the soundproof barrier I had once made with mana.

“I’ve blocked every view from outside.”

An older maid bowed to the Queen. She wore a maid’s uniform, but there was no way a woman attending the Queen could be an ordinary servant. She had to be a noble of some standing. The mana wall she had raised was surely her inherited ability.

“Aisha, you can relax now.”

“Phew, that was hard.”

At the Queen’s words, the princess let out a long sigh. Her tense expression gave way to a radiant smile. Katrin smiled at her too.

“You did well. Luckily, it doesn’t look as if anyone noticed.”

“Yes, thanks to you, Katrin.”

Katrin shook her head at the princess’s cheerful reply.

“Alex did more to help than I did.”

“Thank you as well, Lord Alex.”

“I don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve thanks.”

The princess’s gratitude only made me uncomfortable.

For one thing, they had put up a mana wall with me still in the room. That suggested the Queen, the princess, and Katrin were about to discuss a secret only the three of them should know. Why was I mixed up in it?

I didn’t know why the princess was happy or why she was thanking me. Would someone please tell me what was going on?

“Ho ho. I think we’d better explain things to Young Master Alex first.”

The Queen gave a small laugh at my bewilderment and began to speak.

“We couldn’t tell you before because we didn’t know how the awakening would turn out. Luckily, it went well, so I can tell you now.”

Katrin picked up where the Queen left off. At last I was going to hear what I’d been wondering about. Honestly, I might have been better off not hearing it... But judging by the expressions on the Queen, the princess, and Katrin’s faces, it was already too late. As far as they were concerned, I was part of their team. I’d come too far to refuse to listen.

“Ah, first, tell him again what you said at the awakening ceremony about the inherited ability you received.”

At the Queen’s prompting, the princess said, “I told them I had received the Count of Rattenhammar’s inherited ability from my mother’s family: Invisible Sword Aura.”

She picked up the little spoon in front of her. It had been set out for stirring tea, but as soon as she held it, the tip began to shimmer. I had seen that shimmering aura before. It was the ability Katrin had used in the Dungeon. I could use it too when I held the dagger I had found there. Frankly, it was the perfect ability for catching someone by surprise.

Ah. Now I understood the king’s and the princes’ expressions.

The princess had gained an excellent and versatile ability, but it wasn’t a royal one. Both princes possessed Mana Sensitivity, the ability said to belong to the king. With an ability from her mother’s side instead, the princess would now find it difficult to compete with them. That explained why the king had looked displeased and the princes pleased.

But the Queen and the princess hadn’t looked unhappy either. Now they were smiling outright. As I looked at the princess, puzzling it over, something occurred to me. Her wording a moment ago had been strange. She hadn’t said, “I received that inherited ability.” She’d said, “I told them I had received that inherited ability.”

Had she received a different ability and merely claimed to have inherited the Count’s? But the spoon in front of me was still shimmering at the tip.

“Did you actually receive a different ability?” I asked, just in case.

The princess shook her head, while the Queen and Katrin smiled.

“One mustn’t lie at a royal awakening ceremony,” the Queen added. “The princess certainly received Invisible Sword Aura.”

Then Katrin explained why the Queen and the princess were so pleased.

“What a relief. We were so worried. Since it isn’t a royal ability, the princes’ attention will shift away from Her Highness.”

Ah, I see. The princess wasn’t so different from me. If she had gained a royal ability—especially Mana Sensitivity—there was no way the princes would have left her alone. They were already poised to turn their blades on each other, waiting only for the signal to begin. If the princess had entered the contest too, it was obvious where those blades would point first.

But the Queen and the princess didn’t look like people who had only narrowly escaped the princes’ blades.

The Queen spoke.

“The princes and princess of this generation have an unusually strong concentration of our ancestors’ blood. The priests say no generation in history has had a stronger one.”

Priests could tell even that? Between healing arts, contracts, and measuring the strength of royal blood, their abilities seemed surprisingly versatile.

The Queen continued. “Naturally, we kept that secret within the royal family, and as expected, both princes received Mana Sensitivity.”

Apparently, having all your children blessed with powerful abilities wasn’t an unqualified good thing.

“According to the priest, Aisha was highly likely to receive Mana Sensitivity too.”

“So we had to find a way to keep her from receiving it,” Katrin said. “That was one reason I traveled around as a mercenary. And I found a way.”

She pointed at me.

“Wait. You don’t mean...”

The princess drew a dagger from her sleeve. It was the one I’d lent Katrin a few days ago. She put down the spoon and took hold of the dagger instead. Its tip shimmered.

“Seeing you gain our family’s inherited ability through an artifact found in the Dungeon led us to look for a way to influence her awakening.”

As Katrin went on to explain, she had summoned me to the capital as soon as she returned from the Dungeon. Then she gathered the family’s artifacts and had the princess touch them. Unfortunately, none of them reacted to her. The shield from the Dungeon was the only thing that gave her even the slightest sensation. As a last resort, Katrin and the Queen borrowed my dagger and had her touch it.

The dagger responded.

“I heard a voice in my head. It said, [Do you desire power?]”

Damn it. I couldn’t believe I was hearing that childish line again.

“We had the princess attend the awakening ceremony with the dagger hidden on her. It was small enough that no one noticed, and in the end, just as we’d hoped, she received an inherited ability from her mother’s family.”

So the dagger had caused her to receive the Count’s inherited ability instead of the royal one? But was that such a good thing? She’d avoided the immediate danger, but was everything really all right?

The Queen must have seen me frown, because she shook her head.

“No. The result was far better than we expected. Aisha.”

At the Queen’s words, the princess tensed her body.

HUMMMM.

A faint light began to radiate from the princess’s entire body. Good heavens. That wasn’t Invisible Sword Aura. It was an entirely different ability.

WHUM. CRACKLE.

Tiny flames appeared in the air, and sparks flickered in and out among her hair.

“At the awakening ceremony, the princess didn’t receive another ability instead of the royal one,” the Queen said. “She received both the royal ability and her mother’s family’s ability.”

She was right. The pure, orderly mana radiating from the princess was produced by the royal family’s inherited ability, Mana Sensitivity. Cloaked in that mana, the princess held the shimmering dagger and smiled brightly.