The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 118 Magic Sword Forte (20) - The Flower Banquet It was truly an ominous day. Though it wasn't yet time for sunset, the sky thick with clouds was dark and gloomy, and the wind carried the mixed scents of blood and corpses. Ominous yet perfectly fitting, the Sage thought. This was a place less than a day's journey from what was once some kingdom's capital and was now the Demon King's dwelling. If such a place were filled with bright and vibrant life force, wouldn't that be the strange thing? In other words, it meant they had reached right under the enemy leader's nose, but the Sage couldn't bring himself to rejoice at that fact. He watched the soldiers busily moving between the haphazardly erected tents that looked like patchwork. Old and worn armor, chipped or broken swords. Uniforms with no unity whatsoever, each different from the next, and everyone looking shabby from not being able to wash properly. For elite soldiers who had shown more activity than anyone in the fight against the Demon King's army, their appearance was far too pitiful. "Damn bastards." The Sage unconsciously spat out curses. It wasn't a curse directed at the soldiers before his eyes, those who had decided to stand against the Demon King's army for their own reasons. It was a curse directed at the 'self-proclaimed' allies who had pushed all the difficult and painful roles onto their forces while spouting plausible nonsense from behind. "What has you so dissatisfied?" When the Sage turned his gaze toward the voice heard from beside him, there stood the woman called the Saintess with a bitter smile. "You don't need to know, so get lost. You fraud of a Saintess." "I'd like to do that too if I could, but when you make such a gloomy face like that, it makes things difficult for the others." At her appearance of seeming humble while still saying everything she needed to say, the Sage felt a strange emotion. The Saintess when they first met wasn't like this. She had been steeped in the guilt and obsession caused by the sins her family had committed, and always watched the Sage's mood, knowing he was aware of her true identity. But the current Saintess, while she couldn't be called close to the Sage, was maintaining a reasonably equal relationship with him. It went without saying that the fool who had forcibly dragged him out of the forest was the cause of this. The Sage himself actually thought the current Saintess was better than the previous trembling one, but he disliked showing that in his attitude, so he spoke with the same blunt manner as always. "This is idiotic. Supplies are inadequate and we lack manpower. Instead of attacking the Demon King's castle, we should retreat immediately." "Haah." With a short sigh, the Saintess created a thin, spherical domain that blocked out sound. She judged that it wouldn't be good if others heard the Sage's ranting like this. Of course, their allies who knew the Sage well enough wouldn't care much anyway, but at least the Saintess herself felt more at ease. "If we retreat? It's not like you don't know how much we struggled to get here. And what about the backlash from the allied forces?" "Fuck. What have those bastards even done that they'd have a backlash? They can go die." "They're confronting the Demon King's forces in various places, preventing them from moving." "Right, they're thoroughly just holding their positions with no intention whatsoever of pushing toward where the Demon King is. But is that their full strength?" A series of harsh, venomous words shot from the Sage's mouth. "If those bastards hadn't dismissed the commanders who were at least somewhat decent because of their damned political maneuvering and internal politics and sent some idiots as replacements, if they hadn't whined about not being able to provide even supply materials while not sending a single soldier, if they hadn't subtly delayed the assault plan because they didn't want to step forward and shed blood, pushing the burden onto us!!" Rather than calming down as he spoke, the Sage's face grew increasingly red as if his anger was rising even more. "Then the situation would have been better than now, at least. In the end, those bastards are the ones who created this situation. So if we want to retreat, what exactly is the problem?" Instead of answering, the Saintess stared quietly at the Sage. Even receiving that gaze that seemed to say he already knew the answer, the Sage stubbornly kept his mouth shut. In the end, the Saintess once again voiced the fact that the Sage, herself, and everyone else here knew. "If we retreat, there won't be a next time." "......" "It's true that the allied forces are passive, but it's also true that they're helping us anyway. But if we just waste this opportunity, there's no guarantee they'll do the same next time." "......" "This time we somehow advanced right up to the Demon King's army's nose, but is there any guarantee we can do that next time? Next time they'll try to guard their main base more thoroughly and persistently." The Saintess's words were sound logic. However, the Sage's intellect knew words that could defeat that sound logic. "We could just make the others perish too." "Sage..." "We just need to withdraw. Then the Demon King's army will raise their momentum even higher and continue their invasion to the surrounding areas, and more nations will be dragged into this war. And among them, there will be those who have the talent and power to stand against the Demon King." "Sage..." "Am I wrong? Why should we have to take responsibility for all of this in the first place? Haven't you ever thought it was unfair, even just you? You opposed the Demon King's summoning and were even imprisoned as a result, yet you have to fight while hiding your identity just because of blood relations? When those who have both the ability and power to solve this are all playing dumb, why the hell should we take all the blame?" The Saintess spoke calmly toward him, as if soothing the agitated Sage. "—You know, don't you? That if we do it your way, an unimaginably large number of people will die." If they escalated the war as the Sage suggested. If they made the war large enough that no one could remain a bystander, then the leaders of each nation would also make earnest efforts to defeat the Demon King. Among them there would surely be transcendents who could stand on equal footing with the Demon King, and perhaps the Sage and the other companions wouldn't need to make such desperate efforts. But instead, people would die. Until the leaders resolved to go to war. Until that resolution actually transformed into power. Ordinary people who had neither the power nor the qualification to move nations would die endlessly. "Here, we must defeat the Demon King." To prevent that, the Hero took up his sword, and the Saintess and others responded to that will. And since the Sage himself was the same, even while spitting out curses, he couldn't shout that he would abandon everything and run away. "What's this? Why are your faces so gloomy?" Just then, some young man suddenly stuck his head inside the soundproof domain the Saintess had created. The young man with the unique appearance of blue streaks throughout his jet-black hair looked at the two with a strangely mischievous face, then casually spoke. "Ah, is this perhaps a lovers' quarrel?" "Do you want to die?" "No." A face like he'd swallowed a bug and a businesslike expressionless face. At the sight of the two showing intense rejection with neither displaying any particularly pleasant mood, Hero Fernando Valestia burst into laughter. Finding that sight quite irritating, the Sage grumpily snapped back. "Hero, can you really laugh in this fucked-up situation where you might die tomorrow?" "If I might die tomorrow, shouldn't I laugh even more? It would be sad to die with a gloomy face." "Fuck, do you call that talking?" "Please use an elegant and refined manner of speech, Sage. Only then can we protect the dreams and hopes of growing children." "What kind of bullshit is that?" "The stories about us that are going around these days have exactly that feeling? 'Sage. Please lend us your strength. We need your wisdom to help those suffering under the Demon King.' 'Ho, your intentions are truly noble! Hero. I shall join your journey.'" The Sage blinked several times with an expression wondering if his ears had malfunctioned, then asked back. "What kind of bullshit is that?" "You know you're repeating what you just said?" "That's why I'm asking what kind of bullshit that is!" "What do you mean what. It's that our first meeting is known in other places like that." "Nothing matches, neither the content nor the way of speaking! When did you ever invite me like that?!" "I honestly find it a bit funny too, but what can we do? We're too busy being on the battlefield to go around correcting that it actually wasn't that cool." The Hero's words were very logical, and that's precisely why they turned the Sage's stomach upside down. They say history is written by the victors, but they had not been defeated, so what was with this terrible distortion? "What about me?" "Hmm, the Saintess felt generally similar to the real thing. Setting other things aside, your way of speaking maintained its original form. It seems no unnecessary information leaked out, so you can be at ease." The Saintess showed a reaction of being more relieved that her past hadn't been revealed than that her character was being maintained. Of course, even that was very annoying to the Sage. "Unbelievable. This stupid fool is being described like some mythical hero. What kind of terrible calamity is this?" "That's really too much. I can do that much if I try, you know?" "You might as well babble about dogs flying in the sky." "Ho? Shall I prove it once? Whether I can or can't?" The Hero grinned, then soon revealed himself on top of a high hill in one corner of the camp. "Everyone, attention!!" At the resounding command, the gazes of soldiers who had been busily moving about with various preparations or rest gathered. After confirming the countless gazes directed toward him, the Hero spoke. "We will be victorious." And then he continued to say. "Mm, ah, that's not it. Cancel what I said before. Ahem, —Everyone, we will be victorious!" "......?" Having achieved the feat of covering all the soldiers' minds with question marks, the Hero continued his lines in an ill-fitting manner of speech. "The Demon King will fall before my sword, we will reclaim our homeland, and everyone here will be treated as heroes. Those who are married will be able to tell their grown children about this journey like a fairy tale in the distant future, and those who haven't found a partner yet will gain respectable credentials to present to potential lovers. Ah, you'll find jobs easily too! As people with experience in defeating the Demon King, surely you won't starve to death as unemployed!" While his manner of speech still maintained a somewhat archaic form, watching the Hero who was a complete mess in everything else, the Sage evaluated. "That stupid bastard." "Mm." The Saintess, who heard those words from beside him, did not deny them. She revered the Hero who had saved her from a life of being chased by guilt and duty, and even secretly admired him, but that was separate from this. After that, the Hero continued babbling all sorts of nonsense about longevity and good fortune, collecting people's bewilderment, but even he seemed to think this wasn't quite right and burst into laughter. "Mm, I shouldn't do things that don't suit me! I thought I'd try to babble some plausible story before the final battle with my lacking eloquence, but I can't do it well! Instead, I can at least please your eyes with my specialty! Watch closely!" Shring. The Hero drew his sword with an extremely natural motion, then began to swing it smoothly. A sword is a tool for slaughter, and indeed the Hero had buried countless enemies with his sword. However, the Hero's current appearance was so innocent that what he held in his hands felt not like a heavy lump of iron, but like a light tree branch. At the tip of the branch, deep blue flower buds bloomed, and as the buds reached full bloom, flower petals scattered. When the Hero stepped forward, the flower petals flew ahead, and when the Hero swung his wrist, the flower petals created whirlwinds. The beautiful Flower Petal Storm didn't stop at remaining by the Hero's side, but wrapped around the entire camp and fell down onto the soldiers' heads. The soldiers who had been inwardly tense before the final battle welcomed the flower petals that bloomed in the wilderness devoid of any vegetation, reaching out their hands toward them or placing them in their palms to enjoy their texture and fragrance. "Huh." The Sage felt absurdity watching that scene. He had witnessed the scene of the Hero's Flower Petal Storm grinding powerful demons to pieces several times. But those who were with the Hero now were enjoying this situation as if they were truly flower viewing, without complaining of any injury or pain. 5th rank aura is merely materialized mana. However, 6th Rank aura contains personal imagery. Because the Hero did not wish to harm his companions, because what he desired was the laughter of countless people, the flower petals created from aura were comforting his companions while possessing the texture and fragrance of real flower petals. The Sage suddenly looked up at the sky. The scenery he had thought dark and gloomy was surprisingly beautiful when filled with blue flower petals. The sensation of air that had been full of the smell of blood and corpses being transformed into fragrant flower scent was even thrilling. The sight of companions laughing heartily and chattering among the scattering flower petals seemed like an indescribable light. Even though the five senses felt through this body would be no inferior to the real thing, it was enough to make him want to feel this 'directly.' Even while babbling this and that, this was the reason the Sage couldn't leave their side.