The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 219 Crown Prince Alondre (15) - A Demon's Outing For Crown Prince Alondre, this clone experience had been an extremely rewarding one. He had resolved the soul distortion that arose from the excessive use of clone magic, and his understanding and control of the soul itself had also improved. Not only could he move his original body normally again, but he had also gained the insight to advance clone magic itself to the next level. And that wasn't all! He had been able to experience the reality of the empire not as Eizern's Crown Prince, but as one of its ordinary members. Of course, he already knew that the empire wasn't such a perfect nation, but knowing something intellectually and experiencing it firsthand were entirely different matters. Just experiencing problems that couldn't be understood from looking down from above was enough to justify the existence of 'demon Kron'. Well, if overused, there would be the risk of the distinction between work and leisure disappearing again, but if utilized while maintaining proper balance, it would be very helpful. Feeling satisfied, the Crown Prince returned to the Golden Cloud Palace where his body was. "From a human perspective, if you made someone do this much hard labor, shouldn't there be some kind of compensation?!" He discovered the Greater Demon who had entered tantrum mode due to excessive labor. The sensation of his original body, felt after a long time. After caressing with his palm the face that would captivate countless women and make countless men complain about how disgustingly unfair the world was, the Crown Prince spoke. "I'd like to correct a few errors. First, since you're a demon, not a human, the expression 'from a human perspective' doesn't suit you. And it's not like I just casually assigned the work - it was all predetermined through a contract, so you shouldn't demand additional compensation." "Shut up!! I don't want to hear such logical responses right now!!" If he had responded with "Then what kind of answer do you want me to give?", the Crown Prince might have gained the 'oblivious' trait, but fortunately he wasn't quite that clueless. Though perhaps that would have been even worse. What someone whining about difficulties needs is empathy rather than rational arguments. The Crown Prince asked in a gentle voice. "Was it really that difficult?" "It wasn't just difficult!! This country is doomed. What kind of royalty lives buried under labor like this? It's just a work machine. When I was active, those who called themselves kings were busy dumping work on their subjects every day and playing around themselves!!" "That's a very enlightening account of why human civilization became corrupt and demons ran rampant during that period." "Do you really think there's nothing wrong with this situation?!" "Of course there are problems. The very size of the empire, which is burdensome just to maintain, is itself the problem. A monarchy is inherently incompatible with excessively large territories." The larger a nation becomes, the more rapidly various problems that need to be handled increase - population, judiciary, taxation, civil engineering, military, internal coordination, and so on. You ask if the monarch can't just leave the trivial things to subordinates and decide only on the big things? The problem is that as the land gets bigger and the population increases, the number of those 'big agendas' itself increases. Even if competent officials cut down and compress a thick report at the level of a specialized academic book and summarize it into about three lines, if there are a thousand of those summaries, it's already three thousand lines. It means that the greater the absolute amount of work, the more there is a limit to reducing it. And the moment you neglect even that reduced work because it's bothersome, it's a direct course to the nation's ruin by a dark ruler. Or the imperial family puppet route by a powerful retainer. To solve this, authority must be delegated so that each region can handle all sorts of matters on its own without seeking approval from the central government, but if you give too much autonomy, the central authority weakens, and if you give too little, there is no point in delegating power. The very existence of the various territorial nobles within the country is, in a sense, the result of a compromise to strike this balance. "...Then you have no choice but to maintain this situation from now on?" "Hmm, that's not it. After calculating various things, it seems that if the administrative organization is overhauled a bit more, it could somehow cover up to the current territory." "Then you should do it right away!!" "Hahaha, you're saying something crazy. The reorganization of the administrative structure is strictly the Emperor's authority. If I did that on my own, there would be no chaos like it." Handling given tasks within the authority granted by the Emperor and arbitrarily pushing forward with matters outside that authority are completely different issues. Because it could be considered an infringement on the authority of the current Emperor himself if one is not careful. No matter how good the relationship between the Emperor and Alondre is, there is a clear line that should not be crossed carelessly. "Anyway, well, don't worry too much about that part. I have my own plans, and more importantly, there will be no more instances of me passing work to you and resting alone like this time." "...Really?" "I know better than anyone how terrible it is to work without even a moment to breathe. I don't lie about things like this." Towards Lucidra, whose momentum had slightly softened, the Crown Prince spoke. "So, what do you want as a reward?" "Well, there must be hostile forces within the empire who don't agree with you, or criminals, right? If you just give me the authority to deal with those guys, I can turn them all into slaves who live and die by your every word─" "Hmm, where did I put my sword." "Th-then! How about infiltrating a country that has no relation to the empire, no, a hostile one!! It's a gain for the empire if the competitors self-destruct on their own, right?" "Come to think of it, I think I can just do it with magic." "You said you'd give me a reward!!" "Let's say you told a friend, 'I'll treat you to a meal.' How would you react if that acquaintance tried to charter an entire restaurant?" "Tch." Alondre stared intently at Lucidra clicking her tongue. At that gaze, which seemed to strangely pierce deep into her heart, Lucidra flinched and stepped back. "Wh-what." "In the first place, are the things you just mentioned really your wishes? They don't seem particularly fun." "There's no way a demon's and a human's ideas would be the same." "Well, I corrected you earlier that you're not human, but that was just in a racial sense. If we're talking about personality or disposition─ honestly, you're quite 'human'-like." "...I don't know what you're talking about." After muttering as if avoiding his gaze, Lucidra turned her back. "Anyway, if you have no intention of giving a reward, then fine. I'll rest on my own, so do whatever you want with your clone games!" *Swoosh*, Lucidra melted into the shadows. Alondre gave a bitter smile at the sight of her breaking through the palace's domain and escaping without difficulty, even without borrowing his power. As he guessed, Lucidra had already recovered a considerable amount of her power. If you were to consider only the aspect of mana quantity, she was already on par with Alondre himself. And perhaps even this was only a fraction compared to the total capacity of the vessel that is the Greater Demon Lucidra. If she were to regain her power from her prime─ "At that time, we'll have to settle things." Whether that would be in a good sense or a bad one, was not yet known. Therefore, the man, not as the Crown Prince but as a single human, thought that he wanted to continue this precarious yet strange relationship for a little longer. *** "He just won't lose a single word." A lake in the middle of a dark forest. Only after arriving at a place far away not just from the Golden Cloud Palace, but even from the imperial capital, Kalastia, did Lucidra emerge from the shadows and take form. Because the center of the empire was so full of monstrously powerful individuals, she couldn't know who might detect her if she carelessly revealed her true form. "Sigh, to think I'm living while being wary of guys who haven't even achieved Transcendence. How did I end up in this state." The empire is powerful, and in its capital, 6th Rank mages, who would be treated as a Guardian Deity if there was just one in a small country, are reasonably common. Among those who call themselves the Crown Prince's teachers, there are even some who have reached the very peak of the 6th Rank. However, a 7th Rank, that is, a transcendent, does not exist even in such an empire. In the first place, it is because transcendents are beings who cannot be bound to a nation. 'Unless it's a special case like the 'Sage', they would have created their own world and be reigning like a god within it, instead of bothering to remain in reality.' "...But what should I do?" It was good that she had stormed out, but with nothing particular to do coming to mind, Lucidra crossed her arms and groaned. If she, befitting the name of a Greater Demon, caused a ruckus in the human world, she might have to, not as a joke but seriously, fight to the death with the Crown Prince. But if she were to return to the demon world, that would mean she'd have to fight a round with the other Greater Demons, the ones called Demon Kings. She also thought about causing some minor trouble without getting caught by the Crown Prince, but honestly, that didn't seem very fun either. After watching all the bizarre antics committed by those clones from the side, what can you do when most things don't even make you crave a coke, let alone popcorn. "Argh, because of that human, I've been tainted by strange dopamine... Ah." At that moment, an idea suddenly flashed through Lucidra's mind. Having stormed out like that, to just meekly return to the Crown Prince's side right away is a bit damaging to her pride as a Greater Demon. But even if the Crown Prince's clones are not in the world, don't the people who were directly hit by the aftermath of what those clones did exist? "Shall I go see if they're living well?" Saying it was just right for killing time, Lucidra immediately spread her wings. Towards the story of the leaflet without clones, not the main story unfolded by the clones. (E/N: the word 'leaflet' was directly used by the author so I tried to keep it as is while making sense. Feel free if you have a better idea for this weird sentence.)