The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 275 Mercenary Owen (3) - Good Children Should Not Go Where They're Told Not To One day while continuing their long journey. Ophelia yawned while on horseback. Like the lady who received precious education that she was, she didn't make a sound and completely covered her mouth with her hand to avoid showing it as much as possible, but escaping Owen's keen eye was impossible. "Why don't you just yawn comfortably?" "...Isn't it proper manners to pretend not to know even when you do know in situations like this?" "Unfortunately, I'm not a knight, you see. I don't know much about how to escort a lady and such." Ophelia glared at Owen, but Owen just shrugged his shoulders shamelessly. This is all because of whom, Ophelia grumbled inwardly. Although Ophelia had accepted traveling with Owen to continue their journey, her mind wasn't such a flower garden that she would completely drop her guard while traveling alone with a man. It was true that he had shown trustworthy behavior as a mercenary, but matters between men and women were a different realm entirely. With his messy beard and somewhat rough yet relaxed manner of speech, Owen's appearance no matter how you looked at it gave the feeling of a veteran mercenary experienced with women, which made it even more so. Thinking that he might try something at night, she couldn't help but sleep lightly without realizing it, and as this continued throughout the entire journey, fatigue had accumulated. Of course, since she had no intention whatsoever of explaining these details to Owen one by one, Ophelia just went "Hmph!" and turned her head away. How much further had they walked like that? After confirming a rock that strangely resembled a rabbit, Ophelia took out a map and compass from her bosom to check, then turned her horse's reins to the side. "Come this way." "...But the road still continues?" "That road leads to a checkpoint, so we can't go that way." The 'Land of Silence' that Ophelia wanted to reach was not within the Empire but outside it, so to continue their journey they inevitably had to cross the border. The problem was the method of getting out across the border. Near the border, there were usually checkpoints for entry control, and to pass through such checkpoints, one needed travel fees and proper travel permits. Money wasn't a big problem for Ophelia, but the issue was the travel permit. Ophelia had a metal medal stamped with her family's authentication, but if she boldly presented such a thing in her current runaway state, news would immediately reach the Hydrain side. Her parents had already said what they had said beforehand, so they wouldn't make the spirit-seeking into something that never happened now (Ophelia even had thoughts of going beyond running away to completely cutting ties with the family in that case), but there was plenty of possibility they would interfere by sending guards or something. During the verification process, they might say various things to the checkpoint to detain them. Therefore, they would not go through the checkpoint. No matter how wealthy and powerful the Empire was, it wasn't crazy enough to block the entire border with walls, so while large merchant groups or large-scale troop movements might be different, if it was just a few travelers coming and going, routes other than checkpoints were possible. "If you go straight northwest using this rabbit rock as a reference point, you'll come to a place called Goden Forest. If you travel across that place, you can get outside the Empire without going through a checkpoint." "Hmm." Owen fell into thought for a moment. Since he had followed without particularly raising any objections even when she acted as a guide until now, Ophelia felt puzzled. "Don't you think about changing your mind? It would be better to pass through the checkpoint even if your family finds out. Or if not, go by a different route other than Goden Forest." "Why?" "There's a house of a mage with a somewhat eccentric personality in Goden Forest." "A mage? I didn't hear such talk when doing preliminary research." "That could be. The mage stays there for barely a month out of the year. It's actually closer to a retreat than a house." "When is that one month?" "That depends on the mage's schedule and whims." Ophelia made an expression of disbelief. "When there's barely any possibility of actually meeting them, do you think it makes sense to go around? Moreover, it's not like they're some kind of monster, they're the same person as us." "According to my personal opinion, people are usually more frightening than most monsters." "Still, no. Passing through the checkpoint is out of the question, and going by another route would take several more weeks. What if all the positions around Lady Kuella get filled up in the meantime?" "...Was a retainer position in a count's house such a place where you have to compete in such a hurried manner?" "Of course!! Even at this very moment, Lady Kuella's great deeds and fame are spreading quietly among people, so the number of competitors will only increase, not decrease!" At Ophelia's appearance of making passionate arguments while even clenching her fists, Owen shook his head with a hollow laugh. "Well, if you say it to that extent, there's nothing I can do. Just don't regret it later. I definitely warned you." "That won't happen, so don't worry needlessly." *** Obtaining and teaching an outstanding prodigy as a disciple is one of the greatest joys as a teacher above all else. If that disciple doesn't act arrogantly while intoxicated with talent, but even possesses the character to respect and revere their teacher, then it's even more so. To say this in reverse, a teacher who has been deprived of such a disciple risks becoming violent due to being unable to accept sudden changes in circumstances. (E/N: So disciples are drugs. Got it) "─No!! Graduation?! Graduation?! There's still so much I need to teach!!" The Empire's strongest mage. Former magic tower master. One of the continent's five great sages. The one said to be at the pinnacle of summoning magic. Besides having plenty of other extravagant titles, the eccentric who actually wanted to be called 'the Crown Prince's magic tutor', Kirie Eldenhausen, was also like this. The reason she came to cry out was the Emperor's command from not long ago. "The imperial family of the Empire holds higher positions and noble responsibilities than anyone else, so they must possess abilities befitting those duties. This is precisely why the imperial family builds their skills through various education. However, the Crown Prince has already proven excellent results in various fields and is also in charge of practical work, taking responsibility for part of the Empire's operations, so it is unreasonable to carry the burden of being a student indefinitely. Therefore, cease the successor education that the Crown Prince has been receiving, and allow the Crown Prince to devote himself entirely to state affairs." Most of the subjects who heard the Emperor's command immediately understood. Among past imperial family members, there were not a few who continued receiving only successor education until reaching thirty or forty years of age, only to be freed as independent individuals after becoming Emperor, but this was merely precedent, and there was no particular necessity for it to be so. Of course, there was the theory that one who leads a nation must not lack ability and should live studying for life, but didn't the Crown Prince already have experience running state affairs after receiving at least some of the Emperor's authority? He hadn't shown particularly innovative or ingenious achievements, but conversely, he had never made a single mistake, so his track record was more than sufficient. No, among conservative officials who knew that not making mistakes was actually harder than achieving results, there were not a few who admired such qualities even more. Some key officials even noticed that the Crown Prince was restraining himself, conscious of the fact that he was a successor and not the Emperor. Moreover, subjects who knew about the imperial family's peculiar chronic problem that 'those who showed outstanding talent and achievements in their youth tend to deteriorate rapidly after becoming Emperor' also praised the Emperor's decision as wise, so there were 'almost none' who voiced complaints. ...That's right. There were some. Specifically, the Crown Prince's tutors who had become unemployed in an instant. When Kirie first heard the Emperor's command, she immediately submitted a 5,700-character petition to the Emperor. Not as a figure of speech, but literally. YourMajestyThereIsNoMistakeHisHighnessTheCrownPrinceIsAGeniusAmongGeniusesWhoWillRaiseTheEntireMagicalWayOfNotJustTheEmpireNotJustTheContinentButAllHumanityToAHigherDimensionAndIsATreasureGivenByTheGodOfMagicForHisHighnessTheCrownPrinceToStopMagicalEducationMeansTheSameAsHumanity'sMagicalCivilizationItselfStoppingItsGrowthDoesNotYourMajestyKnowThatWhenHisHighnessLearnedCircleFormationTheBasicsOfSummoningMagicTheTearsIShedWatchingFromBesideHimCouldHaveFilledThePalacePondToWasteThisGeniusTalentOnMereStateAffairsAndPileOfDocumentsIsDeceptionAgainstHumanityBlasphemyAgainstMagicalHistoryAndAtTheSameTimeACruelAndHeartlessActThatRipsOutTheOnlyJoyInMyLifeByTheRootsWhenHisHighnessTheCrownPrinceTrainedMagicByMySideMyHeartFlutteredLikeAButterflyWalkingThroughASpringFlowerGardenButNowThatHisHighnessIsGraduatingWhatFunWillILiveForWhoWillITeachAndWhoWillCallMeMasterToLivePleaseTakeThisIntoConsiderationIfYourMajestyRemembersTheTimeWhenYouDidNotWantToGraduateFromLearningMagicAndClung ToMeThenYouShouldUnderstandEvenOnetenthOfMyEarnestFeelings...(continued) (E/N: This is intended) For something submitted by an archmage who was even called the intellect of the Empire, the content was a bit severely like that and such, so the face muscles of the chamberlain who had to read that to the Emperor twisted bizarrely, but she still belonged to those who maintained dignity. Among the other tutors, there were many who didn't act their age, rolling around on the ground in front of the imperial palace or grabbing the pant legs of guardian knights next to the Emperor (they had enough reason left not to grab the Emperor's pant legs). Since each of these was like retired supreme family heads in martial arts terms, it was a bonus that the current family heads who were their juniors all soaked their clothes with cold sweat. However, even in the face of such threats(?) and pleas, the Emperor indeed did not lose the dignity of the Empire's supreme ruler. "Hmm. Then let's have you all compete against each other and continue maintaining classes for just the strongest one. Since doing it with force would be disastrous, bring a gift each and whoever gets the highest score from the Crown Prince wins." With just one word, he changed the resentment and responsibility that would have been directed at him into hatred and competitive spirit toward each other - isn't this precisely the principle of using barbarians to control barbarians and the spirit of divide and rule? That very day, the Emperor's swordsmanship instructor Baldur tore through space saying he would obtain a legendary divine sword and crossed through that gap, while archery instructor Falken attempted to infiltrate the Great Forest saying he would break off a branch of the World Tree, though he returned in a half-dead state. Kirie also could not lose. As a master of summoning magic, she shut herself in her retreat to focus on some work to prepare the best gift to present to the Crown Prince. Roughly skipping over the technique names full of technical terms she coined herself, if expressed very simply in the Crown Prince's style - so-called summoning gacha. "If I summon a dragon and then offer its heart, His Highness will surely be satisfied!!" Unfortunately, since all dragons of the current continent had become part of the dragonkin bloodline and their lineage had dried up, finding dragons on the continent was impossible. However, summoning dragons from other continents or different dimensions like the demon realm or divine realm was sufficiently worth attempting. Of course, the probability of accurately pulling out what she wanted was calculated to be about 0.00003%, but well, wouldn't that be solved by repeating summoning infinitely? (E/N: Hey hey hey. Stop. We have enough demons roaming around as it is) Summon monsters. The summoned monsters kill each other. Dead monsters are converted back into mana, and if any useful materials come out, they're automatically stored in a dedicated warehouse. All that's left is to infinitely repeat summoning (click)! There was the minor problem that the forest interior would transform into a demon realm during the work, but she had sent warning notices to nearby villages and cities in preparation for that, so there was no big problem. (E/N: I KNEW IT!) If there were those who ignored that and entered, they would be illegal immigrants or emigrants in the first place, so it was even less of a problem. "Please wait, Your Highness. This Kirie will offer the finest gift!!" The retreat in the depths of Goden Forest. Kirie's loud laughter echoed throughout. The mental state of someone who had repeated all-nighters for 8 days while only repeating summoning clicks was this dangerous.