The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 287 Crown Prince Alondre (18) - Official and Personal Matters Originally, words are such that the speaker is just as important as the content. If an elderly person who has spent their lifetime doing volunteer work and donations, contributing to the world, says 'We should help each other when times are tough,' everyone would nod or be moved, but when an evil boss who threatens employees and withholds wages as if it were routine says 'We should help each other when times are tough,' wouldn't that be nonsense that calls for either a resignation letter or a beating? "Trash." In that sense, hearing the word "trash" from none other than a Greater Demon had to have special meaning in many ways. "Trash, fucking trash, walking human-shaped waste!!" "What happened this time to make you act like this?" "Are you asking because you don't know what this is about?" When Lucidra snapped her fingers, the shadow on the wall changed into a square shape and began playing some video like a TV screen. 「By the way, miss, you really have no eye for men. Or perhaps you're the type who's attracted to bad men?」 「...Usually, people who say such things about themselves aren't actually bad people.」 「But I really am that type. Especially when it comes to women.」 Bang! Lucidra's palm struck down on the screen. "Look at this! This! He knew he was going around seducing women! He's aware that he's making countless women cry but doesn't stop, so if this isn't trash, then what the hell is!?" Lucidra was raising her voice in great excitement, but that didn't mean she felt tremendous anger inside or intended to represent the victims who had been sacrificed(?) until now. It was closer to the thrill of having caught good material to land a blow on the Crown Prince. If she had such a righteous personality to begin with, would Lucidra have been a Greater Demon? Lucidra built various plans in her mind. These were plans to refute it if the Crown Prince denied the evaluation of being trash. "Hmm. It does seem like trash is correct." "Huh?" But these too became completely useless as the Crown Prince readily agreed. "If I was aware, wouldn't I have said it wasn't trash? Then trash is correct." "What, what? Why are you agreeing so readily?" "Let me ask you the opposite." The Crown Prince calmly asked back. "'What? They all have feelings for me? Haha. That can't be true. We're just friends.'" "'Romance? That can't be true. Why would those people like me? Don't say such ridiculous things.'" "'Stop talking nonsense. Those guys hate me. There's no reason for words like love or romance to be exchanged.'" "...Don't you think that would be a more serious problem if someone reacted like this?" At the Crown Prince's answer, Lucidra briefly imagined that scene in her mind. ....... .......... Hmm, should I kill him? Even if I revealed I was a demon and killed him in the middle of the street, the people around would probably applaud saying I did well. "More than that, what were those lines just now? What clone concept is that?" (E/N: Oh no...That's terrifying...This world cannot suffer such denseness!) "I roughly decided on the concept, but I utilized dummy data from clones I haven't actually created for various reasons." "Ah, I see." Somehow losing the motivation to pursue it further, Lucidra slumped down on the sofa. "Anyway, you did that knowing you were seducing everyone. Why don't you just become a Greater Demon yourself?" "Well. The expression 'everyone' seems a bit ambiguous. The mercenary Owen seems to have viewed all his existing connections in that way, but I think there are quite a few people who aren't necessarily directly connected to romantic feelings. Even if they are romantic feelings, they can be volatile." Is this his usual cheeky wordplay, or is he genuinely saying this because he considers Crown Prince Alondre and mercenary Owen as separate entities? Lucidra found it difficult to know the answer. In the past, she would have naturally thought "isn't that the same guy," but having experienced it so far, that human's mental structure is vastly different from ordinary people. To begin with, the reason that Crown Prince pursues leisure is because he hates doing 'only' work continuously. Meaning he doesn't particularly consider massive workloads or duties as Crown Prince to be burdens. "Ah, how boring. I thought something fun had come up for once." "Then would you like to watch a show?" "What?" The Crown Prince answered simply. "Teacher inspection." "...I never thought those two words could be linked into one sentence." *** ─Only those who offer gifts to the Crown Prince and receive the highest evaluation will be able to continue remaining as the Crown Prince's teachers! At the imperial decree issued by the Emperor, the empire was thrown into chaos. The masters who didn't want to lose the once-in-a-generation genius that was the Crown Prince literally went crazy with their eyes rolled back, mobilizing all their abilities and connections to search for gifts. One might think what's so important about just finding gifts, but the humans who were the Crown Prince's masters were those who had reached the pinnacle of their respective industries. It would be one thing if they had handed over the top position to juniors and retired as elders, but in the case of some masters, they were still at the industry pinnacle even at present. Meaning they were big shots with tremendous influence both physically and socially. When the literature master said he would create a memorial text to offer to the Crown Prince, renowned writers gathered, and when the music master said he would hold an opera, S-class actors and musicians came even abandoning performances that were originally scheduled. Still, these people were better off. At least their individual military power wasn't exceptional, so although they caused quite a commotion, physical restraint was still possible. However, among the Crown Prince's masters were those where that was impossible or difficult, and such people caused major incidents. Falken Rocksley, who was the Crown Prince's archery master, could be said to be representative of this. "Senior Rocksley!! No, Falken you bastard!! Are you in your right mind!? Are you sane!? Did you have nowhere else to go in the world so you went to the Beastkin Alliance!? And targeting the World Tree at that!?" "W-wait, let go of my collar and talk, the wound will open up, cough!" "No matter how much they stay cooped up in their own territory, do you think the elf Guardian is a pushover?! Because of you, our historically deep ranger unit almost had to close down!! Do you know how much I had to grovel and beg to the Foreign Minister!? Just die! Knight rank or whatever, let's have it out today, you bastard!!" No matter how much the empire was called the strongest on the continent, it couldn't do whatever it wanted. Several nations called great powers, even if they would be at a disadvantage individually, could establish a fight with the empire, and if two or more joined together, they had enough power to be equal or even gain the upper hand. Rocksley, who stirred up one of them, no matter how urgent he was, had committed a truly dangerous attempt. However, apart from Rocksley's junior coming to grab his senior's collar, there was no major punishment at the imperial level. To begin with, it was awkward to carelessly touch the Crown Prince's masters, and since it was the Emperor who first caused this incident, an atmosphere was created that made it even harder to touch them. Several bureaucrats lamented the irrationality of how accidents are caused from above but the cleanup is left to those below, but somehow the situation seemed to be settling down in a vague manner. "─It's truly difficult to suppress my regret." That is, until the Crown Prince stepped forward directly. The Crown Prince, who went to the Emperor's palace to seek understanding in advance, immediately stepped forward saying he would settle this incident, and this didn't stop at a simple declaration but led to substantial action. He called the teachers one by one to confirm what process they had gone through to prepare their gifts. Though it was called confirmation, with various additional reviews that followed, it was actually behavior closer to interrogation or inspection. When the Crown Prince, who had usually shown a relatively moderate appearance, came out like this, people were flustered, and some felt humiliated at being scolded by their 'disciple' and rebelled. "Your Highness! No matter what, this treatment is excessive!" And to such people, the answer the Crown Prince gave was clear. "Good. Then what I learned from you will be permanently sealed from now on." "!?" If you come out like this, I'll consider everything I learned from you as nothing and either teach myself or learn again from other masters. Those who heard the Crown Prince's radical declaration quickly bent their stiff necks flexibly, and the masters who were able to pass through the situation smoothly because they used relatively moderate methods clicked their tongues at that sight. To begin with, the reason they were obsessed with the Crown Prince was because they considered him a talent who would develop the skills or scholarship they had cultivated throughout their lives to a better level or engrave them in history, but the Crown Prince's declaration meant he would thoroughly deny such dreams and honor as masters. "Did you hear about the former Tower Master? She's giving free lectures to the empire's young mages for a year." "What's gotten into that madwoman who's famous for being picky about taking disciples? She did some experiments at the border, but there was no civilian damage, wasn't there?" "She moved on her own after reading His Highness's mood." "Well, 'graduated after learning enough' and 'never learned at all' are completely different problems. By the way, what was the gift that ultimately received the highest evaluation from His Highness?" "It was the sword that Lord Balduer brought." *** "Your Highness!! Thank you for choosing me! I, Balduer, will continue to do my best to repay Your Highness's grace!!" "Hmm, an excellent gift. The way the staff wraps around my hand feels quite excellent." "...Your Highness. The staff is merely like a sheath, the real value is in the blade. If possible, it would be better to remove just the blade part and make it anew." "The staff is excellent." "......" "By the way, my lord. I heard that while traveling through several realms to obtain this, you discovered a strange place. Please tell me more about that story." "I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay there very long either, so I don't know much." "It's fine." "First, it was a place with many buildings as tall as the mage tower. I could also see strange carriages that moved without being pulled by horses. To give my personal impression, it felt like the steam engines and such devices created by the Cardian Republic had developed further." "Quite an advanced civilization, it seems?" "In terms of technology alone, that might be so. However, it didn't look like a place that would be pleasant to live in, even as empty words." "Are you talking about being spiritually unfulfilled, something like that?" "Things that weren't human but were imitating humans were scattered all over the place." "Hmm." "If I had had some leisure time, I would have tried to talk with the survivors of that place, but unfortunately that was impossible. The owner detected my presence and was about to react, so I had to escape before being caught." "Well, you're evaluated as being at the peak even within the 6th Rank, so it would have been easy for the owner to detect your presence. Conversely, those with lower cultivation levels would find living in that place itself a hardship." "I'm well aware of Your Highness's compassion, but Your Highness is the Crown Prince of this empire." "I know. That caring for the empire's people is my duty. Don't worry, I have no intention of saying things like using the empire's national power to help the people there." "I apologize. Then I shall take my leave." After Balduer left. Alone—no, in a room where only he and Lucidra in the shadows remained—the Crown Prince spoke. "Of course. I can't move publicly. That would be abuse of authority and neglect of duty as Crown Prince." "What about your true feelings?" "Hobby activities are in the private domain, so it should be fine, shouldn't it?"