Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 15

15.

I didn’t particularly care about Ken.

“He’ll figure it out when he makes his choice. Even if he leaves the palace, there are plenty of ways to find him.”

Ken and Karen are still a long way from meeting. Until then, Ken will be wandering around the Thieves’ Guild, so even if he leaves the palace, I can just find him again.

I focused on my status window.

“A bonus stat of 60… I want to unlock a quest.”

The bonus stat is such an ambiguous number. There weren’t many quests that gave a lot of bonus stats among the ones I hadn’t completed yet. The quest to gain Gayle’s recognition of my persistence still had over a month left.

“To become an intermediate spirit mage before the spring evaluation, I need not only the Polysia flower but also to complete a few more quests. Grow the mana hole [a magical energy reservoir] with the Polysia flower, unlock skills through quests… increase skill proficiency through training, and use sparring with Gayle for practical experience.”

After organizing what I needed to do, I closed the status window.

It was almost dinner time, so it was time to return to the palace. As I headed from the training grounds to the palace, I first thought about the information on the spring evaluation.

‘The spring evaluation is something I created by referencing the World’s Best Martial Arts Tournament from the comic… mixed with the nature of a martial arts competition. The Calpheon Empire is a country at war. The Warring States Period [a time of intense conflict] is coming to an end to some extent due to my father’s first conquest war, but it’s not over.’

There are several evaluation competitions in the Empire, but the largest in scale and the one with the greatest benefits for the winner is the regular spring evaluation.

The Emperor himself attends, and even if you don’t win, if you catch the Emperor’s eye, success is guaranteed.

My father considered the regular evaluation very important, and the system that anyone could participate in regardless of their status played a decisive role.

Other evaluations were mainly for skilled people such as existing knights or wizards, but the spring regular evaluation involves participating in a tournament held in the Imperial Palace after going through preliminary rounds starting from all over the Empire.

‘Of course, most of them are from noble families or the imperial family, but occasionally commoners or even slaves make it to the finals.’

It is not easy for commoners and slaves to become strong in this society. Nobles monopolize all opportunities, and the environment for becoming strong is absolutely favorable to nobles.

However, talent does not discriminate against origin, and there are always people who blossom their talents regardless of their background.

And the opportunity to give titles to commoners or slaves without the opposition of the nobles is the spring evaluation.

Those from commoner or slave backgrounds who achieved good results in the spring evaluation naturally became loyal subjects who were like my father’s hands and feet.

They were all expected to grow into the core of the so-called ‘Emperor faction.’

“It’s too early to worry about the conflict between my father and the nobles. It’s important to protect my title first.”

I thought that the progress was also very important in utilizing future information.

I was preparing for the spring evaluation, so there was no reason to rush.

When I entered the palace, Gayle was waiting.

“Your Highness.”

I smiled as I watched Gayle bow his head.

“Let’s have dinner together. There’s no one in the palace now, so shall we eat in the dining hall?”

I had been eating in my room because of the personality of the original Arun Cal Leod, but now I didn’t need to do that.

All the watchful eyes had disappeared, and the fact that I had changed was already somewhat rumored.

Now I could live comfortably, at least in my palace.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Gayle took the lead.

I followed Gayle, carefully examining the interior of the Crown Prince’s Palace.

The Imperial Palace itself was so large that you could get lost if you were new to it, and all the princes and princesses had their own palaces, so the size of the Imperial Palace was larger than a village.

In addition, I was the Crown Prince, so I had a separate detached palace.

The dining hall was much larger than the bedroom.

Ken was busily placing the plates.

‘He made a decision.’

I didn’t say anything to Ken.

I took a seat where Gayle pulled out a chair and asked him.

“The Polysia flower?”

“I have already prepared it and added it to the dish. I watched the entire cooking process myself.”

Gayle added.

“I never imagined that there would be a Polysia flower at the entrance of the Dark Forest.”

Ken was carefully placing the utensils in front of my plate.

I still spoke to Gayle.

“I even saw it, but I just thought it was a wild wildflower. But after I started training, I suddenly remembered the energy that flower exuded at that time. I looked up the data and it was indeed a Polysia flower.”

It is a flower that increases the size of the mana hole.

When I was writing about this flower, I thought it would be enough to explain it this much, but after seeing some bad comments, I added settings.

-If taken for 100 days, it will increase the size of the mana hole by at least twice the size of the mana hole on the last day of consumption.

It’s an amazing treasure.

You need more than twenty Polysia flowers to consume steadily for 100 days.

And there was a hidden Polysia colony near the entrance of the Dark Forest, and thanks to the fact that I knew exactly where it was, Gayle brought it like lightning.

“Divide it appropriately and have Gayle consume it too.”

Gayle’s eyebrows twitched at my words.

“It is a treasure that should only be used for Your Highness.”

I shook my head as I looked at Gayle, who was only thinking of me.

“In order for me to become the Crown Prince, it is important for me to become strong and capable, but also my knights, wizards, spirit mages, or even advisors.”

I glanced at Ken. As expected, he flinched at the word advisor.

A smile naturally spread across my face.

“It is important to grow. Right now, my only knight is Gayle… and even my father recognizes Gayle’s talent. Sword Master [a highly skilled swordsman] is so amazing that it is compared to the power of a country. And Gayle is about to become a Sword Master. My father said it wouldn’t be long, so it must be true, right? The Polysia flower will definitely help.”

Gayle nodded at my long persuasion.

“I am truly grateful.”

“It can’t even be compared to what Gayle has done for me.”

I answered, cutting the steak that Ken had prepared.

“Ken will also be of great help to me in the future.”

* * *

After dinner, Ken came to my room.

“What kind of empire does Your Highness envision?”

Ken asked with a rare serious attitude.

“What does the empire look like in your mind?”

I returned the question to him.

Who knows Ken’s past, present, and future better than I do?

His family died due to the war, and he was separated from his only surviving younger sister.

His younger sister was a lifelong burden in his heart, and I relieved that burden.

However, it was difficult to receive true loyalty with just that.

There would be quite a few people who would pledge their loyalty to me just by fulfilling their wishes.

But Ken was different.

He would try to give a fitting reward.

“Although I am of humble origin, I will do my best to create the empire that Your Highness envisions.”

It sounded like a pledge of allegiance, but what I wanted was for Ken to sincerely use his abilities by my side.

Even if you do the same thing, doing it with passion along with fulfilling your duty, the process and the results are different.

I opened my mouth calmly.

“If you help me create the empire I envision, it will definitely be a great help to me. But if the empires we envision coincide, it’s not just a great help, but we are comrades looking at the same place and walking together. What I want is not a talent who will realize my ideals under me, but someone who will run with me.”

“Your Highness is the Crown Prince, and I was a pickpocket in front of the Imperial Palace. How can we go to the same place?”

I smiled at Ken’s words.

“There may be many paths, but the destination can be one.”

I spoke first as Ken narrowed his brow without saying a word.

“My father is overwhelming. But the Empire is not overwhelming. Countless kingdoms have fallen in the unification war, but the continent is still divided and countless people are suffering.”

I got up.

“It is impossible to unify the continent and eliminate war with the power of one individual alone. Good laws and systems must be in harmony for a great leader to be born.”

Ken’s expression darkened.

I continued.

“I want to reduce the suffering of the people in this empire. A better empire, that may be more difficult than seizing power. That’s why I need comrades. Comrades who will create and settle good laws and systems using the absolute power of the Emperor.”

The things I had thought about when I was drawing Karen’s empire while writing were flowing out of my mouth.

“When the empire we dream of is created, I can’t guarantee that there will be no people who experience tragedies like your sister, but it will be significantly reduced.”

Ken’s biggest wish was to find his younger sister.

Ken’s ideal was for a single powerful nation to unify the continent and prevent war itself from happening.

Eliminating national wars as a unified nation, and weakening the power of local lords under a strong centralized system, even weakening the power of the nobility in the future.

“Now, I ask again. Our current positions are different, but are our destinations also different?”

“If the empire Your Highness dreams of is truly like that… I don’t know the oath of chivalry, nor do I know how an advisor pledges allegiance to his lord.”

Ken knelt down with a changed look in his eyes.

“I will dedicate myself to bringing forward the day when Your Highness’s empire comes.”

“Thank you.”

The only way to improve the lives of those who are not nobles here now was the determination of a powerful emperor.

‘Power based on absolute strength that no one can touch.’

If my novel was about Ron’s empire collapsing and Karen unifying the continent as emperor, the reality now is different.

In order to survive in this world, I had to become emperor.

Today, I gained a talent who is essential to the path of becoming emperor.

* * *

The Polysia flower doesn’t show its effects immediately. After dinner, I stayed alone in my bedroom and organized various things while practicing the Breath of Wind.

‘That’s enough. I’ve found the Polysia flower… and I’ve started consuming it, so it’s important to maximize the size of the mana hole until the last 100 days. The size of the mana hole doubles based on the last day of consumption.’

I decided to unlock the quest a little earlier. It will be exactly one month tomorrow.

An additional 5 bonus stats will be added.

You can receive bonus stats even if you raise your main level and skill level, so I was thinking of raising my skill level by training with Gayle more intensely tomorrow.

If a bonus stat of 5 or more is given as a skill level-up reward, the 70 bonus stats will be used immediately to unlock the quest.

“I preempted the Polysia flower from Karen’s opportunity…”

After circulating mana throughout my body about four times with the Breath of Wind and feeling it accumulate slightly, I got up.

Sitting at my desk, I immediately took out a memo and unfolded the list of opportunities and the list of supporting characters.

Ken, one of Karen’s helpers, became my man.

I didn’t feel guilty about taking Karen’s colleagues or opportunities first. It’s a matter of survival.

When I was writing, Karen was the main character, but the main character in my life is me, no matter what anyone says.

Whether I’m a day laborer or a crown prince, at least that much is an unchanging truth.

Now I am Arun Cal Leod of the Calpheon Empire, so it was good to use information to increase my own abilities and the abilities of those around me.

“The position of Crown Prince is not easy…”

The only thing I could use right away from the list of opportunities was the Polysia flower. After all, Karen’s area of activity is currently outside the Empire, so all the opportunities at this time can only exist outside the Empire’s territory.

The Polysia flower was able to be preempted because it was growing naturally in the Dark Forest near the Imperial capital even at this time when Karen was just starting to grow.

“Karen has countless opportunities. In the first place, I set my father as too ruthless a person, so I thought that the main character would naturally need talent and opportunities to match in order to win. Thanks to that, I got a lot of criticism for being unconvincing, but now it’s become a boon.”

I had no intention of using information indiscriminately. It has value only when used at the right time and in the right situation.

The same was true of the Polysia flower.

‘100 days later, the spring evaluation will not be far away… and if the mana hole gets bigger and I use it, the effect will be greater, but now I have to get stronger in a short amount of time.’

At the spring evaluation, I was planning to completely shatter people’s existing image of me.

Chen is a very suitable opponent.

Although he doesn’t measure up to Ted, there has always been talk that he is talented. Moreover, what is there to say when his maternal family is one of the four guardian families?

After putting the memo back in the drawer, I looked in the mirror once before returning to bed and smiled with satisfaction.

It’s only been a month, but my body itself has changed a lot.

Consistent meals, exercise, and the Breath of Wind have given my withered body a moderate amount of flesh.

‘There are no muscles yet… but I’m thinking of doing physical training in parallel now.’

I believed that physical strength was important even for people who were not knights, such as wizards and spirit mages, and I wrote it that way.

No matter how big the mana hole is and how much mana there is, if the body, which is the vessel to support that mana, is weak, it is all in vain.

‘Moreover, considering the characteristics of this world where there are far more knights… stamina is even more important when it comes to long-term battles.’

After organizing my thoughts, I lay down on the bed.

After learning the Breath of Wind, I slept with the window open even on fairly chilly nights. I was enjoying the wind while lying down… but

Rustle-!

An unknown sound was heard through the wind.

‘This is…’

Just as I was about to call Gayle, a shadow flickered on the window.

“Isn’t it too easy?”

“Shh!”

The person who came in through the window was not alone.

I instinctively thought they were assassins. When I was actually in this situation, my head went blank.

I couldn’t do anything and trembled in the blanket.

‘Damn it!’

I almost blurted out a rough word, but I barely suppressed it. I thought it would be difficult if they found out that I was awake.

“How about killing him?”

I listened to their conversation.

‘Are they not assassins?’

Curiosity surged, but I very carefully thought of a spirit.

‘Block one move, just one move, and run out the door. If I can escape while they are off guard, Gayle will come soon.’

Gayle doesn’t leave the Crown Prince’s Palace. He has a house, but he stays in the Crown Prince’s Palace most of the time.

“The request is not to kill him. Cut off one leg and get out. This is the Imperial Palace. No matter how much we disguised ourselves as servants, it is important to get out of the capital as quickly as possible after finishing the job.”

The men’s footsteps began to get closer.