Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 167

167

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It was 4 a.m., still dark before dawn.

My day begins then.

“Nyaa! Nyaa!”

That’s Harry, the royal palace’s resident outlaw, using both paws to press down on my face while I was sound asleep – my alarm clock, of sorts.

“…I’m awake, you little rascal.”

“Nyaa! Nyaa!”

I pushed Harry aside and got out of bed.

After a quick wash and change into my training clothes, I looked at Harry, who was now rolling around on the bed.

“Let’s go.”

“Nya!”

Harry jumped up and followed me.

“Did you sleep well, Your Majesty?”

The knights guarding the bedroom door greeted me. I nodded lightly and looked at Verok, who was leading them.

He naturally fell in behind me.

And so, I headed to the Emerald Palace with only Verok and Harry.

“Geuo?”

As soon as we arrived, G-Dragon poked his head out slightly.

Ever since he ran away that one time, I’ve made it a point to find him every morning during my training.

“Nyaa!”

“Geuo!”

G-Dragon, with Harry perched on his neck, created a thrilling slide that was almost perpendicular.

Whoosh—

Harry slid down at breakneck speed from a terrifying height.

“Nyaa! Nyaa!”

He was having as much fun as if he were on a roller coaster at an amusement park. He’s a sacred beast, so he’ll probably be fine even if he falls.

I let them roam free and sat cross-legged.

Before starting my mana cultivation, I looked at Verok.

“Keep an eye on things.”

“Leave it to me.”

Verok Biden.

He was the last to join my personal guard before I became Crown Prince, and he got married right after the Western Expedition. He, who used to have such a rebellious streak, seems to have mellowed out a lot recently.

Is it because he has a family now?

‘Now, all that’s left is for Vernon to get married.’

Among the escort knights who had been with me through thick and thin, only Vernon, with his distinctive pug nose, was still single. I heard he was seeing someone, so I think he’ll be getting married soon.

Adol, Vernon, Verok.

All of them fought for the kingdom in the ‘future’ and fell on the battlefield.

Their lives must not end the same way as before. And that depends on how I run the kingdom from now on.

My shoulders felt a little heavier.

‘So, no matter how busy I am, I can’t skip training.’

I started mana cultivation under Verok’s watchful gaze. I emptied the mana from my mana pool and accepted new mana.

I contemplated the microcosm within the mana pool.

Six stars shining brilliantly.

And…

‘It’s soon.’

The birth of a new star is not far off.

I couldn’t help but smile at that fact.

After sweating it out with my early morning training and starting a refreshing day, I took a quick shower and headed straight to my office.

I unlocked the drawer in my desk and took out a thick file.

Project Lark K.

Lark K is a magical superconductor that Isabel is working on with a final push. The goal is for it to have the properties of iron while maintaining a magic loss rate of only 20%.

I was holding onto this until I went to bed yesterday.

I looked at it again until Alphonso arrived.

‘Three months left.’

The World Magic Superconductor Association, also known as WMSA.

It’s an international organization where experts from all over the world gather to set international standards for magical superconductors, exchange technology, and hold symposiums.

The goal was to unveil Lark K at the WMSA seminar in the Aimen Empire in three months.

My heart wasn’t entirely at ease as I turned the pages of the document one by one.

‘It’s difficult…’

Since I stopped researching magical superconductors, the gap between Isabel and me has widened significantly.

I wasn’t sure if poring over the research data all day would help me break through the obstacle she was stuck on.

‘I might not be able to meet the deadline.’

If worst comes to worst, I’ll have to bring the magical superconductor that was used for Michael’s exoarmor. It wasn’t better than iron, but it was still better than bronze. That alone would attract a significant investment.

I would be able to prevent the Lionel Kingdom from going bankrupt, at least for a while.

‘Still, the best thing is to complete Lark K.’

I glared at the research data.

Before I knew it…

Knock, knock.

“Your Majesty, it’s Alphonso.”

The guy who always comes with breakfast and the newspaper at the same time had arrived. I put the data I was looking at back in the drawer and looked at the door.

“Come in.”

The servants placed the meal and newspaper on the desk and disappeared, leaving only Alphonso and me.

“What’s the report?”

“The news is that Lawrence, the priest, arrived in the Florentine Kingdom, where the Yulia Order’s Great Temple is located, at 6 a.m. our time.”

“Is that so?”

I nodded, putting a sandwich in my mouth.

Inquisitor Lawrence grabbed my hand, saying let’s turn a bad relationship into a good one.

I never thought he would refuse. If he had any sense, there was no way he would refuse my offer, which was beneficial for everyone.

“But why did you choose the Yulia Order? There are many larger orders, such as the Earth Mother or the Water Goddess, aren’t there? You’re not really feeling sorry for Priest Lawrence, are you?”

Alphonso had a point.

The position of the Yulia Order was a bit ambiguous. In terms of influence, it was somewhere between a large and mid-sized organization.

“They already have a new order that they have a strong relationship with. And I really did feel sorry for Lawrence, too.”

“Ah, you mean the Yulia Order will pay more attention to the Danar Order than to them, right?”

“That’s right.”

There was another reason.

The doctrines of the Yulia Order are quite helpful in exercising ‘rule of law’ in running my kingdom.

-Those who have committed sins must be judged accordingly.

That doctrine is in the first chapter of the Yulia Order’s Bible.

What a powerful statement. Before her judgment, royalty, nobles, and commoners are all just human beings.

Well, that’s also why the Yulia Order hasn’t grown into a super-giant order.

Anyway.

Besides those things, there was one big reason why I chose the Yulia Order.

-Okay, Harry. Which statue do you like the most?

-Nyaa!

-Really? Is it really Yulia, the god of judgment?

-Nyaa!

Harry chose the Yulia Order from among the orders I had selected as candidates to form a sisterhood with the Danar Order.

Were Danar and Yulia close in the divine realm?

I chuckled at the silly thought that suddenly came to my mind and shook my head.

“Has Priest Rico still not come to his senses?”

“No. It’s been three days already.”

Rico and Marie had lost their energy due to excessive use of divine power.

Marie quickly recovered.

But Rico’s condition was more than just exhaustion.

I recalled Schuetz’s report.

-It looks like he’s experiencing divine affliction.

-Divine affliction? The divine affliction I know?

-Yes. Priest Rico must have encountered a god.

When priests meet a god in the world of consciousness, their overloaded bodies suffer severely. That’s called divine affliction.

In other words, Rico met Danar.

I’ve never experienced it myself, so I don’t know what he did with Danar.

Is it similar to how I only escaped from Danar’s ruins and saw a scene from the ‘future’?

What is certain is that those who wake up from divine affliction gain something that will be remembered in the history of the order.

In the case of those who announced the beginning of each order…

‘It was the Bible, wasn’t it?’

I wondered what doctrine would be written on the first page of the Danar Order’s Bible, which would become the kingdom’s state religion.

‘He’ll wake up when the time comes.’

I put my thoughts about Rico aside and opened the newspaper.

『The besieged imperial capital of the Hamel Empire, what will the First Prince choose?』

Tsk, I clicked my tongue at the headline.

Even though I subtly released information to be careful of being backstabbed, the First Prince’s faction was being manipulated by the Seventh Prince and the Eleventh Princess.

‘Too fast.’

I wanted a three-way battle to last for a long time, but it seemed that the First Prince would fall sooner than expected, and it would become a two-way battle between the Seventh Prince and the Eleventh Princess.

For the time being, the kingdom must focus on stabilizing the recovered northwest and strengthening its internal affairs, so intervention is impossible.

I need to prepare the food to send to the Khan tribe this winter.

When I thought of the Khan tribe, I naturally thought of my wedding with Ranua.

The date has been set.

She is scheduled to become my bride in August, two months from now.

The schedule is packed.

Reina’s childbirth in a month.

My wedding with Ranua in two months.

Isabel and the WMSA seminar in three months.

Ha… I really wish I could learn a clone magic that splits my body.

***

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

There were a few major events during that time.

Externally, it was the disappearance of the First Prince of the Hamel Empire.

The First Prince, who was surrounded by the forces of the Seventh Prince and the Eleventh Princess and trapped in the imperial capital, attempted to escape on an airship. And his whereabouts are unknown.

I judged that he was dead based on the information I obtained through the [Library] (referring to his ability to access information).

The Nineteenth Prince Charles’ airship, the Black Dragon, moved in the direction the First Prince was escaping.

The route of the First Prince’s airship, which was escaping safely, overlapped with the route of the Black Dragon, and after that, the First Prince’s voyage log was no longer written.

Charles may have captured the First Prince and kept him alive… but I think that possibility is slim. There is no particular benefit.

Well, there is no such thing as absolute in the world, so let’s leave the possibility open a little.

Turning our attention to the kingdom, the establishment of the Danar Order is the biggest news.

Rico woke up on the seventh day of losing consciousness, and I waited for him to regain his strength and visited the hospital.

He, with the clear eyes of a saint, showed me a notebook.

-I wanted to show it to Your Majesty first.

It was the Bible of the Danar Order, which he had been writing like a madman since he woke up.

The phrase that was visible as soon as I opened the first page is still vivid in my mind.

-Every moment of yours will illuminate the lighthouse of fate. Therefore, cherish time and do not waste it.

I guess it means that human destiny depends on how you shape it? So spend your time wisely.

Sometimes, when I was tired from work, I looked at the sky and asked Danar questions.

Is human destiny predetermined?

No matter how hard I struggle, will the future end the same way as the ‘future’?

I felt like I heard the answer to that.

The Bible was very thin.

Only brief doctrines like the Ten Commandments were written.

As time passes and the power grows, the Bible will become thicker and thicker as saints who have met Danar and their achievements are added.

Just like the Bibles of other orders did.

I asked Rico what I was curious about.

-Have you heard anything about Marie?

-He told me to guide her on the right path.

-What about me?

-There was nothing.

It was common for kings to receive a token from the order they adopted as the state religion. So I thought I would too.

I thought it was better to separate royal authority and religious authority, so I didn’t feel particularly disappointed.

…Really.

Anyway.

Rico, who became Danar’s first servant, became the person in charge of the Danar Order.

He is dedicated to proselytizing, going back and forth between the temple and the orphanage under construction near the market in the royal capital, Barona.

Ah! Marie, who saved the child with Rico, has also become an apprentice priest of the Danar Order and is following him around.

Establishing a sisterhood with the Yulia Order went very well. It wasn’t that there was no opposition within them, but it ended with a word from the saint of the Yulia Order.

What she said was probably…

-The goddess told me last night to welcome my friend dearly.

Are they really friends in the divine realm?

Anyway.

So the two orders became sisterhood. When Danar’s temple is completed, the Pope of the Yulia Order will visit the kingdom at the appropriate time.

Thanks to that, the debt of gratitude I owed to Lawrence has been cleanly settled.

“Wah! Wah! Wah!”

While I was reminiscing about the past month, the sound I had been waiting for finally echoed in the royal palace. I jumped up from my seat, opened the door, and went inside.

“Your Majesty! It’s a prince!”

“Congratulations!”

“Congratulations!”

A son…

“Wah! Wah! Wah!”

The loudly crying baby was clenching both fists tightly.

As if he would conquer the whole world.