Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 172

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Arya Kingdom.

King Otto Arya visited the tea room.

“Don’t let anyone in until I come out.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

He opened the door and went inside alone.

The tea room was like a miniature outdoor garden. In the center, colorful fish were swimming in a small pond.

Otto prepared for the tea ceremony, arranging pottery and teacups filled with hot water on a tray, and approached the pond.

The surface of the pond seemed shallow.

It was only deep enough to barely submerge the lower body. Otto stepped into the pond without hesitation.

*Splash.* The fish gathered at the sound of the water splashing. They thought a maid had thrown food. But there was nothing there.

Not even Otto, who had clearly entered the pond.

The confused carp just kept gaping.

In Arya’s royal castle, there were more than one or two secret places known only to the king. The pond in the tea room was one of them.

Otto was now in the basement, where it smelled fishy and felt damp.

In the dark space, he moved, using a faint ray of light as a beacon.

*Splish, splash.*

Because his shoes and knees were wet, he made a sound like he was stepping on mud every time he walked. One might frown, but Otto didn’t show any expression on his face.

He passed through the narrow, dark path and arrived at a large cavity that was the source of the light.

“…Why?”

He was surprised that there was no one there.

Otto put the tray down for a moment and looked around.

How long had it been?

“Otto, is that you?”

At the voice calling him, Otto quickly turned around.

As if he had fallen from the sky, a man stood where there had been nothing a moment ago.

He was a strikingly beautiful young man wearing the traditional Arya Kingdom scholar’s robe.

Otto knelt down and bowed his head.

‘Saphian has awakened.’

The young man was Etrim in disguise.

Etrim, the eight-headed dragon. You could tell which head had the lead of the body by looking at the disguised form.

Recently, Otto had often seen him disguised as an old man with his eyes closed, the fourth head. He had put his foot in the tea room pond today because he had an appointment with him.

Etrim’s eight heads each had their own name. The young man in the scholar’s robe was Saphian. He was the third head, possessing the most extensive knowledge.

“I greet Saphian-nim.”

“It’s been a while. Aren’t you curious where Bidun went?”

Bidun was the name of the fourth head, who had an appointment with Otto.

“How could I know the will of the great ones?”

“Kekeke, that guy, I woke up and ate him in my sleep.”

A bizarre voice suddenly popped out.

The smell of death was thick. Otto trembled in fear without realizing it.

‘The second head has awakened.’

If the second head, the most violent and lazy, had awakened, it was safe to say that all the heads had awakened.

Saphian frowned and closed his eyes.

The heads were talking to each other. He opened his eyes and looked at Otto after a while.

“I showed you something unsightly.”

“……”

Otto bowed his head silently.

“You understand the situation, right? It will take some time to see Bidun again.”

It also meant that if he wanted to restore the fourth head soon, he would have to offer tribute.

“While we were asleep, it seems the kingdom has become a mess?”

Otto’s heart seemed to stop at Saphian’s cold gaze. He couldn’t breathe properly.

Etrim was a being close to God.

But not a complete god.

Etrim, who had grown stronger by swallowing the worship, fear, hatred, and resentment of the people of the Arya Archipelago, and actively intervening.

It had greatly helped Etrim to grow stronger quickly, but in the end, it became a huge obstacle to ascending to the divine realm.

He had become too entangled with the earth.

Saphian closed his eyes again and calmed his anger, recalling the ‘causality’ [the principle that all actions have consequences] that had strongly grabbed his ankle the moment he flew into the sky to ascend.

Killing Otto, the king of Arya, ‘directly’ would accumulate enormous ‘causality’. He would have to hide for hundreds or thousands of years. And at that point, he would become a forgotten being, and the divinity he had barely obtained would be shattered.

Otto was freed from the sensation that had been pressing down on his whole body.

“Haa, haa……”

He took a breath that he had been holding back. Saphian looked at him pitifully and opened his mouth.

“What did Bidun order you to do?”

Otto quickly opened his mouth.

“Bi, Bidun-nim urgently called me and ordered the disposal of all classified documents.”

“He ordered you to do that? Why?”

“He didn’t say anything about it. He just said that we had to cover the giant eyes watching the kingdom.”

Even as he answered Saphian’s question, Otto was once again filled with questions.

Why did he have to destroy the classified documents?

He had no idea what the giant eyes were.

He didn’t ask because he didn’t think he would answer, but it seemed like he wouldn’t get an answer now.

Etrim was one being, yet eight.

What the fourth head saw and what he was thinking could never be known.

“…I see. That’s what it was. He, whom even I had forgotten, has finally found one of his pieces.”

Forgotten? He? Piece?

Otto, who couldn’t understand what Saphian was saying, was just filled with questions. Hoping that he might explain, he watched Saphian’s expression.

Saphian was lost in deep thought, looking up. Otto gave up his expectations at the sight of him seemingly not caring about him.

After a long time, Saphian opened his mouth.

“What else did he order?”

“After destroying the classified documents…”

Otto began to report to Saphian in detail what Bidun had ordered him to do.

“…And three days ago, he reached out to the Prime Minister through the ambassador stationed in the Aimen Empire, and this morning I received a call that he had taken my hand.”

“There was no talk of what to do after that?”

“Not really. So I thought there might be a story about it today.”

Saphian became thoughtful. He closed his eyes.

He started doing what he had been doing before Otto came.

-Stella? If this technology is developed, our kingdom will soon be swallowed up by the Lionel Kingdom.

-While the Lionel Kingdom is developing rapidly, what on earth have the wizards of our country been doing?

-The Arya Kingdom has no future now.

-That’s right! I should immigrate to the land of opportunity, the Aimen Empire.

.

.

.

Like the fourth head Bidun, who foresaw the future, Saphian also had one power. It was to eavesdrop on the thoughts of those who worshiped Etrim.

Other heads can hear the prayers of the believers. But only Saphian could eavesdrop on their thoughts.

One hour, two hours, three hours…

Otto, whose lower body was completely wet, couldn’t show that he was cold and shivered. Just when he thought he was going to die, Saphian’s mouth finally opened.

“Duke Fran Minerva of the Lionel Kingdom. If we leave her alone, she will become a big problem.”

“That’s right.”

“What were you going to do?”

“We can’t rashly touch her while she’s in the Aimen Empire.”

“So?”

“The only chance is when she returns from Horizon and returns to the Lionel Kingdom.”

“I see. You’re going to attack from the sky.”

Saphian scanned Otto up and down.

Otto realized that his eyes were the same as when he looked at an unreliable subordinate.

“I’ll go with you too.”

Otto’s eyes widened.

He never imagined that Etrim would intervene directly. Etrim always gave instructions only in words and took a step back.

‘I have to prepare.’

Even before the situation in the Arya Kingdom became a mess due to Evan, Otto was a fairly competent king.

He immediately realized what he had to do for Etrim.

His younger sister, the former second queen of the Lionel Kingdom.

And his daughter Yandersia, who committed patricide [the act of killing one’s father].

He had to offer them as tribute.

If it was the two of them, who had the noble blood of the Arya royal family, even if Etrim intervened directly, the reaction could be minimized.

Even if Etrim didn’t use any special power on the spot, the fourth head would be restored.

“Soon, I will send a shaman to serve the great ones.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Saphian smiled for the first time after meeting Otto.

He licked his lips with his snake-like tongue. It was because he remembered the scent and taste of the noble blood of the Arya royal family.

***

After Stella’s presentation.

Fran, who had been holed up in a hotel under the ironclad protection of the Aimen Empire, went out for the first time in a while.

It was because the awards ceremony was held to select the person to receive the Horizon Medal.

“Master, aren’t you nervous?”

“Not at all.”

Fran replied with a relaxed expression to Alice’s whisper.

Frankly, there were many strong studies at the time of ‘Magnetron’ five years ago, but this year, ‘Stella’ was running alone.

Of course, there were many great presentations.

However, most of them were supplementing and developing existing ones. On the other hand, Stella was a completely new concept.

That was why Fran was confident of winning the Horizon Winner for the second time in a row.

And her thoughts were correct.

((The main character to receive the Horizon Medal! Right now! Right now! It’s Duke Fran Minerva, an 8-star wizard from the Lionel Kingdom! The first two-time Horizon Winner. Congratulations!))

Fran walked out amid thunderous applause.

She had received it once before, so she skillfully put the medal around her neck and gave her acceptance speech.

((…And I would like to thank Evan Lionel, the King of the Lionel Kingdom, who recognized the potential of Stella and provided tremendous support.))

She also briefly mentioned Evan’s name at the end.

After the awards ceremony, high-ranking officials from various countries who were deeply interested in Stella visited the banquet hall with high expectations.

It was to contact Fran, who had been staying at the hotel, and talk about investment.

But even after waiting and waiting, Fran did not appear at the banquet hall.

“What?! The Lionel Kingdom’s airship has already left!”

“Why are you reporting that now!”

“Contact the home country immediately and tell the heavy-assed people to fly to the Lionel Kingdom!”

Fran had secretly boarded an airship heading to the Lionel Kingdom immediately after the awards ceremony.

The officials from various countries, who found out about this late, were furious and blamed their own informants.

Meanwhile, at that time.

On the deck of the Lionel Kingdom’s large airship Golden Dragon, Alice was holding onto Jaryan and complaining.

“No~ But shouldn’t we eat at the banquet hall before we leave? Don’t you think so, Jaryan?”

“Really? I think the in-flight meal is pretty good, so…”

“Ah, really! Who said the in-flight meal is bad? Anyway, you really don’t empathize! Empathize!”

Alice shouted and left.

Jaryan scratched his head. A woman’s heart was really harder to interpret than any other formula.

There was a small fight between a couple, but the Golden Dragon headed to the Lionel Kingdom at a rapid pace.

A day passed, and two days passed.

Reina came out of the cabin and headed to the deck.

6-star, 7-star, 8-star.

It was less as the realm improved, but she would sweat and vomit if she stayed on a vehicle such as a carriage, train, or airship for a long time.

She knew the reason very well.

When she was young, she was about to starve to death in a carriage of a prostitute group following a mercenary group.

With the cold bodies of her friends.

Reina quickly shook her head, remembering the memories she didn’t want to think about, and reached for the sword on her waist.

Her mind calmed down and her motion sickness subsided a little.

She was no longer a young girl hiding in the luggage to avoid the eyes of those who attacked her like in the old days. She was an 8-star knight who could cut down dozens or hundreds of knights with one stroke.

Oops.

Something caught Reina’s senses as she was thinking that. It was a very damp, musty, and unpleasant sensation.

She slowly turned her head.

In her vision, which transcended humans, she saw an airship fleet, led by an airship as big as the Golden Dragon, or even bigger, approaching.

It was the Arya Kingdom’s airship fleet.