Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 25

025

An enemy of an enemy is an ally.

It’s a famous saying from my past life, but it’s also frequently quoted in strategy books in this life. I guess people are similar no matter where they live?

In that sense, I, who have those who caused the downfall of the North as a common enemy, and the Northern Liberation Army can be good allies.

‘At least not enemies.’

Before arriving at my destination, I checked the RP [Reward Points] I had.

‘51,500RP.’

I managed to gather this much from digging into the Second Queen’s burning romance, the achievements after the royal trial, and the process of my relationship with Alfonso turning into a vassal.

In terms of the cash value of my past life, it’s enough to get a small apartment in Seoul. With this much, I can learn the mana cultivation method of a decent mid-sized knight family.

Depending on how I use this, the life and death of Alfonso, the first vassal who recognized me as his lord, depends on it.

‘And my future too.’

– I sent him. As a spy for the Northern Liberation Army. Not that he came here from there. He went from here to there and then came back.

From the moment I said that to the Royal Secret Service inspection officer, I was already involved with the Northern Liberation Army.

After Alfonso was taken to the Royal Secret Service, there’s no telling who might use what kind of scheme to make things difficult for me.

‘It’s annoying.’

Suddenly, I thought it would have been better if I had awakened to my past life without being born as a prince.

Like the eldest son of a knight or magician family?

I wouldn’t have to keep handing over RP to the [Library] genie, so I could focus on steadily growing my own power by learning the visions [unique magical abilities] that suit my taste from the [Skill Window], right?

Here I am, in a situation where I can’t even learn the visions I want to learn because I’m worried about RP…

Breathing like this isn’t thanks to swordsmanship or magic, but all thanks to my mouth. The problem is that it seems like it will continue to be like that for the time being.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a skill like [Evan-style Mouth Technique] appeared. I glanced at the [Skill Window], but it hasn’t appeared yet.

While daydreaming about opening and learning the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and Plum Blossom Sword Technique to make the First and Second Princes kneel before me, the sound of hooves stopped and the carriage came to a halt.

“We’ve arrived.”

At Alfonso’s words, I opened the door and got out.

“Then, just a moment, I’ll go hide the carriage.”

A small house with a small garden. While Alfonso disappeared to hide the carriage, I glanced at the sign.

[Queen’s Crossroads 34-231]

‘Really?’

I didn’t expect that the ‘beautiful magician’ who hid the message I saw in the magic book and the ‘old hag’ that Alfonso mentioned were the same person?

Ah, if the magic book is 30-40 years old, it’s possible. But considering that, the book had no faded spots and was clean.

While I was thinking that, Alfonso returned.

“The carriage?”

“Well hidden.”

“Any tails on the way?”

“There were some until we entered Queen’s Crossroads. You can rest assured in this area.”

That was why Alfonso wasn’t with me and was sitting in the coachman’s seat.

“I asked in advance to have an awareness interference barrier spread around the area. You can rest assured, she’s very skilled. The guys who were tailing us must be quite embarrassed.”

“Okay, I’ll trust you.”

Alfonso rang the doorbell, and not long after, the front door of the house opened. A girl who looked a little younger than me ran out.

She was wearing a black cape and a wide-brimmed magician’s hat. She looked like a cute little witch.

“Alfonso! You stole my magic book last time! I got scolded terribly by my teacher! Bring it back quickly! And I know you stole a few more besides that!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about? Don’t accuse me of something I didn’t do. We have a guest, so hurry up and guide us to Fran.”

The child glared at me once, then turned her back and muttered.

“Tch! Just you wait. Follow me.”

I followed the child, walking behind her, and asked Alfonso quietly.

“Most of the magic books I asked you to get… did you steal them from that child?”

“Your voice is too loud. Steal? I only borrowed one or two that were hard to find. Borrowed.”

The guy was almost whispering. I understood why I was able to see such a hidden message.

“Forever?”

“Ha, haha.”

“Are you talking about 『Understanding Complex Attribute Magic: Lightning Edition』 when you say return it?”

“Uh… I don’t remember the title, but it’s the one I gave you most recently.”

I definitely gave him the pocket money I saved up from the allowance my sister gave me to buy magic books.

“You must have a lot of money left over from the money I gave you for magic books, right?”

“Haha, haha. Oh dear! There’s a nail sticking out here. I’ll go ahead. Please follow carefully from behind.”

The child who guided us to the magician’s workshop opened the door without knocking.

Various experimental tools, reagents, and crumpled papers were scattered everywhere. Even though we had arrived, she had her back to us, with the hood of her robe pulled over her head.

“She’s researching something amazing right now, so wait a little bit.”

“What research?”

“Hmph, would you even understand if I told you?”

The child scoffed at Alfonso’s question and quickly left the workshop.

It was awkward to just stand there blankly, and I was about to open the magician’s status window, but I became interested in the papers scattered on the floor.

‘They all have similar content?’

I mentally designed the formula drawn on one of the papers. I could see mana circuits that gave the properties of fire, metal, and wind.

Lightning?

But there was something subtly off about it. Just as I was about to construct it and examine it, suddenly.

Bang!

The magician, who had been facing away from us, suddenly slammed her desk, and it was disrupted.

“This isn’t it either! Ugh, annoying.”

She crumpled up the paper and threw it away, then turned around. Her emerald hair and eyes, sparkling in the light of the workshop, stood out.

Not an old hag?

A young woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

She had a face that no one would say anything about even if she went around calling herself a beautiful magician.

“Why are you staring so blankly? Are you smitten? You little brat knows what’s pretty.”

“…Fran, this is Prince Evan.”

“I know, the ghost prince of the Emerald Palace. Richard’s grandson.”

She uttered my maternal grandfather’s name and briefly had a wistful look in her eyes. I used Ghost Hand to open her status window.

━━━━━━━━━×

Fran

Gender: Female

Age: ?

Race: Half-Elf

[Stats]

[Skills]

[Relationship – Friendly]

━━━━━━━━━

I realized something that I hadn’t noticed because of the slightly dark workshop lighting and the hood of the robe.

Ears that were too blunt for an elf, a fairy of the forest, but too long to be human.

‘Half-elf.’

She was half-blooded, but she inherited the blood of the elven race, which never ages for life but rapidly ages just before death.

– I do remember that an old hag who was a bit out of her mind claimed that she had to bring a prince with the blood of the Beyrn Marquis and establish him as the Duke of the North.

‘So that’s why she said that.’

When the red moon rises, the elven blood flowing in her body will weaken, so she would be very different from usual.

I understood why she told me to meet her in person, saying that she extremely disliked others talking about her to me.

‘But it’s the first time I’ve seen an age hidden like that.’

Well, that means it’s a secret she doesn’t want to reveal that much, right?

“Don’t fall for me. As you might have guessed, I was your grandfather’s first love.”

…Judging by what she’s saying now, it doesn’t seem to be related to the red moon. There’s no way I could have guessed that.

But since I’m in a position where I need her help, I decided to accept it appropriately.

“I see. You were my grandfather’s first love. It’s a shame, but I’ll give up.”

“You don’t look much like him, but you’re just as boring as that guy. Why are you standing there? Just sit down.”

“I thought it wouldn’t be polite to be a guest.”

“It’s okay. Sit comfortably. I don’t plan on being a polite host either. Let’s be comfortable with each other, okay?”

Alfonso tactfully cleared the papers scattered on the sofa.

I sat facing Fran. She glanced at Alfonso, who was standing next to me, then turned her gaze to me.

“So, why did you want to see me?”

When I opened her status window earlier, her relationship was clearly ‘Friendly.’ Gaining confidence, I opened my mouth.

“I heard that Fran is a consultant for the Northern Liberation Army. That she’s the teacher of most of the magician executives…”

“Not a teacher. Instructor? Teacher? Something like that? What’s the point of those guys who don’t have the slightest intention of carrying on my will? If it weren’t for Richard’s last request… No, why did he even ask me that?”

Fran suddenly got angry and huffed.

I waited for her to calm down and then opened my mouth.

“Anyway, isn’t it true that they’re your disciples? You can give them a few words of advice, right? You wouldn’t feel good if someone… got seriously hurt.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Alfonso and I are involved with the Northern Liberation Army and have gotten tangled up with the Royal Secret Service, so we’re in a bit of a difficult situation.”

“That must be a big deal? Tell me about it in detail.”

I summarized the current situation we were in and conveyed it to Fran. After listening to everything, she nodded and muttered to herself.

“So, the blood of Beyrn and Einberg will disappear from the world forever… Ah! You have a sister left, right?”

“It won’t disappear.”

Fran’s expression became serious at my assertion.

“I understand the situation. But I don’t know why you came to me? If you want me to help you escape, it’s impossible. It’s a pity that you’re the bloodline left by a past relationship, but… I can’t help it. You may or may not know, but even meeting you like this is quite a stretch. I might have to move.”

Is it because of the awareness interference barrier spread around Queen’s Crossroads?

She has some goodwill towards me because of her relationship with my grandfather, but she doesn’t want to be bothered. It seemed to be just that much.

“I’m not asking you to help us escape from the palace. I’m not asking you to help us for free either.”

But even if it’s a hassle, the story will be different if there’s a corresponding price. Fran smiled and asked.

“Really? How great is your request and reward?”

“You probably know that the rumors circulating about the Northern Liberation Army aren’t very good.”

“That rumor that the Northern Liberation Army assassinated the Fourth Prince?”

I nodded.

“It will become a fact.”

The Second Prince’s faction will definitely make it happen.

“Ah, is that so? There will be guys who will be happy that they can now run wild.”

It seemed like she was talking about the hardliners.

Her expression wasn’t very good.

“It seems like Fran isn’t very happy about the situation either.”

“It’s just that I feel bad thinking about those guys who are about to jump into a fire like moths.”

“I’ll make that rumor disappear. I’ll also make the people of the kingdom know that the Northern Liberation Army isn’t just a group of thugs.”

“Can you do that?”

“That’s not the end. I’ll bring down a member of the royal family who was involved in the downfall of the North so that the hardliners can be satisfied.”

“Puhaha.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Fran burst into laughter and wiped her eyes.

I waited patiently for her to calm down.

“Oh my, my stomach hurts. It’s been a while since I’ve laughed so hard. Do you know how that sounded to me just now? It sounded the same as saying that you’re going to sweep away the vermin of the palace, become king, and conquer the Hamel Empire.”

“It’s possible.”

I paused for a moment, then looked Fran in the eye. And with a confident expression, I opened my mouth.

“If there is help from the Northern Liberation Army.”

I didn’t bother to say maybe, and I took the preparatory stance for [Evan-style Mouth Technique].