Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 50

050

While busy with G-Dragon’s training and mine development, there was one thing I never forgot to do every day.

That was organizing the events of the ‘future.’

Strictly speaking, it’s a past life, but calling my life on Earth my pre-past life feels strange, so I decided to call it the ‘future’ for convenience.

Well, that’s not important.

In the ‘future,’ I never met Fran.

However, I spent a long time on the battlefield with her disciple, who carried on her legacy.

‘Alice, the Witch of Lightning….’

She joined the Lionel Kingdom army to avenge her master, Fran, even though she wasn’t human. She’s currently guarding 34-231 Queen’s Crossroads in Barona alone, that disciple of hers.

That’s right.

Fran was murdered.

And the culprit is….

“What’s with that sour look on your face? Did that earthworm finally cause some trouble?”

As I was heading to Fran’s room, I looked up at the familiar voice and out the window. She was standing in the garden with a nonchalant expression.

I jumped out the window and into the garden.

“Did you have a good rest?”

“So-so.”

“Do you have time to talk for a bit? It might be a little long, so shall we sit down?”

“What’s with the serious face? You’re making me nervous.”

Fran grumbled but sat down on a nearby bench.

Standing in front of her, I was cautious about how to start the conversation. If I blurted out that she was about to be murdered, she would definitely swing her staff at my head.

“Fran.”

“Is this perhaps… that? Don’t, don’t. I told you when we first met, don’t fall for me.”

I wonder how many playboys confessed to her to get that kind of reaction. Come to think of it, the owner of this place is one of those playboys?

I shook my head, reassuring her.

“I said something similar last time, but you can rest assured that I don’t have even a tiny bit of romantic feelings for you.”

“Okay, that’s a relief. But it feels strangely unpleasant?”

“Well, aside from the romantic aspect, I do like you.”

How could I hate Fran, the friend of my maternal grandfather who gladly returned the [Bayren Mana Cultivation Method], and a 7-star mage?

Human Evan Lionel might be able to, but 5th Prince Evan Lionel cannot.

“Okay, that’s enough, it’s creepy, so get to the point.”

“Fran, do you trust me?”

For now, in terms of ‘relationship,’ we are still friendly.

“I’ve been watching what you’ve been doing from the side. What is there to trust? Would you trust you if you were me? Sometimes I suspect you’re a contractor of one of the 72 Demon Kings.”

Hmm… I don’t think I’ve ever harmed good people, but that’s too much.

Well, even I think there are quite a few suspicious things. Just recently, she witnessed me suddenly knowing the location of the children trapped in the abandoned mine.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch after all.

Then what is the best way to gain someone’s ‘trust’? I think it’s sharing secrets.

I can’t tell her everything.

– 「You remember two past lives? And one of them isn’t just a past life, but the future?」

– That’s what I think.

– 「… Don’t go around telling people. Even if you have to reveal it, keep it to a minimum.」

Barisada, who was my bamboo forest [someone to confide in] and shared all my secrets, warned me.

– I don’t intend to go around telling everyone, but why?

– 「… How should I put this… There’s something called the ‘law of the world.’ What happened to you, and what’s happening, isn’t just twisting it, it’s tearing it to shreds.」

– I see.

– 「You shouldn’t be saying that so calmly, ha… You know how much the servants of God pay to twist the ‘law of the world.’」

– They usually live with permanent disabilities. Sometimes they burn their lives.

– 「Yes, on the other hand, the things you can do now with that status window require a small price compared to that.」

I thought I was risking my life to earn RP [Relationship Points], but it was a little disappointing to hear that it was a small price.

– 「I don’t know why you’re out of the ‘law of the world’s’ sight, but the more people who know your secret, the more the ‘law of the world’ will pay attention to you.」

– Then was it a mistake to tell Barisada?

「I’m just a piece of sword, so it doesn’t matter. It’s like you can babble your secrets while looking in the mirror.」

Barisada finished the conversation with a somewhat bitter tone. Based on her advice, I decided to reveal the minimum amount of secrets to Fran.

“Fran, I sometimes see the future.”

“…?”

Fran’s expression turned bizarre, as if my words were out of the blue. Soon, she nodded with a look of understanding and asked back.

“So that’s what it was…. But what price are you paying? The saints and saintesses of Paturasit, famous for their precise prophecies, are all blind. Is it another god? Where is the stigmata?”

“It’s a little difficult to say. However, what is certain is that I am not a demon king or a demon.”

“Well, it seems like you’re saying it with a big heart, so I’ll trust you for now. So what did you see that made you go to my room with such a serious face? Am I going to die or something?”

Her expression hardened as I nodded slightly. She had been smirking just before.

“…. I have more days to live than you think. Tell me in detail.”

“You were planning to attend the Magic Society’s Horizon event in June this year, which is held every five years.”

“How… Ah, you said you sometimes glimpse the future. That’s right, around that time I was researching….”

“You were planning to present the ‘Stella’ project there.”

“… Honestly, I was a little skeptical. Is it real? I never thought I would hear that project name that I came up with under the Mother Tree from your mouth.”

Stella.

An artificial magic stone made using low-output magic stones. The core component that will be the foundation of the Titans that will appear in the future.

“You will be murdered because of that. All research results will be stolen.”

“….”

The likely suspect is the Yellow Tower Master.

The imperial family of the Hamel Empire, an 8-star mage who was praised as the father of the Titans in the ‘future.’

– It’s definitely that bastard! I, I will definitely kill that guy!

Fran’s disciple, Alice, the Witch of Lightning, who cried out that it was all a false name created by stealing her master’s research results, briefly came to mind.

“Who is the culprit?”

“I don’t know either.”

The information I decided to tell Fran was up to the point that she would present Stella at Horizon and be murdered.

It’s not exactly wrong to say that I don’t know the culprit. The fact that the Yellow Tower Master is the culprit was just Alice’s guess. It’s 99%, but there’s also a 1% chance.

“Don’t go. Present it when you have the power to protect your research results, at least.”

“No. I have to go.”

What kind of stubbornness is this again?

“Don’t you still trust me? If you’re desperately looking for investors, I’ll provide the capital. You know I’ve become quite rich with this mine development.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s not a matter of money either. It’s Horizon, which happens every five years. It’s a battlefield for mages who are evaluated based on the research results they have accumulated. I haven’t been able to make a proper presentation while researching Stella. I’ve already told some mages that I’m going to present something big at this conference. If I just skip it this time, there will be rumors that 7-star mage Fran is a senile old woman spouting nonsense, you know?”

Honestly, it was a little hard to understand.

It’s a matter of life and death. Is a mage’s pride that important?

In the ‘future,’ the Yellow Tower Master was shamelessly called the father of the Titans, even though he was suspected of stealing Fran’s research.

“I know you won’t understand. But there are things that no one can give up. I can never tolerate anything that would tarnish the existence of ‘mage Fran.’”

“Even if Fran’s disciple, Alice, is left alone?”

“….”

She looked at me as if I were being mean.

For a while, we both looked at the garden without saying a word.

“How about this?”

“What?”

“Why don’t you just do the presentation, but with something other than Stella?”

“Do you think Horizon is some kind of talent show? There’s only a little over three months left. What can I research and present?”

Research to present at Horizon in three months….

It seemed like I would have to share one of the projects I had been researching with her.

Alfonso’s nagging, telling me to focus on swordsmanship when I was engrossed in magic books, rang in my ears. It was also the moment to prove that I hadn’t wasted my time on magic.

I rummaged through my pocket.

“What, why are you suddenly taking out chocolate?”

“I had a strange dream. I’ve been experimenting on and off since I learned magic to recreate it.”

I opened the chocolate wrapper and threw it in front of Fran so she could see it well. And I designed, constructed, and manifested a formula I created by applying 1-star basic magic such as [Water Membrane], [Suction], and [Magnetism].

‘Magnetron.’

A small water balloon made of water membrane, the size of a coin, floated right next to the chocolate. A vacuum inside, with a cathode in the center and magnetic force of the anode around the water membrane.

“What is that?”

“It’s my original magic that I named Magnetron. Please understand that my magic power limits the size to that extent.”

Answering Fran’s question, I clenched my right hand tightly. The final trigger to apply high-voltage current to the balloon was pulled.

The water balloon vibrated with a buzzing sound.

The chocolate next to it melted away.

I had just generated microwave radiation from the balloon, creating an effect similar to a microwave oven.

Replacing a vacuum tube with a water balloon using a water membrane is impossible with the common sense of my past life.

However, the laws of physics in this world are ‘similar’ to Earth, not ‘identical.’ And ‘magic power’ is the power to make the impossible possible.

“…?”

Fran’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked at the melted chocolate.

I smiled and opened my mouth.

“Amazing, isn’t it? Why did the chocolate melt? I succeeded in recreating what I saw in my dream, but I don’t know exactly why this phenomenon occurs. Wouldn’t you be able to find out the reason before Horizon, Fran?”

“… You don’t know the principle?”

Fran looked at me with suspicious eyes.

But, it’s not a lie.

Unlike the ‘future,’ my past life’s memories are full of holes.

I remember how to generate microwave radiation, but if you ask me why it generates microwave radiation, I have nothing to say.

Above all, as I said before, the laws of physics in this world are similar to Earth, but not the same.

Anyone who sees it would think I created the [Magnetron] formula in a snap, but there have been countless failures.

“Well, roughly something invisible is generated and melts the chocolate, something like that?”

“… It doesn’t seem like a lie. But no. I can’t present that.”

Why again?

“This isn’t my research. It’s yours. I can’t tolerate stealing someone else’s research; it’s against my research ethics.”

The moment I was about to sigh, she opened her mouth again.

“But if it’s joint research, I’ll gratefully accept your offer. I’ll definitely repay the favor I received this time, so keep it in mind.”

How could a human like the Yellow Tower Master come out when there are such excellent research ethics?

“I want to hide the fact that I’m learning magic as much as possible. When the time is right….”

“You don’t have to use your real name, do you? There are crazy people who publish papers under stupid pseudonyms like ‘Dark Magician.’”

Why didn’t I think of that?

“Um… Frankenstein. I think that name would be good.”

“That’s a strange name? Well, it doesn’t matter. Since there’s no surname, people might mistake you for not being human.”

「Your relationship with Fran has improved.」

「You have acquired 30,000 RP.」

An alert that my relationship with Fran had changed to ‘trust.’ I almost gasped at the RP that came in as a reward.

‘30,000?’

As expected, a 7-star mage.

I was close to achieving 100,000 RP. Surely additional achievements will be achieved as well?

I barely pulled down the corners of my mouth that were about to rise. The conversation wasn’t over yet. Now that I had successfully resolved the ‘first business,’ it was time to move on to the next.

“You can enter the Elven Forest, right, Fran?”

“Why are you asking when you know where I’ve been all this time?”

“You definitely said you would repay the favor of sharing the [Magnetron] project earlier, right? Why don’t you get it over with early? Just give me a tour of the Elven Forest.”

There’s something I need to get there.