Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 67

067

The Road to Erangel, the Capital of Aden

I stood on the deck of the airship, gazing at the endless plains. Noticing someone approaching, I turned to see Alfonso.

“The captain says we’ll arrive in about an hour. We’re finally setting foot on land.”

His face was etched with boredom. He had been so excited when he first boarded the airship.

The lack of any significant events during the journey probably contributed to his boredom.

As we passed through the Western Mountains, a few fearless flying monsters approached us. But they quickly fled when the airship’s magic cannons fired.

“Bored? Maybe I shouldn’t have brought you… I should leave you behind next time.”

“Not at all! I’m not bored at all! How could you say such a disappointing thing? How could you even think of leaving your chief, your loyal servant, behind?”

Alfonso shook his head desperately.

Even if it’s boring, riding an airship is a hundred times better than training with G-Dragon in infiltration and facility destruction.

The day before boarding the airship, I went to check on their training and found G-Dragon dragging him across the ground by his mouth.

After listening to his explanation, it turned out he had muttered, ‘You’re not listening at all, you worm,’ which G-Dragon overheard.

He thought G-Dragon wouldn’t understand.

“How’s Reina doing?”

“The same as always. Whether it’s a train, a ship, or an airship, she always makes a fuss. She’s living in the bathroom. It’s really strange.”

“I know.”

A 6-star knight should be able to completely control their body. Getting motion sickness is almost impossible.

‘It must be psychological…’

I thought I knew a lot about Reina, but I was wrong. I considered using [Library] to find out more, but it felt like peeking into someone’s private diary, so I stopped.

With nothing else to do until we arrived in Aden’s capital, I checked my status window.

My [Stats] had returned to normal as the aftereffects of the Demonic Energy subsided. This experience taught me that getting sick or having an abnormal physical condition would cause them to decrease in real-time.

As for [Skills], there’s nothing I can learn right now since my memories of the ‘future’ have returned. I can’t even use the ones I know because I don’t have enough mana.

‘Support…’

North 80%.

West 60%.

East 25%.

South 5%.

That seems to be the average.

It looks very high when you only look at the numbers, but most of the population of the Lionel Kingdom is concentrated in the east and south.

And if you exclude the support of the nobles, it’s cut in half again.

Still.

I think I’ve reached a subtle point where the gazes of the 1st and 2nd princes are becoming complicated.

‘The 2nd prince might have already changed…’

The fact that the Jo Bayley pirates broke through the surveillance of Stone Coffin Island and came to kill me.

No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t feel right.

I couldn’t figure out whether it was simple incompetence or intentional, even with [Library].

The penalty that I can’t check information in [Library] unless there is a ‘record,’ whether it’s a document, video, or recording, is quite significant.

‘But I did find out why the Jo Bayley pirates came to kill me.’

– The morning star that broke the jewel has caught the falling shooting star, which shall be your worry.

I was dumbfounded when I found out it was because of Etrim’s prophecy. I don’t know why the Pantheon doesn’t defeat that terrible monster that receives human sacrifices.

…Actually, I think I know.

He’s a bit different from the demon kings and demons who bred the beings of the Middle Realm in the Mythological Era. Etrim became a being close to a demigod by eating the faith of the people of the Arya Kingdom. Even if they succeeded in defeating him, the Pantheon would suffer irreparable damage.

‘But I don’t have to worry about Arya’s schemes for a while.’

The prophecy was specific enough to identify the princes of the Lionel Kingdom.

The price must have been considerable.

It seems that many priestesses were sacrificed, and Etrim will have to take a nap at least until I have my coming-of-age ceremony.

In addition, the King of Arya lost the privateer fleet, the Jo Bayley pirates, which would have kept the aristocratic faction in check. One of the factors that would have allowed him to win a complete victory over the aristocratic faction has disappeared.

‘He must feel like he’s lost an arm.’

That’s what you get for bothering me when I was minding my own business.

I’m so happy.

It would be perfect if the aristocratic faction of Arya won. I hope they delay the outbreak of the First Lia War as long as possible.

‘Too bad.’

If I had firmly grasped the kingdom, it would have been the perfect time to repay them for all the schemes they had carried out in the Lionel Kingdom.

‘But I should support the Arya aristocratic faction as much as I can afford.’

Support doesn’t necessarily have to be physical.

I have [Library]. Sometimes a single piece of information can inflict a more fatal wound than 100 magic cannons.

I looked at the last part of the status window.

[RP: 664,500]

That’s over 6 billion in my previous life’s currency.

It’s piled up a lot.

Suppressing the Eastern pirates, assassinating Jo Bayley, Reina becoming a 6-star knight, and the bodyguards becoming vassals one after another… Several events overlapped and dozens of achievements popped up.

Now I can easily proceed with most information searches without checking the fee.

‘…But it’s still far from enough.’

┕ Tell me the cheapest Titan blueprint.

「You do not have enough RP to answer this question.」

‘Future’ treated large airships as strategic weapons equivalent to Titans. Considering that, I guess I need to collect about three times as much RP as I have now to get a low-level Titan blueprint.

Actually, the best thing would be for the agents dispatched from the Intelligence Agency to steal the Titan blueprint.

Isn’t that possible for free?

But that stake is the lives of the agents. Countless people would die. They are much more precious than RP, risking their lives for the country.

“Your Highness! I see the city over there!”

Alfonso’s shout woke me from my thoughts.

Erangel, the unique capital of Aden, where the city and the forest are in harmony, came into view.

***

The Horizon, held every five years, is a global event.

It lasts for two weeks.

Including the week before and after, the city is in a festive mood for almost a month.

It’s like the Olympics for wizards and magic engineers. For the spectators, it’s like an expo [exhibition].

Famous wizards and magic engineers from all over the world flock here. Of course, by airship! To prepare for this, we also landed safely at the airport in Erangel.

“Wow! Look at the airship next to us. It looks as big as the kingdom’s large airship, the Gold Lion. Where did it come from? Oh! The Hamel Empire!”

I glanced over at Alfonso’s fuss and saw what looked like the airship the Yellow Tower Master had arrived on. Our airship looked shabby in comparison.

It’s like a compact car next to a large sedan? Why did the captain park here of all places?

I whispered softly in Alfonso’s ear.

“Tell the captain to park somewhere else.”

I didn’t want to run into the Hamel Empire guys on the way back.

“Yes. But there are more large airships than I thought.”

“I know.”

I looked with Alfonso at the places he was looking at.

The Aimen Empire of the East Continent.

The Brissen Alliance of the West Continent.

The Rabia Empire, which borders the Hamel Empire.

It seemed that the countries with the title of ‘Great Power’ had provided large airships to the wizards and magic engineers belonging to them.

They had all parked in the best spots at the airport.

“Wow, even the islanders brought a large airship? Isn’t that too much?”

“Their princess is a 7-star wizard. If our 1st Queen or her family, or the head of the Runtia Duchy, had attended the Horizon, the royal family would have given us the Gold Lion, too.”

“Anyway, this is a big deal. Those powerful countries are so interested in new knowledge, but we…”

Alfonso seemed to realize that he had been a frog in a well [someone with a limited perspective] only after leaving the Lionel Kingdom.

The royal family and nobles of the kingdom should be feeling that. I felt frustrated and my chest felt tight.

“It will change in the future. So you should do your best in what you have to do.”

“I understand!”

“First, when we get back, we’ll start preparing for a trip with our Emerald Palace’s cutie.”

“…”

Before leaving the airport, I looked at the airships of the great powers one last time.

There’s no need to worry about them right now.

They probably have no interest in the affairs of small countries like the Lionel Kingdom, which are far from their own countries, due to various domestic and international problems.

“Let’s go. Fran, Alice.”

“Yes, Fran.”

“Yes!”

Currently, I was not the 5th Prince of the Lionel Kingdom, but Francken, a 4-star wizard and genius magic engineer.

I had dyed my hair blonde and permed it, wore glasses, and changed my eye color to blue. And even a gown, like the symbol of a mad scientist.

Even when I looked in the mirror, it was not easy to think of Evan Lionel.

It had already been three days since we arrived in Aden.

The knights and Alfonso had gone sightseeing a bit, but Fran, Alice, and I were stuck in the accommodation preparing for the presentation.

Today is finally the first day of the Horizon.

The Horizon lasts for two weeks. The presentations on the first day are naturally the most anticipated.

The magnetron, a joint research project by Fran and Francken, was placed on the first day as a result of the preliminary review by the Horizon Paper Review Committee.

The order was also quite early, at number 5.

When we arrived at the presentation hall, we first headed to the designated seats to listen to the previous presentations.

“Master, do we have to listen to all the paper presentations?”

“Alice, from now on, you will come here with this master every day for two weeks and stay until the end. Got it? Listen to everything and try to understand it, even if you don’t understand.”

“Hmph… Will Prince, no, Francken, come every day too?”

“Me? No.”

I had divided the days I had to come to the hall and the days I didn’t need to come on the day I received the presentation schedule.

“Wow! That’s not fair. I want to play too…”

“Are you saying that after knowing today’s presentation order, Alice?”

“Uh… So, the first presentation is…”

Alice hurriedly rummaged through the presentation schedule.

It was written in ‘Rune’, the common language of wizards.

That was why wizards from all over the world could communicate smoothly. Alice, who had not yet mastered Rune, looked at me with pleading eyes because she could not read the first schedule.

“The first presentation at this Horizon was given by the Yellow Tower Master, right? The presentation topic is Superconducting Magic…”

“Ah! I, I know. Superconducting Magic! It was definitely that.”

Superconducting Magic.

The metal with the lowest magic loss rate among metals is the mythical metal Mithril. It is an artificial metal close to it. It is one of the core components that will make up the skeleton of the Titan.

The metal that is the raw material is buried in large quantities in the northwestern region of the kingdom occupied by the Hamel Empire.

It is a great thing that will cause a magic engineering revolution along with Fran’s ‘Stella’.

In the ‘future’, the Yellow Tower Master received enormous investments from countries around the world after presenting Superconducting Magic at this Horizon.

I admit it.

Even if it is the royal family of the Hamel Empire, the Yellow Tower Master, who I don’t like, Superconducting Magic is an achievement worth acknowledging.

The magnetron is worth being pushed back in the order.

‘If that’s the result of his research.’

I slightly raised the glasses I was wearing for disguise. The lenses caught the light and emitted a sharp light.

I will bite off that thick face that claims other people’s things as his own without hesitation.