Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 71

Surviving as the 5th Prince of Hellmanguk – Episode 71

71

Today was the finale of Horizon, the awards ceremony.

((Horizon was truly eventful. Starting from the first day…))

Held every five years, Horizon selects 50 of the numerous papers submitted from around the world, presents them live, and awards the ‘Horizon Medal’ to the researcher with the best paper.

A Mithril Medal, no less.

Of course, it’s gilded. Even that is incredibly expensive, leading to a possibly apocryphal [of doubtful authenticity] story that joint research papers, which require multiple medals, are at a disadvantage.

In any case, receiving such a Horizon Medal is more glorious than receiving the Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal in my previous life.

I glanced at Fran sitting next to me. She was staring at the presenter with a tense expression.

‘I’m glad her anger has subsided a bit.’

The fact that she allowed me to accompany her to the awards ceremony was proof of that. Just a week ago, her blood vessels would bulge out when she saw me, as if her blood pressure was rising.

Indeed, avoiding her for a while was the answer.

‘It will be completely resolved once she wins the award.’

((…This year, we received many surprising papers…))

In the ‘future,’ the Archmage of the Magic Tower took the Horizon Medal for the magic superconductor, beating Fran, who presented Stella.

The timing was bad.

At any other time, Fran would have undoubtedly received the Horizon Medal.

‘I wonder what will happen this time.’

((…Now, we will announce the award nominees.))

Clack-!

Some people flinched as the presenter snapped his fingers. They seemed to be the ones who were present at the time of Franken’s explosion.

Fortunately, this time, nothing unusual happened, and three paper topics appeared on the screen.

『Magnetron』

『Law of Mana Conservation』

『Second Law of Magic Dynamics』

– Oh, those three papers were nominated as most expected.

– As expected, the Archmage’s magic superconductor was excluded.

– Isn’t it obvious? There’s no way they would nominate the paper of a shameless person who stole someone else’s research.

The crowd murmured.

Alice jumped up from her seat, hopping.

“It’s there, it’s there! Teacher’s Magnetron is there!”

“Alice, don’t be so giddy and be quiet.”

Fran spoke sternly, but the corners of her lips were slightly raised.

‘Is it a close call?’

These were excellent papers that could be nominated for an award at any time, as long as they avoided the magic superconductor and Stella.

‘It might be slightly advantageous.’

The fact that they presented a microwave oven that could actually be used in real life, as well as the fact that Franken, who released the magic superconductor research data to the world, was a co-researcher, were likely to receive significant bonus points.

The Horizon side must have felt a great sense of indebtedness to Franken. Wouldn’t they want to give him something, even if he disappeared from the world?

((Now, we will announce it. The best paper selected for this year’s Horizon is!))

The presenter paused and looked around the audience. At the moment when the tension reached its peak, to the point where people could be heard swallowing, he finally opened his mouth.

((It’s the Magnetron! 7-star mage Fran, please come forward to receive the medal.))

Wowwww─ Clapping.

Cheers and a standing ovation erupted.

Fran, who stood up from her seat, looked at me with a slightly embarrassed expression before walking to the podium.

It seemed like that she felt sorry because she was joining the Magnetron I was researching late, but she was the only one to receive the medal.

I smiled and gestured for her to go.

Receiving the Horizon Medal would be a very glorious thing, but I have a much more important task than that. For that, I can throw away honor a hundred or a thousand times.

It was reward enough if Fran’s anger towards me subsided as she received the Horizon Medal.

***

Two days had passed since the awards ceremony.

After finishing breakfast and returning to my room, I sat on the sofa and unfolded the newspaper.

『Archmage threatens reporter who asked if he killed Franken, claiming he did not』

『The reason why the Archmage had to eliminate Franken』

『Anonymous high-ranking official of the Hamel Empire reveals it was the Archmage’s unilateral action』

『People of the Hamel Empire, we support the Archmage』

It was a very satisfactory situation.

Currently, if you go out to the streets of Aden and ask who killed Franken, even the neighborhood kids would say it was the Archmage.

Even most of the people of the Hamel Empire know that the Archmage killed Franken.

『Magical engineer Franken, who could have advanced the level of civilization. The world pours criticism on Aden for failing to protect him』

『Incompetent Aden. Tribes feel skeptical about paying protection money』

I felt a little sorry for Aden.

‘They originally had a bad relationship, so it probably doesn’t matter.’

The Hamel Empire has committed the most atrocities against other races and continues to do so. The people of Aden hate them as much as the northerners of the Lionel Kingdom.

『Steel? Should be called Torrick of the Explosion』

『Steel finally speaks out. Will make the Magic Tower, the Archmage, and the Hamel Empire pay the price』

I was a little concerned that Torrick’s approval rating, who was famous for his hard-line stance in diplomacy with the Hamel Empire, had fallen due to this incident.

The head of state of Aden can be re-elected.

No matter how I looked at it, it was advantageous for the Lionel Kingdom for him to be re-elected as head of state.

Well, there would be an event that would soon cause his approval rating to rebound, so I didn’t think there was much to worry about. If his approval rating was at the bottom even when the election was approaching, I decided to worry about it then.

I started reading the newspaper again.

『Imperial researchers from the Aimen Empire announce they have succeeded in reproducing a magic superconductor at the level the Archmage presented at Horizon』

『Brissen Alliance. We succeeded too! Encouraging cooperation from various countries in the development of magic superconductors』

The research data I distributed to each country was very detailed. They would soon be able to create a magic superconductor at the ‘Rak’ level.

‘Still, it’s faster than I thought.’

I couldn’t easily guess what kind of typhoon this would turn into.

I thought distributing the research data was absolutely necessary to prevent the Hamel Empire from dominating. The calculation was that the development of magic superconductors could be delayed if the world’s concentrated support was not poured into the Magic Tower.

The moment the political situation in the Lionel Kingdom stabilizes, we must be the ones leading the magic superconductor.

‘Are there any other articles?’

I folded the newspaper and spent the morning dozing off on the sofa, taking a sweet break for the first time in a while.

And lunchtime was approaching.

I met Fran and went out to the city.

“If you do something like that again without consulting me, I’m going to sprinkle a potion that will pluck out all your black hair, so be prepared.”

She was almost completely relieved of her anger. The fact that she spoke to me first was proof of that. …But isn’t making me bald too harsh?

“Um… please just change the color.”

“You’re not saying you won’t do it until the end.”

She shook her head at my glib answer.

But I can’t guarantee it.

I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I subtly changed the subject.

“What kind of person is the Red Tower Master? Rumor has it that she’s a bit of a screwball.”

“Meet her yourself. I don’t like talking about other people like that.”

Fran and I were on our way to meet the Red Tower Master. It was to discuss the commercialization of the ‘microwave oven’.

The Magic Tower is both an academic institution that studies magic and a huge corporation.

It’s more comfortable to release magical tools that use new technologies like the Magnetron with a large Magic Tower.

There was no decent manufacturing base in the Lionel Kingdom, and this was especially true regarding potential patent disputes that might arise later.

After Fran received the Horizon Medal, love calls poured in from numerous Magic Towers. Ironically, even the Magic Tower came.

Those guys are really shameless.

– Just do it with the Red Tower. The Red Tower Master isn’t the kind of person who would scam you with that kind of thing. She’ll roughly match the conditions for my sake.

There’s a reason why the word ‘connections’ exists. It was tacitly agreed that Fran would join hands with the Red Tower, where she studied magic.

Today was basically just a meeting to see the Red Tower Master’s face and have a meal.

Eranzel’s tallest building? Tree? Anyway, we arrived at the meeting place.

We took the elevator to the top floor.

There was no one in the restaurant. It seemed like they had rented it out for the entire lunch. Guided by the staff, we went to a seat with a view of the entire Eranzel, where a woman was waiting for us.

It was the Red Tower Master.

Her outward appearance was in her early 20s. Red hair like a living flame. The feeling was completely different from the dull red hair of the Second Queen.

She stared at Fran and me with hazy eyes and slowly opened her mouth.

“It’s been a while, Professor.”

Professor?

“What are you talking about? Just call me by my name. It’s funny for the Red Tower Master to call a magician who is lower level than herself ‘Professor’.”

“Yes, Professor. Congratulations on receiving the Horizon Medal.”

“I already sent a letter. And just call me by my name.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“…Okay, do whatever you want.”

It was a little funny that the conversation wasn’t happening at all.

It seemed that Fran had taught her when she was a professor at the Red Tower.

The Red Tower Master’s gaze turned to me.

“Are you the patron who helped the Professor’s Magnetron research?”

“Yes. I’m Evan Lionel.”

“You don’t have to worry about this guy. If you match the conditions with me, the rest will be taken care of by the two of us, except for the profits that the Red Tower will take.”

“I understand. Here, this.”

The Red Tower Master handed over the documents.

“I told the staff to prepare the best conditions for the Professor’s sake. Please check it.”

Fran picked up the documents and handed them to me.

“You check it. You know it much better than I do.”

“I will.”

I carefully examined the documents.

From royalties to everything else, there was nothing missing. As expected of the Red Tower, which was well-versed in fire magic, the work was also cool [excellent].

“There’s nothing to criticize.”

“Really? That’s what he says.”

“I’m glad you’re satisfied. Now, let’s eat. The steak here is very delicious.”

As if she had been preparing, the food came out right away.

As the Red Tower Master said, it was a steak that melted in my mouth.

It was a time to focus only on the meal without any special conversation. The food was so delicious that I didn’t feel that the atmosphere was awkward because I was focusing on the gourmet food.

When the meal was over, the Red Tower Master wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked at Fran.

“I came up with the name of the product that will be made from the microwave oven that the Professor made as a prototype.”

Suddenly?

I thought she was thinking about something while eating, but was that it?

“What is it?”

“How about Franni?”

I barely managed to hold back from spitting out the food I almost did. I glanced at Fran, and her eyes were twitching.

She didn’t seem to like it at all.

“Absolutely not!”

“I’m glad you seem satisfied.”

“I said no!”

“I think the Professor’s caricature would be good for the trademark.”

“Hey!!”

The Red Tower Master seemed like an interesting person.

I wanted to get close to her if I had the chance, but her main tower of the Red Tower was in Eranzel. I was sad that I wouldn’t have many chances to meet her.

‘Is there anything else to do in Aden?’

Overall, it was a very satisfactory Horizon period.

It was a pity that I missed most of the magicians and magical engineers I wanted to recruit, but I still caught Isabel.

I thought I would enjoy a little vacation during the remaining period and then return home.

***

Four months had passed since I returned to the kingdom.

There were many things that happened.

The biggest of these was the suspension of the magic stone trade from the Hamel Empire.

This was already happening amidst much talk about the creation of the Lionel Guardian Army. The finest magic beasts appeared in the magic stone mine owned by the Empire’s Fatty, completely destroying the mine. In particular, they ate up all the places where high-grade magic stones were excavated.

Really… I wonder what kind of magic beast did that.

Thanks to this, the 1st Prince’s camp was in a festive mood.

“Geuoh! Geuoh!”

“Okay, okay. Here you go. Eat a lot.”

G-Dragon, who was sticking his head out and acting cute to me while I was taking a morning walk. I threw him a low-grade magic stone.

“Geuooo!”

He quickly received it and disappeared into the ground.

It’s an incredibly expensive thing to give as a snack, but I’m a good owner who provides reasonable compensation for labor.

After parting ways with G-Dragon, I put my hands behind my back and slowly took a walk, and I could hear the knights dueling from the training ground.

“Hap! Take this! Falling Moon!”

Adol’s shout, the 3rd form of Moonlight Spear Technique.

A powerful attack that strikes down the Crescent Moon from the air.

“No way! Azure Flame Great Whirlwind!”

This is Vernon, the 6th form of the Azure Flame Great Sorcery, a defensive technique using the Azure Flame Great Amulet.

The two of them duel while shouting out the form names like that. They say it feels right to do so? Honestly, it’s a little cringe-worthy to watch, but they actually broke through the wall to become 5-star knights, so I can’t say anything.

I watched their duel for a while and then moved back towards the main palace.

When I moved to the office, today’s newspapers were placed on the desk.

The headlines caught my eye.

『Citizens of Freeholoho. They go out into the streets with umbrellas today as well』

Freeholoho is an autonomous territory located in the southern part of the Hamel Empire. They are currently protesting fiercely against the Hamel Empire’s excessive intervention.

I know that quite a few people have already died. The background and progress of the protest are a somewhat long story.

The important thing is.

– When people with umbrellas walk the sunny streets, those who have swallowed red flowers will cover the ground with black smoke.

The time had come for the prophecy left by the saintess of Paturashit before her death to be fulfilled. The story was that the Red Star Fever, which started in the Hamel Empire, would soon cover the entire world.