Chapter 7: Boys Palace

“…Please don’t tease me, Your Highness.”

“Why? I’m teasing you of my own free will.”

“No, that’s–!”

“Didn’t you say it? You said you’d follow my will? Your Highness’s destiny! Your Highness’s path! Kuhung-hung!”

“Ack! Give that will to the dogs!”

Karls burst out in anger, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I noticed that Tirvaen, walking ahead, was also shrugging her shoulders.

Is this woman also finding it fun that I’m teasing Karls? Anyway, the ‘pig’ succeeded in convincing the ‘bear’ and the ‘nightingale’.

Karls and Tirvaen decided to help me with my intentions.

A system message appeared.

[‘Tirvaen Sui’ has joined the party.]

[‘Karls Silion’ has joined the party.]

Unlike the Vengeful Priesthood currently accompanying us, they were recognized as party members.

I was worried if I’d have to do companion quests, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

‘Well, they were originally people of Gilloshian, so this must be right.’

We started walking through the forest again.

We were heading together towards the teleport gate connected to Aurax and Elon Reith and the Special Duty Knights who would be guarding it.

Of course, Karls had many complaints about this uncomfortable journey.

He wasn’t happy about walking alongside those he had fought with swords just three days ago.

Moreover, these priests were the ones who had attacked and tried to assassinate me.

Fortunately, however, there were no significant casualties during that attack.

The priesthood had created a diversion by setting off smoke and shooting excitants at the horses of the carriage, then quickly tied up Gilloshian and fled.

That was all.

Of course, Karls and Tirvaen quickly noticed and chased the priests, leading to a skirmish, but their original goal was to buy time and cause confusion in the pursuit, so there were no major casualties.

Yes.

‘Right, if someone had died then, it would have been hard for things to turn out so well.’

Thanks to that, Karls was grumbling but obediently following Varmilo Dimarque’s procession.

The strange journey of the Empire’s profligate Third Prince’s party and the assassin’s from the Revolutionary Army.

It was an event that would never have happened if the original scenario had unfolded, but somehow, it ended up like this.

More precisely, it happened because I came to inhabit Gilroshan’s body.

“Your Highness, but you’ve become quite nimble in the meantime, haven’t you? Your cheek fat has disappeared!”

Karls stared intently at my face.

“You try hiking like a madman with those dark old men. See if it’s just your cheek fat that disappears. If I do it a bit more, I think I could even enter the path to the afterlife?”

“Hahahaha!”

Karls started laughing, clutching his stomach.

The guy who was crying so hard just a moment ago was now clapping his hands.

“Don’t laugh, you fool. If unsightly hair grows on your beautiful butt, it would be a loss to the Empire.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean by that?”

“How sad would all those noble ladies be, who are after your white butt? That’s a loss to the Empire, isn’t it?”

“Ugh, don’t say such disgusting things!”

We were chatting intimately, almost like brothers.

In the original, Gilloshian and Karls’s relationship was indeed like that.

The profligate Third Prince and his knight were, to be precise, distant relatives, and having grown up together since childhood, they were like blood brothers.

And my feelings now were similar.

‘Karls!’

I don’t know exactly what this guy’s feelings are, but I was really glad to see Karls.

‘Because he’s Karls Reith, my assault captain.’

I had always seen his face on the monitor, but to meet him in person like this!

In the original, some NPCs could be used as the player’s subordinates through affinity work and special quest completion.

Karls was a typical example.

I always made good use of Karls.

Fitting his brilliant nickname, ‘Knight of Dawn’, this guy was a decent tank with good performance.

If nurtured properly with enough experience, he was a character who would play a significant role in the great war part of the later stages.

So, I often took Karls with me.

‘To meet him like this, as a real, living person.’

It felt like meeting a close school friend after a very long time.

So, I didn’t feel awkward at all and was chatting wildly with Karls.

However, Tirvaen’s case was a bit different.

‘It’s a bit difficult to make this little witch a Guardian.’

Of course, I hadn’t never used her, but not as much as Karls.

So, while I was happy to see her, I didn’t feel very close.

Rather, a corner of my heart somehow ached.

As if reuniting with someone I owed a debt to.

‘Why is this happening? It’s not like I have any feelings for this kid.’

That’s really not it.

Currently, Tirvaen looks like an old witch, but in fact, it was the opposite.

She was actually just a 19-year-old kid.

‘If she’s a high school senior, is she not a kid?’

By the standards of this world, she’s an adult.

Anyway, from the perspective of a modern person with the mental age of thirty, she should rightfully be called a kid.

‘Even though she’s currently hiding her true appearance with disguise magic.’

The rumor that she’s an old witch over 200 years old?

That’s because there’s a tradition among witches named ‘Tirvaen Sui’ to pass down their magic, name, and even parts of their memories to their successors through single-person inheritance.

Generations of ‘Tirvaen Suis’ have continued with the same appearance and inherited the fear and rumors surrounding them.

‘Is it because she was a character with a bad reputation in the original?’

I pressed down the aching feeling in my heart as I looked at Tirvaen’s back.

There might not be a child protection law in this world, but I still feel like I’m meeting a judge in my heart.

Suddenly, Karls spoke.

“Your Highness, not only has your face become sharper, but I feel so good because you seem to be full of energy. Although the current situation is serious… it feels like we’ve gone back to the old days.”

“The old days?”

“Yes, when we were in the Boys’ Palace.”

‘Boys’ Palace’.

It was a type of school attended by the children of high-ranking nobles of the Empire.

“In those days, Your Highness was truly brilliant. All the palace servants loved Your Highness, noble children tried to befriend Your Highness even a little, and His Majesty the Emperor also cherished Your Highness.”

“Oh.”

…This isn’t content that appeared in the game.

Could that really have been the case?

Considering the treatment and contempt Gilloshian received in the original, it was a past hard to imagine.

“What if our Empire didn’t revere magic? What if magic wasn’t considered a basic requirement for everyone? It might have been a little different. Perhaps then, our Your Highness…”

Karls swallowed his last words bitterly.

I quietly nodded my head.

‘He was a prince with high expectations, but he had no talent in magic, so his treatment worsened, and he naturally became more and more twisted.’

It’s natural.

When a bird flying high falls, the pain is just as great.

That’s the way of the world.

However.

“Don’t dwell on the past, Karls.”

I opened my mouth casually.

I was heartbroken too, but that wasn’t my past, was it?

“Look at now. What kind of child I was back then doesn’t matter anymore. Everyone has already forgotten, haven’t they? No one remembers the Third Prince from the Boys’ Palace days. No one but you, that is.”

“…”

Karls’ expression was like that of a wounded loyal dog.

Perhaps telling him to forget the past was a bit harsh for someone who cherished the glorious days so beautifully.

But the past is the past.

“What matters is now. There are those who are after me, and right now, I have no way to stand against them.”

If I just stand by idly, I’ll end up like Gilloshian in the original story, getting my neck cut off.

So, I have to move.

I have to move and survive.

“Fortunately, people don’t know me well.”

“…Huh?”

Karls’ expression seemed to ask what I meant, given that the notoriety of the profligate Third Prince was shaking the continent.

But I smiled faintly.

“There’s just something about it.”

To be honest, I’m not confident.

I’m not confident in remaining just a profligate Third Prince.

“Karls, just remember this one thing. I will come back having earned the right to survive.”

The past doesn’t matter, whatever it was.

What’s important is now.

“I told you things are going to change now. Understand?”

I’m more confident than anyone in manipulating .

So, even if I’m a good-for-nothing character, I won’t leave things as they are.

Magic talent?

I don’t need it.

Even if I got a slave gladiator instead of a grand mage card, there are plenty of other opportunities.

“So, straighten your shoulders, Karls.”

When I grinned, Karls smiled faintly.

“…Yes, Your Highness. I’ll believe you.”

Even as he said that, his reaction wasn’t as dramatic as when he was first persuaded.

He must be thinking it’s impossible deep down, right?

Well, I understand.

Honestly, I’d probably think the same.

‘What can you expect from a piece of trash that can’t even be recycled?’

Karls, however, seemed to feel deeply moved that his great, profligate lord had changed even this much, sensing that this alone was enough.

“…”

But I shook my head.

“No, Karls. Now is not the time to adapt gradually and be moved by each little thing.”

“Huh?”

“I roughly told you earlier, didn’t I? Why I have to leave the Empire and go into Aurax.”

“Yes. You said there was a traitor inside the Imperial Palace.”

“Yes, it’s not just one or two.”

Karls’ expression became one of disbelief.

Minister of the Imperial Court Jairic Moss was just the tip of the iceberg.

As the scenario progresses, countless individuals betray their factions between the Empire and the Revolutionary Army simply to serve their own interests.

I knew all of them.

‘My adorable experience points.’

I’ll make sure to get them all.

“Marquis Elon Reith, who guards the north of the capital. You know him well, don’t you?”

“Your Highness. Marquis Reith is my father’s close friend. He is one of the Empire’s three great magic swordsmen, yes, he…”

At this point, Karls Reith only knows his biological father as this.

Just his father’s friend, and one of the guardians of the Empire whom he respects.

It will be a long time before he learns the secret of his birth.

“No way!”

Suddenly, his handsome expression twisted.

“H-He means, has Marquis Reith also betrayed Your Highness? Your Highness, he is not that kind of person! The Marquis is a true soldier who loves the Empire more than anyone and an honorable warrior…!”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t say Marquis Reith was a traitor.”

It was more or less true that he was a true soldier and an honorable warrior.

And that was precisely our problem.

“The Marquis will be blocking my path up ahead. He would have received such orders. Just like you earlier, he’ll probably sweep away the Revolutionary Army assassins and try to take me back to the Imperial Palace.”

That would be fulfilling his duty as the captain of a knight order holding a sword.

But I would be in danger if I returned to the Imperial Palace.

Instead, I had to go to Aurax.

“Then what will you do? Will you ask the Marquis for his cooperation, just as you persuaded me and Sir Sui?”

Am I going to use my silver tongue on Elron Reith too?

I tilted my head slightly.

“Well. Will the Marquis listen to my story? What do you think?”

Then Karls’ expression darkened.

As a fellow warrior and knight, he instinctively knew that Marquis Reith’s case would be a little different.

I thought so too.

“I don’t think he’d fall for it at all.”

That superhuman was not such a person.

It was obvious that the Vengeful Priesthood would be annihilated instantly, and I would be dragged back to the Imperial Palace without a struggle.

“If I resist, he won’t just leave me be, will he?”

In fact, Marquis Reith didn’t have a very good impression of the Third Prince.

Having finally gotten an opportunity, he might even beat him black and blue.

“Then what will you do? Do you have another way?”

Karls’ expression was not good, as if he was imagining a tragedy.

But I questioned him back.

“Karls, do you have two swords?”

“Huh? Y-Yes?”

“Give me one.”

I held out my hand.

“But, Your Highness, a sword is like a lover to a knight…”

“You have two lovers? You rascal, I didn’t see you that way? Promiscuous, aren’t you? Huh?”

“…”

His expression was one of bewilderment, wondering why someone who couldn’t even wield a sword was asking for one.

Anyway, I took the sword Karls was wearing, examined it, and nodded.

[Weapon] A sturdy sword issued to knights. However, it has no special effects. It has been well-maintained by someone.

“It’s a good sword. This should be enough.”

“…Your Highness, you’re not planning to pierce through the Marquis with a sword, are you?”

His eyes warned me not to even entertain such an absurd idea.

But I shrugged.

“Doesn’t a knight have a knight’s way?”

And a gamer has a gamer’s way.

I had already confirmed over the past few days that my method worked.

The steep ridge ended, and a gentle path appeared.

The destination was not far now, but…

‘I’m just getting started.’