Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Mountain Stronghold, Golden Field (3)
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The Crown Prince is alive?
Including what I'd heard at headquarters, this was already the second time.
I was utterly dumbfounded.
The dead Crown Prince was right here, yet they were saying the Crown Prince was alive.
"Did you see him with your own eyes?"
"I didn't see him personally, but..."
As expected.
"That coded message was handed over by someone who saw His Highness the Crown Prince with their own eyes."
I furrowed my brow.
What was this now?
"Someone saw the Crown Prince?"
"Yes. He clearly said so."
It was so absurd I was at a loss for words.
Were there only one or two lunatics in the world?
It would be more believable if they claimed to have seen a dragon.
I skipped the pointless chatter that would only tire my mouth and got to the main point.
"So, what does this coded message say?"
"...I'm sorry, but I don't know the exact contents either. I couldn't decipher it. I suspect it might contain information on His Highness the Crown Prince's location."
The man coughed violently again after speaking with difficulty. To facilitate conversation, I infused some internal energy into his body to ease him temporarily. He looked at me in surprise at the sudden relief.
"It'll feel better for a while."
"Ah, thank you."
"But you can't decipher the code? What nonsense is that?"
They wrote it all over the paper and still couldn't decipher it? Was that supposed to make sense?
I gave him a displeased look, meaning he should explain.
"Well, the symbols used in the code are the same, but their meanings vary by mission, so only headquarters can interpret them. I just memorized and relayed the message I received, so the interpretation..."
I stared blankly at the man trailing off.
He didn't seem to be lying.
So, what he meant was that even using the symbol for 'sword' as code, it could mean 'barracks' or 'bed' depending on the mission.
Thus, only headquarters could accurately interpret what 'sword' truly signified.
It could lead to issues, but at least security was airtight.
I had no idea what monumental intelligence they were gathering to go to such lengths.
"So how did you end up with a code you can't even decipher?"
"I was on a mission in Delront Port when a stranger approached me one day and handed me this code. He was already on the brink of death at that point—closer than I am now."
He gave a self-deprecating chuckle.
Delront Port was in the Crebon Empire, not Francia.
Between the Empire and Francia lay the Small Sea strait, and Delront Port was the most frequented by ships heading to Francia.
He continued slowly.
"He told me he saw His Highness the Crown Prince alive with his own eyes, handed me the code, and lost consciousness. He never woke up. I tried to deliver it to headquarters, but Empire forces suddenly appeared, forcing me to flee. I couldn't cross the sea and took the land route through the Juraaden Kingdom instead, where Itzriel captured me. Fortunately, he didn't know I had this information and just thought I was an independence fighter crossing the border."
I gazed at the coded message in my hand.
What on earth had that dying man seen to claim he'd witnessed the Crown Prince?
Had he found someone who looked like me?
It probably wasn't a simple mistake, given how the rumor was quietly spreading.
The truth of what he saw was likely contained within this message.
I looked up at him.
"I'll trust you for now."
This meant I would deliver the code to the Winding Strait.
Liriel, who had been listening quietly, asked,
"How do we contact them?"
"Wait."
I raised my hand to halt the conversation and stood up.
"You two should hear the rest with Allen. I'll step out."
"Ah, yes."
I tucked the code into my inner pocket and left the tent. I grabbed a passing bandit and ordered him to fetch Allen. I had no interest in micromanaging the details.
Still, what were they up to?
There was clearly some scheme brewing at the Governor-General's office.
The subtle circulation of information might even be part of their plot.
But I lacked objective evidence.
All I had was that I was the dead Crown Prince.
Deciphering this code might reveal their intentions.
Not that I had any better options.
For now, passing it to the Winding Strait seemed best.
Something would come of it.
At the same time, I recalled my uncle from hazy memories, Halent Barrein.
There was a disconnect between the hostility I felt toward him and my past life's recollections.
The man I knew had been kind and warm.
Of course, I didn't dwell on it.
I knew well how ugly human nature could become given the right incentives.
Whatever scheme he was plotting, I didn't know.
But that plan would fail.
He would pay dearly for daring to use me as bait.
* * *
Rowdy and boisterous.
The drinking party began as the sun set, and the stronghold was in high spirits. Much had happened in recent days, but it wasn't much different from the first one.
Just fewer people.
Perhaps because of that, they were even louder.
I sat off to the side, tilting a bottle alone and watching the scene.
The liquid scorched down my throat like hot flames.
Indeed, as Cracker said, it had a deeper, richer aroma than last time.
Savoring the taste, I was satisfied with my decision to stay another day.
"What are you doing alone here?"
Liriel plopped down beside me.
She was blowing on a bottle too. Noticing my gaze, she raised hers and said,
"Bandits don't use cups."
I let out an incredulous chuckle.
Who could have imagined Liriel, the precious daughter of a duke's house, chugging from a bottle in a bandit lair?
"You've fully become a bandit in no time."
"You bet! They all cleanly accepted me as one of their own."
Liriel shouted confidently.
Her voice was a tone higher than usual.
...She's properly drunk.
Her eyes were half-glazed.
After a moment of silence to gauge the mood, she spoke again.
"But do you think he's really alive?"
A sudden, context-free question.
But I knew what she meant. I took a swig and replied,
"No. He's dead."
"How can you be so sure?"
Liriel puffed her cheeks and glared. Her sharp gaze was more like a kitten than intimidating. I stated the plain fact.
"Because I saw him die."
"He could have been disguised as someone else. Or maybe some magic—"
"No. He definitely died."
I cut her off with certainty. Liriel vented her dissatisfaction at me, as if denying my words proved he was alive.
"How can you be so sure! There are rumors he's alive, and even someone who saw him!"
Rather than answer, I gazed at her steadily.
Liriel's eyes were sad. The answer she wanted was already set.
I knew it.
And I had no idea why she sought it from me, but I couldn't give her what she wanted.
So instead of answering, I asked,
"Do you want him to be alive?"
Liriel nodded.
I asked again.
"Why?"
"Why do you think?"
"Even if he were alive, he couldn't turn the current situation around. It might even cause unrest. Better if he doesn't exist."
The Crown Prince's survival held no meaning beyond symbolism right now.
Just a shiny paperweight.
It would only stir chaos—which was likely what Halent was aiming for.
Better if he were gone. What Francia's independence needed now wasn't empty symbols, but real power to shake off the Empire.
Of course, he wasn't alive anyway.
Liriel shot me a fierce glare at my words.
"You think I want him alive for some political reason! He was my fiancé, and someone I really liked. It's not about politics. You don't even know him!"
My head throbbed.
Did I hear that right?
She liked the Crown Prince?
What nonsense was this?
"Aren't you mistaken? All I remember is you tormenting him. Weren't you the one who hated him?"
The Liriel from my past life was even more prickly and irritable than now.
She was always itching to devour me.
We grew somewhat close later, but she was never gentle. She'd bare her claws at the slightest misstep.
I'd thought she hated me both then and now.
"What do you mean tormenting!"
Liriel flushed, perhaps feeling guilty, and yelled.
Tormenting?
I felt the need to remind her of the past she'd forgotten.
"Glare like you wanted to kill him every time you passed—that was standard. Throw books out of nowhere because you're in a bad mood. Kick over the table and storm out because you don't want to eat together—how many times was that? Cry and throw tantrums telling him not to come to your house, snap irritably whenever he spoke. Want more details?"
"...H-how do you know all that?"
Liriel stared at me with wide eyes, her gaze shaking in disbelief. Only then did I snap back to reality.
Damn it.
I'd gotten too immersed in past life's emotions without realizing.
Pretending unperturbed, I smoothly covered.
"Anyone who worked at Whailun Palace would know."
"Ah—."
Liriel paused, then blushed in embarrassment.
"...That's just how girls act around guys they like at that age. It's how a girl's heart works. Okay, I'll admit I was especially bad."
She hid her flushed face by taking a swig. I watched her uneasily.
She already seemed half out of it from the alcohol.
Liriel wiped the liquor from her mouth roughly, bandit-style, and said to me,
"But don't get the wrong idea. Girls act bratty back then, but not now if they like someone. Get what I mean?"
It wasn't worth answering.
What was this about?
I cut straight to it.
"Not interested."
"Tch. But why does your name have to be Genesis?"
Liriel frowned at me.
She'd picked today to grill me.
When I didn't respond, she kept going.
"If it weren't for that name, I might not dislike you this much."
"What does my name being Genesis have to do with anything."
Even as I blatantly showed annoyance, she didn't leave. Sober, she'd have huffed off long ago.
But the huffing was still there.
"It's outrageous! You were at Whailun Palace! You knew our statuses! You knew what my brother and I were to His Highness! So why that name! We all know it's fake!"
"It's not a fake name."
"Don't lie!"
"Have you ever seen me lie?"
She tilted her head, stunned for a moment. Her eyes were fully glazed now from the booze.
"You've never lied... Then change it!"
"No."
"Eek."
"You seem drunk. Go sleep it off."
I waved her off.
Liriel grabbed my hand and bared her teeth like she wanted to bite. I pushed her forehead to stop her and called to Allen, who was chattering away nearby.
"Allen! Get this one out of here."
Seeing drunk Liriel baring her teeth at me, Allen startled and dashed over, prying her away.
"Why'd you let her get this wasted?"
"I didn't get drunk at all!"
Liriel flailed, protesting her innocence.
"Put her to bed."
"Genesis, seriously, how could you let a girl drink this much?"
"Me?"
I stared at Allen in disbelief.
It was so ridiculous I was speechless.
Seeing my expression, he supported Liriel and hurried off. I shook my head.
"No matter how you look at it, she's a spirited lass. Give it a shot sometime."
With Liriel gone, Cracker sat beside me and struck up conversation.
My already frayed patience snapped.
I glared fiercely. Cracker protested innocently.
"What? She's pretty. Really pretty."
"If that's all you have to say, leave."
I waved him off.
"So stingy. Actually, I didn't come to say that. I wanted to sincerely thank you."
"Even then, leave."
I waved again. Ignoring me, he continued doggedly.
These guys must have coordinated to gang up on me today.
"Portin, you might not know, but he was a good guy. A fool who only cared about his brothers."
"Foolish, huh? Just like his brother."
"Puhaha. Exactly."
Cracker laughed sadly. Why were only the gloomy ones sticking to me today?
"I know his choice was wrong. Unforgivable. But I couldn't bring myself to curse him freely. If he hadn't sided with me, he wouldn't have died like this."
"So it's your fault?"
I stupidly sat there nodding along to his unwanted tale.
I could have just ignored him.
Must be the alcohol getting to me too.
Taking advantage of my buzz, I added,
"I don't know what went down between you, but his life was the result of his own choices. He always decided for himself, and in the end, he did too. Even if circumstances pushed him, the decision was his. Life is just the outcome of those choices. The responsibility is entirely his burden."
I kept going.
"Thinking you led his life is pure arrogance. No one chooses their life for others. Even choices for or following others are still their own decisions. So don't take excessive blame and act like some big shot. Makes me want to smack the back of your head."
Cracker stared at me, then rubbed his nape.
"You already did? My skull's throbbing."
"Want to try for real?"
He waved frantically, laughing.
"Haha. My bad. Guess I'm drunk."
"Go sleep it off."
I wet my throat with liquor. Talking at length somehow made it taste better.
Cracker kept lamenting beside me, ruining my drink.
"You're right. Portin was always willful."
He stared at me intently.
"Before, when he parted with that kid Beron, he promised to make a country where he could cry freely."
He paused dramatically, then continued.
"...So, what about a country where people can find happiness just living day by day? Where effort gets you what you want, and you don't lose loved ones to betrayal... A country for ordinary folks like us dreaming simple lives. Can you make that?"
I gazed at his rambling self. Embarrassed, he fiddled with his beard.
I said,
"Beron was nine."
"Huh?"
"Are you a kid? Make it with your own hands."
I remembered clearly.
The day he first introduced the stronghold, he'd said exactly that.
I pointed to the bandits reveling noisily.
"Isn't this your kingdom?"
He followed my gaze, and his eyes curved sadly.
"My closest sworn brother betrayed me. The one I valued like my life. The one who built this Golden Field with me sold out our brothers. Not a single cornerstone here untouched by our hands, not a spot without our memories."
He hung his head.
"Our kingdom that we built together... He betrayed it. Golden Field is as good as failed. When even the founder betrays, what can I build?"
"Pathetic."
I said coldly.
"Lift your head and look at them properly. Is that what you call failure?"
He slowly raised his head.
He saw the bandits laughing and enjoying the feast. He saw the people he held dear in his heart.
"You're not the only one hurting. Not the only one who lost something. They lost plenty too."
Portin wasn't his brother alone. Many died in that battle, not just Portin.
"You're not the only one who cherishes this place."
The stronghold, Golden Field, wasn't just Cracker's. To them, it was a precious home, a protective fence, a small kingdom.
They'd lost it too.
Lost family, lost the stronghold they'd built together.
Yet they enjoyed this feast.
Not because they weren't sad, but to forget the pain.
To live on, burying sorrow under victory's joy.
It meant they had the strength to overcome this pain.
Thus.
"Your kingdom still stands. And it will. Why do you think they have that strength?"
I looked at Cracker, staring fixedly at them.
"Because of you."
The one leading them from the front.
Calling himself a mountain man, laughing boisterously like a fool—but they all followed his back.
"So stop whining like a child and stand tall. Nothing more to do. Lead them like you are. Followers will follow; others will leave. Seeing them, you're doing well."
Not to console or comfort him.
Just my honest impression from watching them.
Because Cracker had managed the stronghold well until now, giving them solid faith.
That's why they could rise again.
"Kuhahaha!"
Suddenly, Cracker burst into booming laughter, shaking the world.
Back to his mountain man self.
I didn't like seeing it, but it was better than him cowed.
Catching his breath, he looked at me.
"Guess I'm not just inferior in skill, but mentally immature too! Feels like I've lived in vain."
What a joker.
Adding my past life's age, I was 61.
Who was I to lecture on mental maturity?
"Thanks to you, my mind's clear again."
Cracker gazed hotly at Genesis beside him.
His impassive eyes, fixed ahead, remained unshaken as always.
Why was that?
His words pierced not my ears, but my heart.
My body and mind felt lighter than ever.
The Golden Field I'd longed for wasn't ahead, but I already had it, I thought.
That's how those laughing, chattering fellows appeared in my eyes.
The kingdom I'd dreamed of was already here.
"Funny thing—I feel like I'm seeing the Golden Field I've always wanted right now."
"Tch, you've lost it."
Genesis shook his head and drank. Cracker laughed heartily again at him.
Loud enough to shake the stronghold.
Meanwhile, at that moment.
Second Squad Leader Erka of the Raven Knight Order was hastily climbing the mountain upon hearing that the Special Task Force 'Prairie Jackal' had arrived nearby.