Chapter 4
Chapter: 4
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 004
>Chapter Title: Pearl Palace (1)
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Once his body started showing signs of recovery, it improved rapidly. His diet shifted from porridge to regular meals, and the range of his movements gradually expanded.
In the meantime, Seongjin had been passing the time by doing various stretches inside his room.
What he really wanted was to dash outside right away and do some high-intensity cardio, but he judged that with the stamina that had plummeted while bedridden from illness, it was still impossible.
'On top of that, if I push myself too hard now, my joints would snap right away...'
Just look at his knees trembling after a single round of basic calisthenics.
Standing exercises were already this taxing, so if he tried running with this excessive weight, it wouldn't end with just worn-down cartilage.
If only there were a swimming pool somewhere. He wanted to train under the guise of rehab.
As he awkwardly flailed his limbs on the bed, leaning some of his weight on it to minimize strain, the Demon King chimed in with some pointless consolation.
[Well, it's better than at first, right? Your facial contours are starting to show a bit.]
Looking in the mirror, a massive blond boy stared back with a sullen expression.
His grayish blond hair and somewhat fierce eyes strongly resembled those of Imperial Consort Elizabeth.
Despite being overweight, his height seemed decent for a 15-year-old, but since he didn't know the average height here, it was just a guess.
'I don't see much change. Isn't it just the swelling going down a little?'
[You should foster some positive motivation first, no? Who knows? Keep at it steadily, and you might turn from a pig into a stunningly handsome guy. Come on, fighting!]
If only that bastard would just vanish for good. Seongjin shook his head and resumed his bare-handed exercises.
* * *
The annex where Seongjin was staying was a beautiful ivory-colored building called the Pearl Palace.
From the outside, it looked simply elegant and neat, but upon closer inspection, every corner was filled with subtly luxurious and ornate decorations.
It was said that the 1st Crown Prince's Consort had built it especially for Moreth, so it surely wasn't made with ordinary care.
Though small in scale, it was fully equipped with lavish bedrooms, a private study, a private training ground, a private greenhouse, a private banquet hall—everything needed for a prince's education and social activities. Seongjin planned to visit the training ground and study soon.
However, after several days of observation while building up his basic stamina, Seongjin realized that the Pearl Palace operated in a somewhat peculiar way.
First, there were no individuals with divine power among the residents or visitors to the Pearl Palace.
It was truly strange. The entire imperial palace brimmed with holy energy, yet the source of that energy was nowhere to be seen.
'The Demon King said the area was overflowing with divine power enough to prevent him from carelessly leaving this body...'
Yet in reality, since entering this body, Seongjin had never once encountered anyone with divine power.
This included Moreth's body itself. The current Holy Emperor, Nathaniel himself, was an unprecedented wielder of immense divine power, but regrettably, his son Moreth—the most ambitious son of the 1st Imperial Consort—had not inherited even a scrap of it.
Well, it was a stroke of great luck for Seongjin and the Demon King. If Moreth's body had held even a trace of divine power, the Demon King would have been obliterated the moment he entered.
'...What a shame. I could have sent him off completely.'
[You little shit! You think your kid would be fine on his own? You're the evil spirit who possessed the prince's body without permission! If a priest finds out, you'll be exorcised on the spot!]
That might be a problem.
In any case, the Holy Empire of Delcros operated a powerful theocratic system, its influence extending across the entire continent. In other words, it was a place where people with divine power from all corners of the continent gathered.
Yet the Pearl Palace housed only ordinary people without divine power. Could that really be a coincidence?
Not even a single healing priest in sight—especially considering this precious prince had barely survived death. It was undeniably odd.
The Demon King cautiously ventured a guess.
[Maybe because original Moreth had no divine power?]
'What does that matter?'
[Think about his reputation. He's the Holy Emperor's son, yet zero divine power. With that personality, do you think he just let others use it around him? He'd have thrown a fit out of inferiority complex.]
Plausible, but was that all?
[Hey, just roll with it. Isn't it good for us? People with divine power are especially sensitive to demonic energy or evil spirits. No worry of getting caught—how great is that?]
Uh, hold on.
'But Moreth's father is the Holy Emperor, right? Even if he avoids priests stuck in the annex, can he avoid his father forever? In the same palace?'
[...The final boss is his dad.]
Feeling the Demon King shudder, Seongjin sighed.
I don't know either. Whatever happens, happens.
Second, the servants in the Pearl Palace were somehow off.
The Pearl Palace was managed by a minimal staff. Excluding the bare-bones security, the number of permanent residents could be counted on one hand, which was few for the palace's size.
One dedicated maid, two housemaids, a resident physician, a head chef, and a low-level administrator.
Even Imperial Consort Elizabeth, who visited Seongjin occasionally, brought nearly twenty people—maids and escort knights—when she came, yet for a supposed delinquent prince abandoned by the palace, was this normal for a prince's residence?
Moreover, even this tiny staff seemed unusual.
Take, for example, his sole dedicated maid, Edith.
She was a girl with short bobbed hair and a delicate face, but unlike a typical imperial maid, she wandered the palace with a blunt expression.
Since she entered and exited Seongjin's room alone every time, he initially thought she must be suffering in harsh working conditions at such a young age.
Even in a place without labor laws, shouldn't there be at least shift rotations?
But this woman was no ordinary person.
She'd dart into the room with a whoosh at the slightest sound from Seongjin, or effortlessly carry in massive trays of food single-handedly—that was just the start.
During the days he lay exhausted and sweating, when she lifted Moreth's hulking frame with her slender arms to change the sweat-soaked sheets, he was shocked. At first, he even suspected she was an assassin disguised as a maid.
His hunter's instincts, honed from decades battling monsters, told him this:
This woman might be on par with seasoned knights.
He thought maybe people here were just like that, but no. Even looking at the 1st Imperial Consort, she was just a delicately raised noble lady, and the maids she brought with her were the same—skilled in household tasks, but all ordinary women physically.
Why was Moreth's dedicated maid the only exceptional one?
"Edith, how are you so strong?"
Well, if he was curious, he could just ask her.
Edith, who was opening the curtains for ventilation, quickly bowed her head at Seongjin's question and replied.
"Yes, Your Highness. Because I'm an aura user."
Perhaps due to the 1st Imperial Consort's heavy influence, she maintained a relatively polite demeanor even before the notoriously ill-tempered delinquent prince.
It was the attitude of a true professional who could set aside emotions while working.
[She just thought, 'What is this pig prince bothering people with so early in the morning?']
Of course, it meant nothing with the chatty, snitching Demon King attached.
Feeling awkwardly embarrassed, Seongjin cleared his throat.
"Ahem, aura user?"
"Yes, Your Highness. 'Aura' is said to be the foundational power of life evenly distributed throughout the world. Those who consciously gather and use it in their bodies are called 'aura users.'"
Thanks to the excuse of incomplete memories, Edith explained patiently without suspicion even to Seongjin's basic questions.
"Once you properly enter the beginner stage of aura and are recognized as a true aura user, you qualify to take the imperial knight order entrance exam."
"Oh, so that means you, Edith...?"
"Yes, I initially entered the palace as a squire aspiring to join the Royal Guard."
"Squire? Like an apprentice knight?"
Seongjin's doubts deepened.
Why was a perfectly fine knight aspirant doing this in the Pearl Palace?
"Well..."
Edith glanced at Seongjin cautiously before continuing carefully.
"It was... because Your Highness used to treat the servants rather harshly in the past..."
In short, as Moreth's misdeeds escalated, injuries and complaints among the servants became endless.
The 1st Imperial Consort tried desperately to hush it up, but with people getting hurt daily, it couldn't stay quiet.
And inevitably, the news reached the Holy Emperor's ears.
—Can't control him at all? Then hire people he can't mess with.
The Holy Emperor promptly reassigned most of the Pearl Palace staff to other palaces and recruited a small number of high-paid servants.
Targeting squires and above who could proficiently handle aura in their bodies, offering generous salaries.
People thought there'd be no applicants. No matter the pay, fresh provincial hopefuls dreaming of becoming proper imperial knights wouldn't settle for maid or valet work.
Yet the Holy Emperor said calmly, without worry:
—There'll be at least one.
And sure enough, exceptions exist everywhere.
It just so happened that Edith, a rootless aura user determined to latch onto anywhere with her one skill, arrived in the capital around then.
"I did take the entrance exam, but actually starting from the bottom in the knight order felt daunting."
"......"
Thus was born the ultimate maid: catching flying plates with quick reflexes, effortlessly dodging swung weapons, filleting fish bones with aura-infused knives.
The more he heard her explanation, the more confused Seongjin became.
'Where did it all go wrong?'
[Who knows...]
Moreth was scum for rampaging so badly that servants needed to be aura masters to endure, but the Holy Emperor who replaced them all with aura users wasn't right in the head either.
Of course, the strangest was probably Edith, who took the bait and became exclusive maid.
"...However, Your Highness."
Suddenly, Edith looked up at Seongjin and tilted her head.
"Are you alright now?"
"With what?"
"Before, if aura was even mentioned, you'd get furious..."
"And throw things around."
"......"
Moreth really was an unparalleled piece of trash the more he learned. Why throw things over nothing? Was he a toddler?
Seongjin opened and closed his mouth but had nothing to say.
"...Sorry."
At his response, Edith's eyes widened. She probably hadn't expected an apology and seemed a bit startled.
Soon, she smiled faintly with her eyes and bowed.
"It's fine, Your Highness. Catching flying plates was pretty fun in its own way."
"......"
Seongjin looked at Edith, who had obediently lowered her head, with a hint of pity, then said to the Demon King.
'She's a bit weird too, huh.'
[Told you.]
Anyway, about aura.
Seongjin pondered deeply.
Seeing concepts like aura and divine power—straight out of fantasy novels—actually exist made him truly feel this was another world.
Of course, his own world, with its demon realm gates open and wars against monsters, was fantastical too, but at least there it was straightforward, visible clashes of power.
Back then, hunters grew physically stronger by absorbing monster essence, and rare psychics exerted physical force via psychokinesis.
Monsters were similar. Some spewed high heat like incendiaries or had corrosive venom, but they were rare; most just smashed with brute force.
So until the Demon King tried burning souls with 'Flames of Gehenna,' Seongjin hadn't even imagined invisible powers could be real.
[That's because Sigurd 34 was that much of a lower dimension. Your unfamiliarity with such powers proves it was a low-grade world where aura, magic, and divine power aren't permitted.]
'Low-grade, huh? That stings a bit. Why skip Gehenna? You said it was the same lower dimension.'
[You think all astral worlds are the same? Gehenna was a bit different! It was on the cusp of a major leap when you bastards interfered desperately...]
'What was that?'
As Seongjin's glare sharpened, the Demon King quickly changed the subject.
[Ahem. Anyway, those low-grade astral worlds often restrict spiritual or mental powers. They connect conceptually to the prime world, but can't actually wield them.]
'......'
[So don't lump demon realm Gehenna with a backwater like Sigurd 34. It was one step from becoming a law world.]
Seongjin blinked.
Law world? What's that?
[This guy, blank face again. Wow, you ignorant Earthling. Dimensions are, uh? Divided into, uh? Prime, law, and astral— you don't know that?]
'Why are you picking a fight again? Whether three categories or four, is that important right now?'
As Seongjin snapped, the Demon King's voice shrank.
[Not... really important, I guess...]
'Back to the point. So, how do I use aura?'
Ignorance was one thing, but learning of a new power possibility sparked strong interest in Seongjin.
The formerly top-tier hunter who soared freely found this sluggish body suffocating.
No monsters here, so if he couldn't regain hunter powers, why not become an aura user as plan B?
[I don't know that well either. Our world and this one are different, like hydroelectric vs. thermal—or nuclear—power generation. The world's mechanics are completely different.]
Even the Demon King, who acted like he knew everything about this world, had gaps.
At his words, the Demon King scoffed.
[Hmph! Who cares about that stuff. This body is a Demon King and dimensional ruler. Strong enough without it!]
The guy who got beaten and cried by Seongjin had the strongest ego.
'So what about old Moreth? Was he an aura user?'
Divine power was innate, so probably hopeless, but maybe aura could be learned?
He didn't sense any special energy like aura in this body, but since even escort knights and a mere maid wielded it proficiently, it couldn't be that rare.
However, Moreth's trash level far exceeded Seongjin's expectations. The Demon King seemed to probe Edith's soul briefly before sighing.
[Hmm, aura cultivation varies wildly by talent. Some never feel it despite training, while prodigies use it like breathing from childhood. Sadly, Moreth was the former.]
What on earth did the 1st Imperial Consort see in him to dream of crown prince?
Seongjin sighed.
'...Guess I'll focus on building stamina for now.'
[Hang in there. Life's unfair by nature. Fighting for our existence!]
'Shut up!'