Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Triplet Princes (2)
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The triplet princes were genuinely amazed.
Up until Aren Eldiad left the imperial castle, they could proudly say they were the family members who had spent the most time with him.
And because of that, they knew Aren Eldiad's talents and circumstances better than anyone.
A brother without talent, unlike the other siblings.
But a good brother who always played well with them.
A kind brother who left the capital so he wouldn't get in the way of his siblings' future fights and so he wouldn't have to witness the spectacle.
That was their brother, Aren Eldiad.
And now, that very Aren Eldiad had finally contracted with a spirit.
The triplets felt joy at the news, along with a sense of closeness.
After all, their own specialty was spirit arts.
Riki, Ruki, and Raki each had exceptional talent in contracting with element-wielding spirits, blessing-granting spirits, and combat spirits.
The triplets were curious about which spirit Aren Eldiad had contracted with.
They thought it would be fun to figure it out and then play teacher to the brother who used to play with them.
"What spirit did you contract with?"
"Is it cool? Strong?"
"Show us, show us, show us!"
"Alright. The spirit I contracted with... is this little guy."
Aren pulled out Honeyfluff, whom he had sent back to the spirit realm earlier when the triplets arrived.
[Honey.]
A translucent Honeyfluff was summoned.
"Huh?"
"This is the spirit Brother contracted with?"
"Yep."
"Whoa, it's tiny."
"Brother, what can it do?"
"It can materialize."
"Really?"
"When it's this small?"
"Is it just a little punchy spirit because of its size?"
"Doesn't feel like it has anything special."
"Brother! Materialize it!"
"Okay, okay. Honeyfluff, let's materialize."
[Honey!]
"Honeyfluff?"
"That's its name?"
"Did you name it, Brother?"
"Yeah. Cute, right?"
"Yeah~ Kinda suits it?"
"Lame."
"I think it's fine."
While the triplets chattered, Honeyfluff materialized, revealing its pink body.
"It really materialized!"
"Looks even cuter up close."
"Brother, can I touch it?"
"Pet it gently; Honeyfluff gets startled."
Raki picked up Honeyfluff.
"Whoa! So fluffy!"
"Really?"
"I wanna touch it too!"
The other two started petting Honeyfluff as well.
"Whoa, the texture is killer."
"It'd be awesome if our spirits felt this good to touch."
[Honey.]
"But it really looks weak."
"Doesn't it kinda look like you, Brother?"
"Maybe?"
After enjoying Honeyfluff's fluffy texture, the triplets grinned and set it down.
"Then we'll show you our spirits too!"
"It's been a while for you too, right, Brother?"
"Come out!"
The triplets summoned their first contracted spirits.
Windy, the wind spirit.
Sankria, the blessing spirit.
And Jenos, the soul of a past hero who had become a spirit.
"Our spirits, Brother!"
"You know our spirits, right!"
"Everyone, say hi!"
[[.......]]
The spirits summoned by the triplets fell silent all at once, staring at Honeyfluff and Aren Eldiad.
They too had participated in the massive brawl in the spirit realm.
Normally, spirits already contracted wouldn't seek another contract, let alone a first one with someone else, but the blood that appeared then made even duplicate contracts seem utterly profitable.
And during the brawl, every spirit in the realm knew about Honeyfluff coincidentally flying off and contracting with that incredibly desirable contractor.
'No way this spirit is here.'
'Does that mean Aren Eldiad is the owner of that blood!'
'How on earth?'
The three spirits couldn't help but panic.
They were high spirits contracted with the triplet princes, who overflowed with spirit arts talent.
And when playing with Aren Eldiad, the triplets had often summoned them, so they knew him well too.
The prince with not even a speck of talent in spirit arts.
For that prince to be the owner of the blood that sparked the spirit realm brawl.
The spirits were at a loss for words.
"What's up? Why'd you go quiet all of a sudden?"
"Aren't you happy to see Brother?"
"Are you posing because it's been so long?"
[It's nothing.]
[It's been a while.]
[How have you been?]
"It's been a while for you three too. Get along well with our Honeyfluff."
[Honey.]
'It can already materialize.'
'And the quality of the mana it's made of is top-notch. Ah, so envious.'
'It really has tremendous power. And it still hasn't broken the contract. Well, with Aren Eldiad, maybe that's not surprising.'
The high spirits could only envy Honeyfluff, who was receiving mana of such incredible quality despite barely being able to speak properly yet.
I left the spirits to bond among themselves and asked my younger brothers about recent events.
"How's the imperial family these days?"
"Same as always~."
"Everyone's working to become emperor."
"Dad's just watching it all~."
'Father hasn't changed a bit.'
The emperor of this nation and my father.
William Eldiad.
When it came to imperial succession, he practiced near-total laissez-faire, just as I'd experienced.
Of course, if things got as brutal as siblings trying to kill each other, he'd step in, but otherwise, he ignored any competitions or backroom dealings.
He even believed such processes made the nation stronger and produced stronger emperors.
At the same time, he had a strong sense of responsibility toward the nation and the world.
No matter the competition for the throne, he never forgave anything harmful to the country.
That was my father.
"Nothing much happens every day, so no big stories."
"Oh, Lune Sis threw a huge fit after you left, Brother."
"That's about it."
Lune Eldiad.
My one-year-older ninth princess.
She hadn't been thrilled about me leaving the capital.
'She even said something like, "You could've stayed in the capital without issue, so why bother leaving?"'
"More than that, got any fun stories from you, Brother?"
"How'd you hire this big-chested sis?"
"It's Tenka, Your Highness."
"How'd you hire big-chested Tenka Sis!"
"Why'd you hire the big-butted mage sis?"
"Tell us, tell us, tell us!"
The triplets' barrage of questions began.
Their pouting faces reminded me of my days in the capital, and the corners of my mouth lifted.
At the same time, I recalled the triplets from Savior of World.
They played tutorial roles in the late game, giving players advice and teaching spirit arts.
But after the player wiped out all royals except the triplets and the emperor, they had to fight the very triplets who'd helped them.
-You took everyone down!
-Amazing!
-As expected of the Savior!
-Thanks!
-Thank you for taking them all out!
-Now only the finale left!
-Savior! Now we'll get revenge!
-They were family, even if crazy!
-So take us down too!
-If you lose to us now, you can't save the world!
That battle had notoriously bad reviews among players.
Having to defeat their helpful ally up to that point.
And the triplets' lines upon defeat hit players even harder.
-Thank you.
-Keep it up.
-Hehe, now we'll see everyone again.
With those memories mixed in, I truly wished nothing bad would happen to these kids.
"Riki, Ruki, Raki."
"Yeah! Brother!"
"Can you promise not to tell our other siblings what I'm about to say?"
"What? What is it?"
"Something you can't tell the other brothers and sisters?"
"Wait, did you really hire them for naughty stuff?"
"Ooo~."
"You little punks."
Poke!
"Ow!"
"Aw~ We were kidding~."
"Your Highnesses Ruki, Raki."
Ridel declared confidently to the triplets, who were sticking out their lips.
"Even if Master Aren hired them for that purpose, I would be the first."
"Ooh."
"Ridel, still overflowing with confidence."
"But why haven't you yet, Brother?"
"Won't tell the secret?"
Such things would happen smoothly in the future anyway.
"Ah! Sorry, Brother!"
"No more jokes, we'll listen properly!"
"Tell us, tell us, tell us!"
Before telling the triplets, I looked at Hulan and his knights.
"You lot too—never leak anything said in this room anywhere else."
"Yes, Your Highness Aren."
"We swear it!"
They had to keep quiet anyway, but having them swear explicitly made it more effective.
After making the triplets' knights swear, I told my brothers what had happened to me.
About the black liquid draining from my body, hiring Amelin, the quest to save Manlenesia, and so on.
And after hearing my full story, my brothers...
"Whoa!"
"Is all this real?"
"Brother! Proof! Show us proof!"
They demanded evidence like they'd discovered unexpected fun.
"Alright, first I'll show you how healthy I've gotten. Ridel."
"Yes, Master Aren."
As Ridel promptly removed my top, my muscles—built from daily workouts and sparring with knights—were revealed.
"What do you think?"
"Whoa! Incredible!"
"Brother's stick-figure body!"
"Is all muscly and pumped!"
"It wasn't total stick-figure before either."
I had some muscles even then.
"So can Brother use magic now too?"
"Show us, show us, show us!"
"Show us the new you!"
"Alright, then let's head to the garden right now and I'll show you!"
Their excitement lifted my mood as well.