The Prince and the Bandits
Out in the middle of the sea, a red sunset was bleeding down into the water.
"Something's off."
The tattooed young man set down his oar, rose from his seat, and scanned his surroundings. "This should be about the right spot, but where'd it go? Enough to make a ghost weep."
Where an island ought to have stood, there was nothing—only the vast red sea, steeped in the glow of the dying sun.
The other young men who had been rowing alongside him all scratched the backs of their heads, muttering that something was definitely wrong.
"We didn't take a wrong turn, did we?"
"Isn't this your fault for screwing up the heading?"
"Hey, what do you take me for? I got it right."
"Then where's the island?"
"How should I know?"
While the young men bickered, the tattooed man silently studied the water. And then he spotted something—a small pouch, precariously snagged on a drifting log.
He scooped it up and opened it. "This… this is the kid's money pouch."
"So we did come the right way after all?"
"Looks like it."
"Then where'd the island go? Don't tell me it sank? No way. That's a lie."
The tattooed man counted the coins inside, then clicked his tongue with a bitter twist of his mouth. "Won't be worth more than a few coppers once we hand it over. Poor bastard."
He tied the pouch closed and offered up a word of mourning. "Our time together was brief, but it was fun. Rest in peace, friend. The money you left behind—we'll put it to good use."
Boooong! A ship's horn sounded in the distance.
They turned toward the sound and saw a large sailing vessel bearing down on them. At its bow, a man was bellowing at the top of his lungs.
"Your Highness! Where are you, Your Highness!"
The moment Carlyle spotted the boat carrying the young men, he jabbed a finger toward it in a panic. "Huh? Th-th-there! You there! You're the ones who ferried the Prince across! Where is His Highness?!"
"We were looking for him too."
The tattooed man answered honestly—that the island had vanished without a trace—then rowed away without another word.
Carlyle collapsed onto the deck. "Th-that can't be…! How am I ever to report this to Her Majesty…! *Sob*…!"
Behind the dumbstruck man, Jamila the bard wiped away her tears and began to sing an improvised ballad. "There once was a prince who yearned for adventure~"
Her beautiful voice rode the wind and carried far out across the water. Then, little by little, it faded—and settled onto the land.
Deep in the night, in a cave dungeon lit by burning torches, Maru opened his eyes.
"He's alive! I thought you were dead, the way you were out of it!"
The first thing Maru saw was a blond man, stripped completely naked. A wiry frame with barely a muscle on it—late twenties, maybe. He looked about that age.
"Who are you…? And why are you naked?"
Maru asked, glancing around. It was a cramped cave, its mouth blocked off with iron bars. It looked exactly like a prison.
And he was naked too.
"I am Edward, Prince of this realm—one day to be its master."
"Edward… Prince?"
"Startled, are you? Well, don't be. I'm not one to stand on ceremony, so feel free to treat me casually. Unlike His Majesty, my father, I'm an open-minded sort."
Edward, having announced himself as a prince, flashed a wide grin. He must have been captured only recently—his face was black and blue with bruises everywhere, and yet his spirits overflowed.
"Why would a prince be in this filthy dungeon…? No—wait, why am I in a dungeon?"
"Listen here."
Edward put on a grave expression, came closer, and squatted down. "So, here's how it all happened…"
Having heard the whole story from him, Maru nodded slowly.
"So a succubus left you here."
"Truly a beautiful succubus she was. Never in my life have I seen one of such beauty. How did she come to fall for you? Don't tell me she's your familiar? No, that can't be—a familiar wouldn't just abandon you to the bandits."
"You're saying she seemed to be fleeing a wyvern?"
"That's right. Ah! I see. Things must have been desperate for her, then?"
Whatever Edward was chattering about, Maru sank briefly into thought. My ear mark… she used that to find me and save me.
He was certain now—Luciella had rescued him as he was drowning and dying beneath the sea. He vaguely remembered the decadent shade of nail polish she wore on her claws. He touched his right ear and smirked.
"Turns out it was unexpectedly useful."
"Hmm? What's that you're muttering?"
"Nothing, never mind. So how did a prince of an entire nation end up locked up in here? Are these bandits not afraid of the king?"
"I—!"
Edward surged to his feet, his loins swaying, and clenched his fist mightily. "To smash the bandit gang preying upon my people, I hired mercenaries and organized a fighting force! But I was ensnared by their wicked schemes and betrayed! In the end the mercenaries all fled, I alone was left behind, and the bandits took me captive."
"You were captured alone?"
"That's right. The ones who betrayed me were the very mercenaries I'd hired."
"……"
Is a prince really supposed to blurt out an embarrassing story like that so proudly? Well… he seemed sincere, which was sort of nice, actually.
"Why didn't you just use the kingdom's army? Why buy mercenaries?"
"Every soldier in the kingdom today calls me the Fool Prince and sneers at me. Not a soul listens to a word I say."
Edward rested a hand on his brow and heaved a deep sigh. "And His Majesty just let that stand?"
"My father calls me a good-for-nothing himself."
"Yikes."
"My sister the princess gave up on me entirely long ago."
"……"
What even is this guy? What's his deal? Is he actually a prince?
"But worry not. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, envoys sent by His Majesty will come and buy our release. Last time they paid ten gold coins to free me, but who knows how much more they'll demand this time. Ah! But the prince of this realm could never turn his back on a subject in distress. I shall insist they free you as well. Just trust me!"
"You've been through this often, haven't you?"
"Many times! Counting this, it's my sixth time being captured by a bandit gang!"
"A regular customer, I see…"
At this point even the king's head must be throbbing. In any case, Maru passed the night trading all manner of stories with the blond prince. Edward was full of energy and full of tales besides, making him a rather entertaining companion—an honest, cheerful sort of fellow, it seemed.
Before he knew it, a rooster crowed and morning arrived. No breakfast was given; instead, unfamiliar figures paced back and forth before the bars. A middle-aged man in an expensive robe peered into the cell, murmuring instructions to the bandit officers.
"Cut here, cut there, cut from this point to that point… (mutter mutter)"
Once the middle-aged man had gone, the bandits opened the cell door and entered—carrying three buckets and gripping large, flat cleavers.
"Tie this one up."
When one of the bandits pointed at Maru, the others closed in and began binding his arms together with rope.
Edward shouted. "What do you think you're doing! Maru leaves with me! Do not lay a hand on him!"
A bandit snickered. "Pipe down, Fool Prince. Hey lads, His Highness says he's hungry. Stuff a rag in his gob."
"Yes sir!"
A rolled-up cloth was promptly shoved into Edward's mouth.
Then the bandits finished tying Maru's arms and took hold of him from both sides.
"The alchemist bought you, see. Says he's going to transmute you into a chimera—what with that body of yours, all strange-looking and unlike the rest of us."
"What?"
They weren't just dragging me outside? The moment Maru tried to resist, it was already too late. One of the bandits swung his cleaver in a flash, bringing it down on Maru's leg.
"Hyah! Let's start by taking your foot off at the ankle!"
Thud! Kaang!
"Huh?"
The blade that struck Maru's thigh shattered and snapped clean in two. Everyone froze, souls leaving their bodies.
"What the…?"
"Heh. Well, well."
Maru was every bit as astonished. My body got tougher?
The bandits figured the blade must have been flawed already. They swapped it for a new one and swung again. But the second blade, too, crumbled to pieces without any resistance.
"Shit—what the hell is wrong with this guy's body?"
Maru finally grasped the situation. His body had changed. Strength, huh?
He yanked his bound arms apart with all his might. The two bandits holding the rope came stumbling helplessly toward him, wailing. He grabbed them by their heads and slammed their skulls together.
Crack!
"Urgh!"
"Gwaaah!"
Just like that, he felled the two of them with ease, then seized the neck of the one who looked like an officer and hoisted him clean off the ground. The man's legs kicked wildly at empty air.
"L-let go of me!"
"What was that? You were going to cut off my limbs? That's hilarious."
Maru gritted his teeth and hurled him. His head cracked against the wall and he dropped to the floor, out cold on the spot.
"A-amazing! Were you a Hero? You must have been a Hero!"
Edward, with Maru's help, spat out the cloth and crowed with delight. "Where did strength like this come from! If you had it all along, you should have used it ages ago!"
"Shh. Explanations later—let's get out of here first."
"Understood! Once we escape, you'll tell me everything! Everything!"
Maru picked up the scarf from one of the fallen bandits and wrapped it around his lower half. Then, through the open door, he slipped out of the dungeon—and ran straight into a patrolling bandit.
"Where do you think you're running!"
He simply let the man's swung blade hit him, then seized him by the throat and drove him headfirst into the ground.
BOOM!
"Urk…"
The bandit was out cold instantly.
Maru marveled at the incredible power he now possessed. Looking down at his own two palms, he broke into an ecstatic grin. Thank you, Lord Belkhran.
Horn blasts echoed from every direction. "The prisoners are escaping! Quick, catch them!" The bandits' hideout erupted into chaos.
Maru glanced back. "Get back in the cell."
"And you?"
"I'm going to go do some cleaning. I'll be right back."
"Cleaning? Oh-ho! Understood! I'll be waiting, so do come back for me!"
While Edward scurried off to hide in the dungeon, the archers in the watchtower rained down arrows on Maru without mercy. A storm of shafts poured down over his head.
Maru took them head-on, full force.
Ting-ting-ting! Ting!
Ting-ting!
Ting!
Every single arrowhead that touched Maru's body snapped and fell to the ground. Every last one of them ricocheted away, leaving nothing behind.
"Never was any good at shot put, though."
Maru gathered up the clutter of junk scattered around and hurled it with all his strength toward the top of the watchtower. One archer took a jar to the face and went tumbling off; another caught a rum cask, and a third was struck by the body of an unconscious bandit, all of them plummeting down.
With the archers dealt with, Maru set off walking. Along the way, groups of swordsmen came charging at him with war cries, but it was futile. They caught his fists full in their faces, screamed, and collapsed in heaps.
"Now, where would the Mirror of Truth be? The boss's quarters, surely?"
While he was searching for the bandit chief's residence, he ran smack into that same alchemist from before.
"Gah!"
"You little—get over here."
As Maru strode toward him, the terrified alchemist frantically chanted a spell and sent forth his familiar. "Go! Bite him to pieces!"
"RAAAGH!"
A hellhound wreathed in roaring flame leapt out and came hurtling at Maru like a bolt of lightning. Whereupon Maru—hot or not, it made no difference—seized the hellhound by the head, gripped its upper and lower jaws, and tore its mouth wide open.
Shraaaak!
Dark red blood sprayed in all directions.
Maru wiped the blood from his face with a slow sweep of his hand and flashed a grin. "Ohhh, that feels insane. Is this what that Hero felt all the time? If it's like this for me too, this stuff's a drug. Live like this every day and you'd lose your mind. So why on earth did he hand over a power this magnificent?"
No one in the world looked capable of stopping him now.