Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: I'm Stirring Things Up Too (1)
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“Your Highness, time to wake up.”
“Ugh...”
A familiar voice roused me from sleep.
As I gathered my foggy mind, Canelian’s angry face came into view.
“Why’s the duchess mad first thing in the morning?”
“...Just take a look at the professor.”
“...?”
I turned my head, and there was Object, sleeping soundly right next to me.
But where’d her pajamas go?
“Why’s the professor sleeping in her underwear?”
“Who knows? I have a pretty good idea, though.”
That’s when I finally noticed it.
A black scrap of fabric wound tightly around my left arm.
“Is this the professor’s pajamas? Hang on—why’s the duchess wrapped in a towel?”
“Why do you think?”
Canelian, her body covered by a large white towel, glared at me for a moment before pointing to my other arm.
I looked down to see a strip of white cloth wound tightly around it.
“Why are both of your pajamas wrapped around my arms?”
“That’s how it was when I woke up.”
“Oh, no way...”
“When I tried to take them back, you wouldn’t let go no matter what, so I had no choice but to grab a towel.”
There’s no way this is my sleep habit.
This has to be the prince’s doing.
“Sorry about that.”
“...I see your sleep habits are as awful as they come.”
Canelian let out a sigh and held out her hand. I silently returned her pajama dress.
“The professor’s pajamas...”
“I’ll put them on her. Look away... though it’s pointless since you’ve already seen everything.”
Canelian dressed the sleeping Object, then stepped out of my sight to change into her own pajamas before returning.
Man, Object sleeps like the dead.
I hadn’t noticed during our night camping with Baron Caron since she didn’t sleep at all then, but apparently once she’s out, she wouldn’t notice if someone carried her away.
“You said we’re heading out monster hunting today?”
“...We’ll leave once the professor wakes up. Anyway, sorry again.”
“Forget it.”
The experience penalty that kicks in when the level gap exceeds 10 is gone thanks to this one-of-a-kind server achievement. Time to test some power leveling.
The moment the professor woke up, we got ready and set off.
The prince owned several personal airships, and we picked the smallest one.
“A bathroom in a ship this size? Incredible.”
“Your Highness, why are there so many women’s clothes here? And why’s the bed this huge? Don’t tell me...”
I had no idea either.
That this airship was the one the prince used for his parties with women.
“I never know how long I’ll be away from the capital. A comfortable bed is a must, right?”
Object didn’t catch on to the ship’s purpose, but Canelian quietly pressed a hand to her forehead.
Anyway, we boarded the airship and flew far away.
To see monsters, we had to get as far from the capital as possible.
“Your Highness, found them. A goblin village.”
Level 10-ish, right? Can’t remember exactly.
“Canelian, handle security.”
“Yes.”
But Canelian didn’t need to lift a finger.
After lowering the airship to a suitable altitude,
‘Thunder Chain! Thunder Chain! Thunder Chain!’
I spammed the skill like crazy, and the small goblin tribe was wiped out in an instant.
All that remained were the charred corpses of goblins electrocuted to death.
“Your Highness, that was astonishing. Instant-casting spells like that without chanting... The heavenly knowledge bestowed by Her Ancestral Highness is truly remarkable.”
Object’s lavish praise nearly sent my ego soaring.
Elves or objects, looks are everything, huh.
Canelian scanned the goblin corpses with a serious expression and chimed in.
“I’ve never seen a spell cast so indiscriminately like that. How many times can you chain that spell consecutively?”
“About 50 times, easy. Then I’d need a break to recover.”
“Fifty times?”
Both of their eyes widened in shock.
Object’s gaze especially brimmed with awe.
“At that rate... even an expert—no, imperial-level knight would drop without a fight.”
“Your Highness, still, never fight knights or engage in PvP. Got it?”
“I know.”
After that, we roamed hunting monsters until evening.
To avoid respawn acceleration—where killing too many in one area spawns even more—we spaced out our hunts.
As night fell, we landed the airship on an open plain and prepared dinner.
Low-level mobs, I guess?
Even without the penalty, this is all I get.
‘Basically, grinding like this non-stop for 100 days just to hit level 31.’
Level 32 would take even longer, obviously.
This is way too inefficient.
‘Gotta hunt strong mobs to level up fast.’
No penalty means taking down something powerful like a corrupted earth dragon is the way to go.
Have Canelian wear them down and I’ll snag the finishing blow.
Monster hunting in Arcana takes too damn long for leveling.
‘Arcana just doesn’t have many strong monsters. They basically wiped them out during the tutorial, so the ground mobs are barely fleshed out.’
Powerful sea mobs might spawn later on land turned to ocean, but that won’t happen.
I slowly scanned the monster zones marked on the continent map.
‘Arcana’s mostly just low-level mobs around 10.’
Thanks to the Ancestral Dragon God’s bones under the capital.
Lowest monster threat on the continent.
A blessing other kingdoms envy...
‘All the good monsters for quick leveling are in neighboring countries.’
“Maybe we should start a war.”
My offhand mutter made the two women preparing dinner freak out.
“Pardon?”
“Your Highness? What do you mean?”
I quickly backpedaled.
“A war with monsters, duh. As if I’d go to war with a neighbor? What does Arcana lack?”
“I thought you were planning to settle the royal debts with another war.”
“With Duchess Ceres working so hard on mana herb cultivation, what’s there to worry about?”
The national holy site tours did drain the treasury dry.
But thanks to mana herbs, only good times ahead.
Curious about the kingdom’s fiscal future? Just look at the Prime Minister’s receding hairline.
「Your Highness, the nobles’ foreign debts have all been cleared. Finally!」
The royals still owe plenty to domestic noble houses.
But mana herbs make repayment a breeze—very stable.
“Where are the kingdom’s strongest monsters?”
“Deepest parts of the Karbalon Mountains.”
“Let’s check there tomorrow.”
We finished eating, bathed, and hit the sack.
Being a luxury compact airship, the bed was narrower than my bedroom one.
“Royal airships really are comfortable. Feels just like home—cozy and relaxing.”
“Come to think of it, a wyvern lord wrecked the professor’s airship. I should compensate her.”
We chatted about magic debates with Object and Raisha’s achievements until we dozed off.
And the next morning...
“Your Highness. H-Hurry up and give me back my pajamas first.”
“...Sorry.”
My arms were once again wrapped in both women’s pajamas.
Canelian, draped in a towel, took them back with a sigh.
“Duchess, I don’t get it in my sleep... but why do I end up wrapping your pajamas around my arms?”
“...I checked this time. At first, you just stripped them off.”
Canelian turned her face away.
Her hair hid the side of her face, so I couldn’t see her expression.
“But when I tried to take them back, you suddenly wrapped them around your arm?”
“...Did I do that?”
“Seemed like you didn’t want to let go.”
“...Sorry. Bad habit in my sleep.”
That’s when the soundly sleeping Object woke up.
Not because of our talk—just her usual wake-up time, it seemed.
She blinked, saw her pajamas around my arm,
then glanced between her underwear-clad body and Canelian holding her pajamas while wrapped in a towel.
“Whoa, Your Highness...!”
Object hurriedly grabbed the blanket to cover herself.
“Sorry, professor. Must’ve been a bad sleep habit acting up.”
“I-It’s fine. Everyone makes mistakes in their sleep...”
I apologized to both women again, and we prepared to depart.
We arrived at our destination in the Karbalon Mountains around lunchtime and found some monsters.
‘Not exact, but late level 10s, maybe.’
Hunting wasn’t hard.
And I reached a firm conclusion.
‘My level’s too high for monster hunting in Arcana to level me up.’
In a max level 99 world, 30 isn’t that high.
But Arcana’s too much of a beginner zone.
“Professor, duchess. Getting diplomatic permission to hunt monsters in neighboring countries would be tough, right?”
“Anything beyond helping with monster waves? Impossible.”
“No country allows pointless monster hunting or culls.”
Monster hunting needs balance.
Slaughter them indiscriminately for loot, and their numbers grow, getting stronger.
Great for player growth via respawn acceleration, but a disaster for NPC kingdoms.
“Guess war’s the only way.”
“Pardon?”
“Your Highness, you’re not saying war with neighbors just to hunt monsters, right?”
Slipped out again.
So I blamed the Ancestral Dragon God.
“Her Ancestral Highness warned me last time—a great war with monsters is coming. The long peace is over. Chaos will engulf the continent.”
“Is that true?”
“But why does she drip-feed the info instead of spilling it all at once?”
Mentioning the great chaos tensed them both up.
I wove in early quest warnings about the chaos and fed it to them.
“...So Arcana must prepare for a great monster war too. Unimaginably powerful monsters will keep appearing.”
“Thousands of years of peace ending like this... But we won’t run.”
Canelian steadied herself, caressing her sword.
Object showed resolve with a firm gaze.
“My power is meager, but I’ll do my utmost for the kingdom’s peace.”
Perfect—this united front vibe.
“No point hunting monsters in our lands anymore. It’s late, so we’ll sleep on the ship and head back tomorrow.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Got it.”
And the next morning...
“...Your Highness, give them back.”
“...Not that I’m one to talk with my bad habits, but couldn’t you have stopped me before I stripped you? You’re a swordmaster...”
“I tried, but if I pushed harder, I’d wake you. You already have nightmares often.”
“I have frequent nightmares?”
“Several times. At least when you’re grabbing pajamas, you seem to be having good dreams, so I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”
Her consideration not to disturb my sleep tugged at my heartstrings.
Pays off building that reputation.
“And... anyway, we’ll eventually... do that stuff... so something like this...”
“Hm? What was that? Too quiet, didn’t catch it.”
“...Never mind. Hurry and get ready.”
Back at the capital, the Prime Minister rushed to see me.
“Something important to report?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please authorize rescuing Duke Edelmark’s family from Baron Caron’s territory.”
What’s this about? Rescue?
I read the Prime Minister’s summary report, then checked all the details.
“Sounds like a trap sprung on Caron after his fake surrender.”
NPCs love backstabbing quests.
The Empire’s the worst offender.
“Your Highness, if I may—Baron Caron isn’t suited for a long-term scheme like faking surrender to access our kingdom’s secrets.”
“Marquis, you can’t read people’s hearts.”
“Thing is... he doesn’t have the brains for it.”
What’s with this sudden trust?
“Elaborate.”