Successor of the Duchy (3)
Successor of the Duchy (3)
As expected, repairing an orb that was nearing the end of its lifespan was no easy task.
Mana was endlessly drawn into the orb, and the Grand Archduchess's face grew paler by the moment.
By the time her personal maid, standing by the door, was pacing restlessly with worry, the Grand Archduchess finally took her hand off the orb.
"I think I repaired it... but I don't know if I did it properly."
The Grand Archduchess spoke in an exhausted voice as she leaned back against the sofa.
There was something strange about the Grand Archduchess's words.
It was strange for the person who had repaired the artifact not to know whether she'd fixed it properly.
In my past life, those words would have meant she wouldn't get paid a single penny.
But since she was the only person capable of repairing it, I had no choice but to accept it.
Beside me, Balea tilted her head and stared at the black orb.
Seeing her gaze at the orb with such an innocent expression, it was hard to believe she was the same person who had sighed in disappointment just moments ago.
After examining the orb this way and that, Balea finally asked me:
"May I touch it once?"
"Yes, go ahead."
In any case, it would look like an ordinary orb to anyone who wasn't registered as an administrator.
Unless it was the Grand Archduchess, who had appraisal abilities, or Lesty, there was no way anyone would find out.
As expected, Balea couldn't find anything different.
After holding the orb and examining it from various angles, Balea shook her head and set it down.
With the Grand Archduchess half-unconscious on the sofa and Balea having lost interest, only then did I place my hand on the orb.
The voice I'd heard before echoed in my head.
Back then, it had sounded like noise, but now a refined voice continued speaking calmly.
[Administrator authenticated.
Welcome, Administrator.
A moment ago, the Hero Management System was repaired.
If it had been even slightly later, it would have been irreparable. Thank you for repairing it in time.
Regrettably, much information has been lost over time.
Due to the inability to connect to the Central Ego, the lost information cannot be restored.
Due to various lost pieces of information, the 12th Reserve Ego is not functioning properly.
We recommend a restart to activate the Ego.
Would you like to restart?]
No matter how I looked at it, this "Ego" closely resembled an AI.
That "restart" was definitely a reboot.
In the end, putting it in terms from my past life, a lot of data in its memory had been corrupted, so a reboot was necessary.
Anyway, if I wanted to use it properly, I had no choice but to do as instructed.
I could only hope nothing would go wrong after the restart.
Answering wasn't difficult. It was no different from responding to a message window.
I answered 'Yes' in my mind.
[Restarting shortly.
It will take some time for the restart to complete. It may take longer than expected, so please wait patiently.
Additionally, please understand that we cannot respond during the restart.
Well then, see you after the restart process is complete.]
With those final words, the orb fell silent.
I couldn't help making a troubled expression.
"This is troublesome."
"Why?"
In response to Balea's question, I told her the truth.
"It seems too much time has passed since it broke. It has gone to sleep."
It would have been nice if it had at least displayed the remaining time until the process finished, but it had gone completely dead.
I could understand why the Grand Archduchess had said she didn't know if she'd repaired it properly.
Until it restarted, there was no way to know if the orb had been properly fixed.
Still, since all I had to do was wait, it was better than before.
Surely I wouldn't have to wait months or years. I just had to endure a little longer until the process was finished.
While I was examining the orb, the Grand Archduchess had fallen completely asleep.
She had fainted while repairing the dagger as well; it seemed she'd pushed her ability to its limit this time too.
Balea and I left the sleeping Grand Archduchess behind and stepped out of the room.
The Chief Steward was waiting in front of the reception room.
I wondered why he was waiting for us here when he must have had plenty of other matters to attend to.
"I will guide you to your rooms."
The Chief Steward's next words, though, were perfectly ordinary.
I didn't know why the palace's Chief Steward was guiding us personally, but I could take it as a sign of how highly we were regarded.
I had no objection to staying in the palace, but I'd already made a contract elsewhere.
"Ah, I rented a room at an inn near the palace. I also rented a carriage."
I'd spent a large sum of money on the carriage in particular. Since it would be a waste otherwise, I intended to keep riding it today.
At my response, the Chief Steward bowed his head again.
"We cannot allow His Highness's guests to stay outside the palace. We will handle the carriage and inn matters."
He was making another offer despite my answer. This was more than just a mere suggestion.
Since he was invoking the Grand Prince's prestige, I couldn't refuse.
I tilted my head and followed behind the Chief Steward.
Balea seemed to find it strange as well.
She whispered softly into my ear.
"You have a sparring match with the Crown Prince, don't you? Don't you think they're trying to keep you from running away?"
"No way, surely not."
I shook my head with a smile, but couldn't help feeling a sudden pang of anxiety.
Because if it was that terrifying Grand Prince, it was a highly plausible story.
'Surely nothing terrible will happen if I win, right?'
At this point, rather than hoping to win, I felt I should simply hope the sparring match ended safely.
Just as the Chief Steward had said, before long our luggage at the inn had been moved into the palace, and the rented carriage vanished from the front of the palace in an instant.
The sparring match was in two days. The next day, I prepared for the duel in my room.
Honestly, there was nothing in particular to prepare.
Still, someone scheduled to spar with the Crown Prince couldn't just wander around the palace without any preparation.
Balea, on the other hand, roamed the palace like a fish in water.
Balea's sociability was terrifying.
The next day, on the way to the sparring match, it seemed everyone we ran into already knew Balea.
The place where I was to spar with the Crown Prince was the underground training ground beneath the royal palace.
It seemed to be a secret training ground used only by the Grand Prince and the Crown Prince.
The Grand Prince apparently didn't want to show the duel between the Crown Prince and me to anyone else.
That morning, the Chief Steward led Balea and me deeper and deeper underground.
The underground training ground was much deeper than I had expected.
Balea even asked if we were being taken to a prison.
Balea sounded so frightened that the Chief Steward had to sweat bullets as he tried to reassure her.
The underground training ground was a stone chamber made of large marble blocks.
It was similar to the private training ground where I had trained with the Duke of Ceuta, but its size and durability were on a completely different level.
Judging by the various patterns drawn on the walls and floor, the chamber also seemed to have been reinforced to prevent it from being destroyed.
As I entered the training ground, a pleasant-looking young man in his twenties tapped the wall and spoke to me.
"These walls won't budge even if a Monster King attacks. Thanks to this training ground, I can show my true skills without any worries."
The person speaking to me was someone I had seen a year ago.
He was none other than the Grand Archduchess's older brother and the Crown Prince of this duchy, Prince Antonio de Carlos.
"Nice to meet you. I've heard about you many times from my sister. She kept saying you fight better than me, so I really wanted to have a match with you."
As expected, it was because of the Grand Archduchess. I turned and looked at her.
The Grand Archduchess was already pretending to look elsewhere. She was chatting with Balea about the patterns in the stone chamber.
As I watched the two of them in disbelief, the Crown Prince casually slung his arm over my shoulder.
"Maybe it's because I've heard so much about you, but you don't feel like a stranger at all."
The Crown Prince pulled me along toward the center of the stone chamber.
"If we had more time, I'd love to hear your stories directly. If not for my position as the Crown Prince, I could have made a name for myself out there too."
Once I was close to him, I could gauge the Crown Prince's skill to some extent.
And I realized he meant what he had just said.
Just as the Grand Archduchess had said, the Crown Prince possessed formidable skill.
He was stronger than a senior royal knight, and it seemed he could even defeat the knight commander of Marquis Pisen.
Compared to the two princes of the Carlos Kingdom, the difference was like heaven and earth.
The Grand Prince had good reason to boast about his son.
And it was understandable why the Crown Prince found his position suffocating.
Possessing such skill at a young age, yet bound to the position of Crown Prince, must have been frustrating.
Then he looked at me and grinned.
"But thanks to your arrival, a path has opened up."
What on earth did that mean?
A sigh escaped my lips.
Was something else progressing somewhere I knew nothing about again?
Since I couldn't even figure out the reason while dying every single time, I could only sigh.
Led by the Crown Prince, the two of us came to stand in the center of the stone chamber.
Just then, the Grand Prince entered through the door of the stone chamber.
The Grand Prince came inside alone, without any attendants.
It seemed he had no intention of showing this sparring match to anyone else.
The Grand Prince scanned the Crown Prince and me with his fierce eyes.
Then he walked over to where the Grand Archduchess and Balea were standing.
As the Grand Prince approached, Balea placed her hand over her chest and bowed deeply.
It was the very definition of textbook etiquette.
The Grand Prince also nodded at Balea's greeting, seemingly satisfied.
Standing beside the Grand Archduchess, the Grand Prince spoke to us.
"Begin then."
It was a statement that completely ignored any pre-match ceremonies or greetings.
Though it seemed to go against etiquette, it was a very characteristic remark for the Grand Prince.
The Crown Prince drew his sword with a bitter smile.
It was an incredibly beautiful artifact sword.
He caressed the sword and spoke.
"I heard you use an artifact sword. That's why I brought the sword I usually use. This sword has several physical enhancements cast on it. Since I always use it... this much should be fine, right?"
I chuckled inwardly at the Crown Prince's words.
The Crown Prince had a much better personality than I had expected. Unlike the politically minded Grand Prince, he was quite pure.
He seemed like a good-natured knight who simply loved to fight.
"I heard you also have something riding on this fight. The same goes for me, so I hope we can have a fight with no regrets."
No, wait. The Crown Prince also has something riding on this sparring match?
Does this mean I really shouldn't win?
I felt cold sweat trickling down the back of my neck.
What a difficult sparring match this was.
This match made me more nervous than any other spar or battle against monsters.
In any case, since the Crown Prince had drawn his sword, I couldn't just stand there.
I also drew my sword from my back.
The sword I always used.
It was my greatsword.
Seeing me grip my sword, a smile played on the Crown Prince's lips.
He raised his sword upright and greeted me.
"I am the Crown Prince of the Julian Duchy, Antonio de Carlos. As a knight, I request a sparring match."
An introduction not as the Crown Prince, but as a knight.
I also responded to his greeting.
"Escort knight of Princess Aisha, Alex de Gracia. As a knight, I accept the sparring match."
As soon as the greeting ended, mana erupted from the Crown Prince's body like an active volcano.
Boom!
'Mana Resonance' spread in all directions.
I clenched my teeth.
This was not an opponent I could fight while holding back.
'Damn it! Let's just win first!'
Prepared to repeat my life once more, I swung my sword with all my might.