Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Chapter 4: Reveal (1)
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When the dust settled, the one standing in the sparring arena was the 5th Prince, Raymond Philius.
Desia Heli, the third disciple of Elder Philid, lay collapsed on the cold floor, unable to move.
The elders were the same. They remained standing in the spectator seats, frozen in place, not even blinking. The only sound was the faint rolling of their eyes.
Their gazes alternated between Desia, sprawled on the arena floor, and the 5th Prince, who was calmly gathering his rampaging mana.
"We didn't just imagine that, did we?"
"I... I can't believe it..."
Raymond looked at the murmuring elders with a composed expression and spoke.
"Is this enough?"
It was short. But its meaning was fully conveyed to the elders. Someone nodded, and Raymond silently turned his head toward Desia.
Did she sense his gaze?
Desia lifted her head with great effort. Then let it drop weakly again.
Desia was a talented mage pursuing the truths of magic.
Having shown her the secret transmission and his own talent just moments ago, she would come find him one way or another.
"Elder Philid, is this sufficient?"
His gaze finally settled on Philid.
Philid's eyes were wide open in disbelief, his mouth agape and refusing to close.
"Your Highness the 5th Prince, what in the world..."
"I don't think I need to hear your answer."
With that brief mutter, he turned his back on Philid.
And left the arena, all eyes of the elders upon him.
As the 5th Prince departed, the elders' attention shifted to the Azure Tower Lord, who was said to have been training him until just recently.
"Azure Tower Lord! What is the meaning of this?"
"Lord Risefield, please explain."
The elders swarmed him. But the Azure Tower Lord, Risefield Dior, offered no response to any of their questions.
"I've issued a gag order to the elders. The Azure Tower Lord's name carries weight, so even Elder Philid won't easily leak information to the 3rd Prince."
The Azure Tower Lord, Risefield Dior, spoke in a calm voice. He believed he had complete control over the Azure Tower.
"The problem is the Imperial Knights who entered the arena under the pretext of escorting Your Highness the 5th Prince."
"I know. The information will leak out. To be precise, it will flow to Brother Aloken."
"You're speculating quite specifically."
Risefield's eyes widened as he asked. Raymond then gave him a brief rundown of recent events.
After the five-minute explanation, the Azure Tower Lord's hardened face nodded.
"So that's what happened."
"The moment I returned to the imperial palace after five years, living quietly was already off the table."
Even if he hadn't run into the 3rd Prince that day, a report would have gone out.
The imperial palace was riddled with the eyes and ears of the princes competing for the throne. Monitoring each other was their daily routine.
"I may have been a wastrel in the past, but there's no reason to keep it up."
If he continued as a wastrel, he'd die at the end of volume 1 when the story progressed as normal.
Sorry, but he had no intention of dying, so change was inevitable.
"Your Highness the 5th Prince..."
The Azure Tower Lord, unaware of the full details, felt a sense of dissonance from this 5th Prince who was nothing like the rumors, yet he continually revised his evaluation upward.
"Elder Philid will stay quiet for a while, right?"
In response to Raymond's question, the Azure Tower Lord, Risefield, grinned and replied.
"He saw it with his own eyes, so he won't breathe a word."
"That's a relief."
Raymond nodded in response.
"Are you heading back to the 5th Prince's Palace now?"
"Yeah. I have things to do."
"Come visit the Azure Tower sometime."
"Even if the old man tries to stop me, I plan to drop by often."
He spoke with a slight smile. Risefield looked a bit surprised.
"I've developed a bit of interest in magic."
At that answer, Risefield erased his surprised expression and grinned back.
"That's fortunate."
It might have been something he was saying to himself.
He didn't want to let go of the 5th Prince, who possessed exceptional magical talent.
Even if he couldn't make him a disciple, he wanted to watch him ascend to higher realms. That was his honest feeling.
Raymond returned to the 5th Prince's Palace. Meanwhile, one Imperial Knight slipped away discreetly toward the 3rd Prince's Palace.
The guards at the 3rd Prince's Palace parted for the Imperial Knight as if by prior agreement.
As he ventured deep inside, a shadow in black attire emerged from the darkness.
"This way."
The Imperial Knight nodded, and the Imperial Guard member led the way.
The two entered the reception room of the 3rd Prince's Palace.
"His Highness the 3rd Prince will arrive shortly."
"Understood."
The wait wasn't long.
The 3rd Prince, Aloken, opened the reception room door and entered. Seeing the two accompanying Imperial Guard members, the Imperial Knight involuntarily swallowed dryly.
The aura emanating from them was sharply honed killing intent, refined to perfection. It felt different from the 3rd Prince's usual subordinates.
"My report."
The Imperial Knight relayed everything he had seen and heard verbatim. But as soon as the tale ended, Aloken's expression soured.
"Are you asking me to believe that?"
Disbelief dripped from his voice.
"Your Highness the 3rd Prince! Why would I, of all people, lie to you?"
The Imperial Knight felt wronged. He pleaded his innocence with blood nearly spilling from his mouth, but the 3rd Prince's reaction remained icy.
"Not content with reaching low-grade mage level in just a week, he defeated Desia Heli, who is near mid-grade mage level, in a spar? It defies all common sense."
Revealing low-grade mage prowess could be explained as having hidden his level until now, but defeating someone close to mid-grade—even among Elder Philid's disciples—in a spar was hard to accept.
"No matter how I think about it, it doesn't add up..."
"I swear on my life it's no lie!"
The 3rd Prince's gaze fell on the Imperial Knight. He didn't seem to be lying, but belief didn't come easily.
"Understood for now. Withdraw."
"Yes, Your Highness the 3rd Prince."
The Imperial Knight bowed respectfully and left the reception room. The 3rd Prince stared at the spot where he had stood for a long while before speaking calmly.
"Imperial Guard Captain."
"Yes, Your Highness the 3rd Prince. Your command?"
"Contact my brother. Tell him to check the situation once more before we begin the grand plan. He'll understand."
"It shall be done."
That night, one of the 3rd Prince's Imperial Guard members slipped out of the imperial capital in secret.
'You'll face off against the 5th Prince.'
Her master, Philid, had said.
'Is there any reason I have to spar with that infamous wastrel prince?'
She always obeyed her master, but this time, she couldn't understand.
'For the sake of my face.'
'I don't have a hobby of trampling on the weak.'
As far as she knew, the 5th Prince had no talent in either sword or magic.
'I sensed mana flow from the 5th Prince. He's probably hiding low-grade mage level strength.'
'The wastrel 5th Prince is a low-grade mage?'
It was an unexpected answer. Even though her perception of the 5th Prince shifted slightly, the wastrel stereotype didn't shatter easily.
'Go and defeat the 5th Prince. We must align with His Highness the 3rd Prince.'
'...A low-grade mage has at least the minimum qualifications.'
And so she headed to the arena. To punish the arrogant wastrel hiding his paltry low-grade mage power.
She thought ten minutes would suffice. But the one who collapsed after ten minutes was her.
"How...?"
She had thought him a wastrel. But at the center of the blue glow unleashing mana shells, there was no wastrel.
"This is a low-grade mage...?"
She wanted to punch her master, but her body wouldn't respond.
In the end, she lost consciousness.
When she regained it, the first thing she did wasn't to seek out her master, who hadn't even visited.
She was heading toward the elevator connected to the top floor, where the Azure Tower Lord's office was.
"Miss Desia Heli?"
As she paced in front of the direct elevator to the top floor, a tower knight approached and asked.
Desia nodded affirmatively but looked tense, fearing she might be denied entry.
Seeing her like that, the tower knight smiled faintly and spoke.
"The Azure Tower Lord is waiting for you."
"The Azure Tower Lord is waiting for me?"
It was an unexpected development. Desia's eyes widened as she asked.
The tower knight nodded calmly and escorted her to the elevator without further explanation.
He accompanied her right up to the door of the Azure Tower Lord's office.
"I've notified him."
With that, he withdrew. Desia knocked on the door with a tense expression.
The Azure Tower Lord's voice came from within, granting permission to enter. She flung the door open vigorously.
"Come in, Miss Desia."
The Azure Tower Lord, Risefield, rose slowly from his chair to greet her.
'Just as His Highness the 5th Prince said.'
Raymond had predicted Desia would come within days. When he first heard it, Risefield couldn't have imagined it would hit the mark so precisely.
He was a little surprised, but it didn't show on his face. After all his years, he was adept at hiding emotions.
"Did you know I would come?"
"His Highness the 5th Prince knows everything."
"Was it all an act?"
There was no subject, but Risefield easily knew who she meant.
'I had no choice but to think the same.'
The 5th Prince he first met was composed, far from a wastrel.
When he materialized mana and obtained the Spear of Sacrifice, Risefield wondered if all the past wastrel behavior had been a facade.
And when the 5th Prince defeated Desia, who was hailed as a genius, Risefield was convinced.
'All that wastrel nonsense until now was an act.'
To survive the power struggles for the throne, he had no choice but to play the wastrel. Though the actual circumstances differed greatly, that's what Risefield believed.
"Miss Desia."
"Yes, Azure Tower Lord."
"Do you think that matters right now?"
The Azure Tower Lord struck at the heart of it. A smile spread across Desia's lips.
That wasn't why she had come today.
"It's not an important issue."
"Then get to the point, Miss Desia."
'I wonder what she'll say? Will it match His Highness the 5th Prince's prediction again?'
The Azure Tower Lord was curious. And intrigued.
With light tension, she opened her mouth.
"Ugh!"
"Your Highness the 5th Prince!"
As he finished eating and tried to rise, his vision blurred and strength drained from his body.
If not for Alex rushing over to support him, he might have collapsed unsightly.
"Your Highness the 5th Prince, are you alright?"
Alex asked cautiously. Raymond nodded slowly, his face stiff.
It seemed using the Azure Tower's secret transmission so forcefully had tangled his mana circuits a bit.
"I'm fine."
He waved it off dismissively and headed to his bedroom. He needed to rest today and untangle those mana circuits.
As he left the dining hall, three waiting Imperial Knights followed.
He'd initially felt secure with them, but now that he knew they were the 3rd Prince's eyes and ears, they were just a nuisance.
'I need to form my Imperial Guard as soon as possible.'
The need for his own direct guard unit, permitted only to royals, felt urgent today.
'I need the one-armed swordsman.'
The high knight who lost his left arm to betrayal. In the normal plot, he'd meet the protagonist in volume 2 and grow into a swordmaster.
'I can give him what he wants.'
Meaning, he had bait to lure in the one-armed swordsman.
After sending Alex away and entering his bedroom, the empty air split open, revealing the Azure Tower Lord, Risefield Dior, in his blue robes.
"Just as Your Highness the 5th Prince said, Desia came."
"And? What happened?"
"She'll come to you soon."
With that, Risefield vanished.
Knock knock.
"Your Highness the 5th Prince, may I enter for a moment?"
A light knock was followed by Alex's voice.
"Come in."
"Your Highness the 5th Prince."
"A certain mage came looking for me, didn't she?"
"How did you..."
"That's not important. Bring that mage here."
Alex said no more and withdrew. When he returned, he was with a blonde female mage in blue robes.
"Alex, go rest."
"Yes, Your Highness the 5th Prince."
Alex left.
"Sit."
Raymond gestured for Desia, who was staring intently at him, to take a seat.
She nodded slightly and sat demurely on the sofa.
"Why did you come to see me?"
"I think you know."
Raymond let out a chuckle at her bold words.
She had shown proper etiquette toward royalty in the arena but hadn't been intimidated. She seemed the type to speak her mind.