Surviving As the 5th Prince of the Ruined Kingdom

050

Even during the busy days with Ziddragon’s training and mining development, there was one thing I did every day without fail.

Organizing the events from the ‘future’.

To be precise, it was my previous life, but it seemed strange to call my life on Earth a ‘previous previous life’, so for convenience’s sake, I decided to call it the ‘future’.

Well, that’s not important.

In the ‘future’, I never met Fran.

However, I fought alongside her disciple who inherited her teachings for a long time on the battlefield.

‘Alice, the Witch of Neural Warfare······.’

Her disciple who joined the Leonel Kingdom’s army despite not being human, in order to avenge her mentor Fran, the one now guarding 34-231 Baronar Queen Triangle alone.

That’s right.

Fran was murdered.

And the culprit was······.

“What’s with that constipated look? Did the worm finally get into an accident?”

As I was heading to the room where Fran was staying, I raised my head at that familiar voice and looked out the window. She was standing in the garden with a nonchalant expression.

I leapt out the window and into the garden.

“Welcome back from your rest.”

“So-so.”

“Do you have time for a brief chat? It might take a while, so shall we sit down?”

“What’s with the serious face? You’re making me tense.”

Fran grumbled but plopped down on a nearby bench.

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Now that I was standing in front of her, I was cautious about how to broach the subject. If I started by saying, “You’re going to be murdered soon,” she would undoubtedly swing her staff at my head.

“Fran.”

“Oh no, don’t tell me this is about that? Don’t, don’t. I told you when we first met not to fall for me.”

She must have received so many confessions from those losers to react like that. ······ Come to think of it, the owner of this place is one of those losers, too?

I shook my head vigorously to reassure her.

“As I mentioned before, I don’t have a single romantic thought about you, Fran, so please don’t worry.”

“Okay, that’s a relief. But somehow, I feel a bit disappointed?”

“Well, apart from romantic feelings, I do like you, Fran.”

She’s the close friend of my great-grandfather who generously shared the [Beiyrn Mana Cultivation Technique], and she’s also a 7th-rank mage.

While human Evan Lionel can dislike her, Prince Evan Lionel of the Five Kingdoms cannot.

“Alright, enough with the creepiness. Just get to the point.”

“Fran, do you trust me?”

At least in our ‘relationship,’ we’re still on friendly terms.

“I’ve been watching your antics, so why should I trust you? Sometimes I wonder if you’re not a contractor of one of the 72 Demon Kings.”

Hmm······ But I don’t think I’ve ever harmed good people.

Then again, even I find some of my actions quite suspicious. Just recently, she witnessed me inexplicably knowing the location of children trapped in an abandoned mine.

I guess there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

So, what’s the best way to gain someone’s ‘trust’? I think it’s by sharing secrets.

I can’t reveal everything, though.

– “You remember two past lives? And one of them isn’t even a past life, but the future?”

– That’s what I believe, yes.

– “······ Don’t go blabbing about it everywhere. Even if a situation arises where you must disclose it, keep it to the bare minimum.”

That was the warning from Barisada, who became my bamboo grove and with whom I shared all my secrets.

– I have no intention of blabbing, but why?

– “······ How should I put this······ There’s a ‘law of the world.’ What happened and is happening to you doesn’t just bend that law, it tears it to shreds.”

– I see.

– “You shouldn’t say it so calmly, ha······ You should know the price the Seeds of God pay to twist the ‘Laws of the World’, too.”

– They usually live with permanent disabilities. Sometimes they even burn their lives.

– “Yeah, on the other hand, what you can do with that thing called the Status Window requires only a small price compared to that.”

I thought I was getting RP at the cost of my life, so it felt a bit disappointing when he said it was a small price.

– “I don’t know why you’re out of the sight of the ‘Laws of the World’, but the more people know your secret, the more the ‘Laws of the World’ will notice you.”

– Then did I say it to Barisada for no reason?

“I’m just a mere sword shaver, so it doesn’t matter. Just like it doesn’t matter if you mumble your secret while looking in the mirror.”

Barisada ended the conversation with a somewhat bitter tone. Based on her advice, I decided to reveal the minimum secret to Pran.

“Pran, I sometimes see the future.”

“······?”

My words seemed sudden, as Pran’s expression became strange. Soon, he nodded his head with a slightly understanding look and asked back.

“So that’s what it was······. But what price do you pay? I know that the saints and holy women of Pathurasit, famous for their precise prophecies, are all blind. Is it a different god? Where is your stigma?”

“I can’t really tell you that. But one thing is certain: I’m not the Demon King or a demon.”

“Well, it seems like you’ve made up your mind to say it, so I’ll believe you for now. So what did you see that made you come to my room with such a serious expression? Am I going to die?”

As I nodded slightly, the woman who had been smiling froze.

“······. I have more days left than I thought. Tell me in detail.”

“You were planning to attend the Magic Society’s Horizon, which is held once every five years, in June this year.”

“How······ Ah, you said you sometimes glimpse the future. Right, around that time, I had researched······.”

“You were going to present Project ‘Stella’ there.”

“······ To be honest, I was a bit skeptical? Really? I didn’t expect to hear that project name from your mouth, the one I came up with under my mother’s tree.”

Stella.

An artificial magic stone made using low-output magic stones. The core component that will become the basis of the Titans that will appear in the future.

“Because of that, you get killed. All your research results are stolen.”

“······.”

The prime suspect is Hwangtapju.

An imperial prince of the Hamil Empire, praised as the ‘Father of the Titans’ by the 8-Star Mages in the ‘future’.

– That bastard, for sure! I, I will definitely kill that son of a b*tch!

For a moment, I recalled Pran’s disciple, the Witch of Neuron Alice, who cried out that it was all a false name created by stealing her master’s research results.

“Who is the culprit?”

“I don’t know for sure.”

“The information I had decided to reveal to Pran was that she would announce Stella at Horizon and be murdered.

It’s not entirely wrong to say I don’t know the culprit. After all, Hwangtapju being the culprit was just Alice’s speculation, even if it was 99% likely. There’s always that one percent chance.

“Don’t go. At least wait until you have the strength to protect your research results before announcing them.”

“I can’t. I have to go.”

What stubbornness is this again?

“Do you still not trust me? If you’re desperately seeking investors, I’ll provide the capital. You know I’ve become quite wealthy from this mining development project.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s not about money either. Horizon only happens once every five years. It’s a battlefield where mages are evaluated based on the research they’ve accumulated over that time. I haven’t been able to make a decent presentation because I’ve been studying Stella. I’ve already boasted to some mages that I’ll be making a big announcement at this conference. If I skip it again, the rumor will spread that the seven-star mage Pran is just a senile old woman spouting nonsense?”

To be honest, it was a little hard to understand.

When her life was at stake, was her pride as a mage that important?

In the case of Hwangtapju from the ‘Future’, he was suspected of stealing Pran’s research, yet he shamelessly called himself the father of Titan.

“I understand if you don’t get it. But everyone has something they can’t compromise on. I absolutely cannot tolerate any blemish on the existence of ‘Mage Pran’.”

“What about your disciple, Alice? She’ll be left alone.”

“……”

She looked at me as if scrutinizing me.

For a while, we both silently gazed at the garden.

“What about this?”

“What?”

“Why don’t you just present something else instead of Stella?”

“Do you think Horizon is some kind of exhibition? There’s a little over three months left, what am I supposed to research and present?”

Research to present at Horizon in three months…

It seemed like I had to share one of the projects I had been working on with her.

Whenever I studied magic books, Alfonso’s nagging about me diligently practicing swordsmanship would ring in my ears. This was a chance to prove that I hadn’t wasted time on magic.

I rummaged through my pocket.

“Why are you suddenly taking out chocolate?”

“I once had a strange dream. Ever since I started learning magic to recreate that dream, I’ve been experimenting with it from time to time.”

I opened the chocolate bag and tossed it in front of Pran so she could see clearly. Then, using the basic first-tier spells [Barrier], [Suction], and [Magnetism], I designed, constructed, and manifested a technique I had devised.

‘Magnetron.’

A small balloon made of a barrier, about the size of a coin, floated up next to the chocolate. Its interior was in a vacuum state with all the air sucked out. A negative charge formed in the center of the balloon, while a positive charge formed around the barrier.

“What is that?”

“It’s a magic technique I created called the Magnetron. Please understand that this is the limit of what I can create with my mana.”

Answering Fran’s question, I clenched my right fist tightly. The final trigger to impart high voltage to the water balloon was pulled.

Wooooong— The vibrating water balloon.

The chocolate next to it melted and dripped down.

I had just generated microwaves from the water balloon, creating an effect similar to a microwave oven.

The idea of substituting a vacuum tube with a water balloon using a surface film was impossible according to the common sense of my previous life.

However, the laws of physics in this world are ‘similar’ to Earth’s, not ‘identical’. And ‘magic’ has the power to make the impossible possible.

“······?”

Fran’s pupils sparkled with curiosity as she looked at the melted chocolate.

I grinned and opened my mouth.

“Isn’t it amazing? Why did the chocolate melt? I succeeded in recreating what I saw in my dream, but I’m not sure why this phenomenon occurred. Fran, do you think you could find the reason by the time of the Holun Festival?”

“······You don’t know the principle?”

Fran looked at me with suspicious eyes.

But it’s not a lie.

Unlike the ‘future’, my memories from my previous life are full of holes.

I remember how to generate microwaves, but if asked why that generates microwaves, I have no words.

More importantly, as I mentioned earlier, the laws of physics in this world are similar to Earth’s, not the same.

To someone else, it might seem like I easily created the [Magnetron] spell, but there were countless failures.

“Well, something invisible happened and melted the chocolate, I guess?”

“······It doesn’t seem to be a lie. But no, I can’t publish that.”

Why again?

“This isn’t my research. It’s yours. Stealing someone else’s research goes against my ethics of research.”

Just as I was about to sigh,

she opened her mouth again.

“But if it’s joint research, I’ll gratefully accept your proposal. I’ll definitely return the favor I owe you this time.”

With such excellent research ethics, how did a scumbag like Ohjangju come about?

“I’d like to keep the fact that I’m learning magic a secret if possible. When the right time comes······.”

“There’s no need to use your real name, right? Some weirdo publishes papers under a stupid pseudonym like ‘Dark Wizard’.”

Why didn’t I think of that?

“Hmm······Frankenstein. That name seems good.”

“What a strange name? Well, it doesn’t matter. Since there’s no surname, people might mistake you for not being human.”

“Your relationship with Pran has improved.”

“You have acquired 30,000 RP.”

A notification that my relationship with Pran had changed to ‘Trust’. I almost gasped at the RP reward that came in.

‘30,000?’

As expected of a 7-star mage.

I was on the verge of achieving 100,000 RP. Surely additional achievements would be unlocked too?

I barely managed to hold back the corners of my mouth from curling up. The conversation wasn’t over yet. Having successfully completed the ‘first task’, it was time to move on to the next.

“Pran, you can enter the Elven Forest, right?”

“Why are you asking when you clearly know where I’ve been all this time.”

“You did say earlier that you would repay me for sharing the [Magnetron] project, didn’t you? Why don’t you spill it early? Please allow me to tour the Elven Forest just once.”

There’s something I absolutely must obtain there.