Chapter 97: New Equipment
As planned, after the reconnaissance, I headed to Pops’s place in Mildrad Castle.
I did wonder if it was alright for the King himself to come all this way, but apparently, Mildrad Castle, being centrally located, is convenient for flexibly moving troops.
Since there aren’t many people around, I suspect Pops is also thinking of himself as just another piece on the board and acting accordingly.
It’s inevitable that a place where the King resides would have a suitable number of guards. In that case, it’s probably better for him to establish himself in Mildrad and keep a watchful eye on things.
When I went to report to Pops that about five thousand Imperial Army soldiers were heading towards the Imperial Capital, I received information that Lestall had just taken Vent.
It seems a force of two thousand, led by the General, will remain stationed in Mildrad and head north simultaneously with the Lestall army’s occupation of Lease.
Just in case, I also gave a rough report of the events in Leben, including the part where Genzou-san got angry with me, but he actually praised me, saying, “You’re doing well, aren’t you? Threatening them a bit is fine.”
After finishing our conversation, we took to the skies again. If things were truly about to escalate, there were people we wanted to inform, so we headed towards Belfast.
As soon as we arrived, we went to see Raku and Fuu, and walked with them to the barracks.
First, thinking Hiroki and the others might be there, I headed to Sayuri-san’s father’s place, but it seemed he had already left for the Mildrad offensive. So, I asked at the clinic how she was doing.
I was told she had returned to Oldam.
Well then, I thought about heading there, but then I remembered I hadn’t shown my face at the Magic Tool Workshop recently, so I made a detour.
“Oh, you finally showed up. It’s ready.”
“I’m still figuring things out on my end. I kind of burned out with that staff and I’m in a bit of a slump.”
“I have one! Here, try this!”
First, I turned my gaze to Mizuki, who handed something to me. She told me to pour Magical Power into it, and when I followed her instructions, the protruding cross-shaped rod spun at high speed.
“Rui, you’re good at making gimmicks, right? I thought you’d definitely like something like this! How is it?”
“I love it! Mizuki, thanks a lot.”
“I knew it! I’m so glad!”
“—!?”
Mizuki puffed out her chest proudly, going “Fuffuun~”. As I was immediately using it as a fan, the leather guy pulled my arm, saying, “This is the main event, right?”
The leather guy led me to a large number of wooden boxes. When I timidly looked inside, they were crammed full of new-type bombs.
When I asked how many there were, he said one hundred and fifty.
I timidly put them into my storage, told them to halt production here for the time being, and gave an additional ten Large Gold Coins to everyone employed.
“This includes hush money, so please be discreet. Absolutely do not talk about the new weapon outside. If possible, I’d prefer you don’t spread the word that you worked here. For your own sakes, okay?”
Honestly, I’m even hesitant about leaving this technology in Belfast.
It’s undoubtedly going to come out eventually, but until then, I want to keep it under wraps.
The principle is simple, and someone who saw and learned it while I’m alive will probably make it.
If it’s an ally, they can be stopped, but if it’s an enemy, it will be a disaster.
When I mentioned this, they replied that they had already been told that the technology here was forbidden to be spoken of outside, so they were already doing that much.
In the midst of that, the staff guy pulled my arm, exclaiming, “No way! This doesn’t mean our contract is over, right?!”
“Of course not! More importantly, Your Highness, try on my new creation!”
No, why is the old man answering…
The old man, whom I suspected might be the grandfather of the staff guy who had been quiet all this time, fitted a gauntlet adorned with silver gemstone work onto my arm.
“This is…” As I looked at him, he energetically began to explain, “An excellent question!!”
Apparently, it’s a Magical Power Amplifier.
And the kind that doesn’t break.
“I heard Your Highness uses powerful magic. I tried making something that suppresses amplification to about double and focused all efforts on raising its durability. If you also handle frontline combat, it should be even more useful, right?”
Now that he mentions it, it seems quite practical.
“Can I try pouring my full Magical Power into this to test it?”
“Of course! It would be more troublesome if you used it in actual combat without testing it first!”
Since he said that, I went outside and spread a Light Magic Circle across the entire training ground.
Naturally, Raku and the others were properly evacuated.
I had Yuri watch carefully, as Monsters would die if bathed in it.
For some reason, Yuri was giving me a reproachful look, which bothered me, but since everyone else was watching too, I decided to proceed with the experiment and activated the Magic Circle.
“Wha…t is this… Wait! This is beyond my expectations!!”
Responding to the old man’s shout as he looked up at the Magic Circle, I immediately stopped it, but there was no particular change to the gauntlet.
“It seems okay, doesn’t it?”
“Mmm… It’s true. Fuhahahahaha, as expected of me!
It’s different from something that breaks in one go.
This is what it means to respond to the customer’s voice! Did you see that, youngster!!”
“Kuuuhh…” He was so frustrated his veins looked like they might burst.
“No, your guys’ staves were amazing too…” I tried to console him, but he ran into the workshop crying.
Then, the leather guy exclaimed, “Ah, I had one more thing!” and brought out a silver Coat.
“This is just that fur pelt coated with Mithril.
You said it disappeared with Light Magic, right? This can prevent that.”
At those words, I couldn’t help but shout, “Uooooooh!!”
“This helps so much! I almost died because of that. You guys are amazing after all!”
“No… It’s just a Mithril coating, after all. It melts with heat and peels off from attacks.
Even if we try to coat over it, Light Magic will remove it, so that’s all we could do. Naturally, after it melts, it can’t prevent Light Magic.”
More than enough!
Being able to involve myself in Light Magic is more important. Flames can be blocked by magic barriers and such. I just have to avoid taking enough hits for it to melt.
As I was excitedly celebrating like that, the person in charge of the Magic Tool engineers hesitantly interjected.
“Um, what should we make from now on?”
“Errrm. For now, freely…
As long as you use that stock, you can do as you please, so could I ask you to invent things?”
I told them it didn’t matter if it was for daily life or combat; I wanted them to freely make anything useful. They replied, “Understood,” and rushed into the workshop.
Mizuki and the others joined that flow and seemed to be having a fun discussion about something.
Yuri and I were left outside. “Well then, shall we head to Oldam?” I said, sending Raku and the others back, and the two of us flew up.
On the way, Yuri kept making pointed remarks about how close I was with “that woman” Mizuki, but perhaps thanks to that, we arrived a little faster than expected.
I visited the academy dormitory for the first time in a while and, as usual, first went to Akito’s room, but he hadn’t returned yet.
Having no choice, I went to the girls’ dormitory with Yuri.
I asked the dorm mother if Naomi, Riana-san, Yukina-san, or Kyouko-chan were around.
Since Akito wasn’t there, Naomi was also predictably absent, but the other three were, so I had them called. It was fine up until the three of them came out together, but for some reason, Kyouko-chan raised her voice.
“Hey, hey!! Didn’t I tell you not to get close to Ojousama!!
Please get away from Ojousama! I’ll get scolded, I tell you!!”
Kyouko-chan suddenly grabbed Yuri from behind in a full nelson, trying to pull her away from me.
Yuri had a vein throbbing on her forehead in response.
Apparently, she hadn’t been told anything.
The General definitely forgot about Kyouko-chan, I thought with a wry smile.
“Haa… This isn’t the place to make a scene. Let’s move first.”
Riana-san let out a deep sigh and guided us to Yukina-san’s room, but Kyouko-chan desperately clung to Yuri, trying to prevent her from being next to me.
“Um, I got permission from Yuri’s father, okay?
Milis-san also asked me to take care of Yuri.”
“Heh…” By the time she stopped clinging, it was already too late.
Kyouko-chan was grabbed by the collar by Yuri and lifted up.
She seemed to desperately want to touch the ground, stretching her toes while looking at Yuri with an expression of utter confusion, as if to say, “Why?”
“Ah, um… Please don’t get violent in my room, okay?” Yukina-san warned while taking a step back.
“O-Ojousama!? W-Why are you angry!?”
“If you try to seduce Rui with your charms, you are my enemy.”
“Heh!? No, no, that’s not it! I’m just carrying out my mission!”
Riana-san watched their argument with amusement while drinking tea.
Apparently, she was enjoying it like a daytime soap opera.
“Yuri, that’s enough, let her go. You understand the situation now, right?”
“If there were circumstances, would it be alright for a man named Ignat to embrace me?”
Huh? Usually, she’d obediently comply here.
Or rather, why bring up that handsome guy now?
There’s no way I could forgive that.
No, I wouldn’t forgive any man, but him especially is a no-go.
“Absolutely not. I’ll never forgive him. If he gets near Yuri, I’ll shoot him dead on the spot.”
Yuri glared at me with a reproachful look. Cute.
“Rui-san… that’s not it, is it? Since you don’t have any guilty feelings, you should just gently hug her and tell her she’s the only one.”
Ah, I see. And so, while still hugging Yuri from behind, I sat her down on a chair.
“Hmm. So, it went quite well, did it?”
“Yeah. Since our parents have acknowledged it, I guess that means we’re fiancés, right?”
“Y-yes… I think that’s fine.”
Alright!
When I gave a thumbs-up with a pleased look, thinking now I could say it openly, she just snorted at me.
“So then, did you two come here today just to brag about how lovey-dovey you are?”
“Ah, no… about that.”
When I told her, with her exasperated look, the main reason for our visit today, she slammed her hand on the platform and shot to her feet.
“A war between us and the Empire is starting, you say!?”
“Well, yeah. It was a matter of time either way, so we’ve decided to join forces and fight.”
As I explained the current situation, Riana-san seemed to accept it, for the most part.
“Marquis Randall’s army has started to move to take down Vent, so I think it’s pretty much confirmed that it’ll start soon. I flew here thinking I should pass on the information to our close associates.”
“I see, that’s a great help. Father doesn’t tell me about such things.”
“But to have grasped such up-to-date information, you’re quite something, Rui-san. With your engagement to Yurisia-sama and all, what exactly did you do?”
Ah… right. I haven’t seen them much since before I met Cornelia-san and the others, huh. But saying something like, “Actually, I was a prince!” feels like I was deceiving them, and it’s awkward.
“Um, well, it was like, I was acting solely out of my desire to protect Yuri, something like that?”
As I hugged Yuri tightly while trying to gloss over it, she seemed to understand somehow, saying, “You must have really gone on a rampage, then.”
“Speaking of which, I heard Razbel returned to Belfast, right? I also heard the King and Prince of Belfast are there, but are they really the real ones?”
I was at a loss for words at such a direct question.
“Ah, I want to hear about it too! The story of our prince!”
“What kind of person is he!?” Kyouko-chan leaned forward.
“Um… Yuri-chan, what should I do…?”
“Why are you hesitating? Just say it clearly. ‘I am Crown Prince Louis von Belfast.'”
“””Huh?”””
Huh… a colder reaction than I expected. Isn’t this the part where you’re supposed to be shocked and go, “Eeeh!?”?
“Um, it’s not like I was deceiving you. My adoptive parent kept it a secret for a long time, so I didn’t know either.”
“So, does that mean Rui-san is really the Prince of Belfast?”
When I nodded at Yukina-san’s words, she looked bewildered, Riana-san froze as if time had stopped, and Kyouko-chan, for some reason, turned pale.
“Um, I haven’t changed at all. And I don’t intend to change how we interact.”
“Rui-san… no, Your Highness Prince Rui, that is impossible.”
Yukina-san, while suddenly becoming very formal, stated that someone connected to a noble family of Lestall couldn’t continue to act so familiarly.
Now that she mentioned it, that was true. Those who rule must be careful not to be looked down upon by the people. I learned that all too well in Leben.
“I see. Well then, I guess it can’t be helped, huh…”
“Oh, but perhaps it would be fine if Yukina just corrects her way of speaking?”
I received such a suggestion from Riana-san, who looked a little perplexed. She added that she had been treating me politely from the start anyway.
“True. Then, is it okay to continue as before? We’re allied nations, after all, right?”
“That’s right. If we’ve formed an alliance, I think it’s fine.”
Then, when I asked Kyouko-chan why she was so scared, she started apologizing in broken words for having been rude.
I told her it was fine and not to worry, but it seemed she couldn’t bring herself to change her mind.
Well, it was a relief that she wouldn’t be interrupting my time with Yuri anymore. I decided to leave her be, figuring she’d get used to it eventually.
Just then, the sound of a knock on the room’s door echoed.