Chapter 2: The Princess of Arcana Kingdom ①
I want to touch on the man known as Prince Ryuguin for just a moment.
To put it bluntly, he is a handsome fool. He’s so much of a mama’s boy that he even mumbles “Mama” in his sleep, and despite being a minor high school student, he’s incredibly spoiled.
While he might have gotten away with this back in Japan, now that we’ve been summoned to another world, his personality has become a significant drawback.
First of all, he boldly declared, “I will save the world!” but he hasn’t trained at all. To be precise, he attended the training on the first day with me, and since then, he hasn’t shown his face at the training grounds even once.
In short, Ryuguin is a person who values himself above all else, someone who knows nothing of effort or perseverance.
After finishing the first day of training, I didn’t see Ryuguin’s face for several days. When I asked the captain, who was providing combat training,
“He seems to be unwell. Well, it’s understandable since he’s in an unfamiliar place,” was the response.
A few days later, I stopped Ryuguin in the Royal Castle.
“It’s been a while, Ryuguin. How’s your health?”
“Health…? Ah, ah, cough cough. I can’t stop shivering. I can’t stop coughing either, and I have a fever.”
“Let me take a look.”
Ryuguin slapped my hand away, which I had reached out in pure concern.
“Don’t touch me! Are you doubting me?! I’m the Hero!”
He shouted with a look I had never seen before.
“N-no, I’m sorry. Don’t get so angry.”
I took a step back from Ryuguin, who was glaring at me with wide eyes.
“Just understand this. You may be training or whatever, but do your best to come to my— the Hero’s level. I have more important things to do than sweat over training.”
With that, he left the scene with a light step that was clearly at odds with his words.
On the other hand, my own steps felt incredibly heavy. I was trying not to show any weakness about feeling unwell. However, I was beginning to feel fatigue both mentally and physically. It had only been a few days, but I had been brought to an unfamiliar land and subjected to intense training. It was only natural.
A mere month was hardly enough time for anything. If time was lacking, I had to find a way to squeeze it out from somewhere. Where could I do that? When it came down to it, there was only one thing I could cut back on.
The answer was sleep. I could simply compensate by increasing my active hours in a day.
I would scream, “I’m going to die! You idiot!” but all that was presented to me was the ultimate choice: “Train now and die,” or “Enter the Labyrinth without training and die.”
They weren’t doing this absurd training out of malice. After all, there was only a limited amount of time. Naturally, the quality of training had to be maximized to the extreme.
So, like a rag doll that kept falling, I desperately caught my breath and motivated myself, telling myself, “This is for survival.”
This was during training. Perhaps because my fatigue was showing in my movements, the Saintess and the other healers waiting at the training grounds surrounded me. Whenever I collapsed, they would cast Healing Magic (Heal) on me, allowing me to continue training—this had become my routine.
In short, it was hell!
“I can still do this!!”
I forced myself to get up and urged for more training, only to be met with additional amounts of training from not just the captain but also the elite members of the Order of Knights.
Of course, basic drills were included, but in practical training, getting beaten to a pulp was an everyday occurrence.
Such intense training sessions lasted over fifteen hours a day.
Once again, I found myself unable to move, lying flat on the ground. Someone approached, looking down at me. Their face was obscured by backlight.
“As long as you have Healing Magic (Heal), you’ll be fine, Lord Yamada.”
I’m not a robot! Who would say such ridiculous things? Finally recognizing the person, it was Saintess Mika—she looked like a robot, showing no change in expression.
In the end, it was true that as long as I had Healing Magic (Heal), I was fine. I managed to push through with only about two hours of sleep each day. I really pushed myself (tears).
I didn’t know why this other world operated on a twenty-four-hour system or why the sense of time was the same as Earth. I’m not an expert, after all.
More importantly, if you think that even after subtracting fifteen hours of training from the twenty-four hours in a day, I still had plenty of time, you better apologize now, and I might forgive you.
In the short span of one month, I had to not only train for combat but also study the general knowledge of this world. Adding up the time required for that, and voilà, it was a mystery.
A total of twenty-two hours a day.
Even the people of ancient Greece’s Sparta would turn pale and say, “No, we didn’t say to do all this.”
You think Ryuguin at least studied a bit? No way, you’re underestimating him. Of course, he didn’t study either.
Speaking of which, I once passed by Ryuguin in the hallway. When I asked him, “Shouldn’t you at least study a bit?” he replied:
“Study? That won’t help me at all when I return to Japan. You’re quite the oddball. Besides, if there’s something I don’t understand, I can just ask someone, right?”
I had to interject.
“But in the end, the only ones we can truly rely on are us who came from Japan, right?”
“You believing in me is fine. After all, I’m the Hero. But I don’t trust you because you’re not the Hero.”
He smirked and said, “Well, good luck,” before walking away.
Left behind, I was filled with useless frustration as I headed to the Library.
There were countless episodes of Ryuguin being spoiled and useless, but at that moment, I forced myself to accept that it was understandable since I had been suddenly summoned to another world, akin to an abduction.
However, this was also my own weakness. I had avoided confronting him harshly, fearing it would lead to a rift between us.
If I had been strict and questioned him about what he was doing without training or studying, perhaps my journey ahead would have turned out differently.
Next, I want to talk about the Princess of Arcana Kingdom.
When we were summoned, the princess was not present. “We must manage our own world,” was her stance. She was opposed to our summoning.
However, just because she was against it didn’t mean she was cold to us who had been summoned.
On the contrary, I met her almost daily in the Library.
It all started when she approached me while I was studying, having come to do some research herself. Our encounter was coincidental, but for some reason, we hit it off.
“You’re working very hard every day, Lord Yamada.”
Sitting across from me, surrounded by numerous documents on national affairs, was the Princess of Arcana Kingdom—Princess Puffy.
“You’re working hard every day as well, Your Highness.”
When I replied, she said,
“As I’ve told you many times, please call me Puffy, not Your Highness.”
Princess Puffy smiled softly, and I felt my heart skip a beat at her smile.
“Lord Yamada, please make sure to take a break sometimes.”
She always offered me kind words.
She was seen as the future queen of Arcana Kingdom, someone who never slacked off and could empathize with others.
Back in Japan, I rarely felt my heart race with a woman by my side. But now, as I looked at her, with her head bowed over the books, it became difficult to maintain my composure.
She—Princess Puffy—was two years younger than me and an incredibly beautiful girl.
With a perfectly straight nose and soft, slightly droopy eyes. Her skin was flawless, as white as porcelain.
Her trademark blonde hair was praised as golden threads crafted by the gods, whether among commoners or nobility.
Moreover, her beauty was so renowned that it was rumored among high-ranking nobles that a single strand of her hair could be traded for a platinum coin.
Furthermore, the beauty of Princess Puffy was not confined to just the kingdom.
Since her appearances in public a few times, she had been referred to as “the Arcana of Gold” by various foreign nations.
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The time spent together with her was mostly limited to study sessions in the library.
If you were to ask if we only studied, that wasn’t the case at all.
When I noticed Princess Puffy let out a soft sigh, I turned my gaze toward her. She invited me with a gentle, “Shall we talk for a bit?” and there were many occasions when we indulged in lighthearted conversation. By the way, I often invited her to chat as well.
This is a story from one such occasion.
Princess Puffy had been asking me about Japanese fables, so I shared one with her.
“‘Ah, you have seen me, haven’t you? According to the rules, I can no longer be with you.’ The crane told the young man before departing into the sky. The young man, regretting for a lifetime why he had looked, lived as a monk. And so, it ended happily ever after.”
“‘Happily ever after’? What a sad story that is!”
“Wait, really? Are you crying?”
“I-I am not crying!”
Though she was sometimes whispered about for her beauty, as if she were aloof, in truth, she was a very sentimental and compassionate girl.
And here’s another story.
This was when Princess Puffy asked me to tell her about Earth, and I spoke about airplanes.
“That sounds wonderful! I would love to visit Lord Yamada’s world. An airplane that flies through the sky—what an incredible thing! To travel around the world in such a short time.
Ah, that must be true freedom, wouldn’t you agree?”
Seeing her envy so much, I couldn’t help but ask, “Is there no means to travel long distances quickly in this world?”
At my question, Princess Puffy showed a shadow of sorrow on her face.
“Here, we enchant ships with defensive magic and have several wind and water mages aboard, taking turns to operate it. Of course, it takes a considerable amount of time.”
“No, no, we hardly ever leave Japan either. I’ve never even been on an airplane myself.”
It wasn’t false modesty; at my age, there weren’t many who had flown.
“Oh dear, that’s such a waste! If I were in Lord Yamada’s country, I would definitely have flown on an airplane—then I could go to a place where no one knows me…”
“Princess?”
“Oh dear, how dreadful! I was joking, but living only in this Royal Castle feels a bit constricting.”
I couldn’t forget the wistful expression on Princess Puffy’s face as she chuckled softly.
I wanted to get closer to her heart.
And if possible, I wished to touch that heart of hers—and, hopefully, for her to touch mine in return.