Chapter 92: Then It Will Be Solved
The timing of the call was incredible. He said he’d see me again before he left, and I guess that was now.
As I was heading to Professor Delphineso’s lab, someone suddenly appeared and said that His Highness the Third Prince had called me and asked me to follow them. So, here I was, face to face with the Third Prince in what was probably the most luxurious place in the Academy, the reception room of the annex. He was seated at a luxurious dining table.
“These are the best dishes, made with ingredients airlifted from the imperial family. I don’t know if you’ll like them,” the prince said.
“I am honored, Your Highness,” I replied.
The prince’s expression suddenly twisted at my choice of words and he waved his hand.
“I wish you wouldn’t use words like that.”
“But aren’t you a prince?”
“I am your close friend now—if you will permit me.”
I burst out laughing and asked, “What can I do if I don’t give permission? If Your Highness so wishes, then so be it.”
“I don’t want to force myself to be your friend based on expectations of authority.”
I shook my head at the prince’s words. “That’s not it. A close friendship is not a contractual relationship, nor is it a relationship that is created with someone’s permission. It’s just a relationship that is formed naturally.”
“…I’ve been taught.” The prince let out a hearty laugh. “I don’t know if you know, but this is pretty much the first time I’ve met someone my age.”
Whether it was because of his hands or for some other reason, it seemed like the prince, who had only been in the imperial palace, was meeting friends his age for the first time.
“Anyway, it must have been a sudden call, but I appreciate you coming,” Prince Edward said.
“No, Your Highness.”
I was thankful. I didn’t have to argue with Professor Delphineso, who obviously called me for a reason. By now, she must have heard that the imperial family had summoned me, so she wouldn’t even think about summoning me for the time being.
“You seem happy.”
Prince Edward’s face looked very good. His hands didn’t even shake. Above all else, his voice was filled with joy.
“Well, actually, I shouldn’t be so happy,” he mused.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because nothing came of the investigation.”
I nodded my head, feeling sorry on the outside but feeling relieved internally. But, as the prince said, it was a happy day for him.
“My hands are getting better. There were no side effects like I worried about.”
The prince showed both of his hands to me. The dull color had become brighter and more vibrant.
It was amazing.
“Every moment feels new. When I wake up after a night’s sleep, my hands feel strong again.”
That was a good thing.
To be honest, I was a little—just a little—worried. The body tended to maintain a constant environment due to homeostasis. Because of this, I was worried that the mana path I had worked so hard to expand would become narrower again, but it seemed that it was adapting better than I thought.
“Does it not feel awkward?” I asked.
“Hmm. It does. I guess this is what it would feel like if you had someone else’s hands. But it’s good. Really good. When I hold a pen and write, even though I hold it very lightly, the writing comes out thick.”
Prince Edward had a broad smile on his face.
His hands…
He had said it had started when he was one year old. What would it be like to regain the feeling in your hands that was taken away from you before you even knew they existed?
“Can I see them for a moment?”
“Hmm… So be it.”
Just in case, I gathered my mana and examined the prince’s hands. The flow wasn’t perfect yet, but it was a lot better. In just a few days, the mana path towards the hands had become wider and the flow had gotten much better.
Seeing it expand so easily, it seemed like they hadn’t been like that since birth. If that were the case, the method I used would most likely have been a stopgap measure.
Of course, I couldn’t ask that now. It was an area of expertise I wasn’t familiar with.
“They truly are getting better.”
“Well, as I said, it feels so.” Prince Edward lowered his hands and looked at me. “You are truly remarkable, Dane Sogres. Spearmanship, swordsmanship, summoning, magic… these are all talents I would envy on their own, but you have four of them, and this extraordinary ability on top of that.”
It was partly thanks to ancient magic, but also to consistent effort. Thanks to that, I was able to form a relationship with the prince.
“Thank you for making me able to do so much more, Dane Sogres. I am very grateful.” Then the prince suddenly continued, “I want to repay you. Let me get straight to the point. Is there anything you want?”
I shook my head bluntly.
“Nothing.”
“…What?” Prince Edward asked in surprise. “You don’t want anything?”
The prince shook his head at my words and said, “You have helped me so much. If it weren’t for you, I would have lost my will to live and my hands would have rotted away in a few years. If I were to send you away like this, without any compensation, I would regret it for a long time.”
It was only then that I said what I had to say. “It’s not that I really don’t want anything. It’s just that I don’t want anything right now.”
“…Right now?”
I wanted to seize this opportunity. If I helped, wouldn’t it be right to receive something in return?
It would be a waste to ask the prince for only good weapons, artifacts, or money. I could get all of those anytime I wanted.
Now that I’d started selling Mana Stones, money was a given. So now, I asked the prince, quite impudently, what he could do for me.
“…That’s right. It might not come to mind right away.”
Prince Edward looked flustered, as if my answer was unexpected. Then, all of a sudden, the prince smiled.
“Now that I think about it, you also have a talent for confusing me.”
“My apologies.”
“What are you sorry about? This is why I had this private meeting with you. If I had intended to suppress you with authority and power, I would have met you in the Dean’s office, not here. I would have explained in detail how great a job you have done while also increasing my authority.”
The prince was a more refreshing person than expected.
“Yes, it was a disconcerting but thought-provoking question. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it myself. What can I do for you and your friends, who have become guarantors of that oath?”
Prince Edward took a sip of wine and continued speaking slowly.
“Imperial secrets, enormous sums of money, imperial job placement, treasures that are not officially known to exist… Of course, there are things that require His Majesty the Emperor’s approval, but as a prince, there are endless things I can do for you.”
Then he shrugged his shoulders.
“Of course, I don’t think you’ll like anything I’ve just mentioned.”
That was correct. Nothing caught my attention.
So I spoke the words I had prepared in advance.
“Then, how about this?”
The prince took another sip of wine and showed his hand, which was now clear and had regained its color.
“I will not accept compensation at this time.”
“Hmm?”
* * *
Now, instead of his hands, his pupils trembled slightly.
“As I said, I think it would be better not to accept anything now,” I stated.
“The reason?”
The prince was an honest person. You could tell just by looking at the slightly distorted expression on his face. No matter how cool-headed he was, it was only natural since I refused to accept the reward when he, a prince, was offering in a private meeting.
Of course, there was a reason for this.
“This is a reward from you, Your Highness. I don’t want to waste this precious opportunity on something trivial.”
“Keep talking.”
I finally got to the point.
“When I truly need help, I will ask you for it.”
The prince was silent for a moment, then asked, “…Are you telling me to wait?”
“I am sorry if it sounded that way. Please forgive my insolence for not being able to immediately think of something appropriate.”
“I will allow it. I forgive you.”
Again, the prince was a good person.
“So, you’ll ask for help later.”
“Yes. I could ask for money right away, or I could ask for a fancy weapon or artifact from the Imperial Secretariat… But it would be a shame to waste the favor Your Highness has bestowed upon me with something like that.”
The prince finally burst into laughter and said, “You have wonderful insight, Dane Sogres.”
“Thank you.”
“Yes, you are right. Money, artifacts, weapons. I can give them to you whenever you want since you fixed my hands.” The prince’s lips curled into a smile. “But the ‘things of value’ that only I can do for you have a slightly different meaning, don’t you think? Just like you said.”
The prince’s help.
The Third Prince.
Compared to the First and Second Princes, he was a person with little power and was not well known.
But why?
Something sleeping inside this prince now seemed to be crying out that he would become something more.
“Very well. Let’s do that,” Prince Edward said.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Maybe… Could it be because the mana I saw flowing within him was unusual? It was as if something was being held back by a huge dam, but the moment the dam broke, it would burst out uncontrollably and sweep everything away.
Perhaps that was why his hands recovered so quickly the moment he was given the go-ahead.
Of course, it was not ancient magic. However, it didn’t seem like it would take long for him to seize the opportunity he had been deprived of and grow.
That was why I postponed compensation until the future—to get something bigger.
“But I hope it won’t be too long before you need me, Dane Sogres. I like you.”
Does a person’s heart beat like this when they receive a love confession?
The prince liked me?
“Your Highness, please call on me whenever you need me,” I said.
“Hmm. Then…” The prince hesitated for a moment at my words. “…By any chance…”
And then he suddenly said something unexpected.
“Can I come to the academy to see you and your friends when I’m bored?”
At those words, I couldn’t hold back any longer and burst out laughing.
“Wh-why are you laughing? Was I being too childish? Oh, do I need to make a separate appointment to meet you at the academy? I didn’t quite know…”
“Ha-haha… No, Your Highness.” I shook my head, unable to stop laughing. “You can come anytime. You’re just coming to see a friend, so what permission do you need?”
A friend.
Yes. Regardless of talent or his hands, this was probably what the prince wanted.
The prince’s friend, huh? Regardless of his compensation and status, he certainly seemed like a decent person. Well, it wasn’t like I took all that into consideration when making friends.
“…Thank you for saying so, Dane Sogres.”
“Think nothing of it, Your Highness.”
By the way, how would he get to the academy? Would he come secretly, wearing some disguise like in the fairy tales?
Well, that was how he came to the academy this time as well. If that didn’t work out, we’d go to him. I was just going to meet a friend, after all.
“A friend, huh? It’s my first time making one, so I’m a little nervous. Um, friend. Friend…”
Prince Edward, who had been repeating the word ‘friend’, suddenly spoke as if something had just occurred to him.
“Oh, and by the way, I have something prepared.”
“Something prepared…?”
Snap!
The prince snapped his fingers with great excitement.
“Oh, I can hear it now. I couldn’t even dream of it before.”
Then, the door opened and a knight came in carrying boxes covered in luxurious cloth and placed them in front of me.
“This is a gift prepared as your close friend, not as a prince.” The prince raised his hand. “Open it.”
When the cloth cover was removed, a magnificent wooden box with the imperial seal was revealed.
“This is my gift to you. I believe that you will use it wisely.”
I opened the lid right away.
“I thought that this was all I could give you as a friend.”
An object bearing the imperial seal appeared. It was round and flat, yet heavy…
“It is the imperial seal.”
It was something unexpected.
“It is a seal that the Imperial Family traditionally bestows only upon those who have provided great assistance to the Imperial Family.”
It was an enormously valuable item.
“Its usage is simple.”
And the purpose of this seal was extremely simple.
“If you have any trouble, show that seal and it will be resolved.”
