The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

When Yard easily discovered the secret passage, Precia asked in surprise,

“How did you find it?”

“When doing magic in the circus troupe, we often utilize space props. When making props, we try not to let the audience notice these secret spaces, so conversely, I can see where spaces can be made.”

Yard shrugged as if it were nothing special.

The problem was that there was a guard right next to the secret space.

“By any chance, could our light spirit hide us?”

Even at Yard’s question, Eunha only swam in the air.

It was because it couldn’t properly understand Yard’s instructions as he wasn’t the contractor.

Noticing that fact, Yard made a detailed request.

“Eunha. If you can make the interior of this building look unchanged to that human male with a bearded face, draw a circle in the air, and if you can’t, draw a triangle in the air.”

At Yard’s instruction, Eunha drew a circle made of light in the air.

“Then please make the interior of this building look unchanged to that human male with a bearded face. If you’ve fulfilled the previous request, draw a circle again.”

When Eunha drew a circle again, Yard felt relieved and opened the door to the secret passage.

Despite the door openly opening, the languid-looking hairy man only yawned.

“My, Yuan is quite skilled at handling spirits.”

Yard clicked his tongue, saying it was difficult to handle spirits, but if a mage who studied spiritology saw it, they would have been greatly surprised.

It was because ordinary spirits couldn’t understand human verbal communication.

As a dark secret staircase appeared beyond the wall, Yard closed the door and carefully proceeded forward.

Thanks to the light emanating from Eunha’s body, they could see ahead.

Following the stairs down, a wide space appeared underground.

The two were surprised at the underground space that was so wide it was hard to believe it belonged to a mere shabby tavern.

In the underground space, there were rows of iron-barred cages, and inside them, people were slumped over regardless of gender.

“Human trafficking?”

Precia unknowingly brought her hand to the hilt of her sword.

At her action, Yard raised his hand to stop her.

“We shouldn’t cause a commotion here. Even if we draw our swords now, the mastermind will cut off the tail and run away.”

Moreover, they couldn’t be sure that those trapped in the iron cages were all the people here.

There might be more such prisons elsewhere.

“…I know. I seem to have gotten excited for a moment.”

As Precia quickly calmed down, Yard smiled and nodded.

If one didn’t become indignant upon seeing such a sight, their humanity would have to be doubted.

Yard was also boiling with anger at the sight before his eyes, just like Precia.

“And the condition of the people is strange. They’re not being managed at all.”

Trafficking is the act of buying and selling.

It was a disgusting thing, but naturally, the condition of the people who could be called ‘goods’ was usually managed.

However, the condition of the people inside the iron cages was quite poor.

As a result, it was unknown whether they were really being trafficked in the first place.

Perhaps they would suffer a fate worse than being sold as slaves.

But for now, they had no choice but to endure.

“For now, let’s scan the interior and gather as much information as possible. Since Yuan told us to investigate the internal situation of the city, focusing on back alleys, it must be related to this.”

At Yard’s words, Precia nodded.

If it was Yuan, he must have known the situation of the city and was devising countermeasures.

What the two of them could do now was faithfully follow Yuan’s instructions and report back.

Precia was convinced of that.

**********

I was thinking while smiling energetically like the protagonist of a youth sports drama as I watched the sweating Vermilion.

Hmm, I don’t know. I don’t know.

Looking at the current Vermilion, he only seemed like a pure sports boy who loved swords.

It was hard to believe that the irritable and emotionally volatile villain from the novel was acting.

If I were to deduce from the contents of the novel, the turning point of Vermilion’s life would surely occur in this city, Bryuta.

But what kind of incident has to happen in this city for that lively-looking guy to become such a lunatic?

I have no idea at all.

I roughly knew the mastermind behind the upcoming incident, but I couldn’t tell what kind of mess would unfold, so my head started to hurt.

In the end, I only knew the contents from the novel, and knew nothing else.

No matter how many times I pondered, I only realized that fact repeatedly.

“Stop~!”

I clapped my hands and stopped the sixth spar between the two.

At my declaration, Gilbert and Vermilion lowered their swords with regret and shook hands with each other.

“Huff, huff, really, swordsmen are different. Phew~!”

Unlike Vermilion who was gasping for breath roughly, Gilbert deeply inhaled as if slightly tired and smiled.

“No. Vermilion’s swordsmanship was also amazing.”

Despite the series of fierce battles, Gilbert looked stable, as if Precia’s training was shining through.

Well, if their stamina were the same despite receiving such crazy training almost every day, that would be even more absurd.

While I only trained inside the carriage on the way to this city, Gilbert additionally received training running at full speed alongside the carriage with Precia.

Watching the two running parallel to the carriage, I thought knights were truly monstrous beings.

“Ah, it’s tiring!”

Vermilion sat on the ground and wiped his sweat with his sleeve.

Regardless of looking tired, he seemed quite happy.

I slightly nodded and asked Gilbert,

“How is it?”

At my question, pure admiration was etched on Gilbert’s expression.

“He has amazing talent. I was also told I have not-so-bad talent by Sir Precia, but seeing him makes me lose confidence.”

The first spar between Gilbert and Vermilion had ended blandly.

Because Vermilion, who only had experience swinging a sword alone, easily exposed gaps, Gilbert took advantage of those gaps and won.

However, starting from the second spar, the gaps that had been pierced disappeared, and from the third spar, a proper match took place.

“To that extent?”

“Yes, if Young Master hadn’t stopped us, I wouldn’t have been able to guarantee victory from the tenth, no, the ninth spar.”

Gilbert had learned the sword from a very young age.

That was natural since his grandfather who taught him the sword was from the Golden Lion Knights, the royal guard knights who were renowned even among the royal knights.

So he had no choice but to teach systematically and deeply.

Although he lost his parents at a young age and even his last remaining guardian, his grandfather, the fundamental basics had all been mastered.

That was why Gilbert’s growth could be explosive as he followed my journey.

Even if he experienced numerous real battles in a short period of time, it would have been impossible if the basics hadn’t been established.

Such a Gilbert, said he couldn’t guarantee victory even if he didn’t use mana.

At Gilbert’s evaluation, Vermilion smiled and waved his hand.

“Ten times is an overstatement. Even if we fought twenty, no, thirty times, I don’t think I could win. At best, the time I can fight would just get longer.”

He denied it, but considering his future, Gilbert’s evaluation might unexpectedly be accurate.

What a pity. It would be perfect if I could draw him in as a companion.

There were too many problems to solve to make him a companion.

For starters, there was no guarantee that he wasn’t the lunatic he was acting as.

Vermilion wanted to fight more like a sprout that had received spring rain in a drought.

However, it was obvious at a glance that his trembling hands were not due to excitement.

I often became like that after receiving Precia’s training.

“Let’s continue sparring tomorrow. I have one more guard besides Gilbert, so I’ll introduce her to you tomorrow.”

At my words, Vermilion looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“Really?! How is the other guard? Strong?”

At Vermilion’s question, I got up from my spot, dusted off my bottom, and answered.

“Strong. Probably stronger than Gilbert?”

“Haha, if it’s Sir Precia, even if I had a unit of myself, I wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on her.”

At Gilbert’s additional remark, Vermilion couldn’t hide his anticipation.

“Well, it seems you’ve caught your breath, so let’s go. You said you know good restaurants well, right?”

At my words, Vermilion got up, supporting himself with his knees, and laughed cheerfully.

“Of course! Let’s go! It’s my treat!”

“Is it a bribe to let you spar tomorrow too?”

“Hahaha! You got me. But I can’t treat anything too expensive. There’s a limit to my allowance.”

We followed Vermilion downtown.

******

The middle-aged man, Frost Wayben, passed through the western slums and headed towards the southwestern underworld.

“Hmm?”

Passing by a small, shabby tavern at the end of the slums bordering the underworld, he felt an extremely subtle sense of discomfort and looked around.

His hand unconsciously reached for the sword at his waist, but he couldn’t tell where he felt the discomfort.

Why did he feel discomfort?

He tried to recall old memories, but the memories that came to mind were absurd.

It was the spirit army of the Spirit Earl he encountered near the Demon Mirror Great Forest, the former base of the Spirit King.

As the memory of nearly dying at that time came to mind, Frost clicked his tongue and narrowed his brows.

“Tsk, I keep recalling useless old memories after meeting the leader for the first time in a while.”

Although he wasn’t a mage, he knew quite a bit about magic thanks to the Sword Mage Aiomaia, the leader of the Execution Knights who had mastered high-level magic.

While very few people could make contracts with spirits, spirits were unexpectedly often spotted in nature.

It was because the passageway to the spirit realm sometimes connected naturally according to the flow of natural mana, even without summoning.

Frost dismissed the discomfort he felt as merely traces left behind by a natural spirit playing around.

As he set foot in the gloomy street, the sky darkened again and dropped annoying raindrops.

The force of the trickling rain was quite fierce, but his footsteps neither quickened nor slowed.

Creak-

He opened the door and entered a tavern that was unusually flashy and large among the shabby buildings in the squalid street.

The men who were sitting and drinking fell into momentary silence and focused their gazes.

Despite the gazes of the rough-looking men, he nonchalantly swept back his hair and headed towards the largest table in the center.

“Did you call?”

The muscular man who was arrogantly occupying the table smirked.

“A job came up, business partner.”

At the muscular man’s words, Frost showed a displeased look but didn’t voice it.

It was because what the man said wasn’t greatly wrong.

The man was the boss who ruled the back alleys of the territory beyond the underworld of this city.

And the one who killed his competitors and made him the ruler of the area was Frost.

How far a free knight who revered freedom and justice had fallen.

A sneer automatically came out.

“What is it?”

At Frost’s question, the boss of the underworld sighed as if it were bothersome.

“It’s a request from your doctor. He said something came up recently, so the schedule is being pushed forward.”

“By how much?”

“Well, he said it was a sudden decision and needs a bit of preparation. He said it wouldn’t take a week.”

At the man’s words, Frost let out a gloomy lamentation and nodded.

“I understand. Prepare it.”

Although his attitude was somewhat rude, no one in the tavern could say anything.

Because the fallen free knight crossing the center of the room and leaving the tavern was a merciless monster.

The rain falling on the back alleys plummeted like a sad and fierce wail.