The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

“Ugh, do I have to do these trivial things myself?”

Nodreu, the boss of the Black Mamba Family who unified the underworld of the territory, clicked his tongue and moved a sack filled with black crystals.

The man in black clothes with short hair, the 6th Apostle Ogistrim, who heard his complaints, said while sitting on the central podium with his eyes closed and drawing up black mana,

“Don’t open your mouth unnecessarily and work. Senior Believer Nodreu. Who else will do the work if not you?”

“Hey, those laid out up there are my subordinates, so can’t I have the subordinates do this simple labor?”

In the ritual site prepared underground in the city, Nodreu sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

At his protest, Ogistrim clicked his tongue and waved his finger.

“Tsk tsk tsk, you are a baptized cult member, so you can resist the mana of those crystals, but if your subordinates even touch those crystals, they will drop dead.”

Then he urged him to shut up and work hard if he wasn’t going to clean up the corpses himself.

“Don’t you have any subordinates? I saw quite a lot of them before.”

At Nodreu’s question, Ogistrim answered as if it was unbelievable.

“They are not ignorant like you. Of course, they are doing more delicate and professional work. For example, extracting life force very little by little from the sacrifices you gathered to form a huge magic circle covering the city.”

The sacrifices referred to the indebted poor people who were in the iron cages underground in the tavern that Yard had discovered.

Numerous lives were needed, even for the groundwork to start the ritual they were trying to perform.

As it was an important ritual, to avoid the sensitive noses of the inquisitors, they had been preparing for a very long time, very little by little, and were still doing so.

“Well, sorry for being an ignorant bastard. Ugh, I’m sure there were some among my subordinates who were suitable for baptism.”

“Yes, there were. Before you ate them to become a senior believer, used them as sacrifices to curse the rival organization’s boss to death, and disposed of those who knew about our cult and tried to betray us.”

Even ordinary black mages were looked down upon with disdain, but among them, demon worshippers were beyond that level and were objects of abhorrence.

So even within the Black Mamba Family, only a very small number of executives who knew about external forces knew that they were black mages, but no one knew the fact that they were a demon worship cult.

If the leader of the Hammer Faction, who had secretly made contact to join hands, had known that the black mages he was trying to partner with were the Morning Star Cult, he would have run away immediately.

It was common sense that there was a fundamental difference between simply being a black mage and a lunatic who worshipped demons.

Nodreu, who joined hands even knowing they were demon worshippers, was only interested in seeking power and expanding his forces, so he ignored the public perception.

“Aha, was that so.”

Ogistrim glanced at Nodreu, who brushed it off as if it were nothing, and added,

“And it seems your subordinates are currently in the midst of an internal revolt. They were fighting and shedding blood with each other.”

“Ah, that’s… What?!”

At the unignorable words, Nodreu stopped digging in surprise and looked at Ogistrim.

“Then this isn’t the time for this! We need to stop them!”

At his shout, Ogistrim tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.

“They are resources to be used as sacrifices anyway. You will also have to flee to the empire once the ritual is completed.”

As long as the cardinal, a former inquisitor of the Sun Cult, was fiercely pursuing and purging demon worshippers across the country.

They had to flee to the empire immediately upon the completion of the ritual.

As a price for the black magic ritual, Bryuta would turn into a disaster zone where humans couldn’t live for the next hundred years, so there was no other choice.

“Ugh, still, I need to save the subordinates I cherish. Even if we migrate, how can I rebuild the organization alone without those guys? You’re not going to give me your subordinates as my members.”

At Nodreu’s protest, Ogistrim snorted.

“Heh heh heh, those who die from a mere internal revolt don’t seem like they would be of much help? And as I said, my direct subordinates are intellectuals unlike an ignorant one like you. I allowed you to treat them comfortably, but be careful with my subordinates. No matter how much you ate your subordinates and became a senior believer, you are a newcomer.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ogistrim warned Nodreu, who answered roughly.

“And don’t bother talking to me from now on as I will be concentrating. I need to meditate and keep my mind and body devout for about three or four days.”

With those words, a summoning circle appeared in the air, and death knights wrapped in black mana began to guard Ogistrim.

Seeing that overwhelming appearance, Nodreu diligently dug the ground and evenly planted black crystals full of black mana.

*******

It had been about three days since I played with the Black Mamba Family while wearing a mask.

Jade and Yard had no intention of returning at all after contacting me to tell me that they would continue the investigation.

They only sent periodic reports on the contents of their investigation from time to time.

Abasael and Silua were also working hard to install my insurance from the crack of dawn.

They returned late to sleep for a bit and got up again at dawn to go out.

Even Silua knew the gravity of the situation and gave up her precious time in the archive room to diligently help Abasael.

According to Abasael’s report, the installation was finished, and he was making his own preparations to some extent.

“How leisurely.”

Unlike the hardworking mages, I leisurely yawned and watched the fights unfolding in the distance.

Since all three factions suffered heavy damage on the first day, they moved passively, so I deployed Vermilion and Gilbert to instigate strife.

Thanks to that, those stupid guys were fighting eagerly.

Now, to the point where anger rather than damage governed their actions, but in the process, I was careful not to cause harm to ordinary citizens.

“Ah, Vermilion.”

“What?”

Vermilion, who was lightly stretching and preparing to fight enthusiastically today as well, turned his head and looked at me.

“By the way, is it okay to stay out like this? Your scary father won’t come looking for me, cursing me as a bastard, right?”

Since starting the ruffian hunt with me, Vermilion had been staying at the same inn as me, devising strategies and acting together.

“Hahaha! Isn’t it too late to ask? You should have asked three days ago.”

“Well, I thought it would be fine for a day or so, but somehow it seems like you’ll be staying at the inn today too.”

At my answer, Vermilion giggled and swung the cleaver.

“Hmm, I’m getting used to swinging this blade too. Don’t worry about me staying out, I got permission from my father. Rather, he said it’s fortunate that there’s a friend who will take care of me instead of him for the time being since he has something to do.”

“Really? Something to do…”

The black magic ritual to be performed in this city was definitely a ritual to treat, no, to ‘remodel’ Vermilion.

Severed Meridian Syndrome could be cured by connecting and opening up the broken and blocked paths.

However, in Putrid Meridian Syndrome, the paths where mana flowed were intact. It was just that those paths rotted and collapsed when they came into contact with mana.

Putrid Meridian Syndrome was an incurable disease that couldn’t be treated with the medicine and magic of this world.

As such, it would be good for me if Frost didn’t return until the ritual was performed.

Because I could keep Vermilion under my surveillance.

But what was the thing Frost had to do?

It would surely be related to the black magic ritual, but what would a pure knight who was a layman in magic have to do with heretical magic?

*******

Jade and Yard snuck out of the lord’s castle, wearing waterproof hooded cloaks and suppressing their presence.

As they dug into the background of the Black Mamba Family, the ruling organization of the underworld that seemed to have joined hands with black mages, corruption related to the lord was pulled out in a string like potatoes being pulled out by the roots.

Thanks to Yuan’s hobby activities, it was good to sneak in and extract information as they were constantly undergoing internal division.

No, it was beyond good, to the level of harvesting what was scattered on the ground.

“Seriously, I don’t know how a single stab can turn out like that.”

Having worked together over the past few days, Yard spoke comfortably to Jade.

Yard clicked his tongue, looking west from the top of the inner wall.

The western part of the city was a mess to the point where the smell of blood wafted up to this distance.

Even though it was quite late, people fighting with tools on the street could still be seen.

“Well, it’s Yuan after all.”

Jade’s voice contained firm belief as he brushed it off lightly.

In reality, if things had gone wrong, the entire city could have become a battlefield for the punks.

However, the internal revolt of the Black Mamba Family was only occurring in the western part of the city.

This meant that Yuan was thoroughly controlling the revolt of the punks.

“By the way, the lord was only involved to the extent of having one foot in.”

Yard skimmed through the documents taken out of the lord’s castle while deflecting the rain with magic.

The lord was corrupt but not to the extent of joining hands with demon worshippers. That was only natural.

This land was the foundation and power of the lord, passed down through generations in the lord’s family.

There was no way he would cooperate in carrying out a large-scale black magic ritual on such land, and in the city where the lord’s castle was located, not even on the outskirts of the territory.

“With this much, we should consider the lord to be completely unaware. The lord is far from going to heaven.”

It seemed he was just unintentionally involved to that extent.

He received money, women, and goods in tribute and turned a blind eye, but if this was revealed, the lord’s entire family would surely join hands and enter the inquisition room.

The intention didn’t matter.

Just the fact that he had one foot in made him a traitor and apostate to humanity.

Even the ‘indulgences’ prevalent in the empire didn’t apply to collusion with demon worshippers.

“By the way, things have gotten complicated. I thought they would set up the ritual site in the lord’s castle since the lord was deeply involved, but if it’s like this, the lord’s castle won’t be the center of the ritual.”

There was no better place to set up a ritual site than the lord’s castle, the center of the city, but just in case, they searched even underground, but no such traces could be found.

There wasn’t even the occasional discomfort felt in various parts of the city, so the lord’s castle was definitely not it.

“Indeed. Where could it…!”

Jade nodded at Yard’s words, then suddenly turned his head at the nauseating feeling.

“What’s wrong? Sir Jade.”

“…It’s black mana, and judging by the thick life force, it’s black magic based on human sacrifice!”

At Jade’s shout, Yard asked what that meant, but soon he could feel the meaning of those words with his own skin.

“It’s not just one or two places! We have to go and see!”

A huge storm of black mana surged from all directions.

Black mana spread out from all directions, and black pillars soared up to the sky.

“Young Master!”

At Precia’s shout, I clicked my tongue softly.

“The rats have finally started their activities.”

I hoped Jade and Yard would find it before the ritual started if possible, but it was too much after all.

Well, the opponent was at least at the Apostle level, and they would have thoroughly concealed and prepared for several years, so it was unreasonable to crush the enemies in advance.

This was not because the two were lacking.

It was simply due to the lack of information and experience.

If they continued to gain experience, they would be able to easily find a ritual of this level.

If what would happen here was described in the novel, they would have somehow managed, but now it was before the novel officially began, so it couldn’t be helped.

At my words, Vermilion looked at me in surprise.

“Rats? Do you know something about those black pillars and this disgusting feeling emanating from all directions?”

At his question, I smiled brightly.

“Of course I know well. Those black pillars and the disgusting black mana are the ritual of the demon worshippers your father called to cure you.”

With my words, the black mages and combatants of the Morning Star Cult who were trying to take Vermilion to the center of the ritual rushed towards us.

I said, holding a spirit gun in my hand,

“Now, prepare for battle. The enemy is trash wearing human skin, so let’s incinerate them.”

Fortunately, since their composition is mostly carbon, they are flammable trash.