The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

The Archbishop, with an expression mixed with anxiety and annoyance, tried to say something to me.

“You…!”

“Oh my, a guest has come but I was late to offer a seat. I will bring out tea and refreshments, so please have a seat.”

As Amelie cut off the Archbishop’s words and tried to rise from her seat, the Archbishop jumped up from his seat in surprise.

“I will! I will bring it out as they are my invited guests!”

The Archbishop picked up the magic kettle and the container filled with tea leaves prepared next to the table and started boiling water as if he was being chased by something.

It seemed the Saint had given him a reproach about the missing permit.

If it were a Saint from another church, one might not know, but the authority of the Saint of the Sea Denomination surpassed that of the Pope, so it wasn’t strange.

In fact, she had the ability to steal the divine power of the clergy of the Sea Denomination.

The Saint of the Sea, Amelie, called it divine punishment, but in reality, it was stealing the divine power of others using the power she received from the being Arcana called the “Elder”.

A priest whose power was stolen could no longer wield divine power.

Even if divine power was stolen, the ability was limited to the church one belonged to.

To be precise, one could steal the divine power of other churches, but harboring divine power of a different nature only acted as poison, and there was a real risk of receiving divine punishment from the god of that church, so they couldn’t steal it.

Come to think of it, her ability might indeed be divine punishment.

Even after she used the power of theft, the God of the Sea still favored her and kept her as a Saint.

Honestly, even if I were a god, I would probably leave her be.

The priests whose divine power she stole under the pretext of divine punishment were all corrupt, and in the end, they were using the power of Arcana for the church’s gain.

The relationship between Amelie and Arcana was closer to symbiosis than a hierarchical one.

“Shall we have a conversation then?”

“Yes, let’s.”

I nodded at Amelie’s words.

“Ahem!”

The Archbishop, with few words, looked at me with an unpleasant gaze and put down the teacup.

“I will enjoy it.”

I sipped the tea and was surprised. To think an Archbishop could brew tea this well.

They say even a worm has a way of rolling, I thought he was someone who only knew how to indulge in greed, but this was unexpected.

“The tea is excellent. Don’t you think?”

When I asked Amelie, she also sipped the tea and nodded.

“Indeed. I didn’t know the Archbishop was so skilled at brewing tea.”

At Amelie’s praise, the Archbishop’s complexion brightened and he smiled brightly.

“Y-yes, right? I am remarkably good at tea.”

Judging by how Sophia broke into the vault, she must have intuitively sensed the Archbishop’s corruption and robbed him.

Then the evidence must have already fallen into the hands of Amelie, Sophia’s close friend.

Amelie was not a very merciful person, so it would be difficult to escape her self-proclaimed divine punishment unless it was exceptional.

It was pitiful and unfortunate to see the balding middle-aged man who was about to be fired having hope.

The tea tastes good, I won’t be able to taste it again. Let’s savor it now.

“By the way, I heard you want to borrow an entry permit to the ruins?”

At Amelie’s sudden question, I answered while sipping tea.

“That’s right. Originally, I was thinking of renting one from the exploration team of the company Ms. Julia belongs to, but it seems they have all entered the ruins.”

At the mention of the company, the gazes of Amelie and the Archbishop turned to the deputy branch manager sitting next to me.

With the attention on her, the deputy branch manager showed a business smile.

There was no one in this place who wouldn’t know about the Twilight Company, but judging by her rolling eyes, it seemed she still hadn’t grasped who Amelie and Rotulus were.

Tsk tsk, she’s lacking to be promoted.

“Not only was it fine, but they kindly arranged a meeting with a place that had a spare permit, so I came here imposing on you.”

At my gentle words, Amelie asked with an intrigued face.

“Why do you need the permit?”

Obviously to rob all the undiscovered treasures inside.

“Well, if you ask why, it’s because there are ruins there, right? It’s a childish thought, but if I visit the city called the city of ruins, Vahanad, I should take a look inside at least once, don’t you think?”

I shrugged with a light laugh.

“Of course, it would be even better if I discovered some nice treasures or historical artifacts.”

I acted like a naive young master.

“Oh my? You’re a future great explorer.”

Amelie laughed and spoke affably. She said words that could sound sarcastic without any such indication, making them sound sincere.

A dangerous religious fanatic.

“But I heard the ruins are dangerous, have you prepared well?”

“I tried to prepare in my own way, but I don’t know how it will turn out. Although my father hired mages and knights, I think I still need to recruit mercenaries too.”

As I mentioned mercenaries, I glanced at Rotulus.

“Come to think of it, seeing the believer suddenly reminded me, I heard the famous Mercenary King is also a parrot beastman.”

When I lightly probed, Rotulus flinched slightly.

“Ahem, well, just because he’s a parrot beastman, a Mercenary King, um, I’d rather you don’t think that.”

“Hahaha, of course. But as a fellow mercenary and parrot beastman, you must be proud of him, right?”

Rotulus flinched again.

“How did you know I’m a mercenary?”

At his question, I answered while picking up a refreshment on the table.

“It’s nothing much. Leather boots that firmly support the ankles are favored as travel boots or military boots for long walks. And there’s a particularly worn mark on the left side of the belt around your waist, and judging by the worn area, it seems you’ve been carrying a sword for a long time. You must be right-handed, right?”

I looked at his right hand and smiled.

“The calluses are deep, probably from gripping a sword for a long time. It seems combat is your livelihood.”

“Oh.”

As Rotulus nodded with admiration, Amelie asked.

“With those circumstances, can’t a knight, soldier, or traveler be sufficiently inferred in addition to a mercenary? They say a sword is an essential item for self-defense when traveling.”

At her point, I nodded.

“That’s true too. But looking at the outline of the shoulders and sides of the outer garment, you can see the feathers are slightly depressed from being pressed. It looks like a breastplate judging by the width, and travelers don’t go around wearing armor.”

Someone wearing armor isn’t traveling for the purpose of travel. Without a mercenary band, they will definitely be stopped at checkpoints.

“And judging by the sides being more depressed than the pressed shoulders, it seems to be made of light leather rather than iron.”

Due to the thin clothes in the hot summer, the pressed feathers on the sides could be seen through slightly.

Needless to say, being a parrot, his entire body was covered in feathers.

If it were iron armor, even if tied with strings, the shoulders would be more pressed due to the weight.

“Then he’s not a knight. In that case, he’s a soldier or mercenary, but you said he’s an important believer, meaning he has high prestige or strong power.”

“Then he wouldn’t normally be a soldier.”

Amelie nodded, indicating she understood.

“You have excellent discernment.”

“You flatter me. So, what I’m saying is, it doesn’t seem like the Sea Denomination will lend me a permit.”

At my words, Amelie asked with interest.

“Why do you think that? If you prove your sincerity to the God of the Sea, it would be quite possible to lend you a permit.”

The sincerity mentioned here simply meant “donation”. In other words, she was spouting nonsense about readily lending it if the price was right.

In the first place, even if both permits were available, they wouldn’t lend them, so there was no way they would lend the only remaining one.

“Well, I don’t think my personal sincerity can take precedence over the Sea Denomination’s ‘event’.”

“Event?”

“According to Ms. Julia here, the Sea Denomination urgently summoned their exploration teams to the city. If not one but both exploration teams have returned, it means there are people to go in instead.”

I looked at her and the parrot beastman alternately and smiled.

“As it happens, there is a priest from the Holy City seated at the head here, above the Archbishop, and a mercenary you said is an important believer of that priest, so it’s obvious who will go in. If the exploration teams returned out of necessity rather than maintenance, no matter how much sincerity I show, it would be impossible.”

At my reasoning, Amelie nodded in surprise.

“…You’re right. That’s impressive.”

“It’s nothing impressive. Anyone can figure it out by simply piecing together the given information.”

Amelie’s gaze naturally turned to the deputy branch manager.

The deputy branch manager put her hands between her knees out of their sight and clenched her empty fists.

Although she didn’t show it, it was obvious she was angry.

By naturally revealing my informant, the Twilight Company now had to do their best to ensure the fact that I stole the permit wouldn’t be exposed.

I achieved one of my purposes for coming all the way here.

“Then why did you bother making an appointment and coming to meet?”

At her question, I leaned back on the backrest.

“Originally, I was aiming to get a few seats with the two permits.”

Of course, it’s a lie. There’s nothing more foolish than handing a leash to an enemy.

“By originally, do you mean it’s different now?”

“Yes, when there were 40 seats, it might not have been entirely impossible to get two or three seats somehow as a show of sincerity.”

No, if the purpose of the Arcana I speculated overlapped with my target, they would need to go deep into the ruins, and they would be short on every single bit of power, so there was no possibility at all.

In the first place, the reason I only stole one permit was to cut down Amelie’s forces.

If they lost both, they could negotiate with the city government to temporarily bind their feet, but in the end, they would obtain two new permits and enter the ruins.

But if one remained, the story was different.

It wasn’t urgent right away, so negotiations would be impossible or delayed.

“But if those seats become 20, the story changes.”

At my words, the attitudes of Amelie and the Archbishop changed. The Archbishop was about to lash out at me right away, thinking it was right, but Amelie slightly raised her hand to stop him.

“Did you also get that information from Ms. Julia, from the Twilight Company?”

At her question, the deputy branch manager tensed up, sweating nervously. Tsk tsk, this is when you should smile leisurely to be first-rate.

“That’s right. I heard it just a few minutes before coming here. So I changed my original purpose to two things.”

“Two things?”

“Yes, one is to let you know that I am not the culprit despite your suspicion of me.”

Before I could finish speaking, the Archbishop slammed the table and jumped up.

“If not you, then who…!”

“Archbishop.”

At the low and chilling voice cutting off the Archbishop’s shout, the Archbishop flinched in surprise and gauged Amelie’s mood.

“The guest is speaking. God said listening is patience and faith. But Archbishop, you seem to lack patience.”

“Ah, no. I apologize.”

Despite the Archbishop’s apology, Amelie lightly ignored it and urged me to continue talking.

“It’s only natural for the Archbishop to react sensitively. Someone from outside the city wants to enter the ruins, and the permit happens to disappear, so it’s understandable to be suspicious. That’s why I came to defend myself.”

“Indeed, if you hadn’t come, I would have suspected Mr. Ian more. If you were going to steal it in the first place, you wouldn’t have made an appointment to ask to borrow it.”

Despite saying that, Amelie’s eyes still hadn’t abandoned suspicion.

“What’s the other purpose?”

At her question, I smiled brightly.

“Actually, before coming here, I also talked to the Earth Denomination about the permit. Fortunately, they seemed to think my proposal wasn’t bad and gave permission.”

At my words, Amelie looked at me in surprise.

“You obtained a permit from the Earth Denomination?”

The suspicion seemed to fade at the words that I had already obtained a permit from a trustworthy place.

“So, I’m saying, why don’t we move together at least halfway through the ruins?”

I boldly proposed to her.

“I happened to be looking for people to escort me.”

You become my bus driver.