The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

At the strong energy and killing intent, the three people besides me instinctively gripped their respective weapons and took a battle stance.

Before the three could attack, I stepped forward and solemnly said,

“How foolish. Have your eyes been clouded by death! My eyes!”

At my exclamation, the three looked at me with curious eyes rather than being startled, wondering what I was trying to do again.

-What?!

“Can you not see this laurel crown you dedicated! Beast Protector, Commander of the Eastern Front, Prime Minister with iron flowing instead of blood, and my bag of tricks!”

I blew mana into the laurel crown on my head and spoke as if comforting the mummy that had risen and opened the coffin.

“Or else, what should I call you? Sea duck.”

At the nickname ‘sea duck’, the thick deathly energy surrounding the mummy greatly wavered.

Hearing the nickname used to call Chilling’s old friend, known only to a very few, it seemed to feel confusion.

It was a trivial matter to deceive an undead who had just awoken from death and whose mind wasn’t functioning properly.

Gromit’s golden laurel crown had one more function besides being an ancient druid’s grimoire, and that was the function to conceal mana.

According to the ancient druid’s magic theory, mana was said to be the color of the soul.

In other words, if the mana was concealed, that delusional undead wouldn’t be able to tell whether I was Chilling or not.

-But, but. Now that this place is a burial chamber, even the king…!

“Is dead. Are you still not fully awake from slumber? Why are you wobbling like that, duck?”

-Ahem…! I told you not to call me duck! Sea duck!

“Hah, duck or sea duck.”

-Don’t compare me to something that can’t even fly…! Kuk, kahahaha! It’s been so long since we had a conversation like this!

Gromit laughed merrily and, as if unfamiliar with the undead body, couldn’t maintain his balance well and got out of the coffin, kneeling before me and bowing his head.

-May there be eternal prosperity in the kingdom. Prime Minister Gromit once again pays respects to the great king.

“Yes, are you coming to your senses now?”

At my question, Gromit answered without raising his head.

-I apologize, but my mind is still not clear. It’s as if my soul has left once and received a shock as if it traveled far away.

As expected of an ancient sage. He got the answer right.

The Labyrinth of Constellations is a ruin from the Mythical Era that embodies what actually existed.

In other words, it meant that somewhere in this world, there was a burial place of King Chilling.

Right now, Gromit’s body was a fake body that seemed real, created by the power of the Mythical Era, and his soul was sealed together with his real body and suddenly drawn here.

So of course he’s not in his right mind.

This ruin could embody the body but couldn’t create the soul.

It meant that no matter how mythical this space was, it had limits.

I spoke in a solemn voice.

“It’s because more time has passed than we expected. The great cause we planned for after our deaths has crumbled.”

At the words that the great cause had crumbled, Gromit seemed to be greatly shocked and raised his head even before I allowed it.

-I, I’m sorry. It’s just such a shocking matter.

I raised my hand to stop him as he tried to lower his head again.

“It’s alright, my friend. Be at ease.”

-Understood, my king.

“The reason the great cause crumbled is simple. It took too long for us to awaken.”

-How, how can that be! What were the descendants who were supposed to awaken us doing!

Although he was wrapped in bandages, he was filled with a shocked expression.

“That, we do not know. We can only guess that the descendants failed to awaken us.”

I asked the trembling Gromit.

“By the way, you said your mind is not yet fully clear. So I will ask to confirm. What is our great cause?”

At my question, Gromit clenched his fist and answered.

-To once again establish the glory of the druid kingdom! To kill our enemies and make offerings to build a great empire beyond a kingdom!

This crazy barbarian was boldly declaring that he would hunt enemies and make human sacrifices.

Even such a person is called a sage in this era, the Mythical Era may sound plausible but it’s a crazy era.

“Then what will you do if our kingdom has fallen?”

-The kingdom has fallen! My king! How can you say such a devastating thing!

“My eyes, my bag of tricks! You still haven’t come to your senses! The fact that the great cause has crumbled means we must assume even the worst-case scenario!”

At my rebuke, Gromit lowered his head to the ground as if he was sorry.

-I apologize! I should have pondered it first, but I failed to do so. Please punish this foolish servant.

“I forgive you. You have only been intoxicated by the sweet slumber of death, so you have no sin. My eyes, answer the question.”

-If the kingdom has fallen… it would be right to rebuild it.

“How should we rebuild it?”

-I know it would be right to first behead the enemies who daringly invaded our territory and offer them to the gods to gain strength.

At Gromit’s words, the three people behind me flinched.

The druid kingdom had already perished and disappeared in the distant past, so it wasn’t difficult to guess what that barbarian would do.

Since Chilling was an apostle of the Goddess of the Earth, naturally the one receiving the sacrifices was the Goddess of the Earth.

The gods here are all crazy bastards.

To even give and bestow power in return for that.

“My eyes’ words are truly correct.”

That would have been the case in the Mythical Era. But now, it’s not just the end of the Mythical Era, but a period long after that, so no matter how many human heads are offered, they can’t answer.

To be precise, it’s difficult for them to answer.

If we’re talking about enemies from the Mythical Era, unless it’s a demigod, divine blood, or a special bloodline, they could bestow that much power for each offering, but not now.

-I am just extremely grateful.

The mummy, who bowed his head in gratitude, slowly raised his head and looked at me and the three people behind me.

-My king, this foolish one has something to ask.

“What is it?”

-Why is the king bearing a living body and together with people I do not know?

At his question, I answered it was nothing.

“They are new subjects who attend to me. Especially this girl is a favored one who has received the blessing of the firm earth.”

When I pointed to Sophia, Gromit stared at Sophia.

-…Is that so?

When he tilted his head as if he really didn’t know, Sophia glanced at me, and when I signaled to her hand, she slightly took off her glove and put it back on.

Gromit, who read the Saint’s power in that brief moment, exclaimed in admiration.

-Oh! That’s certainly true. Although not as much as the king who is an apostle of the firm earth, she’s a favored one who is somewhat useful.

The evaluation was curt, but the magnitude of power gods could bestow in the Mythical Era and the power they could bestow in the present would be different, so it couldn’t be helped.

Come to think of it, Sophia was also born in the wrong era.

Seeing how the gods even gave oracles and tried to save her, if she had been born in the Mythical Era, it seemed they would have cherished her enough to promote her not just to an apostle level but to a new subordinate god.

“And this body…”

How should I explain it? I could understand how Chilling spoke and how he should treat his subordinates based on what was in the novel, but it was difficult to come up with such excuses. Oh well! I don’t know! I’ll just have to improvise.

“…There were unavoidable circumstances. It has become weak, but it’s a body that receives the love of nature, so I’ll just let it pass.”

-Ooooh!! Is that so? For the king to highly praise it like that, I envy that body!

Gromit’s ghost fire near his eyes flickered as if he was really envious of how he understood my words.

Because of the golden laurel crown, he wouldn’t be able to read my mana, let alone the spirits attached to my body, but he had no suspicion at all.

I just said it plausibly because I had talent in spirit techniques. But does receiving the love of nature have such a big meaning to druids?

“It’s not something to greatly envy. Rather, let’s go and awaken my other subjects. My old body still sleeps at the center of the royal tomb, so we need their help.”

At my words, Gromit was moved that I awakened him from death first.

-I will lead the way. I designed this place, so I know the shortcuts well.

Gromit, a loyal subject of the king, happily picked up his magic staff from the pile of treasures scattered on the floor and guided us to the secret passage, which was a shortcut.

“What should we do now?”

*********

At Rotulus’s question, Amelie, who had been lost in thought, closed her eyes for a moment and narrowed her brow.

There were several methods she could choose from, but whichever one she chose, she had to be prepared for considerable losses.

The time loss of going back, or the personnel loss of leaving people behind.

Of course, she didn’t consider forcibly breaking through the security magic installed between areas.

No, to be precise, she did consider it but had no intention of making the choice of moving all 34 members.

“What do you think is best, Mercenary King?”

At Amelie’s question, Rotulus scanned the group once and answered.

“If you’re thinking about yourself, it’s best to step back and bring the permit and food.”

“What about the group?”

“We have to move forward to achieve our goal. However, in that case, we need to set a time limit and move as quickly as possible.”

The option to move forward in a situation where food was extremely scarce was no different from starving those left behind to death.

In a world where everything was fake, even if they hunted beasts, it would disappear before they could put it in their stomach and digest it.

If they could at least relieve their hunger for a moment with fakes, that would be fortunate.

The deeper one went into the Labyrinth of Constellations, the more severe the space-time distortion became.

It was entirely possible to spend a year in the depths and come back, but only about a month had passed at the entrance.

On the contrary, there was also a possibility that a day in the depths could be a month at the entrance.

“I have a bad feeling. It’s just a personal premonition, but if we don’t move forward, I think we’ll fail the mission.”

The instinct cultivated while spending a long time on the battlefield whispered to them that the thief who betrayed them had some purpose.

“Any response to the distress signal?”

At Amelie’s question, the priest holding the magic tool and diligently sending out mana waves shook his head with a dark expression.

The inside of the ruins was a space cut off from the outside, but it was possible to send signals between the inside.

The principle of the celestial timepiece, a magic tool that replaced clocks, was a magic tool that recorded the common flow of time inside by measuring a newly established 5th-dimensional axis instead of the time axis.

The fact that it could record also meant that it could release the record.

The celestial timepiece was also a distress signal magic tool.

“That’s strange. The Artifact Management Office in Ursa Minor should check the celestial timepiece for 24 hours, but there’s still no response.”

At the explorer’s words, Rotulus and the archaeologist also nodded.

They didn’t know, but it was because Abassael, following Yuan’s instructions, had secretly caused a slight malfunction.

“There’s no choice, we’ll withdraw…”

“Ah! Reception good! This is Sea-1! This is Sea-1! Reception sensitivity 3! Reception sensitivity 3!”

Just before Amelie made a decision, the distress signal miraculously reached the Artifact Management Office.

In the labyrinth with distorted space-time, fortunately, time flowed faster in the Ursa Minor area, and naturally, the malfunction was discovered during a regular inspection.

Confirming that the distress signal had reached, Amelie reversed the decision she had made.

“We will proceed to the depths. You and I, Mercenary King, should be able to protect about three more people, right?”

The number of people that could be registered per permit was a total of 20, but Amelie asked to take even one more person.

At her question, Rotulus grinned.

“Four people are also possible, Saint.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Amelie chose to move forward rather than going back.

What result that choice would bring was unknown for now.