Chapter 96: 054. Imperial Prince is Going to the Academy -2 (Part Two)

The Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse didn’t hold back in supporting me by providing Heresy Inquisitors and lots of other resources, all of them under the ‘no questions asked’ clause. However, he still placed a restriction on me when it came to Necromancer King Amon’s grimoire.

There was nothing stopping me if I really wanted to read it by force, but just to be safe, I wanted the Third Imperial Prince to share a portion of the blame if things went south.

“Can’t you somehow make it happen? If you do that for me, I’ll quietly spend the rest of my stay here as a mere student. Heck, if you want, I can even stay as a student until I graduate.”

Of course, I still planned on carrying out my nightly operations as quietly as possible too. I couldn’t let those Necromancers infiltrating the city run around as they pleased after all.

“N-no, it’d be even more troublesome for me if you stay until graduation. In any case, let me think about it. I… I can smuggle the grimoire out, but once discovered, I’ll be severely reprimanded.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll share the blame with you.”

“…I see. I’ll do my best, then. But it will take some time.”

I nodded my head. “Great.”

Now this was a satisfactory outcome.

With a pleased expression on my face, I finished the rest of the tea.

Ruppel studied my mood for a little while before cautiously asking a question, “By the way. I’m asking you this because I’m curious…”

“…?”

“Vampires, lycans, and even the Necromancers, by any chance do you have a way to distinguish them somehow?”

Strange rumours were doing their rounds recently in the Theocratic Empire. They were about the slaughterer of the Vampire, the butcher of the lycans, plus something about a new weapon called ‘angel’, etc, etc.

Even I could tell that these rumours were about me, but they were mostly exaggerated nonsense.

“Yes, I do.”

Ruppel’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

His shock made some sense though. It was thought to be impossible to differentiate Vampires and Necromancers from the common people for the past several hundred years, after all.

“You… really do? But how?”

“Do you know about the events I went through during my banishment up north?”

Ruppel flinched and clamped his mouth shut.

The incident of the Seventh Imperial Prince nearly dying was a taboo subject that the siblings of the Imperial Family preferred not to talk about.

Ruppel maintained his silence for a while before nodding his head. “Yes, I know of it. You mean the incident involving Morgana the Witch, yes?”

He was speaking with a hushed voice. His face also showed how tense he was too. I decided to humour him after seeing that face of his.

I opened my mouth while making an expression that Buddha must’ve made back when he had his epiphany. “Back then, I received a divine revelation.”

Ruppel’s expression hardened even more. “A divine revelation, you say? Are you saying you received Goddess Gaia’s grace?”

“Dear Gaia taught me, and only me, a sure-fire way to differentiate all the evil doers.”

“A sure-fire way? Does that mean others can also learn it too?!”

“Why? Do you wish to learn it as well?”

Ruppel urgently nodded several times.

Wow, he’s so serious. That probably showed how pressed he was feeling right now, though.

Once you become the next Holy Emperor, you’d have to deal with migraine-inducing monsters like Vampires, Lycans, and even Necromancers after all.

Well, I guess it should be alright to give him a small hint.

“It’s actually simple, really.” I greatly simplified my explanation for him. “Place a statue of any of the gods worshipped in the Theocratic Empire.”

To illustrate my point, I picked up a flower vase nearby and then placed it in front of me.

“Then, you place your hands together, and with a purest, sincerest heart, pray and kowtow.”

“Pray? Kowtow?”

“Yes. M-mm, and you also gotta read aloud a chant too. It’s an ancient song of praise that the gods enjoyed listening to from time immemorial.”

“There was such a thing?”

I smiled brightly and nodded like a sage. “By any chance… do you know what Buddhist scriptures are?”

**

I taught him a piece of Buddhist scripture that I couldn’t remember properly and left the office.

After closing the door, I thought I could hear some strange mumblings coming from beyond it.

Eeeiya~, isn’t this a great test?

Aren’t you at least a bit curious?

The previous owner of this body basically called Gaia a piece of dirty mop. And although I wasn’t sure whether it was the divine retribution meant for me or simply a series of sh*tty coincidences, I was swimming in varying degrees of hardships for a while now.

If the gods were mischievous little punks, then heh… I was getting genuinely curious about what was going to happen to our dear Third Imperial Prince Ruppel.

Would he suffer just as much hardships as I did, or would he be ignored?

Honestly, I was half-pranking him. Although, there was no way that a god would go along with a prank of this nature.

“Well, if you do end up with a difficult trial, then…”

I cast my gaze filled with sympathy in the direction of Ruppel’s office.

Dear Third Imperial Prince, I swear not to forget your sacrifices. You can rest easy now. Who knows, by suffering through some trials, you may find an opportunity to grow as a person.

“In any case. A student, is it…?”

I looked at the transfer document that Ruppel forced into my hand. There was one month remaining until the envoy was supposed to show up. And he wanted me to keep my head down until then.

Wait, now that I thought about it…

“…Isn’t Charlotte supposed to be studying here?”

I might get a chance to run into her later then.

**

(TL: In 3rd person POV.)

Somewhere near a village located in the outskirts of the Humite region.

Veins were bulging visibly on Oscal’s forehead.

“Charlotte, you are an agent of the Golden Cross. You must absolutely, unquestioningly abide by the commands of the Imperial Family.”

“…I swear in my honour to follow and obey his highness.”

The muscles around Oscal’s lips twitched.

Just where did she get her stubborn streak from?!

“Not his highness, but his majesty! You must obey our emperor!”

“…”

Charlotte hastily forced back the words ‘If that’s the case, I’ll leave the Golden Cross’ down her throat.

There were still plenty of things left to learn here.

Just by being here with them, she showed a truly shocking rate of growth. Even she could sense that herself.

Oscal stared at her with some dissatisfaction before opening his mouth again, “From today onwards, your training will be twice as harsh. Any objections?”

“…I have none.”

Oscal then raised the scabbard once more.

The next day.

Charlotte headed to the academy’s cafeteria for lunch.

Bandages with some blood on them were wrapped tightly around her face and arms. The other students around her couldn’t help but stare at her and whisper amongst themselves.

“Uhm, your condition looks really terrible. Are you feeling alright?”

She glanced to her side.

A boy with a familiar face had sneaked closer and settled down on the spot next to hers by the dining table.

…This was the boy who insulted her parents back in Ronia.

His name was ‘Heis’, the eldest son of Count Hedron’s household.

For some reason, he showed her a lot of attention in this place.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

She roundly ignored him and continued on with her lunch.

Heis got even closer and then cautiously pulled something out from his jacket’s inner pocket. “It’s a potion. A rare one, at that. If you use this, your wounds will…”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

Oscal once told her this – that one needed to know how to endure pain.

He said that if one didn’t know how to continue moving forward with a wounded body, then one would inevitably get hunted down by the monsters.

With the exception of the ‘absolute obedience’ shtick, he had plenty of good things to learn from. She believed that it was definitely worth being around that man.

“I-is that so?”

Heis ruefully smacked his lips. He cautiously studied her mood.

She was expressionless. But maturity, ladylike virtue, and even pride were still permeating within her stoic face.

Heis stared at her face for a while as if he was completely entranced by those points.

If it was him suffering from those grave wounds, he wouldn’t even be able to walk around. She must be under intense pain right now… yet there was not even a single hint of it in her current demeanour.

Just why was she always this wounded almost everyday?

Heis barely managed to muster up some courage and was about to speak to her again, but she suddenly stood up from the chair.

“Uh? A-ah, wait!”

She was about to leave the cafeteria while holding her food tray, so Heis hurriedly chased after her.

It was then, Charlotte’s vision blurred.

The accumulated fatigue momentarily made her dizzy.

All of the sounds from the surroundings vanished. The only thing her eyes could see was a monochromatic world.

This brief moment of anaemia nearly caused her to lose balance and collapse to the floor.

But then, someone caught her and supported her frame.

“Ah, thank… you.”

Charlotte expressed her gratitude at being able to avoid dropping her tray, but she still didn’t forget to cautiously push away the hands supporting her.

It was at that moment her ears caught a familiar voice.

“You feeling alright?”

Her shoulders flinched slightly.

She couldn’t help but doubt her ears just then.

Wanting to confirm the face of the voice’s owner, she turned her head.

“Hey, it’s been a while. But what happened to you? Your face…?”

Her eyes grew wider and the irises within gradually went up.

The figure of a certain person filled up her view in this dark, monochromatic world.

“Imperial…”

He quickly raised his finger and placed it on his lips as a signal that she should stop right there.

She quickly clamped her mouth shut at that sight.

“You mustn’t call me that here. Alright, let me introduce you to my name then.”

The one she wished to protect was standing right before her eyes.

The boy grinned and continued speaking.

Apparently, he was using a different name now.

“My name is Jerone…”

Allen…

“Ripang.”

…Olfolse.

He was grinning brightly away.

“Although it’s only going to be for a short while, I somehow ended up attending this place. It’s been a while, but I’ll have to ask you again to take care of me, Charlotte.”

The Seventh Imperial Prince was standing right before her.

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