Chapter 65. The New Carriage
The Chief Attendant was astonished.
It had been a series of surprises ever since the 8th Prince returned, but now he was doubting his own eyes and ears.
'Was our prince this kind of person?'
In the drawing room of the 8th Prince's Palace, Radel was discussing the carriage business with the owner of the Spear Guild, one of the top three guilds in the empire.
It wasn't just a light chat. Words the Chief Attendant couldn't understand poured out of Radel.
Baron Spear, a much more seasoned merchant than Radel, was even taking notes on Radel's words with a serious attitude.
Radel, who was explaining new concepts like heating elements and ventilation, was already calculating the name to be given to the carriage if it was manufactured with these features, and the royalty he would receive for each one sold.
'He's certainly matured a lot since going to the academy.'
After returning from the academy, Radel had become a completely different person.
The Chief Attendant recalled the Radel he had been when he first came to the 8th Prince's Palace.
The way he used to wander the 8th Prince's Palace silently, avoiding the attendants. The gaunt look on his face whenever he occasionally ran into him, as if he didn't know where he was sleeping.
The Radel here now looked much better than he did back then.
* * *
"It was a meaningful time, Your Highness."
"The same goes for me."
Radel finished the conversation and saw Grandal off.
Grandal had been exclaiming in admiration with a flushed face throughout his conversation with Radel, and by the end, his eyes were even red.
"I feel like I've finally found the answer. Perhaps I can achieve my dream."
His words felt sincere.
Radel thought that while his business was important, he hoped that a person with such passion would do even better.
"The carriage Your Highness ordered will be ready in two days."
"I like that it's fast."
"Of course. It's an order from Your Highness, after all."
"Haha, thank you for saying so."
Radel smiled at his smooth reply, thinking that a merchant was a merchant after all.
But for Grandal, it didn't seem to be mere empty words.
"Actually, before I met you today, I didn't know what kind of person Your Highness was."
"Is that so?"
"But now I know for sure. That Your Highness is somehow different from others."
Others?
'Surely he's not talking about the other royals.'
Although it felt like there was some other intention hidden in Grandal's words, Radel smiled and let it pass.
"You seem to think well of me, Baron."
"I'm sincere, Your Highness. Then I will take my leave for today. I'll see you again later."
Grandal also didn't drag the conversation on and gave a neat farewell.
He instructed the coachmen to turn the carriages around and got on next to the coachman he had worked with for a long time.
"Let's return to the guild."
The coachman asked him as he drove the carriage.
"Baron, how was it? I saw His Highness from afar, but I could feel his dignity."
In the eyes of the devout follower of the Supreme Deity Order, the 8th Prince must have appeared that way.
To Grandal, it felt like more than that, but this was purely his intuition.
So he had no choice but to say this.
"Yes. He was a very intelligent person."
* * *
He had ordered the carriage and finished the maintenance of the 8th Prince's Palace.
Radel's mood was as light as a feather, having even finished the unexpected business talk on a good note.
Now it was time to take care of personal matters.
"It's been a while."
Radel entered the secret passage of the 8th Prince's Palace, which he had once frequented like it was his daily routine. Perhaps because he had grown in the meantime, he could now feel the flow of mana quite clearly.
Before he left for the academy, he could only tell the subtle differences, but now, after experiencing the secret passages of Marcellent and the academy, he could even tell which parts Hayden had put more effort into making.
Among the complex secret passages, the place Hayden's ancestor had paid the most attention to was the training ground.
Swoosh.
The training ground was the same as ever.
A waterfall was pouring down outside the cave, and inside, magic-infused torches were constantly shining.
The magic circle drawn on the floor of the training ground was full of formulas that were difficult for Radel to understand.
"It's magic of a level I can't even recognize now."
Before, he had only known that there was a magic circle, but now that he was attending the academy, he could tell, albeit vaguely, how high the level of this magic circle was.
Radel looked at the magic circle for a long time.
The one thing Radel could understand was that this magic circle recovered magic power at an incredible speed.
When he first started training, he hadn't noticed because his amount of magic power was small.
Thump!
Radel, who was looking around the training ground with a new feeling, put down the luggage he was carrying on his back.
It was a large piece of raw meat he had brought from the kitchen.
"It's quite heavy."
There was only one reason Radel had brought the raw meat.
Taming a Griffin.
Radel, who had received advice from Venus last time, had learned what was important after seizing the initiative when taming a magical beast.
Use food appropriately!
No matter how nasty and ferocious the Griffin was, it wasn't impossible to tame. Could the Griffin really resist in the face of appropriate whips and carrots?
The probability of success was low, but it was worth a try.
Radel approached the waterfall and thrust his fist into it.
Thrust!
The area outside the waterfall was the Griffin's territory.
It was obvious that it would soon smell the scent of an unfamiliar human and come rushing over.
- Kkieeeek!
A familiar sound was heard from afar.
* * *
The day of the Imperial Hunting Competition held to commemorate the Founding Festival.
The hunting competition was held on private property owned by the imperial family.
In the hunting ground north of the capital, not only all kinds of animals but also dangerous magical beasts frequently appeared.
Tents set up by attendants who had arrived in advance were lined up in the hunting ground.
The largest and most magnificent tent in the center belonged to the Emperor, and the rest of the tents were arranged according to the birth order of the royals.
From the seventh red tent, a loud voice flowed out.
"Ah, Mom! Are you going to keep doing that?!"
The owner of the voice was the 7th Princess with red hair, Inette Dastion Cretian.
Her mother, the 3rd Imperial Consort, Celiana Dastion Cretian, was laughing beside her as if she was enjoying it.
"Oh my, Mom was just asking."
"You keep praising Radel! I'm your daughter, you know?"
Inette gulped down the cold water poured by an attendant as if she was frustrated.
"But it's amazing, isn't it? Radel becoming the 1st-year representative at the academy. Come to think of it, wasn't Shartea also the 4th-year representative?"
"Why are you talking about the 3rd Princess here?"
"Inette, she's still your half-sister, you shouldn't talk like that."
"Can't I even speak freely when it's just the two of us? Hmph, I don't care if she's a representative with Radel or not."
Inette grumbled and turned her head away.
Celiana looked at her daughter with warm eyes.
She was a child who always kept her distance from people.
Inette's ability, 'Essence of Flame', would activate at will depending on the mood of the person with the ability.
Inette was greatly shocked as a child when she saw people next to her suddenly burst into flames because she couldn't control her emotions well.
After that, she refused to go outside without wearing the artifact, the black gloves, on her hands.
Even her mother, the 3rd Imperial Consort, could not get close to Inette. If she so much as touched her body, Inette would shudder.
As such incidents were repeated, Inette grew up without any close friends, and Celiana felt very sorry for that.
"I'm grateful to Radel. He's friends with our daughter."
"No, he's not. I'm the one being friends with him."
Celiana knew that she wouldn't be able to say that if they weren't really close.
Sending Inette to the academy with Radel was an excellent choice, even in retrospect.
"But Mom, he's really funny. I was going to visit the 8th Prince's Palace the other day. Not that I particularly wanted to go, but I heard the 8th Prince's Palace had changed a bit."
"Yes. And?"
"I was curious how it had changed. I sent an attendant to ask if I could go, but he wasn't in the 8th Prince's Palace, he had gone somewhere. Isn't that funny?"
"Well...? I don't really know what's funny about that."
"Ah, really, Mom! You know that's not what I mean! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!"
Inette beat her chest, seeing Celiana's expression, which was full of thoughts of teasing her.
Outside, there was no end to the praise for how graceful and gentle the 3rd Imperial Consort was, but to Inette, she was just a mischievous mother who loved to play pranks.
Puuuu!
Just then, the sound of a horn announcing the start of the hunting competition was heard from afar.
Inette's expression hardened upon hearing the sound.
"The hunting competition is about to start. Inette, you should get ready."
"Wait a minute."
Inette went out of the tent.
The 8th Prince's tent, set up next to the 7th Princess's tent, was still empty.
"He's really not here..."
Inette muttered, confirming that Radel had not arrived.
She had been fine until now, but seeing that Radel hadn't come yet, she suddenly felt worried.
'I hope nothing happened.'
She remembered when she dropped Gusto off at the Grand Temple.
'Please, Your Highness, take good care of the Prince.'
She also remembered Radel, who had been the target of an assassination attempt at the academy not long ago.
She thought that guy would be fine, but...
'I was too complacent.'
Even Radel can't prepare for all situations.
The apprentice holy knight must have had the same thought when he asked Inette.
Inette thought she should first inform Celiana of this fact.
Just as she was coming out of Radel's tent, a black carriage she had never seen before stopped in front of the tent.
"What's that carriage? It's just pitch black."
It was frustrating that it was blocking the way when she was in a hurry.
Inette approached the carriage.
"Huh? Inette!"
The moment Inette was about to knock on the window, the carriage door opened and a cheerful voice was heard.
Inette was so surprised by the unexpected situation that her eyes widened.
The one who got out of the pitch-black carriage was none other than Radel.
"Why are you coming out of here?"
When Inette was dumbfounded, Radel answered calmly.
"Because it's my carriage?"
"You bought a carriage?!"
Only then did Inette realize that Radel had bought a carriage.
Even so, a plain carriage like this with no decorations.
"If you were going to buy one, you should have bought a pretty one. What's this?"
Inette didn't like Radel's carriage.
And why was the color so dark?
But Radel seemed to like the carriage very much, and he looked unfazed by Inette's nagging.
He even added a playful boast.
"This carriage is super sturdy. It would probably be fine even if a Griffin crashed into it."
Inette was flabbergasted by those words.
To arrive just before the hunting competition, making people worry, and then bragging about his carriage.
He was truly a shameless fellow.
"A Griffin? Have you even seen one?"
Griffins were such hard-to-find monsters.
Besides, if a real Griffin came and crashed into it, a clumsy carriage like this would be blown away in one hit.
But hearing Inette's words, Radel just smiled as if he found it amusing.
Seeing that, Inette was even more annoyed.
'I really shouldn't have worried about that guy!'