Chapter 8. Rumors in the Prince’s Palace
Recently, strange rumors circulated among the attendants working at the 8th Prince’s Palace.
“Isn’t His Highness strange these days?”
“He’s always been strange.”
“No, not that kind of strange!”
It was already an open secret that Radel might be a lunatic.
However, there were no people bold enough to say that outside.
Unlike the other princes and princesses, he did display eccentric behavior, but as long as they didn’t catch Radel’s eye, they could work without much trouble.
They were slowly adapting to the 8th Prince’s Palace without even realizing it.
The attendant who spoke suddenly looked around.
Even if one could badmouth the king when he wasn’t present, it was necessary to be careful.
“No one’s here, so tell us.”
“I heard this too, but there’s a rumor that His Highness is actually a vampire.”
“What?!”
It was a story that Inquisitors would love to hear.
It was also a dangerous story that could lead to being dragged away for treason against the Imperial Family.
The attendants swallowed hard.
Among them, there was an attendant dispatched from the temple. He was already growing suspicious of the 8th Prince.
His Highness telling the attendants not to come near him—was it truly just adolescence, or was he secretly cultivating evil powers out of sight from others?
The attendant, determined to report to the order, calmly stopped the others.
“Are you crazy? Don’t you know what happens if word gets out about such rumors?”
“No, but it’s strange. He doesn’t eat for days, and he wanders around the castle at night…”
“I was in charge of cleaning His Highness’s room last week, and I found jerky under his bed.”
“Vampires can eat snacks too!”
“Stop it, all of you…”
Someone calmed the atmosphere, which had devolved into a childish argument.
The attendants, engrossed in their heated discussion, didn’t even notice that someone who shouldn’t be there had joined them.
“His Highness often comes down to the dining hall when no one’s around to steal food, and he raids the pantry at night too. What nonsense is this rumor?”
“Ah, so that’s it.”
It was strange enough that a prince would raid the dining hall and pantry, but those working at the 8th Prince’s Palace were so used to it that they didn’t even realize it was a problem.
However, in their chatter, they forgot.
That they had to keep looking around and talking quietly…
“No wonder the apple I left to eat the other day disappeared.”
“It must have been His Highness.”
“Yes, that was me.”
“Me? Who keeps interrupting?”
The attendant who turned to look around had a stiff face.
“What’s wrong? Eek?!”
Another attendant also turned his head and had a fit. There was an unfamiliar face among the colleagues who had been chatting happily just moments ago.
It was the person who least of all should have been there.
“What’s wrong? U-u-uugh!”
Radel, seeing them fall on their bottoms and tremble the moment they saw him, was instead more surprised.
No, why were they making such a fuss when they were just chatting happily together?
“S-sorry!”
“Sorry for being in your sight!”
Radel scratched his head, watching them disappear in an instant.
Since they ran away on their own, there was nothing for him to do.
“It’s convenient.”
Lately, he had been moving around the 8th Prince’s Palace using secret passages.
It was convenient because the secret passages were discreetly connected to the dining hall, storage, and outside.
Occasionally, people who found him in secluded places would be startled and fall over, but Radel would instead make a fuss about them catching his eye.
After a few times, the attendants now ran away on their own.
Thanks to this, the notoriety of the 8th Prince’s Palace only grew, so it was no wonder that the attendant dispatched from the temple misunderstood.
They say His Highness there is a lunatic.
They say he appears and disappears like a ghost, showing up anytime.
They say he’s afflicted with a disease that makes him strange whenever he sees people.
Radel, of course, neither knew nor cared that such rumors were circulating.
His current interest was solely in the Secret Training Ground.
* * *
Hayden Reinhard Cretian.
He was undoubtedly a fascinating mage, the more Radel learned about him.
Even just looking at the Secret Training Ground was astonishing.
This wasn’t a mere trick of the eye like Illusion Magic.
It was a greater magic.
Magic that created and sustained space.
In other words, he had reached a level where he could freely manipulate time and space.
Radel visited the Secret Training Ground early in the morning.
When he took out a mana training book from the bookshelf in the first room he entered, another door appeared.
“Such magic must have required an enormous amount of Magic Power.”
It was incredible enough that he, born with Magic Nullification, had mastered magic, but he had completely remodeled the Prince’s Palace.
He didn’t know how he had done it.
He hadn’t been able to inspect them due to the sheer number of secret passages, but it seemed some of the passages were connected to the outside.
This training ground was also like that.
When Radel opened the door that appeared in the small room, he immediately felt the outside air.
Swoosh.
The sound of a waterfall cascading down was refreshing.
Radel found himself standing in a hidden cave behind the waterfall. Unextinguished torches hung on the walls, and a magic circle was carved into the floor.
Water droplets splashing from the stream, humid air, the coolness inside the cave.
All these sensations were real. It was too vivid to have been created by magic.
“I can’t tell if it’s real or magic,” Radel thought, finding it wondrous even upon seeing it again, and picked up the wooden sword lying on the floor.
It was to practice the Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method, a Skill he had acquired.
He initially thought mana training methods started with sensing mana.
But it was completely different.
<Chapter 1>
Move.
Mana is like air.
A true mage must also be good at fighting.
He who controls the body controls magic.
“What a strange ancestor,” Radel muttered, bringing up his Status Window.
Name: Radel Silvert Cretian
Age: 17
Rank: 8th Prince of the Cretian Empire
Stats: Health 5, Magic Power 5, Strength 4, Agility 3, Intelligence 4
Overall Ability: F
Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (F), Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (F)
Traits: Troll’s Heart (F), Status Effect Nullification (S)
Radel examined his Basic Swordsmanship Skill.
[Basic Swordsmanship (F)]
The most fundamental swordsmanship.
Slashing (0/10,000)
Stabbing (0/10,000)
And he also opened the newly acquired Skill, Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method.
[Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (F)]
A mana training method researched by Archmage Hayden over his lifetime.
Allows one to be reborn as a true mage.
Slashing (0/10,000)
Stabbing (0/10,000)
Lying Down (0/10,000)
No matter how he looked at it, they were almost identical.
Except for that ‘Lying Down’.
Is ‘Lying Down’ really related to magic?
But Radel somehow felt it was real.
An Archmage wouldn’t likely write falsehoods unnecessarily. He didn’t know if it actually worked yet, as he hadn’t practiced the Skill…
“Alright. Today’s the day I start.”
And Radel, holding the wooden sword, immediately lay down on the floor.
[Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (F)]
A mana training method researched by Archmage Hayden over his lifetime.
Allows one to be reborn as a true mage.
Slashing (0/10,000)
Stabbing (0/10,000)
Lying Down (1/10,000)
It works!
A true mage must also be good at lying down.
Radel somehow liked his ancestor, whose face he had never seen.
However, it didn’t take long for Radel to realize the true reason for ‘Lying Down.’
“Huff, huff.”
He had expected it, but Radel’s current Health was too abysmal.
Radel let his trembling arms drop and barely stood before collapsing into a complete recline. The hard floor felt soft.
He was out of breath after just a few consecutive slashes and stabs.
“Huff, huff… This won’t do.”
This was it.
This was why ‘Lying Down’ existed.
Unlike his previous life, practicing Skills didn’t magically create non-existent Health.
“…This is serious. I don’t have much time.”
His vision went dark.
He couldn’t stay in the Prince’s Palace indefinitely.
Radel recalled the last question he had asked at the Ability Management Bureau.
* * *
“It seems I’ve told His Highness too much.”
Ivan smiled meaningfully.
“I know. Thank you.”
Radel gratefully accepted Ivan’s favor, as he had seen his Affinity rise through the system.
He knew it stemmed purely from favor, rather than any ulterior motive.
“Then, let’s hear your last question.”
“This is a question I’d like to ask the Director for personal advice.”
Ivan pretended to be unfazed, but his eyebrow twitched slightly.
He wondered what kind of question the 8th Prince would ask, seeking personal advice.
“I will answer truthfully.”
Radel had wanted to ask this question ever since he learned that Ivan was of royal blood.
He wanted to ask someone who had walked this path before him.
“How can I survive?”
Ivan was silent for a moment.
Though brief, Radel looked different.
In this moment, he felt not like the 8th Prince who had single-handedly invaded the Ability Management Bureau, but simply a lost seventeen-year-old boy.
In truth, there was no right answer.
Radel had touched the brink of death a few days ago. And he had, somehow, survived.
However, there was no guarantee he would survive next time.
A royal family member of a vast empire that occupied more than half of the continent.
As a candidate for the imperial succession of that empire, living a peaceful life was an impossible dream.
Just look at the previous imperial succession struggle. The bloody storm that swept through the empire was still vivid.
But hadn’t Ivan himself survived?
He knew well that his survival was due more to a bit of luck and someone’s whim than his outstanding skill.
Since things had come to this, he decided to indulge in a bit more capriciousness.
“First, you must become strong.”
To cling to life, even for a little longer.
“Swordsmanship, magic, anything is fine. I also recommend making connections by befriending people.”
Leaving the Imperial Palace altogether was also a viable option to consider.
And Ivan knew a way to achieve all of this at once.
“Was it two months from now? The entrance exam isn’t far off, it seems.”
He opened a drawer in the table and took out paper and a pen.
“You’ll need a letter of recommendation.”
Before Radel could ask anything, he swiftly penned a letter in a flamboyant script, folded the paper, and placed it in an envelope.
Then he melted wax on the envelope’s surface and stamped it with a seal.
“It’s a letter of recommendation from the Chartrion earldom.”
Radel’s eyes widened in surprise.
He knew what this meant.
Is this alright?
Can I accept something like this?
It was an overly generous favor for a prince he had only met today.
It couldn’t be understood simply as ‘Affinity increased.’
Ivan, seeing Radel’s reaction, quietly brought a finger to his lips.
“My work at the Ability Management Bureau is a secret.”
Radel nodded silently.
“Our conversation today is entirely confidential.”
Ivan grinned and extended the letter of recommendation.
“Go to the Academy, Your Highness.”
Armandy’s true life value was crossing the table.
“If you can endure there, you can survive anything.”