Chapter 124
#124. Crown Prince Alondre (7) - A Time-Honored Status
The means by which the continent’s royal families and nobles secure talented individuals can be broadly divided into two categories.
One is recruiting outstanding talent from outside, and the other is nurturing it from the beginning.
Either way, it is not easy for a minor nation.
To begin with, when it comes to recruiting from outside, talented individuals who are truly confident in their abilities have no reason to remain in a minor nation.
The treatment and rewards offered by great powers are far better, so why would they choose to enter somewhere inferior to them?
No—strictly speaking, it is not that there are none.
Of course, some talents remain out of a sense of belonging to the place where they were born and raised, or because they would rather be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon. But the former are rare, while the latter are difficult to handle.
They must not be given excessively difficult assignments, negotiations must be attempted when they demand compensation beyond their regular allowance, and they must be gently placated when they threaten to leave for somewhere else if things do not go their way.
By that point, the relationship is less that of master and servant than that of business partners—or, in extreme cases, that of a master and a subordinate.
Nurturing talent is much the same.
Discovering outstanding individuals somewhere within the nation, providing them with systematic education, and instilling in them the loyalty or sense of duty needed to keep them from falling for the temptations of other powers—all of those things require money and administrative effort.
In other words, a place capable of doing all that properly could not be called a minor nation in the first place.
In that sense, the existence of Celestial Academy was practically a divine blessing to the small and middling nations scattered across the central continent.
For starters, most of Celestial Academy’s students were carefully selected from among candidates chosen by each country, so they generally possessed much stronger loyalty and a sense of belonging than unaffiliated talents did.
And graduates of Celestial Academy generally left having reached at least the fifth tier. It was rare, but sixth-tier talents sometimes emerged as well.
What was more, Celestial Academy never demanded anything from the nations in return for raising their students, so there was no need to worry about incurring either a political or material debt.
What better gold mine could there be for the central nations suffering from a drought of talent?
“Celestial Academy has fallen? You’re lying, right?”
“Then where are we supposed to find talent from now on?!”
“S-Should we establish a new educational institution even now?”
“Damn it, if that were easy, we would have tried it already!”
Thus, when news of Celestial Academy’s closure spread, the reactions of the rulers of the minor nations came close to panic.
They desperately prayed that the news would be an absurd rumor, but that did not make the events that had occurred disappear.
The rulers and high officials of every nation agonized day and night over how to resolve this unprecedented situation, while their diplomats had no choice but to continue their fierce struggle to read the situation.
Naturally, the repercussions were not limited to the minor nations.
“Hmm.”
The Ajern Empire. The capital city of Kalastia.
“Tell me what you think. Will this event be a boon to the Empire, or a liability?”
In response to the emperor seated on the throne, the ministers answered.
“It will be a boon in the short term, but a liability in the long term.”
“Why?”
“Celestial Academy was a neutral institution. It is true that outstanding talents poured out of it, but all sorts of nations in the central region shared those benefits. From now on, however, things will be different.”
“Go on.”
“The nations that have lost their means of obtaining talent will seek some kind of replacement, but this is something that most countries lack the national power even to attempt. And at present, the only country in the central continent capable of doing so is the Cardian Republic. They already operate an educational institution modeled after our 『Imperial Academy』, and they will attempt to take this opportunity to replace Celestial Academy’s role.”
“If they succeed, all the small nations scattered throughout the central region will be drawn under Cardian’s influence.”
Even at present, Cardian was powerful enough to be counted among the continent’s five great powers. If it seized undisputed hegemony over the central region, its strength would reach a level at which it could challenge the Empire on its own.
“I remember that when I ascended the throne, they were idiots who were even losing territory they already possessed because of endless civil wars. Yet somehow, they have grown to a rather threatening level.”
The emperor shook his head as though troubled, then gave an order.
“Make an offer to the central nations. Tell them that, if they wish, we will accept them as students at the Imperial Academy. Tell them we will cover all the costs.”
The ministers cautiously glanced at one another, until one of them stepped forward and spoke.
“Your Majesty. There are still many foolish people in the central region who resent the Empire because of baseless rumors. I fear they may fail to understand Your Majesty’s benevolence.”
The minister’s tone was extremely careful.
Given the reason the Empire had such a poor image in the central continent, his words could easily be taken as criticism of the imperial family.
The emperor noticed that as well, but instead of pointing it out, he said,
“Even so, from the kingdoms’ perspective, wouldn’t we seem more familiar than those people who choose their rulers by vote? Make good use of that. I trust you.”
It was essentially a declaration that, having told them this much, they should produce the results themselves.
The ministers felt somewhat troubled, but did not object any further.
The emperor’s order was not particularly strange, and more importantly, annoyance was gradually beginning to show on his face.
After the meeting ended, the ministers did not gather in groups of three or five to grumble.
Instead, they waited until they had completely withdrawn from the imperial palace and gathered with people they could trust completely in a private residence where they did not need to worry about listening ears before opening their mouths.
“His Majesty is steadily losing his enthusiasm for governing the state. It is truly worrying.”
“Well, even so, His Majesty is rather decent compared to the previous emperors, isn’t he? He does not spill his ministers’ blood whenever he is displeased, he does not drain the Empire’s strength through reckless construction projects, and he does not hole up in a villa and neglect state affairs at the slightest opportunity.”
“Anyone hearing you would think all the emperors throughout history had been tyrants.”
“Ah, of course that is not true. If it were, the Empire would never have reached its current prosperity. But it is also true that their ‘deviations’ increased as the latter half of their reigns approached. Compared to the flamboyant deviations of the other emperors, I still think His Majesty is rather tame.”
“Heh.”
Another official spoke quietly to the bureaucrat who could not bring himself to deny it and merely let out an awkward laugh.
“That is why I am honestly worried about His Highness the Crown Prince as well.”
“What are you saying? Since the first emperor, who else has possessed talent comparable to His Highness?”
“I know. Do you think I don’t realize how outstanding His Highness is? But he began working far too early.”
“There have been others who began handling affairs while they were crown princes.”
“They did not handle nearly as much as the current Crown Prince does. Naturally. He must already be overwhelmed by successor education and all sorts of ceremonial events alone, so how could he possibly handle a great deal of work as well? Yet His Highness is shouldering all of it. I am worried that this might fester and burst into a serious problem someday.”
“Hmm.”
Only then did the official who had revered the Crown Prince seem to reconsider, letting out a troubled hum, but even he could not devise any suitable solution.
This was ultimately a problem born from the Empire’s size and strength.
As servants of the Empire, they could hardly declare, ‘We must divide the Empire or reduce its territory to lessen His Majesty the Emperor’s workload!’
Nor could they suggest reducing the importance of the matters decided by the emperor, since that too would very likely lead to a weakening of imperial authority.
The throne of a superpower was truly this heavy.
All they could do was worry about the Crown Prince, who must be being squeezed dry for the sake of the nation without even a small pleasure to his name.
***
“Magnificent! Truly magnificent! To aid its master without even fearing its own destruction, and ultimately obtain the best possible result! It is nothing less than the paragon of demonic swords!”
In addition, after learning what had happened through the fragments of Forte that Lucidra had secretly retrieved, the Crown Prince himself could not stop marveling and applauding.
His face was so bright and lively that anyone who had been worrying about the Crown Prince would have felt a strange sense of betrayal upon seeing it.
An expression of incredulity appeared on Lucidra’s face.
“No, what kind of demonic sword is that supposed to be? If you wanted that kind of development, you should have made it a holy sword from the start.”
But the Crown Prince waved a finger as though Lucidra were the one who did not understand.
“Think about it. Suppose there were a tool whose origins were incredibly sacred, holy, and virtuous. Its owner fell into danger, and the sacred tool sacrificed itself to help its master overcome that crisis. What would you think then?”
“Uh… that it lived up to its name?”
“Now suppose, conversely, that the owner died while the tool remained intact. How do you think that tool would look? Wouldn’t you be disappointed or cynical, thinking that it had nothing but a flashy name and background with no substance?”
“I suppose so?”
“On the other hand, if an evil, gloomy demonic sword that spewed curses refused to help its master, that would be nothing worth singling out—it would merely be natural. But if, by some chance, it did help its master, that would be astonishing and marvelous. So naturally, isn’t a demonic sword better than a holy sword?”
What? Why did that sound like it made sense?
While Lucidra felt an inexplicable sense of defeat, the Crown Prince calmly moved on to the next topic.
“What is the situation with those two?”
“For now, we changed their appearances and names and put them to work for the Brown Merchant Company.”
“What about the contract with 『Deception』?”
“I ate it. The Deception side probably received a signal that it died, right?”
“Are there no side effects?”
“I ate the soul itself once, then spat it out before completely absorbing it, so its rank must have weakened in one way or another. It probably dropped to about the same level as its contractor—in other words, the fourth tier.”
“Well, that is no problem, then.”
At the Crown Prince’s casual declaration that it was ‘no problem,’ Lucidra’s lips curled upward.
Perhaps it was because she had seen the Hero—the figure who empathized with, grieved over, and grew angry at the pain of others—but Lucidra felt that she could understand the human being known as the Crown Prince a little better.
If the Hero did good because ‘it was the right thing to do,’ then the Crown Prince did good because ‘it suited his tastes.’ In crude terms, he did good based on nothing more than personal likes and dislikes.
That was exceedingly transcendent, inhuman in a sense, and—
─It also looked horribly attractive to Lucidra.
Enough to make her desire to corrupt the Crown Prince and make him her own burn even hotter.
‘I don’t know what method I should use yet, but there is still plenty of time.’
Having thought that, Lucidra changed the subject and asked,
“So, what are you going to make your next avatar out of? Do you want to try hunting a Transcendent all by yourself this time?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. This victory owed much to Pina’s efforts and the special circumstance of the Transcendent himself wanting to stop himself. Even if Librarian Ernst at full strength had been there, he would have been crushed and that would have been the end of it.”
“I was just throwing it out there. Anyway, what are you really going to do? Stop another huge conspiracy this time?”
The Crown Prince shook his head.
“I failed to recover the Demon King’s remains, which were my objective, and lost several subordinates. Even 『Deception』 will lie low for a while.”
There was no need to worry about it targeting Pina out of frustration, either.
Whether it liked it or not, Pina had now drawn the attention of the people of the central region. If 『Deception』 touched her, it would be openly advertising its existence to the human world, so it had no choice but to act cautiously.
“In other words, this time I can finally create an avatar not because of some mission or purpose, but simply whatever I want as a hobby!”
“The demonic sword wasn’t a hobby?”
“Hahaha, what shall I try this time? My heart is pounding anew!”
“Don’t ignore that. No matter how I think about it, that was a hobby.”
“The Librarian and the demonic sword could produce sixth-tier power, but their conditions were troublesome in various ways. This time, I need to lower the level to around the fifth tier in exchange for securing autonomy.”
“He’s not listening, this man….”
After pondering for quite some time, the Crown Prince seemed to reach a conclusion and declared,
“All right, I’ve decided on a name. Gritz should do.”
“Yeah, yeah. So what’s the profession?”
“A beggar.”
“…What?”
“It’s a very time-honored alternative status for a prince. Though I am the Crown Prince, categorically speaking, it is not entirely inaccurate.”
……
At the sight of the Crown Prince declaring this with such clear eyes, Lucidra felt slightly doubtful that she could corrupt this madman.