The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More - Chapter 37

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈

Chapter 37: Saint Candidate (2)

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Mornings in the Romper Holy Kingdom were always the same.

Wake up leisurely beneath the warm sunlight.

Wash up, then enjoy a warm meal that arrived as though it had been waiting.

After that, head to the temple and pray, as always.

But today was different.

“Lady Rowena! This is unacceptable! How can they dispatch you when the competition to become Saintess is in full swing? We must protest at once!”

The order dispatching her to the Empire had come down like an eviction notice.

Rowena was a Saint Candidate, at a time when she needed to prepare countless things to become the Saintess.

She understood perfectly well what it meant for them to send her to the Empire.

The priests who usually attended Rowena were furious.

“What can we do? The aging Pope has finally begun making mistakes. It means it’s time for a generational change.”

Rowena calmly faced reality.

“Even if she is a child he has taken into his heart, perhaps because he has no blood relatives of his own... I suppose he has simply been too deeply swayed by affection.”

“Even so, we must protest! If necessary, I’ll go myself...!”

“Valerian must have been involved in this as well. But what would change if we protested now?”

As Rowena continued speaking calmly, she turned to look at herself in the mirror.

Her eyes were black with a silver gleam, and her black hair fell softly around her.

Her coloring was far removed from what people normally imagined a Saintess to be.

“Then why not demand that they confirm you as the Saintess right now? Does it make any sense to hand over the person meant to become Saintess as an imperial hostage? Especially as a way to erase suspicions of treason!”

“Yes, exactly. How would the Holy Kingdom ever find the courage to stand against the Empire?”

Everyone knew from the banquet that the Empire had weakened.

That did not mean anyone would dare enter a dragon’s lair.

A dragon remained a dragon even in old age.

And an empire remained an empire, no matter how far it had declined.

‘Besides, people elsewhere won’t know the North is faltering because of a rebellion.’

At most, they would know the North’s Grand Duke had died.

No one would know that his death was the result of treason, or that the Empire was now doing everything it could to maintain the front lines because of it.

They knew the Empire had weakened, but not why. They would not be able to act rashly.

How could the Holy Kingdom fail to realize that taking a humble stance in this situation might actually put them at a disadvantage?

‘No, they know. They’re just making a fuss because they want to make the woman Valerian loves into the Saintess.’

There were no formal qualifications for becoming a Saint Candidate.

Still, one had to be devoted to the Romper Church, at least implicitly, to register as a candidate.

Yet they ignored that, claiming no such rule existed, and recklessly bulldozed ahead.

‘He may be madly in love, but this is excessive.’

The Empire was currently in a position where it had no choice but to tend to its wounds.

In a situation like this, rather than taking a humble stance and begging to be spared, they could have used appropriate goodwill to negotiate.

“Didn’t the Empire also remove every gift the Holy Kingdom sent to the southern region?”

“Y-Yes, that is correct.”

“It would not be enough even to discuss matters like these one by one and strengthen relations. Honestly.”

How could they fear the Empire while still coming up with ways to undermine it?

She understood it, but seeing them actually do it made her want to laugh.

The Pope had not always been like this.

Everything had fallen apart after his son fell in love for the first time late in life.

“...Lady Rowena, shouldn’t we first request that the imperial dispatch be withdrawn...?”

“No, I won’t do that.”

The ship was breaking apart.

Yet the captain did not realize it.

Instead, he laughed and said, ‘Oh? The ship is sailing well even underwater?’

Despite the sailors around him trying to stop him, he continued down the path to ruin.

The ship would soon sink.

“Then again, our approach to Divine Power was different from the beginning.”

Where did Divine Power come from?

The Pope and the Saint believed it came from the heavens.

They believed Romper, the God of Life, scattered Divine Power from above, and people received that power and used it.

Rowena did not see it that way.

“I never thought saying Divine Power came from the ground would become the beginning of such a long divide.”

Rowena, the Saint Candidate, believed Divine Power came from the ground.

People’s faith piled up and shaped a god.

Then the god formed from those wishes repaid the people in turn. That, she insisted, was Divine Power.

If they had different beliefs, they should have tried to reconcile their views.

Instead, they had made plans to drive her out.

“Perhaps I should take everyone with me.”

“Pardon?”

“If I leave alone, all my people left behind here will become isolated. I cannot bear to leave them like that.”

“...Couldn’t you return someday?”

“If I return, we can all return together then. What would be the problem?”

Then she would obediently allow them to drive her out.

But she would take all her people with her. That was fine, wasn’t it?

‘And what can they do if it isn’t?’

It was far too late for them to change their minds now.

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“...So the Saint Candidate is currently heading to the Empire’s southern region?”

“Yes, Your Highness. She is bringing many gifts, and not only the Saint Candidate, but also the priests who follow her, are coming.”

“Ha.”

The report was so absurd that I laughed.

‘I knew they were dividing into factions, but I never thought they would tear off perfectly healthy flesh.’

From what I heard, the Saint Candidate now approaching was not only the most likely to become Saintess, but also a woman judged to be a villainess. Yet they were simply handing such talent over to us?

‘I can’t even imagine how badly they want to make Mirne the Saintess.’

After seeing the way Saint Valerian behaved, I had felt that the Holy Kingdom would inevitably fall apart.

I never imagined it would happen this quickly.

“A fairly large group is moving. There are many gifts as well, so I think we should assign an escort to them.”

“An escort? Why would we protect them when they were sent by the Holy Kingdom?”

As I was considering that, I heard something I could not understand.

“Are you saying the Holy Kingdom did not assign any troops at all to the Saint Candidate traveling to the Empire’s southern region?”

“Yes, Your Highness. There are soldiers attached to the Saint Candidate’s party, but nowhere near enough to protect the entire group.”

Once the retainer finished the report, I thought for a moment.

“Theo.”

“Yes! Your Highness the Crown Prince! Theo, Your Highness’s Staff No. 1, is ready to carry out your command at any time!”

I called Theo over.

But then.

“Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince! This lady, this lady is ready as well!”

Arveda, who had been quietly watching Theo from the side, suddenly seemed seized by some strange competitive spirit.

She moved beside Theo, no, in front of Theo, then raised one hand high in the exact same pose and made her presence known.

It wasn’t as if they were children raising their hands to cross the street. What was this?

“Sending many people would make it difficult to determine the Holy Kingdom’s intentions. Theo and Arveda, you two will go and observe the situation.”

“Yes!”

It was not a particularly important matter, so I immediately gave the order.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Hmm?”

Arveda suddenly glanced up at me with hesitant eyes.

“This lady has spent far more time with Your Highness the Crown Prince than that one has... so this lady cannot understand why that one was called first and this lady second...”

“...”

She cautiously continued voicing her complaint.

She had been paying attention to that?

‘Was this really something that required that level of detail?’

Still, Arveda was the easiest of the Executioners to talk to. It wasn’t as though I couldn’t grant her this much.

“Arveda and Theo, you two will go and observe the situation.”

“Hmph! This lady accepts the command!”

“And contact me the moment you notice anything suspicious.”

“Yes!”

Part of me wanted to watch the Saint Candidate’s journey from the Holy Kingdom to the Empire’s southern region from beginning to end.

But I had far too many things to do right now.

‘The Restriction is convenient, but it’s unfortunate that it can’t solve everything.’

The Restriction that made one’s head explode if they rebelled.

Unfortunately, it was not all-powerful.

Its conditions were extremely strict, and the most troublesome was that both people had to belong to similar schools of magic.

It was only possible between mages who had studied similar magic, and only with mutual consent.

Since it had so many complicated conditions attached to it, I assumed they were the Restriction’s drawbacks.

‘Arveda said the Restriction she placed on Theo was practically the same as Theo placing it on himself.’

Perhaps the author had thought the story would become boring if I went around placing Restrictions on everyone.

Still, I had secured a considerable number of mages, so it was useful in many ways.

The more capable mages could be made to conduct magical research or train successors.

Normally, hiring mages and raising new ones required an enormous amount of money.

But all I had to do was promise to let them live like humans and pay them only the minimum living expenses.

The cost-effectiveness was absurd.

‘Besides that... starting with railroads... I can ask the North and West about supplies of magic stones.’

Come to think of it, I needed to visit the West too.

I wanted to stabilize the Empire as quickly as possible.

But starting with the imperial center, the east, west, south, and north all smelled suspicious.

I would have to check each one before I could focus on internal affairs with peace of mind.

‘Silphiner is still watching the eastern region...’

I wanted to keep unlocking the Tech Tree in the Convenient Empire Status Window and restore the Empire to its former state as quickly as possible.

For now, I wanted to resume mining the underground resources sitting idle in the North and quickly process Magic Beast byproducts for profit.

‘Come to think of it, are the barbarians who came to the North doing well?’

I needed to receive a proper report on that as well.

Recently, I had been too busy to visit the imperial center properly.

‘I should stop by the imperial center before going west.’

Why did the Empire have problems everywhere, from the imperial center to the east, west, south, and north?

The southern region was admittedly difficult to call a problem.

“Duke Barallum, you have governed the southern region with remarkable integrity. There was some minor acceptance of bribes, but it was not excessive compared to your efforts.”

“T-Thank you for saying so, Your Highness. It is truly an honor.”

“You even explicitly stated that even if you rebuilt the ducal estate, it would clearly be lower than the Imperial Palace. I never knew your loyalty ran so deep.”

“Your grace is boundless.”

“I wish to see you for a long time, so lose some weight before I return.”

“O-Of course, Your Highness!”

So far, Duke Barallum was the only one who could be called normal.

If he had lost his mind too, the southern region would already have become the Romper Holy Kingdom’s playground.

‘He knew where the line was.’

Duke Barallum had his forehead pressed to the floor so hard that the flesh all over his body visibly trembled.

I had praised him, yet he was this frightened.

It seemed the southern region always kept its eyes and ears open for news from the Empire.

“When I return, I will bring you a reward.”

“I-I shall treat it as a family heirloom!”

“You don’t even know what it is, yet you say you’ll treat it as a family heirloom before receiving it. In any case, I know well how hard you have worked.”

That was enough conversation.

‘I should head to the imperial center first.’

As I turned to leave for the imperial center, Theo contacted me.

- Your Highness the Crown Prince! Theo, Your Highness’s Staff No. 1, is contacting you because we found the irregularity you mentioned!

- Your Highness the Crown Prince’s profound insight has left Theo greatly astonished...

- Get to the point.

- People whose identities we cannot determine are following behind the Saint Candidate’s group. Their intentions do not appear good.

The contents of the message were exactly what I had expected.

‘They probably gave no thought to it when they decided to send only the Saint Candidate.’

But now even everyone who followed the Saint Candidate was heading to the Empire?

This was not the outcome the Holy Kingdom wanted.

I expected them to try to ruin that outcome.