WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 52: Confession Attack (1)
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“You all remember the rules for killing Dark Mages, right?”
“Yes, sir!”
At the commander of the Blue Flame Knights’ words, all the knights nodded.
Their expressions said they had not forgotten, but the Blue Flame Knights did not seem satisfied with that.
“Mages are rotten by nature, but Dark Mages are bound to be especially sinister and underhanded. Kill them on sight.”
The commander reiterated the policy for exterminating Dark Mages.
“Kill them even if they surrender, and burn the bodies without fail. Also, no matter how much evidence a document may contain, do not touch it until the mages... no, the staffs arrive. If you judge it dangerous, destroy it immediately.”
They were an unknown enemy the knights had never properly fought before.
And now, they had to enter the den where those unknown enemies were hiding.
‘At least we have it better than the others.’
The commander of the Blue Flame Knights stared at the ordinary-looking cabin before them.
It looked like the sort of place where opening the door would reveal a cozy family inside.
But the moment they learned it was a Dark Mage hideout, it felt completely different.
Still, there was one reassuring point. The team assigned to this cabin had it relatively easy.
They had heard some of the other knight orders had to enter underground burrows.
A house, at least, was open and spacious enough to provide some peace of mind.
“We’re going in.”
At the commander’s words, everyone drew their swords as though they had been waiting.
Though they said they were going in, what they actually did was...
“Everyone, pressure them from range!”
They bombarded the cabin with highly compressed Mana.
There was no reason to open up a place they judged dangerous.
They had chosen to erase it entirely.
From Mana to Aura, they used every means available to mercilessly blast apart the house from afar.
There was no need to worry about anyone nearby.
The place was not even marked on a map.
Everyone knew how unnatural it was for a lone cabin to stand deep in the mountains.
The knights continued attacking without concern for collateral damage.
Mana and Aura tangled together and struck the ground until a cloud of dust completely obscured the cabin.
“Stop. Maintain your guard until the dust settles.”
After ordering the attack to stop, the commander of the Blue Flame Knights tore open a wind magic scroll prepared in advance and blew the dust away.
The cabin was so thoroughly destroyed that its original shape was impossible to recognize.
Yet there was no body where one should have been.
Did they die? Were they defeated?
The Commander did not entertain such thoughts.
‘No letting our guard down.’
The commander immediately spread their senses, searching the surroundings for any unidentified presence.
The moment an obvious disturbance was sensed in the air, the commander fired Aura in that direction.
Slash!
Hesitating and dying would mean losing a major force for the nation.
The commander of the Blue Flame Knights did not hesitate before attacking.
“Damn it...!”
The Dark Mage struck by the attack looked flustered, yet did not avoid it.
More accurately, they could not respond.
When would a Dark Mage ever have experienced an attack from a Swordmaster?
That did not mean they died.
“I thought you’d at least be willing to talk, but you attacked right away... Whose orders are you following?”
The presumed Dark Mage appeared remarkably calm.
Was it because they knew they would not die?
Despite being overwhelmingly outmatched, they continued looking down at the knights from the sky, as if confident they could escape.
“....”
“You’re not saying anything. Are Imperial knights always this quiet?”
There was no need to talk.
The commander of the Blue Flame Knights kept their gaze fixed on the Dark Mage floating in the air and muttering to themself.
Then, after calmly sprinkling Holy Water over the blade, the commander fired Aura at the Dark Mage again.
“Hmm?”
The Dark Mage had not properly noticed the Holy Water.
And the result was...
Sssssizzle.
“Urgh, hck, ngh, cough...!”
They fell without resistance.
++++++
“Staff No. 1 Theo! Reporting the situation!”
“Go ahead.”
“The knight commanders currently engaged in subjugating the Dark Mages attempted Aura attacks, but they were ineffective. They then tried again after applying Holy Water to their blades and achieved very significant results.”
“So Holy Water was the answer after all.”
“Your Highness’s insight is truly astonishing!”
“That’s enough flattery. Has anyone been injured?”
“No, Your Highness. No damage reports have come in so far, and several Dark Mages have been completely subdued and are currently being transported alongside the staffs!”
Things were going well.
‘No one has been hurt, and they’re subduing the Dark Mages.’
Just as I had expected after receiving the report that Dark Mages had appeared, the moment one showed up, they began popping up all over the place like bugs.
If I had not prepared in advance, something terrible could easily have happened.
It was fair to say Mirne’s clue had been a tremendous help.
‘Which makes it even harder to understand.’
Why did she give me such a significant hint?
Had she felt her life was in danger because she still did not know she could not die?
Would she act friendly at this stage, then change at a certain point?
‘I don’t know.’
According to the Crown Prince’s memories, Mirne had never once cooperated with the Empire.
She treated others as dolls for her own sake and acted entirely for the Macelin Kingdom.
But what she had just done was completely different.
Of course, it had only happened once, and until then, she had desperately worked to latch onto the Empire.
Still, the fact that she had helped bothered me.
‘It doesn’t feel like she had good intentions...’
The worst possibility I could imagine was this.
Even if she told me all this, the outcome itself would not change.
‘Is regression-era Mirne so self-righteous because she’s obsessed with following the original story no matter what?’
Did Mirne have her own circumstances?
That did not mean I would suddenly change my mind and alter my plans to get along with her.
Understanding someone’s circumstances and choosing not to oppose them were entirely different matters.
I did not like developments where, at the very end, someone said, ‘I see, you had your own reasons too. Let’s be friends.’
There was no room for that kind of frustrating nonsense in my dictionary.
“So there is nothing related to the Demon Race?”
“That is correct.”
By the time I had nearly finished listening to the report and sorting through my thoughts...
“Maintain a state of alert. Deploy the staffs and priests to quickly purify the places where the Dark Mages stayed.”
“I will carry it out immediately.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
To leave no future trouble behind, I ordered Theo and Rowena to clean up the sites thoroughly.
Dark Mages usually had a habit of pulling pathetic tricks.
There was nothing wrong with handling the situation so thoroughly that it seemed excessive.
“Report immediately if anything unusual occurs.”
With that, I rose from my seat first.
Everyone had spent two whole days directing operations without getting proper sleep.
‘If I leave first, they might at least pretend to rest.’
When times were like this, people could breathe easier and relax when their superior was not around.
Even as I headed toward my bedroom, stray thoughts continued to linger in my mind.
‘The possibility of destruction is still 40%... I was told it might not fall within five years. Does that mean it won’t fall if I leave things as they are? Then what happens to the Covenant?’
There was the possibility of destruction to consider.
‘There are three male protagonists identified so far, but most of them have lost their function... What else can Mirne do from here?’
And then there were the male protagonists.
There were many things to consider.
The male protagonists in particular still puzzled me.
In male-oriented harem fantasies, there could be at least seven heroines.
I could not completely rule out the possibility that I’m Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things would be like that too.
Besides, judging by the story flow of I’m Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things, it would probably end with Mirne choosing one person.
If she only had to choose one in the end, perhaps it did not matter if there were many supporting male protagonists.
‘No matter how many there are, if they die like the Northern Grand Duke... they can just make another protagonist right away.’
As that train of thought continued...
“No way.”
Only then did I understand why male protagonists could be killed after enough narrative had built up around them.
“...Because they can be replaced? If a male protagonist couldn’t be replaced, he wouldn’t die in the first place, like Mirne.”
Male protagonists could be refilled.
Just as the Northern Grand Duke died and a new male protagonist was immediately refilled in the form of the Northern Great Warrior.
As long as they did not possess a particular narrative, male protagonists could be supplied endlessly.
Did that mean the real male protagonist wouldn’t die even if he was killed?
More precisely, he would not die even when killed, nor could he be replaced.
And usually, such a figure did not suddenly appear halfway through the story.
They built their narrative naturally from the very beginning, taking the position of the person with the strongest presence.
“Wait.”
Then there was only one possibility.
From the start of the story, there had been only one male protagonist who had shown an insane level of presence throughout all fifty chapters I had read.
While the other male protagonists had tried to secretly shower Mirne with gifts, he was the one who kept giving endlessly and showing insane devotion.
“Bedin, you crazy bastard.”
If this guy was the true male protagonist of I’m Full Because Everyone Keeps Giving Me Things, the one destined to marry Mirne...
‘Right. That’s why it made no sense for her to marry me.’
What if I got them married right now?
If this was true, Mirne would have no choice but to marry Bedin.
Because that was how the story was meant to go.
It would only be happening a little earlier.
Even an engagement would be enough.
‘There was no need to catch Gorhan and set up some dating avatar.’
There was a more certain method.
“Bring Bedin to me immediately.”
I would marry Bedin off.
It did not matter even if he did not marry her.
‘I can make him launch a confession attack.’
There was nothing better for severing a relationship.
‘If Bedin is truly the male protagonist, even a confession attack won’t be able to sever their connection.’
I wanted him to confess publicly and apply political pressure, but if the Macelin Kingdom had the invincible setting of a kingdom that would not fall anyway, it was still beneficial just to confirm he was a male protagonist.
‘It’s fine if he isn’t. It’s fine if their connection is severed.’
I had realized it.
From now on, I would catch every male protagonist I encountered and make them launch confession attacks on Mirne.
She wanted to follow the original story?
‘Fine. I’ll make it happen for you.’
But it would be the original story my way.
Footnotes:
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