WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 58: Confession Attack (7)
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After Save & Load was triggered.
There was only one thing I was curious about.
‘Does Mirne remember this, or not?’
Save & Load had certainly demonstrated an absurdly overpowered effect.
Still, no one could possibly think Mirne had used it of her own free will.
When the Covenant Seizure Judgment made it possible to deal meaningful damage to Mirne, Save & Load suddenly activated just before she died.
That alone made it clear she had not triggered it herself.
‘Was that the System intervening right before her death? Naturally, it must be the protagonist’s System.’
I did not need to think too deeply to know that the System was protecting Mirne.
It had rushed in the moment she was truly about to lose her head.
That did not necessarily mean it was flawless, though.
‘I definitely cut through it.’
The very idea of cutting a System felt strange, but I had clearly felt the impact.
The Crown Prince’s power and the power of the sword Gilbat had made at the Crown Prince’s request.
Once those two powers combined, I was able to move through the frozen world and resist the System.
‘Was this what the Crown Prince meant by what came next?’
Had the Crown Prince realized he could not win through ordinary means and reached this answer through multiple regressions?
“One thing is certain. There’s someone else behind Mirne.”
And behind that person was the System.
Something that wanted events to proceed as close to the original story as possible.
That was likely the System’s purpose.
‘Then what is the System I have?’
Could the System attached to me not actually be a System?
As several possibilities crossed my mind...
“Your Highness’s Staff No. 1, Theo, has completed his mission perfectly and returned! May I report at once?”
Theo entered with an extremely respectful demeanor and began his report.
“Report! After observing Mirne’s movements, I found no unusual activity. She was only continuing to think about how to end the war peacefully!”
The order I had given Theo was to observe Mirne’s every move.
Through that, I had intended to find out whether Mirne retained her memories through the Save & Load process.
“Furthermore, she was in excellent physical condition and looked incredibly healthy!”
After hearing Theo’s report...
‘She lost her memories.’
I was certain Mirne had no memories from before Save & Load.
The System messages right before Save & Load had said they would erase her past actions and alter the past.
If her memories remained, there would inevitably be a problem with that erasing and altering process.
On top of that, the wounds Mirne had suffered right before Save & Load, despite not even being able to fight once, had been fatal.
Yet she was perfectly fine just because she had returned to the past? That was impossible.
If the pain remained in her mind, it would be natural for her to constantly tremble in fear.
The fact that she was focused solely on the war without any sign of that meant her memories had been completely erased.
‘Normally, my memories should have been erased too.’
If losing one’s memories was the standard outcome, then my current situation was clearly a bug.
And the powers that could have caused that bug were obviously the Crown Prince’s power and the sword’s power.
‘Then does Mirne not even think of using Arveda now? Does she simply believe the fire Spirit never existed?’
The fire Spirit had existed and then disappeared. How had that been handled?
Those thoughts lasted only a moment.
“Rolling around, hm! Hee! Hee!”
I looked at Arveda, who was rolling around on my bed with a doll.
When I had subdued her as she moved as if possessed, insisting she would fly toward the Macelin Kingdom, I had felt truly conflicted.
Seeing her play so happily now put my mind completely at ease.
“Arveda.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Arveda answered brightly the moment I called her.
She was the first Executioner I had met, and the first one I had gone on a walk with.
Maybe that was why she felt a little like a younger sister.
Stroke, stroke.
“Your Highness?”
As I stroked Arveda’s hair, I turned my gaze toward Theo.
“Call Pavan, Gilbat, and Lumynix.”
“This Theo accepts your command! Where should I summon them?”
“Bring them to the garden behind the palace.”
Today, I would resolve Arveda’s Covenant.
+++++
Arveda was a Dragon, yet she was not truly one.
“....”
That was because she did not properly know her own name.
A name was one’s identity and proof of one’s soul.
She did not know when she had lost hers.
According to the Covenant, it had been a contract made with the Great Prophet.
Still, the Dragons who had told her that story had all disappeared by the time she came to her senses.
“Where is everyone going?”
“When the promised time comes... or when the promise breaks, we must enter slumber in preparation for that time.”
“Why?”
“Because that was the promise.”
“Why... why are you leaving me behind?”
“Because you are the Dragon who will carry on this generation’s Covenant.”
That was the last conversation Arveda remembered having with the other Dragons.
Even then, she only remembered the conversation itself. She could not recall anything else.
Why they had left, where they had gone, none of it.
Not a single piece of information remained in her mind.
What filled the gaps where nothing remained was solitude.
Terrible loneliness.
She had tried many different things to fill it.
She listened to the tin can’s advice and tried reading books. She listened to the furry dwarf and tried making things.
None of it suited her.
‘It’s boring. It’s not fun.’
She just wanted to make friends and play.
Yet because she had never done that before, she had no idea how to go about it and could not do anything.
Then, one day...
“Could I call you big brother or Dad... perhaps? If I get the chance someday...!”
She got the chance to go for a walk with the Crown Prince, and Arveda had been so happy.
She would no longer be bored. She would no longer be lonely.
The Crown Prince was also very strong, so he did not seem like someone who would ever disappear.
That was why she wanted to stay by his side, and eventually she even worked up the courage to claim a spot on his bed.
If things continued like this, she thought she would envy nothing and fear nothing.
But then...
“Arveda, I will fulfill your Covenant.”
“...Pardon?”
This was something Arveda had never imagined.
Only a few minutes ago, the Crown Prince she had been with suddenly said he had found her True Name, then summoned her to the garden behind the Imperial Palace with three Executioners.
“I found your True Name. We should resolve the Covenant at once.”
“...Uh, um...”
Arveda’s eyes spun.
Fulfilling the Covenant was certainly good, and finding her True Name was certainly right.
Still, she could not shake the feeling that things would no longer be the same afterward.
‘It’s not as if I have to leave the Empire once the Covenant is fulfilled.’
Watching Lumynix had already eased that concern.
Even after resolving a Covenant, she could remain in the Empire.
No, perhaps it was more accurate to say she could belong to the Empire even more completely.
It was undoubtedly a good thing.
Yet she worried that once she found her name, she might not be able to act as she had before.
At the same time, she could not bear the thought of giving up on finding her True Name.
Those complicated feelings mixed together until they finally led her to one conclusion.
“...Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
“This lady... If I regain my name, I-I might stop speaking formally to you...!”
The Crown Prince burst out laughing as soon as he heard that.
“You’re acting like a teenager. I understand. Lumynix was like that when she resolved her Covenant too.”
“...Y-Your Highness, I...”
At the Crown Prince’s words, Lumynix lowered her head.
Watching her, the Crown Prince, Bellon, continued.
“I know, I know. I was joking, so you don’t have to look so down.”
After reassuring Lumynix, the Crown Prince looked at Arveda.
“No matter how you change, you are still you, and the Empire will never abandon you.”
The Crown Prince was telling her not to be anxious.
Upon hearing those words, Arveda slowly nodded.
“You won’t abandon me either, will you, Your Highness?”
“I am the Empire. Do not worry about anything.”
With that answer, Arveda closed her eyes.
Taking that as a signal, Bellon spoke Arveda’s True Name.
“Arveda Liraberi Danium.”
The moment he spoke it...
Fwoooosh!
“U-Um, Your Highness!”
Arveda’s body was enveloped in light.
Flare!
An enormous radiance began to pour from her body.
“....”
Bellon was gathering his strength as he considered how to respond when...
Pop.
As if it had never been there, the light vanished completely.
“Huh?”
Arveda looked blankly around her with a confused expression.
For a moment, she wondered if the Covenant had not been fulfilled.
“Uh... The Covenant has been resolved.”
Arveda instinctively realized that the Covenant with the Great Prophet had been fulfilled.
Still, she had expected something amazing to happen.
Had it really ended after nothing but a brilliant flash of light?
“It might be... a little anticlimactic?”
Arveda had only just begun to look as though she had worried for nothing when...
Rumble!
A tremendous sound suddenly came from overhead.
“With the true birth of the Dragon Princess, let all Dragons hold their positions.”
Along with those unexpected words, countless Dragons revealed their presence in the sky.
+++++
-The Dragon Princess is special.
-Finding her name is equivalent to bestowing a favor upon all Dragonkind.
-Therefore, we must reclaim her name.
The Crown Prince’s memories naturally played through my mind.
And as they did...
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Dragons descended one by one, their massive weight shaking the ground.
“Ha.”
Mirne, did you know this when you suddenly called out Arveda’s True Name?
Were you going to end the war by throwing Dragons into a war supposedly being fought for love?
‘She’s truly insane.’
I smiled broadly as I watched what was happening.
‘Thank you for telling me Arveda’s True Name.’
You are still being hit with Confession Attack.
I’ll be strengthening the Empire’s forces.
As though echoing my thoughts...
[ Arveda’s Covenant has been resolved. ]
[ The Empire’s military might is returning to its former glory. ]
[ The possibility of the Empire’s destruction decreases by 10%. ]
[ Current possibility of the Empire’s destruction: 30% ]
[ The Empire does not appear likely to be destroyed within five years. ]
The System messages welcomed me.
‘Now it begins.’
Just wait. I’ll show you what real trolling looks like.
Footnotes:
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