WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 61: World Tree (1)
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The Empire’s Saintess, Rowena, lived much the same way every day.
First, she would rise and neatly prepare herself.
“I will pray.”
Then, she would head straight to the temple to offer her prayers.
There was one major difference between how prayers were conducted here and in the Holy Kingdom.
‘Get rid of all the unnecessary formalities and only do what you truly want to do. Just what is necessary for prayer.’
‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
‘If you need anything, say so right away. You are the Empire’s Saintess, after all. Being excessively frugal isn’t good either.’
‘I will take great care to ensure I never become a burden to the Empire.’
‘Don’t be so stiff. Relax. If you think about it, isn’t the Empire’s Saintess just below the imperial family?’
The Imperial Crown Prince had done away with all the minor ceremonial elements.
There were no performances for show. If people gathered to pray, they simply prayed.
That did not mean the temple where the Saintess prayed could be shabby, so everything was of the highest quality.
Perhaps because of that, the number of worshippers grew each day even without anything special being done.
By now, there were even people praying outside the temple.
‘When it comes to prayer, everyone is equal. Whoever arrives first gets to sit in the front row.’
The Imperial Crown Prince had even completely abolished seating arrangements based on social status.
“You think it makes sense for a commoner to sit beside me?!”
“If you dislike it, why don’t you move to another seat?”
“A-A knight... Why is a knight here...?”
“Here, I am a Holy Knight.”
“...”
Within the temple, social distinctions disappeared.
The temple had truly become a space purely for prayer.
‘I wish His Highness would come too.’
As Rowena prayed, she remained conscious of the one empty seat in the temple.
The seat behind her.
The seat belonging to someone above the Empire’s Saintess.
Hoping the Imperial Crown Prince’s empty seat would be filled one day, Rowena silently continued the prayer that began her day.
Just as the prayer was ending...
“Saintess Rowena, His Highness the Imperial Crown Prince has summoned you.”
“...!”
As though someone had heard her wish, Rowena smiled upon learning she had been summoned.
‘Why has he called for me?’
He was a busy person, so perhaps he could not pray publicly and had summoned her to pray together in his office.
Or perhaps he wanted to have some tea and a casual conversation.
With those expectations, Rowena went to see the Imperial Crown Prince.
“Rowena, how much do you know about the Demon Race?”
The moment she heard his first words...
“The Demon Race... is the absolute evil the Holy Kingdom fears most.”
She instinctively knew this was no time for ordinary happiness.
++++++
“The Empire’s land is vast. Far too vast.”
If this enormous land of the Empire were all to undergo Demon Realm transformation...
What needed to be done immediately was to turn the entire Empire into holy land within five years.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I felt overwhelmed. How was I supposed to turn it into holy land?
[ The Empire Status Window has been upgraded! ]
[ You no longer need to check the Convenient Empire Status Window separately! ]
[ The Empire Status Window will display a simple summary by default, and you may check detailed information whenever you wish! ]
[ In addition, you may now temporarily select the Tech Tree options that were available through the Convenient Empire Status Window. ]
[ If selected temporarily, the Empire Status Window will display the expected values if that Tech Tree option were selected. ]
[ Develop the Tech Tree more easily now! ]
[ For the Great Empire! ]
The instant I heard that the Empire Status Window upgrade was complete, all the tension drained away.
Because...
‘Just as I thought, it’s there.’
Among the Tech Tree options that had once made me wonder why they even existed was one called Empire Sanctification.
Its effect was incredible too.
[ Empire Sanctification: Faintly imbues the Empire’s land with Divine Power. Benefits obtainable from the land increase by 1%. ]
The latter effect was only secondary. The important part was the first half.
The fact that Divine Power could be imbued into the land itself.
I could invest about five points into it as well.
If I invested every point I gained into Empire Sanctification from now on, the Empire’s land itself would surely become a mass of Divine Power.
Still, it was absurd to focus only on this one thing and leave everything else alone.
“If you know the Demon Race well, that makes things easier. Rowena, the Empire may become a nest for the Demon Race in five years.”
“Then we must prepare.”
“Starting with Holy Water, I want weapons consecrated across the board. Of course, I’m not telling you to do it alone. I will provide every bit of support you need.”
Under Rowena’s leadership, we needed to prepare to consecrate the Empire itself.
Even Dark Mages only died after being cut with weapons coated in Holy Water.
The Demon Race would surely be no less difficult to kill.
‘Not everyone can be like me.’
If the appearance of the Demon Race in the Empire was inevitable, the weakest would die first.
To prevent that, every citizen of the Empire needed some means of preparing for the Demon Race.
The scale was absurd, of course, and I could not be sure whether it would be possible within five years.
‘That doesn’t mean I can just stand by and watch the Empire’s citizens die.’
It was right to do everything I could.
“I’m sorry to place such a heavy burden on you.”
“No. This is simply what I must do as the Empire’s Saintess.”
As she spoke, Rowena slowly raised her head and met my eyes.
Her expression was obviously tense.
It was only natural.
I had summoned her out of nowhere, told her the Demon Race was expected to invade the Empire, said preparations were needed, and suddenly put her in charge.
Honestly, if it were me, all kinds of unpleasant thoughts would be creeping into my mind too.
‘I want to help her relax somehow. This is something we need to prepare for gradually over five years, so she doesn’t need to be this tense already.’
So...
“I just don’t understand.”
“Pardon?”
“To me, you’re much prettier.”
I decided to say what I had been thinking for a while.
Wasn’t Rowena prettier than Mirne?
Mirne was objectively beautiful too.
She was the protagonist of a romance fantasy, so perhaps that was only natural.
But Rowena was not lacking in the slightest.
If it came down to my preferences, I would choose Rowena without question.
I had only said something to lighten the stiff atmosphere, but...
“Ah, ah... Th-thank you...?”
Fwoosh.
Rowena’s face instantly turned bright red.
“...Your Highness! What about this lady?! This lady too! Say that this lady is pretty too!”
Arveda, who had been quietly listening beside me, began huffing through her nose.
No, did that line really warrant this much of a reaction?
‘All I did was state my personal preference, and the atmosphere turned out like this.’
Still, the mood had completely lightened, so perhaps my intention had worked after all.
“Of course Arveda is pretty too.”
“...Grr! This isn’t how I wanted it... This lady will work hard so that His Highness naturally tells her she is pretty!”
Arveda stretched both arms toward the sky and stared at Rowena as though telling her to wait and see.
Rowena, seemingly not paying Arveda any attention, was staring at me even more intently than before.
“I believe I should learn, at least to some extent, how to groom myself so I can continue catching Your Highness’s eye.”
“You don’t need to go that far. There’s no need to push yourself.”
“No. How could the Empire’s Saintess show herself in a shabby state? I will do my best to take care of myself.”
“...I’ll cheer for you.”
“Thank you!”
Rowena bowed energetically.
I sent her off with a vague farewell, telling her we should eat together sometime.
“...Your Highness! I, Theo, am impressed! I too wish to grow up quickly and become a man as wonderful as Your Highness, someone who can say such things without sounding awkward and instead seem even more impressive...!”
“Out of nowhere?”
The moment Rowena left the office, Theo spoke as if he had been waiting.
“I had thought about it before, but now I understand... I understand that sometimes you must boldly reveal your true feelings like this! To bestow such teachings upon me again today... I, Theo, am deeply moved!”
I didn’t think I had bestowed any teachings.
‘But again today?’
Had I taught him something before?
Based on my past experience, I thought it was best to leave Theo’s deep misconceptions, misunderstandings, and admiration alone.
So I did not continue the conversation and immediately moved on to the next task.
“Pavan, you said you vaguely remembered the location of the World Tree?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Planting the World Tree in the Empire.
To make that plan succeed, I had asked the Nonhuman Races in the Empire for advice.
Among them, Pavan said they knew about Elves.
“But Elves are quite closed off... Even just Your Highness and I would barely be able to enter while concealing our presence.”
“Enter? Enter where?”
“The Elf Forest. If we enter through official channels, we’ll obviously be turned away immediately.”
It was a field with a limit on the number of people.
‘Was it deliberately set up this way?’
As I strongly suspected that this had been deliberately arranged as the perfect stage for the protagonist to shine...
For the first time in quite a while.
[ The Villainess is in the forest. ]
“Huh.”
The Villainess Ring reacted.
It looked like the Elves had plenty of complicated circumstances as well.
‘I should resolve this cleanly.’
Now that Mirne was being subjected to a Confession Attack, this was the perfect time to treat the World Tree as nothing more than a big tree.
Footnotes:
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