WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 80: Imperial Garrison (6)
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“Silphiner, Pyro, Nomt.”
Swoosh.
The Spirits I had contracted with appeared the moment I spoke their names.
I had not really felt it when I saw the message saying I was contracted with Nomt, the Earth Spirit.
But seeing the Spirits gathered together like this, it suddenly hit me that I had really taken them.
“Only one left now.”
Still, I could take a Spirit that had already formed a contract with someone else.
It seemed that was only possible because the Great Forest existed.
The last time I was curious about this, I looked into Spirit-related knowledge.
Back then, the prevailing belief had been that stealing an already contracted Spirit was impossible.
You could kill a Spirit, but stealing the contract itself was supposedly out of the question.
Since it was possible, the World Tree Sapling must have created a major variable.
“If I gather them all, it really feels like something will happen.”
There had been four Spirits guarding Mirne from the beginning.
It seemed obvious that gathering all four would let me summon the Spirit King or something.
Only the Water Spirit remained, so it was safe to say the day I met the Spirit King was not far off.
‘Still, I never expected the Recorder to have an effect like that.’
I once again marveled at the title’s effect, which had brought about this unexpected result and allowed me to think this way.
Recording meant restoring data that would disappear when it was overwritten during the Save & Load process.
The fact that it could even produce favorable results was unbelievable.
‘Everything will disappear when Save & Load happens anyway... but it picks out only the favorable results and applies them at the point of loading? That’s absurd.’
When I thought about it, it accelerated things tremendously.
You could take the benefits gained in the future, return to the past, and apply them?
If I could use it freely, I would become a perfectly overpowered character from the very beginning.
‘Huh? Wait.’
Could the Imperial Crown Prince’s regressions work like this too?
The thought suddenly occurred to me.
Every time he regressed, he considered how he could grow stronger.
Even if he had found the shortest route to becoming the strongest and grown quickly every time, the Imperial Crown Prince’s current strength was beyond imagination.
‘Of course... maybe not, but I don’t think the Recorder title exists for no reason.’
The Imperial Crown Prince had undoubtedly grown stronger in the shortest time possible through countless regressions.
But what if he had grown stronger through some other means as well?
‘Honestly, I can’t be sure yet. If anything, my hypothesis is probably even more absurd.’
The chances that the Imperial Crown Prince could benefit from the Recorder title’s effect were extremely low.
To begin with, the Imperial Crown Prince had never once received preferential treatment from the System. If anything, he had been toyed with by it.
Furthermore, the penalty for regression was ‘losing what is most important.’
Throughout his many regressions, the Imperial Crown Prince had relied only on his memories and experience rather than external means.
When I considered it all, I was probably just forcing the results to fit my conclusion.
“Then all that’s left is a clue about becoming a Noble.”
Muttering to myself, I dealt with the documents on my desk.
After Mirne’s System activated Save & Load, I immediately moved to my office with a piece of bread Arveda had made in my mouth.
I had also told everyone not to come in.
“The Golems Gilbat is supplying are doing an excellent job.”
A single Golem on each supply line could easily do the work of ten people.
At this rate, the Academy would definitely be built in the blink of an eye.
Once Pavan awakened and the still-sleeping Giant joined in as well, the Empire’s development would accelerate even further through the wisdom of the Giants.
If things continued like this, I could see a hopeful future where we achieved the Great Empire.
Anyway.
“The main thing is becoming a Noble.”
Now, it was time to check the reward for becoming a Noble, which I had saved for last.
[ To become a ‘Noble,’ you must meet all Nonhuman Races and earn their recognition. ]
[ In the original story, the protagonist became a Noble simply by gaining their favor. ]
[ You must fill what they lack. ]
[ Nonhuman Races whose deficiencies have currently been resolved: Dragons, Giants, Elves ]
[ You currently possess Fairy Tail. ]
[ Contact the Fairy Folk and fill what they lack! ]
“....”
I had to earn the Nonhuman Races’ recognition too?
‘But if this had been Mirne, it would have counted just by gaining their favor.’
Was this the difference between a protagonist supported by the System and a character who received no such support?
Knowing that made me even more curious about the identity of the Great Prophet, who had formed a Covenant with the Nonhuman Races in advance.
‘Did the Great Prophet foresee the emergence of the Noble title? Or did they really just form the Covenant, and everything happened to line up perfectly by chance?’
Honestly, the idea that the Great Prophet had formed a Covenant while foreseeing the distant future was too far-fetched.
It would be easier to assume the latter and say they simply had good instincts.
For some reason, though, I could not shake the feeling that it was the former.
‘I should read the Empire’s history books again later.’
The more I thought about the Great Prophet, the less I could guess their identity.
At first, I thought the Great Prophet was simply the Empire’s founder.
Yet from the setting that they had swallowed the sun to the Covenant, there were too many things that fit the current situation perfectly the deeper I looked.
“Even becoming a Noble... if every Executioner is a member of a Nonhuman Race, that already puts five recognitions under my belt.”
If I could resolve the Covenant within the time limit, I would be able to approach the Noble title before Mirne.
Was that really just a simple coincidence?
I did not know.
Since I decided not to dwell too deeply on questions I could not answer right away, I put the matter aside for now.
My highest priority was obtaining the title of Noble.
The fastest way to achieve that goal was to resolve the Executioners’ Covenant first.
“Still... two questions remain.”
I rose from my chair and stopped in front of the full-length mirror as I was about to leave the office.
‘Then what are my System messages? Could it be a System without actually being the System?’
One was the identity of the System sending me messages. The other was...
“Mirne has no memory of being harmed by me, but if the damage remains on her body, how would she be injured? Will a knife wound suddenly appear on her back at the point of loading?”
Even if my actions remained in the record, Mirne would not remember what happened when she used Save & Load.
That made me extremely curious about how the damage would be applied.
[ A fitting chain of events will come to Mirne. ]
“Ha.”
My question was resolved in the blink of an eye.
The System message casually gave an answer, as if it were responding to my muttering.
If she was going to be hurt in a way that fit the circumstances, did that mean she would suffer serious harm while doing something on her own later?
Well, if wounds that looked like I had inflicted them appeared, they would remind her of future events.
Then she might naturally remember what she had said, so it was an understandable measure.
I had resolved both my highest-priority goal and everything I was curious about.
I immediately left the office and headed for my room.
It was almost time to eat, after all, and I needed a meal.
“Rowena, should you not be going to eat soon? You must be hungry, so why do you not go? You need to offer prayers too.”
“Arveda, should you not be heading to the Executioner Palace as well? It is nearly mealtime. I hear Dragons require a great deal of energy.”
As I drew closer to my bedroom...
“I am not a pig! You, you’re the one going around with those things...!”
“W-what do you mean, those things?! They’re completely natural! Calling them ‘those things’ makes it sound very... very perverted!”
As I drew closer to my bedroom...
The voices, unmistakably Rowena and Arveda’s, could be heard all the way outside.
Why did they fight over things like that?
Still, they seemed to be keeping within bounds, so I was about to open the door and suggest that we all go eat together.
“As His Highness the Imperial Crown Prince’s Staff No. 1, I, Theo, have judged that... if the two of you hold romantic interest in His Highness, acting like this will cost you points! His Highness has tolerated a certain amount of commotion in his bedroom, but fighting over something like this does not look good at all! If I were in your place, I would focus on directly earning his favor by making something like a lunchbox myself rather than wasting time like this! If you capture His Highness’s heart, there will be no reason to pick a fight with your rivals!!!”
“....”
“....”
Theo’s lengthy speech neatly resolved the situation.
‘Why is he so good at talking? Is it because he’s really a genius mage?’
Was he really following his character setting that closely?
Muttering to myself, I threw open the door.
“Everyone, be quiet. Let’s all go eat.”
I quickly brought the situation under control.
Save & Load had given me some extra time, so I decided to rest a little as well.
‘First, I’ll enjoy a leisurely meal... then talk to the Executioners I haven’t spoken to yet.’
After that, I needed to recreate some of the things that had happened in the future.
The Imperial Garrison. Through it, I planned to establish Imperial Garrisons throughout the Macelin Kingdom, no, throughout every region Mirne had to visit.
Footnotes:
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