WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 81: Imperial Garrison (7)
──────
The identities of four Executioners had now been revealed.
Arveda the Dragon, Lumynix the Fairy, Pavan the Giant, and Gilbat the Dwarf.
They were all Nonhuman Races, and each had such a distinctive fighting style that it had been impossible not to learn their identities.
But the last remaining one was nothing like them.
As I recalled, their most recent battle had been during the conflict with the Northern Grand Duke.
Even then, they had slaughtered the knights while completely concealing their appearance, without displaying a single distinguishing trait.
‘They’ve never even shown themselves publicly and have stayed in the Executioner Palace the entire time.’
I had once wondered whether the final Executioner might actually be the Emperor.
It had only been a vague thought with no particular reason behind it.
Of course, I now knew that was impossible.
The Imperial Crown Prince’s regression memories had made that clear.
‘If I force the process to fit the result, then the Great Prophet knew of the Noble title... and made every Executioner a Nonhuman Race to earn their trust.’
That meant the last Executioner was also a Nonhuman Race.
‘What could they be?’
We already had Dragons, Fairies, Giants, Dwarves, and Elves.
It was fair to say most major races had already appeared.
Who would be the last?
Lost in thought, I stopped before the palace where the final Executioner resided.
“I sent a letter saying I would visit. May I come in?”
Creeeak, bang.
The door flew open the moment I finished speaking.
Then, through the doorway...
“...Greetings, Your Highness the Imperial Crown Prince.”
The Executioner appeared, still thoroughly concealed.
‘They’ve completely covered themselves with a robe.’
I did not think we had exchanged a single word last time. Perhaps because this was a one-on-one meeting, they seemed to be doing their best to observe proper etiquette.
Their voice sounded like scraping metal.
Rather than old, worn-out seemed the more fitting description.
A sorrowful tone, like fallen leaves on the verge of crumbling, reached my ears.
“Thank you for making the effort. I heard you’re usually extremely quiet.”
“....”
There was no response.
As though that first greeting had taken every bit of courage they possessed.
The Executioner silently walked ahead of me, leading me deeper into the palace.
“I don’t know whether you’ve heard, but I’ve already fulfilled three Covenants.”
“....”
“I also know the details of Gilbat’s Covenant.”
Step, step.
The Executioner continued walking without a word, and I kept talking without minding it.
“That’s why I asked to meet you. I want to know your Covenant as well. What do you say?”
Swish.
As I finished speaking, the scenery around us had somehow changed into a reception room.
Even if I had only been watching the person ahead of me as we walked, the surroundings could not have changed this quickly.
‘Magic? Mystery? Divine Power?’
If it had been one of those three, I would have sensed something.
There had been no sign at all.
Even the wisdom of a Giant would have reacted, and I could detect an Elf barrier.
This was something I had never encountered before.
‘It was new to me, but probably not to the Imperial Crown Prince.’
With that thought, I naturally took the seat of honor.
At that exact moment...
- Is there nothing you desire?
- ....
- Could it be the Empire’s destruction you seek?
The Imperial Crown Prince’s memories rose to the surface.
At the same time...
“You wish to know my Covenant?”
Standing across from me, the Executioner removed the robe that covered their entire body.
The owner of that barely functioning, rusted-machine voice revealed their form.
“I...”
The first sense to react sharply when the robe came off was my sense of smell.
An unfamiliar yet familiar, alien scent pricked at the tip of my nose.
‘Ha.’
The moment I saw the revealed form, I laughed hollowly to myself.
The final Executioner was...
“I desire the Empire’s destruction.”
A Merfolk.
+++++
An Executioner who desired the Empire’s destruction.
It was not as though I had never considered the possibility.
If anything, I had been certain there would be at least one.
Because...
‘For the Executioners to move to the Macelin Kingdom, the Empire must fall.’
Once all the Covenants were resolved, the Empire could not possibly collapse.
The Empire, which was fated to fall because of the Executioners, resolving its Covenants completely?
That would have been nonsense in the original story.
So I had thought there would be at least one bomb planted that could never be defused through ordinary means.
But the figure had appeared before me so openly.
‘Great Prophet, did you see even this coming?’
Perhaps the Great Prophet had arranged things so the figure could appear this openly.
Like the saying about keeping your enemies close, binding them with a Covenant meant we would inevitably have to confront each other.
“Do you hate the Empire?”
“....”
“Do you resent it?”
When she did not respond to my personal questions, I immediately changed the subject.
“Why did you become an Executioner?”
“....”
There was still no answer.
It did not seem like she was ignoring me.
Was it because her vocal organs were different?
Even forming words I could understand seemed extremely difficult for her.
Even now...
“....”
Bubble, bubble.
Instead of words, bubbles formed in the air.
At a glance, she could have passed for human.
But there was one decisive reason I knew she was a Merfolk the moment the robe came off.
“You don’t seem to know human etiquette very well. Humans usually wear clothes beneath their robes.”
She wore nothing beneath her robe, and scales were scattered across her body.
Her lower half had obvious fish scales. It would have been stranger not to think she was a Merfolk.
“...Ah, ah.”
Whenever the Merfolk opened her mouth, bubbles rose over her tongue before popping in the air.
Strictly speaking, it was like wearing nothing beneath a long padded coat, yet she continued looking at me without a hint of embarrassment.
“I apologize. It has been a very long time since I used human vocalization. I have been speaking since earlier, but... my words were not getting through.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. To introduce myself first... I am Nerissa Levi Deepheart. I would appreciate it if you called me Nerissa...”
Though she still spoke awkwardly, the atmosphere did not feel stiff at all.
Was it because Nerissa had said that her Covenant required the Empire’s destruction?
The bubbles that formed every time she spoke,
the light reflecting from the scales on Nerissa’s lower body toward my face,
none of it ruined the mood.
“Executioners cannot speak of their Covenants, yet your Covenant is the Empire’s destruction. What an amusing joke.”
“....”
Still, how could every Executioner except one be a woman?
The thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Was it because making every Executioner a man would sharply increase the number of harem members?’
Gilbat was not really in a position to be considered a male lead.
The other four had appearances worthy of main characters, but their genders did not fit.
‘Then again, if every attractive member of the opposite sex could be seen as a heroine... or a harem member? Maybe their genders were changed from the start to eliminate that possibility.’
Had their genders been made the same as Mirne’s to cut off any chance of them becoming harem members?
‘Then they threw in one male Dwarf for the blacksmith and engineer role.’
Their genders seemed to have been determined entirely by whether they would become involved with Mirne.
And if they wanted her to end up with a Nonhuman Race, they could simply create a hidden male lead like Rumta.
That thought lasted only a moment.
“Then I’ll ask the question from earlier again. Did you say that because you hate the Empire?”
I continued questioning her to hear the answer I had not received before.
Nerissa Levi Deepheart.
A Merfolk and an Executioner who desired the Empire’s destruction.
“I do not hate it. Nor do I resent it. But... the Empire must disappear.”
Nerissa’s words seemed to carry a great deal of history.
No Imperial Crown Prince memories surfaced right away, nor did any message appear.
Putting those two things together, what I needed to do now was...
“It seems you have much to explain, but you should first learn at least some human etiquette. I’ll send people here today, so learn proper manners from them.”
For now, I needed to fill Nerissa’s head with human culture.
++++++
After telling Nerissa to open the door and treat the people well when they arrived...
‘I'd expected something like an Orc or a Lich, but a Merfolk out of nowhere?’
Surprised by the unexpected race, I headed toward my office.
I had thought it would not have been strange for an Eastern race to appear.
A character like a goblin or oni could have appeared, naturally forming a connection to the Eastern Continent prince mentioned in a previous System message.
That was what I had expected, yet it was a Merfolk instead.
With things as they were, my mind quickly raced through what I needed to do next.
“First, I should send the Imperial Garrison to the Macelin Kingdom, courteously.”
The Macelin Kingdom had recently been suspected of stealing the Marin Cultivation Method, and they had actually undergone an intense investigation because of it.
They would not be able to put up much resistance to the Imperial Garrison entering their territory.
Using that as a basis, I could openly place one of our knight orders within the Macelin Kingdom.
“I heard Kailen Marin once traveled all across the eastern region, exploring ruins.”
I needed to bring Kailen Marin in and determine Nerissa’s Covenant condition more clearly.
That was why...
“Form a knight order.”
I began preparations to send the knight order out at once.
And while I was at it, I would find out how Mirne had been injured.
Footnotes:
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