WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Romance Fantasy’s Pushover Crown Prince Is No More ◈
Chapter 87: The Secret of Being Captain
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“But this is certainly different from how the original story unfolded.”
The Ruler of the Underworld, an underworld tycoon, a young boss.
It was one of the character archetypes that often appeared in romance fantasy stories.
Still, when you thought about it, the appearance came remarkably late.
‘The story itself is only in its early-to-mid stages. Does it only seem to have appeared so late because the Empire didn’t fall?’
It was a character who did not suit the current point in the story.
But what if the Empire had actively supported the Macelin Kingdom without my intervention?
‘A slowly collapsing Empire... If the Ruler of the Underworld suddenly appeared in the middle of that, it wouldn’t be a bad picture.’
It could be a new presence capable of putting an end to a chaotic Empire.
The Empire was already weakening. If a powerful figure who had united the underworld suddenly emerged, it would only accelerate the Empire’s corruption and send it further down the path to ruin.
‘Just how many hidden male leads are there?’
They were supposedly hidden, but it felt like they were being pulled out one after another from some storage room.
There was one beneath the Empire and another in its back alleys.
There was no telling how many more ‘hidden male leads’ would appear like this.
At least Mirne was not the only one capable of finding them.
Rumta, for one, had sworn he would serve the Empire from the moment Pavan awakened.
Just because someone was hidden did not mean they would automatically side with the protagonist.
“Theo, about how many knight orders remain in the Empire?”
“The number of knights has been reduced because of the Imperial Garrison deployment. About half remain.”
“That should be enough.”
After getting a rough count of the knight orders still in the Empire from Theo, I looked toward the Imperial Palace, which was beginning to come into view, and continued calmly.
“Security in the Empire is about to become unstable. Tell the knights to prepare for a cleanup.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
No matter how long they lurked in the shadows or how wildly they ran amok, could they withstand the Imperial Knights training like mad every day?
I was genuinely curious.
+++++
The first thing I did upon arriving at the Imperial Palace was meet Nerissa.
We met in Nerissa’s Executioner Palace, the same place as our first meeting.
Just like before, the surroundings changed at some point, and I naturally found myself seated at the head of the room.
But Nerissa looked different from before.
She had worn only a robe in the past, but now more of her appearance was visible.
Her attire also followed proper court etiquette.
“I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable. Are the clothes comfortable?”
“...You said they were made especially for me. No matter how precious or expensive clothing is, it couldn’t possibly be this comfortable. Thank you sincerely for your consideration.”
“I didn’t expect you to become this formal. Who taught you etiquette?”
Her attitude was completely different from our first meeting.
The change was so great despite the short time that had passed that I could not help wondering who had taught her.
“Rowena... the Saintess taught me. She was very kind and warm... so I was able to learn comfortably.”
Nerissa still had difficulty with human speech, so she spoke slowly.
‘Rowena, huh.’
She was already busy with matters related to the Holy Kingdom.
I was grateful that she had taken care of this as well.
‘I’ll have to repay her later.’
With that in mind, I looked at Nerissa and got straight to the point.
“I went to Corallia.”
“...!”
Nerissa flinched the instant I said it.
Her eyes, as blue as the sea, trembled like waves.
“I heard the details. You lost the throne and were driven out.”
“....”
“Is the entire Deepheart family hiding somewhere in the western seas of the continent? I want to bring them to the Empire. What do you think?”
Every Executioner possessed a means of destroying the Empire alone.
In Nerissa’s case, that means of destruction would be releasing the Leviathan within her body.
‘Just imagining an absurdly huge whale crashing into the center of the Empire while sending waves everywhere is terrifying.’
It was called a whale, but would it not be comparable to a meteor falling?
There was a reason the Executioners were called living nuclear weapons.
“Are you confused? Or are you wondering how much I know?”
Nerissa had kept her lips tightly shut from the moment Corallia was mentioned.
She only gazed at me with eyes trembling like raging waves.
Perhaps she needed time to gather her thoughts, or perhaps she did not want to speak at all.
Since I did not know what she truly felt, I slowly rose from my seat.
“I will use every method available to resolve the Covenant. For now, I’ll head to the western seas of the continent and begin by finding the Deepheart family.”
There was no time to wait simply because she kept her mouth shut.
Nerissa seemed to be the most emotionally fragile among the Executioners, but that did not mean I could tend to her every need.
So I decided to summarize what I intended to do.
“I will contact the Deepheart family and restore them as the rulers of Corallia.”
At the mention of restoring the Deepheart family, Nerissa hesitantly held out her hand.
She was close enough to touch my fingertips if she extended it just a little farther.
At that uncertain distance, Nerissa fidgeted with her fingers.
“After that, I’ll hear about the Covenant. Perhaps I’ll hear about it before then, but to do any of this, I need to find the Deepheart family. Only then will I learn about the Covenant and the Leviathan.”
A great many things would change after that.
With those words, I turned my back on her.
‘I should make a separate request to Rowena.’
I had no intention of adding more work to someone already busy with so many things.
But Nerissa only clammed up and looked at me pitifully whenever the subject came up.
I felt it was necessary to have Rowena, who had presumably given Nerissa some good memories, stay by her side.
‘Then I’ll have to put off the matter with Gilbat until later.’
If Nerissa had been easier to talk to, I would have dealt with the Covenant with Gilbat at the same time.
Since things had turned out this way, resolving Nerissa’s matter first seemed right.
It would be a problem if I tried to handle too many things at once and ruined them all.
‘Rowena will focus on Nerissa, and there’s still been no report that Pavan has regained consciousness... Then what I need to focus on right now is...’
It was time to properly clean up the underworld.
+++++
The Empire was unimaginably vast.
Naturally, it was impossible to manage every part of such an enormous place in detail.
The Empire’s shadows gradually grew by using that vastness as their foundation.
Even so, no one dared to expand those shadows too boldly.
It was obvious what would happen the moment they faced the sun beyond them.
“I heard the Empire was impressive, so I expected those in the underworld to be somewhat capable. I was a fool for expecting anything.”
Recently, though, that had changed.
More precisely, outsiders had boldly stepped into the Empire’s shadows.
“....”
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Weren’t you going on about the Empire’s pride earlier, huh?”
Asher laughed as he ruthlessly stomped on the faces of those beneath his feet.
‘How were people like this ruling the Empire’s underworld?’
Asher truly could not understand.
From black markets to entertainment districts, their influence was enormous, but their fighting ability was pathetic.
It was so bad that he wondered whether they had divided their territory through children’s games.
The Empire’s back alleys had fallen into Asher’s hands in the blink of an eye.
“I was planning to make a grand entrance and introduce myself as Asher Dominic... But my subordinates cut them all down before I even showed up.”
He had grown tired of wandering and acted on impulse.
Being wanted while traveling from country to country had become tiresome, so he brought his people into the Empire.
He had expected taking over the Empire to take a long time and had been extremely nervous.
Yet the result before him made all that tension seem pointless.
“Grrrgh....”
“Oh, as expected of a boss, you came to your senses quickly.”
At this rate, he would seize control of the Empire’s entire underworld in less than a month.
After that, he would be in a position to make moves into the legitimate world.
With that thought, he looked down at the boss beneath his feet, who had only just regained consciousness.
“Answer me. How did you become the boss of this district when you’re so weak?”
“...Ha, haha! You’re an outsider.”
On the southern outskirts of the Empire, Bank, the boss of the local back alleys, looked up at Asher and sneered.
“There have been plenty of people like you, and every one of them died. That’s why I’ve been the boss of this district for so long.”
“What nonsense.”
Crunch!
Asher raised his foot high and stomped hard on Bank’s head.
Weak people talking like that always irritated him.
“You’re tougher than you look.”
He had intended to crush Bank’s skull, but Bank merely bled from the head before losing consciousness.
As Bank slowly faded out, a faint smile appeared.
‘Even I know I’m weak, you bastard.’
At most, Bank could barely coat a sword in Mana.
Aura was out of the question. Bank could only play at painting a sword with color for a moment.
In the past, someone with that level of strength could never have dreamed of becoming a back-alley boss.
Even so, Bank had held the position of an underworld boss for quite a long time.
Bank had never told anyone the secret.
‘No matter how strong you are, you bastard, it’s over if you don’t pay taxes.’
Other thugs mocked Bank, asking how someone could be a boss while paying taxes to the state.
But Bank paid taxes more faithfully than anyone else.
‘...Asher, was it? You probably don’t pay taxes either.’
If you did not pay taxes, you died.
The Empire did not forgive tax evasion.
With Asher, who did not know that fact, in Bank’s fading vision...
‘You don’t know how scary the Tax Collector Knight is. Goodbye.’
Bank finally lost consciousness.
Footnotes:
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