The Prince Learns of the World

Given the Trade City of Ydalir’s location, people from many different countries visited it. Not all of them were human, and seeing dwarves or beastfolk among those in the streets wasn’t rare. Today, another young visitor from a foreign country was having his meal in the eatery attached to the inn he was staying at while seemingly depressed.

He had short green hair, and while his face looked somewhat aged, he was clearly young upon closer inspection. The clothes he wore were of good quality, which you didn’t see too often around this area, and from the pure-white wings sprouting from his back, it was clear to see that he was a heaven-winged.

The inn he was at was considered the best inn in Ydalir, and its interior was nice and clean. The young man’s name was Merak... He was the prince of the heaven-winged kingdom of Vanaheim, and it had been decided that he would be succeeding his father next year. In other words, he was a born member of the elite.

However, becoming the king of the heaven-winged was not as simple as taking the reins. To become the king of the heaven-winged, who were said to be the descendants of angels who had come down from heaven, an appropriately strong backbone and ability was required. So, as a trial to become worthy of being king, he had been tasked to travel for a year. During that year, he had to force over ten monsters or a monster over level 60 to obey him. If he didn’t, he would be considered to not have the abilities of a king.

For this journey, he had been given the treasured sword of the royal family. This sword, the “Treasure of the Heaven-Winged,” allowed the user to capture monsters even without the Monster Tamer class, and was currently hanging from his waist.

Merak was eating gracefully, befitting royalty. However, if one looked closer, his expression seemed lifeless. Merak was rife with worry. He still didn’t know what kind of monster he should capture. There was no real rule of the trial demanding that he capture a monster of a specific strength, which meant that he was free to capture anything. Even any old rabbit or mouse would do. Even if the monster was weak enough that they could be defeated by normal villagers to show off their strength, a monster was still a monster.

However, Merak’s assignment was a rather peculiar one. If one were to simply take the trial’s rules at face value, then he could simply just find ten monsters to capture, and it didn’t matter what they were. It was not a hard condition by any means; it could be finished in a single day.

However, this was a trial to measure his ability as a king. Even if the rules allowed him to do so, he’d become the laughingstock of his people if he were to come back with weak monsters in tow.

Merak could just see them saying things like “So that new king doesn’t even have the guts to take on a challenge?” or “What a pathetic king, to only be able to bring back such weak monsters.”

The freedom inherent in this trial was actually a heavy pair of shackles with only the name of freedom. It was a test of how harsh a condition he could impose on himself, and how much he could accomplish. That was what the people were looking for. There had been records of kings in the past bringing back weak monsters that weren’t even level 5, but those kings had been treated as scathingly and harshly as possible in those records. They were noted as having been almost nothing but decoration, with no real power to influence decisions.

Why...? Why was I born to the royal family...? If I’d been born into a more normal family, I wouldn’t have to face worries like this... To Merak, his fate as a prince that he had been saddled with by birth and his eventual destiny to become king were nothing but heavy burdens. But even if he thought of it as a heavy burden, he wouldn’t know what to do with freedom even if he were to be given it. He could only think, If things were going to happen like this, then it would have been better if I’d been born as a normal child.

The treasured sword at his waist felt unbearably heavy. The people in Merak’s surroundings looked at him inquisitively, but the prince couldn’t help but perceive them as stares of scorn and disdain. To him, it was like they were telling him that he wasn’t worthy of the sword he wore at his waist. Look. Even that guy over there in the corner seat with the weird hairstyle that looks like he has a three-leafed clover on his head is laughing at me.

“Welcome.”

“Hey, do you have space for six?”

“Six? Then, please, this way.”

Apparently some new customers had arrived. Merak shot a furtive glance towards the newcomers and saw a group of people in armor of all kinds. There’s no consistency in the way they dress, so they can’t be soldiers. Maybe adventurers...? But their equipment’s of oddly high quality for that...

From what Merak knew of adventurers, they were dropouts who couldn’t be employed in any other jobs, so they simply filtered down to being an adventurer. It was a job for the dregs of society. In other words, it was for hoodlums and thugs to make money. That was what Merak thought adventurers were.

However, this group did not look anything like that. So what is up with this eclectic group? There was a human swordsman, an elf who seemed like a mage, a dwarf in a full set of armor, and even a polar bear beastfolk and a halfling.

“Hey, Dubhe, get inside already. I can’t get past you.”

“I-I’m beary stuck...”

“That’s because you tried to just walk in with that huge body of yours.”

Apparently there was another person still behind the bear, who was stuck in the entrance. From the voice, the person’s female... Female adventurers are rare. That being said, they were beings from a different world to Merak.

Once Merak was done eating, he picked up his plates and ascended the stairs while giving the adventurers stuck at the entrance a sidelong glance. Then, he entered the room he was renting before rinsing out his mouth and taking off his top. Merak placed the sword on a table and threw himself onto the bed.

＊　　　　＊

Merak opened his eyes, and his vision filled with the sight of a ceiling as he realized that he’d fallen asleep at some point.

I didn’t think I was that tired, but I guess it’s just in humanity’s nature to get sleepy when you lie down. The chirping of the birds letting you know it’s morning is nice. For today, let’s go explore the nearby forest and see if there are any decent monsters to capture.

With that thought, Merak got up. That was when he noticed something which made him tilt his head.

“Hmm?”

Wait a second. Am I still drowsy from sleep? Or maybe I’m just remembering things wrong? His thoughts stalled. There’s nothing on the desk.

No, wait a second. There is something. I see the belt holder to hang the sword off of, but there’s no sword or scabbard.

Merak took a long moment of contemplation.

Maybe I just put it in the wardrobe. Merak opened the wardrobe to check, and of course, the sword wasn’t there. Of course it’s not here. I don’t even remember touching the wardrobe.

Actually, wait a second. Maybe it just fell off the desk. After that idea, Merak searched the floor, but he didn’t find anything there either.

Huh? Did I forget the sword on the first floor or something...? No, there’s no way. I definitely came into the room with the sword at my waist. I remember that.

He paused. “C-Calm down, me. Just calm down and remember.”

There’s no way I could have lost the sword. That’s not allowed. I’m sure it’s somewhere. Yeah, I’m sure that once I find it, it’ll have been somewhere obvious.

Yesterday... What happened yesterday? Did I fall asleep still wearing the sword? No, there’s nothing there, and the holder is still on the desk. Right, maybe I simply held the sword as I slept? Merak checked the bed as well, but of course there was nothing there.

Merak started to panic, unable to say anything for a long while before he finally stuttered, “C... C-C-C-Calm down... B-B-B-Be cool...”

Merak’s legs shook like a leaf in the wind even though it wasn’t cold. As if the floor had simply disappeared and he’d started to fall through a void, something cold traveled up from his legs directly into his brain.

Calmdowncalmdowncalmdown...

I’m sure it’s here. I can’t have lost it. I mean, it’s a relic passed down through generations of heaven-winged royalty. It’s not something I can just lose! If I lost the sword during my trial, never mind becoming a laughingstock... I’ll...

It was a big enough failure that Merak knew it wouldn’t be weird to have his entire family stripped of their royal status.

“I-It’s gotta be here... It’s gotta be somewhere.”

After that, Merak spent an entire hour searching his room—from the obvious places like around the table or inside the wardrobe to places that would be impossible for a sword to be, like moving the wardrobe and checking behind the piece of furniture itself. Merak fruitlessly searched the same places over and over again, though, of course, there was no way doing the same things over and over would result in him suddenly finding something.

Next, Merak descended to the eatery on the first floor and checked the seat he’d been at the previous day, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t anywhere.

“M-Miss Hostess... Could I take a moment of your time?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Did you spot a sword at this seat yesterday...? It had jewels embedded in the hilt.”

“No, there was nothing like that. We do pick up lost items, but I’d have remembered something showy like that.”

After listening to the hostess’s reply, Merak sat down.

There’s no doubt now. I should have left it on top of the table yesterday, so if I think calmly about it, there’s only one answer.

It was stolen.

Finally, Merak admitted the truth that he didn’t want to face, and he clutched his head in his hands. Theft didn’t exactly happen rarely in inns. In fact, it was to be expected in the cheaper ones. Merak had purposefully chosen a more expensive inn like this in order to avoid that, but even then, it wasn’t perfect. There were no round-the-clock guards like a castle would have for its vault; it was simply an inn that was built in a relatively safer area.

Of course, the inn would refuse problematic customers, but as was obvious from the adventurers who had come by the store yesterday, the person would be let in as long as they had the bare minimum of manners. Though it was debatable whether or not a giant bear getting stuck in the door was good manners. At any rate, there definitely was a possibility that someone had posed as a perfectly fine and decent customer before engaging in thievery, and it probably wouldn’t make too much of a difference to the hostess in that case either.

“What? Did you lose something?”

It took him a moment to finally admit, “Yes. Apparently it was stolen...”

“Well, that’s no good. Shouldn’t you contact the public security corps?”

In the Trade City of Ydalir, the public security corps had been started in order to protect public safety and order. Their purpose was close to the knight brigade in country capitals: to investigate crimes and incidents and arrest the perpetrators. If a victim were to come forward, they might also recover what was stolen. After all, given what the item was, they would probably go all out to find the treasured bejeweled sword of Vanaheim’s royal family.

However, that also meant that Merak would have to publicly admit to having allowed the sword to be stolen. With that, even if he were to have gotten the sword back, he still wouldn’t be able to avoid the scorn of his people. The ideal would be to retrieve the sword without revealing the incident to the public, but Merak knew that there could be no such convenient ending.

“No, I don’t really want this to get out to the public... I mean, I know already. I know that there’s no other choice. Aarrgghh... Why did this...? It’s over. I’m done...”

“I don’t really get it, but is this something you don’t want people to know about?”

If it was found out he had let the sword get stolen, Merak’s reputation would fall into the dirt. Of course, he would no longer have any power as the king. There was no doubt he would only be able to reign as a figurehead. In fact, there was the chance that he could have the throne taken from him. However, allowing the sword to stay stolen would be even worse, which meant that at this point, Merak had no moves left.

However, Merak was the only one who thought so. The hostess had a different idea.

“If that’s the case, you’ve only got one option.”

Merak could only look at her in a quizzical silence.

“Adventurers. Depending on the customer, they’ll take on any request.”

After hearing the hostess’s advice, Merak fought back the urge to heave a sigh. Of course he knew about adventurers. Saying they would do anything was putting it nicely. Basically, it was a job that people fell into because they couldn’t be employed at anything else. While they fought monsters, they were almost all civilians except for a minority who were those who had received knight training but had failed out. The only difference was that adventurers had weapons.

They would be worse at finding things than those who were actually paid to do it. They were ruffians who would do anything depending on the payment... In certain situations, they’d be convenient, but their abilities weren’t to be relied on. If they could, they wouldn’t be adventurers in the first place.

“It’s too early to be so discouraged. There just happens to be a single party here in Ydalir that’s so skilled it makes people wonder why they’re still adventurers.”

“There’s no way. That’s just...”

“They do exist. I don’t really get what’s so great about being adventurers, but they’ve actually turned down invitations from royalty all over the world just because they like being adventurers. They’re kind of eccentric that way. You seriously don’t know about them...? You really are a pampered rich kid, aren’t you?”

Those words did nothing to clear up Merak’s mood. He was still half in doubt as he looked up at the hostess... Well, it was more like ninety percent doubt. He basically didn’t believe her at all. In fact, that 10 percent belief might not have existed either. The exact ratio of his disbelief to belief could be best described as something like two percent belief and ninety-eight percent doubt. To Merak, it sounded extremely phony.

However, the hostess just laughed seeing Merak’s expression.

At this point, the name of Lufas’s adventuring party was known throughout the world. The leader wasn’t actually set in stone, so in some cases, they could be Alioth’s party or Megrez’s party, but it didn’t change the fact that they were still heroes far outside the norm for adventurers. They’d managed the great feat of slaying a dragon in the past, and they had even taken the heads of the Dragon King Ladon, saving an entire country. The only people who wouldn’t know of them would be pampered kids raised in a thick box, unaware of the outside world. There’d recently even been people who admired them and aimed to become adventurers because of them, and the world was moving towards an unprecedented age of adventuring.

Their daily routine consisted of having breakfast before going to the bar and looking for a job. There’d been a recent boom of requests aimed specifically for Lufas’s party that were so hard even knights couldn’t resolve them, but at the party’s current level, such requests didn’t pose much hardship. It was never decided beforehand what job they would take on; it all depended on their mood for the day. In the silliest of cases, they had even been motivated just by Dubhe wanting to fill himself up with honey, so they’d taken a job to exterminate a bunch of monster bees who had made their nests in a forest.

That day, however, they didn’t even have to go to the bar. Their job came to them.

“Excuse me. Can I have a moment? There’s a request for you all.”

“Hostess?” Megrez asked. “Sorry, but you can’t jump the line for requests. We’d appreciate it if you passed your request through the bar.”

It seemed that the inn’s hostess wanted to ask them for something, but Megrez cleanly turned her down. They fundamentally did not accept people coming straight to them. Now that Lufas and the others’ names had spread so far, it wasn’t rare for people to come directly to them with requests. If they allowed direct requests, they’d be swarmed with people coming to them every day.

No matter how famous they were, it didn’t change the fact that they were freedom-loving adventurers. They had no intention of being tied down like that. They would be the ones to decide which jobs they took.

“Well, I get that that’s how it usually works, but there isn’t enough time to do that.”

Lufas made a considering grunt as she looked at the hostess.

She doesn’t seem to be in that much of a hurry even though she phrased it like that. In fact, she’s perfectly calm, which means the hostess isn’t the real requester. I’m guessing... She stopped, searching for the likely requester. It’s that guy with the white wings over there who stands out a lot. Lufas paused, considering him. Royalty, huh?

With the exception of her mother, Lufas had completely cut all ties with the heaven-winged. They had an awful custom of persecuting others based on the color of their wings, and royalty stood at the top of all that. Lufas should have been able to separate herself from all those fetters and feelings of disgust as she had her past, but emotions weren’t so simple. Lufas could feel something inside her that was hard to describe in words; it was almost like a sputtering.

Meanwhile, Megrez and the hostess continued negotiating. Apparently he had had the treasured sword of the royal family stolen.

“I see... You’re right. If we wait too long, then they’ll take it outside of Ydalir. And if it makes it to the black market of another country, then it’ll be too hard to follow its traces. If we’re going to find it, now would be the time,” Megrez said, looking at the rest of the party.

For a job like this, things got harder the longer it took, so if they were going to take it, now would have to be the time. However, if they decided not to take on the job, that would also mean throwing away the option to do so later. A decision was needed right now.

“Depends on the reward. Hey, Prince, how much are you gonna pay us?” Alioth asked.

Adventuring wasn’t a charitable enterprise. Of course payment was required. The payment was decided by the requester, and if the adventurers were satisfied with it, they would take on the job.

Merak took out a jewel from his pocket. “How about this gem? It should be worth around ten thousand el.”

“Can we take a look at it?”

“Please.”

Phecda appraised the gem that was placed on the table. After some time of looking at it and changing angles, Phecda eventually placed the jewel back down onto the table. “You’re right. This could be sold for about ten thousand el. I think this is fine for payment.”

Getting ten thousand el to find a stolen item was pretty extraordinary. At Phecda’s words, the other adventurers seemed a little more motivated.

“I’d be fine with taking this job. It might be worth creating a debt with the royal family,” said Mizar.

“I agree too,” said Dubhe, “beary much.”

Mizar and Dubhe also became rather favorable towards taking the request. Jumping the line and going directly to them with requests was fundamentally a no-go, but there were extenuating circumstances this time. Also, selling a favor to the royal family was not a small factor. It would probably have more worth than the gem they were getting as payment.

Lufas considered the offer a little longer, then said, “I also have no objections.”

The next member to agree was Lufas, who everyone had thought would be the one most likely to refuse. Of course, she had never even considered the favor of the royal family. Refusing the job here would not hurt her in the slightest, and she didn’t care what those back in her home country would say of her. However, Lufas didn’t want to cause her mother back in Vanaheim trouble because she had refused to help.

“Okay. Then that means we’re taking it?” Alioth asked for a final confirmation.

Everyone nodded. It looked like they would be accepting the job.

Since that was the case, Megrez said, “Then let’s start looking right away. First, I’ll ask around town. Phecda, you stay here and check to see if the thieves left any traces behind.”

“Okay. Leave it to me.”

“I’ll head to the weapons merchants,” Mizar offered. “There’s a chance it’s already on the market.”

Megrez, who had the ability to collect and process information, was in charge of asking around, and Phecda was in charge of looking for traces left behind. Mizar had connections to weapons shops, and he could look into the flow of weapons.

“I’ll try the slums,” said Lufas. “Their leader might know something about the thieves.”

The slums Lufas mentioned were the shadow to Ydalir’s light, and they contained everything that didn’t make it out to that light. The poor lived there, and at the same time, it played host to the safehouses of all those who lived in the shadows. They were cunning, sly, conniving, and clever. They never acted too violently, preferring to blend into the background of daily life.

The area was governed by outcasts that the public security corps couldn’t clean up. These outcasts even cleaned up any people who crossed the line themselves. They were kind of like a shadow public security organization. That was why the public security corps left them alone, silently allowing their existence. Those on the path of shadows were best cleaned up by people from the shadows, and Lufas thought that they might know something about the thieves.

“I’ll go outside and ask the bears,” said Dubhe.

“I’ll...” Alioth considered his options. “I don’t have anything to do. I guess I’ll just help Megrez.”

Dubhe seemed to have a unique method of investigation, but as he tried to sidle out of the inn, he got stuck again. Unfortunately, Alioth had no part to play here, so he had no choice but to act as Megrez’s assistant.

＊　　　　＊

Night fell, and Lufas’s party gathered at the inn. They had yet to grasp the whereabouts of the royal sword, but they might get an idea by pooling together the knowledge they’d gained that day. Merak, the client, looked really restless and impatient, but Lufas and the others acted like truly experienced adventurers. Not a single one of them looked worried. In fact, they looked relaxed.

“Let’s start with what I have first,” Megrez said, starting off with the results of his investigations. “Of course, there are no witnesses among those in town. As expected, they weren’t fool enough to allow civilians to see them. However, I did check on those entering and exiting Ydalir today and yesterday, and as far as I could see, baggage checks didn’t turn up anything that seemed to be what we’re looking for. The merchants’ carriages had nothing as well. I’m pretty sure we can assume it’s still in Ydalir.” He hadn’t uncovered the exact location of the sword, but he had figured out that it hadn’t left Ydalir, so it wasn’t a totally wasted effort.

“I’m next...” said Phecda. “As far as I could tell, they started in the neighboring room and climbed along the wall to get in through the window, which means the thieves were staying in one of those rooms. I asked the hostess about those rooms, and there’s no doubt they were around when we were yesterday.”

It seemed that Phecda had pretty much managed to figure out who the thieves were. Of course, Merak still had no idea who they were, even if it had been revealed that they had stayed next to him, but it seemed that Megrez did.

“Ahh...” said Megrez, seeming to have remembered something. “You mean the man with the head that really stood out who was staring at Merak like he was licking him all over.”

“The head...” Lufas realized something at Megrez’s words. “You mean the one with the silly hairdo who looked like he had a three-leaf clover on his head, Megrez?”

“Yeah, something like that. Did that ring a bell, Lufas?”

Apparently Lufas had gotten something as well. “Yeah. There seems to be a thief who will lay their hands on anything as long as it looks like it’s worth money, so he’s being ostracized by those who live in the shadows. That man matches their description. I believe his name was...Clover? I did ask about the location of his hideout, so I guess that’s not going to go to waste.”

Lufas had gotten an important piece of information. With that, they were now a lot closer to catching the thief all at once. However, even if they knew who the thief was, the quest wouldn’t be solved if they couldn’t retrieve the sword itself. All hopes were now pinned on Mizar.

“It was a miss on my end. The sword hasn’t been sold yet, which means that Clover’s still got it in hiding.”

It wasn’t useless. That confirmed Clover was still in possession of the sword, and now they’d gotten another step forward. Without Mizar’s contribution, there had been a possibility that they wouldn’t have noticed that Clover had the sword hidden somewhere, but now that they knew he had it, they wouldn’t fall for it if Clover tried to play dumb.

Now that they had almost all the information they needed, Dubhe was the last one left. Merak couldn’t help but wonder what kind of information he would bring. With everyone’s gazes on him, Dubhe spoke proudly. “I heard of the bearfect spot in the forest to get some delicious honey. Let’s all go for a beary big feast later.”

They all silently kicked Dubhe.

What the hell has this dumb bear been doing while we’ve all been working and finding thieves and treasures?! they all thought.

“Okay. Let’s all hurry up and get to Clover’s hideout. If he’s there, we’ll just capture him on the spot. If he’s not, we can set a trap and wait for him to return.” Megrez laid out their next steps, ignoring Dubhe, who was doubled over.

Of course, no one objected. Lufas and the others immediately left, leaving Dubhe alone. Dubhe got up and hurriedly chased after them, though he got stuck in the entrance again.

Leaving Dubhe behind, the party reached the slums and entered the safehouse that Lufas had gotten information on. There was no one inside; it didn’t seem like Clover was home. Phecda stamped firmly on the ground, seemingly checking something. Eventually, he stopped at the edge of the room and peeled up a floorboard.

“Bingo. Look, it’s full of stolen goods.”

Phecda had found where Clover was hiding his loot. The little hole had a bunch of treasure and equipment he had no doubt stolen, and each piece was worth a pretty penny. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the sword.

“He’ll definitely be back in order to hide the sword.”

“Then let’s set a trap.”

After that, Lufas and the others’ actions were swift. Everyone worked briskly, setting traps in the house. Of course, they didn’t forget to disguise them, so it didn’t look like the house was trapped, and they also made sure to erase any traces of entering the house itself. If they left even a single trace behind, it might give away the fact that someone had infiltrated the place and possibly set traps.

Lufas’s party was most famous for their battle prowess, and many tales about them were of their great feats in combat. From that, it was easy to think that they were muscle-brains who tended to ignore small tricks and strategies, and anyone who thought that would be half correct. However, that didn’t mean that they couldn’t employ such tricks themselves. For jobs like this where they needed to find thieves and other such people, tricks and traps such as these always came in handy. No matter how much power they had, the only use their power would pose in situations like this would be in the rare case that they had to directly confront the perpetrator.

Seeing their brisk work, Merak realized how much he’d underestimated adventurers. He knew that if he’d been alone, then he’d have been running like a headless chicken in confusion. He would never have been able to even get to this point.

“Great. This is it,” said Phecda, declaring the trap complete. “When someone steps on the floor, it will fall out from under them. Once they fall to the bottom, their leg will be caught by a rope. Now all we have to do is wait a ways outside here for our prey to come.”

Everyone retreated from the house. Now all they had to do was wait for the thief to come back. Still, it was silly to have everyone lying in wait nearby, so in actuality, they would only have two people here on rotation while the others rested.

There was no guarantee that Clover would return today, and it was even possible that he would leave Ydalir without returning here at all. Of course, it was more likely that he wouldn’t leave, but all possible courses of action should be considered.

“I’ll stay on watch here. I can see better at night.”

Lufas volunteered to stand watch, and Alioth and the rest of the party didn’t object. They trusted that Lufas wouldn’t make a mistake and let the thief escape if he were to come back. Now they just needed one more person, and things would be perfect. Just then, an unexpected voice piped up.

“I-I’ll stay too. I want to see the perpetrator’s face with my own eyes.”

Surprisingly, Merak, the client himself, volunteered. To be completely blunt, Merak would not change anything by being around. In fact, he might get in the way. To Lufas and the others, the best choice was to have the client wait at the inn so they wouldn’t be able to make any mistakes. However, he had a stake in this case. They understood his desire to look the filthy thief in the eye as well.

Lufas considered Merak’s offer. “Well, that sounds fine. Merak—the client—and I will be enough here. I’m counting on you to continue your investigation.”

“Understood. Don’t push yourself.”

If the thief came back, great. If he didn’t, they just had to rely on Megrez and the others’ investigation abilities. After seeing off Megrez and the others as they left for the slums, Lufas moved to a hiding spot. Then, two hours passed as they watched their trap. The sun had set, and it was dark as the entirety of Ydalir sunk into slumber.

Lufas maintained an appropriate level of awareness of the hideout, but it didn’t seem like the thief was coming back any time soon. Merak seemed a bit too vigilant and high-strung, but every once in a while, his gaze wandered from the hideout to Lufas.

Finally, she asked, “Is there something you want to say, Prince?” Lufas glared at him a little as she called him by a moniker with a bit of sarcasm.

Merak faltered slightly as his voice caught in his throat.

One of them was a prince with pure-white wings, and the other a cursed child with pitch-black wings. They both knew of each other, but normally, they would never have been able to meet. They were quite literally the light and shadow of the heaven-winged race. Merak, who was celebrated, lived under the sun, and Lufas, who was even rejected by her own parents, and was forced to live in the shadows. Being able to meet and converse like this was probably a sort of miracle.

“Ah, no, uh... It’s just... I thought you were amazing...”

“Amazing?”

“Yeah. I’m lauded as the prince of the heaven-winged, but as you can see, I’m just an incompetent fool who knows nothing of the world and allowed the royalty’s bejeweled sword to be stolen. I’m sure if I were thrown out into the world, I wouldn’t be able to survive.”

Flowers raised and brought to bloom in a greenhouse and under careful watch were beautiful. They were treated preciously. They were loved, protected, and cared for, all so they could bloom beautifully. However, it was a fragile beauty that could only be maintained under certain circumstances. Could such a fragile beauty really be considered beautiful? Merak didn’t think so. In his opinion, flowers that bloomed strongly and fiercely in the wild were what was truly beautiful.

That was why he compared himself and Lufas that way as well. He was the fragile flower who was raised in a controlled environment, while Lufas was the strong flower who could adapt to her surroundings. That was why she seemed so bright to him.

“You managed to get to where you are by yourself. I’m just walking down a path that’s been set for me, and because it’s been set, I can trip up this badly. When I think about it, I can’t believe how laughable I am.” Merak gave a small sigh as he looked towards the direction of his homeland. “Someday, I will become king. But to be honest, the king doesn’t have to be me. I just happened to be born as royalty. I’m sure pretty much anyone could do the job. If the title of prince was stripped from me, I’m sure there’d be nothing left. When I think about that, you just seem really amazing to me.”

After a moment of consideration Lufas spoke. “What a privileged thing to worry about. You’re blessed just by having a path set for you. I didn’t even have that. I was forced to walk through a wasteland where I wasn’t even sure what would happen tomorrow. You say I got to where I was by myself, but that was just because I had no other choice.”

Merak hesitated, then apologized. “Sorry, that was insensitive.”

“It was. If you have time to be jealous of me, use it to change that path of yours to your liking.”

Merak was slightly surprised at what Lufas had said to him, and he closed his eyes in thought. Change my path as I like... You know what? I’ve never even thought of that. A set path and a destination that’s already been decided for me... I thought it was my role to simply walk down it, and I felt so empty doing so. But, yeah. Even if the destination is becoming king, I can at least change the path there. What kind of king will I be? What kind of country will I make? I can at least decide that myself.

“Decide myself...huh? You’re right. I couldn’t even think of doing such a simple thing.”

Merak achingly felt just how soft and pampered he’d been up until now. He’d simply complained in his heart, but never once had he actually tried to make things better. Just how pampered do I look to this black-winged girl next to me?

“Our little chat is over. He’s here,” Lufas whispered.

Merak opened his eyes. He saw someone enter the hideout under the cover of darkness. Then, after a few seconds, he heard the sound of someone falling through the floor and a scream. As soon as that happened, Lufas and Merak barged into the hideout, encountering a man with a unique head who couldn’t be missed.

“Clover the thief, I presume? You’re under arrest.”

“Y-Yooouuu! Don’t fuck with me. As if I’d just let myself—”

Before Clover could finish what he was saying, Lufas had closed in on him, assaulting him with her knee. Clover was unable to react or even shout anything at the sudden action. All he could do was show the whites of his eyes as he fell to the floor. Then, the stolen sword fell from his person and onto the ground.

“Looks like this settles it.”

Lufas looked down at Clover before lifting him up by the scruff of his neck as if he were a cat. Like that, the curtains closed on the stolen-sword incident that had almost shamed the entire royal family.

＊　　　　＊

The next day, Lufas’s party went to the bar as usual, and there they found Merak, their client from yesterday. The fact that he was still here after getting his sword back showed how unexpectedly brazen he was. Or maybe he was just a careless man. After speaking with the bar’s owner about something, he headed for the exit. That was when he noticed Lufas’s party.

“Ah, Lufas. And the rest of your party too.”

“You’re from yesterday... What’re you doing here?”

Lufas and the others often used this bar as their hangout spot, but it definitely was not a nice, clean place. It was frequented by hoodlum-like adventurers, and at the very least, it was not the sort of place royalty should step foot in. However, when confronted with Megrez’s question, Merak gave a seriously unexpected response.

“Um... I was registering as an adventurer.”

“Wha—?” Megrez couldn’t stop himself, but that response was only natural. “Sorry, are you serious?”

To the world at large, being an adventurer was just one step above being a useless thug. They were pretty much rock bottom. In fact, there probably were quite a number of people who thought adventurers were just thugs who were willing to dip their hands in anything. It was not a job for royalty by any measure.

However, Merak had already decided on it. He seemed completely set.

“I’m serious. For this year away from my country... I plan to use this year to widen the breadth of my experience. After seeing you all in action yesterday, I realized how pampered and soft I was. Not to mention... I want to become like all of you.”

“Ha! What a strange example of royalty we have here.” After hearing that, Alioth seemed rather astounded.

A prince becoming an adventurer was unheard of. After all, why would they, when they could live a comfortable life without stooping to such a low-paying job with life-threatening consequences? But Lufas was the only one who wore a gentle smile, even as she seemed just as astounded as everyone else.

“Isn’t it all right? He decided on it himself after all.”

With just that, Lufas cut in front of Merak and entered the bar.

I’m not a fan of royalty, but this man’s a little different from the rest. He’s worth at least a little respect, she thought.

After that, Merak would come to flourish as an adventurer little by little, and he ended up taking requests along with Lufas’s party several times. Then, half a year later, he’d completely been influenced by her and ended up joining Lufas’s party. Whether meeting Lufas was lucky or unlucky was something he could not know at that time. However, the one thing Merak could say was that this year was the happiest he’d ever been.

Yes. At this time, his heart was still filled with hopes and dreams.