Chapter Six: The Festival Preparations, the Kidnapping, and the Curious Prince

It was another busy day at the fruit shop. Herscherik looked on from a distance for some time before the crowd thinned for a moment, and he took the opportunity to drag Kurenai in to talk to the owner and his wife. Though as unsociable as ever, the owner seemed relieved upon hearing that they had a plan to get Ao and Kurenai out of the country. It even seemed to Herscherik that the corners of the owner’s mouth raised up ever so slightly. Louise was delighted as well.

The conversation then turned to the approaching harvest festival.

“Will you two be opening a stand during the festival?” Herscherik asked.

“Yes, of course. It’s an important source of income for us—though I do wish we could do something special for the occasion...” Louise sighed.

While playing with the couple’s infant daughter Risch, Herscherik took a look around the store. It was full of fresh fruit like apples and grapes; Herscherik picked up a red apple and started to think.

“Do you just sell your fruit like always during the harvest festival?”

Seeing Louise nod, Herscherik put the fruit back.

“How about selling pieces stuck onto toothpicks so you can eat them on the go? Or maybe selling containers filled with bite-sized bits of fruit...”

Herscherik was reminded of a program he had seen on TV in his previous life. It had featured the owner of a fruit shop in the corner of a shopping district who would cut expensive fruit like melons and pineapples into small pieces and sell them cheaply to people passing by in the evenings on the way home from work. The sweet scent would fill the nostrils of the hungry passersby, inspiring them to stop for a look, only to buy the fruit and eat it on the spot upon seeing the incredibly low price. As more and more people flocked to the store looking for a bit of sliced fruit, some of them would buy whole fruit to take home while they were at it, resulting in profit for the owner.

Selling fruit like this would require more labor and expense, decreasing the net profit for each individual fruit sold—but at the same time, it would attract people who wanted to enjoy the festival and eat while walking around. On top of that, it would serve as an advertisement for the store.

Louise listened to Herscherik’s ideas with great interest.

“Also, how about covering some fruit with hard candy?” Herscherik continued.

He thought back to the candied apples that had been a festival staple in his previous life. As a child, those big red candied apples had seemed somehow special to Ryoko, and she would always beg her parents to buy one even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to finish it. “Oh, fine then,” her mother would say, patting her on the head before handing her an apple. Thinking about his mother from his previous life, Herscherik became slightly sad.

“Ryoko?” Louise called out, as the little prince had suddenly fallen silent. Herscherik, though, quickly came to his senses and forced a smile.

“Chocolate-covered fruit might work too,” he added.

Along with candied apples, chocolate-covered bananas had also been a favorite in his previous life. He couldn’t help but smile hungrily at the thought of them.

Louise gave Herscherik’s proposal some thought—but it was only for a few moments, as she quickly left her husband in charge of the store as she ran off to secure ingredients, toothpicks, and containers from other store owners she knew. Soon after that, the owner also ended up needing to leave the store to take care of some trouble with a business partner, and Herscherik volunteered to watch the store while he was away. Herscherik and Kurenai ended up looking after the store and Risch by themselves while they waited for the couple to return.

Being used to helping out at the store already, Herscherik dealt with the customers while taking care of Risch. Kurenai handed him change, all the while watching in astonishment as a member of royalty handled this humble task with ease. Louise and her husband, on the other hand, were taking quite a while to return. As the sun started to set and the line of customers shrank, Kurenai left for a quick visit to the restroom. After borrowing a restroom at a nearby store, she returned to find Herscherik dealing with two boorish men.

“Your Highness?” Kurenai called out to Herscherik, but due to the wind and the distance between the two of them, her voice failed to reach him. The wind did carry the conversation between Herscherik and the two men to her ears, however, and things seemed to be taking a turn for the worse.

“What do you want?” Herscherik’s voice sounded colder than Kurenai had ever heard from him before. She could scarcely imagine how someone as gentle as Herscherik could possibly produce such a voice.

Upon hearing him speak, Kurenai instinctively hid in the shadows of a nearby building.

“You’ll find out if you come with us. If you refuse...”

Kurenai looked out from behind the building and saw one of the boorish men stand right next to Risch, holding something that glinted in the light. Upon realizing that he had a knife in his hand, a shiver ran down Kurenai’s spine. Since the two men were crowding around the counter, making it difficult for anyone else to see what was happening, Kurenai was the only one who had realized what was happening besides Herscherik himself.

I need to go get someone... But Kurenai didn’t know who she would even tell. She thought about going to get a constable, but although Herscherik was protecting her, she had still entered the country illegally. If they asked who she was or how she knew the prince, she wouldn’t be able to tell them. Even worse, she might even come off as suspicious herself. The only people in Gracis she could depend on other than Herscherik were Herscherik’s men of service, but they were quite far from the castle at the moment.

As Kurenai racked her brains, trying to find a way out of the situation, she heard Herscherik speak.

“Don’t point a knife at a baby.” Herscherik sighed, shrugging his shoulders before continuing in a resigned voice. “Fine. If you promise not to hurt the child, I’ll come with you.”

Seemingly picking up on the danger, Risch started to cry from her basket. Herscherik took off his poncho and gave it to Risch, who calmed down quickly—perhaps from the familiar scent. Herscherik spoke to the baby in a gentle voice, the very opposite of how he had spoken to the men.

“Risch, don’t worry. Your mom will be back soon. And I’ll be fine too.”

Herscherik briefly turned his gaze in the direction of Kurenai before walking off with the men. Kurenai stepped out of the shadows of the building and ran over to the baby to ensure she hadn’t been harmed. After seeing that Risch was laughing happily while chewing on Herscherik’s poncho, Kurenai glanced in the direction of the men who would soon disappear from sight.

His Highness noticed me. But Kurenai wondered why, in that case, he didn’t ask for help.

Kurenai had heard stories about the prince before leaving her home country, and even more after arriving in Gracis. They had sounded almost like fairy tales—it was difficult to imagine Herscherik actually pulling off such feats. If even half of them were true, though, there was a good chance that someone had it out for him.

She only had to consider her next move a short moment before deciding what she needed to do. Grabbing the basket Risch was lying in, Kurenai threw in some coins from today’s sales and left the baby in the care of the female shop owner across the street before setting off after the two men.

Luckily, they were still in sight, as Herscherik’s short legs slowed them down. She pursued them until they reached a block of noble mansions, and after observing which house the men entered, she quickly turned around and ran toward the castle. In her haste, she only nodded silently to greet the gatekeeper, who recognized her enough to let her inside, albeit reluctantly. Kurenai then proceeded through the castle too quickly for anyone to reproach her. Though she attracted curious glances as she ran, she had no time to worry about that now.

Kurenai was heading not for the outer quarters where she was staying, but for the training grounds in the northern part of the castle, because she knew that the person she was looking for would be there preparing for the harvest festival. Fortunately, she came across the individual in question before even arriving at her destination.

“Kurenai?” A man in an outfit far too plain for someone who served royalty called her name.

“Sir Octavian.” Kurenai was relieved at the sight of Oran, but Oran himself only winced in return.

“You don’t need to call me ‘sir.’”

Friendly and approachable by nature, Oran didn’t care for such formalities. The same could be said for his master—though this depended on the situation, of course. Even so, the fact that Oran had a habit of being extra polite to his elders indicated his noble upbringing.

After a moment, Oran furrowed his brow.

“Weren’t you supposed to be out with Hersch?”

He remembered his master having mentioned leaving for the castle town together with Kurenai this morning. Oran had wanted to come along as a bodyguard, but his schedule had not permitted it, as he needed to prepare for the exhibition match during the Games of Contest on the first day of the harvest festival. He imagined that Herscherik must have left before Kuro could notice, as he started to look even more worried.

“Well...”

Kurenai quickly explained everything that had just happened—in a voice too quiet for anyone else to hear, of course. The further along she got in her story, the sterner Oran’s expression grew; by the time Kurenai finished, he looked as though he was about to march off to war.

“I see. Let’s stop by Hersch’s room first,” Oran replied.

Oran immediately set off for the outer quarters where Herscherik’s chambers were located. The knight on guard noticed Oran’s serious expression and tried to stop him, but Oran simply held up one hand to dismiss him before continuing on toward his destination. On the way, he entrusted some handmaidens he came across with a message.

Before even ten minutes had passed, Herscherik’s men of service, Kurenai, and Ao were all gathered in Herscherik’s room.

“What do we do?” Oran was the first to speak. He was often the one to lead the discussion whenever Herscherik was away.

“What do you think we’re going to do? We have to leave right now,” Kuro replied sharply. He seemed very irritated, completely unlike his usual calm self. “And what was Hersch thinking to begin with? He knew this could happen, yet...”

“There’s no point in arguing about that now,” Oran interrupted. “Besides, you’re well aware that Hersch never does as he’s told, aren’t you?”

With Barbosse gone, Herscherik had far fewer enemies to fear, but they had not disappeared completely. Though Herscherik had a habit of helping people, he would often anger less reputable individuals in the process. But even though he was fully aware of this fact, Herscherik still couldn’t give up on his secret excursions into town.

“I’m sorry... But I just won’t budge on this,” Herscherik had said apologetically, while at the same time refusing to yield.

Oran had then suggested that at the very least he could carry a knife to protect himself, but he had shook his head in response.

“That would be pointless for someone like me, right? I might even end up hurting myself instead.”

Herscherik was aware of his lack of skill with the blade, and he refused to carry even a small knife for protection. Oran had suspected that he had some other underlying reason for this, but no matter how many times he asked he couldn’t get a straight answer out of him.

“I’ll be fine. I’m a quick runner, you know,” his master had replied confidently, and not without grounds—he had, in fact, already come close to being kidnapped before while in town without his men, but with the help of his quick wits and tiny stature he had managed to hide and make his escape. He’d never told his men about this, of course.

“How do we save him? We know where he is thanks to Kurenai, but we don’t know how many people are involved. It’ll be trouble if Hersch ends up being held hostage, and if we make too big of a scene it’ll affect the festival.”

Though Herscherik’s life was of the utmost importance, they also didn’t want this to become a major incident that made it difficult to hold the upcoming harvest festival. Emissaries from abroad were already present in the capital, and any issues could negatively affect the diplomatic relations between Gracis and other countries. Thus they couldn’t enlist the assistance of the constabulary or the knights—they needed to handle the matter in secret.

We do have more than enough fighting power... Oran was not being complacent—Herscherik’s men of service, including Oran himself, were incredibly competent warriors.

“If we know where they are, I’ll handle it,” Shiro said to Oran, who was busy pondering the situation.

“How are you... Wait, you don’t have to tell me. The answer is no.” At first, Oran couldn’t believe his ears upon hearing Shiro’s uncharacteristically cooperative proposal, but then he immediately turned him down. It was plain as day that Shiro wanted to use the brute force of his magic to blast everyone but Herscherik away, house and all.

Shiro’s beautiful face twisted into a frown in response as he clucked his tongue resentfully. It was just as Oran had predicted.

“I’ll infiltrate the place.”

“We have no idea how many people there are in that house. Are you sure you’ll be fine, black dog?”

“I’ll be fine,” Kuro replied, but the menacing look in his eyes worried Oran.

Though Kuro was normally level-headed, when it came to Herscherik he would lose all restraint. Though Oran refused to use his name out of habit, he had known Kuro for two years by now; they were close enough to exchange banter, they trusted and relied on each other, and they both had a good grasp of what the other was capable of. Nevertheless, Oran still worried about the extent of Kuro’s dependence on Herscherik.

I’m sure Herscherik is aware of this too...

Oran had in the past warned Herscherik about Kuro—though it was perhaps less of an actual warning and more Oran simply being concerned about his comrade. Herscherik, for his part, had only nodded along, seemingly already aware of what Oran had been saying.

But right now we need to focus on saving Hersch. Oran put his thoughts about Kuro aside and turned his focus to the matter at hand.

The three of them would be able to overcome the kidnappers with ease—but that wouldn’t be enough.

Considering the circumstances, we’ll need to handle this in secret.

If they let the kidnappers escape, the same thing might happen again. They had to be thorough. Herscherik would have wanted the same, Oran thought—his master would never let someone who kidnaps children off the hook.

Still, that meant they had to handle everything covertly, without even a single person escaping. They had no idea how many they were up against or how skilled their enemies were in battle. On top of that, they had to make sure nothing got leaked to an outside party. Trapped in between a situation where they couldn’t rely on brute force and two colleagues on the verge of going berserk, Oran was at his wits’ end.

“Please let us help save the prince.” Kurenai suddenly extended a helping hand as Oran struggled to come up with a solution. Next to her stood Ao, with a mix of surprise and bewilderment shining through ever so slightly on his face.

Someone yelling could be heard outside the room, followed by the hurried footsteps of multiple people. Herscherik sat in a chair, frowning as he listened.

Soon after, the door was flung open with great force, and a well-dressed man entered the room with an enraged expression. Herscherik’s frown deepened at the loud noise; the man hurriedly regained his composure and plastered a fake smile across his face.

“Prince Herscherik, I’m terribly sorry for leaving in the middle of our discussion. And I apologize for all the ruckus—it appears a child from the neighborhood performed some prank outside, causing a small fire in the garden...”

The man bowed apologetically, flashing Herscherik an ingratiating look. The target of this obsequious look, however, had no hint of his usual pleasantness. Instead, he looked downright disgusted.

Herscherik had found himself in a dimly lit room inside one of the mansions in a wealthy section of the capital. There were four men in the room with him, including the one who had just spoken. All the furniture was covered in sheets to ward off dust, seemingly in preparation for sale, with the exception of the chair Herscherik was sitting on and the table in front of him, where a single piece of paper was laid.

There’s a decent number of them out there...

Herscherik sighed internally. He remembered seeing at least five other people on the way to this room. While he was trying to find an opportunity to flee, Herscherik knew that even if he managed to escape this single room, once outside he would likely be caught in no time at all.

The man, showing no care for Herscherik’s distress, pointed to the paper on the desk.

“Now then, Your Highness, let’s continue our discussion. All you have to do is sign this document,” he said with a broad smile.

“Not happening,” Herscherik replied, throwing the man a piercing glance.

The document on the desk wasn’t just an ordinary contract. First of all, the contents of it made no sense—it stated that the man would be absolved of all his crimes, and that he would be appointed to an important position in the government. In addition, it glowed with a strange, faintly purple light, showing that it had been imbued with a form of Manipulation Magic—a curse.

I don’t have any Magic Within, so if I’m exposed to that, it’s game over.

Having taken lessons from Shiro, the magic nerd, despite his own lack of affinity for magic, Herscherik could tell immediately that he mustn’t sign that document no matter what.

Among the spells categorized as Manipulation Magic, those that attempted to influence a person’s mind directly had particularly low chances of success. The reason was simple: the target’s own Magic Within served as protection and deflected the spell. Under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible to affect a person with such Manipulation Magic as long as they still possessed some will of their own.

Curses, on the other hand—spells which used objects as mediums—had a relatively high chance of success compared to other forms of Manipulation Magic. Here, signing the document would mean accepting the curse, and Herscherik would likely fall under the man’s control immediately. While he did have his pocket watch, which still contained Shiro’s barrier spell in the case of an emergency, it wouldn’t be of much use against a non-physical spell like this.

Thus Herscherik had no option but to stubbornly refuse to even touch the paper. They had already spent over an hour having the same conversation, and finally, fed up with the prince’s utter reluctance to do as he was told, the man dropped his façade. He glared at Herscherik with rage in his eyes, slamming his fist on the table.

“Your Highness, do you mean to forsake a suffering subject of yours?!”

“Suffering? Forsake?” Herscherik sneered mockingly at the man’s arrogant remark before coldly continuing. “Someone who borrows money frivolously to serve their own greed, only to return it by pilfering money from the national treasury, is no subject of mine. Do you have any idea how many people have suffered as a direct result of your misappropriation, Viscount Galton?”

Viscount Galton had been working at the treasury until his crimes were discovered. He’d forged account books at will and lined his own pockets with the discrepancy, with part of his ill-gotten gains also going to Minister Barbosse. Obviously, Herscherik had dragged him to court and had him sentenced.

The viscount closed his mouth for a moment upon seeing the prince’s cold glare—but, still determined, he drew closer to Herscherik.

“It was a negligible amount! Besides, I wasn’t the only one who did it, and there were those who stole much more money than I did! It’s completely unfair that I—”

“Viscount Galton, it’s not a question of whether you were the only one, or how much you misappropriated,” Herscherik said as though reprimanding a naughty child. “Even if I were to defend you now and attempt to have you pardoned, all the evidence is already there. You’ve already been sentenced. Nothing will change that fact.”

As punishment for his crimes, Viscount Galton was ordered to pay back the money he misappropriated from the treasury, as well as being sentenced to a few months’ house arrest and a demotion. From the looks of his mansion, it appeared that he had been unable to pay the amount required by the court, resulting in the seizure of his assets.

Herscherik turned his gaze to the other man who was observing them from a corner of the room. He was a thin, gloomy figure with glasses, and Herscherik recognized him from elsewhere.

“Who’d have thought you’d band together with a loan shark, huh?” Herscherik said to the viscount.

The man in the corner was indeed a loan shark with a penchant for usury. He’d lend money to poor people in need, only to turn around and demand outrageous interest rates. He belonged to the upper echelon of an underground group that probably qualified as an organized crime ring. Any attempts to sue this organization were doomed to fail, as they would bribe important individuals in the constabulary; as a result of seeking justice, the victims usually ended up in a worse place than before.

“I really hoped you’d learned your lesson, you know...” Herscherik said, which caused the thin man to frown.

During Operation Fortune Favors the Bold, which Herscherik had executed in an attempt to ensnare Barbosse, the prince had discovered and destroyed an organization that had pretended to specialize in luxury goods, but actually served to ensnare people in predatory loans—an organization managed by this man. That organization had also been indirectly connected to Barbosse through a number of officials and nobles. Herscherik had stamped it out beyond recovery, but it seemed he had still gone too easy on the leader of the operation. With Barbosse and all other influential backers out of the picture, this parasite had found a new host in the viscount.

“Perhaps I didn’t punish you enough,” Herscherik said with a fearless smile, and the man’s frown deepened.

“Keep up that snarky attitude and things won’t end well for you.”

“That’s what you said last time. Remind me—how did that turn out for you, hm?” The man’s threats wouldn’t work on Herscherik.

The man frowned and clenched his jaw so hard that his back teeth audibly ground together, but Herscherik just chuckled in response.

“Then why is the royal family continuing to live a life of luxury just like they always have?!” Viscount Galton suddenly roared, interrupting Herscherik’s conversation with the loan shark.

“Living a life of luxury? You sure say strange things.” Herscherik tilted his head adorably and gave the man a confused look. “The royal family isn’t living nearly as lavishly as you think.”

It was true that, compared to ordinary people, they did lead luxurious lives. However, they didn’t exactly open five bottles of expensive wine in a single evening or gamble away enormous sums of money—the kind of excess that had led to people like Viscount Galton stealing from the treasury.

“The fact of the matter is that we live in a country ruled by a king. The royal family looks after the people and protects them. Are you trying to neglect the very top of the country?” Herscherik continued.

While they clearly shouldn’t live a life of excess, the royal family was still the face of the kingdom. If the symbol of the entire country was dressed in rags, what would the common people think? Wouldn’t they become the target of ridicule from other countries? If that were to happen, the people themselves might suffer for it. That was why the royal family needed to keep up appearances to a certain extent.

Herscherik’s father—the king—had indeed made the wrong decision when he chose his family over the people. Now, though, he was doing everything in his power to make up for his mistakes. And it wasn’t just Herscherik’s father that was doing this, but the entire royal family. All of them were grateful to the citizens of Gracis, and considered it their duty to protect them.

Upon hearing this greedy man speak of the royal family—Herscherik’s own beloved relatives—as though they were the same kind of greedy criminal as he was, Herscherik simply smiled. But at the same time, an intense rage burned quietly within him.

“Let me ask you this.” Passing his smiling lips was a voice cold enough to lower the temperature of the room below freezing. This seven-year-old prince had complete control of the mood. “What have you done for the country to deserve any such luxuries?”

When Herscherik’s father was forced to take the throne, when he’d had his entire family stolen from him and found himself helpless to do anything but suffer in silence as those close to him were threatened... What had this Viscount Galton done then?

“What did you do other than hide behind Barbosse as you indulged yourself?” Herscherik’s question was a condemnation. “On what grounds do you, who stole the people’s hard-earned tax money while doing nothing but ingratiating yourself to those above you, disparage my father and the royal family?”

Viscount Galton turned red with anger as he stepped closer to Herscherik and raised his hand. Herscherik instinctively covered his face with his arms as he was knocked to the floor, along with his chair.

“You little brat! I try to put on my best behavior and look what I get!” the viscount yelled, looming over Herscherik on the floor. He then turned to the loan shark. “You there! Get the Spellcaster!”

“Good idea. The Seventh Prince is a failure with no magic of his own. It shouldn’t prove difficult to put him under a spell. All we have to do is make sure he’s unconscious.” The loan shark gave a cruel sneer, and Viscount Galton joined him.

“As long as I have this prince under my command, even I could—”

“Rule the country from the shadows like Barbosse?” Herscherik interrupted the viscount as he sat up, rubbing his arm. “You’d never be able to take Barbosse’s place. He was at least...” Herscherik gave the viscount a radiant, angelic smile. “He was at least incredibly skilled, capable, and cunning. Someone like you, who lets loan sharks lead you by the nose and can’t do anything but kidnap and threaten a child... You wouldn’t be able to follow in his footsteps even if you tried for ten thousand years.”

The very next moment, Herscherik threw himself to the floor. At the same time, the door was flung open, and a violent gust swept through the room. Viscount Galton shielded his face. After the gust had calmed down, the viscount glanced around the room—and was left flabbergasted. The loan shark and his men were all lying unconscious on the floor, not moving a muscle. But that wasn’t all—next to the loan shark was a man holding a staff as long as he was tall, and between the viscount and the prince stood a dark-haired man clad in all black.

“Wh-Who are you?!” the viscount yelled.

“Hersch, are you okay?” The black-clad man utterly ignored the viscount, turning to Herscherik instead.

“I knocked my arm on something, but I’m fine. Thanks for worrying. You got here faster than I expected. Thank you too, Ao,” Herscherik said as the black-clad man—Kuro—helped him up. Ao simply nodded.

“How did you get in here?! What happened to the guards?!”

“They went to see about the fire, and I’d expect they’re all having a nice rest on the grass by now,” a woman’s voice replied to Galton. The source of the voice then entered the room.

“Kurenai!”

“I’m relieved to see that you’re safe, Your Highness,” Kurenai responded with her usual smile.

While Herscherik had all sorts of things he wanted to ask, getting the situation under control came first.

“Kuro, capture the viscount... Don’t kill him, okay? He won’t get out of this that easily,” Herscherik said to his butler, whose crimson eyes burned with bloodlust.

“Understood...” Kuro responded after a short pause.

Kuro immediately restrained Viscount Galton, although Herscherik pretended not to see Kuro’s “accidental” kick to the viscount’s stomach.

“Have mercy... Please, have mercy!” the bound viscount begged, prostrating himself in front of Herscherik, who had taken a seat on the chair again. The constabulary, who had been contacted in secret to avoid a scene, had long since arrested the loan shark and his men, leaving only the viscount behind.

“Look here...” Herscherik said wearily as the middle-aged man begged for his life, tears and snot running down his face. “I already gave you one chance, didn’t I?”

Even if they seized all the viscount’s assets, it would still not have been enough to cover what he’d stolen. Despite this, he had been left with the minimum amount of money needed for him to lead a moderately comfortable life after Herscherik had exposed his crimes. He had even been allowed to keep his viscount title, as well as his job at the castle—albeit in a different department—ensuring him a source of income even after his house arrest ended.

Not everyone who had supported Barbosse had done so out of their own choosing; some had simply been frightened into submission. Still, a crime was a crime. For the sake of anyone who had felt they’d had no choice, Herscherik had seen to it that Galton and others had been allowed to keep enough funds to sustain themselves. That way, if they had a change of heart and worked hard enough, they could climb their way back up to their former position someday.

Of course, some of Barbosse’s minions had been sentenced to capital punishment. But ultimately, the royal family were also responsible for failing to control Barbosse and his followers. So while Herscherik himself realized that he was possibly being too lenient, he still gave people who had stained their hands the chance to repent.

This man, on the other hand, had failed to grasp any of that—nor did he even attempt to do so.

“Please, my dear, kind prince. I beg of you. Have mercy!”

Some people could turn their lives around, but as unfortunate as it was, there were also those who could not. The man crawling in front of him belonged to the latter category. This was reality, Herscherik thought, and he felt his heart ache.

“I’m not kind—not at all. I mean, just think about it.” Herscherik’s words were dispassionate, suppressing his own emotions as he spoke. “If I was the compliant, merciful prince you’re begging for, I wouldn’t have chased you all down to begin with.”

To Galton, this statement might as well have been a death sentence.

“You yourself forfeited the chance I gave you.”

Upon hearing this, the viscount threw his head onto the floor and let out a maddened scream. Herscherik watched quietly, without averting his eyes, looking as though he was trying to hold back his tears. Kurenai and Ao only observed the prince in silence from a distance.

After tying up any loose ends and receiving a scolding from his two oldest brothers—as well as a drawn-out lecture from his butler—Herscherik wearily sat in his favorite sofa by the window as evening approached.

Wow... Today sure was a long one... It’s not like I planned to be kidnapped or anything, you know... Herscherik grumbled internally. I’ll have to be more careful next time. Yeah... I do kinda regret how I handled that one.

Herscherik thought about how if Kuro could hear him, he would’ve gotten yet another long lecture about how he was regretting the wrong thing. Leaning back, Herscherik took a few deep breaths. He then turned his gaze to the window and looked up at the stars glittering in the night sky. Finally, he turned away from the view and gave the MVP of the day a smile.

“Thank you for coming to save me, Kurenai.”

“I didn’t do much,” Kurenai replied as she remained standing.

Currently, Kurenai was the only person in Herscherik’s room besides the prince himself. Oran had gone to report the incident to the constabulary and then headed home, and Shiro had returned to his own quarters by now. Ao had retreated to his room before anyone discovered him, and Kuro had gone to sniff out any last remnants of the loan shark’s criminal organization—just to be safe.

“But not only did you track the kidnappers, you even came up with a strategy for rescuing me. I never would have expected you could do all of that,” Herscherik said in admiration, thinking back to the strategy in question that Kurenai had told him about after the fact.

First, Kurenai had shown the party to the mansion. Ao then used his investigation magic to discover how many people were in the mansion and where they were. Being an expert at wind magic, Ao was also proficient in the related field of investigation magic.

After learning how many people were inside, the party split up into two groups, with Oran and Shiro on one hand and Kuro, Kurenai and Ao on the other. Oran and Shiro headed to the back of the house, where Shiro erected a barrier covering the grounds, preventing sound from escaping and also barring anyone else from entering. He then started a small fire. Shiro proceeded to trap anyone who came to put out the fire inside soundproof barriers as Oran knocked them unconscious. In that way, they dealt with anyone who came to have a look at what was happening outside one by one

Kuro, Kurenai, and Ao infiltrated the mansion while those inside were distracted by the fire, taking out any stray guards as they headed toward the room where Herscherik was being held. In a stroke of good fortune, they came across the Spellcaster on their way there; Kuro immediately subdued him. Ao then used his wind magic to carry his voice to Herscherik and inform him of the plan.

Herscherik did as told, provoking the viscount and creating a situation where he could take cover on the floor without raising suspicion. The moment Herscherik had fallen to the floor, Ao activated his wind magic to make sure none of the viscount’s men could see a thing. After that, it was simple for him and Kuro to take out the loan shark and his associates.

As a result, they’d managed to capture every single person in the mansion, all without killing anyone or allowing anyone to escape. Had it only been Herscherik’s men of service there, they would likely have lacked the manpower to make everything work out so smoothly. By keeping the disturbance to a minimum, they had managed to avoid negatively affecting the harvest festival too.

Herscherik had not actually expected Kurenai to come to his aid. He figured that she would just inform his men of the kidnapping, and then he could simply stall for time while he waited for them to come and save him.

“Your Highness, may I have your permission to ask a question?” Kurenai asked the impressed Herscherik. She was not wearing her usual calm smile, instead looking at the prince with a serious expression.

“Huh? Sure, if it’s something I can answer,” Herscherik replied.

“Why did you go along with those men? When they were about to take you away, couldn’t you simply have raised your voice to protect yourself?”

“But if I did that, I might have endangered Risch and the townspeople.” Herscherik answered Kurenai’s pointed question with a sad sigh. “It’s partly my fault for being careless. I never expected someone would be stupid enough to pull something like that in broad daylight and right out in the open, with the harvest festival coming up too—even if you were being hounded by loan sharks.”

“Do you ever think about yourself, Your Highness?”

All high-ranking and powerful individuals Kurenai had known had always prioritized their own safety over everything else, and would never hesitate to use or hurt others to achieve it. The prince in front of her, she realized, was different.

“Huh? Hmm...” Herscherik thought long and hard. “To be perfectly honest, this is all pretty scary, and I don’t like getting hurt. As much as I hate to say it, I am weak, and I have no means of defending myself.”

Feeling pathetic about his powerlessness, Herscherik gave a sad smile.

“Then why do you keep visiting the town like that?”

Kurenai was aware that Herscherik didn’t think like other children his age, and that he was not optimistic enough to delude himself into thinking that he’d never come to any harm. So Kurenai couldn’t understand why he’d throw himself headfirst into danger like that.

Herscherik’s sad smile never wavered.

“I go outside in order to feel that what I’m doing isn’t all for nothing.”

Just seeing the townspeople smile was enough to make it all feel worthwhile for him. The sight convinced him that all he’d done hadn’t been for naught, and that those he had lost as a result of his own powerlessness hadn’t died in vain. Even if it was only for a moment, it would fill the void in his heart.

“Kuro and the others get angry with me, but I just can’t give it up. It’s thanks to everyone out there that I’m able to work as hard as I do. It might be a little selfish, but that’s the source of my motivation,” Herscherik explained breezily.

“That’s not the only reason, is it?” Kurenai probed further. While Herscherik claimed it was just for his own sake, Kurenai couldn’t help but feel there was something more.

Herscherik’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he quickly relaxed again.

“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” he said as he shrugged. “If I walk around town like I always do, it helps everyone feel safe.”

Herscherik, a vulnerable young prince, would walk around all alone, without attendants or even a weapon to protect himself. This was, in other words, proof that this country was safe enough for a child to walk outside by himself. Herscherik figured this would help instill a sense of security in the townspeople. If that was enough to make them feel safe, exposing himself to danger was a small price to pay.

“I love this country, where everyone can have a smile on their lips, and I want to protect it,” Herscherik continued, his sad expression having turned into a gentle smile. “Kurenai—until just recently, everyone in town always looked so gloomy.”

When Barbosse still controlled the country from the shadows, the people of Gracis would spend their days in fear of what tomorrow might bring. But now, the country was starting to change.

“I’m finally able to see the people wear more cheerful expressions. It’s like everyone actually has hope for the future now.” Herscherik pictured the smiling townspeople in his head as he continued. “I’m more afraid of losing their smiles than I am of getting hurt. I’m so much more scared of them getting hurt. That’s why I want to protect them with everything I’ve got. Well... that’s what I tell myself, at least. In the end, I guess it’s just for my own self-satisfaction. Does that answer your question?”

Herscherik looked inquisitively at Kurenai, who was unable to come up with an answer. The prince claimed that he was acting out of pure selfishness, but having spent the day in town with him, Kurenai knew that there was more to it than just that. Whenever he greeted the townspeople, spoke to them, or waved at them, they’d all respond with bright smiles. There was not a trace of worry on their faces.

He claims it’s for himself, as he sacrifices himself for the sake of others... That’s this prince’s nature. Having reached a conclusion in her head, Kurenai could feel the tension in her body dissipating, and she gave her usual—no, an even gentler than usual—smile.

“You’re a curious person, Your Highness.”

“That’s the second time you’ve told me that today.” Seeing Kurenai back to her usual charming smile, Herscherik started laughing.

As she watched the prince, Kurenai whispered something in a voice too quiet for Herscherik to hear.

“Huh?” Herscherik threw Kurenai a curious glance, but she shook her head in response.

“No, it’s nothing. Thank you for talking to me. I’ll be going now.”

Still looking at her quizzically, Herscherik saw her bow once before turning and leaving the room. Outside, Kurenai walked alone down the dark corridor. Once she was some distance from the prince’s room, she became lost in thought.

“Perhaps he might be...”

The rest of her muttering was lost in the darkness of the corridor.