The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

Leading the way through the forest, I frequently shook the lantern containing the ghostly fire to read the flow of mana throughout the forest that appeared on the leaves.

“This way.”

The safe houses of Arcana, moving as if drifting, following the changes in the flow of mana from moment to moment, were difficult to find without knowing the exact regularity.

Conversely, it meant that if you knew the flow, you could find them without even knowing the regularity.

The flow of mana in this forest was bizarre, befitting the sealing of the Witch of the Four Disasters, and only a few people in Arcana, including “The Hanged Man,” knew the complex rules following this flow.

Ah, since there are dozens of “The Hanged Man” alone, I guess there are surprisingly many?

After “The Hanged Man” had her soul divided into hundreds of pieces by the Witch Dorothy, she was the most diligent magician in achieving Arcana’s goals.

Due to her soul being divided into hundreds of pieces, her humanity became incomplete, and she was in a state where she occasionally experienced confusion about her identity.

To solve this, she needed the omnipotent stone tablet “Pandora” that granted all wishes.

In my opinion, it seemed more comfortable and easier to just die cleanly in that state.

Well, research on the soul was still limited.

Even if she died, there was no guarantee that the fragmented soul would come together as one again.

“Hmm, I think it’s around here.”

As I walked forward, looking around, a hut suddenly appeared in front of me like a mirage.

Found it, Arcana’s safe house.

The scarecrow, upon confirming the safe house, looked at me in surprise.

“How did you find it?”

“Well.”

In reality, I just found it well.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter how I found it. The important thing is to get rid of that cockroach nest.”

Cockroach nest, what an exquisite expression.

I raised my hand to stop the scarecrow before he destroyed the hut.

“Let’s destroy it later and wait a bit.”

I entered the safe house with my party members. Inside the hut, all the necessities for living were provided.

There were no fresh foods, but various dried preserved foods, sleeping bags, and a few sets of spare clothes prepared in different sizes were stored.

Is this the uniform of the guys managing the forest? The clothes all looked the same.

Since it would be a waste, let’s take them all.

Who knows, they might come in handy someday.

“Looks like Arcana visits regularly.”

Judging from the dust piled up and the stale air that smelled musty, it seemed like no one had come here for a few months.

However, considering that there were no rotten or rusted parts, it seemed they maintained it every year.

After all, this forest was where the witch that Arcana had sealed at great sacrifice was located, so it was natural.

“Let’s see~, ah! Here it is.”

I found the secret safe stored in the safe house. It was a mechanical safe, not a magical one.

Although the safe house was a space that could avoid the forest’s mana, it wasn’t completely immune, so a magical safe had a high risk of malfunctioning.

I put my ear to the safe and slowly turned the safe dial.

Clack- clack- click clack-

After carefully turning the dial like that, a “click!” sound was heard, and the safe opened.

Perhaps because it was a world where magic was developed, such mechanical safes were too flimsy.

“I thought about it before, but where did you learn to crack safes?”

At Jade’s question, I laughed playfully.

“Just here and there. Why? Want me to teach you?”

“If you teach me, I’d be happy.”

Jade’s eyes sparkled as if he was really interested, and Yard, who was watching me, also showed interest.

Inside the safe were a white bracelet, thirteen black opals, and two small ball-shaped magical tools.

“Jade, take this. And this is for Yard.”

I gave the bracelet to Jade and the small balls to Yard.

“The white bracelet is a specialized magical tool that allows you to use magic in this forest, albeit limited, and those yellow balls are flash bombs. They’re instantly effective against shadow monsters, so if you think it’s dangerous, throw and detonate them.”

The reason I gave the bracelet to Jade first was that he was one of the Four Sages.

If he could properly use mana, he could most efficiently deal with the witch’s magic.

I plan to give the flash bombs to Yard as they come out because he has the highest endurance.

I put the black opals in my pocket and left the hut.

“Alright, since we’ve taken everything we need, feel free to destroy it or not.”

At my words, the scarecrow struck the floor with the end of the staff with the lantern attached.

“Rise, Lucille Hur.”

Then, a headless female dullahan emerged from the shadows of the forest, wrapped blue ghostly fire around her two fists, smashed the hut with her fists, and set it on fire.

It burns well. As expected, the most fun thing after watching a fight was playing with fire.

The sight of it burning fiercely while emitting a chill, unlike ordinary fire, had a unique fun.

It was hard to easily experience seeing your breath in midsummer.

“Isn’t that the Iron Fist Lucille Hur?”

At my question, the scarecrow tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“I don’t know about the Iron Fist, but it’s Lucille Hur. Her comrades called her that.”

Iron Fist Lucille Hur was a figure half a generation ahead of my great-uncle, the Duke Protector of the Nation, and was a warrior of the country currently engaged in minor wars with the Duplion Kingdom.

Unlike those who mainly used swords or spears, she was uniquely famous for becoming a transcendent with bare-handed combat.

Usually, among transcendents, there were many who were good at bare-handed combat, but there were hardly any who mainly used their two fists.

Unless one was an out-of-the-box genius like Precia, to become a transcendent, one had to go through countless life-or-death battles.

It was practically impossible to survive in the midst of such fierce battles without any weapons to the extent of upholding one’s image.

Iron Fist was a great martial artist in that she succeeded in doing that.

If she were still alive, she would have been a monster that would have posed a great threat to the kingdom.

I boldly made a demand to the scarecrow while pointing to that dullahan.

“Give her to me.”

“…? No.”

At my request, the scarecrow raised one eyebrow as if dumbfounded.

At the scarecrow’s refusal, I smiled and said.

“Really? Let me know if you change your mind. Now, let’s go to the next place.”

I took the lead and moved forward.

I wonder how many huts need to be destroyed to get a bite? I’m looking forward to it.

**********

“The Hanged Man,” who had finished resting and reorganizing at Arcana’s safe house, left the hut to head to the center of the forest.

And at that moment, she realized that the flow of mana enveloping the forest had changed.

“A safe house has disappeared. I didn’t notice because I was inside the hut, but it seems to have been destroyed within at least 2 hours.”

The safe houses that Arcana had built all over the forest were not simply created to ensure the safety of the organization members who managed the forest.

The huts themselves acted as wedges to hold the negative-dimensional mana of the forest in place.

The negative-dimensional mana that filled the forest was the source that maintained the forest and the resource that continuously supplied mana to the seal.

Mana basically has the property of trying to maintain a positive-dimensional state, so negative-dimensional mana is not an infinite resource.

In the end, it was natural for it to be depleted someday and for the seal to be released.

However, the disappearance of a safe house was a major event that shortened the time to maintain the seal.

But at “The Hanged Man”‘s words, Javan responded as if it was no big deal.

“Looks like that monster destroyed it again. What a scary monster.”

The destruction of safe houses was nothing new anyway.

The scarecrow, the witch’s familiar, did not understand what significance the safe houses had for the seal.

However, he at least knew that Arcana’s seal management personnel hid in the huts when they entered the forest.

Therefore, the scarecrow used to destroy the safe houses whenever he found them.

“Hmm~ It does seem like that… But it hasn’t been that long since the last loss, and if another safe house disappears, the calculation will be off.”

The safe houses were basically made on the premise that they would be destroyed by the scarecrow.

When a safe house is destroyed, the management personnel spend time restoring the safe house to its original state.

However, since the magic that sealed the witch was special, it took a lot of time and effort to restore the safe houses.

If the wedges were destroyed one after another, the framework that maintained the seal could collapse.

It was also “The Hanged Man” who had calculated the timing when the scarecrow would discover the huts to maintain the seal.

To be precise, the “main body” before the fragmentation of the soul had calculated it.

At “The Hanged Man”‘s concern, Rouerfel said nonchalantly.

“What could possibly happen?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the flow of mana in the forest changed once again.

“The Hanged Man” and Javan’s complexions turned pale as they felt the change in the flow with their skin.

The meaning of the change in the flow of mana was clear.

“…Another safe house has been destroyed.”

“The scarecrow is a crazy monster, but he shouldn’t have a way to find the huts. How?!”

“This is an emergency situation. I will contact the ‘manager’ of the forest.”

“The Hanged Man” created a paper bird with magic and flew it high.

“The one managing this forest is ‘The Magician,’ right?”

At Rouerfel’s question, Javan nodded.

“That’s right. But he won’t be able to come. He’ll probably send his subordinates.”

“Huh? Why? Shouldn’t he come in person for something like this?”

Rouerfel’s words were reasonable.

If the scarecrow had found a way to discover the safe houses, “Arcana 01, The Magician,” the manager in charge, should have come to the forest right away.

“Think about his position. The internal strife between ‘The Magician’ and the ‘Sage of the North Wind’ within the Magic Tower has become more and more fierce as the days go by. Moreover, even the Sage of the Summer Fruit is supporting the Sage of the North Wind, so he won’t have time to pay attention to other matters.”

One of the Eight Sages of the Magic Way, the “Sage of the North Wind,” Viscount Wiesel, was in the midst of a fierce internal war with the secret society within the Magic Tower, the “Shadow Tower.”

“Arcana 01, The Magician” was the tower master of the Shadow Tower, so he couldn’t move carelessly.

At Javan’s words, “The Hanged Man” nodded and said.

“Still, he will know the seriousness of the situation, so he will at least send a magic unit consisting of master class or higher. Perhaps ‘The Tower’ and ‘Death’ may come as well.”

The Puppet Master Nivel, an executive of Arcana and the Shadow Tower, and the Necromancer Arisa, who skillfully wielded negative-dimensional mana, would be a great force.

Rouerfel swallowed his saliva and asked.

“But wouldn’t knights be better than magicians in this forest? Magic is weakened in here.”

At his point, “The Hanged Man” chuckled.

“Actually, magicians are better. Due to the characteristic of the forest where sword energy and sword force also easily disperse, knights are also weakened, and engaging in close combat with ‘that’ scarecrow is suicide.”

At her words, Rouerfel recalled the anecdotes he had heard from his uncle like legends.

Malecob Jeffries had also participated in the battle to seal the witch in the past, so he passed on vivid experiences to his nephew.

“At the time of sealing the witch, there was a shortage of magicians, so we had no choice but to sacrifice the knights. However, the standard is for magicians to deal with the scarecrow, who has no means of long-range containment.”

Sighing, she headed into the forest and said bitterly.

“The scarecrow must have been significantly weakened as well since his connection with the witch has been cut off for a long time, so there should be no problem. Let’s just think about completing our mission.”