The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

We left the Witch’s Forest and slowly headed north for about three days.

Although the Foal Series could cross the country in a day if we wanted to, we moved at the walking speed of an ordinary horse.

During the leisurely time, the mage trio of Jade, Abassael, and Silua observed the trees collected in the Witch’s Forest and devised various experiment plans, while Precia and Gilbert trained as usual.

My daily routine was being dragged around by both Precia and Jade, becoming physically and mentally exhausted and receiving sacred healing from Sophia.

“Ah, Precia. Come to think of it, you easily cut through that hard wood in the forest. How did you do it?”

When I pointed to the log Abassael was diligently peeling and asked, Precia scratched her cheek as if embarrassed.

“It’s nothing great. Just a knack, you could say…”

Trailing off, Precia still seemed happy that I showed interest in swordsmanship and drew her sword, flowing mana into the blade.

“While sparring with the Sword Demon and Sword Fairy in the Constellation Labyrinth, I was able to imbue the sword with my own imagery to some extent, but I couldn’t possibly surpass their sword strength.”

Well, that’s natural. It’s a thief’s mindset to hope to win against someone with vastly different accumulated years of experience.

“Even if I couldn’t win, I was frustrated at being helplessly beaten, so I tried to come up with a way to at least endure somehow. Then I remembered how you had cut through a lump of metal with a stream of water before.”

I cut through a lump of metal with a stream of water? Ah, is she talking about when I cut through the door of the lord’s large safe in Bryuta?

“Since you cut through a lump of metal with nothing special but water, I thought it might be possible with sword energy too, so I tried to imitate it similarly, and I was able to resist to some extent.”

I saw the mana thinly layered on Precia’s sword rapidly rotating along the blade.

I was impressed by the sight.

Was it possible to reproduce this just by seeing it once without knowing the principle?

As expected, a genius is a genius. There was a reason why Sword Fairy Nayuta praised her.

“Wow! That’s amazing!”

When I applauded, Precia was embarrassed.

“I just imitated you, Young Master.”

“Imitating a completely different technique is what’s amazing. Will you teach Gilbert too?”

At my question, Precia shook her head.

“No. For Gilbert, increasing his mana capacity and extending the duration of maintaining sword energy is the priority, so I don’t plan to teach him right away.”

I nodded my head.

If Precia says so, then that’s how it is.

Gilbert was digesting the elixirs, determining the order to take them based on their compatibility, referring to the dosage guide Dorothy had given him.

I spoke while observing the scenery outside the window.

“Hmm, around here? Let’s stop the carriage and have lunch here.”

At my words, Silua, who was controlling the Foal Series, brought the carriage to a halt.

For the past three days, we had been stopping the carriage and camping whenever we passed by scenic spots like this, spending peaceful time. However, the atmosphere didn’t brighten up that much.

“Let’s get some fresh air and change the mood.”

Abassael carefully spoke to Yard. At Abassael’s suggestion, Yard smiled awkwardly.

“Thank you. But you don’t need to worry about me.”

We didn’t force him to join us at his words.

In the end, even when everyone got off the carriage, Yard forced a smile and remained alone inside.

Although he tried not to show it, it didn’t seem easy for him.

Seeing him sitting alone in the carriage, trying not to stand out, he seemed deep in thought.

Since it was obvious how he must be feeling, I couldn’t thoughtlessly comfort him to cheer up, but I couldn’t ignore him either.

With Yard, who was usually the most talkative, being silent all day, it felt quiet.

“What will you do?”

At Jade’s question, I shrugged my shoulders.

“For now, we should just carry on as usual. What else can we do?”

The original plan was to go to the Witch’s Forest and the place we were contemplating, but we decided to change the schedule to save Lila, who had become a banshee.

It was clear that it wasn’t good for her to be in an undead state and lose her mind for a long time.

“Is it okay to change the schedule?”

“It’s fine. The place we were originally going to isn’t that urgent.”

If it had been intertwined with other hostile forces, I would have apologized to Yard but gone there first.

However, the place I was intertwined with was far from hostile forces, so it didn’t matter.

The place we were going to save Lila was also a place I would visit someday.

We had just changed the order of the schedule.

“Well, it would be burdensome to pay too much attention to him, so it would be best to show consideration but treat him as usual.”

“…Is that so?”

Jade’s gaze kept turning towards Yard as if he was still concerned about him.

It wasn’t just Jade. Everyone except me, Gilbert, and Sophia was excessively worried about Yard.

Come to think of it, except for Gilbert and Sophia, everyone was far from social life.

Jade and Silua had lived in isolation, Precia’s daily life was hellish training, and Abassael had been confined by Boutique for 10 years.

What was surprising was that Sophia, a religious person, didn’t greatly comfort Yard.

“Huh? You’re supposed to do that only after the emotions have settled down to some extent. Otherwise, it only creates a backlash. It’s also a good method to stand next to them, provoking and fueling their negative emotions to consume them, but then my emotions would be hurt.”

I unconsciously nodded at Sophia’s brazen words. Wise.

“And above all, you’re going to do something about it anyway, right?”

“Well, it’s not like I’ll do it, but it will work out somehow.”

The person I called for that should be arriving soon.

As I checked my watch and looked up at the sky, a spatial teleportation magic circle appeared high above right on time.

I raised my hand to stop Jade, who was about to interfere with the spatial teleportation magic.

“I called for it, so don’t stop it.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Two human-shaped figures jumped out of the warp gate that appeared in the sky and fell to the ground.

“Aaaaaah!”

An old man in priestly attire, grabbed by the collar and dragged by a girl with fluttering violet hair, screamed as she suddenly fell.

“Yahoo~! Long time no see, friend!”

The girl, who had the appearance of a Dragonian with horns shining violet on her head, Bahamut the Violet Dragon, greeted with a bright smile.

“It’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Ehehe! I’m always bored as usual. These days, hunting and watching demon worshippers is a bit entertaining, I guess? Ah, I did have an interesting experience a few days ago…”

“Ugh…! Lord Bahamut…! Urgh!”

The old man, who was still lying face down on the ground due to the aftermath of the spatial teleportation, raised his hand and called out to Bahamut.

“Tsk, you’re so weak.”

While Bahamut clicked her tongue, Sophia calmed the old man’s churning vestibular system with sacred power.

Even though the old man was a priest and could sufficiently handle sacred power, sacred power was still a power used by humans.

If one couldn’t concentrate, it couldn’t be used.

“Phew, phew! Tha- Thank you. Priestess.”

“Not at all. It’s something I should do. May the blessings of the earth be with you.”

At Sophia’s greeting, the old priest stood up from his spot and smiled kindly.

“May the glory of the sun be with you.”

On the chest of the pure white priestly attire the old priest was wearing, a sun with a face was engraved.

The lines depicting the light extending in all directions, commonly drawn when portraying the sun, were thirteen in number.

The Solar Church classified the ranks of the clergy based on the number of lines portraying sunlight.

Five lines signified a regular priest, seven lines a high priest, nine lines a bishop, eleven lines an archbishop, and thirteen lines a cardinal.

If it was a cardinal that Bahamut brought along, it must be Asede, the legendary heretic inquisitor.

Asede saw Sophia’s face and slightly narrowed his brows as if something was coming to mind but couldn’t immediately recognize her.

“Have we met somewhere before?”

It seemed he didn’t expect to find the Saint of the Earth in a place like this.

After confirming the large sun drawn on the old priest’s chest, Sophia answered with a smile.

“Well? I’m not sure. Perhaps we brushed past each other’s lapels when I visited the holy land.”

Sophia also seemed to have only noticed that the old priest in front of her was a cardinal, but didn’t know who he was.

It was natural.

The Saint, who had restrictions on political activities, had few external activities, and the cardinal, a former heretic inquisitor with many enemies, habitually concealed his identity, so it made sense.

“I see. We might have encountered each other at the holy land.”

The old priest, convinced, nodded and scanned me and my companions.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you like this. I am Asede, a humble servant who serves the brilliantly shining great sun.”

I, as the representative, received Cardinal Asede’s greeting.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Cardinal Asede. I didn’t expect you to come in person.”

I only called for Bahamut alone. At my words, Asede laughed joyfully.

“Hohohoho, of course I had to come and see you. After hearing from Lord Bahamut, this old heart of mine was foolishly going thump-thump.”

“You must still be young.”

“Ohoho! That’s quite a pleasant thing to hear. But Lord Bahamut called you a friend, Brother…”

I extended my hand for a handshake and grasped his hand as he trailed off.

“May the sunlight shine upon your future. I’m Yuan.”

When I introduced myself with the greeting used by the followers of the Solar Church, Asede’s eyes widened.

“I wondered who the hero was who had overcome Lord Bahamut’s trial, and it was none other than you, Brother. I’ve heard a lot about you from Lord Bahamut.”

“Hey! Trial, you say! It was just a game!”

Bahamut grumbled when Asede referred to the bet to become friends as a trial.

“Hohohoho. Lord Bahamut’s game is sufficient to be called a trial. Throughout history, the number of people who have passed Lord Bahamut’s trial can be counted on one hand.”

“Ahem!”

When words unfavorable to her were spoken, Bahamut fake coughed and averted her gaze.

“The trial is so difficult that even the restrictions imposed by God are overlooked when it comes to those who have overcome it.”

Was the bet with Bahamut that challenging?

“Ah, unfortunately, I failed to pass Lord Bahamut’s trial. I couldn’t handle the last Chaturanga at all.”

“Really? It wasn’t that strong though.”

When I expressed doubt, Bahamut flared up.

“Hey! Let’s have a rematch! I specially trained to beat you!”

As she got excited, Asede pacified her in a fluster.

“Lord Bahamut, let’s take care of the matter at hand first and then do it leisurely later.”

Asede took out more than a dozen waist-high boxes with thick sacred power flowing from his subspace magical tool.

“These are the top-grade holy water, ingots of sacred iron, and scrolls containing sacred magic that Brother Yuan requested.”

Holy water, sacred iron, and sacred magic were all items strictly restricted from being taken outside.

“It must not have been easy to obtain them. That’s impressive.”

“That means the concessions you made were impressive, Brother.”

At his words, I also took out two wooden boxes from my subspace.

“Please check them.”

At my words, Asede opened the boxes without hesitation. Inside the boxes were heads with terrible demonic energy and black mana flowing.

“These are the heads of Agistream, the 6th Apostle, and Donovan, the 11th Apostle of the Morning Star Cult, who were performing a demon-summoning ritual in Bryuta. Both the heads and the merit of the subjugation belong to the Solar Church.”