Chap 19-Each Person’s Circumstances

 

Training ground outskirts.

A man holding a golden bow whistled, gazing silently at the training ground.

Beside him stood a woman, seemingly his secretary.

“Your Highness, that woman dared to block your arrow.”

The woman, holding binoculars, reported a fact that the Third Prince already knew.

“I was thinking of sending someone, but she blocked it.”

Third Prince Kailon smiled bitterly.

Having already released the bowstring, he stared at the woman who had blocked the arrow moments before.

She had blocked the power of an archer.

The wide field of vision to clearly see the enemy, the target. The woman who could see far away, almost like clairvoyance, was the one who had blocked the arrow just now.

The arrow in her hand had already crumbled into particles of light.

He had noticed that she was strong enough to break the barrier herself. Impressive.

Moreover, judging by the fact that she didn’t tell the instructor, she seemed to know that the evidence would disappear.

She was no ordinary person.

“Your Highness?”

“Well, honestly, I didn’t really intend to kill my sister. If I had to say, I was hoping that the girl next to her would be a meat shield and die instead.”

If that had happened, his sister would have stayed still.

Come to think of it, that woman was more of a problem than his sister.

The master-servant relationship was reversed, and she was even strong.

Blocking his arrow, enhanced with the power of a star sign, should have been nearly impossible. The fact that she blocked it meant…

She probably had the same star sign.

Her sparkling eyes were like a galaxy of flowing stars.

What star sign could it be?

It couldn’t just be a skill for eating.

Moreover, it seemed like they had made eye contact for a brief moment.

Kailon turned away.

Should he retreat for now? He had already caught one weakness anyway.

She had broken the barrier, after all.

If he used that to exploit her, controlling that woman would be easy enough—

“Your Highness, she has repaired the barrier.”

Kailon paused and immediately turned his gaze towards the barrier.

It was true.

It wasn’t perfect, but it had been partially repaired.

It was slowly being fixed over time.

Even if experts checked it later, they wouldn’t be able to tell.

“Repaired the barrier?”

“Yes.”

Repairing the barrier on the spot meant that she already had skills in that area as well.

Well, that explained how she had broken the barrier so easily in the first place.

She wasn’t just a girl showing off her strength.

“Hah, blackmail is out of the question. Ailia will have a hard time.”

If that woman had any sense, she wouldn’t come looking for him.

Ailia would be there right away.

The princess’s succession ranking was far below that of the princes.

Naturally, the competition among the princesses was even fiercer.

Not only did they have to compete with the princes, but having another princess present would only make things more troublesome.

Instead of trying to cooperate, the princesses of the empire were always busy tearing each other apart.

Her target was probably Ailia, who had the disgraced Marquis Family as her close confidant.

Ailia wouldn’t be easily defeated, but if a troublesome sister held her back, it would become a nuisance.

Especially if someone with that much skill was leading the princess.

It was obvious that Ailia would be fighting with her over it for a while.

In that case, there was no reason to bother their cute youngest sister right now.

“Let’s retreat for now.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Just how miserable would the sight of Ailia and their cute sister fighting be?

Watching it would be a fun in itself.

Gallia Kingdom

Around this time, the Gallia Kingdom was thoroughly concealing the incident of the Holy Sword’s disappearance.

As a result, contrary to Ciel’s expectations, there was no bounty on her.

After all, it was the Gallia Kingdom, the nation of heroes.

The hero chosen by the goddess and appointed by the king had lost the Holy Sword.

What would happen if that became known to the people of the kingdom?

How would the Four Heavenly Kings react?

Considering the repercussions, they had to conceal the fact that the thief had stolen the Holy Sword at all costs.

And…

The hero Talon, who had been searching for Sien as much as possible in the kingdom and its surrounding areas to find the Holy Sword by any means, headed to the imperial palace today at the king’s summons.

“Your Majesty, you summoned me.”

“Welcome, hero. You still haven’t found the Holy Sword?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“We received word from the empire. The imperial army has apparently recovered the Holy Sword.”

The Holy Sword was found in the empire?

Hero Talon’s eyes widened.

This also meant that Sien was in the empire.

“How is that possible?”

“Judging by the fact that they’re not revealing the details, it’s obvious, isn’t it? That thieving bastard is planning to embarrass us by handing the Holy Sword over to the empire.”

“Ugh.”

The king had disliked that thief from the start.

He had reluctantly acknowledged his inclusion in the hero party, even if unofficially, because he was an asset.

But he was unnecessarily politically savvy.

His actions were so shady that he tarnished the light of the hero party appointed by the royal family.

Now he had even stolen the Holy Sword, and it was found in the empire? It was obvious.

‘Damn it. He should have stolen the Bow of the World Tree too. Or at least left the Holy Sword behind!’

‘He stole the Holy Sword.’ That alone had become a nuisance.

It thoroughly proved the hero’s incompetence.

The empire had been treated as ‘subordinate’ in the relationship between the kingdom and the empire.

They had gritted their teeth and had no choice but to do as the kingdom told them. If things turned out like this, the relationship could be reversed.

What a despicable guy.

“That’s why I kept saying we should stay away from that thieving bastard!”

The king shouted at Talon.

“I’m sorry.”

“You should have been more careful if you were going to kick him out!”

“Even so, I never imagined he would commit the sin of stealing the Holy Sword before the Demon King castle.”

The king couldn’t argue with Talon’s answer and sighed deeply.

“Well, I guess so.”

He had to admit that the shady thief had fought hard in his own way.

Above all, he had advanced more than anyone else for the Demon King War.

Even the Four Heavenly Kings had retreated against that thief, let alone the hero.

Who would have expected that such a person would hold a grudge and steal the Holy Sword after being kicked out before the Demon King castle?

In the first place, the king himself and the nobles had agreed to kick out the thief before the Demon King War.

“I’ve contacted them to send an envoy, so go to the empire and retrieve the Holy Sword.”

“Yes.”

Hero Talon received the king’s order.

As he was about to leave the audience chamber…

Princess Luciella, the only princess in this country, blocked Talon’s path.

“Has the location of the Holy Sword finally been identified?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“What about Sien?”

Talon’s face hardened slightly at the mention of Sien’s name.

However, he soon regained his composure and shook his head.

“We still don’t know about Sien. We believe the empire is hiding him.”

“I suppose so. Since there’s not a single ally in this kingdom, he had no choice but to go to the empire. It’s only natural for the empire to hide such a Sien.”

Her tone was sarcastic to anyone who heard it.

That’s right. The princess was close to Sien.

Since such a Sien had been banished and the Holy Sword had been stolen, such a reaction was perhaps a very natural result.

“Princess, this is…”

“Oh, don’t make excuses. Either way, isn’t it true that you were used even by your childhood friend?”

The princess’s sarcasm continued.

He knew that she had been influenced by Sien because they had been close since before, but even so, could she really say that to the hero of this country?

But Talon was originally from the slums.

He wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for the royal family, and he couldn’t dare to get angry at the king’s favorite daughter.

So all he could do was say that Sien was bad.

“Princess, Sien is a thief in the first place. There’s no telling how much he’s done behind the scenes.”

Even though Talon was as polite as possible, the princess distorted her mouth and then smiled like Sien did when he was mocking someone.

“Wasn’t all of that helpful to the hero, and even to the royal family, who had to keep the nobles in check? If I were to do that before the war with the Demon King, is the Holy Sword the problem? You should be grateful that he’s not using his sword.”

Of course, he could admit it to some extent. Still, Sien was a thief.

He had bad habits, and there was no ‘good’ or ‘justice’ in him. He was a guy who believed that only the path he chose was justice.

Even if it was a path of evil.

She didn’t know that at all, so she was acting like that.

“Princess, even so…”

“So, are you sure Sien is in the empire?”

“We don’t know that yet. We were only told to retrieve the Holy Sword.”

“I’ll go this time too.”

Talon smiled bitterly at the princess’s words.

Sien didn’t seem to know it at all, but Sien had also stolen the princess’s heart.

The heart of Princess, Hero Talon’s heartbreaking first love.

Sien had stolen it so easily.

‘It’s useless now, but…’

Sien was no longer here.

Honestly, he was embarrassed that the princess was acting like that even knowing Sien’s true nature.

But what did it matter? Sien didn’t care about the princess anyway, and the princess was protecting such a thief. It was a good thing.

Yes. Let’s go to the empire.

He was curious about what that thief was doing now.

Second Princess’s Palace

Princess Ailia frequently sent people to scout Arietta and Bathory.

They were her only female competitors, and it wouldn’t hurt to know about the enemy.

“So, what are those two doing?”

“Yes. It has been confirmed that they are diligently training in the swordsmanship department.”

“Is that so.”

Training in the swordsmanship department, huh.

It seemed that Bathory was quite busy now.

Well, she had to protect her incompetent sister, and if there were enemies everywhere, she had to teach her sister at least some self-defense.

“And, um, the Second(?) Prince…”

“What about that guy?”

“It seems he attempted an assassination directly at that time.”

“Assassination?”

That guy wouldn’t have that kind of personality.

Well, if there was a possibility, he probably just did it once.

He was the kind of guy who always annoyed people like that.

“But doesn’t the swordsmanship department or the magic department have separate barriers apart from the external barrier?”

“Yes.”

“He broke through that and targeted our cute sister?”

Ailia’s eyes widened.

No matter how she thought about it, she didn’t think that was possible.

In that situation, she couldn’t help but feel doubtful.

“Yes. It seems so.”

“No matter how strong that guy is, if he was so determined to break the barrier, Instructor Gustav would have noticed.”

Looking at it that way, it was suspicious.

How did he shoot at his sister?

Even if he stopped the barrier for a moment, it would have been noticed.

This wasn’t the imperial palace. It was difficult to hide flaws by using factions.

The way that guy used people to cover things up wouldn’t work.

“Then what about the arrow that flew?”

“Lady Bathory caught it with her bare hands.”

“Caught the arrow with her bare hands? That guy is a star sign, but she caught that arrow?”

“Yes.”

“She figured that out well.”

This was new information.

“The prince’s secretary proudly spread that information.”

“The secretary is probably a subordinate. Bathory, that girl is no ordinary person either. She caught the power of a star sign with her bare hands?”

Well, those unusual eyes were strange.

Something was strange.

If Arnold, the successor of Edenberun, was so surprised, it meant everything.

She didn’t know what she had done, but Mary was almost dead now.

As if warning that this would happen if anyone touched her. Bathory dared to warn her, as if to say, “Be careful not to let your petty pride be shattered by trying to do something to my sister.”

Then it must have been that girl.

She broke the barrier by some means.

If a woman in the swordsmanship department broke the barrier, it was usually…

!!

At that moment, something flashed through Ailia’s mind.

That’s right. It was on purpose. She broke the barrier herself.

Why?

To provoke Kailon, that damn bastard.

To give a blow to that guy who was using the power of a star sign to stalk her in such a dirty way, even though he was a prince.

She would leave the barrier open, so he could try to attack if he could.

In fact, Kailon, that idiot who was caught in it, shot an arrow. And it was easily blocked.

Then, what if she made him fight with that girl?