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Chapter 0192 Bags
Translator: Jay_Forestieri
Editor: Tseirp
The day Ryo and Abel arrived at the Crystal Palace in the Royal Capital.
Ryo went straight to the Royal Alchemy Workshop.
Abel, on the other hand, completed some jobs at the frontier Count Rune’s mansion.
Even for an average adventurer, so long as you’re an A-rank, you will be required to perform a variety of tasks.
The night after completing these tasks, Abel left the Count’s mansion, walked for a while, and entered a certain building.
It was the ‘Kingdom Magic Research Institute’, also known as the ‘Ilarion Residence’.
However, instead of going directly to Ilarion’s office on the top floor, where he usually goes, he went to the basement.
It was an off-limits area lined with laboratories dedicated to Ilarion.
But Abel did not care about such things and entered the area, stood in front of a room, and held his right hand in front of the door.
A blue-white light appeared on the door, and after a moment, the door opened without a sound.
He did the same with the doors inside the room, and after passing through a total of three doors, Abel descended the stairs that appeared and walked down the long corridor.
After walking for what must have been twenty minutes, he came to a spiral staircase leading to the top.
Without hesitation, he went up the stairs and arrived in front of a stone door.
Abel placed his hand on the stone door and chanted something.
Then the stone door opened by itself.
Then, after walking about 50 meters, he arrived at yet another stone door.
Abel slid his sword halfway out of its sheath and struck the door three times with the hilt.
After a while, he heard three taps on the other side of the door.
Confirming this, Abel tapped seven times this time.
Finally, he heard the sound of something like a lock and bolt being removed from behind the door, and the door opened.
And then, the face that appeared was the crown prince.
“Come in, Albert.”
“Big brother…”
Abel, who was called Albert, could not say anything back to the crown prince who greeted him with a smile.
He looked so much worse than the last time they had met.
“I look terrible, don’t I?”
The Crown Prince said to Abel with a smile.
“No…”
As expected, even though he was his brother, he couldn’t honestly tell him what he thought of him. But then again, Abel sucks when it comes to lying.
“It’s my body after all. So I know it best. Quite frankly, I probably won’t even last another year.”
“Brother!”
“Oh don’t make such a scary face. It can’t be helped.”
The crown prince laughed bitterly and soothed Abel, whose face was turning grim.
“When I die, Abel will be the first in line to the throne. I am not worried at all about your strength in terms of ‘military prowess’, Abel. As for your individual combat strength, you’ve even become an A-rank adventurer.”
The crown prince looked really happy, despite his disheveled face.
“I’m just concerned that you don’t have much experience in actual politics because you’re busy working as an adventurer.”
“Yes…”
Abel nodded his head in agreement with the crown prince’s point.
Of course, until he left the royal castle at the age of eighteen, Abel had learned everything a royal family member should learn.
So, as far as basic knowledge is concerned, he’s solid….
“So, for the next week, I would like to pass along all the problems and experiences I have had to tackle as crown prince to you, Abel.”
“What…. B-But, that’s, wait…”
Abel, as the second prince when he was in the royal castle, was trained in both literature and military arts.
However, he did not like both equally…needless to say, his tastes were so biased that he even wanted to devote everything to military arts, or rather the sword.
“Albert, you can’t run away from this at this stage. This is my last request as your big brother.”
The crown prince approached Abel with a smile on his face that was almost refreshing.
He knew from experience that if he said this, Abel wouldn’t refuse.
“All right…I understand.”
Without much resistance, Abel gave up.
“Good. I knew you would accept, so I’ve already prepared the materials. We’ll get right on, starting tonight.”
And so began Abel’s week-long days of intensive study.
On the eve of the mission’s departure, a dazed swordsman stood in front of the Royal Alchemy Workshop.
“Hello…”
His voice was so feeble that under normal circumstances, no one would have responded.
However, that night, a water-attribute magician was waiting near the entrance of the alchemy workshop, and he was able to pick up on the faint voice.
“Abel, you are late. I was contacted and although I was waiting for you…I was already thinking of going to the frontier count’s mansion on my own.”
“Uh…sorry. I lost track of time studying…”
The swordsman Abel was carrying a rather large bag.
The magician Ryo, was also carrying a large bag in addition to his usual bag.
“That’s a rather bulky bag you got there, Abel.”
“You seem to be carrying one yourself, Ryo.”
They both looked at each other’s bags and laughed.
Abel laughed dryly.
Ryo smiled happily.
The difference most likely had to do with the contents of the bags.
Abel went from the royal castle to the alchemy workshop after leaving the Kingdom Magic Research Institute.
There he met up with Ryo, and the two entered the frontier Count Rune’s mansion.
Abel, feeling pretty spent, went straight to bed.
Ryo took a bath gracefully, looked at the materials in his bag for a bit, and then went to sleep.
They both eventually found themselves in dreamland.
The two enjoyed a peaceful world…
The next morning, Abel was released from a week of intensive lectures by the crown prince and had fully recovered after a night’s sleep.
As might be expected of an A-rank adventurer perhaps.
His recovery power must be among the highest in the entire human race.
Ryo also woke up fine and had the breakfast prepared by the frontier count’s mansion.
He had a long journey ahead of him. Moreover, to a foreign country.
Since anything could happen along the way, he filled his stomach given the opportunity.
Although he’s one to hold back on a normal day, he does act like an adventurer when called for.
And since they were guests, a carriage had been prepared for them.
As they headed for the carriage, they saw a familiar face.
“Oh, if it isn’t Zack and Scotty. Are you two in the delegation as well?”
They ran into Zack Cooler and Scotty Cobook, both members of the Royal Knight Order and members of the ‘Second Son Union’, a drinking club in the royal capital.
“Yeah, as platoon leaders.”
“There were so many applicants, we had to go through quite a number of rounds of elimination.”
Zack and Scotty replied, laughing.
But suddenly Zack’s laughter froze.
“Wait, you, the magician from that time…”
Zack caught sight of Ryo.
By that time, of course, he was referring to the Elven Autonomous Region incident during the royal capital mayhem.
It was shortly after the elf, Sera defeated the Ark Devil, Ryo appeared there and claimed the heads of the other Devils with a water jet.
While holding Sera, who Zack had a thing for, in his arms.
Zack’s eyes was filled with hostility, along with some fear.
Ryo also sensed this thorny atmosphere and asked Abel, who was standing next to him, in a whisper,
“What’s his deal?”
Ryo had no recollection of meeting Zack.
But he did feel a hostile stare.
Of course, Abel knew the whole story, but…he couldn’t be bothered to share the details at the moment.
“B-Beats me…I don’t know what’s going on, but don’t worry about it.”
With a cold sweat running down his back, Abel decided to play dumb.
Incidentally, Scotty, who was standing next to Zack, was shaking his head in a small gesture of resignation. From the very beginning, he had shown by his actions that he had no intention of doing anything.
In the end, Ryo got into the carriage without so much of a clue.
That day, a total of 82 people, including 20 civilian officials, two members of an A-rank party, 20 knights, 20 squires, and 20 C-rank escort adventurers, led by a negotiator from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, departed the royal capital.