***
In the middle of the sea.
The red sunset was sinking.
“Strange.”
The tattooed young man stopped rowing, rose from his seat, and looked around.
“I’m sure this is the right spot. Where’d it go? This is enough to make a ghost wail.”
Where an island should have been, there was no island—only a vast red sea steeped in the sunset.
The other young men who had been rowing with him scratched the backs of their heads, all saying it was strange.
“We didn’t come to the wrong place, did we?”
“Didn’t you get the direction wrong?”
“Hey, who do you take me for? I got it right.”
“Then why isn’t there an island?”
“How would I know?”
While the young men chattered, the tattooed youth quietly scanned the sea.
Then he spotted something.
“Guys, go a little farther to the right.”
A small pouch was precariously caught on a log drifting in the water.
The tattooed young man picked it up and opened it.
“This… is that guy’s coin pouch.”
“Then we did come to the right place?”
“Looks like it.”
“Where’d the island go? Don’t tell me it sank? Whoa, no way.”
The tattooed young man counted the money inside the pouch, then clicked his tongue bitterly.
“After we take our share, there’s barely anything left. Poor guy.”
He tied the coin pouch shut and offered his condolences.
“It was a brief meeting, but it was fun. May you go to heaven. We’ll make good use of the money you left behind.”
Bwooooo!
A ship’s horn sounded in the distance.
When they looked in the direction of the sound, a large sailing ship was coming toward them.
At the bow, a man was shouting at the top of his lungs.
“Your Highness! Where are you, Your Highness!”
When Carlisle spotted the boat carrying the youths, he hurriedly pointed at them.
“Huh? Th-th-there! You there! You were the ones who brought His Highness, weren’t you? Where is His Highness!”
“We were looking for him too.”
The tattooed young man answered honestly that the island had vanished, then rowed away.
Carlisle collapsed onto the deck.
“Th-that cannot be…! How am I to report this to Her Majesty…! Sob, sob…”
Behind him, the minstrel Jamila wiped away her tears and began to sing an improvised song.
“There once was a prince who longed for adventure~”
Her beautiful voice rode the wind and stretched far into the distance.
Then it gradually faded and settled upon the land.
In a cave prison where torches burned in the dead of night.
Maru opened his eyes.
***
“You’re alive! You wouldn’t come to, so I thought you were dead!”
What entered Maru’s sight was a naked blond man.
A skinny build without a single muscle to speak of.
Late twenties? He looked about that age.
“Who are you…? And why are you naked?”
Maru asked as he looked around.
They were in a cramped cave, and the entrance was blocked by iron bars.
It looked like a prison.
And he himself was naked too.
“I am Prince Edward, the man who will one day be the master of this land.”
“Edward… Prince?”
“Are you surprised? No need to be so shocked. I do not stand on ceremony, so treat me comfortably. Unlike His Majesty my father, I am an open-minded man.”
Edward, who had introduced himself as a prince, grinned.
Perhaps he hadn’t been captured long ago, because although his face was covered in blue bruises from being beaten, he was full of energy.
“Why is a prince in this shabby prison…? No, before that, why am I locked up in prison?”
“Listen.”
Edward put on a serious expression, came closer, and squatted down.
“So what happened was…”
After hearing the whole story from him, Maru nodded.
“A succubus left me here, huh.”
“She truly was a beautiful succubus. I had never seen a succubus of such beauty before. How did you seduce her? Could she be your familiar? No, if she were your familiar, there’s no way she would have abandoned you to bandits.”
“You said it looked like she was being chased by a wyvern?”
“That is so. Ah! I see. She must have been in a hurry.”
Regardless of Edward’s chatter, Maru sank into thought for a moment.
‘The mark on my ear… Did she use that to find my location and rescue me?’
He was certain Luciella had saved him as he was drowning in the sea.
He vaguely remembered the decadent color of the nail polish painted on her nails.
He touched his right ear and let out a faint chuckle.
“It was more useful than I expected.”
“Mm? What are you muttering about?”
“Nothing. So how did a prince of a nation end up locked in here? Are they bandits who aren’t afraid of the king?”
“I!”
Edward stood up vigorously, his center dangling.
He clenched his fist.
“I bought mercenaries and organized a troop with the intention of wiping out the band of thieves tormenting the people! But I became entangled in wicked schemes and was betrayed! In the end, all the mercenaries ran away, and only I was left behind to be captured by the bandits.”
“You were captured alone?”
“That is so. The ones who betrayed me were the mercenaries I bought.”
“……”
Was it all right for a prince to boast so proudly about such an embarrassing story…?
Well, he seemed pure, so that was nice.
“Why didn’t you use the kingdom’s army? Why buy mercenaries?”
“At present, every soldier in the kingdom looks down on me, calling me the idiot prince. No one listens to me.”
Edward placed a hand on his forehead and sighed.
“His Majesty just lets that happen?”
“My father also calls me a wastrel.”
“Oh dear.”
“My younger sister, the princess, has given up on me entirely.”
“……”
What exactly was this guy?
What kind of character was he?
Was he really a prince?
“Do not worry. By tomorrow afternoon, the envoys sent by His Majesty will come and rescue us. Last time, they released me after receiving ten gold coins, but I wonder how much more they will demand this time. Ah! As a prince of this country, I cannot ignore a citizen in distress. I shall insist that they release you as well. Just trust me!”
“Sounds like this kind of thing happens a lot.”
“Indeed! This is the sixth time I’ve been captured by bandits!”
“So you’re a regular customer…”
At this point, even the king had every reason to get a headache.
In any case, he spent the night exchanging all sorts of stories with the blond prince.
Edward was lively, and since he knew many stories, he was an entertaining fellow in his own way.
He seemed honest and cheerful.
Before long, a rooster crowed, and when morning came, instead of giving them food, strangers paced in front of the iron bars.
A middle-aged man wearing an expensive robe looked into the cage and seemed to give instructions to the bandit officers.
“Cut here, cut there, cut from there to here… (whisper, whisper)”
Once the middle-aged man left, the bandits opened the prison door and came inside.
They were holding three buckets and a large, flat blade.
“Tie this one up.”
When one bandit pointed at Maru, the other bandits approached and began tying Maru’s arms with rope.
Edward shouted.
“What are you doing! Maru is leaving with me! Do not harm him!”
The bandit snickered.
“Shut up, idiot prince. Boys, His Highness says he’s hungry. Stuff some cloth in his mouth.”
“Yes!”
A rolled-up cloth was immediately shoved into Edward’s mouth.
Then the bandits tied both of Maru’s arms with rope and pulled from either side.
“The alchemist bought you. Says he’s going to synthesize a chimera. Using that body of yours that looks different from ours.”
“What?”
They weren’t just dragging him outside?
The moment Maru tried to resist, it was already too late.
One bandit swiftly swung the blade and brought it down on Maru’s leg.
“Hryaa! I’ll take the pork trotter first!”
Tak!
Kaaang!
“Huh?”
The blade that had struck Maru’s thigh shattered and snapped clean in two.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
“What the hell…?”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Maru was just as surprised.
‘My body got harder?’
The bandits assumed the blade must have been damaged, swapped it for another, and swung again.
But the second blade also shattered feebly.
“Shit, what the hell? What’s wrong with this guy’s body?”
Maru finally grasped the situation.
He realized his body had changed.
‘Did I gain strength?’
He immediately pulled hard with both arms.
The two bandits holding the ropes went “Uh, uh, uh!” as they were dragged helplessly toward him.
He grabbed their heads and smashed them into each other.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
“Aaagh!”
He easily took down the two like that, then grabbed the neck of the one who looked like an officer and lifted him into the air.
The man’s two legs flailed in midair.
“L-let me go!”
“What? You were going to cut off my limbs? What a joke.”
Maru gritted his teeth and hurled him away.
His head slammed into the wall, and he dropped to the floor.
He passed out just like that.
“A-amazing! Were you a hero? Are you a hero?”
Edward, with Maru’s help, spat out the cloth and rejoiced.
“Where did such strength come from! If you had it, you should have used it sooner!”
“Shh. I’ll explain later. Let’s hurry and get out.”
“Understood! Once we escape from here, you must tell me in detail! In detail!”
Maru picked up the scarf wrapped around a fallen bandit and covered his lower body.
Then he left the prison through the open door.
He ran into a bandit on patrol.
“Where do you think you’re running off to!”
Maru simply took the sword the man swung at him, grabbed him by the neck with his hand, and planted him upside down into the floor.
Kwaang!
“Urgh…”
The bandit immediately lost consciousness.
Maru marveled at the astonishing strength he possessed.
Looking down at both his palms, he smiled in rapture.
‘Thank you, Lord Belcran.’
The sound of horns rang out from every direction.
“The prisoners are escaping! Hurry and catch them!”
The bandits’ stronghold grew noisy.
Maru looked back.
“Go back into the prison.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to clean those guys up.”
“Clean? Oho, understood! I’ll wait, so make sure you come get me!”
While Edward scurried back into the prison to hide, the archers in the watchtowers mercilessly fired arrows at Maru.
A rain of arrows poured down over his head.
Maru let them hit him directly.
Ting, ting, ting, ting!
Ting, ting!
Ting!
Every arrowhead that touched Maru’s body snapped and fell to the ground.
Not a single one remained; they were all deflected.
“I’m not very good at things like shot put, though.”
Maru picked up the junk lying around and hurled it with all his might toward the tops of the watchtowers.
One archer was struck by a jar and sent flying, another was hit by a rum barrel, and another by the body of an unconscious bandit, sending him tumbling down.
After dealing with the archers that way, Maru moved on.
Along the way, groups carrying swords charged at him with battle cries, but it was useless.
They were thoroughly beaten by Maru and fell in droves, screaming.
“Where could the Mirror of Truth be? The boss’s room, probably?”
While searching for the boss’s house, he happened to run into the alchemist from earlier.
“Gah!”
“You little—get over here.”
As Maru strode toward him, the frightened alchemist hurriedly chanted a spell and sent out a familiar.
“Go bite him!”
“Graaar!”
A hellhound with its body blazing in flames sprang out and rushed at Maru like lightning.
Then, without caring whether it was hot or not, Maru grabbed the hellhound by the head, seized its upper and lower jaws, and tore its mouth apart.
Shraaaak!
Dark red blood sprayed everywhere.
Maru wiped the blood from his face and flashed a wide grin.
“Oh man, this feels insanely good. Did that hero always feel like this? Even for me, this is a drug. If I lived like this every day, I’d lose my mind. Why did he hand over such amazing power?”
There seemed to be no one who could stop him now.