Chapter 265: Hey Friend! (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
Editor: Borderline Masochist
However, the expressions on the faces of the nobles listening to Cale and the crown prince started to be filled with different colors.
There was only one thing that these two could mean right now.
The Roan Kingdom wanted to take over the Empire.
The Ailan household was known as the leader of the Roan Kingdom's southeast region. The head of that household, Marquis Sand Ailan, saw the expression on crown prince Alberu’s face and gulped.
‘...He means it.’
The crown prince really was aiming for the Empire.
And he had called the kingdom's highest nobles here in order to express that desire.
‘No. He didn't only call us.’
Marquis Sand Ailan’s gaze headed to a spot about halfway between himself and the crown prince. Cale Henituse was standing there. He seemed to have already discussed everything with the crown prince.
‘This is bad.’
They had just finished a war.
The fact that crown prince Alberu was preparing for another war made Marquis Sand Ailan unable to determine how the state of affairs of the continent would flow from here.
Furthermore, wasn’t this supposed to be the crown prince who cherished his people?
He had just told the citizens that the war was over and that they could greet spring. That meant that the war against the Empire would go in a different way than the war against the Indomitable Alliance.
‘However, those things aren’t the main issues.’
The real reason that Marquis Sand Ailan thought it was bad. That reason was making his mouth completely dry.
‘The Roan Kingdom is not weak.’
The bad part was that this war against the Empire did not seem impossible.
The growth of the Mage Brigade and the Navy, as well as the overall growth of the knights’ morales. All of these showed that the Roan Kingdom was already one of the Western continent’s strongest kingdoms.
Furthermore, they also had a sword master and many other strong individuals who were a kingdom's important keys for success.
Although many people did not know about this next topic because the news had not spread, but the crown prince has been pressuring temples for a while and setting the foundations to bring the necromancer and the Dark Elves into the kingdom.
Crown prince Alberu Crossman truly showed the strength of the survivors very well.
He had shown it by surviving when he had no strong supporters after he had lost the king's favor.
The people who had been his stronger supporters were the Henituse household and the northeast region's nobles who had been the central figures in this past war.
Marquis Sand Ailan was unable to do anything during this past war. In fact, the influence of the southeast region’s nobles had decreased, putting him in a bad situation.
‘However, no matter how strong the Roan Kingdom has become, fighting against the Empire is a different issue.’
It meant something to touch the Empire that had long been the Western continent’s ruler.
Marquis Sand Ailan's mind became complicated.
Actually, his heart was even more complicated.
‘The bad thing is that I keep thinking that it is possible.’
No matter how terrible he had been in the political side, he was the Roan Kingdom's leader of martial arts after all. Which expert, especially a sword master, would want to suppress his own powers in front of a large-scale war?
‘Defending,’ against the Indomitable Alliance and, ‘attacking,’ the Empire were extremely different from one another.
The fact that the Roan Kingdom was in a place where it could launch an attack made his heart excited.
‘It also creates an opportunity for each faction’s nobles.’
Marquis Sand Ailan looked toward Duke Orsena, who represented the central faction.
Both Marquis Ailan and Duke Orsena were known to not be part of the crown prince’s faction. Their influence was decreasing as the Roan Kingdom’s name became better known.
Gaining merit in the war against the Empire was their chance to find a shortcut in order to retrieve their lost influence.
Marquis Ailan had a bitter smile on his face as he looked toward crown prince Alberu.
‘The crown prince probably invited all of us here while aiming for this.’
He was scared of the crown prince’s strategic mind.
However, that bitter smile soon disappeared.
Crown prince Alberu Crossman started to speak.
“Do you know the story of the Crossman royal family?”
The Crossman household had been the only royal family since the beginning of the Roan Kingdom.
There was a story related to that family.
‘The Crossman ruler always has beautiful blonde hair.’
This blonde hair was the symbol of the royal family. Although the entire royal family throughout history had not been blonde, the king and the potential future kings had all always been blonde.
This was because it was said that the Crossman household had received the blessing of the Sun God.
However, the nobles did not dare to share this information out loud.
That reason came out of Alberu's mouth with an odd smile on his face.
“The Crossman royal family is said to have received the blessing of the Sun God, however, we are unable to share this story because of the Empire. This is the internal sorrow for a kingdom that is average.”
The Mogoru Empire was the continent’s strongest faction and the location of the largest Church of the Sun God. The Mogoru royal family had always treasured the Sun God.
However, although Cale smiled and quickly hid it, the other nobles were feeling a sense of chilliness that they could not even feel the warmth of the sun.
Marquis Sand Ailan had his eyes closed. All sorts of thoughts were going through his mind. However, he soon opened his eyes again. He had made up his mind in less than 5 seconds.
‘Let’s do it.’
It was time to put everything on the line.
However, there was someone who had made up their mind faster than any of them.
One person's voice responded to Alberu’s request.
“Your highness.”
Cale Henituse.
He was the first one to respond to Alberu’s request.
Cale slightly bowed and continued to speak.
“Your highness, you will start the new story about the Roan Kingdom and the Crossman royal family.”
‘Funny bastard.’
Alberu held back his laughter.
The Crossman royal family had always had blonde kings.
Although he thought that it was a rotten tradition, Alberu had to turn himself blonde as well. It was not just an issue for him, as he felt that it would be difficult for the citizens to accept him and his quarter Dark Elf blood that had been hiding the truth all this time. Furthermore, his true appearance would be a weakness when it came to politics and foreign affairs.
That was why Alberu understood what Cale meant by what he said.
The person who never said useless things had said, ‘the Crossman royal family’s new story.’
This definitely meant that he would become the Roan Kingdom’s king even though he was not truly blonde.
‘I like it a lot.’
Alberu then looked toward the others. They all bowed their heads and shared similar sentiments.
“We will do what we can to create that path for you, your highness.”
He could see Cale raise his head before the other nobles.
He looked quite evil as he smiled.
- Human! The crown prince is smiling like you as well!
However, Alberu had a similarly evil smile on his face.
“Raise your heads.”
The nobles raised their heads at Alberu’s command. Alberu gave another order to the nobles after that.
“I will teach you the path that you will need to walk from here.”
Of course, he had come up with this plan with Cale.
The bright sun was shining while the citizens were cheering outside the terrace. However, the Roan Kingdom’s central figures were planning for their future.
Cale returned to the Henituse residence at the capital and looked at the clock.
Click, click.
He could hear the second hand moving.
“Human, they will be here soon!”
He heard Raon’s comment. Cale turned his head.
Paaaaat-
A bright light caught Cale's attention. The empty room next to Cale's bedroom. The magic circle in that room was shining brightly.
Once that light disappeared...
“Nice house.”
Cale could see the ancient Dragon Eruhaben looking around the room. He could also see three people wearing white priest robes with no crests.
Eruhaben had returned to the Super Rock Villa in order to bring these three people over. They were naturally the three that Cale had been waiting for.
The crazy priestess Cage, the half-Saint Jack, and the blood-crazed sword master and fake Holy Maiden, Hannah.
They had come to see Cale for the first time in a while.
“Long time no see. The God of Death seems to be doing a good job.”
“Hey.”
“Young master-nim, I have heard a lot about your great deeds.”
Crazy priestess Cage took out wine glasses with shields etched on them while Hannah casually greeted Cale and touched her scabbard. Saint Jack was smiling with an even holier face than usual.
Cale put on a smile that was as gentle as possible as he said something to these three that had each greeted him in their own ways.
“We need to go evangelize.”
Silence filled the room after hearing Cale's words.
Cale continued to smile as he asked crazy priestess Cage, who was staring at him a question.
“Miss Cage, did I seem holy?”
Cage responded back with an odd expression on her face.
“...Young master-nim, you look evil.”
The crazy priestess Cage did not know how to lie.
Cale's expression quickly became blank in surprise.