Chapter 92
The young mage with white hair and red eyes had a gentle, approachable impression that made anyone feel favorable toward him.
The mage who met his gaze grinned widely.
The Crown Prince, who had quietly nodded in return, crossed his legs arrogantly and spoke to Duke Skaia in an overbearing tone.
“Are you prepared to spare no means or methods for the sake of the divine beast?”
“Yes! Of course!”
Duke Skya, half out of his mind, answered in a flustered rush.
At this rate, he would end up like Ikart Monlepe—stripped of everything and locked away in the abandoned tower—so there was nothing left to hide or hold back.
The Crown Prince stared down at the duke for a moment before tilting his head toward the door and concluding in a low voice.
“I have something to discuss with the imperial mage, so please wait outside. A servant will come fetch you once the conversation is over.”
At this, Duke Skya vacated his seat with a deathly pale face.
Soon, only the mage and the Crown Prince remained in the room.
The mage lowered his voice to a secretive, coaxing whisper.
“The magical power for the summoning is sufficient.”
“Magical power is not the issue. The problem is that the Great Temple is vehemently opposed—especially the Saintess.”
If it weren’t for the Saintess, he could have bribed the temple with an astronomical donation as he had done last time.
No matter how many honeyed words he poured on her, the Saintess wouldn’t budge an inch.
‘To think I can’t even conduct an experiment when there’s such an excellent test subject as Duke Skya…’
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue in regret.
In truth, he regarded the divine beast summoning magic as little more than a curiosity.
It would be nice if it succeeded, and if not, no big deal.
Allowing the Monlepe ducal house—which he had long seen as an eyesore—to perform the summoning had merely been an extension of that attitude.
‘Monlepe… those infuriating bastards.’
He had hated the Monlepe ducal house ever since Ikart was duke.
Because Ikart had treated Iocaste and himself as “the same imperial family” and on equal footing.
‘There are ranks even among royalty!’
How could he place himself—the very embodiment of shame that was Iocaste—on the same level as him?
Thus, when the incident of Monlepe losing their divine beast occurred, he proposed the summoning under the pretext of pitying the young duke and for the sake of the empire.
He had not forgotten to order the mage to summon the weakest possible beast.
Yet…
‘From that summoning came a monster strong enough to defeat Fear.’
He preferred certainty, so he had originally focused all his attention on conquering the Beastman Nation rather than an unpredictable summoning.
But since his attempts to start a war kept being blocked, his gaze naturally turned to the divine beast summoning.
And now an excellent test subject named Duke Skya had appeared.
If only the Saintess weren’t opposed, he would have immediately used Duke Skya to conduct a summoning experiment.
‘That damned wench.’
Rumor had it she had been with the Monlepe ducal house before becoming Saintess—indeed, anything involving Moonlefe never went smoothly.
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue again and rubbed his dry face.
Through the gaps between his fingers, his blue eyes were filled with longing for the divine beast.
“If even the weakest one was that strong, how extraordinary would the strongest be?”
“It’s best not to expect too much.”
The mage explained in a gentle voice.
“Luck plays a part in summoning magic. Even if we intended to summon a weak one, the strongest possible may have been summoned instead.”
“That’s precisely why we need further experiments to be certain… haa.”
To have such an excellent test subject he couldn’t easily obtain and be forced to simply watch—it was truly regrettable.
The Crown Prince sighed in disappointment.
Then, at a proposal that tickled his ears, he removed his hand from his face and turned to the mage.
“If summoning is impossible, how about trying a different experiment?”
“A different experiment?”
“Yes. Actually, there is a spell I have been steadily researching.”
The mage smiled faintly.
“It severs the oath between a divine beast and its family head and transfers it to another person.”
“…! Is that possible?”
“Theoretically, it is entirely possible. However, because the research is not yet complete, it can only transfer to another ducal house at present.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
A dangerous glint flashed in the Crown Prince’s eyes.
If he could perfect that spell and make all the divine beasts of the ducal houses his own!
The mage bowed deeply.
“Then I shall try attaching Starafit’s divine beast to Duke Skya.”
“Without touching Monlepe’s?”
“That one is difficult because no oath was placed on it. We tried to bind it at the time of summoning, but the Duke of Monlepe refused.”
“Tch… Then there’s no helping it. I will summon the Duke of Starafit and his divine beast to the imperial palace soon.”
“Thank you for the opportunity.”
The mage bowed deeply once more and left the room.
Soon, only the Crown Prince remained.
Left alone, his heated mind cooled. He gazed in the direction the mage had left and fell into brief thought.
‘A spell that severs the oath… just who is that man to possess such extraordinary skill?’
The oath between divine beast and family head was placed by the god themselves when bestowing the beast, only the Great Temple could handle it.
Yet how could he…
“I heard Your Highness has great interest in divine beasts. If you keep me by your side, I will lend my hand so that you may obtain them.”
He recalled his first meeting with the wandering mage.
At first, he hadn’t believed those words.
But after witnessing the man’s genius-level magical prowess, he decided to keep him close even if it meant being deceived.
“Where did you learn such magic?”
“You will find out someday.”
The mage never spoke about himself.
Since the Crown Prince didn’t care as long as he obtained the divine beasts, he never pressed the issue.
Ever since bringing him into the imperial family, he had been using him like a useful tool—such as entrusting him with the Monlepe summoning.
‘Whatever he is, as long as he doesn’t harm me, it’s fine.’
With that thought, the Crown Prince closed his eyes firmly.
While indulging in the ecstatic fantasy of one day having the divine beasts of all four ducal houses beneath his feet.
* * *
“Look at this, Asil! Ta-da! Daddy got ship tickets all the way to the Beastman Forest!”
Like a magician, Arcian produced the ship tickets from his empty hand.
Since warp magic couldn’t take them directly to the Beastman Forest, the plan was to travel by sea to the vicinity of the forest.
“It’s a ship that departs exactly once a month. My Asil, you don’t get seasick, right? Oh, is this your first time seeing the sea?”
“I have one, Daddy.”
“Hm?”
Arcian tensed at Asil’s more serious-than-ever expression.
She wasn’t going to burst into tears again saying she didn’t want to go, was she?
If she did, his heart would really tear apart and he wouldn’t be able to send her…
“If Asil wants to live in the human world like Daddy, what should Asil do?”
“Uh… Asil wants to live in the human world like Daddy?”
Arcian was considerably flustered.
And for good reason—because what he did was, in nice terms, scouting the human world, but in reality it was spy work.
If he sugarcoated his job here, Asil’s dream might become “spy.”
He didn’t want to taint the dreams of a little sapling still growing tall with such dark aspects.
So Arcian smiled awkwardly and explained.
“Um… this might sound bad, but Asil, what Daddy does isn’t really a good job.”
“Why not? What does Daddy do?”
“Daddy… is doing spy work.”
“Whaaat!?”
Asila’s eyes widened in shock.
“Daddy is a potato?!”
“No, not potato, spy—”
“But Daddy told the human princess he’s not a potato! Daddy is a potato!”
“No, it’s not potato—”
“I like it. Asil is going to be a potato too. From today, Asili’s dream is potato!”
Asila, thoroughly excited, stuck out her belly proudly.
Watching her, Arcian wavered for a moment.
Wouldn’t it be better for her dream to be “potato” than “spy”?
No, even so, potato… First of all, a black dragon can’t become a potato…
…Still, it’s better than spy. It is better, but…
No matter how you look at it, potato is a bit…
But he couldn’t exactly say “spy” here either…
“Asil is!!! Going to become a potato!!!!”
Asil, eyes sparkling, suddenly tapped the back of Arcian’s hand.
“But Daddy, they say there’s no divine beast at the Skaya ducal house right now and it’s total chaos.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then if Asil disappears, what will the remaining humans do?”
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