Chapter 184: [Boss Fight] Steam Rain (2)
An enormous door appeared at Klion’s feet that took him down to the dungeons.
The Imperial prison.
Unlike regular prisons, it was where the first-class traitors hand-picked by the Imperials were gathered.
It’s been a while since I’ve come here.
Although Klion was a prince, it wasn’t that he could come here as he wished. He normally needed his father’s permission to enter this place.
However.
Father was still in bed recovering from sickness, and Blanton and his daughter disappeared somewhere.
It’s now or never.
Klion took a deep breath.
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Creeeak.
Ba-bang!
The big metal door opened with a thunderous noise. Taking another deep breath, Klion stepped forward into the dungeon where a musty smell was coming from.
There were a variety of people there.
“My god.... Is it the Second Prince? Please let me out!”
“You’ve changed much in the time I haven’t seen you! Is His Majesty still doing well.......”
“Hey, you sex monster! Did you have to go and put me in here for your satisfaction!”
If there were those with futile hopes even while being locked up in prison, there were also those who seemed to have given up and were screaming profanities.
Klion didn’t look at any of them. For him, the only way was forward.
Going all the way to the end, Klion stopped in front of a solitary cell.
Click.
When he inserted the key and turned it, there was the sound of gears engaging within.
A ray of light entered the dark cell.
And at the same time, the form of man with nothing but skin and bones was revealed.
Klion awakened the man with a piteous tone.
“Brother.”
There was only one person he could call that in all of Ahrens continent.
The First Prince Alion Philiut.
“......What is it.”
The face covered in soot wasn’t much to look at, but there were fragments of emotion in those deep blue eyes.
Rage, integrity, hope, impassiveness, and hundreds of other indescribable emotions.
“It’s me, brother. Klion.”
“Ah, little brother.”
Klion bowed his head and greeted him respectfully.
“Yes, it’s been ten years.”
“It isn’t ten but nine and eight months, stupid child.”
Alion stood weakly, long hair flapping. Just then, something clinked–the chains.
“If you’re here to laugh at your miserable brother, you can leave.”
“If you mean the incident from ten years ago, it was my fault.”
Klion bowed again, and at that Alion’s eyes gained a significant look.
Ten years ago, the brainwashed Klion had locked Alion in this Imperial prison with the Emperor.
It was due to Alion being born with immunity to the brainwashing of the Beasts. To the Beasts who needed to eat away at the Empire, the First Prince was an annoyance and someone who they had to get rid of from their presence.
Alion had also noticed that fact, and so he tried to change but failed.
The Imperial family fell, and the Empire was now done for.
It had been nine years since he’d lived thinking that, and no one else but the blood relation who’d put him here had returned to his normal self.
Alion chuckled like a solitary old man.
“You have broken free from mind control!”
“You knew?”
“Of course!”
Klion unlocked all the cuffs holding Alion.
The First Prince smiled bitterly as he rubbed at his wrists that had become thin like an azalea tree branch.
“I will have to start with training again once things are over. So, what is your plan, little brother? After releasing me from here?”
“I will take you to a certain girl.”
“Is she pretty?”
“.......”
“I jest. Continue.”
It seemed that his womanizing ways were largely the influence of his brother.
“...That girl has created a way to oppose the Cataclysms.”
“Without the Elementals?”
“Without the Elementals.”
Klion explained in details what he had seen and heard. Alion, who was thin to the point of being able to see the outline of his skull, listened to his brother making a surprised face at times, then eventually with an interested smile.
“Hm, so that’s what happend.”
Having understood everything, Alion nodded his head.
Klion covered his brother with the robe he’d brought beforehand and left the prison. Yells were sounded through the bars, but the two Princes escaped the place without even listening.
The only place that the two could hide in was the outer building in the corner of the castle.
“No one would be coming here.”
“Duke Blanton is also away somewhere and currently absent. We have time for now.”
“I’d like to get rid of this awful smell first.”
After washing properly, Alion roughly trimmed his hair and came out. He looked relatively presentable once he tied his ebony black hair into a ponytail.
This was followed by a simple meal. Even watching the Elankaya Mountains should be done after a meal, so it was necessary to eat in order to put one’s back into things.
His brother’s body didn’t take very well to wheat, so Klion ordered the maid outside to bring dishes made with rice.
Like that, the two warmed up their stomachs with porridge usually eaten by elves who became newborn mothers, then filled it with risotto mixed with shrimp and bok choy. It was rather simple for a meal they were having together in ten years.
“How’s the current state of affairs?”
“Not very good.”
Even while eating Alion asked about the current state of the Empire.
What happened to the factional conflict, the balance on the current account. Are the people doing well, how are things on the northern front.
With each bite, dozens of words were exchanged. As such, they finished their meal after midnight.
Having regained energy, the First Prince suggested that they change locations.
“It is in the middle of enemy territory and I shouldn’t be staying here too long, after all.”
“Then let us go to Tilette.”
In the middle of the night, the two Princes threw on rags and escaped from the palace.
“There is a communal shed in the northwest part of the Academy. No one should know if we stay there.”
As Klion said, there was no one in the shed.
“They left a few papers here.”
There were traces of someone having lived here months ago, but that was all.
“You get some sleep; I will keep watch.”
“Hmm.”
Alion lay on the hay without another word. The straws that were sticking out like the mast of a shipwreck poked into his back, but he wasn’t in a position to complain.
Alion sighed deeply, looking up at the punctured ceiling of the shed.
“It won’t be long until the Empire falls.”
“Do not say such ominous things, brother.”
“No, it will according to the movement of the stars. A comet will fall eventually, which is also a sign that someone will have something unfortunate happen to them.”
Alion’s specialty was astrology.
The movement of the stars was basically the movement of the Elementals. Instead of controlling Elementals, he learned how to read the flow of their thoughts and predict the future.
With this ability, he had predicted the fate of the Empire as well as what Duke Blanton would do.
“Then what do we do?”
“Although we may not be able to defy destiny, we can at least help it fall as gently as possible.”
Alion pushed himself up from the hay.
“Hm?”
He discovered a crumpled piece of paper through the straw and automatically picked it up.
[Address of Flare research lab changed]
[Careas Hall, room 301 (Magic Transmutation Club)]
There, an unexpected fortune awaited.
“We actually visited once at dawn but you were not here at the time. I know that it’s impolite to suddenly barge in so my apologies.......”
“...It’s fine, so take a seat over there.”
The First Prince, who’d been holding himself pompously, scratched his head and sat on the chair.
I reviewed what the Princes had said.
“Humm.”
Had I left a note like that in my previous home?
No, I would never. Why in the world would I?
It had definitely been Vermel; that was the only way it made sense.
“Anyway, would you mind putting away your staff? It, well, looks so strange that even just seeing it makes me nauseous.”
So who said to come in without knocking?
“I have a basic understanding of the situation.”
I changed to respectful speech for now. Unlike Klion, I was meeting the First Prince for the first and he was someone not of the Academy.
To summarize what happened just a moment ago, it went something like this:
After seeing the Lodestone and learning that the First Prince had been released, I figured it was what it was and returned to the club.
Thankfully, the elves were gone from the room since the Lodestone was taken inside the museum so they had no more reason to stay here.
Freyr was still sleeping away, and as such I had been making the EMP generator by myself.
Then feeling peckish, I was thinking of going to grab a canned coffee when two men with their faces covered had barged into the room.
I had been stunned at first, because they were obviously suspicious.
But soon I started to get irritated.
For one reason.
Because they disrupted my work.
I had pulled out the staff thinking ‘Are they idiots who’ve lost their sense of fear, coming into my territory like this?’, intending to leave fang marks on their faces with the calipers if needed.
The outcome was that I failed.
Because it turned out that the two were the Princes of this country.
And so I got to hear their explanation-slash-situation for almost thirty minutes, and understood how they came here.
“We do not have time right now. The fact that they announced my release means that Blanton has noticed.”
“And that’s why you need my Flare.”
The First Prince nodded.
“I will take all the responsibility and send him to the Goddess.”
I don’t know, that might be reckless.
I didn’t bother saying it out loud, because there was still enough time to think about it.
“Is that thing behind you Flare?”
“No, it’s an entry for the invention contest.”
“I see.... What is it?”
“A device that’ll make the Beasts seize.”
The EMP generator that I was currently building.
I didn’t know why but Vermel asked me to make it. Did it have to do with why the Princes were here?
As I was thinking that, there were noises coming from outside the door.
- There will be a brief inspection by the Imperial Guards! Is Prince Alion inside?
Shoot.
“This is bad! The Imperials Guards are all formidable....”
“Then go into the supply room.”
“It will not matter, they are known for searching every nook and cranny.”
The two Princes looked around in panic to search for an exit.
The third floor–jumping off this height wouldn’t kill you, but there were even more guards outside. They were all bent on trying to find the First Prince who went missing.
“We will draw their attention if we jump from here, brother!”
“What are we to do now...!”
Even the way they held their heads was the same.
- Open the door!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of kicking hard with one’s feet.
- If you fail to cooperate, you will be punished!
As soon as I heard that, displeasure bled into my expression.
I was honestly going to think of a humane way to send them away nicely.......
“These fucking shits, they dare kick my lab door?”
I could no longer hold back from flipping out.