A Different Path from the Original
"Hey, are you crying? Still crying?"
"...Don't make fun of me, Your Highness."
"Why not? I'm doing it of my own free will."
"That's not—!"
"You said it yourself, didn't you? You'd follow my will! 'Your Highness's destiny! Your Highness's path!' Keh-heh-heh!"
"Argh! You can give that kind of will to the dogs!"
Kals shouted in irritation, and I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Now that I noticed, even Tyrbaen walking ahead was shaking her shoulders slightly.
This woman must be enjoying watching me tease Kals too, huh?
Either way, the "pig" had successfully persuaded both the "bear" and the "nightingale."
Kals and Tyrbaen had decided to help me.
A system message appeared.
['Tyrbaen Sui' has joined the party.]
['Kals Sillion' has joined the party.]
Unlike the temporary cooperation with the Inquisition priests, they were now officially recognized as party members.
I was a little worried I'd have to go through some sort of companion quest, but thankfully, that wasn't the case.
'Well, they were originally Gilroshan's people, so this makes sense.'
We started walking through the forest again.
Our destination was the teleport gate linked to Aurax and the Special Knight Order guarding it, led by Elron Reut.
Of course, Kals wasn't exactly thrilled about this uneasy alliance.
It hadn't even been three days since we had crossed blades, after all.
Not to mention, those priests had originally tried to assassinate me.
Fortunately, though, that ambush hadn't resulted in any casualties.
The priests had used smoke bombs, injected the horses with stimulants to cause chaos, and broken through the defenses—then tied up Gilroshan and made their escape.
That was it.
Of course, Kals and Tyrbaen quickly caught on and pursued them, leading to a skirmish.
But since the priests' real goal was just to delay and confuse their pursuers, there were no major injuries.
'Yeah, if anyone had died back then, things wouldn't have ended this peacefully.'
Thanks to that, Kals was now grumbling but still following Bamilo Dimarch's procession obediently.
A bizarre sight—
the Imperial Third Prince's entourage and assassins from the Revolutionary Army traveling together.
It was an event that never would've happened in the original story.
Yet somehow, here we were.
To be precise, it was because I had possessed Gilroshan's body that things turned out this way.
"Your Highness, you've gotten quite lean in the meantime. Your cheeks have hollowed out."
Kals peered curiously at my face.
"Try climbing mountains nonstop with those scary black-cloaked bastards. See if only your cheeks hollow out. Keep it up long enough, and you'll hollow your way to the afterlife."
"Hahaha!"
Kals grabbed his stomach, laughing.
This was the same guy who'd been bawling like a baby earlier.
"Don't laugh, idiot. If ugly hair sprouts on your beautiful butt, it'd be a loss for the Empire."
"...What? What are you saying?"
"How many noble ladies would cry over your pure white butt being ruined? That's a loss for the Empire, isn't it?"
"Ugh! Don't say gross things, Your Highness!"
We were chatting like old brothers.
That was exactly the kind of relationship Gilroshan and Kals had in the original.
The delinquent Third Prince and his knight—technically distant relatives, raised together since childhood, close as real brothers.
And right now, I felt the same way.
'Kals.'
I didn't know exactly what he was feeling, but I was genuinely glad to see him.
'He's my old assault captain, after all—Kals Loyt.'
I'd always seen his face on the monitor, but meeting him in person like this?
In the original game, certain NPCs could become subordinates through high affection and special quests.
Kals was a prime example.
True to his shining nickname, "Knight of Dawn," he was an excellent tank unit.
If you trained him properly, he became one of the MVPs during the great war in the latter half of the story.
So I'd always taken him along in my playthroughs.
'But to meet him now, as a living, breathing person...'
It felt like running into an old classmate you hadn't seen in years.
That's why I couldn't feel any awkwardness at all as we joked and talked.
Tyrbaen, on the other hand, was different.
'This little witch was tricky to make into a Guardian.'
I had used her before—but not as much as Kals.
So while it was nice to see her, I didn't feel the same closeness.
Instead, there was this strange ache in my chest.
Like meeting someone you owe a debt to.
'Weird. It's not like I have feelings for her or anything.'
...And I really didn't.
Even though Tyrbaen currently appeared as an old witch, in truth it was the opposite.
She was just a nineteen-year-old girl.
'Well, a high school senior, technically—not exactly a kid.'
An adult by this world's standards, sure.
But to a thirty-year-old mind like mine, she was still a kid.
'Even if she's hiding her real form behind transformation magic.'
That rumor about her being a two-hundred-year-old crone?
That was because witches bearing the name Tyrbaen Sui passed down their magic, name, and fragments of memory to their successors through a one-on-one inheritance ritual.
Each new Tyrbaen Sui inherited not only the power but also the fearsome reputation surrounding the name.
'Maybe I'm feeling weird because she got treated so poorly in the original.'
I pressed down on the dull ache as I watched her back.
Sure, there were no laws against that kind of thing in this world—but in my head, I could already see the judge glaring at me.
Then Kals spoke up again.
"Your Highness, not only do you look sharper, but your energy feels different too. I'm happy to see it. The situation may be grim, but it feels... like the old days."
"The old days?"
"Yes—back when we were in the Young Palace."
'Young Palace.'
It was like a school for the Empire's high-born children.
"In those days, Your Highness was truly brilliant. Everyone in the palace adored you, the noble children tried desperately to be your friends, and even His Majesty cherished you deeply."
...That wasn't in the game's story.
Could that really have been true?
Given how Gilroshan was treated and despised in the original timeline, it was hard to imagine such a past.
"If only our Empire hadn't worshiped magic so much... If people didn't treat it like a basic virtue, perhaps things would've been different. Perhaps then, Your Highness would have..."
Kals trailed off bitterly.
I nodded silently.
'He was a prince full of promise, but since he had zero talent for magic, people turned away—and he inevitably grew twisted.'
It made sense.
The higher you soar, the harder the fall hurts.
That's just how the world works.
But still—
"Don't dwell on the past, Kals."
I said casually.
Sure, it stung a little—but that wasn't my past, was it?
"Look at now. What kind of child I was back then doesn't matter anymore. Everyone's already forgotten, haven't they? Nobody remembers the Third Prince from the Young Palace anymore. Except you, that is."
"..."
Kals' face went soft and wounded, like a loyal dog that had been hurt.
Telling the one who was fondly reminiscing about his glory days to forget the past felt a little harsh.
But the past is the past.
"What matters is now. There are people who're aiming at me, and right now I have no way to face them."
If I stood there dazed, my neck would be cut off like Gilroshan's in the original.
So I had to move.
Move and survive.
"Luckily, people don't really know me."
"...What?"
Kals looked confused — how could that be when the Delinquent Third Prince's reputation shook the continent?
I smiled faintly.
"There are reasons for that."
To be honest, I didn't have much faith in myself.
I couldn't even guarantee I'd remain the Delinquent Third Prince.
"Kals, remember this one thing. I'll come back qualified to survive."
Whatever the past held, that didn't matter.
What mattered was now.
"Things are going to be different. Got it?"
I was more confident than anyone at playing the game called
So even if I was a trashy prince and a busted mage, I wasn't going to stay that way.
Magic talent?
Who cares if I don't have it.
Even if I had drawn the slave-gladiator card instead of the archmage card, there'd always be another chance.
"So straighten your shoulders, Kals."
When I grinned, Kals smiled faintly.
"...Yes, Your Highness. I believe you."
He said it, but without the dramatic reaction he'd had when first persuaded.
He probably thought it impossible, right?
Well, I could understand that.
Even I would have my doubts.
'What can you expect from trash that can't even be sorted properly?'
Still, Kals seemed genuinely moved that his mighty delinquent lord might change, and that alone seemed to fill him.
But I shook my head.
"No, Kals. Now's not the time to be easing into this and getting touched by little sentiments."
"Pardon?"
"I told you roughly earlier why I have to leave the Empire and go to Aurax."
"Yes. You said there's a traitor inside the palace."
"Right. Not just one or two."
"...!"
Kals' face went pale.
Minister of Palace Affairs Zairik Moss was only the tip of the iceberg.
As the scenario plays out, countless people between the Empire and the Revolutionary Army betray their camps for their own gain.
I knew them all.
'Cute little experience points,' I thought.
I planned to reap them all properly.
"The Marquis Elron Reut, who guards the northern capital. You know him, yes?"
"Yes, Your Highness. Marquis Loyt is a close friend of my father. He is one of the Empire's three great magic-swordsmen…"
At this point, Kals only knew his father's friend that way — a guardian of the Empire he respected.
When he learns the truth of my birth, that'll be another day.
"No way!"
His attractive face twisted.
"Are you saying Marquis Loyt betrayed Your Highness? That man would never! He loves the Empire more than anyone — a true soldier, an honorable warrior…!"
I shook my head.
"I didn't say Marquis Loyt is a traitor."
It was true that he was an honorable soldier and a proper warrior.
And that was the problem.
"The Marquis will stand in my way up ahead. He'll be acting on orders. He'll try to sweep away the Revolutionary assassins like he did you and drag me back to the palace."
That would be what a knightly commander with a sword in hand must do.
But if I returned to the palace, I'd be in danger.
I needed to go to Aurax instead.
"So what will you do? Persuade the Marquis like you persuaded Sui and me?"
Persuade Elron Reut with mere sweet talk?
I tilted my head slightly.
"Well. Do you think my words will work on the Marquis? What do you think?"
Kals' expression darkened.
As a fellow warrior and knight, he sensed that Marquis Loyt was different from the others.
I thought so too.
"I don't think it'll make any difference."
That man wasn't the sort of figure who'd be swayed.
The vengeance priesthood would be wiped out in an instant, and I'd be hauled back to the palace in chains.
"If I resist, he won't leave it be."
The Marquis didn't have a warm feeling toward the Third Prince.
If an opportunity presented itself, he might thrash me until the dust flew on a rainy day.
"So what will you do? Do you have another plan?"
Kals' face looked grim imagining the tragedy.
But I turned the question back to him.
"Kals, you have two swords, don't you?"
"Pardon? Yes, I do."
"Give me one."
I held out my hand.
"But, Your Highness, for a knight a sword is like a lover…"
"You have two lovers? I didn't take you for such a libertine, hey?"
"...?"
He looked puzzled at why someone who couldn't even fence would ask for a sword.
Anyway, I took the sword Kals carried, scanned it, and nodded.
[Weapon] A sturdy sword issued to members of the knightly order. It has no special effects. Well maintained by someone.
"A good sword. This will do."
"...Your Highness, you're not planning to just stab the Marquis and push through with the blade, are you?"
He gave me a warning look, as if to forbid such a reckless thought.
I shrugged.
"A knight has his ways, doesn't he?"
And a gamer has his ways.
Over the past few days I'd confirmed that my methods work.
The steep ridge ended and a gentle path appeared.
The destination was near now, but…
'I'm only getting started.'