Chapter 5 is here!

Anyway, here is the chapter, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Chapter 5

Before long, a well-dressed man riding a horse approached Kurats. He seemed to be a knight of the castle.

【”Damn it, he’s huge…”】

The knight clicked his tongue when he saw Kurats’ big body.
He was planning to make Kurats hop on the horse’s backside and directly return to the castle, but the horse would surely be crushed and injured under Kurats’ weight.

There was no such thing as a knight who would not worry about his personal horse. Especially since he knew that if the horse was too injured to gallop, he would have no other choice than to kill it.

【”I’d like to follow you to the castle if that’s alright….”】
【”Good, we have to get there as fast as possible!”】

Kurats mentally prepared himself. It looked like he was going to be introduced to a quite high-ranked person.

【”Of course, I accept. But I’d rather run than go on the horse, it’ll be faster that way.”】

(―― What the heck is he talking about?) Those were the only words that went through the knight’s mind.
However, Kurats did not have the time to take the man’s thoughts in consideration. It was meaningless to start explaining things to him.

【”Let’s hurry up. Won’t you anger your superiors if you take too much time?”】
【”J-just know that If you’re lying about your capabilities, you won’t get away with it!”】

While still half in doubt, the knight jumped on his horse.
He then started galloping at a steady pace, but when he looked back, Kurats was right behind him, chasing after the horse with a nonchalant expression on his face.

【”It’s fine, go as fast as you can, you don’t have to hold your horse back for me.”】
【”I, I know!”】

The knight hurried up, going even faster, but even so, Kurats was still sprinting right behind him, without a change in his expression.
Witnessing that surreal scene, the hero Martin, who was watching from the guild’s quarters, muttered in amazement.

【”Can mages run faster than horses these days…?”】

(――Looks like he’s been using body strengthening magic on himself his whole life without noticing it.)

Bernst pinpointed the reason behind Kurats’ abnormal stamina.
Kurats had probably been unconsciously using body strengthening magic while training his body for many years, therefore granting himself these physical abilities that were far beyond normal humans.
Perhaps Kurats’ high talent for magic had reacted to his desires and had affected his body, albeit not perfectly.
(Seriously, how can he be so bad with the other types of magic. Well, these types of physical capabilities aren’t worthless, but they don’t fit a magic king’s style, they’re just not elegant enough.) Thought Bernst in displeasure.
Without realizing what Bernst was thinking, Kurats pleasantly kept running at the same pace as the horse that was going at full speed.
For quite a while after these events, there were rumors in the royal capital of a ghost running at the same speed as a horse.

◆　　◆　　◆

Once he reached the castle’s gate, Kurats was left with another knight, who guided him directly towards the center of the royal palace, without giving him any time to rest.

【”…His majesty the king is the one who will question you. You must not be careless with your words.”】
【”I’ll keep that in mind.”】

Kurats would have never expected that the king himself would be the one waiting for him, but he would have had to meet him eventually anyway to accomplish his goal.

He took a deep breath, and opened the big door in front of him.

【”I, Kurats Hans Almadianos, am honored to be in the presence of his majesty, and even more honored to have been called here.”】
【”Good, you’ve come.”】

King Christopher Heinz Von Jormungand looked down at Kurats with a deep wrinkle in his brow.

【”So you are the mage who is here to cure Lunaria?”】

As he gazed at Kurats to assess him, the king’s eyes were full of a bitterness that was not fitting of the leader of a country.

He may have been the king, but when it came to his daughter, he was nothing more than a father.

The king’s expression was equally divided between hope and a deep anguish.
After he looking fixedly at Kurats for a little while, his disappointment and despair seemed to slightly take over.

【”How old are you?”】
【”I am 18 this year.”】
【”Who in the world did you study under?”】
【”I was taught everything by my mother…”】
【”What is your mother’s name?”】
【”It is Frigg Hans Almadianos, your majesty.”】
【”―― I’ve never heard of her.”】

This week, Lunaria’s condition had been rapidly deteriorating.
The royal palace’s court doctor had bitterly diagnosed that she would not survive for more than a month.
Nevertheless, the king still wondered, was it really fine to entrust his daughter to some unknown 18 year old boy?

【”Are you prepared to deal with the consequences in case Lunaria dies at your hands?”】

(He’s deeply mistaken if he thinks he’ll able to return without taking the blame if anything happens. No matter the method of execution, I won’t let him make it out of here alive.) Thought the king.
Although Christopher knew that this was unreasonable of him, he was still determined to do it.
It was perfectly fine to be unreasonable for those who had power. Those were the rules governing this wicked world.

【”Naturally, your majesty… However, if I successfully cure her, then I’ll have a certain request, if I may be so bold.”】

The king barely gave a passing mark for the words of Kurats, who turned out to be more dignified and confident than he had thought.
It did not seem that his words were baseless or that he was saying this just for show.
(Should I gamble on this man…?) Wondered the king.

【”I accept, I’ll listen to your request. However, we’ll talk about that only after you’re done curing Lunaria, if you manage to do it.”】
【”…I am very grateful.”】

–

【”―― Although I went and said that, are you sure this will be okay?”】

The truth was that Kurats was not as calm as he looked.
Although he had responded with a polite tone because he had been told to do so by Bernst, Kurats felt shivers just thinking of what would have happened if he had faced the king alone.
He had somehow gotten the king to let him examine the princess, but even so, was he really going to be able to treat her illness?

From the look of things, it seemed like the king had been hinting that he would immediately execute him if the princess were to die, and that made Kurats quite anxious.

Bernst would be able to turn a kingdom like this one into a vacant land with a single hand, but Kurats was just an ordinary young man who had inherited Bernst’s most basic attainments in magic.
Kurats’ magic was more than a million times weaker than Bernst’s. On top of that, he could only use his physical abilities, and he did not even know any good fencing techniques.

『If there is nothing that can be done about her situation, then we can just escape by teleporting out of here, but still… how dare you doubt the capabilities of the magic king?! Unacceptable!』

Bernst did not appreciate that the abilities of a magic king like himself were being taken lightly.

『Do you seriously think I cannot even cure a mere disease? I am Bernst George Von Almadianos, a god-like being who has transcended death itself! 』

◆　　◆　　◆

Although half a year had already passed since the second princess Lunaria had fallen ill, the unmoving and beautiful face that she had inherited from her mother was barely affected.

This was why her disease was considered to be strange.

At first glance, it did not seem like there was anything wrong with her body’s condition, but she had been suffering from a continuous light fever and repeated comas, with her life force gradually lowering with time.
At the start, she had been examined to see if she was cursed by someone, but no such magic anomaly was perceived around her body.

However, lately, the princess had been spending most of her time in a comatose state, and her life force had reached dangerous lows.

『…… This is going to be amusing.』

Muttered Bernst with interest, after a single glance at Lunaria.

【”You’ve figured this out already?!”】
『Yes, but were this country’s mages really not able to see through this? Unacceptable!』

Bernst sneered as he realized the true nature of the princess’ nasty disease.
But he could see how, indeed, this was not something that could be cured by a mere doctor who was not a mage.

The princess had a tender and white porcelain-like skin, plump lips, long eyelashes, and her hair was like a stream of gold, but as he looked at her unique and beautiful appearance, Bernst only had a complacent smile on his face.

『There seems to be more to this matter than I expected…』

Bernst was feeling something that he hadn’t felt for a long time. He was unable to suppress his delight.
This matter was surrounded by a very sweet and thick smell: the smell of conspiracy.

(This is a great development! The sorts of scum that would do this are extremely satisfying to crush down!)
As Bernst was thinking that, Kurats grew impatient and asked him.

【”…So… Bernst… What’s the princess suffering from in the end?”】

For Kurats, failing to cure her would mean losing his own life. It was only natural for him to be worried.

With his good mood completely ruined by Kurats’ question, Bernst replied with a snort.

『How shameful. You can’t perceive that there is something strange about her mana?』
【”Yes, but how am I supposed to know what’s causing that?!”】
『If you can’t even see through something of this level, I don’t even want to think of how you’ll handle yourself in the future.』

Perhaps it made sense for this world’s mages to have a hard time noticing the magic anomaly since it had been fairly well camouflaged.
However, for Bernst, a camouflage of this level was nothing more than a child’s trick, he easily noticed that there was an organic life form inside the princess’ womb.

The problem was that Kurats was far too inexperienced to reach that conclusion.

【”I-In her womb?!”】

When Bernst straightforwardly told him about the situation, Kurats spontaneously blushed, like an adolescent in puberty.

He felt like that word was too raw to use it when speaking of a princess.

『Naturally, I don’t mean that the princess is pregnant. It’s just that there is a monster inside her. 』
【”―― A monster?”】

Monsters were humanity’s natural enemies.
The red eyed bear that Kurats had fought was only one type of such creatures, but in the areas that were out of humanity’s rule, monsters were actually the ones in control.
However, even in Kurats’ village, there was no more than one victim from monsters every few years.

At any rate, that only concerned the people living in remote regions where the monsters were not taken care of by the country. As for the princess, she hardly ever left the royal capital, and yet a monster had still somehow entered her body. This could only mean one thing…

【”Someone wants the princess out of the picture?”】
『That’s right. Otherwise, how could such a weak monster stick to her?』

This parasitic monster’s ability to hide itself from its host was first-class, but in its original state, it was so weak that even a child could kill it. There was no doubt that someone had brought it to the princess from somewhere else.
Even the royal court’s doctors would be afraid of examining the genitals of the marriageable princess without finding any positive proof beforehand. That was likely one of the reasons why they had failed to discover the cause behind her sickness.

This monster was quite the nasty creature.

『Well, we’ll look into that later. For now, you have to save this girl. 』

<=Chapter 4                                                 Index                                             Chapter 6=>