SON OF THE HERO KING

[CASTITAS CHURCH]

Standing with her eye closed, Camelia was murmuring a string of words, so fast her words would have been barely comprehensible for anyone.

The ultimate defense used to protect the capital required the supreme daughter’s blood as a catalyst and her body as the nucleus. This means that once she began, she would be completely unable to move or even protect herself.

Standing beside her was Chloe as usual. The girl was truly growing on her, if it was possible, she would have considered poaching her from Slothstein and keep her as the holy daughter of Lustburg.

“Chloe, did you begin the evacuation of the district belonging to Gorfard?”

Chloe nodded with a heavy expression, “Thanks to the preparation you made, it wasn’t complicated, tonight, the populace was informed that you would perform a miracle in the plaza and do a mass heal. The Queen had also arranged more performers to concentrate in the plaza to attire people there.”

Camelia nodded satisfied, what was about to happen was something truly dangerous. Camelia wouldn’t have been so worried if they simply had to deal with Loki Gorfard as they initially thought. After all, no matter how powerful he was as a Duke, at the end of the day, he was just that, strong. He had in no way reached the level that could really threaten her or Lilith.

But now that the wings of freedom were involved, the situation was far more complicated. After all, this organization also had its own set of powerhouses.

“Are the paladins ready? What about the current white knight?”

She frowned as she mentioned this, she was still disappointed by how easily the kid had been manipulated and how he would have fought Sol if she didn’t intervene.

Of course, she wasn’t blind, well, she wasn’t blind anymore. She understood that the kid had a big crush on her. But thousands of men had a crush on her. Did this mean that she had to cater to each of them?

The only reason she hadn’t demoted him was that he truly wasn’t a bad kid and his talent also pretty good. After all, being able to control ice to such an extent wasn’t given to anyone.

----

In another part of the church, a young man wearing a silver-white armor was squatting powerlessly on the ground with his head hanging.

Beside him, a white and black creature wearing a suit without pants was gurgling on a plate full of fish.

Once it was satiated, the creature surprisingly began to speak with a surprisingly manly voice, “How long are you going to mope like this young man? I do not remember you being so weak?”

The man ignored his contracted partner, and mumbled, “She must hate me now.”

“But she never liked you in the first place.”

“I must have worsened the impression she had on me.”

“I don’t think she even cares about your existence.”

“Now my chances with her are lower.”

“Bro...Do not worry.”

Raising his head, he looked surprised at his partner; ‘While he comforts me for once.’

Sadly his hopes were shattered by the next words, “You chances were in the negative in the first place, so them becoming lower doesn't change anything don’t you think?”

Silence settled between them before the white knight roared and took his partner by the neck, “I am going to kill you!!”

“Help! Help! Murder! This is an abuse of my right!!”

The two of them began to roll and tussle around for a few minutes, meanwhile, the others paladin simply ignored their antics and continued preparing their gear. They were already used to such a scene happening, and they had to admit that seeing the generally overly serious white knight act like a kid his age was one of the reasons he was so appreciated.

Finally, ending with the knight down and his partner standing above him, said partner gave a low cough and began to fly away, “Well bro, I like you and all, but it’s time for my bath with the nun. Unpopular bastards like you guys should stay between men.”

Giving a wretched laugh while ignoring the death glare he was receiving, he calmly flew away.

Truth be told, he didn’t find human women attractive in the least, but seeing the jealous and pissed look of those nights while they imagined him swimming in the bath with the nuns was one of his best sources of entertainment.

Watching his partner fly, the white knight, while lying on the ground could only sigh. He had obtained this ice elemental in his trips to the spirit world back then and he had to admit that it was a truly powerful spirit. Sadly, it also had a mean streak and liked to tease people or watch them suffer.

Still, he had to admit that its blunt words cleared his heart.

‘I really acted in an unsightly way.’

As a knight, he should respect many virtues, but he had lost to his jealousy and ugly heart.

‘I hope I will be able to meet his highness.’

Even though nothing had happened thanks to Camelia's swift intervention, it was a fact that he nearly attacked the one who will bear the crown. Apologies were the least he could do.

‘But I have a bad feeling.’

The paladin had been dispatched tonight to protect the nuns during the mass healing. But this wasn’t normal, for such occasions the squire should have been more than enough, and it wasn’t as if the nuns were damsel in distress either since each of them received systemic training in self-defense and weapons art, as well as holy magic.

He could feel it in his blood.... something big was about to happen.

-----

Coming back to Sol, a few hours after his discussion with Milia, Sol now sat alone in the carriage going towards the Gorfard’s mansion.

For a prince like him to walk around without any escort was something that shouldn’t happen, but this time, Sol didn’t know what would happen. As long as he was alone, it was more than easy to use his dimension to defend or flee if things went sour.

On the other hand, if someone like Setsuna or Milia was with him, he couldn’t bring them into his dimension since they would automatically hate him so much they would try to kill him.

Just imagining the opposite of all the love someone like Milia had for him was scary.

As such, him going alone was the most optimal choice.

‘I really need to work around these limitations.’

If he could negate or control this inversion of feelings, so many things would become possible.

Just imagining himself suddenly summoning an army of soldiers no matter where he was made him giddy. This reminded me of the reality marble of Iskander and it was so cool.

‘Haha, I am more stressed than I thought I would.’

He had remarked that he would begin to think more of things from his previous world to distract himself when he was under heavy stress.

But how could he not be stressed? Now that he was alone he didn’t have to act strong, nor look though. Now that he was alone, he had to admit that he was a little scared.

He wasn’t scared about fighting, just that he was more and more aware of just how many lives would change depending on the decisions he would make tonight.

Many people would die. Many will lose their homes. Many will be wounded.

In fact, if he wasn’t careful, even some of his women could lose their life, and that, more than anything, terrified him.

‘Truly a selfish prince.’

He was selfish throughout and through. He cared about people but cared more about his own. He feared spilling blood but feared more the blood of those he cared for being spilled.

His father in this world put the interest of many above that of the minority. The same went for all the previous King, in their own ways. But, he simply couldn’t.

‘I rather kill thousands, than see one of the people I love bleed.’

Sol knew that for him who hadn’t even killed someone once, talking about killing thousands of people seemed like big words without any substance. But this was how he felt.

He had no deep attachments to this world aside from the few people close to him. So why should he care about strangers?

Because it was his responsibility as a prince?

Because this was the right thing to do?

‘At the end of the day, I am still too naive and do not know enough about this world.’

As he approached the gate of the Gorfard's mansion, Sol decided something in his heart.

‘Once this mess ends and after I form my contract...I will leave Lustburg.’

Once the carriage stopped and the driver opened the door, all emotions vanished from Sol’s face.

As a noble, even more as a prince, he could be scared, he could be stressed, sad, happy, or anything. But, he should never let the enemy get hold of his weakness.

If when alone he was the young teen Sol, once he was in public, he was Prince Sol.

Finally, he stepped down,

“His highness, the prince Sol Dragona Luxuria!”