Vol 1 Epilogue (2/2)

His entire body seemed to sink into the splendorous bed but, on the other hand, he couldn’t calm down. Besides, this room was much larger than the one he’d been lodged in along with dozens of sword-slaves. Being alone in a place like this, not knowing who was lurking where, he didn’t think he could rest his mind.

Orba jumped back up, although not because of Dinn’s words, and headed for the room’s large windows. Facing the verdurous garden outside, it looked out over Solon’s orderly townscape.

It starts here.

What kind of person could he become, and what could he accomplish? Up until now, he still hadn’t found an answer to the question his brother Roan posed on that starry night.

Would he wield his sword to chase after his childhood dream of a successful life, would he raise that sword to take revenge on those that had bereft him of everything, or would he find a way to pursue the people he’d lost.

All of it.

Indeed. Exactly because he didn’t know what to do, he only had to do all of it. These were the only means...o...b.. had available for himself. He couldn’t wish for a better position than an imperial prince.

He now stood among those that he once, in his childhood days, believed weren’t looking at the same things the common people were. If he embraced all the things he couldn’t reach before with both his arms, he might be able to discover something new.

And besides, he wanted to find out how far his own existence, and the power his existence held, would take him.

Of course, there were many obstacles. Fedom, and the question of where the real prince was, dealing with the Garberan princess, the anti-imperial faction, and—

“How can you have the nerves!? Keeping such a nonchalant act together!”

It was the first thing Gowen said after being invited to the prince’s room. s.h.i.+que nodded and said,

“And during your audience. On one hand, you’re a former sword-slave disguised as the emperor’s son. But on the other hand…”

Orba stepped in and took over the conversation.

“It’s like an arch villain trying to manipulate the prince, right?”

Dinn gave a startled look.

Even though the one behind the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt on Prince Gil and Vileena was likely neither Garbera nor Mephius, Orba suspected that it might actually be Guhl Mephius himself.

Ende was the most suspicious actor in wanting to kill the two. However, their delegation had been especially invited and they never uttered a word that could’ve labelled them as suspects. There was no way to interrogate them in such a way that they could fabricate the ‘truth’.

On top of that, if the members of both royal families had been killed, it would have resulted in a joint attack with Garbera on Ende from both sides. Two countries that had been mutual enemies yesterday would become firm allies the next. It would’ve given even better results than marrying the prince and princess.

For Guhl, compared to the profit of dividing Ende’s lands with Garbera, the life of prince Gil - of the crown prince - wasn’t as valuable.

He was the emperor.

And after all of this, Orba had to face such a person as his ‘father’. Someone who, for him, was still the mysterious living symbol of this ‘kingdom’.

“This time, the a.s.sa.s.sination failed because Ryucown’s attack interfered with things. In fact, to the emperor, Ryucown’s subjugation seems even more convenient for a future with Garbera,” s.h.i.+que said in a gloomy tone.

“But to some extent, I may have ended up someplace even worse than the gladiator ring,” spoken like an elder, Gowen said those significant words. “At least it hasn’t been something like a surprise attack. Even so, a parent and child sharing blood that kill each other is just sad.”

Orba didn’t reply and continued to look out of the window.

In this line of business, everything was a battle. If he couldn’t live without ending up victorious, then things weren’t all that much different than before.

Orba only ever chose the path of victory, or he wouldn’t have lived this long.

There were many heroes in this world. Among those running through a world of war, Gil Mephius hadn’t been the type to trouble or possibly entertain historians.

But, although he’d been belittled by his va.s.sals as the ‘foolish prince’, now, triggered by the marriage to Vileena of the Kingdom of Garbera, he had turned to wisdom in the blink of an eye and made a sudden transition into being called the ‘Dragon of Mephius’. It was the kind of tale that historians could weave into the imaginations of the people.

But none of them knew.

Gil Mephius’s true ident.i.ty.

The man known as the masked gladiator, soon after casting off the mask of an iron tiger, had acquired a new mask of flesh.

n.o.body knew.

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