LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 7 - Prince Edward and the Bandits
In the middle of the sea.
A red sunset was falling.
“This is strange.”
The tattooed young man stopped rowing and stood up to look around.
“This should be the right spot but where did it go? It’s enough to make ghosts cry.”
Where the island should have been, there was no island, just a vast red sea bathed in sunset.
The other young men rowing with him all scratched their heads saying it was strange.
“Did we come to the wrong place?”
“Did you get the direction wrong?”
“Hey, what do you take me for. I got it right.”
“Then why is there no island?”
“How should I know?”
While the young men were chattering, the tattooed young man quietly examined the sea.
Then he discovered something.
“Guys, let’s go a bit more to the right.”
He saw a small pouch precariously caught on a floating log.
The tattooed young man picked it up and opened it.
“This… is his money pouch.”
“So we came to the right place?”
“Seems like it.”
“Where did the island go? Did it sink? No way, that’s impossible.”
The tattooed young man counted the money in the pouch and clicked his tongue bitterly.
“He didn’t have much left after paying us. Poor guy.”
He tied the money pouch and paid his respects.
“Though our meeting was brief, it was fun. May you go to heaven. We’ll make good use of the money you left behind.”
Woooong!
A ship’s horn sounded from far away.
Looking in the direction of the sound, a large sailing ship was heading their way.
A man was shouting at the top of his lungs from the bow.
“Priiiince! Where are you priiiince!”
When Carlisle spotted the young men’s boat, he quickly pointed.
“Ah th-th-there! You took the prince there! Where is the prince!”
“We were looking for him too.”
The tattooed young man honestly answered that the island had disappeared before rowing away.
Carlisle collapsed onto the deck.
“Th-that can’t be…! How can I report this fact to the queen…! Sob sob…”
Behind the dumbfounded man, the minstrel Jamila wiped her tears and began singing impromptu.
“There was a prince who yearned for adventure~”
Her beautiful singing voice carried on the wind and spread far.
And growing gradually fainter, it settled on land.
In a cave prison lit by torches in the middle of the night.
Maru opened his eyes.
“You’re alive! I thought you were dead since you wouldn’t come to!”
What entered Maru’s vision was a naked blonde man.
A thin build without any muscle.
Late 20s? He looked about that age.
“Who are you…? Why are you naked?”
Maru asked while looking around.
The narrow cave had its entrance blocked by iron bars.
It was like a prison.
And he was also naked.
“I am Prince Edward, who will one day be the ruler of this land.”
“Prince… Edward?”
“Surprised? Don’t be too surprised. I don’t stand on ceremony, so feel free to be casual. Unlike His Majesty my father, I’m an open person.”
Edward, who revealed himself as a prince, grinned.
Having seemingly been captured not long ago, he was full of energy despite his face being black and blue with bruises from being beaten.
“Why is a prince in this shabby prison…? No, before that, why am I locked in prison?”
“Listen.”
Edward approached with a serious expression and squatted down.
“So what happened was…”
After hearing the whole story from him, Maru nodded.
“So a succubus dropped me off.”
“She was truly a beautiful succubus. I’ve never seen such a beautiful succubus before. How did you seduce her? Surely she’s not your familiar? No, if she were your familiar she wouldn’t abandon you to the bandits.”
“You say she was being chased by a wyvern?”
“That’s right. Ah! I see. Was she in a hurry?”
While Edward kept chattering, Maru was lost in thought for a moment.
‘The mark on my ear… did she find my location with that and save me?’
He thought it must have been Luciella who saved him when he was drowning in the sea.
He vaguely remembered the decadent nail polish color she had on her nails.
He touched his right ear and smirked.
“It turned out useful unexpectedly.”
“Hmm? What are you muttering about?”
“Nothing at all. So how did the prince of a nation end up locked here? Are these bandits not afraid of the king?”
“I!”
Edward stood up energetically while dangling his center.
He clenched his fist.
“I organized a unit by hiring mercenaries intending to wipe out these bandits who torment the people! But I got caught up in wicked schemes and was betrayed! In the end, all the mercenaries ran away and I alone was left to be captured by the bandits.”
“You were captured alone?”
“That’s right. Because the ones who betrayed me were the mercenaries I hired.”
“……”
Is it okay for someone who’s a prince to proudly blurt out such an embarrassing story…?
Well, his innocence is endearing at least.
“Why didn’t you use the kingdom’s army? Why hire mercenaries?”
“Currently all the soldiers in the kingdom ignore me, calling me the fool prince. No one listens to me.”
Edward placed his hand on his forehead and let out a sigh.
“His Majesty just lets that happen?”
“Father calls me a ruffian too.”
“Oh my.”
“My younger sister the princess has given up on me completely.”
“……”
What exactly is this guy.
What kind of character is he.
Is he really a prince?
“Don’t worry. Around tomorrow afternoon, envoys sent by His Majesty will come to rescue us. Last time they released me for ten gold coins, but I don’t know how much more they’ll demand this time. Ah! As the prince of this country, I cannot ignore a citizen in trouble. I’ll definitely demand they release you too. Just trust me!”
“This happens often, I take it?”
“Indeed! This is my sixth time being captured by bandits!”
“You’re a regular customer…”
At this point even the king must be getting headaches.
Anyway, they spent the night exchanging various stories with the blonde prince.
Edward was energetic and knew many stories, making him quite an interesting fellow.
He seemed to have an honest and bright personality.
Before they knew it roosters crowed and morning came, but instead of food, strangers were lingering in front of the iron bars.
A middle-aged man wearing expensive robes seemed to be giving instructions to the bandit executives while peering into the cell.
“Cut here, cut there, cut from there to here…(whisper whisper)”
After the middle-aged man left, the bandits opened the prison door and came in.
They were holding three buckets and a large flat blade.
“Tie this one up.”
When one bandit pointed at Maru, other bandits approached and started tying his arms with rope.
Edward shouted.
“What are you doing! Maru will leave with me! Don’t hurt him!”
The bandit snickered.
“Shut up, fool prince. Boys, the prince says he’s hungry. Stuff some cloth in his mouth.”
“Yes!”
A rolled-up cloth was immediately stuffed into Edward’s mouth.
Then the bandits tied Maru’s arms with rope and pulled from both sides.
“The alchemist bought you. Seems he’s synthesizing a chimera. With your body that looks different from ours.”
“What?”
Weren’t they just taking me outside?
By the time Maru tried to resist, it was already too late.
One bandit quickly swung his blade to strike Maru’s leg.
“Heave-ho! Let’s start with the feet!”
Clank!
Crack!
“Huh?”
The blade that touched Maru’s thigh broke in half.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
“What happened…?”
“Well well.”
Maru was just as surprised.
‘Did my body become harder?’
The bandits thought the blade must have been damaged and swung a different one.
However, the second blade also broke helplessly.
“Damn, what’s this. Why is his body like this?”
Maru finally grasped the situation.
He realized his body had changed.
‘Did I gain power?’
He immediately pulled his arms hard.
The two bandits holding the ropes were pulled forward helplessly while going “whoa.”
He grabbed their heads and made them headbutt each other.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
After easily taking down those two like that, he then grabbed what looked like an executive’s neck and lifted him up.
The guy’s legs flailed in the air.
“L-let go of this!”
“What? Cut off my limbs? Don’t make me laugh.”
Maru gritted his teeth and threw him.
He hit his head on the wall and fell down.
He passed out immediately.
“A-amazing! Were you a hero? Were you a hero?”
Edward spat out the cloth with Maru’s help and rejoiced.
“Where did this strength come from! You should have used it earlier if you had it!”
“Shh. Explanations later, let’s escape quickly now.”
“Alright! After we escape from here, tell me everything in detail! In detail!”
Maru picked up a scarf worn by a fallen bandit and covered his lower body.
Then he left the prison through the open door.
He encountered a bandit on patrol.
“Where do you think you’re running!”
He just took the sword the guy swung, grabbed his neck with his hand, and planted him upside down into the ground.
Bang!
“Urgh…”
The bandit lost consciousness immediately.
Maru marveled at his amazing strength.
He looked at his palms with a smile full of ecstasy.
‘Thank you Lord Belkran.’
Horn sounds rang out from all directions.
“The prisoners have escaped! Quickly catch them!”
The bandits’ hideout became noisy.
Maru turned around.
“Go back into the prison.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll clean up these guys and come back.”
“Clean up? Oho I see! I’ll wait so make sure to come get me!”
While Edward quickly took refuge in the prison, archers in the watchtower mercilessly shot arrows at Maru.
An arrow rain poured down over his head.
Maru took all the hits.
Ping ping ping, ping!
Ping ping!
Ping!
Arrow heads broke and fell to the ground upon touching Maru’s body.
Every single one bounced off without exception.
“I’m not good at things like shot put.”
Maru picked up junk scattered around and threw them hard at the top of the watchtower.
One archer fell after being hit by a jar, another by a rum barrel, and another fell after being hit by an unconscious bandit’s body.
After dealing with the archers like that, Maru moved on.
Groups with swords charged at him while shouting battle cries along the way, but it was futile.
They collapsed one after another while screaming after getting thoroughly beaten by Maru.
“I wonder where the mirror of truth is. The boss’s room, I guess?”
While looking for the boss’s house, he happened to run into that alchemist from earlier.
“Eek!”
“You bastard, come here.”
As Maru approached with large strides, the frightened alchemist hurriedly chanted a spell and sent out his familiar.
“Go and bite him!”
“Graaar!”
A hellhound with a burning body leapt out and charged at Maru like lightning.
Maru then grabbed the hellhound’s head, not caring if it was hot, grabbed its upper and lower jaws, and ripped its mouth apart.
Riiip!
Dark red blood sprayed everywhere.
Maru wiped the blood off his face and grinned.
“Ooh this feels great. Did that hero feel this way all the time? Even I would get addicted to this. I couldn’t keep my head straight living like this every day. Why did she hand over such amazing power?”
It seemed no one could stand in his way now.