Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Volume Chapter 3

“Well, I heard we got emissaries over from Zilgus…Oh, that’s the cousin from my ex-fianceé? Phew~” Maizar showed no restraint whatsoever to closely inspect Kirlen from head to toe, to which the woman’s face tensed up.

“Looking at you, I bet that Zilgus’ princess, or the so-called ‘Treasure of Zilgus’ must be just as beautiful, huh. Man, I might regret that the marriage was annulled.” Maizar grinned with not a worry in the world.

“Will you drop that, Maizar, you’re being rude.” Eldorand tried to stop his younger brother but to no avail.

“I mean, I was excited about that marriage, you know? If possible, I’d like to have a beauty by my side. Oh yeah, why don’t you take her place, female knight? It’s for the sake of both our countries, remember?” Maizar hit on Kirlen with as much of a nonchalant face as always.

At the same time, Kirlen couldn’t be more displeased, with anger mixing in her angered expression. If he wasn’t one of the princes of the Empire, she probably would have struck him down with her sword.

“…I am happy about the wonderful offer, but I sadly have a fianceé already.” Kirlen calmed herself down, giving a faint response.

“Oh my, what a shame. Well, if you get rejected, just call out to me, I’ll gladly welcome you.” Maizar shrugged and then turned towards Kyle.

“And, you’re that Kyle, huh? The one who apparently defeated a demon.”

“That’s right, Your Highness Maizar.” Kyle showed a polite answer.

“What kind of demon was it, and how did you defeat them? I’d love to hear the details, it sounds quite entertaining.”

“I hardly believe it is such an entertaining story. I only managed to defeat it because I was lucky.”

“…If demons truly are what the legends told me, then you can’t defeat them with just luck, right?” Maizar looked at Kyle with a sharp, perceptive gaze.

Kyle didn’t miss that and had to hold back a grin.

His true self is still the same…Well, that makes sense.

“Yes, naturally I am also strong enough to defeat a demon. I can confidently state that I could hold my ground as one of the strongest in all of humanfolk.” Kyle explained to Maizar without a glimmer of hesitation in his voice, to which Maizar’s eyes opened wide, him bursting out in roaring laughter after.

“I-I see. You’re confident enough to boldly declare that, huh…So then…”

“Maizar…Leave it at that…To all of you from Zilgus, my deepest apologies. To repay my younger brother’s insolence, please enjoy the banquet we had prepared for you this evening.” Eldorand forcefully ended the conversation, as if he had enough.

On the way to the room, Kirlen was fuming with anger, completely out of her usual character.

“What a confident, insolent fool, exactly what I had heard, but to think that was the third prince…What is the Empire thinking!”

As they were inside the Imperial Palace, Kirlen whispered, but her anger was clearly showing.

“The Empire itself seems to be dubious about this, but His Majesty Benedix and His Highness Eldorand seem to have a soft spot…” Orgis let out a sigh himself, and since he was experienced with diplomatic relationships, he must have his own fair share of experiences.

“…However, we were quite lucky that his marriage with Princess Milena was annulled, I’d say. There may have been a future where I would have to bend a knee to him,” Kirlen commented, as she shivered in fear.

“Hahaha, that is true. To Zilgus, it was a blessing in disguise.” Orgis showed a bitter smile and agreed.

Periodically, those two would clash in their own ideals, but their passion for Zilgus was at an equal level, so they probably were happy to find a point they could agree on.

Really? I feel like those two would be a good married couple…or rather, they were a happy couple back then.

While listening to the two discussing, Kyle thought back to the time he knew Milena, as well as Maizar all too well, and smiled.

“You seem to be in a good mood?” Lieze looked up at Kyle’s face and talked to him.

“Did it look that way?”

“Yeah. Whenever you’re happy, your left cheek tends to convulse from time to time, and it did that now as well.”

“…I had no idea.” Kyle was confused to hear this unexpected trait about him and touched his cheek.

“Still, Kyle, calling yourself strongest among human folk, you really went all out back there,” Shildonia remembered the previous conversation and said with a teasing tone.

“I don’t remember saying that much, but…Well, any straightforward response like that will please him more, and leave a better impression…yeah.” Kyle remembered Maizar from the previous timeline and smiled.

After Kyle’s group left the room, Eldorand had everybody leave the room except Maizar, Beadola, as well as the man in armor leaning against the wall.

“Brother, you should probably try to win over that Kyle guy, or kill him if he’s against it.” Maizar called out to Eldorand.

His tone was as nonchalant as before, but his eyes were different.

“…For what reason?”

“I think the fact of him beating a demon is right. He seems to be clever as well, and he’s still not in direct relation to Zilgus, so something is going on…the rest is just my intuition.”

“Intuition, huh…Yeah, you tend to hit the jackpot a lot with that. Especially during the times I’d rather not wish you to.” Eldorand let out a sigh.

“Doesn’t seem like he was lying about possessing respectable strength among us humanfolk. On top of that, the allies with him were no joke either…Darius, what do you think?” Maizar turned towards the man leaning against the wall.

“Yes, the human and elf woman were quite strong, but that swordsman…he is on an entirely different level.” Darius thought about Seran and gave his response.

“To think even you would say that…So, could you win against him?”

“Now, I don’t think I’d be able to tell without a real fight.” Darius showed a faint smile.

“I can’t believe it…normally you’d say you could win easily against most people…”

Eldorand knew of Darius’ skill with the sword, which is why he kept him close. Hearing the words of one of the strongest swordsmen in the entire Empire, Eldorand’s expression tightened up.

“What I am most curious about is the girl in white. She most definitely isn’t a normal human being. It seemed like a magical entity, but a bit different from that.” Beadola remembered Shildonia. “Honestly, I don’t know who she is.”

“If Grandma Bea doesn’t know, then nobody here will be able to figure it out.” Maizar showed a faint smile, but Eldorand was panicking a bit.

In his memories, the all-knowing saint of the empire, Beadola, never said ‘I don’t know’ before.

“…Anyway, it’d be best if we don’t let down our guard around them, and we should probably look into it more. We already had a spy search through their past, so we should probably see results soon.”

With both Beadola and Darius giving their advice, Eldorand decided to push up his caution against Kyle’s group.

“You probably should rush things a bit, they’re far too talented. If you can’t make them your allies, better remove them.”

“It’s rare to see you bring down such judgment.”

“I told you, right, it’s my intuition. Something just doesn’t feel right…” Maizar scratched his head, unable to explain why he felt that way.

It might not seem that way, but Eldorand highly valued his younger brother. A lot of people seemed to look down on him, but his overall abilities were excellent, and Eldorand knew that this was probably just a strategy to hide his true talent. More than anything, he held trust in this blood-related younger brother.

“For crying out loud…There’s my father to worry about, and them as well, so I’d rather not get a headache because of them.” Eldorand remembered all the troubles he had to worry about, all of them related to the future of the country. “Still, it is a shame that we couldn’t send you off to Zilgus. If you had made it, then Zilgus would have easily been in our hands.”

“No way that would have worked out. Checking into it, that princess over there is quite the individual. Not to mention…even if I managed to get inside Zilgus, and saw a winning chance if I took that princess’ hand, I might have invaded Galgan, you know?” Maizar grinned, and Eldorand joined. “Well, now that it’s come to this, my duty is to be the bad guy, and carry all the displeasure towards the Empire. Then, you’ll dispose of your blood-related younger brother with tears in your eyes, raising your reputation as the prince, right?”

“There is no way that you would be disposed of that easily. You’ll change your face and name, live freely.” Beadola commented, and Eldorand let out a sigh.

“I wouldn’t ever think of using you for such wicked methods. I’m currently thinking of something so you better be prepared. Not to mention those demons…they’ve been silent for three hundred years, they should have just stayed quiet for another hundred.”

In their previous conversation, Eldorand doubted the involvement of demons, but he had known that Zilgus was right this entire time. If demons were back on the rise, then the Empire had to react accordingly.

“Well, that should be fine. Even if something happens to our old man, as long as you’re alive Brother El, the Galgan Empire will be fine.”

“Can you not say something that’ll cause calamity down the line? Also, you’re making it sound like the Empire is done for if something were to happen to me.”

“That’s why, you gotta live long and healthy. With that, I can take it easy.”

“You don’t even have to tell me.”

The oldest son and third-oldest smiled at each other.

***

—Around that time.

“…So, that first prince will die?”

“Yeah, and even before the Emperor will pass.”

Once it was just Kyle and Shildonia in their room, he told his sword about the chaos that will soon break out.