Chapter 10. The One to Wear the Emperor’s Crown
Radel wasn’t the only one shocked by the 2nd Prince’s words, making it unclear whether he was a brother or a mother.
The 3rd Princess also trembled and shouted.
“Stop talking like that!”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re treating me like a child! It’s really annoying!”
Does he really not know?
Radel seriously thought that the 2nd Prince might be completely unaware of himself.
“Thea, a future emperor must also speak elegantly, you know?”
“……Hmph.”
The 3rd Princess’s deep annoyance was palpable.
Radel also sympathized deeply.
Treating his grown-up sister like that was too much, way too much.
“And please, keep your people in check. I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt, and I certainly don’t want anyone to die.”
“Oh dear……. Thea, all of that was an accident.”
The 2nd Prince cast his eyes down as if he were truly sorry.
“The ones who didn’t listen to me have been dealt with, so don’t you worry.”
It was a mystery what he meant by ‘don’t worry’ while speaking so suspiciously.
Radel decided to harbor even stronger suspicions about the 2nd Prince, whom he had already been suspicious of in his heart.
“Anyway, I’ve made it clear. If something like this happens again, I won’t stand for it.”
Leaving one last cold remark, the 3rd Princess left the food storage. The 2nd Prince, who had been watching her silently, also left.
And after confirming their departure, Radel quietly emerged.
“Wow…”
He felt like he had just watched a whole drama series.
And to think it was related to the incident where he almost died.
Even to Radel, the 2nd Prince’s words and attitude were quite unsettling.
Although the 2nd Prince’s close associates supposedly sent assassins after Radel on their own… the suspicion that his influence wasn’t involved at all only grew.
Compared to him, it seemed like he could have a conversation with the 3rd Princess.
“That was quite exciting.”
Radel muttered to himself without realizing it and ended up understanding the heart of his Archmage ancestor.
This guy, no way…
Did he go around eavesdropping on things like this!
However, it was a past too long ago to confirm, so leaving it as a mere suspicion, Radel wandered around aimlessly and returned to the 8th Prince’s Palace.
* * *
Day 14 of training.
[Basic Swordsmanship (F)]
The most fundamental swordsmanship.
Slashing (9,999/10,000)
Stabbing (9,999/10,000)
After checking the Basic Swordsmanship Skill window, Radel checked the next Skill window as well.
[Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (F)]
A mana training method researched by Archmage Hayden over his lifetime.
Allows one to be reborn as a true mage.
Slashing (9,999/10,000)
Stabbing (9,999/10,000)
Lying Down (9,999/10,000)
“Good.”
It took longer than planned because his Health was too low, but now only a single action remained for each to raise the proficiency in the Skill windows.
“Hah!”
Radel lifted the wooden sword with a nearly immobile arm and slashed the air once.
From top to bottom.
As a result of repeated training by reviving memories from his past life, although it was just slashing and stabbing, it had become very clean by now.
Next, he put strength into the wooden sword and stabbed the air.
It was a movement with clear force behind it.
“Ha, seriously. I’m going to die.”
Thud.
As soon as he finished the last movement, Radel lay down on the floor.
He could have filled up ‘Lying Down’ much earlier, but he held out without lying down until now because he wanted to use it as the very last action before the Skill upgrade.
As expected, as soon as he lay down, the Skill upgrade window popped up before his eyes.
“This is it!”
Tiring.
[Skill upgrade conditions have been met.]
[Skill: Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (F)]
[Skill: Basic Swordsmanship (F)]
[Would you like to upgrade the skills? (Y/N)]
Radel proceeded with the upgrade while lying on the floor.
It felt as if all his troubles were melting away like snow.
Tiring.
[Skills have been upgraded.]
[Skill: Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (E)]
[Skill: Basic Swordsmanship (E)]
[User’s Stats will be affected by the skill upgrade.]
This was the moment he had truly been waiting for.
Stat increase!
Since it was an F-rank Skill, it wouldn’t increase by much, but his abilities would still change.
If so, he could aim for unlocking the Troll’s Heart.
[Troll’s Heart (F)]
The ability to regenerate any wound.
However, it regenerates at a speed that barely keeps one alive. (Additional Ability Activation: Health 10)
Severe pain accompanies the activation of this Trait.
This was Radel’s true goal.
His Health needed to be 10 to reach E-rank, but just doing some cardio didn’t make his stats jump.
But what about now that he had completed the Skill upgrade?
Radel waited with a trembling heart, but.
…Surprisingly, nothing happened.
“Don’t tell me my stats barely increased?”
No way.
Name: Radel Silvert Cretian
Age: 17
Rank: 8th Prince of the Cretian Empire
Stats: Health 9, Magic Power 8, Strength 8, Agility 7, Intelligence 8
Overall Ability: E
Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (E), Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (E)
Traits: Troll’s Heart (F), Status Effect Nullification (S)
They did go up.
They had all increased from the beginning, the skills were upgraded, and the Overall Ability also went up from F to E!
But the most important stat, Health!
It was just 1 point short!
He couldn’t activate the Additional Ability of the Troll’s Heart.
“Let’s rest a bit and think about it.”
Everything was higher than before, so if he picked up speed, he might be able to raise his Health by 1 point soon enough.
On the other hand, he felt he might be asking for too much when he had only just begun.
Radel lay on the training ground floor and looked toward the entrance.
Swoosh.
He could see the cascading water of the waterfall.
He didn’t know if it was magic or real, but he hadn’t even properly looked at it until now, being busy with training.
Couldn’t I get out through there too?
Radel’s curiosity reared its head.
It was partly because he had grown accustomed to exploring while wandering the secret passages.
Radel got up and approached the waterfall.
Swoosh!
As he got closer, the spray was thick, and water droplets splashed all over his face.
“This feels real.”
It was strange.
He grabbed the wall to support himself and reached his hand toward the waterfall, and immediately regretted it.
- Kieeeek!
Something screeching loudly shot towards him.
In an instant, the waterfall darkened, and wind whipped around, making the stream of water sway in all directions.
Through it, a monster revealed itself.
It was a griffin, with the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion!
Flapping its massive wings outside the waterfall, it charged at Radel.
“……!”
Radel didn’t even have time to scream before being sent flying into the cave by a single flap of the griffin’s wings.
Thud!
He couldn’t hear anything anymore.
Not only did he have fractures, but both of his eardrums had burst at once.
The only fortunate thing was that the cave entrance was narrow, so the griffin couldn’t come inside.
Tiring.
[User’s body has been damaged.]
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, activates.]
[Warning! Intense pain is coming!]
“Kugh…!”
Radel trembled at the pain he felt and lost consciousness.
He was truly too, too weak.
* * *
By the time Radel opened his eyes, a lot of time had passed.
Swoosh.
He heard the sound of the waterfall.
It was proof that his burst eardrums had regenerated.
His arms and legs were fine, with no broken bones.
He thought he was going to die when he was sent flying by the griffin.
“The Troll’s Heart saved me again…”
Radel checked the system windows that had piled up while he was unconscious, one by one.
Tiring.
[A desperate crisis!]
[User’s body enters a near-death state.]
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, overcomes the crisis of death.]
[Stats will increase.]
[Additional ability of Troll’s Heart (E) is activated!]
“The additional ability is activated?”
Radel’s eyes widened.
He had to check his Status Window immediately.
Name: Radel Silvert Cretian
Age: 17
Rank: 8th Prince of the Cretian Empire
Stats: Health 10, Magic Power 8, Strength 8, Agility 7, Intelligence 8
Overall Ability: E+
Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (E), Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (E)
Traits: Troll’s Heart (E), Status Effect Nullification (S)
His Health had certainly gone up.
The Troll’s Heart had also been upgraded by one rank.
[Troll’s Heart (E)]
The ability to regenerate any wound.
However, it regenerates at a speed that barely keeps one alive. (Additional Ability Activation: Health 20)
Severe pain accompanies the activation of this Trait.
Pain that doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. (Health +1 upon recovery from a near-death state)
Looking again, a line had been added to the trait’s description.
Pain that doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.
Does Health increase by 1 every time I recover from a near-death state?
Does overcoming a crisis of death raise my stats?
Radel’s curiosity reared its head again.
‘This… I have to try it, don’t I?’
Radel raised his just-healed body and ran towards the cascading waterfall.
And as he approached the waterfall and stuck his arm in, he heard the sound of something flying towards him at high speed.
- Kieeeek!
It was the griffin!
“I knew you’d come.”
Thud!
Radel was sent flying and slammed into the ground once more by the griffin’s wing flap.
“Cough!”
He must have hit something wrong when he was thrown into the cave, as a mouthful of blood poured out of his mouth.
It hurt like crazy.
And it was about to hurt even more.
Tiring.
[User’s body has been damaged.]
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, activates.]
[Warning! Intense pain is coming!]
“Kuhuk!”
Once again, a pain that was unbearable while conscious washed over him.
But as Radel lost consciousness, he strangely found himself smiling.
He knew his actions would look crazy to anyone watching, but he couldn’t stop.
He felt like something would work out this time too.
It was small, but he could definitely see hope.
* * *
- Kieeeek!
The griffin looked at Radel as if wondering what kind of human this was.
A human who flew away with just a swing of its wing was fearlessly provoking it again and again.
Radel waved his arm where the water stream was weaker and shouted at the griffin.
“One more time! One more time!”
Even if the griffin tried to ignore him, it couldn’t just leave a human causing a ruckus within its territory.
“If you do it one more time, I might die! Don’t give up!”
It couldn’t understand the human’s words, but it felt strangely unpleasant.
It wanted to go into the cave right now and tear that noisy human apart, but it couldn’t enter as if it were blocked by some transparent barrier.
“Are you giving up?! Huh? Why don’t you have any grit!”
The griffin considered ignoring him, but it seemed like he would be noisy all day if left alone, so it glided low towards the waterfall again.
- Kieeeek!
“That’s it!”
Not liking the human’s somehow happy expression, the griffin struck the human with all its might.
Thud!
This would keep him quiet for a few hours.
- Kieeeek!
The griffin, feeling refreshed now that the human was gone, roared in excitement.
And it was just about to turn and go on its territory patrol.
“Ouch, ouch, it hurts, but one hit isn’t enough anymore. Got anything stronger?”
The impudent human appeared, looking perfectly fine, as if he had never been hit!
- Kieeek?