Chapter 29 – This will solve everything!! (これならすべて解決だよっ！！)

Arriving at Ursch-kun's workshop, I opened the carriage door to find...

Allis-chan and His Highness lying under the seats.

Huh? Why are the both of you lying there instead of sitting in on the seats?

Was it a bad idea to add a spin to soften the impact of catching the carriage?

Did they get dizzy and fell out of their seats?

I secretly enhanced their bodies with Holy Magic beforehand, so I don't think they're injured, but...

For now, I'll take the two motionless people under my arm and go up to the second floor, where Ursch-kun would be.

Due to my height, I couldn't avoid dragging them a little.

The two heads are hitting the stairs with a loud thumping sound, but well, I've already enhanced them with magic, and even if they do get hurt, I could always just heal them later, right?

As I slowly walked up the stairs, Ursch-kun popped his head out after hearing the noises from down below.

"Huh~? Isabella, didn't you have a tea party today.... What's that?!"

"Allis-chan, and the Second Prince in a sack!!"

"...I see. I get it now~ I'll dig a hole right away, so after we bury the body, let's pack up and leave. It's faster to get to the border if we go east from here, right?"

"Wha-?! They're not dead!! They're both alive!! I didn't kill them!!"

To think, my very own fiancée suspecting me of murder and body disposal!!

I'll admit that the Second Prince does look like a dead body with him being stuffed in a sack and all, but still!!

For him to decide to become an accomplice for body disposal, and to be prepared for a life on the run in that split second...

Ursch-kun, you gave up way too fast.

But thank you.

I'll never forget your quick decision to live on the run with me. Even if you were just misunderstanding things.

"Is that so? I totally jumped to conclusions there~. For now, could you explain from the top?"

"And so, I hurriedly brought the prince back here..... Do you think he could learn how to turn off his skills too?"

After we went to the second floor, I laid the unconscious Allis-chan on the couch and released His Highness from his sack, seating him in a chair. I then began to explain the sequence of events to Ursch-kun.

The prince didn't move a muscle when I moved him out of the carriage or when I was carrying him, so I thought he fainted, like Allis-chan did.

But when I opened the sack, he slided out with his dead eyes and a thin smile on his lips.

I was honestly terrified.

"Just why would you stick your nose into your so-called 'death flag?' willingly~?"

Ursch-kun, please stop shooting me that dark aura with my favourite healing smile on your face~!!

It's scary!! It's really really scary!!

I'm already terrified at the presence of the thinly-smiling zombie boy over there, so please don't add on to the horror!!

"Moreover, you're too impulsive~. From now on, you're forbidden from acting without thinking it through, okay?"

"B-but, if we don't do something now, the Second Prince's mental state will... I couldn't just ignore it."

And I wanted to support Allis-chan's love, too.

"Isabella~? Calm down and think for a moment, okay? How old are you when the game starts?"

The game starts at the same time as my enrollment into the Magic Academy, so...

"Fifteen."

"And is the Second Prince there?"

"Hm? He is."

"Which means at the age of 15, His Highness attends the academy normally, and until then has enough mental strength to experience romance, correct?"

H-huh?

"Now then, was there really a need to kidnap him to 'do something about it' as soon as possible?"

Could it be that it wasn't an emergency at all?

"B-but just look at his current state!! He's completely unresponsive, and his smile isn't from the heart!! He's completely empty!! Even his status says 'Mentally Weakened State' too!!"

Frankly, from what I can see, rather than it just being "weakened", it feels like his spirit is in a whole different world right now.

"Isn't that his mind in retreat with 'Parallel Thought'? To put it simply, it's like a 'state of escaping reality by using skills'. One thought deals with the 'mind read' skill, and the other thought rests. Add his 'Insomnia' into the mix and he's even more spaced out."

So that's how he came to this unguarded, creepy state....

''Also, he's subconsciously suppressing his skill well, even when he doesn't know that it's the cause of his current situation~"

"What?! He is?"

"Didn't you find it strange that a skill with 'a maximum distance' of 10km was only activating on a 5km radius? If he couldn't control it at all, then it should have activated at full-power, don't you think?"

.....

I didn't pay attention to that much detail.

"So you didn't pay attention to that... Well, I guess this is the limit of what he can do on his own without knowing the cause of his situation."

After discussing it with Ursch-kun, we decided to inform His Highness that the true identity of his "curse" is in fact a "skill".

With that in mind, our next course of actions are to be considered after hearing out what the "Second Prince wants for himself".

To be honest, everything we've done up to this point held no regard for his own wishes.

It's about time to get his opinion on this.

"But how do we even have a proper conversation with the prince?"

"If only he would come back to us, even if only temporarily... Ah, but even if he did come back, the voices he'd hear from his 'mind read' might be too noisy for us to have a proper talk."

That's true, it would be difficult to converse with someone who's practically standing in the middle of a crowd 24/7.

"For now, let's leave aside the matter of whether or not conversing is possible, and bring him back to us first. As long as his attention is on us, we can always resort to having a written conversation."

With that, Ursch-kun and I did our best to bring His Highness' attention to us by tapping his shoulder or shaking him, but nothing worked.

"He's pretty tough... Isabella, got any ideas? Something that might catch his attention?"

"Hmm... Even if you ask me... maybe if we insulted him?"

"Huh? An insult?"

"Hey you!! Yeah I'm talking to you!! Your hair is metallic—!!"

"...That goes amazingly right back at you. You do realise that you have almost the same hair colour as him, right?"

Oh... Right.....

The hair that I inherited from my mother, a former princess, resembled the colour of metal.

Incidentally, many of the Rosereale royalty have this superalloy-like blonde hair as well.

In contrast to its superalloy looks, it's actually pretty soft and curly.

"You can call me Fullmetal Lady from now on!"

"I won't... Also, by 'idea' I meant something from your closet. Possibly an Item like that lemonade of yours that can cure status ailments? Honestly, this makes it seem like I'm asking for help from the game's me so I feel kind of complicated."

Ah... I haven't used the 【Closet】 at all lately, so I completely forgot it existed.

There hasn't been any opportunities to use the Items, so I put them away thinking I would sell them off one day.

Did I have something?

Consumables can't be used if the user is practically out of it, so maybe an equipable?

"Hmm, this bracelet that boosts HP recovery looks suitable for his 'Physical strength reduction'. There's a limit to the number of usage and the amount recovered, but I have a lot stored, so it could work. I also have some amulets and hair ornaments that nullifies status ailments with limited usage, but since his condition is caused by his own skill and not from an outside source, it's unlikely to be effective..."

"Looks like we'll have to do something about the cause of his abnormal status condition—his skill first."

"Ah!! Ursch-kun!! I found something!!"

"Hm? You found something useful?"

"Yup!! This will solve everything!! The Tartar's Arrow: getting struck by this will temporarily seal all your skills!! At the Second Prince's current Level, we can seal it for up to a week!!"

If we can seal his skill for a week, we could have a proper conversation, and the Second Prince would be able to get some sleep and regain his strength!! No more insomnia!! Then he can finally recover from his mentally weakened state!!

"Rejected."

"Why?!"

"What do you mean why...... At the Second Prince's current Level, he'll die if he was shot by that. Rejected."

※Tartar: A name referring to the various ethnic groups that lived in a wide area from the Mongolian plateau in northern Asia to Lithuania in eastern Europe.

When I was a child, I once heard that 'The Tartars' arrows are swift'. The truth is unknown. (I couldn't find it even after I looked it up)

T/N: Just in case anyone got confused by my bad geography knowledge, the Tartars lived here