Chapter 30 – "Back to normal"!! (”元通り”よっ！！)

"Funyaa........ F-fue?"

After raising a mysterious sound, Allis-chan finally woke up.

"Oh, Allis-chan, you're awake?"

"Eh.... Y-yes!! I'm awake!!"

Yup. She looks fine.

No injuries either. That's good.

"Well then, let's get right over to crossing that mountain!!"

"Yes!! .......Wait, Eeeeeeeeeeeehh?! What do you mean by crossing a mountain?! And before that, where are we?!"

In the end, I couldn't find an Item that could do something about Lucifer without killing the Second Prince.

There were equipments that amplified the abilities of skills, but the only Items that seal skills were either weapons or poison or curse-related.

In the first place, there's no reason to restrict a skill activation if not to attack the user.

Unless you're a fan of playing with restraints, I can't think of a situation where you would need an Item to seal your or your allies' skills.

With the Items being of no use, Ursch-kun and I decided on taking a physical approach instead.

Yup. We simply ensure no one below the prince's Level 4 is within a 10km radius of him.

Then, even if the Pride King's ears were constantly activated, there wouldn't be a problem because there would be no voice to pick up.

And so, our next destination is a mountain lodge owned by the Schneiver Company, used for the harvesting of forest materials.

Although I hear that several employees contracted to harvest materials are at the lodge, I was also told that they each had a decent level, as they were living in the mountains the entire time for their job, and that the prince's mindread skill would likely be deflected.

I explained to Allis-chan that the Second Prince was hit by a curse where "a skill is constantly activated and goes out of control".

And that an enhanced-hearing type of skill was selected, allowing him to pick up all sorts of sounds from his surroundings.

Because of that, His Highness' mind has had no time to rest, and he was exhausted.

I feel guilty for Allis-chan to be the only one kept in the dark, but the existence of Lucifer would surely be seen as an unpleasant skill by others.

Should it be known that the prince is able to read minds, he might end up being used by others, or even be seen as a threat and have his life targeted.

Therefore, whether or not Allis-chan should know the truth is something the Second Prince himself, or those with relations to the royal family has to decide.

"Huh~. And that is why we are moving to somewhere quiet with fewer people, yes? I understand!! Let's cross that mountain!!"

Good. I need Allis-chan to come with me.

Between me having zero aristocratic qualities and Ursch-kun being a commoner, we have no idea on how to behave towards someone of high standing and upbringing like the second prince.

I don't know any conversation topics aristocratic children would like, so I've got no clue what to talk about.

Allis-chan would likely be the only one capable of dealing with the prince while we're in the mountains.

Besides, I think it would be nice if Allis-chan and the prince could get closer this way.

Between the members of our group, Allis-chan is the only one who can earnestly think about the Second Prince, so she's needed as his source of comfort.

"Incidentally, may I know the name of His Highness' skill that is currently out of control?"

"'Hell ears'." ¹

"'Hell ears'... It sounds powerful."

"Yes, it is powerful."

"Isabella....you're just saying whatever~"

I'm not, Ursch-kun. Lucifer is one of the demon king's pillars, so calling them 'Ears of Hell' isn't completely wrong.

Furthermore, he has a wide hearing range of 10km radius (although only limited to people's thoughts), so they're definitely "Hell ears"!

"Isabella, great work on bringing his highness all the way to the second floor, but we'll have to bring him downstairs now~"

"The constant use of 'Parallel Thinking' and 'Perseverance' should be wearing him down, so wouldn't it be better if he slept until we reached the place? He doesn't seem like he has much stamina, so he should get all the rest he can."

That's an awful lot of reasons there, but my real reason is that I don't want to carry this blankly smiling mannequin.

The Second Prince right now looks like a cursed doll and honestly, I'm scared of touching him.

If I had to do it, then carrying a sleeping person would be waay better, even if they were heavier from being unconscious.

"Isabella, do you have any sleep medication on you?"

"Leave it to me!! If I just throw this 'Sleeping Bomb' at him, it'll create an explosion of sleeping gas so powerful that even a giant Nidhogg will be knocked out!!"

"Hweh.... I don't know what a Nidhogg is...."

"Nidhogg refers to a large black serpent that gnaws at the third root of Yggdrasil, and lives in the lake at the base of Yggdrasil."

"If you detonate that 'Sleeping Bomb' in this room, I bet everyone but Isabella will be put in a sleep that they will never wake up from~. Put that weapon away right now."

Ursch-kun instructed me with a straight face.

His words are even bolded and everything. Scary. ²

"Geez, Ursch-kun~ I'm not a kidnapper or anything, so there's no way a Duke's daughter like me would have something to safely put a child to sleep... Everything else I have are 'sleep medication' in name only, and is capable of knocking a demon out cold."

These were originally items from an otome game, so it would be strange if the player had "sleep medication" meant for humans.

How in the world would a "sleeping medication for humans" even be used in an otome game?

The only use I can think of is to put the Love Interest to sleep, kidnap him, and do the deed.

Which would no longer make it an otome game, but something else.

"Why does Bella-chan have medicine to.... 'nock out'? a demon...and in such large amounts...?"

"It's simply the common sense of a lady. Allis-chan, you should carry a few with you too. I have plenty, so I'll give you some. This is a 'Sleeping Ball'. One hit from this can render a regular orc unable to battle, allowing you to escape. But general orcs and king orcs won't be knocked out with just one. Even if you threw 4 of these, you'll still have to be lucky to escape. Does your dress have pockets?"

"Huh? ....If I remember correctly, I think my skirt has..."

"Ah, you do have one. Looks like you can fit 4 of these inside, so I'll give you all four. Their usage is simple, all you have to do is to hit the enemy with it. Just be sure to use it 2-3 meters away from the enemy, because it will explode upon impact."

Well, the lodge we're heading towards is still within the capital, albeit near the borders.

Allis-chan's household owns a territory near the capital, so I don't think monsters such as orcs or goblins would appear, but...

There's no harm in having a few of these, so I'll give it to her just in case.

The "Sleeping Bomb" and "Sleeping Ball" are both drops from the game, so I still have a bunch stored.

And besides, they aren't paid items like the cheats Ursch-kun made in the game, so they should be fine to carry around.

"I may not be all that familiar with education for noble ladies, but even I know that it isn't common sense for a lady to stuff a 'Sleeping Ball' into their pocket. How about we stop giving weird items to other noble's daughters, okay?"

I was stopped by Ursch-kun.

Boo── And here I wanted to dump Allis-chan my "Charm-raising Dress" series which were rotting in my inventory!!

If Allis-chan, who owns the "Charm" skill, wears a "Charm-raising Dress", she will be a force to be reckoned with!!

Even the Second Prince will fall madly in love with her!!

However, the "Charm-raising Dress" was a paid gacha item made by Ursch-kun, so I don't know how effective it will be in this world. I'm scared.

Yup. Let's just leave this back there to rot.

I'm starting to think that this should never be unleashed unto this world.

"Since getting sidetracked, our plans on what to do with his highness has made no progress whatsoever, so can we think about that seriously now?"

"Geez, so troublesome! I'll just deck him and knock him out!!"

"───?! ...Hweeeeeh?!"

"Didn't I just say to 'think about it seriously'? If Isabella were to deck him, the Second Prince's head and body will be forever separated in an Eternal Goodbye way, okay?"

"That Eternal Goodbye sounds so cool!! Let's do that!!"

"Hweeeeeeh!! You can't!! You can't do that!!"

"It's okay!! I can just heal him right after and he'll be 'back to normal'!!"

"Eeeeeeeeeh?!"

"Isabella, I have no idea what your definition of 'back to normal' is, but you can't, okay? Guess it can't be helped, so I'll do something about it...... Could you put a few of those 'HP Recovery-boosting Bracelet' from earlier on the Second Prince?"

As instructed, I put 5 bracelets on each of the Second Prince's arms.

Considering His Highness' HP, I'm probably putting more than needed, but this just as insurance since I don't know what Ursch-kun is going to do.

After the preparations were ready, I turned back to Ursch-kun to see him holding a black, shiny stick in his hand that looked covered in lacquered paint.

It's about as thick as those straws used when drinking boba.

As he put it in his mouth...

"───Fu"

He blew into it.

From the tip of the stick, a black needle flew out and pricked the Second Prince's neck.

At that moment, His Highness' body tilted and collapsed from the chair.

"........."

"Eh?! ...Hweeeeeh!! Your Highness!!"

Allis-chan hurriedly checked on the second prince.

The second prince is........... properly breathing.

It seems he's asleep.

"Ursch-kun, what was that?"

"It's an anesthetic needle made with the poison from dungeon ants. Even an adult would faint in an instant, so it was a really close call considering the prince's Level and health. But thanks to his "Poison Resistance III" and the bracelet, it worked out alright~. This is just a prototype so I didn't really want to use it though..."

He used a prototype anesthetic needle on the second prince!!

"Prototype? What's the completed product for this gonna be like then?"

"Hmm... If possible, I'd like it to automatically adjust the dosage of the poison to safe levels according to the target's level and health. That way it can deal with all kinds of people, from infants to adult soldiers and adventurers."

Oh. And here I thought the finished product would be a needle shot out of a wristwatch.

"Hweeh. Is His Highness safe? Is he really just asleep?"

"Yep, that's right. He's just sleeping peacefully~"

"Hweeh?! The way you put it makes it sound like he'll never wake up!!"

RIP Second Prince. May you rest peacefully.

Jokes aside, Ursch-kun suddenly raised his voice as I was calming down Allis-chan.

"Ah!!"

"What's wrong, Ursch-kun?"

"I just gained some EXP from that and leveled up~"

Ursch-kun, are you telling me you gained EXP by knocking the Second Prince out with a blowdart.

You know, the only people who could get EXP from the royalty are probably just you and the assassins.

Hm? Huh?

"Ursch-kun, are you able to view your【Status】now?''

"Yup. After you left yesterday, I experimented a bunch with my 'Eyes of Mammon' and could finally do it."

After I left, you were able to recreate the 【Status】 with your "Eyes of Mammon"?!

But it's supposed to be completely different from my "Mammon" skill!!

Rather than a skill, it was more of a【Game System】and wasn't even shown on the skill list!!

"Wow... Amazing!! Congratulations, Ursch-kun!! To think you would be able to do it in just a day, you really are amazing, Ursch-kun!! You're so reliable!!"

"....E-Eh~ That's not true at all~...."

He's embarrassed!! I repeat!! Ursch-kun is embarrassed!!

He's holding his hands behind his back and even squirming a little!!

He's usually so black-hearted, this gap is too much for me!! He's adorable!!

"Ahem. Well then, let's get to bringing the Second Prince downstairs.... Isabella, think you can do it?"

"Roger that!!"

After stuffing the Second Prince back into the sack, I princess carried him this time.

Then, Allis-chan began to dumbfoundedly look between me and Ursch-kun.

"Huh? .....Eh?.....Eh?! Bella-chan is the one carrying His Highness?"

"Oh, do you mean that I should be the one carrying him? That's impossible, you know? I'm not able to go down the stairs while lifting a boy my own age."

"Eh.... B-but.. Bella-chan..."

From Allis-chan's point of view, she can't accept that I, a woman, can lift the second prince yet Ursch-kun, a man, cannot.

But, Allis-chan. What's impossible is impossible...

Our roles are properly split with Ursch-kun as the brains and me as the brawns.

"If you absolutely want me to be the one moving the prince downstairs.... I can only kick the prince down the stairs.... Is that fine?"

"Hweeeeeeh?! That's too dangerous!!"

"It's okay, Allis-chan!! I'll just heal him after and he'll go 'back to normal'!!"

"Just what do you mean by 'back to normal' hereeeee?!"

Eventually, I carried the second prince downstairs.

Our travel to the lodge will be done by the carriage brought by the Schneiver Company.

After this exchange, Allis-chan seems to think that the Second Prince's life will be in danger if left to the two of us.

And swore deeply in her heart that she would protect the prince.

Nidhogg: Also known as Níðhöggr or Níðhǫggr.

It is a large black serpent/dragon that gnaws at the third root of Yggdrasil, and lives in the lake at the base of Yggdrasil. Its name means “He Who Strikes with Malice”.

Yggdrasil: A mythical tree from Norse mythology. It is a huge tree that embodies the world.

May be referred to as World Tree, Space Tree. A huge tree that encompasses the world, or even represent the world itself.

Orc: "In this story", they represent pig-headed humanoids who have nothing to do with the sea. They have no scales. They will appear as monsters and not demi-humans.

Pig-headed man, or a humanoid race with a head as ugly as a pig. Some say the elves transformed them with magic, some say the elves degenerated them.

(Orcs may not necessarily be depicted as evil, and may be good as this depends on the author's passion and vitality of creation. Therefore, this description may not apply to other works. Please understand.)

Orc King, Orc General: A higher species of orc. Evolved orcs.

Goblins: Fairy, demi-human (they will appear as monsters in this work). Creatures that appear in fantasy works, following European folklore and its influences. Mischievous fairies, demons who like to play tricks. Generally depicted as small with green skin. They are very cruel and greedy.

RIP: The letters inscribed on graves in English-speaking countries. It means "Rest in Peace" or "Bless his Soul".

1. [Hell ears] or [地獄耳] means someone with sharp hearing, usually refers to a knack or ability for hearing what others would prefer to keep hidden ↑
2. Originally, this sentence talks about how Ursch-kun isn't dragging his words towards the end, like when he ends his sentence with ~, he usually speaks like thisss ↑