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Chapter 71: 042. Imperial Prince is Searching for a Weapon -2 (Part One)

**

“So this was where you were, Alice.”

Alice opened her eyes at Raphael’s voice.

She had been sleeping on the library’s desk. Subconsciously, she rubbed her still-drowsy eyes and wiped away the hint of drool near her chin. While doing so, she looked at the blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Raphael continued on. “You seemed to have spent the night here.”

“Pardon? Ah, yes.”

Her grandfather’s gentle but worried tone of voice prompted an awkward smile to float up on her face.

The truth was, she ran into the Seventh Imperial Prince last night. How badly would Raphael worry if he found out about that?

While still oblivious to what happened in the night prior, Raphael smiled contentedly as if he found his granddaughter quite adorable. “Please rest inside your quarters, child. I know studying magic is important, but you’ll place too much strain on your body like this.”

Alice inwardly felt rueful. Actually, she wasn’t able to get any studying done yesterday. However, even then...

“...It was more fun than I thought.”

“Mm? What was that, child?”

“Oh, uh, I was just saying, studying was more fun than I thought, that’s all.”

“I see. As expected, one can’t fool their own blood it seems. Do you find studying magic that enjoyable?”

When Alice smiled brightly back at him, Raphael gently patted her on the head.

They left the library and began walking down the citadel’s corridor.

“By the way... just how did his highness the Seventh Imperial Prince succeed with Resurrection? Also, what about those holy undead? I can’t seem to figure it out. Lately, I’ve begun wondering if dementia has taken a hold of me.”

Raphael muttered out as if he was talking to himself.

Alice could only look on at her grandfather with pity. Raphael was the type to directly ask the source if his curiosity got the best of him. And yet, he chose not to ask the Imperial Prince and that was only because of her, Alice.

There was simply no way that he’d politely ask a bastard who tried to rape his granddaughter, after all.

In all honesty, Alice too had a lot of questions in regards to those topics. The one thing she was most curious about was how the Imperial Prince managed to heal Luan, someone she failed to save even after a long period of time.

“Excuse me, grandfather? How about we just ask him for a...”

It was then, they heard the sounds of something breaking.

Alice’s gaze hurriedly shifted over towards the door at the end of the corridor, which led to the citadel’s drill hall.

Raphael furrowed his brows and spoke. “The Seventh Imperial Prince has certainly changed, hasn’t he? That boy is even willing to do something he has never done before.”

After arriving here, the Imperial Prince continued holding practice sparring sessions with the Imperial Princess Hilda. Such a thing would’ve been unimaginable for the boy prince prior to his banishment.

‘Now that I think about it, what he was studying yesterday was...’

Since she was with him last night, she got to witness the figure of the boy prince fervently reading from a grimoire related to body reinforcement magic.

It also happened to be the exact same field of study she was researching at the moment as well, and that was why her interest automatically piqued in the blink of an eye.

Why was his highness checking out magic related to enhancing one’s physical abilities? Alice also couldn’t win against her curiosity so she changed her direction towards the drill hall.

However, Raphael reached out and grabbed her shoulder, trying to dissuade her. “You shouldn’t go, child. The Seventh Imperial Prince might start harbouring untoward thoughts again if he lays his eyes on you.”

Alice already expected her grandfather to oppose her decision, so in order to change the subject, she pointed to the blanket around her shoulders. “Ah, I almost forgot! Thank you for this, grandfather. I didn’t feel cold because of it.”

“But I didn’t put that on you?”

Alice was stunned to hear that. “Really?”

She abruptly recalled the Seventh Imperial Prince’s face.

He must’ve placed it on her shoulders before leaving.

A wry grin floated up on her lips after remembering the events of the night before. Now that she looked back, didn’t something similar happen back in the imperial palace too? When they accidentally ran into each other back then?

She was instantly scared after seeing his face, but curiosity quickly bubbled up in her heart. This caused her to stay and observe what exactly he was trying to do.

As expected, it seemed that the blood of the renowned researcher of magic, Raphael Astoria, was indeed flowing in her veins.

Once she stood before the door, she began sensing this weird divinity come from beyond it. Raphael must’ve sensed it too, because he no longer asked her to not go in there.

After they exchanged glances, the pair’s eyes started shining with the greedy light of seekers of truth.

“We’ll take a small peek before leaving,” said Alice.

Raphael formed an unhappy expression at her suggestion, but even then, he still reached out to open the door ever so slightly.

Through the doorway’s open gap, they could see the sparring session between the Seventh Imperial Prince and Hilda.

It was then, the boy prince raised the sword up and flung himself forward. Hilda used her spear to block his attack, but then, her weapon shattered into pieces.

Everyone was stunned at what just happened – Hilda, the dwarves, and even the Imperial Prince.

“How about it then? Is it sword?”

In order to have confirmation on things, Hilda threw this question at the dwarves, but they still shook their heads.

“Please try out something else, your highness.”

One of the dwarves then tossed a replacement spear towards Hilda.

Meanwhile, the Seventh Imperial Prince picked up a mace.

Their weapons collided again, and just like before, Hilda’s spear shattered into bits.

The dwarves looked genuinely surprised, but that didn’t last long either, their expressions changing visibly to indifference, and even to something similar to pity.

“Only his physical attributes have been enhanced. Even though his highness wielded a sword and a spear, he wasn’t cutting or slicing. He simply shattered your weapon, my lady. As expected... he just doesn’t seem to be talented in wielding weapons.”

The dwarves sounded really disappointed just then.

Alice witnessing the scene, smiled wryly.

She then saw the boy prince bite down on his lip. He looked quite impatient.

He put in a lot of effort for the past several days. But now, he was being told that all of his hard work so far was in vain.

However, Hilda didn’t give up despite the dwarves’ conclusion. “There’s the possibility that it’s because we’re not fighting earnestly.”

She reached out towards her own personal spear, not one forged for the purpose of sparring. This was the weapon that the dwarves had meticulously crafted for her.

“I’ll start attacking from now on. I won’t simply defend but will also evade as well.”

After saying that, Hilda pounced forward. The boy prince picked up the weapons strewn about on the drill hall’s floor and swung them around.

She attacked and dug into his openings. Her spear danced and darted beautifully as it was thrusted in towards him.

The Imperial Prince freely ducked and weaved out of the attacks thanks to his physical attributes and reflexes reinforced by divinity.

Raphael and Alice forgot where they were and watched the spectacle before them unfold.

Hilda sucked in a deep breath, and then suddenly dashed in.

The boy prince staggered; he let go of the sword and picked up a shovel to mount resistance.

Hilda’s eyes narrowed. She swung her spear not to slash down, but in a wide, circular arc to clash directly with the shovel. She leaned against his weapon before flicking it out of his hands.

The boy prince no longer had anything.

Hilda stomped on the ground and stabbed powerfully forward.

It was right at this moment, Alice saw it.

She saw the Imperial Prince step back while bringing his hands near to his mouth.

“Fuu-woo...”

His breath permeating with divinity was injected into his hands; gentle light oozed out from them.

Alice abruptly recalled what she told the Imperial Prince back in the library.

– Is there a reason why you must rely on a weapon? Yes, it is indeed possible to reinforce a weapon through divinity.

She taught him without even being aware of doing that.

– Divinity responds to the energy of life. If it permeates not in some simple weapons but inside a living person’s flesh... and when you learn how to freely wield this strength, then...

The Seventh Imperial Prince tightly clenched his fist.

He punched towards the incoming spear.

– Then you will be able to exert an explosive strength. That’s precisely the reason why I focus on hand-to-hand combat.

Hilda’s spear shattered.

Centred around the boy prince’s powerful punch, the drill hall’s hardened walls exploded and crumbled to the floor.

**

(TL: In 1st person POV.)

The dwarves were stunned into freezing up in their spots.

Hilda bounced away and rolled on the floor ungainly. Eventually, she crashed into the weapon display stand.

I didn’t even notice when they appeared, but Archbishop Raphael and Alice were rushing towards Hilda’s side.

What the hell just happened?

I was stunned beyond words myself. While alternating my shocked gaze between my fist and the crumbled wall, I firmly clamped my mouth shut.

This was my first time injecting divinity into my own body and not someone else’s. Heck, it was also my first time trying it out during a combat situation.

But the resulting firepower was way over the top.

Holy cow! Did I go overboard with making myself stronger?

I hurriedly ran towards Hilda’s side. By then she was being supported by Raphael back up to her feet.

Somewhat ironically enough, she seemed to be worried more about me rather than herself. Hilda looked over to the group of dwarves.

They noticed the light in her eyes and hurriedly announced their observation.

“The power output was certainly threatening, but his highness doesn’t seem to be talented in hand-to-hand combat either.”

“Is that so?”

Hilda looked rueful just then.

Even though she was clearly hurt, she was still giving it her all in helping me find a suitable weapon.

I realised how caring yet obstinate she was as a person.

I could’ve never guessed that she’d be this focused on helping me out. Hilda was going beyond simple consideration for my welfare and was heading straight into the territory of genuine kindness.

Forget about the other Imperial Family siblings for the time being, I knew I could at least place my trust in Hilda. The previous master of this body, the real Seventh Imperial Prince, must’ve been loved by her at the very least, that’s for sure.