The Everyday Life of an Incompetent Crown Prince

19: My Brother’s Exploits and an Invitation for a Walk

For the next few days, I went hunting, but I didn’t make as much money as I thought I would.

My [Treasure Chest (Colorless Jewels)] can hold an almost infinite amount, and with [Eyes of Mana (Mana Read)], I can find magical beasts and valuable herbs, but the danger level of the magical beasts and the difficulty level of the harvest are mainly at level 3. It’s not that great.

My current assets are about 500 gold coins. It’s a small baron’s annual income, but I thought adventurers (Adbel) could earn more.

In fact, I was not satisfied and went further north to hunt a few magical beasts of danger level 4.

The materials obtained from there were certainly more expensive, but they didn’t make much of a difference.

I heard that some magical beasts of danger level 4 or higher sometimes have magic stones, which can be worth a good amount of money. However, I urged when the two magic stones I was lucky enough to get were worth 100 gold coins each.

“Isn’t there a better way?”

“That’s right…”

So I went to the usual helpful Jarnal’s guild and asked him bluntly for a good way to make money.

The answer was that there was no choice but to get high-risk magical beasts or high-difficulty herbs. Alternatively, you could take on a magical beast subjugation request at the brokerage, find a thief and defeat them, and get the treasure.

Personally, I thought the latter was better.

The rest is about treasures hidden in the lower levels of the dungeon (dungeon), but I don’t really want to go there. It takes time. In fact, I haven’t been there since I went with Neil.

There is a way to sell your own mental power by storing it in a magic stone that has run out of magic power, but it was not worth it at all.

Yesterday, I did it all day while consulting the amount of natural recovery, but it was a far cry from the magic stone I got from the magical beast of danger level 4. It’s much better to hunt while raising your soul level (level up) .

As I was concluding that I had no choice but to go ahead and do it, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t talked to the mansion lately. No, in terms of frequency, it’s normal, but I haven’t been able to hear what I want to hear in terms of information.

Jarnal probably knows a lot, but there are some things he can’t say to Jasper.

“Hey, Journal.”

“What is it?”

“[Dark Room]”

After saying that, I seriously put up one finger and turned it around.

“–With this, no one can hear the conversation here.”

“…Hmm”

He must have understood. His face changes.

“It’s still Jasper. But there’s something I want to know.”

“What is it?”

“How did His Highness Dine’s subjugation force go?”

“I heard it was a success.”

Was the information flowing after all? And, did it succeed?

“Do you know the specifics?”

“His Highness Dine fought bravely with the help of his soldiers and delivered the final blow. It is said that his appearance was befitting of a royal family. There were no casualties.”

I thought it was a lie.

What I realized when I fought a magical beast of danger level 4 the other day was that there was a big gap between danger levels 3 and 4.

The one I fought was a giant snake that was about twenty meters long and could swallow a person in one bite. I was watching it in a daze, thinking how big it was, when it suddenly approached me and wrapped its body around me in one go. Its speed was incomparable to the magical beasts of danger level 3 that I had fought many times.

At that time, I forcibly pulled it away and smashed its head, but I ended up fighting several more of the same snakes, as if they were in the same territory. I was blown away by its tail and swallowed and almost crushed inside its body . When I was blown away, I was half-buried in the trunk of the tree I hit.

I was constantly deploying [Five-Colored Room (Sun-Ku-Room)], so I didn’t feel any pain at all, but if someone without it had fought properly, they would not have been able to do it at all, at least not with the third level of ability.

In the first place, the ability level value and the danger level are evaluation criteria that represent roughly the same strength.

The average numerical value is 3 for the ability level value, and it is said that the magical beast that a person with combat skills can defeat is danger level 3.

If you consider that even ordinary people can defeat danger level 2, and that the limit that they can defeat in groups, such as hunters who can only defeat ordinary beasts, is said to be below danger level 3, you can probably imagine the strength of magical beasts.

This time, my brother Dine went to subdue a special individual of danger level 4. It is very close to danger level 5. The danger level certified by the brokerage is only an estimate, and it is possible that it is stronger than the normal danger level 5.

Did my brother fight and deliver the final blow? My brother, who has never fought before? I can’t believe it. I don’t know how many capable soldiers he took with him, but it wouldn’t be a problem unless they were exceptional soldiers. If he had taken the regular army, which is said to be the gathering of the top knights and soldiers in the country, then I could understand.

Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that they stabbed us in the back when we were weakened by the many sacrifices we had to make?

They say you can’t keep people from talking, but the gag order issued by the higher-ups won’t be broken anytime soon. If anyone did it, it would be the second concubine.

I took a sip of tea, thinking that my brother would have to win this one decisively, or things would get messy. The tea at the mansion is definitely better.

*

After leaving the guild, I took the sales transaction certificate I received from Jarnall and headed to the brokerage.

Apparently, this certificate is first brought to the guild from the place where the materials are wholesaled, and after Jarnall checks it, it is taken to the guild member. Normally, I would leave it to them to take it, but today I decided to go to the brokerage to see what these requests were all about.

Well, normally, adventurers are supposed to take this certificate themselves.

As I was submitting the certificate at the brokerage and looking at the request board, someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder from behind.

“Hey, Jas. Are you here for a request today?”

It was Neal, who I hadn’t seen in a few days, and behind him were a man who looked like his comrade and two women.

“No, I’m just looking around while I’m here to drop off a certificate. I’ve never taken one before, so I’m just curious.”

“Huh. You’re pretty chill about it. Normally, people would be looking for good requests with their eyes wide open.”

“They’re all just small requests.”

“Ah, that’s because the ones that require a lot of people or have a high adventurer rank (Adbel rank) are usually posted on the guild board.”

He pointed to a larger request board than the one I was looking at, and there were still a few requests left on it.

I was a little interested, but judging from the conditions, it would be impossible for me.

I turned my attention back to Neal.

“So, what brings you here today?”

“Oh, I wanted to introduce you to my comrades, so let’s sit down next door.”

I followed him to the building next door, and we sat around a table for five. We ordered some fruit water and then introduced ourselves.

“So, let me introduce you to my regular party.”

I looked at the three people he pointed to with his thumb, and they all smiled at me in a friendly way.

“I’m Gagal. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Cyril. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Iliel. Nice to meet you.”

Gagal had tiger ears with brown hair and eyes.

Cyril had squirrel ears with greenish-blue hair and eyes.

Iliel had dog ears with greenish-brown hair and eyes, similar to Neal’s.

“Likewise.”

I shook hands with Gagal as the representative and then moved on to the main topic.

“So, what’s your regular party doing here?”

“We’re going to the next town for an escort request starting this afternoon. So, we’re going to check on the last of the luggage and the schedule and make sure everything is in order.”

“I see.”

We talked for a while while drinking the fruit water that had arrived. We talked about what we had been up to the past few days and other small talk. Neal and his party had been doing simple requests in the city. They were happy to level up and earn money, which was very different from me.

“By the way, Jas, what are you going to do today? If you don’t have anything to do, why don’t you come with us?”

“As an escort? Can I just join in like that?”

“Yeah. It’s a small guild that I know. They’re increasing the number of escorts this time because they’re carrying a lot of cargo. It’s a raid where two other parties will be joining us. I got permission to let you join even though you’re not part of our party. What do you think?”

“When is it?”

“We’ll arrive at the next town in about a day and a half, stay overnight, and then return. If there are any good requests or monsters over there, we can hunt them too.”

“I’ll pass.”

I flatly refused. Not even if it was just a day trip, let alone an overnight stay. It wasn’t like we’d arrive tomorrow or anything.

The reason I wanted to leave the mansion was to raise my soul rank and to be freed from my confinement. I have no desire to become a full-fledged adventurer.

Perhaps because I answered so quickly, the members of the group seemed taken aback. But Neil quickly recovered and put his arm around my shoulder.

“Well, it’s all good, Jas. You don’t have any experience as an escort, do you, like in that last dungeon?”

“I don’t.”

“So this is experience. Traveling with a group. What you need to do when escorting someone, and how to help each other. And when the escort is over, we can celebrate with a toast. It’s all good, right?”

“Um, didn’t you say that helping each other is only for when you’re in trouble?”

“Well, when you’re helping each other, there’s, you know, timing and stuff?”

“Right?” Neil said, turning to Gagel, who gave a wry smile.

“Neil, that’s a bit too forceful. No one’s going to agree to that.”

“That’s right.”

“I think you need to make a more appealing offer.”

Apparently, not only was I not interested in going from the start, but Neil’s sales pitch was terrible. When he was ganged up on, Neil frowned in annoyance.

“What, do you guys have something else?”

“It’s wrong to force someone who’s already reluctant.”

“That’s right.”

Then Neil’s face lit up as if he had an idea.

“Hey, Jas, you know what? There’s a good caretaker in the next town.”

“Caretaker?”

I tilted my head. It was a word I had never heard before.

I glanced at the others, and Gagel gave a wry smile, while the two women narrowed their eyes at me.

“Oh, you don’t know? A caretaker is, well, a woman who works as a waitress and a prostitute at an inn or a lodging house. You can eat and if you like one of the women, you can pay her and sleep with her.”

“Huh.”

I understood that it was like calling a maid to your room. But I didn’t understand why you had to pay.

“So, what do you think? You’re not a virgin, are you?”

“If a virgin is a man who has never had s*x, then I am not a virgin.”

“Huh?”

Everyone, including Neil, looked at me. Did I say something strange?

“You’re, well…”

“Strange?”

“Strange, I guess?”

When Neil looked around, everyone had an indescribable expression on their faces. Apparently, it was strange.

“Jas, you’re fifteen, right?”

“Yes.”

“Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend?”

When he said that, the face of a girl suddenly came to mind.

If things had been different, we might have been in that kind of relationship by now, but now we have nothing to do with each other. Maybe she’ll be in that kind of relationship with my brother next year.

Of all the people I’ve ever seen, she was the most beautiful, except for my mother.

“It depends on what you mean by girlfriend, but no, I haven’t.”

“I see…”

When I looked around again, they were looking at me with a suspicious expression this time. I see, so being a virgin is generally that strange.

However, after changing his expression, Neil said.

“Then all the more reason. You should get it over with, right? For a man, knowing a woman is a sign of growth.”

Even if you say that, that’s not how I feel, to be honest. Let’s say a woman who had my child gave birth. Depending on the color of her hair and eyes, she would definitely be buried in the darkness.

Here, let me explain my appearance as the crown prince again.

In this world, there are men who grow their hair long, not just women. That’s because it’s said that long hair holds a lot of magic power. So many magicians (colors) who seek a high level of spiritual power or magic power tend to have long hair.

The same goes for royalty.

This country values martial arts. Nobles often grow their hair long in order to seek more strength. Of course, not all of them do. offline, there are those who have simply short hair because it gets in the way of close combat.

I am the crown prince, and following the example of the royalty who seek more strength, I also have long hair. It’s the same even in Jasper’s form, and even now it reaches down to my waist.

My hair is silver-white all over, but for some reason the tips of my hair are dyed black. Even if I cut it, only the tips will be dyed black again. This color is unique to the royal family, and at least in this country, I have never seen it anywhere else.

And the color of my eyes is the purple unique to the Zarudo dukedom. This too is something that is never seen outside the Zarudo dukedom bloodline.

I am the only one in the country who has both this hair and eye color. My younger brother, Croitz, has exactly the same hair and eye color as our father, His Majesty the King. The eyes of the royal family have a small black center, surrounded by a golden circle. Outside that is a white pupil.

So, if a child with my hair and eye characteristics were to be found outside of either family, knights and soldiers from the royal castle or the Zarudo dukedom would definitely come flying in and neither the mother nor the child would ever be seen again.

Speaking of which, I asked about something that had been bothering me before.

“Hey, is there such a thing as a contraceptive spell (color)?”

I’ve thought about making one before, but I didn’t know anything about how to make a child or how to prevent pregnancy, so I couldn’t make one even if I wanted to. I’m not gay, by the way . I’m half interested, half horny, and I want to do it. It’s just that it’s not allowed.

“Oh, is that what you mean?”

Neil seemed to understand something and looked at the two women. The two women opened their mouths with slightly disgusted faces.

“Contraceptive magic itself is a magic that only women can use. Please read a book about the mechanism. Also, there is no contraceptive magic that men can use at the moment.”

“T-that’s right.”

“I see.”

The fact that only women can use contraceptive magic is very interesting, even though contraceptive magic itself is interesting. My curiosity about magic in general is piqued. I’ll buy that book right away.

“I understand your concern. There’s usually a magician who can use contraceptive magic in such places. No problem.”

“Really?”

“……well, apparently it’s not absolute……”

Neil looked at the women again, but this time they completely averted their eyes.

Contraceptive magic can only be used by women, and it is absolutely not effective. I’m interested.

“I understand. Let’s go together.”

Everyone stared at me again. It was somehow suspicious, and I didn’t know what was so funny.