The Youngest Prince Copies Skills with Skeleton Soldiers

Chapter 07 - What's Your Position?

I instinctively touched my face.

Not wearing a helmet during work hours.

It was an awkward thing, something I thought would never happen in my life.

I had surely vowed that the day I took off my helmet would be the day I died gloriously for the family.

I once again missed the helmet I had worn just yesterday.

But for the next 10 years, I could not wear that ghastly helmet.

The helmet of an Executioner Knight was too sacred for a sinner to wear.

The sin of injuring a member of the family's bloodline through a wrong judgment.

Lay down the sword that symbolizes the family law, and take off the helmet that symbolizes the Executioner Knight.

Return to being a nameless warrior and serve under the Fifth Son for 10 years of probation.

That was the verdict of the family's judicial body.

So I came to the mansion as if being dragged to the execution block.

“Welcome to the Fifth Son's mansion. I am the Head Maid, Mirea.”

A woman with a doll-like, expressionless face decorated my unpleasant first day.

“The mansion is currently empty as many of the attendants have left, but we will be hiring soon, so please don't be too concerned.”

I never thought I would be part of that hiring, but now that I was here, I had to do something.

But that job was.

“Warrior, you will guard the vacant front gate.”

“……”

I was silent.

My mouth was shut.

Inside my closed mouth, my teeth ground fiercely.

My molars ground with a grating sound, and my mouth, which had been shut as if glued together, opened heavily.

“…I will ask again. What is the job I am to be assigned.”

The Head Maid's expression was consistently emotionless.

“It is as I first told you. You are to protect the front gate of this mansion from nefarious people.”

My fist, clad in a worn gauntlet, clenched on its own.

“…So you’re telling me to be a gatekeeper.”

“The official title for that position is Front Gate Guard, but if you call it a gatekeeper, I will not deny it.”

Swoosh─

The Head Maid stood up from her seat.

“I am well aware of who you are, warrior.”

Even if she wasn't an intelligence agent, she would know.

Because it was a name that no one in the East of an age to have a few wrinkles on their hands didn't know.

Although his face was forgotten and the majority now believed him to be dead.

His personal martial prowess alone was etched into the minds of many on the battlefield and could not be faded.

“Before you wore the helmet, you brought numerous victories to the family, and after you put it on, you protected the glorious family law.”

“……”

“It is unfortunate that your legendary achievements were cut short by an unfortunate incident, but.”

Swoosh─

The guard's surcoat, well-ironed and folded, was placed on the table.

“Whether you ride a donkey or a ghost horse, if the family commands it, you must follow. Absolutely. And perfectly.”

A fiery heat settled in her doll-like face and emotionless features, then disappeared in an instant.

“…You are no ordinary head maid either.”

I accepted the surcoat.

“Please rise. We have information that the Young Master is approaching.”

“Tsk. He comes at a useless time.”

“Such words and actions are not proper. It seems you need to show proper respect towards a member of the bloodline and your superior.”

“…I know.”

The Head Maid and the gatekeeper came to the front of the mansion.

I could see a carriage coming in through the garden's main gate.

Screeeech─

A man got out of the stopped carriage.

Unlike when he left, he was wearing sunglasses.

Also, unlike when he left, the mansion had more people.

“A face I haven't seen before.”

I approached with my hands lightly clasped behind my back.

The gatekeeper, still wearing the guard's surcoat, had shoulders that were trembling as if a flea had gotten into his body.

The Youngest Son said.

“Who are you?”

“……”

He answered belatedly.

“I am a certain gatekeeper who has been assigned to the front gate as of today.”

“Is that so? Your voice sounds a lot like someone who blew off my arm.”

“…Absolutely no─”

“Well, if not, then not. Head Maid.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

The Head Maid answered immediately. A vein popped on the gatekeeper's temple once again.

His eyes, which clearly showed his regret that he should have blown off my neck instead of my arm, were a bonus.

I didn't care.

I turned to the Head Maid and said.

“How much is left in the mansion's budget?”

“About 50 gold coins. But it is estimated that most of that will be consumed in the process of repairing the damaged mansion.”

“The repairs can wait. Use that money to get some Messenger Ghouls.”

Messenger Ghoul.

A long-distance communication method used only in lands with strong negative energy like the East.

It was much faster than a carrier pigeon, did not get tired, and therefore did not rest.

“As you wish, Young Master. To whom and what shall I send with the secured Messenger Ghouls?”

The order did not follow immediately.

To whom and what to send.

A reason for that ‘what’ was needed.

“Soon, the period of activity for the Plague Demons will arrive throughout the East.”

Things that flowed into private houses, riding on wild animals and the wind, as soon as spring came.

Spring, when there was nothing to eat, corpses piled up, and the weather was warm and good for rotting, was a good time for the Plague Demons to run rampant.

“People are already preparing. In the private houses I saw on my way here, there were not only raven skulls, but also plague doctors roaming around.”

Those things that brought plagues were like viruses that turned people into carriers.

Furthermore, in a place with strong negative energy like the East, if a Plague Demon spread wrongly, the whole city would fall ill.

But viruses could be defended against with vaccines.

And I knew well what the vaccine against the Plague Demon was, and how to make it.

Now what I needed was a supply route and a financier.

I would send the Messenger Ghoul to the one who had both at the same time.

“Head Maid. Bring the family merchant, Jubel Maxman, before me.”

The Head Maid hesitated, and the gatekeeper let out a silent sneer.

I knew why.

Jubel Maxman.

A materialist. A man whose blood was said to be gold if you stabbed him. A man crazy for money.

That was why we could get along.

Because that man would not hesitate to do business with a plague.

“Young Master. I will follow your command, but Jubel Maxman’s merchant guild is the largest in both scale and standing among the guilds owned by the family.”

Meaning he was not someone who would come just because he was called.

Even more so if it was the call of the nameless Youngest Son.

So, I needed bait.

“Put this in the Messenger Ghoul and deliver it.”

I handed the Head Maid what I had scribbled on my way here.

It was folded in half, and the meeting edges were sealed with blood and hardened.

This should be enough to confirm my identity.

The fact that the intelligence department couldn't see it was a bonus.

Not that it would matter much if they did.

“I understand.”

The Head Maid bowed her head and retreated.

The only one left was the new gatekeeper.

That gatekeeper was also about to make his exit.

“I will also be on my way to my post.”

Was it because he had lived with a helmet on for so long?

I could easily read his thoughts from his expression.

I acknowledge your potential.

But that’s limited to martial prowess.

Do you think you can handle the family's money-grubbing demon?

You can’t.

With your eloquence and thinking at that age, it's just not possible.

I could read all sorts of thoughts like these.

When someone has such rebellious thoughts in front of me, don’t I just want to crush them?

My blood-red eyes behind the sunglasses gleamed, and the corners of my mouth curled up.

“Hey. Gatekeeper.”

“…Yes.”

His steps, which were heading towards the front gate past me, stopped with his answer.

“If you don't like being a gatekeeper, you can switch to being a gardener or a stablehand.”

“I refuse.”

A quick refusal.

Fortunately, the choices were varied.

“Then how about a maid?”

I had to hold back a burst of laughter myself.

We were standing crossed, so I couldn't see his face, but I could feel his heart pounding with rage very well.

“It sounds a bit strange, but it’s no different from a cleaner. There are many vacancies for maids, so if you just apply, you’ll get in.”

Unlike his mind that was suppressing his murderous intent, the gatekeeper’s hand kept stroking his waist.

It seemed he was looking for his missing cursed sword.

“Hmm? Are you already practicing tying an apron? Let me give you some advice, it’s easier to tie an apron with both hands.”

“……”

Was it an illusion?

I could see a heat haze simmering from the entire body of the gatekeeper, the prospective maid.

But that too could be said to show his deep aptitude as a maid.

Clap, clap. I clapped my hands lightly in praise.

“With that much, you could heat the bathwater without any special firearms. I’ll tell the Head Maid right away and change your position to─”

“No.”

As if cold water had been poured on it, the high-fever momentum scattered in an instant.

His head turned towards me, creaking extremely unnaturally.

The gatekeeper spoke with a smile that truly looked murderous.

“…Thank you for the advice, but I think the job of a gatekeeper suits me very well.”

“Is that so? To know your calling on the first day of work. That’s quite a good sign.”

The Youngest Son still had his hands clasped behind his back and laughed heartily like a hero.

The former Executioner Knight standing over there.

The personnel authority within the mansion, which I got back by passing the test he gave, could be used like this.

It seemed even the swordsman who could see several moves ahead of his opponent on the battlefield couldn't see this far.

“Then go find your calling. My arm that was cut off by someone is aching, so I think I need to apply a compress.”

“…I hope for your speedy recovery.”

The gatekeeper turned around and walked away.

He finally lowered the hand that had been raised to his waist, searching for something that was either a sword or an apron, and walked away.

I spoke softly to the back of his head.

“Things won't go as you think. Just as you don't want to die as a maid, I have no intention of dying here either.”

I clasped my hands behind my back and prepared to go out again.

There was a place to go.

***

Here in this dark and grim family, the intelligence department, the agency in charge of information warfare.

Its official name was the Dark-Light Intelligence Department.

Dark-Light. Dark and also bright.

This place, where information from both the light and the shadows came in, always had to keep its ears open.

To be precise, the ears of the General Manager of the Dark-Light Intelligence Department had to listen to tens, hundreds, thousands of sounds.

If the Vice Head Butler was called the hands of the family, the General Manager was the ears of the family.

He could hear things happening on the other side of the continent.

The Youngest Son's mansion in the Pantheon, or Dusk Citadel, was like a whisper next to him.

But today, that whisper felt louder than a thunderclap.

The report from agent Lubosch who had followed the Youngest Son.

I read it once, read it twice, but I just couldn't put it down.

Starting with the test of achievement, things that were completely out of character for the Youngest Son were happening one after another.

The General Manager asked the owner of the report.

“Lubosch. Is this true?”

“It is.”

He looked quite presentable, having changed from a coachman's clothes to the intelligence department's uniform.

He had just brought back some big cases, starting with the matter of Wisdom's illegitimate daughter, so his expression was triumphant.

“Undead private army. The illegitimate daughter who fled from Wisdom. Magitech. The Fifth Son's investment. And a faction.”

The report from the junior agent was more substantial than expected.

Especially the part about the undead private army.

Was the potential he showed during the test of achievement only a part of it?

Furthermore, with the report from a reliable agent added, the information related to the Fifth Son became even richer.

“The Fifth Son called Jubel Maxman for that investment.”

Hmm.

The General Manager could judge without any delay.

“A poor move.”

It certainly was.

Anyone else would have come to the same conclusion.

The reason lay not in the Fifth Son's insight or choice, but in Jubel Maxman himself.

“This man’s judgment is based solely on money. The Fifth Son seems to have contacted him seeing his immense wealth, but….”

I shook my head on my own.

“You can't get a single coin out of him with just any bait.”

Furthermore, it was highly unlikely that the Youngest Son, who was just beginning to stretch his wings, would have such bait.

But it was not an incomprehensible choice either.

“He is a man who truly only sees money. So unlike other family merchants, he doesn't care about what the other sons and daughters think.”

Because politics was outside his interest.

Jubel's interests were money. Money. And more money.

With that mindset alone, the Maxman Merchant Guild had become comparable to the southern desert merchants, whose wealth was on a whole other level.

Although Jubel Maxman's goal was to surpass them completely.

So if it seemed it would help his goal even a little.

That man would move without hesitation.

“The key is whether the Fifth Son has such bait. But is that likely?”

But if.

Really, if.

If the Youngest Son had such bait, and the big fish named Jubel Maxman took the bait and even struck a deal.

Three immensely large walls.

He might be able to solve one of wealth, power, or martial force, at least roughly.

I need more ears.

“Lubosch. You too, follow Mirea and infiltrate the mansion.”

“Ye-yes?”

“I will discuss and assign your position with the Vice Head Butler and have it delivered to Mirea.”

There was only one thing a junior could say here.

“I understand.”

“You may go.”

Lubosch quietly exited the General Manager's office.

As he did, he swallowed a groan.

It was still vivid in his eyes.

The eyes behind the sunglasses, curved like a crescent moon.

The corner of the mouth, full of the will to tease you.

A strange talent for putting people in a difficult position as if he had been waiting for them to say one word.

Looking at the blood-red eyes beyond those sunglasses, I felt like I was being tricked no matter what I did.

In summary, a person I absolutely did not want to be close to.

But what could I do?

If the superiors order it, you do it.

Soon after, Lubosch was assigned a position.

The role he was given in the Youngest Son’s mansion was that of a noble butler… or so it would have been.

But the Youngest Son must have intervened, as it was changed to a porter.

And on the pretext of a staff shortage in the mansion, the convenient word ‘multi-purpose’ was added.

Multi-purpose Porter Lubosch.

He himself was unaware of this fact.