MYHLF Vol. 1 Mission 2 Part 3

The Third Prince, Ryublan, was desperate.

He was fifteen this year. If he did not prove his own worth, he would not be able to face the father he looked up to. His mother, the Third Queen, was already jealous by nature and only caused trouble for his father and everyone around them. The thought that he had to be reliable only made his impatience grow stronger with every passing year.

Meanwhile, his elder brother, the First Prince, and the Second Prince, the son of the late Second Queen, had both distinguished themselves in both literature and martial arts. The Second Prince and his twin sister, the Princess, had been taken in and raised by the First Queen soon after the Second Queen passed away. Because they had been taken in while still very young, the Second Prince and his sister were also close with the First Prince.

Compared to them, Ryublan had been raised by a mother who repeated, like a curse, “Your blood is better. You are the one who will become king.” As a result, he was servile, insecure, and had nothing he could take pride in. More than anything, he wanted to get away from his mother.

His days in the royal palace were spent wandering alone while holding his own breath. If he returned to his room, his mother would be there, declaring that she was the true queen and that he was the true prince. Nobles who openly fawned over her also came by, claiming they supported her.

Inevitably, Ryublan began hiding in the library and other places where there were few people around, as if fleeing from it all.  With the lack of people around, nobles would reveal their true thoughts, and he ended up hearing them.

『That Third Queen is hopeless. Why did His Majesty ever take a woman like that…』

『Would that woman not quiet down if the prince was gone?』

『If only that thing was not around…』

『Well, it is only a few more years of patience. Once that thing comes of age, if there is a war, they will likely send him there and have him die.』

『So that is their intention after all. I suspected as much, since they have young men training him in swordsmanship.』

『It seems they are not letting him acquire much knowledge either. If he were to become strangely clever and survive, that would be troublesome.』

『Indeed. But… must we truly endure this for several more years…?』

He thought it was a lie, but once Ryublan became conscious of this conversation, he began listening from the shadows to the true feelings of many nobles. And when he realized it was the truth, he made up his mind.

“…I will decide where I die for myself… And I will leave behind something… something that will make them think I was of even the slightest use to this country…”

After that, Ryublan moved vigorously. He gathered rumors, learned of those who were shunned just like he was, and made contact with them. Half were people whose mothers were the cause, much like Ryublan himself. Those ones shared similar opinions as him, while burning with anger at the unreasonable treatment they had suffered.

The other half were problem children who had issues of their own. He brought them under his wing by half-deceiving them, telling them that he would form a knight order. It would be a knight order created by a prince. They saw profit in that and were deceived beautifully.

When he petitioned his father, saying he wanted to create a knight order for the sake of the country, permission was granted easily. His father must have given that permission while understanding everything.

He likely thought he could easily get rid of all the trouble this way.

And so, Ryublan set out on exercises in search of a place to die. The stated purpose was that he would tour the country while gaining practical combat experience.

A month passed after that. But no one could become that much stronger in such a short time. Half of them were people who, like Ryublan, seemed to be searching for a place to die. They had no intention of fighting properly from the beginning.

As for the remaining problem children, Ryublan hired ruffians to instigate them little by little with stories of opportunities to seize credit before anyone else, then rendered them ineffective one after another. That said, a few of them died this way.

Of course, he had chosen his targets. Those who died were people who had used their status as noble sons to commit crimes. Those whose crimes were lighter lost an arm or suffered wounds that would never heal for the rest of their lives. Once sent back home, they would likely be confined and end their lives that way.

After disposing of those problem children, he had finally finished one task and was just heading to the ducal domain. That was when he encountered it.

“Ogres! Help us! Please, save the village!”

This was it, he thought. This was the place where he would die.

He had heard that adventurers could not recklessly interfere once knights entered the scene. Conveniently enough, there were no towns nearby, and the domain’s knights would not appear. In that case, there was no hope of reinforcements either.

“Lord Ryublan…”

“Yes… Let us go.”

Let us go to our deaths.

“All of you. Slay as many as you can. We will hold them back, even if only a little.”

“““Yeah!”””

They would fight somewhat properly. In the end, they would die like knights. They would make sure no one found their deaths strange. Recklessness was fine. This would be their end.

And so, although they feared the real Ogres they were seeing for the first time, they charged into the pack. At the very least, they would hold on until the villagers escaped. In the end, throwing their lives away seemed to have worked in their favor.

“…Haa… haa… Surprisingly… when one sets one’s mind to it… one can do quite a lot…”

“…It is… rather difficult… to die… isn’t it…?”

In the end, they would die like true knights. With that in mind, they fought desperately until the villagers escaped. They had no intention of showing those villagers the moment they died. Praying for them to run quickly, Ryublan fought alongside his ten comrades, all of them covered in blood.

“Lord Ryublan! The villagers… all those who were still alive… have finished evacuating!”

“I see… Then… let this be the end.”

“Yes.”

“At last.”

“We were unexpectedly tenacious, weren’t we?”

“We truly were. Even after bleeding this much, we are still standing.”

All of them were smiling.

Before them, there were still at least twenty enraged Ogres. Many were smashing buildings and rampaging. Even so, they smiled. At last, they would be free.

“Everyone, thank you for following me.”

“It was enjoyable. I am grateful… that you took me away from that place.”

“As am I. I was happy, as though I could finally breathe properly.”

“Thank you, Lord Ryublan.”

“When I think that this will silence my mother too, my chest feels lighter.”

“My father will be grateful as well. This should serve in place of all the money he spent raising me.”

None of them was in despair. The Ogres bearing down on them were no longer frightening.

Sharp claws and a thick arm swung towards them. Certain of what was coming, he closed his eyes and relaxed his body. That was when it happened.

“You damn fool!”

“!”

His legs were swept out from under him, and he was thrown to the ground. Startled, Ryublan opened his eyes and looked.

Standing there was an extraordinarily beautiful adventurer.

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After leaving the knight order’s station, Philz headed to the church to send a request for medical aid, but he assumed that Head Priest already knew anyway. As expected, he found that a carriage had already been prepared, and the Head Priest was waiting with an expression that said he had been expecting this. Philz stopped partway there and called out from a distance.

“This is a medical aid request from the Guild! I’m counting on you!”

“Wha… Eh? Come all the way here at least!”

“You already know what’s going on! I’m going ahead!”

“Ehh.”

Philz had already turned on his heel.

Before leaving town, Philz remembered one more place he needed to stop by and changed direction. It was the ducal family’s mansion.

“Canal!”

When he rushed into the main building for the first time in years, Canal’s eyes went wide.

“Young Master Philz? That appearance…”

Philz had changed into his adventurer equipment. The mansion gatekeeper had once served as one of his guards for a time, so even though his outfit was different, he seemed to understand that this was Philz with his hair and eye color changed. Philz was relieved that he could pass through without issue.

Canal did not reproach him. Rather, he seemed to wonder what had happened for Philz to appear in that outfit, which he was supposed to be keeping hidden. Even without escorts attached to him, it was already known that he was playing at being an adventurer.

“It’s an emergency.”

“Then…”

Once he heard that it was an emergency, Canal did not question him any further. However, at that moment, with terrible timing, the first wife, Mirialia, appeared.

“Oh my. I wonder where that commoner came from. This is a ducal house, you know. Canal, throw that commoner out at once.”

Sharp eyes, spiteful phrasing. A gaudy red dress. Her golden hair was piled high into a triangle. Her lipstick was a deep crimson. The smell of her perfume was so overpowering that it reached him even from a distance.

“We are about to welcome an important guest, you know? Do not leave someone of such base birth standing there.”

“My lady… Young Master Philz is…”

“Stop! I do not acknowledge him.”

“But…”

Both Philz and Canal understood. Ever since she was young, she had lived as his father’s fiancée. She must have held the resolve of marrying into a ducal family from an early age as well. Noble marriages existed to bind families together and stabilize national power. There was no romance or love in them. Even knowing that, it was only natural to dream of the relationship between wife and husband.

Especially in a world where polygamy was permitted, resentment tended to accumulate on the women’s side. They were not allowed to love anyone but their husband, yet the husband could take someone else, even a person he had truly fallen in love with rather than the fiancée chosen by his family.

It was only natural for the first wife to direct that resentment toward the second wife and her child. He also understood why she wanted to prove her own children’s superiority.

That was why Philz had never complained until now. He understood that she was a pitiable person. He had also always believed that everything concerning his mother was his father’s fault. But right now, he had no time to deal with her.

Ignoring her, Philz told Canal,

“The Third Prince’s knight order apparently headed out to exterminate the pack of Ogres that appeared in Uras Village. I’ve already informed Commander Villans and had him send troops. The Adventurers’ Guildmaster should be leading the adventurers as well. I’ve also sent a medical aid request to the church. If the rumors from the royal capital are to be believed, they do not have the skill to achieve a complete victory against Ogres. They likely won’t be able to come here today.”

He could not imagine them escaping without injury. Even if the highly capable Head Priest went out and healed them, divine arts could not restore them mentally. They would likely refrain from traveling.

“In that case, instead of a formal dinner, I will arrange for something light to be prepared at any time. I will also have the rooms made ready so that they can rest immediately.”

“Please.”

“Understood.”

Without a doubt, they had intended to prepare a banquet to welcome the Third Prince. The reception itself must have been planned with grandeur as well. All of that would have to be canceled.

However, as expected, she did not seem pleased.

“Wait! Why are you the one deciding this? The master has entrusted this mansion to me for the time being!”

“Canal. I’ll leave the rest to you. It’s one thing if that woman alone embarrasses herself, but don’t do anything that would shame the ducal house, much less the guests coming here. We wouldn’t be able to face the people of this domain.”

“Yes. As you wish.”

“W-What did you say!?”

Her hysterical voice echoed throughout the mansion. Hearing this, his eldest brother Serge came over with his brows furrowed.

“Mother? What is the matter?”

“Serge! That commoner’s child is trying to humiliate me!”

“…I see…”

“…”

His eyes met Serge’s. But there was no loathing in them. What lay there was an intelligent light. That had always been there in Serge.

“Mother, this is hardly the place for such a discussion, so let us sit down and I will listen to you properly… You should go.”

“…”

The last words were directed at Philz. Philz gave a small nod, glanced once more at Canal, then rushed out of the mansion.

His eldest brother Serge was not a bad person. Rather, ever since long ago, he had tried to stand between Mirialia and Philz’s mother. Even if, on the surface, he obeyed his mother and agreed with her contempt for Philz and his mother, his eyes had always told Philz, 『Leave it to me.』

Serge probably did not like his mother very much. Because of his serious personality, he must have judged that discord with his mother would not be good for him as the eldest son. Philz remembered how Serge had dealt with his mother’s hysterical screaming ever since childhood, even as his brows tightened sharply.

He had also heard from Villans, who served as the swordsmanship instructor, that Serge was apparently trying desperately to stop their younger sister from inclining toward their mother’s way of thinking. If Philz got involved, Mirialia’s behavior would only become even stranger, so he could not help with that.

“She really is a pitiable person… Well, as long as Brother and Canal are there, the house should manage somehow…”

The two of them should be able to calm the first wife down.

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