Prelude (1)
Edwin lifted his head at the sound of his name, feeling countless eyes upon him.
The knights of the Third Order, who had been training alongside him, were staring straight at the young prince. They had clearly noticed the worry clouding his beautiful face some time ago.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“Come on, it doesn’t look like nothing at all.”
The knights of the Third Order gradually drifted closer until they had surrounded him completely.
“Tell us, Your Highness. You’re not still bothered by that slip you made earlier, are you?”
“No way. Your Highness, I can fix anything except romance problems. Just say the word.”
“Is someone still giving you trouble?”
“What? Who the hell dares to mess with our Prince Edwin? Name them! I’ll cut the bastard in half!”
Perhaps it was because they had endured grueling training together for so long. The men of the Third Order had come to think of Edwin as one of their own.
Of course, Catherine’s daily delivery of delicious snacks had certainly helped their warm feelings along.
“Hmm.”
Edwin seemed to consider their words for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
“It’s just… I’m worried about what I’ll do if I ever have to face an incredibly powerful monster I’ve never encountered before.”
“Huh?”
The knights’ eyes widened at the young prince’s unexpected remark.
“Come on, Your Highness,” one of them said in a cheerful voice.
The knight with red hair and healthy tanned skin was Phinet. His specialty was lightning-fast swordplay that perfectly suited his slender frame, and he was widely regarded as the finest swordsman in the entire Third Order.
“Monsters are all the same. No matter how strong this ‘never-before-seen’ monster is supposed to be, you can crush them with sheer numbers.”
Edwin offered an awkward smile. He had avoided mentioning mutant monsters and spoken in vague terms, but it seemed they had taken his words lightly.
“And even if such monsters do come charging at us!”
Phinet slung an arm around Edwin’s shoulders and thumped his own chest with his free hand.
“I’ll protect you, Your Highness, so don’t worry about a thing!”
“That’s right! You’ve got us! Just trust us!”
They really were incredibly reassuring.
Edwin smiled brightly, grateful for their words even if they were only words.
“Yeah, thank you!”
The young prince’s lovely smile brought warmth to every knight’s face. Yet even as they grinned, they watched the pale, soft-skinned boy with worried eyes—the same boy who trained with them every single day.
“He must’ve been traumatized by the monsters during last month’s training camp.”
“He’s still so young. Hasn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet.”
“Even grown men piss themselves in front of monsters. What do you expect from His Highness?”
The knights still had no idea.
They didn’t know that Prince Edwin had already faced a mutant monster in the plague village.
“Phinet’s right. Monsters that can’t even work together will never defeat humans,” said the largest knight, arms folded across his massive chest.
Thick veins bulged along his forearms that looked ready to burst. His name was Bata. He was the only one in the Third Order who wielded a greatsword, and rumors claimed his raw strength rivaled even that of Commander Jerome Crown.
“What’s this? Since when do you agree with me, Bata?”
“A guy whose head is full of dust instead of brains is actually saying something sensible for once.”
“The hell did you just say?”
Phinet bared his teeth, clearly unhappy with Bata’s reply.
Edwin quickly stepped between them and raised both hands.
“Both of you, calm down.”
“But Your Highness! He insulted me first!”
“I didn’t insult anyone.”
“Bullshit! Calling my skull full of dust is supposed to be a compliment?”
How strange. Weren’t they supposed to be comrades who shared the same opinion?
“Haha…”
Edwin gave a hollow smile as the two men began throwing punches. The rest of the knights cheered and jeered at the unexpected show.
“Looks like you still have plenty of energy left if you’re fooling around. Training must not have been hard enough.”
“Hieeek! Vice Commander!”
The knights turned deathly pale at the sudden appearance of Vice Commander Philip.
Philip swept them with a disdainful gaze and issued a single curt command.
“Fall in.”
As expected of the Gloria Knights, their discipline was impeccable. At Philip’s word, they instantly formed neat ranks of three.
Edwin hurriedly took his place at the very end of the line.
“A formal notice has arrived from the imperial palace.”
His tone was as dry and flat as ever. But unlike usual, a solemn intensity lingered on Philip’s face.
“His Imperial Majesty the Great Emperor has declared that exactly three months from now, he will launch a full-scale subjugation campaign against the monsters appearing throughout the central continent, including the Mondragon Mountain Range.”
The knights began to murmur at the vice commander’s announcement.
“Monster subjugation is nothing new. Why is His Majesty suddenly issuing an imperial decree?”
“He called it a full-scale campaign. That means…”
They all chimed in until Philip’s stern silence finally restored order.
“This subjugation will be conducted jointly with the Adamant Kingdom. A joint monster subjugation operation is about to begin.”
A joint operation with the Adamant Kingdom.
Edwin felt his heart thunder in his chest. The face of the young king who had once given him a sword surfaced in his mind, along with the mutant monster he had encountered in Luxen. Was this feeling fear… or excitement?
The young prince unconsciously clutched at his chest.
“Furthermore, His Majesty the Emperor and all direct members of the imperial family will be participating in this joint operation. It is our duty to protect them with our lives.”
Sighs broke out across the ranks.
They would already be busy fighting monsters, and now they had to escort the imperial family and nobles as well.
“We’d need two lives each and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“Well, the noble-born knights will handle the escort duty. They wouldn’t trust commoners like us with protecting royalty.”
“True. People like that assume low birth means low skill.”
Had they been knights from noble houses, they might have schemed to catch the imperial family’s eye and climb higher. But they were all commoners, and on a chaotic battlefield, the chance to even glimpse a member of the imperial family was slim.
As expected, Rachel was right.
Edwin bit his lip, lost in thought.
Father is participating in the subjugation as well. So this campaign really is…
It was clearly a stage meant to determine which prince was worthy of becoming crown prince.
Edwin’s expression grew darker.
Can I really do this?
The same person who had struggled so pathetically against a single mutant monster?
Of course, back then he hadn’t possessed the stamina or sword skills he had now. But if he faced that same monster from Luxen again, could he win?
I don’t know.
Edwin gazed at the cold monster corpse in the distance.
That thing looks far too weak compared to a mutant monster.
The monsters the order captured for training were pitifully weak in comparison.
Even so, facing one alone would be overwhelming.
He could only manage to strike a vital point after the other knights had assisted him.
Edwin clenched his fists tightly.
I need to become stronger. Much stronger, just like Rachel said.
As Edwin renewed his determination, the knights began chattering again the moment Philip departed.
“We’re really doing a joint operation with the Adamant Kingdom?”
“Damn it, is that even safe?”
They were extremely skeptical about anything involving Adamant.
“No matter how skilled their knights are at monster subjugation…”
“I heard their knights absolutely hate outsiders.”
“They were busy killing each other until recently. Of course they’re hostile.”
It was inevitable for knights of a kingdom born from civil war. Only a few years ago they had been stabbing their own countrymen in the back.
They had only just begun to trust their own allies—there was no reason they would welcome outsiders with open arms.
“Ugh, how are we supposed to fight alongside those scary bastards?”
“Never mind the others. They say their king is the terrifying one.”
Kaiden Ram, King of Adamant.
The knights gossiped about the man said to be the strongest knight on the continent before naturally turning their eyes toward Edwin.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t that person stay at Your Highness’s palace during the founding festival?”
“Oh? Then the royal knights must have stayed there too.”
The order members bombarded Edwin with curious questions.
“What kind of person is the Adamant King?”
“How skilled are their knights? Are the rumors true?”
“How would he compare to our commander? If the Adamant King fought Commander Jerome, who do you think would win, Your Highness?”
He had not expected to suddenly become the center of such intense interest.
Edwin waved his hands in flustered panic.
“W-well… I’m not sure who would win…”
The knights looked disappointed by the prince’s lukewarm response.
“Just make a guess! I’m betting on our commander!”
“Me too! Definitely our commander!”
“Same here! No matter how great the Knight King is supposed to be, he’s only in his early twenties, right? He can’t beat our commander’s experience!”
Edwin blinked at their words.
As a prince of the empire, he should naturally have placed his bet on Duke Jerome Crown.
But for some reason…
I think that man would win.
The thought rose unconsciously from somewhere deep inside him—that if those two ever crossed swords, Kaiden Ram would emerge victorious.