The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

I sat wrapped up in a blanket inside the warm house, sipping on a hot coffee.

The gazes of my companions watching me as if monitoring me felt burdensome beside me.

Well, if I were them, I would have also watched with such gazes if someone had gone crazy in that bitterly cold land, shouting that it was hot and trying to take off their clothes.

“Are you in your right mind now?”

The gray-haired boy, Jade Heightfill, the Sage of the Winter Wood, smiled kindly and brought a kettle filled with warmly heated coffee to me.

This was the sealed land guarded by the Sage of the Winter Wood, so the only boy here would be Jade Heightfill.

“Ah, thank you.”

I emptied the cup, held it out again, and gave an embarrassed smile.

“I didn’t even have the sense to introduce myself after coming so suddenly. My name is Yuan.”

At my introduction, my companions followed with their own introductions.

“I am Gilbert, the young master’s guard knight.”

“Likewise, I am Precia, a guard knight.”

“I’m Silua! Nice to meet you!”

At my companions’ greetings, Jade received them with a gentle smile.

“I am Jade. The person who was with me just now is my master, and I am learning magic here.”

At the mention of learning magic, Silua showed curiosity.

He must be learning not just simple magic, but things to become the Sage of the Winter Wood.

I nodded my head, pretending not to know.

“I see. By the way, thanks to you, I survived. I didn’t expect my central nervous system to act up there.”

When people are driven to extreme environments, they sometimes act in the opposite way.

The reason climbers who froze to death in the high mountains in winter were sometimes found naked was because they took off their clothes saying it was hot, like me.

“Oho, the central nervous system. What an interesting theory. Come to think of it, I think I read something like that in a medical book I saw recently. It was definitely something about the brain not being able to receive sensory signals…”

Jade seemed to have it in his head but couldn’t explain it well, so he waved his hands in the air.

At that moment, the friendly Gilbert asked with a smile,

“You’re a magician, but you also read medical books? Ah, come to think of it, the young master was also excellent in both magic and medicine, right?”

“Is that so? I had guessed that you were learning magic, but I didn’t know you were also versed in medicine!”

The boy looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“No, I wouldn’t say I’m excellent.”

“The young master even cured my sister’s blocked meridian disease!”

At Gilbert’s words, Jade showed even more interest in me.

“It’s not modesty. I’ve only read a few related books on medicine, and for magic, the person who taught me said I’m still only at the Vanit level.”

It was good to gain his favor, but it wasn’t good to raise too much expectation.

“Still, I heard blocked meridian disease is an extremely rare illness. How…?”

“Jade, that’s enough.”

“Ah, Master.”

When a black-haired beauty entered from outside, Jade greeted her, calling her Master.

If she was his master, she would be Yekatrice Heightfill, the previous Sage of the Winter Wood.

Seeing that she was still alive, Jade hadn’t succeeded her yet, and she could still be the current Sage of the Winter Wood.

Of course, the position of the Sage of the Four Seasons wasn’t necessarily handed over upon death, so she could have already passed on the position.

However, considering the novel’s description that Jade inherited the Sage’s position just before her death, the Sage of the Winter Wood would still be her.

“What’s important now isn’t medicine and such. You can slowly ask about those things later.”

Medicine and such weren’t important? Yekatrice would probably die from illness within 2 years, right?

To be precise, she dies due to the worsening of her condition caused by an injury.

“I’m glad you seem to be fine. I am Yekatrice, the Sage of the Winter Wood.”

After introducing herself, Yekatrice sat across from me and got straight to the point.

“I believe there must be a reason you brought the mana stone of the great demon of the south all the way here. It wouldn’t be just to use it as a doorbell to ask to be let inside in front of the barrier, right?”

At her gaze that seemed to be on guard, I smiled wryly.

With my magic or Silua’s, it was impossible to break through the barrier that generations of Sages of the Winter Wood had constructed.

That’s why I used the Red Eye’s mana stone in front of the barrier to trick them into thinking the Red Eye had come, so that Jade would come out on his own.

“I can’t say I have no ulterior motives at all, but the reason I brought the mana stone of the ‘Red Eye’, ah! Red Eye is the name used in Blantzbarg territory to refer to the great demon of the south. Anyway, I brought the Red Eye’s mana stone to completely close the hole to the other world that the Sage of the Winter Wood is guarding.”

About 600 years ago, when a hole connected to another world opened in this land, and various monsters from the other world popped out, the Sage of the Winter Wood at that time tried to close the hole by dividing magic into five mana stones.

However, due to someone’s interference, a gap was created, and taking advantage of that gap, five monsters swallowed the mana stones and escaped.

Those monsters absorbed the power contained in the mana stones and became great demons that dominated the region, and the Red Eye was one of them.

At my answer, Yekatrice and Jade looked at me in surprise.

“You know about the hole to the other world? How?”

At Jade’s question, I sipped the still warm coffee and answered,

“I found out while digging through ancient documents. Let’s leave the answer at that for now.”

In reality, there are ancient documents that mention the hole to the other world.

Not in the kingdom, but on the empire’s side.

At my answer, the gazes of the two sharpened.

Perhaps because mana circuits had been developed, I could feel the mana waves mixed with wariness emanating faintly from them.

The pressure was no joke when two people at the Sage level glared.

“Then what is your reason for wanting to close the hole?”

At her question, I put the coffee down on the table.

“I want the Sages of the Winter Wood, or more precisely, the Sages of the Four Seasons, to be able to move freely.”

Actually, it was to persuade Jade to become my ally.

Right now, I was thinking of persuading his master Yekatrice as well.

“Why is that?”

“Because my enemies don’t want that.”

“Your enemies, you say?”

“The ones who opened the hole to the other world here 600 years ago.”

The identity of the ones who opened the hole to the other world here was Arcana.

At that time, they didn’t use the name Arcana, but anyway.

The Arcana at that time felt a great threat from the Sages of the Four Seasons and played various tricks to keep them in check.

The hole to the other world was one of those tricks. As a result, the Sages of the Winter Wood had been working for generations to guard this land and close the hole.

“The ones who opened the hole…”

Before Yekatrice’s question could continue, Precia untied the sword at her waist and struck the floor with the scabbard.

“What are you doing now? Are you interrogating the young master?”

As Precia released a murderous aura as if she would draw her sword at any moment, Jade glared at Precia and released mana to counter her.

“You’re the one being rude!”

Oh dear, their meeting wouldn’t do if it was like this.

Before I could step in, Yekatrice stopped her disciple.

“Jade, step back.”

“But Master!”

“Jade!”

At Yekatrice’s shout, Jade flinched, retrieved the mana he had released, and took a big step back.

“Precia, you stop too. This is the land they have been protecting, and we are uninvited guests, so don’t act recklessly.”

When I gave a warning, Precia made a face like a scolded puppy and suppressed her aura.

“I apologize. This child worries about me a lot.”

Yekatrice shook her head.

“No, I’m the one who was rude to the benefactor who brought the sealing mana stone because it was so sudden. I should have expressed my gratitude first before interrogating. I’m sorry.”

At her apology, I showed a kind smile.

“No, I would have also been wary if someone suddenly mentioned a hole to another world that isn’t known to the world.”

Yekatrice thanked me for understanding, saying it was a natural reaction.

On the other hand, Precia and Jade glared at each other as if they didn’t like each other.

Originally, Jade should have been friendly with Precia as she was the savior of his life, but things had gone awry.

Well, at that time, they quickly became close because they formed a bond after losing their respective master Yuan and master Yekatrice and were wandering.

“This is going to be tough.”

“Indeed.”

Yekatrice and I sighed as we looked at each other’s guard knight and disciple.

My companions and I decided to stay for a few days at the courtesy of Yekatrice, the Sage of the Winter Wood.

Although it looked like a small hut from the outside, perhaps because it was a house made with magic, the inside was spacious like a mansion.

This was the first time seeing such elaborate space magic, so Silua took Zillian Original and set out to explore the mansion with sparkling eyes.

“My, my, I’ll have to give Silua a warning.”

At my words, Yekatrice laughed contentedly.

“No, it’s fine. Children should run and play. The child was raised with a lot of love. Would it be rude to call the creator…?”

Yekatrice realized at a glance that Silua was a magic doll.

“Yes, that child was born with the love of her parents.”

“I thought so. The one who achieved the miracle of creating life must have gone through more hardships than giving birth. It’s impossible with ordinary love.”

She acknowledged and respected Silua as a being with personality and life.

“Geor would have been happy to hear that.”

“Geor, do you mean Geor Philip, the Sage of Ten Thousand Soldiers?”

When Yekatrice knew about Geor, I asked, “You know him?” in surprise.

She nodded her head.

“My friend occasionally brings me news from outside. I heard he was the great master of doll arts, a combination of golems and alchemy. Currently, it’s the mainstream school of the kingdom’s magic tower, right?”

She said she wanted to meet him once and smiled bitterly.

She was in a position where she couldn’t leave her post for long to guard the seal, so it was resignation close to half-giving up.

But a friend. Who could it be?

“Ah, we should have dinner soon. Could you wait a moment?”

To gain her favor, I smiled and said,

“I’ll help too.”

“No, you’re a guest, so I can’t let you do that. And I’m embarrassed to say, but it’s just warming up the food my friend made, so there’s no need for extra hands.”

Food made by a friend?

Ah, that friend was Dalanta, the Sage of Spring Flowers.

“I’ll call you with magic when it’s all set, so relax. Let’s have a detailed conversation slowly after the meal.”

Yekatrice seemed to have a lot she still wanted to ask me.

I also had quite a bit to say and give, so I wanted to have a leisurely conversation.

Having said that, Yekatrice went into the kitchen.

“But where did everyone go?”

I could let Silua slide since she would be exploring, but where were Precia and Gilbert?

Come to think of it, I didn’t see Jade either.

Where did they go while I was having this and that conversation with Yekatrice?

“Well, they’ll come back on their own when it’s time to eat.”

I sat on the living room sofa, made a cocktail on the spot by adding lemon and mint to cheap vodka as a base, and savored it.

“Mm~! Nice.”

I should get some granulated sugar later too. It would be nice to have curaçao syrup as well, but it would be impossible to obtain.

*******

Precia and Jade glared at each other, exuding a murderous aura, in a place away from the hut.

Gilbert tried to stop the two of them, sweating nervously.

“Why don’t both of you stop? The young master and the Sage wouldn’t want you to fight.”

At Gilbert’s words, Precia and Jade flinched, but they both didn’t retract their murderous aura and glared at each other.

“I must receive an apology from Ms. Precia for being rude to my master.”

Jade nitpicked about Precia threatening his master with a murderous aura.

“I also can’t let it slide that you pressured the young master as if interrogating him and didn’t even apologize.”

Both of them knew that if they were caught growling at each other like this, they would be scolded by Yuan and Yekatrice.

Jade politely warned Precia,

“I hope you apologize to my master, even now. Then I will also apologize to your young master.”

“Let’s switch the order. You apologize to the young master first. Then I will also apologize to your master.”

When Precia retorted, Jade’s eyebrows twitched.

“Are you saying you want to go at it?”

“Right back at you.”

Although their fields were different, both of them were possessors of genius-level talent.

Perhaps because it was the first time they met someone who stimulated their competitive spirit while being the same age, they were fired up with a fighting spirit toward each other.

“Uh, um? Can’t you just apologize at the same time?”

Precia and Jade ignored Gilbert’s mediation.

What had started as standing up for their respective cherished person gradually turned into a battle of pride between the two.

Precia drew her sword, and Jade held up his magic staff, drawing out mana.