The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

 Yekatrice felt the night pass and the sun rise as she woke up from meditation and opened her eyes.

“Cough! Cough! Is it morning already? As I get older, sleep disappears, which is a big problem.”

She got up from her seat while coughing lightly and put on her outer garment, checking the seal and barrier as was her daily routine.

After confirming there were no abnormalities in the seal and barrier she had protected all her life, she wrote a grimoire as usual until breakfast time.

“Hmm, I wonder if it would be best to make a magic tool to repay the benefactor’s favor.”

While writing a grimoire for her disciple and future generations, she simultaneously searched for a magic tool to give to Yuan.

However, no matter how much she looked, there was no magic tool worthy of repaying the value of the Red Eye’s mana stone and the lost secret book.

If there was, it would be the magic staff she would pass down to Jade when she passed on the Sage’s position to him, or another secret book, but repaying the value of a secret book with a secret book was a foolish act.

“Should I make a new one? But the time…”

As Yekatrice was pondering, she felt someone hesitating and pacing back and forth in front of her room door, so she closed the grimoire she was writing and opened the door.

“Is something the matter? …Miss Precia?”

The person pacing in front of the door was Yuan’s guard knight, Precia.

Although Precia was around the same age as her disciple, Yekatrice treated her respectfully.

According to Yuan, Precia was also a great help in catching the Red Eye, so she was one of the benefactors.

When the door opened, Precia was startled for a moment, then soon bowed her head.

“I came to apologize for my rudeness yesterday, even though it’s late. I’m sorry.”

At the sudden apology, Yekatrice rolled her eyes, not knowing what Precia had done that warranted an apology.

“Oh! You mean fighting with Jade? It takes two hands to clap, and since my disciple is also at fault, it’s alright.”

“No, of course I’m sorry about that too, but before that, I want to apologize for rudely threatening you with fighting spirit.”

“…Huh? Oh! You mean that?”

Yekatrice, who understood what Precia was saying, couldn’t help but laugh.

“Pfft! Ah, excuse me. If it’s about that, you don’t need to apologize. We were the ones who were rude first, and you took the natural measure as a guard.”

She thought it was so obvious what Precia had to do that she never thought she would apologize for that.

“But did you come to apologize because your young master told you to?”

If so, she was going to tell Yuan directly that there was no need for that.

However, Precia shook her head.

“No. The young master didn’t say anything.”

“Then?”

“…After fighting with the Sage’s disciple yesterday, I had a question. Did I really fight for the young master’s sake? Wasn’t it just because of competitive spirit? If so, wasn’t my previous action just rudeness?”

Seeing Precia looking somewhat confused, as if she wasn’t confident in her own loyalty, Yekatrice smiled.

“Miss Precia, excuse me, but how old are you?”

At her question, Precia hesitated and answered,

“…I’m fifteen years old.”

“I see, it’s natural to have such concerns at that age. Miss Precia, humans are not animals that move with a single emotion. When conflicting emotions fight within your heart, you fell into the error of confirmation bias, thinking that only the emotion you believed to be right is right.”

It was a contradiction of emotions commonly called puberty, the period of storm and stress, usually manifested in an irritable form.

Precia’s puberty just manifested in a somewhat mild form.

“Confirmation bias?”

When Precia didn’t understand, Yekatrice patted the shoulder of the young girl standing in front of her and explained more easily.

“Even if the reason you fought with my disciple was because of competitive spirit, it doesn’t negate your heart that cares for your young master. When you first got angry, did your hands itch to fight with me or my disciple?”

“…No.”

She was just angry.

She couldn’t tolerate her lord being treated as if he was being interrogated, no matter how sudden the guest was.

“If your young master had scolded you, he would have scolded you for fighting with Jade, not for what he said to me, right?”

Yuan didn’t even scold her for fighting with Jade.

He only asked if there were any ill feelings and told them to get along in the future.

“It was right for you to get angry. Rather, it was rude of my disciple to step forward at that time. The only thing you need to reflect on is not being able to control your youthful spirit and competitive spirit.”

In fact, it couldn’t be considered a big mistake.

If Jade and Precia were ordinary adolescent boys and girls, that is.

Having the strongest power among anyone also meant bearing the responsibility to control that power.

“When you are confused, think and ponder a lot. Contemplation broadens one’s perspective and makes one grow.”

At Yekatrice’s gentle words, Precia nodded as if she understood.

“Then I should express gratitude, not an apology. The young master also told me to think about what I should do on my own.”

“Is that so? Come to think of it, Benefactor, how old is Yuan?”

“He turned seventeen not long ago.”

At the mention of seventeen years old, Yekatrice was surprised inwardly.

Recalling her conversation with Yuan, he seemed like someone who had rolled around in society, so she couldn’t believe he was the same age as her disciple.

“I apologize for suddenly coming and causing many inconveniences.”

“It’s alright. It’s natural to have a hard time easily sharing your concerns when there are only same-age boys around you. Miss Precia, you are also one of my benefactors, so feel free to visit anytime.”

At Yekatrice’s words, which felt like they came from experience, Precia bowed her head in greeting and hurriedly left, as if embarrassed.

Seeing her like that, Yekatrice laughed, thinking she somehow resembled her disciple.

“Hohoho, it would have been nice to have a daughter too.”

She had never even tried getting married, but raising Jade felt like raising a son.

So for some reason, rather than a somewhat blunt fellow, she wanted to take in a disciple who was affectionate like a daughter.

“Well, it’s probably impossible.”

The time she read for herself wasn’t very long.

*********

I stepped out of the room, yawning.

I must have been tired yesterday, as I woke up later than I thought, and the sun was already high in the sky.

“Are you awake?”

Precia greeted with a smile.

“Ah, good morning… Is it a bit late to say that?”

“No, it’s still morning after all.”

It was almost lunchtime, but morning was still morning.

“You seem to have a brighter expression, did something good happen?”

Until yesterday, she had a face that seemed to be suffering from guilt, but now she had a bright face as usual.

“Ah, nothing happened.”

Seeing her averting her gaze slightly, it seemed like something did happen, but she looked to be in a good mood, so I thought it wasn’t a big deal.

She wouldn’t have caused another incident even after causing one yesterday, right?

“Where’s Gilbert?”

When I asked for Gilbert, Precia looked in the direction of the room where Gilbert was staying and answered,

“He’s still digesting the elixir he took yesterday. As expected of the secret elixir of the Blantzbarg Marquis family. It seems like it will take all day to properly digest it.”

Was that medicine that good?

If Precia was amazed, it seemed like I could expect Gilbert’s growth.

“Uhhh… Are you awake…?”

Silua came out of the room and greeted with a tired face.

“Did you stay up all night?”

No, there’s no way Silua would get tired just from staying up all night, right?

Silua is a magical lifeform that doesn’t need sleep unless it’s extreme.

“Yaaawn~! Yeaah…. I used my head too much, so I’m tired. Here’s the reflection.”

Silua handed me a stack of paper so thick that it couldn’t be held with one hand.

“This is a reflection?”

“Yes! I wrote it diligently!”

No, how do you write a reflection that’s the size of three or four volumes of a specialized book?

I thought she would write at most one full page.

Let’s see, shall I read it?

Title: Analysis of Reflection Points on Failure of Magic Decomposition Computation and Consideration of Reconstruction Methodology for Spatial Defensive Magic

Putting aside the fact that she put a title on the reflection, why does the title sound like a thesis?

Moreover, there was a ‘Table of Contents’ and ‘Subtitles’ under the title.

(Omitted)…Thus, it is inferred that the spatial defense composition of the ‘Sage of the Winter Tree’ is due to the spatiotemporal freezing property(122). However, this inference does not match Dmitrikron’s Mana Equation(123), the major premise of spatial magic, but if we borrow the spatial elements of Echelon’s Symbol(124) and Daliana’s Divine Power Analysis(125)…(Omitted)

How many magic formulas and footnotes are there in a reflection?

As a result of roughly skimming through the reflection, it was detailed how Silua analyzed Yekatrice’s defensive magic and made a mistake, how she could have prevented the mistake, and what the final outcome could be.

At this point, it should be called a thesis or grimoire rather than a reflection.

With just this, it seemed possible to implement Yekatrice’s defensive magic.

Spatiotemporal freezing, how interesting.

“Uh… um, good job.”

It wasn’t the reflection I wanted, but I acknowledged her hard work since she seemed to have worked hard.

Then Silua nodded her head with a smile, as if she was proud of herself too.

“As expected of Yuan oppa. At first, I didn’t know why you made me do this, but as I wrote the reflection, I clearly saw where I had failed!”

No, don’t be proud and reflect!

I’m telling you to be sorry for almost blowing up half the house, not to learn magic!

Oh my, my head.

Whether she knew my thoughts or not, Silua let out a big yawn.

“Yaaawn~! But the time was too tight. Can I go in and take a short nap?”

“…Alright, you worked hard. Don’t make a mistake next time.”

“Okay~!”

I had nothing more to say. As Silua went inside, Jade staggered down the stairs with good timing.

“Hangover?”

Did I give him liquor that was too strong?

The cheap brandy was something I distilled one more time, so it would easily exceed 60 percent, so if he didn’t know his alcohol tolerance, he would suffer from a hangover.

“No! …I just lack sleep. I didn’t even touch the alcohol.”

He said he didn’t drink, so he probably hadn’t asked Yekatrice yet that she didn’t have many days left to live.

Well, Jade wasn’t the type of person who would immediately confront her even if he heard such a thing.

Being cautious sometimes meant nothing more than seeking trouble.

In life, there are times when you need to act boldly rather than hesitate.

“My, my, you must be having a hard time.”

When I smiled playfully, Jade looked at me as if saying it was my fault.

I looked at him, who was looking at me with a sullen expression, and said,

“You came at the right time. It’s about time we discuss the strategy.”

“Strategy? What strategy are we discussing?”

At Jade’s question, I answered as if it was nothing while taking out a magic kettle and pouring water.

“What strategy, of course the strategy to hunt the great demons that swallowed the sealing mana stones and escaped.”

Didn’t I say it?

I came here to close the hole to another world.