The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

Jade put a liquor bottle on the desk in his room and was conflicted.

Pop!

When he opened the cork stopper, the strong liquor smell wafted up and he looked down at the bottle with a frown.

“Sigh~! If I drink it, I feel like I might die, but if I don’t, I can’t bring myself to do it.”

He was too young and tender to confront his master about death while sober.

More than a day had passed since he heard from Yuan that his master didn’t have much time left to live.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was no way his master wouldn’t tell him such an important thing, yet he was hesitating with the liquor in front of him.

If he didn’t believe Yuan’s words, he could just pretend he didn’t hear it and move on.

Nevertheless, Jade swallowed his saliva and poured the liquor into a glass.

No matter how much he denied it and repeated that it couldn’t be, his subconscious whispered to him.

That Yuan’s words were probably true.

Perhaps, as Yuan said, Jade already guessed it.

That his master’s illness was not a simple one, and if it was too late, it would be untreatable.

No, rather than that, it might have been something beyond instinct, developed while honing his mana, whispering to him.

That his master’s death was already a determined fate.

It might have been foresight that rarely visits magicians who have highly trained, without them realizing it.

That’s why he was afraid to drink the liquor.

What if it was true?

For a moment, Jade fell into an unknown fear.

It was the fear of his world collapsing.

In his hazy memory from when he was too young, the cold yet warm hand that held the hand of his orphaned self who was crawling on the streets while starving – the thought of that warmth possibly disappearing made it hard for him to breathe.

Just as a baby bird’s world after hatching is entirely made up of the mother bird who feeds it and the small nest, Jade’s world consisted only of this secluded snowy forest, the hut, and his master.

“Right, it’s just to confirm that it’s not true. Master will probably scold me while laughing, asking what nonsense I’m spouting.”

If scolded, he would laugh awkwardly and make excuses.

And like usual, he would stay up all night with his master talking about magic.

Just to confirm that it was nothing more than that, Jade picked up the glass of strong liquor and downed it in one gulp.

Jade retched at the strong liquor flowing down his esophagus and into his stomach.

“Cough! Ugh! What is this?!”

At first, it felt refreshing as if he had swallowed cold fire, but soon it started to burn.

With each breath, the strong liquor smell and subtle grape aroma rose up as if paralyzing his whole body.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

It was hard to breathe. No, dizzy.

No, is this getting drunk? …This sensation?

He couldn’t think straight.

He was engulfed by a sensation he had never felt in his life.

His whole body shook as if he would lose his reason at any moment, the world flowed slowly, and it was beautiful.

Right, was this pain for the sake of beauty?

Soon, the painful sensation whenever he breathed began to disappear.

As his reason became numb, he started to feel good.

“Ah, so… this is what they call liquid courage.”

The fear in the world disappeared.

When he was young and afraid of the monster under the bed, if he had this liquor, he would have bravely grabbed his magic staff and fought the monster instead of his pillow.

Jade staggered and laughed with a floating sensation.

“Cough! Phew~! Phew~!”

Gripping the desk and taking deep breaths, his mind gradually returned.

But the elation remained, so there was nothing to fear.

Jade absentmindedly grabbed the liquor bottle and poured it into the glass, but didn’t drink it.

What was the reason he drank the liquor? Wasn’t it because he had something to confirm with his master?

“Ah, ah, ahem! I can speak.”

Although slow, he could speak clearly.

After checking his condition, Jade headed to his master’s room without hesitation.

Arriving at Yekatrice’s room, Jade knocked and entered right away.

Usually, he would have waited for permission to enter after knocking, but perhaps because he was drunk, he was unrestrained.

Surprised by her disciple’s sudden entry, Yekatrice closed the small box she was holding and tidied up her desk.

The desk was filled with complex magic circles and formulas, drawing Jade’s attention.

Jade wanted to ask about the magic he was seeing for the first time out of curiosity, but Yekatrice spoke first.

“Suddenly entering the room before permission is given, something must be up. …Huh? Liquor smell? My disciple, did you drink?”

Yekatrice was flustered to see her disciple’s face flushed red from drinking.

Jade suppressed his curiosity and recalled his original purpose.

“Yes, I drank.”

“…That’s quite something. Is something the matter?”

Seeing his master’s smiling face asking, Jade hesitated for a moment.

He wondered if it was the right thing to ask, but the hesitation didn’t last long.

“Your unfilial disciple has come to ask you something, Master.”

“Speak.”

“Is it true that… you don’t have much time left to live?”

Jade tightly closed his eyes. Even though he was drunk, he was afraid.

He hoped to be scolded, asking where he heard such nonsense with a chuckle.

At the sudden question, Yekatrice’s smiling expression quickly stiffened.

“…Did you hear it from the benefactor?”

At the answer completely different from his wish, Jade felt his blood rapidly going cold.

He felt nauseous as blood rushed to his head.

Was this also because he was drunk? Or was it because an unacceptable fact had come upon him?

“Was it… really true?”

“…”

At his reaction of disbelief, Yekatrice remained silent.

“Are you saying it wasn’t a joke of the benefactor with a terribly bad personality?”

“…”

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Master!”

Jade staggered, grabbing his head with one hand, unable to face the reality.

As his mental strength wavered, it felt like the alcohol hit him hard.

“Jade!”

“Don’t touch me!”

The disciple slapped away the hand of the master who tried to support him as he was about to fall.

Jade’s eyes looking at his master were filled with a sense of betrayal, and Yekatrice felt as if her heart was being cut at her disciple’s gaze.

“…Is it because of an illness?”

At Jade’s expression asking as if wringing his lungs, Yekatrice lowered her gaze with sorrowful eyes.

“It’s probably so.”

According to the astrology she had observed for a long time, she was fated to die from illness or debilitation within a year.

The condition wasn’t that severe now, but there was no telling when it would worsen.

The only fortunate thing was that it wasn’t a contagious disease.

“How much time is left? Since when did you know?”

“…The remaining time is a little over a year, I found out about 3 years ago.”

At the unexpectedly long time, Jade couldn’t hold back his momentary anger.

“3 years…! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

He would have thought she hesitated, worrying that her inadequate disciple wouldn’t be able to accept it if it had been a month, no, at least half a year.

But 3 years was too long.

“Did you think there was no need to teach this inadequate disciple?!”

At Jade’s shout filled with bitterness, Yekatrice’s heart sank for a moment.

“N-no! I intended to tell you someday!”

“When?! Right before dying? Or were you going to tell me after you died?!”

Yekatrice flinched at the sight of her disciple spewing out unexpected anger.

She wanted to deny and refute her disciple’s shout.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

If he hadn’t asked like this, she might have confessed this fact to her disciple right before her death, no, perhaps even after her death.

“…Why aren’t you answering?”

Jade felt like his heart was being torn out at the sight of his master not answering.

“Was I just that insignificant to you, Master? Just someone to pass on your duties to and that’s it?!”

It was a remark that the usually polite Jade couldn’t even think of.

That’s why Yekatrice was even more shocked at Jade’s bloodshot shout.

“N-no, cough! Cough! No!”

“If not, then why?! If not! At least you should have given this disciple a chance to struggle so that you wouldn’t die, Master! …If not, you should have at least given me time to accept your death.”

The voice filled with anger had now turned into sobs.

A year, isn’t that too short? He had received so much from his master, but not even giving him a chance to repay was too much.

Seeing her disciple trembling finely with tears, Yekatrice realized.

She had been deceiving herself that she hadn’t told him for his sake, but the reason she didn’t tell him was purely because she was afraid.

She was afraid that the moment she spoke it to her disciple, this precious moment would become irreversible.

“…I will find it. I will find a way to keep you from dying no matter what, Master!”

Seeing Jade’s back as he stormed out of the room, Yekatrice wanted to reach out and grab her disciple.

She didn’t want to waste this precious time being together on other matters.

Even if it was for the sake of her own life.

But in the end, she couldn’t stop her disciple.

Because everything was her own fault.

Jade, who had stormed out of his master’s room, headed straight to Yuan’s room.

As he entered without even knocking, Yuan looked at Jade as if surprised, but soon smiled like a mischievous child as if realizing something.

That smiling face felt like a demon tempting with sweet words, but it didn’t matter.

“What do you want?”

At that question asked as if he had been waiting, Jade knelt down without hesitation.

“I want to save my master, please help me.”

At Jade’s request, he greeted him with a sickeningly sweet smile.

“You’ve come to the right place.”

It felt like voluntarily stepping into a swamp he couldn’t escape from, but he had no other choice.

*****

I was surprised when Jade suddenly entered without knocking, but judging by his red eyes and the liquor smell emanating from his whole body, it seemed he had confirmed the truth with Yekatrice and came.

Looking at Jade’s state, I’d have to visit Yekatrice later and comfort her.

“You’ve come to the right place.”

I patted Jade’s shoulder as he knelt and held out my hand.

“I’ll help you with all my might, so get up. It’s good to kneel for someone precious, but the floor is cold.”

“Thank you.”

Jade took my hand and stood up.

I also intended to recruit Yekatrice as an ally, but the ally I wanted to move together with was still Jade, who would inherit the position of the Sage of the Winter Tree.

As such, I needed to directly persuade him gently.

“Seeing as you came to me right away, I suppose you heard from your master that I overcame the fate of death?”

“Pardon?”

At my question, Jade looked at me with a dumbfounded face.

“Huh? You didn’t hear?”

“Huh? Did you overcome death?”

He didn’t hear it from Yekatrice?

Then why did he come to me begging to save Yekatrice?

“You, why did you come to me?”

At my question, Jade scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

“Uh… good question.”

What? Was this guy this much of an airhead character?