Chapter 4
Pearl Palace (1)
Once his body started recovering, it improved quickly. His meals changed from porridge to regular food, and the distance he could move around gradually increased.
During that time, Seongjin spent his days doing various stretching and exercise routines inside his room.
If it had been up to him, he would have run outside and started intense cardio training immediately. But after spending days bedridden with a fever, his stamina had dropped so much that he knew it was impossible.
Besides, if I push myself now, my joints are going to shatter…
Just look at his knees trembling after doing nothing more than a simple set of exercises.
Even standing workouts were already this difficult. If he actually tried running with this enormous body, worn cartilage would be the least of his worries.
Isn’t there a swimming pool somewhere? I’d like to train while treating it like rehabilitation.
Trying not to put too much strain on his body, he leaned part of his weight against the bed and awkwardly flailed his arms and legs.
The Demon King, trying to comfort him, said something completely useless.
[Well, at least you’re better than before. I think I can actually see the outline of your face now.]
Looking into the mirror, Seongjin saw a giant blond boy staring back at him with a sulky expression.
The slightly grayish blond hair and fierce-looking eyes closely resembled Empress Elizabeth’s.
Despite being overweight, his height seemed fairly appropriate for a fifteen-year-old. Though Seongjin didn’t know the average height in this world, so it was only a guess.
“I don’t see much difference. Isn’t it just that the swelling has gone down a little?”
[You need a positive mindset! Who knows? If you keep working hard, you might transform from a pig into the world’s most handsome man. Come on! Fighting!]
I wish this idiot would just disappear already.
Shaking his head, Seongjin resumed his exercises.
The palace where Seongjin was currently staying was a beautiful ivory-colored residence known as the Pearl Palace.
From the outside, it looked simple and elegant, but a closer look revealed luxurious decorations filling every corner.
Since the First Empress had personally built it for Mores, she must have spared no expense.
Though not enormous, it contained everything a prince could need: lavish bedrooms, a private library, a personal training hall, a greenhouse, and even a banquet hall for education and social gatherings.
Seongjin planned to visit the library and training hall soon.
However, after spending several days rebuilding his stamina and quietly observing his surroundings, he realized there was something rather strange about Pearl Palace.
First…
Not a single person who worked or visited Pearl Palace possessed divine power.
It was extremely odd.
The Imperial Palace itself overflowed with holy energy, yet none of the people here seemed to be its source.
“The Demon King said there was so much divine power around here that he couldn’t even leave this body…”
Yet ever since arriving, Seongjin had never met a single person capable of using divine power.
Mores himself was no exception.
Although the current Holy Emperor, Nathaniel, possessed an unprecedented amount of divine power, unfortunately Mores—the ambitious First Empress’s son—had been born without even a trace of it.
Well…
That was actually fortunate for Seongjin and the Demon King.
According to the Demon King, if Mores had possessed even the slightest amount of divine power, he would have been destroyed the instant he entered this body.
“…What a shame. We could’ve gotten rid of you completely.”
[You bastard! You think you’d be safe by yourself? You’re the evil spirit possessing the prince’s body! If a priest ever discovers you, you’ll be exorcised immediately!]
That… would actually be a problem.
The Holy Empire of Delcross was a powerful theocracy whose influence extended across the entire continent.
People blessed with divine power gathered here from every corner of the world.
Yet Pearl Palace contained nothing but ordinary people without divine power.
Could that really be a coincidence?
The prince had nearly died, yet not even a single healing priest had come here. The situation was undeniably strange.
The Demon King cautiously offered a theory.
[Maybe it’s because the original Mores didn’t have divine power.]
“What does that have to do with it?”
[Think about his reputation. He’s the Holy Emperor’s son, yet he has absolutely no divine power. With his personality, do you think he’d calmly watch everyone else using divine power? I’d bet he threw tantrums from sheer jealousy.]
It sounded plausible…
But was that really the whole reason?
[Forget it. This works out well for us, doesn’t it? People with divine power are especially sensitive to demonic energy and evil spirits. It’s much safer if there aren’t any around.]
Wait a second.
“But Mores’s father is the Holy Emperor, right? Even if we avoid priests by staying in the palace, how are we supposed to avoid his father forever? They’re in the same palace.”
[…So the final boss is your father?]
Feeling the Demon King’s soul shiver, Seongjin sighed.
Who knows? We’ll deal with it when it happens.
The second strange thing was Pearl Palace’s servants.
Only a handful of people maintained the palace.
Aside from a minimal number of guards, surprisingly few people actually lived there considering its size.
There was one personal maid, two ordinary maids, a resident physician, a head chef, and a junior administrator.
Whenever Empress Elizabeth came to visit Seongjin, she arrived with over twenty attendants, including maids and knights.
No matter how notorious Mores was, could this really be what a prince’s palace was supposed to look like?
Even stranger…
Those few servants were unusual.
Take his personal maid, Edith.
She was a young woman with short hair and delicate features, but unlike most palace maids, she always wore a stoic expression.
Since she was always the only one entering Seongjin’s room, he had initially assumed she was simply overworked because of poor working conditions.
Even in a world without labor laws, surely there should be enough staff to rotate shifts.
But Edith was no ordinary person.
Whenever Seongjin made even the slightest sound, she would instantly appear in his room.
Carrying enormous trays of food by herself was effortless.
While he had still been bedridden, she had once changed his sweat-soaked sheets by casually lifting Mores’s massive body with her slender arms.
He had been so shocked that he briefly wondered if she was actually an assassin disguised as a maid.
His instincts, sharpened by decades of fighting monsters, told him one thing.
She might actually be as strong as an average knight.
At first he wondered if everyone in this world was simply that strong.
But that wasn’t the case.
Even Empress Elizabeth herself was merely a refined noblewoman who had been raised in luxury.
The maids accompanying her were excellent household professionals, but physically they were perfectly ordinary women.
So why was only Mores’s personal maid so exceptional?
“Edith.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“How are you so strong?”
Well…
The simplest way to satisfy his curiosity was to ask.
Edith, who had been opening the curtains to let fresh air in, immediately bowed.
“Because I am an Aura User, Your Highness.”
Perhaps because the First Empress held such influence, Edith remained polite even toward the infamous troublemaking prince.
She truly behaved like a professional capable of setting aside personal feelings while working.
[She just thought, ‘What’s this fat prince bothering people about so early in the morning now?’]
Unfortunately for her, maintaining a professional expression was meaningless when the gossip-loving Demon King was listening to everyone’s thoughts.
Feeling awkward, Seongjin cleared his throat.
“Ahem… Aura User?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Aura is said to be the life force that exists throughout the world. Those who consciously gather it within their bodies and use it are called Aura Users.”
Since Seongjin had already claimed his memories were incomplete, Edith answered even such basic questions without suspicion.
“Once someone reaches the beginner stage and is recognized as a proper Aura User, they qualify to take the entrance examination for the Imperial Knights.”
“Oh? Then… Edith, does that mean you…”
“Yes. I originally entered the Imperial Palace as a squire hoping to join the Imperial Guard.”
“A squire? You mean… a knight apprentice?”
Seongjin became even more confused.
Why was someone training to become a knight working here instead?
“Well…”
Edith glanced cautiously at Seongjin before continuing.
“Your Highness… used to treat servants rather… harshly.”
In short…
As Mores’s behavior became increasingly violent, servants were constantly being injured and filing complaints.
The First Empress desperately tried to suppress the rumors, but there was no way to hide the fact that people were getting hurt almost every day.
Eventually, the news reached the Holy Emperor himself.
“If the prince can’t be controlled… then we’ll simply hire people he can’t bully.”
The Holy Emperor immediately transferred most of Pearl Palace’s servants elsewhere and recruited a small number of highly paid replacements.
Only people at least as skilled as squires who could competently use Aura were eligible.
At first, everyone thought no one would apply.
No matter how high the salary, what aspiring knight would abandon their dream of joining the Imperial Knights just to become a servant?
The Holy Emperor wasn’t worried.
“There’ll be at least one.”
As expected…
There was always an exception.
Around that time, Edith had arrived in the imperial capital with no family connections, determined to survive using nothing but her Aura skills.
“I already took the entrance examination,” Edith explained, “but honestly… starting from the very bottom in the Knights was intimidating.”
“…”
And so…
Whenever Mores threw plates, she caught them effortlessly.
Whenever he swung a weapon, she easily dodged.
She even used Aura-infused knives to debone fish.
Thus was born the strongest maid imaginable.
The more Seongjin listened, the more confused he became.
“Where exactly did everything go wrong here?”
[Who knows…]
Mores was certainly unbelievable for abusing servants badly enough that only Aura users could survive.
But the Holy Emperor wasn’t exactly normal either, replacing all the servants with trained fighters.
Though…
The strangest one might actually be Edith herself for willingly becoming Mores’s personal maid.
“…Your Highness.”
Edith suddenly tilted her head.
“Are you truly all right now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Before… even hearing the word ‘Aura’ would make you furious.”
“…Furious?”
“You would start throwing things everywhere.”
“…”
The more Seongjin learned about Mores, the more he realized the boy had truly been hopeless.
Why would anyone throw things over something so trivial? Was he a child?
He opened his mouth, but found nothing to say.
“…Sorry.”
Edith’s eyes widened.
She clearly hadn’t expected an apology.
Soon, a faint smile appeared on her face.
“It’s all right, Your Highness. Catching all those flying plates was surprisingly entertaining.”
“…”
Looking at Edith politely lowering her head, Seongjin turned to the Demon King.
“I think she’s a little strange too.”
[Exactly.]
Still…
Aura.
Seongjin fell into thought.
Aura.
Divine power.
Concepts straight out of fantasy novels actually existed here.
It made him realize once again that this truly was another world.
Granted, the world he had come from—where demonic gates had opened and monsters invaded—had also been rather fantasy-like.
But back then, power had always been tangible and physical.
Hunters absorbed monster essence to strengthen their bodies.
Even psychics only manipulated physical objects with telekinesis.
The monsters were much the same.
Some produced flames.
Others secreted corrosive poison.
But most simply relied on brute strength.
Until the Demon King had attempted to burn his soul with the Flames of Gehenna, Seongjin had never imagined invisible spiritual powers could truly exist.
[That’s because Sigurd Earth-34 was such a low-level world. The fact that these powers seem unfamiliar to you proves your world simply didn’t allow Aura, magic, or divine power.]
“Calling it low-level is kind of insulting. And why are you leaving Gehenna out? Weren’t they both lower worlds?”
[Do you think all lower worlds are the same? Gehenna was different! It was on the verge of making a great leap before you humans ruined every—]
“What?”
Seeing Seongjin’s sharp glare, the Demon King hurriedly changed the subject.
[Ahem. Anyway… those lower worlds usually have severe restrictions on spiritual and mental abilities. The concepts may exist because they’re inherited from higher worlds, but there’s simply no way to actually use them.]
“…”
[So don’t compare Gehenna to some backwater world like Sigurd Earth-34. It was only one step away from becoming a Higher Law World.]
Seongjin blinked.
A Higher Law World? What’s that now?
[There it is again—that blank look. You ignorant Earthling! Worlds are divided into Higher Worlds, Higher Law Worlds, and Lower Worlds! You didn’t know that?]
“Why are you picking a fight again? Whether there are three categories or four, does that matter right now?”
As Seongjin snapped at him, the Demon King’s voice immediately shrank.
[…Maybe not.]
“Let’s get back to the point. So… how do you use Aura?”
Now that he knew such power existed, Seongjin couldn’t help becoming interested.
Once a powerful Hunter capable of freely crossing battlefields, being trapped inside this sluggish body was driving him crazy.
If there were no monsters in this world and he couldn’t regain a Hunter’s power…
Then perhaps becoming an Aura User would be the next best thing.
[I don’t know. This world’s system is completely different from ours. To explain it in Earth terms… it’s like comparing hydroelectric power to thermal power… no, nuclear power. The fundamental way the world functions is different.]
So even the all-knowing Demon King had things he didn’t understand.
The Demon King snorted.
[Hmph! Why would I care about something like that? I was the Demon King—the ruler of an entire world! I was already powerful enough without it!]
For someone who had spent the end of his life crying after being beaten senseless by Seongjin, the Demon King certainly had plenty of confidence.
“Then what about Mores? Was he an Aura User?”
Divine power had to be inherited, so that was already hopeless.
But perhaps Aura could be learned.
He couldn’t sense any Aura within this body, but if even an ordinary maid could use it skillfully, surely it wasn’t an impossibly rare ability.
Unfortunately…
Mores turned out to be even more hopeless than Seongjin expected.
The Demon King briefly peeked into Edith’s memories before sighing.
[Hmm… It seems Aura training depends heavily on talent. Some people can train their whole lives without ever truly sensing Aura, while others use it naturally from childhood like breathing. Sorry to say it, but Mores belonged to the first group.]
What exactly had the First Empress been thinking when she believed this boy could become Crown Prince?
Seongjin let out a long sigh.
“…For now, I guess I’ll just focus on rebuilding my stamina.”
[Cheer up. Life has never been fair. Go, Team Us!]
“Shut up!”
