VWTBS chapter 15

[– Favorite over favorite –]

 

“Lumins Hardelf. Senephin Cromwell. Velkina.”

The Crown Prince Kalt, who had been waiting for us in the study within his residence, greeted us with a flawless smile.

“I commend your efforts. As promised, the three of you will have the right to participate in the capital’s ‘Retrieval the Vessel of Gods’ plan. The royal family will also cover all expenses, including security, lodging, and participation rewards.”

However, the very individuals being commended didn’t look particularly pleased. Velkina seemed annoyed after tying in a bet, Lumins was similarly grumpy for the same reason, and I, who already had a bad opinion of the frivolous prince, added to the sour atmosphere. Together, our expressions alone could probably be charged with treason a thousand times over.

…By the way, what on earth did those two bet on to end up in such foul moods?

“Can’t you at least fake a joyful expression?”

“With the keen insight of Your Highness, I believe our loyalty and joy will be conveyed even without relying on shallow means such as facial expressions.”

Lumins is spouting nonsense again…

“Yes, thank you, Your Highness. It’s been exhausting, thanks to you.”

Then there’s the peerless beauty Velkina, who’s using her status as a commoner as an excuse to disregard etiquette and speak freely…

“Ahaha, just having the opportunity to tackle the dilemma personally bestowed upon us by Your Highness is an honor beyond measure.”

Since even Lumins couldn’t be bothered to feign enthusiasm, I decided to roughly translate the sentiment to the Crown Prince in a political tone ‘Thanks for the headache, Your Highness.’

“……Certainly, Senephin Cromwell. You’ve given me much to reconsider about you in many ways. You’ve shown me more than I expected.”

With an unnecessary flirtatious smile, Kalt said this while looking at me. I don’t care how he thinks of me, as long as he manages his own affairs properly. And for heaven’s sake, stay out of Velkina’s business from now on.

As I was grumbling to myself, Lumins unexpectedly shot back at the Crown Prince with a strangely sharp tone.

“Even without the glorious trial bestowed by Your Highness, Senephin is a person of great worth. Of course, it’s merely a reflection of Your Highness’s insightful judgment that she wasn’t acknowledged sooner. That’s all there is to it, I suppose.”

Lumins.. are you trying to say, ‘So it took you a whole trial to finally recognize someone’s value? Great judgment you’ve got there’? Or is that just my imagination?

“To be honest, if it weren’t for Senephin’s persuasion, Lumins and I wouldn’t have even considered going to the capital! So I think Your Highness ought to be a bit more grateful to Senephin.”

Velkina..! This guy is still the Crown Prince of this nation, you know…!!

“….Haha. Understood. I admit I was a bit forceful in this matter. I shall express my gratitude formally.”

As these two continued like this, I was growing increasingly restless, but Kalt didn’t seem the least bit bothered. Instead, he rose from his seat with a composed expression.

He walked toward me with steady steps. Then, out of nowhere, he leaned down. I was frozen in place, wondering what on earth was happening.

Before I could react, he took my hand and kissed the back of it.

“???????!?!???”

Unable to vocalize the scream trapped inside me, I apparently expressed it all over my face. The sparrow-like Crown Prince released my hand with a faint smile and said,

“I apologize for my presumptuous actions in testing you. I also offer my deepest gratitude, with great affection, for persuading your companions.”

“……A-uh….. Th-thank….. you……, Your, Highness……?”

My brain, utterly failing to generate an appropriate response for this situation, left me stammering like a buffering video. At that moment, I felt someone suddenly yank me by the shoulder from behind.

Velkina, now locking arms with me and glaring daggers at the Crown Prince, snapped,

“Your apology and gratitude could’ve been expressed just with words, Your Highness!”

On the other side, Lumins pulled me back by the shoulder, speaking in a voice that sounded like he was grinding his teeth.

“Your Highness, your overwhelming gesture of respect has left not only us, your humble servants, but also the recipient, Senephin, utterly awestruck. Particularly, it seems Senephin has been profoundly impacted emotionally. Would you kindly permit us to withdraw immediately?”

The Crown Prince, looking thoroughly amused, returned to his desk and nodded.

“How entertaining. I must thank both of you for providing such a delightful scene. Very well, further details will be conveyed later through my aide.”

“….. We are humbled by your gracious consideration, Your Highness.”

“Uh-haha, I look forward to seeing you again in the capital.”

Finally receiving his tacit dismissal, we managed to leave the Crown Prince’s residence. But the atmosphere between us was as turbulent as a brewing storm.

“Velkina, you’ve been talking nonsense to the Crown Prince..”

“Hey! You’re the one who provoked him first, Lumins!?”

For some reason, as soon as we stepped into the hallway, the two of them started bickering.

Guys, the honorifics! You’re forgetting the honorifics!

I scrambled to calm the two of them down.

“S-sorry. Really. Both of you. It’s my fault for getting on the Crown Prince’s bad side in the first place, and you two got dragged into it because of me..”

“Senephin isn’t in the wrong!” / “It’s not Senephin’s fault!”

“R-right….”

Overwhelmed by the force of their simultaneous declarations, I broke out in a cold sweat and nodded nervously.

“A-anyway. The Crown Prince is seriously too much. He’s way too mischievous when it comes to teasing people.”

“That wasn’t just teasing.. No, never mind. Let’s just call it teasing for now. Either way, from now on, make sure you stay far away from the Crown Prince, Senephin.”

Lumins gave me that advice with a serious expression. Meanwhile, Velkina, for some reason looking furious, kept rubbing the back of my hand as if scrubbing something away.

“When we get back to the dorm, you have to wash your hands with soap. Like, ten times, Senefin…”

While I was relieved to see Velkina’s animosity toward the Crown Prince hadn’t turned into anything else, his reaction felt.. excessively strong.

Wait… could this turn into one of those chaebol romance dramas? You know, the kind where the leads start off hating each other but end up falling in love? If so, I’ll need to keep my guard up..

Feeling that I was heading into uncharted waters, I once again firmly etched the phrase “Down with the Sparrow Prince, even in the capital!” into my heart.

The moment we returned to the dorm, I felt my shoulders relax, as though a heavy weight had been lifted. Looks like I’d been more tense than I realized.

“Phew, freedom at last!”

Either way, I’d made it through that irritating hurdle unscathed!

What made me the happiest was that I now had legitimate permission to join Velkina, Lumins, and Jin on their trip. Of course, Lumins earlier assurance—”It’s fine even if you don’t have any particular role”—was a precious comfort.

But realistically speaking, it was much more important to have a stable position where I could actively contribute to the tasks we’d be tackling together.

“So, to avoid being a burden, I’ll do my best to help out…”

I placed the enormous Enchantment Lily Bulb we’d brought back on the desk. The Crown Prince had waved it off, saying, “You brought it back, so you can do whatever you want with it.”

It could fetch a decent price if sold as an alchemy ingredient, given how valuable it was. However, I had my eyes set on something else entirely.

At the boundary between the bulb and the stem, there was a smooth, round, hard section that resembled a ring. From what I’d heard, carrying this part on your person could serve as a kind of charm, capable of deflecting severe external damage a few times. It wasn’t exactly common knowledge, though.

This tidbit of information came from none other than the Alf route. Yes, that Alf the mysterious man who had recruited Velkina and the true hero of Arlandast Saga.

Even though I hadn’t seen his face once since coming to this world, I was already making great use of the knowledge he’d provided. Thanks for that, Alf, wherever you are!

Then again, he is the true hero and a hidden character in the game, so the flags for his appearance are notoriously tricky. I probably won’t get to meet him until some late-game event. Well, I’ll see you eventually. For now, I’ve got this lily bulb to dissect.

The amulet, which Alf calls the “Ring of Delusion” in the game is a good item, but when you think about it, it’s best to avoid situations where this item needs to be used in the first place.

That said, there’s no guarantee that something like what happened at the Lake of Tranquility last time won’t happen again…. Let’s just consider it insurance.

It took an incredibly long time to dismantle the sturdy plant bulb that was pushing against the rock, but I finally managed to extract the part containing the Ring of Delusion. Since the ring itself was pitch-black, oversized, and hideously shaped, it didn’t feel right to wear it on a finger. Instead, I pulled out an old necklace chain buried in the corner of a drawer, threaded the ring onto it, and decided to wear it around my neck.

Now that the preparations for “just in case” have been made, things have resolved favorably after some twists and turns, and it seems like I’ve successfully broken the flag between Velkina and the Crown Prince. All that’s left now is to head to the capital!

At the magic research institute, I spent about two weeks completing the handover and wrapping up the final tasks before departing for the capital. Once in the capital, I had a two-week grace period to settle in, unpack from the move, and adjust to the new city. After that, the royal court’s project to “Retrieval the Vessel of Gods” was set to officially begin.

The work I was responsible for at the magic research institute was well-divided among colleagues, so there weren’t any major issues with the handover. Velkina, being an apprentice, didn’t have any work to transfer, and while I don’t really need to mention Jin, the biggest issue was, of course, Lumins.

Since he was a second-grade mage and a key figure in the institute, the disappointment among the director and colleagues was considerable. However, he himself seemed to feel surprisingly relieved.

Two weeks passed as we wrapped things up, and we finally departed for the capital. The plan was to first travel by carriage to the nearest city from the magic research institute and then take the magic train to the capital. Since the institute is located in such a remote area, the train journey alone takes a total of two days. I was excited, as this was my first time taking such a long train ride.

“It’s only exciting at first, you’ll get bored later,”

Lumins responded with a very realistic comment to my enthusiasm. After stowing our luggage in the overhead trunk of our compartment in the sleeper car, he sat across from me.

“Oh, come on, Lumins~. Why are you killing the mood already? Don’t worry, Senephin! I brought some cards, and I even grabbed every board game I could find in the research institute!”

“Velkina, I’d like to play Thief Catcher,”

Jin, who had recently started learning various games from Velkina to pass the time when he was alone, made a request. Our fairy seems to be becoming more worldly by the day..

Even if long journeys can be dull, I doubt we’ll have time to feel bored with this group’s lively chatter. Smiling brightly, I joined in, saying, “Sounds great, let’s play Thief Catcher!”

As night fell, Lumins moved to the sleeper bed across from ours, leaving the three of us to play board games for a while longer. Eventually, Velkina, nodding off repeatedly, declared her surrender. After tucking Velkina into her bed, I noticed Jin had curled up and fallen asleep on my chair.

It seemed best to let him sleep comfortably, so I carefully lifted Jin to avoid waking him and carried him to the men’s sleeper compartment where Lumins was staying. I hesitated, worried it might be rude if he was already asleep, but seeing light spilling through the crack in the door, it seemed he was still awake.

When I knocked lightly, a slightly lower voice than usual responded, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Senephin. I’m just bringing Jin over for a moment.”

“…..Senephin? Oh, it’s not locked, come in.”

Opening the door carefully, I saw Lumins sitting on the bed, seemingly in the middle of reading a book. He looked up as I entered.

“Hand Jin over. I’ll lay him down on the bed.”

The moment I saw Lumins face, I froze.

Was that.. truly a pair of glasses on his face?

Could glasses look this divine on someone…?

How is this possible…?

Up until now, neither 3D nor 2D characters with glasses had ever been my type. But today, I am officially converted. I realize now I’ve simply been blind to the charm of glasses. My deepest apologies to all glasses enthusiasts across the world…

“Senephin?”

Lumins tilted his head, seemingly puzzled by the way I had frozen in place at the doorway.

“…. Lu-Lumins. You wear glasses?”

I tried my best to sound calm as I spoke, and Lumins, touching the arm of his glasses, replied, “Ah, these…”

“I usually wear them when reading for a long time. My eyesight isn’t the best, honestly.”

“Oh… Then wouldn’t it be better to wear them all the time? Why don’t you?”

After handing Jin to him and laying Jin down on the bed, Lumins seemed to think for a moment before smirking slightly and responding in a playful tone.

“Hmm….. Because I thought you’d prefer me without them?”