I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel
185 - The Floating City (2)

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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Was it because of the dense trees? Or something else?

"Damn it, damn it all!"

Someone was sprinting through the pitch-black forest, cursing as they ran. It was Renet, a member of "Prying Eyes" - one of only five special-grade exploration teams in the empire. She had pale gray hair tied back and a sturdy build.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me?!"

Even as she shouted with a mix of irritation and fear, Renet didn't slow down. If anything, she pushed herself to run even faster. The moment she slowed, those "things" chasing her would surely take her life.

'I was an idiot to accept this request!'

She was in the Sunless Forest at the northwestern edge of the empire. The reason she had come all the way from the capital to be chased here was, like last time, due to a request that came to the exploration team.

It was a request from Black Fairy Village, the only settlement in the forest. They reported strange, unidentified beings appearing in the forest's center recently and asked for an investigation.

Finding it similar to the previous Hoire Village request, exploration team leader Alros wanted to send Renet again since she had resolved that one. After several refusals, she finally accepted when offered jaw-dropping terms.

When Renet arrived at Black Fairy Village, the first thing she saw were the black fairies - completely annihilated without even leaving proper corpses - and "something" devouring what remained of their bodies.

'What the hell are those things?'

With that thought, she glanced back at the "things" pursuing her. They looked like werewolves but were made entirely of a blood-red liquid. It was questionable whether they could even be called living beings, since they lacked any internal organs that living creatures should have.

Renet had never seen or heard of anything like them before.

'I'm at my limit!'

Her breathing was ragged and her legs felt like they had lead weights attached. Yet those strange beings showed no signs of tiring, maintaining their initial speed as they pursued her.

Finally-

"Fuck!"

Renet cursed loudly as she stopped running and turned to face them. She decided it was better to fight while she still had some strength left than die helplessly when completely exhausted.

"If I'm going down, I'm taking at least one of you bastards with me!"

She drew her sword with a desperate cry and charged at the creatures. Just as they opened their mouths impossibly wide - far beyond what any biological jaw structure should allow - and were about to pounce on her...

BOOM!

The leading creature's body exploded, leaving nothing behind.

"...Huh?"

A dazed sound escaped Renet's lips as she watched something she hadn't done. Then, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The other creatures' bodies also began exploding one after another without warning.

Then-

"Looks like I found the right place."

A chilling yet familiar voice reached her ears. When Renet turned towards it, she saw a red-eyed woman smiling at her.

"Y-You!"

"We meet again?"

The woman casually waved at Renet, who was staring with wide eyes. It was Liushina.

"Now then..."

Liushina slowly walked up to Renet, who was still staring at her with huge eyes, and said with a grin:

"Let's go replace out where these things came from."

* * *

The Magic Proxy Battle.

It was an event where magicians representing the empire and floating city competed with their magic, considered the highlight of the exchange conference.

While the original purpose was to improve magical abilities through friendly competition, since battles inevitably produced winners and losers, it had evolved into a matter of pride over time.

The losing side would spend the next three years training intensely to win the next battle.

'To think they'd send Prince Zion to such a battle...'

Ackendelt, vice-mayor of Adegrifa, watched the arena where rising magicians were competing with troubled eyes.

BOOM!

Though the young prospects showed incredible skill for their age, Ackendelt couldn't focus on them.

'And not even in the newcomers' battle but the open battle...'

The exchange conference had two types of battles: the newcomers' battle for promising talents and the open battle for high-ranking magicians.

Prince Zion had entered the open battle.

'Could he be treating this as a joke?'

Ackendelt shook his head, dismissing the thought. The other empire magicians participating were too impressive for that.

'He's sure to be humiliated...'

He was even considering whether they should deliberately lose to save face for the royal family.

While others around him whispered similar concerns over the roster, Ackendelt's gaze shifted to Ahmad, who kept making interested exclamations while watching the matches.

"Excuse me, Ahmad sir, may I ask something?"

"Go ahead."

"Does Prince Zion know how to use magic?"

He already knew the answer was no, but asked just in case. The response was as expected.

"As far as I know, Prince Zion cannot use magic."

"Then why is he participating? It seems he'll have trouble even fighting."

"Ho ho, who knows? Perhaps His Highness has some other method in mind."

That was possible. The proxy battle's restrictions specified what couldn't be done rather than what must be used, leaving many loopholes.

This was intentional due to magic's ambiguous nature. While strictly speaking only systematic spells by "level" were magic, broadly speaking things like sorcery, spirit arts, and holy magic could also be included.

'But without basic magical ability, victory is impossible.'

The restrictions were overwhelming - no weapons, no physical contact, no martial abilities like sword ki, and so on.

'It's truly baffling.'

As Ackendelt pondered this, the battles continued. Finally, the open battle began.

The empire's first participant was-

"Heh, right from the start..."

It was Zion.

When his name was called, he walked to the center arena with unreadable eyes. Across from him stood a dwarf magician.

Grimel the Elemental Orchestrator.

True to his title, he was a magician specializing in elemental magic, ranked 17th in the magical hierarchy.

However, Grimel's face was visibly twisted with displeasure.

'How annoying.'

He was extremely unhappy with the situation. After preparing for three years since his last defeat, his opponent was Prince Zion who couldn't even use magic.

'They must be mocking this battle...'

His irritation was bordering on rage. He had no intention of following Ackendelt's earlier request to go easy.

In fact, he planned to be even harsher.

'I'll unleash attacks right from the start that will make him never want to participate again.'

Even for royalty, injuries from the proxy battle couldn't be held against anyone.

The possibility of losing never entered Grimel's mind. Though he'd heard Prince Zion was strong, without magic, defeat was certain.

Then-

WHOOSH!

With a sharp sound signaling the start, BOOM!

Over ten flame spears formed around Grimel and shot towards Zion.

As expected of a top-20 ranked magician - though it was a basic spell, each spear carried enough power to demolish a house.

"Such dangerous magic right from the start!"

Ackendelt's eyes filled with shock. Just as the flame spears were about to pierce Zion's entire body-

Swish-

They all vanished, as if they had never existed.

"...Huh?"

Confusion filled Grimel's voice. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

"What did you do!"

Like the veteran fighter he was, Grimel quickly regained his composure and launched his next spell.

This time it was hundreds of ice arrows combined with giant hands erupting from the ground - his specialty cross-attribute magic.

But again-

WHOOSH!

Grimel's magic vanished right before reaching Zion.

At that moment-

"!!!!"

The watching magicians rose from their seats as Grimel's eyes filled with bewilderment.

"That- that's!"

They stood not because they understood what Zion had done, but because they couldn't understand it at all.

The observing magicians were among the best in both the empire and floating city. For them to not even grasp a fragment of the principle behind it was astounding.

"Dispel?"

One magician suggested, but everyone knew that wasn't it.

Dispel - magic nullification - required calculating the reverse of the target spell. But there had been no such process in what they just saw.

Step, step.

Slowly.

Zion walked towards Grimel, who stared at him with trembling eyes.

"What... what are you!"

BOOM!

Grimel began firing magic indiscriminately at Zion.

A faint darkness flickered around Zion, barely visible. Any magic that touched this darkness vanished without a trace, like stones sinking beneath water.

"That power..."

It didn't violate the restrictions, yet it wasn't quite magic either.

It was an alien power they had never seen before.

As the watching magicians' shock deepened-

"Aaaaaaah!"

Grimel, half-crazed, began using magic that was forbidden in duels.

The high-ranking magician known for maintaining composure in any situation had lost his reason, and there was a reason why.

Step, step.

The overwhelming pressure emanating from Zion as he approached, devouring all magic.

That pressure grew with each step, heavily weighing on Grimel's spirit.

Finally, when Zion reached right in front of Grimel, tap!

He lightly touched the final spell just completed in Grimel's hand.

At that moment-

BOOM!

Grimel's spell contracted like a black hole devouring everything, releasing a massive shockwave that shattered everything around them.

When the dust settled-

Thud-

Grimel lay unconscious, embedded in the wall outside the arena, while Zion stood in the exact same spot as before the explosion.

"..."

Silence followed.

Both the sight and result were completely unexpected.

Everyone could only stare mutely at Zion.

Then.

With the same languid eyes as before, Zion surveyed the crowd and said:

"The sky's whiter than yesterday."

This seemingly meaningless statement drew confused looks, but Zion just smiled inwardly without explaining.

'This should be enough.'

The bait had been laid.

Now it was time to wait for the fish to bite.

* * *

The remaining proxy battles proceeded smoothly.

Though each battle showed an incredibly high level of skill, the magicians couldn't properly focus on them.

They were still preoccupied with Zion's opening battle. It had been that intense and shocking.

After various events and completing all scheduled activities following the battles, it was deep into the night when Zion returned to his assigned quarters.

'Should have just summoned the frost spirit instead.'

Zion's expression turned slightly nauseated as he recalled all the magicians who had clung to him like leeches after the battle. He immediately lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Though he had reached a level where sleep wasn't necessary, getting an hour or two of rest still helped with the next day's activities.

However, Zion's eyes opened again less than a minute later.

"Here already?"

He smiled slightly as he looked somewhere, speaking those words.

It seemed the fish had taken the bait earlier than expected.

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