Chapter 426

426 The Prince’s Game #2

I placed my hand on Pride’s forehead.

“….”

However, he said nothing.

He just wore an expression as if to say, “Try anything if you want.”

Even though he was looking up at me, his condescending attitude was apparent.

Perhaps all the fuss and various attitudes I’ve shown until now have given him a psychological advantage.

But I can’t back down easily since I’ve mentioned my father’s name.

The duel of fates that my parents staked their destinations on, was about to begin between this boy and me.

“So-.”

At that moment, Pride spoke.

“So, what are you going to do to exorcise the evil spirit inside me? Are you going to beat me with a holy laurel branch? Or sprinkle holy water?”

“….”

“Or try praying. Call upon your father, Pluto. In the great name of Pluto, pray earnestly to drive out this evil spirit from my body. But it’ll be futile.”

His voice was calm.

That calmness almost seemed like hidden malice or evil, like a large venomous snake with its fangs hidden, quietly slithering through the bushes to bite its prey.

“I am, as you say, an evil spirit. The evil spirit of the end of the age. I am here to end the brilliant era of gods and laws and open up a dark and vast era of freedom. Every god will fall without exception.”

“So, you killed Bacchus?”

“Indeed. Because there was someone who needed the power that man possessed. The resplendent brightness that rises after festivals, madness, tumultuous noise, tricks, and deception…”

At that moment, Paranoi cut into the conversation.

“Hassan-sama, you must not lend an ear! That wretch is spouting nonsense! Those nonsensical words are coming from that overly large chest! That thing is a bag of nonsense!”

“Nymph calling someone else’s words nonsense? Hurts my chest. First, let’s see if we can’t send that noisy nymph away from her seat?”

Paaah!

Suddenly, a loud sound was heard.

When I turned my head, I could see Paranoi had already been sent flying by some strange force and hit the wall.

“Hiyyyekk-!”

Paranoi, who screamed loudly and was tossed aside, was wriggling like a mosquito that had just been hit but showed her whites.

“Se, seriously-!”

Blookblade looked genuinely shocked at the sight.

“Surely, definitely the work of an evil spirit! My thoughts were correct! My daughter is possessed by an evil spirit!”

To which Prince, under my grip, replied,

“Your Majesty, certainly not. I am saving your daughter. The heart that had stopped once and the soul that should have been dragged deep underground, it’s all thanks to me that they stay intact.”

“My, my daughter’s soul is…still around?”

Go-oo-oo!

It felt as if an earthquake had occurred, and everything in the room trembled.

The nails and joints holding the furniture slowly broke apart and shattered, and the cups on the shelves fell to the floor, breaking into pieces.

Clearly, this was not normal.

Sleek-.

“Old king, Theo Friedrich- the pitiful man who has lost all his family.”

Pride’s arms and legs moved violently as if trying to escape the corner of the pillar where he was tied down.

“In any case, you can’t win against me. My real form isn’t here anyway. But a one-sided relationship is no fun. You seem to enjoy playing, so how about we play a game?”

Then, under the pressure of my hand on his head, he started spewing incomprehensible words.

“Why should I play some game with you?”

“Why? I’m the proud Friedrich, but fundamentally, I’m the Lord of Arrogance, the masterpiece of despair-”

Hearing “the Lord of Arrogance, the masterpiece of despair,” something came to mind.

“You, this kid, you are Giga.”

“Uh-heheh-. Took you long enough.”

The being possessing Pride’s body appeared to be one of the Gigas, known as Lords of Hell.

Thinking back, it was said that Giga types need a host body to operate on the surface, aiming to acquire bodies like named monsters.

Like the named hobgoblin, the Goblin King,

or the extremely large manticore,

or the headless knight, Durahan, etc.

However, could the hosts they could take over include the bodies of ordinary human women as well?

Giga, huh.

Things finally make sense now.

Monsters of hell created to change the pantheon in Hypnos. These creatures were conspiring with the elves to bring an end to the era of gods.

And one of them had secretly infiltrated by seizing the body of Prince Pride, one of the most influential figures in the kingdom, doing so for a long period.

Pang! Paaah!

Finally, there was a sound of shattering.

Looking quickly, I saw that the ropes binding Pride’s hands and feet, more precisely the four bedposts securing them, had broken.

Paah!

The shattered fragments flew at my body; I briefly put up my guard.

Swoosh-.

Simultaneously with being released from my press, Prince Pride’s forehead was freed and her body floated into the air.

Creak, creak-. Creak-.

She bent her joints and neck like an owl, twisting them 360 degrees, presenting an absurdly grotesque sight which made my head spin.

And it seemed the same was the case for Blookblade.

“That, that is not my daughter…!!”

Blookblade was seemingly panicked.

Seeing the girl, whom he thought was his daughter, moving like some mystical yogic figure, his fear was understandable.

“Lord Zigress! Please, do something-! At this rate, something terrible will happen-! Quickly, expel the evil spirit!”

“Poor Theo, it seems you do not understand why that man isn’t moving. I, the Giga of pride, am bound with Pride’s soul. If you drive me out, your daughter will d*e.”

“Th, that…”

Wallblade looked at me, as if doubting if that was actually true.

And I couldn’t respond, remaining silent.

Truthfully, I had a vague sense that if we drove out the Giga, the spark of life in this flesh would surely go out.

That’s why I hesitated in the act of driving out the spirit by pressing down on the boy’s head.

And just as Giga had said, this flesh was merely a possessed host.

Even if we k*ll the princess, the Giga kids lurking in hell would only lose one avatar without suffering much harm.

“So, do you feel like playing with me now?”

“What is it? Let’s hear you out.”

I had no choice but to drag over a chair nearby and sit on it.

As I did, the body of the princess, which had been hovering in the air and contorted strangely, finally settled back down onto the bed.

Then she said,

“Relax, Hassan. Though you consider me your enemy, that’s not the case at all. You and I are alike. You like people, and so do I.”

“Do you like humans?”

“Yes, I like humans. They’re stupid and foolish, but watching them is amusing. Most importantly, this vivid warmth can’t be felt in the tedious hell.”

And then Pride caressed her own chest, and I thought if I could freely touch such things every day, I might start liking humans too.

“Anyway, the game is simple. If you find me, you win. If you find me, I’ll answer your questions. For example, about your father…”

And with that, Pride lost consciousness.

“What exactly happened…?”

Paranoi regained consciousness a few minutes after Pride had quieted down.

She was blinking, looking around the wrecked room as it all seemed incomprehensible.

Of course, I couldn’t exactly provide her with a clear explanation either.

Rather, I wish someone could explain all this to me. Among everyone here, I seemed to be the most compos mentis.

“Uuuu, uurrr…”

Around that time, Pride, who had been closed-eyed for quite a long time, opened them. Witnessing it, Wallblade, who had been panting, gave a start.

“Pr, Pride.”

“Ah, Daddy?”

“A, am I Daddy? You really called me Daddy just now?”

“What… Why is my room so messy?”

“Good heavens, Pride. No, Friede… My daughter… Is your mind coming back to you?”

“Daddy, why do you look so strange? What happened? Can you please explain it to me?”

The princess regained consciousness.

“Lord Zigress, it was thanks to you that you expelled the evil spirit! Good heavens, how can I possibly express my gratitude!”

Wallblade cried tears of joy upon this realization.

However, he was mistaken.

I did not drive out the evil spirit.

It simply left on its own.

Furthermore, a dark choker-like tattoo was engraved around the princess’s neck.

Although I tried recalling, I could clearly remember that such a thing was never there before.

Out of caution, I touched her wrist –

Ding!

[Name: Freide Friederich, Level 34

Condition: None]

Her state was surprisingly clean. One notable detail is that she is unusually high leveled, but beyond that, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

The Giga of arrogance who used the princess’s body as a vessel seemed to have used and trained it much better than one might expect.

Incidentally, her name wasn’t Pride (Pride) but Friede (Friede).

It’s similar to the name of an elf I know.

“Friede-lah.”

I mumbled it, and Wallblade, who had been crying, said something,

“Pride sounds like a plain boy’s name, doesn’t it? But this is truly a name befitting a princess, no? According to my wife, it’s the name of a queen from a distant foreign land.”

“A queen from a distant land….”

“Right now, it is known as Albrheim.”

Albrheim’s Friede.

And the elf I know, Elpride.

Is there any connection?

I was deep in thought when suddenly Princess Freide let out a groan, “Uuuung.”

At this, Wallblade, who was startled, reacted,

“What, what’s wrong? Is something hurting?”

“No, just…my chest feels a bit…heavy. When did I get so…big? Why, Daddy, do you look so old all of a sudden? You look like a grandfather…”

“Her memories seem lost…! But, just because she lost her memories doesn’t mean the terrible things she did should be forgiven…”

The old king appeared greatly joyful upon seeing his daughter return to normal, but the choker-like tattoo around the princess’s neck continued to bother me.

Therefore, the next day,

Among the people I knew who were well-versed in tattoos, I decided to ask someone.

Antiope, who had come to the capital for Shrine Knights errands, entered the princess’s bedroom but immediately frowned.

“What’s this? Is the prince wearing a dress? Have you finally decided to go back to his true nature? It suits him well, though.”

“What… Who are you…?”

Of course, Princess Friede looked entirely bewildered by the whole situation.

Considering her time had stopped when she was roughly three and had been poisoned to apparent d*ath, the presence of people who recognized her must have seemed very alien.

“Hmm? What is this? Why did you become such a frail girl?”

However, Antiope, who had seen the prince, ‘Pride’, while working as a Shrine Knight, seemed similarly baffled.

“Pat, pat-ternoi-.”

Ultimately, the princess hid behind the diminutive nymph Paranoi.

After regaining consciousness, Princess Friede appeared unfamiliar with everything and seemed to only open up to her father, Wallblade, and the nymph Paranoi who was present in the room.

According to Wallblade, “My daughter is like a young child now. The pure heart of her, and her ability to open her heart only to nymphs who are inherently pure, must be a reflection of her nature.”

But, I know well that this morning Paranoi was eagerly anticipating, “Finally bringing the princess under my control…! This Paranoi will become the supreme power behind the kingdom…! Establish the Dark Brotherhood as the state religion!…”

So, Paranoi isn’t exactly a pure nymph.

Perhaps when Princess Freide regained consciousness and first encountered Paranoi, it created some kind of imprinting effect akin to a duckling’s attachment to its mother?

Anyway, at the moment, that is unimportant.

I explained everything to my trustworthy friend Antiope carefully, and as she listened, Antiope frowned deeply.

“So, the prince was a Giga? Then, everything that’s happened up to now was the work of those hellish minions.”

“That’s correct.”

“Wow, never thought of that. This will stir up a major uproar if it’s revealed. There could be a rebellion. This is an extremely serious issue. How many people have already been exiled by Prince Pride…?”

“Anyway, after that guy said something about ‘play this and that’, this mark appeared on her neck. It’s like a tattoo but doesn’t affect her condition or anything. Is there any chance you know something about it?”

“Well, there aren’t many people who know more about magical tattoos than me. Let me see… Come here…”

Sleek.

Antiope opened her narrow eyes and stared at the princess’s neck. Soon after, her eyebrows twitched and her body began trembling.

“It’s not good. Not good at all. This is the mark of a sacrifice. Yes, this is the mark of a sacrifice. Definitely. I know it well.”

“Mark of a sacrifice? So, is there a problem?”

“It’s a possession mark used by the hellish beasts and their keepers. It’s like Moros’ temporary reprieve, a god of d*ath. Those with this mark are destined to have their souls bound eternally to Tartarus upon d*ath.”

“So to speak, it’s like a one-way ticket to hell?”

Antiope nodded in response to Paranoi’s statement.

“Indeed, teacher. Your understanding is swift. That’s exactly it. Prince Pride… no, Friede. Ugh, it’s really confusing. Anyway, the princess’s life is held hostage. To remove this mark, only the one who stamped it can do so.”

That’s right.

It struck me: the arrogant Giga had mentioned it would play, and this was some sort of hide-and-seek challenge he set for me.

Antiope said,

“We need to catch that Giga guy. Of course, if we know where he is.”

“The Lords of Hell… Naturally, they’ll be at the bottom of Tartarus, Hell. In that sense, Antiope, I want to form a suppression force. Will you participate? I need a team of strong individuals.”

Hesitant pause.

At my words, Antiope trembled.

“What, Hassan, surely you’re not suggesting we go to hell…?”

In response to Antiope’s startled question, I showed her three jingling keys.

“Exactly. Get ready.”

[Author’s Afterword]

The author’s note today includes a statement from this Michuri…

Though I called it a statement, I myself don’t actually know what it’s about… I just wanted to try saying something profound!

Anyway, in passing, I feel like the story has reached the halfway point of what I’ve envisioned so far…

The developments to come are as much an adventure to me, Michuri, as they are to you – a mix of excitement and tension alike!

6-8 minutes

The Prince’s Game

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