Chapter 24: 015. Imperial Prince is Toiling Away -4 (Part Two)
n were either carrying heavy luggage or were maintaining and fixing up various equipnt, while the won were handing out food.
“Imperial Prince-nim?”
I quickly shifted my gaze to discover the familiar silver-haired, crimson-eyed girl carrying a basket. She also spotted and quickly trotted to where I was.
Maybe the cold weather was to bla, because the tip of her nose and her cheeks were all flushed pink. Whitish steam escaped from her lips as she stood wordlessly before , her eyes wide open and waiting.
Hang on, how did she recognize when I was wearing a mask and this thick robe? Could it be that “I’m the Imperial Prince” was written on my back?
Just before I could sneak a glance behind, she pulled sothing out from the basket and presented it to . “Please... eat this. It’s still warm.”
It was a baked sweet potato.
Charlotte carefully wrapped a few in a piece of cloth so that their warmth could be retained for longer before giving them to .
“Oh! Thank you. Work hard, okay?”
I received the sweet potatoes and lightly waved my hand at her. She slightly bowed her head and went away to distribute the rest.
I took a bite out of the sweet potato. So sweet... and warm too.
A smile subconsciously blood on my lips.
A little while later, I headed to the public cetery located in the city center with the other Priests. They were cleaning out the snow and digging out the burial pits. Wagons carrying corpses arrived.
The convicts carefully examined every single one of them to make sure that none had been zombified, and after finishing their inspection they then carried the corpses to lower them in the pits.
The Priests extended their hands towards the graves, and while holding onto the holy scriptures, they started reciting sothing or rather.
What the hell? That’s the proper purification ceremony?
It was actually more cumberso and complicated than I thought. I only silently prayed for the dead as written in the books found in the monastery, but was I doing it wrong all this ti?
However, I did look through [Mind’s Eye] back then and confird that all the souls had been purified, so silent prayers must’ve been enough.
Alright then. Should I get cracking, too? I’ll just pretend to work a little bit before giving up halfway.
“Oii, mate. Hey, man!”
I stopped shoveling and looked behind . That’s when I spotted a certain group among the labouring Priests that proved to be especially lazy – as in, they weren’t even bothering to do any work whatsoever and were actually using the corpses as chairs to sit around.
They had long discarded the shovels and were busy chatting amongst themselves.
I sneaked a glance at the other soldiers. For so reason, they didn’t seem to care. Well, most of these ‘soldiers’ were actually convicts and also were commoners, to begin with. These Priests might be criminals in their own right, but no soldiers would dare to order them around even in this place.
I slung my shovel over my shoulder and approached the group.
“You should take it easy, fella. It’s not like we’ll be rewarded for working our butts off in this damned place, anyway.”
A well-built boy around 16 or 17 years old said that to .
He was right about that.
Forget about being rewarded, working my ass off would only ‘reward’ with sore muscles co tomorrow morning.
I sneaked a glance at the Paladin. He was too busy issuing commands to other convicts, to the point that he didn’t seem to have any leeway to mind this side. This ant that he wouldn’t really care if I kicked back and took it easy.
“I guess you’re right.”
I nodded my head. The boy Priest then removed his mask and took out sothing to eat from the rucksack. He drank so water before spitting it out. “Urgh, man. Isn’t there booze in this place?”
He glanced at the soldiers in dissatisfaction, prompting one of them to hesitantly approach us to sneakily hand over a certain bottle.
“Oh! Ohhh! Nice. That’s right, fella! Goddess Gaia will bless you with her graces. Your cris will soon be washed away.”
“T-thank you.”
The soldiers bowed their heads. The boy Priest said so unconvincing things and chased the soldiers away with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Goddammit, what the eff is up with this crap? I should’ve been promoted to the second year in the Academy by now. To think I’d be disciplined for sothing so small like that. F*ck!”
He began chugging down the alcohol. Maybe it was stronger than he thought, because his complexion reddened almost imdiately and he began staggering a bit.
He spoke a bit forcefully, probably worried about how he looked to the others here. He then pushed the booze towards . “Why don’t you have a sip too, brother? It’s pretty damn good!”
Well, you’re only giving this because you couldn’t handle it, aren’t you?
He was pretty quick with his bluffs, I must say.
I took the bottle since I was feeling thirsty anyway, and this would be my first ti tasting alcohol ever since coming to this world too.
I took off my mask and took a swig. A strong taste stung my throat and nostrils, and this heat rushed all over my body at the sa ti.
Hiya~! This was actually pretty good! Did I make a mistake by throwing away the booze the manservant brought along? It could be the cold that enhanced the booze’s taste, but still.
“How about it? It’s good, right?” The boy Priest asked.
“Yeah, it’s not bad at all,” I responded while handing the bottle back to him.
“Haha, we should help each other out when we can, right? I can see that you’re an offspring of a noble household as well. Which family are you from?”
“I’m...”
...The Holy Emperor’s grandson.
If I said that out loud here, how would everyone look at afterwards?
Would they look at as if I was an unsightly ‘mangnani’? Or would they start prostrating before ? I was kind of getting curious about their potential reactions.
“I’m from a small noble family out in the sticks.”
Despite being curious, I decided to go with bluffing myself.
“Haha, so you were a country bumpkin then! I knew it. There’s no way any high-ranking folks would be sent here.”
The boy Priest laughed loudly, prompting the surrounding Priests to agree with him enthusiastically as well.
The boy Priest continued, “Alright then. Even if we’re stuck in this place, getting acquainted with each other may bear fruit at a later date. Your na is?”
“It’s Allen.”
“My pleasure, Allen. I understand that you’re embarrassed about your last na, so you don’t have to tell .”
I shook his extended hand.
“That’s great! If you wish to spend your days here as untroubled and as safe as possible, then you gotta listen to what I say, alright? My na is Heis, the oldest son of Count Hedron that serves His Majesty, the noble and great Holy Emperor of the Theocratic Empire.”
I was quite impressed by his declaration.
Oh, ohh!! So I’d really get to spend my ti here relaxing without a care in the world, then? I guessed that there was no need for to co up with other excuses now.
My status and power had already been stripped off from , but it’d be a different story with the eldest son from a Count household. Even the Paladins wouldn’t dare to treat him poorly, right?
I grinned brightly and spoke, “I’ll be in your care then.”
“You made the right choice.”
I settled down on the ground. The corpses might’ve belonged to convicts, sure, but I still wasn’t so keen on sitting on them.
Heis next to yapped on and on nonstop.
His stories made him out to be so kind of a hero from fairy tales. He kept himself busy by telling that he used divinity magic when he was rely three years old, and was called the genius of sword when he was seven – he continued to spin several tall tales that would’ve been better-suited as munchkin web novels.
I relaxed more and more while listening to his tales, only to catch the next part of the conversation taking place between the Priests.
“Lord Heis, is it true that you’re here because the Academy is disciplining you? I heard that you decided to bestow your ‘blessings’ to a lowborn girl? But rather than feeling grateful, she instead took revenge...”
Heis flinched nastily and stared at that Priest.
The forr’s expression hardened quickly. “Uh? That? Ah, uh, well... Haha! You’re right. Actually, it’s so unfair, right? Damn, why am I in the wrong for raping a maid doing lowly chores around the Academy anyway?”
I stared at him.
Heis must’ve sensed my gaze, because he suddenly exploded into a peal of loud laughter as he carried on, “I an, maids can only continue to survive because we take good care of them, no?”
The Priest asked him. “So, like, what happened?”
“Uh? A-ah, that? Uh, so the thing was...” Heis began stuttering in a fluster. Before long, he seed to have recalled sothing and spoke in a hurry, “O-of course I tried to lie with her. She got scared and began begging then. ‘Please let go~, spare my life~!’ Hahaha! I got so turned on after hearing her go like that, you know? I guess I’m a hopeless pervert, eh?”
I ended up slightly frowning after hearing him.
He must’ve been bluffing from the way he said those things. But then again, seeing how he was sent here as punishnt, he probably tried to rape a maid exactly like what a certain ‘mangnani’ son of a noble family did.
I was in no position to criticise him, but well, I kinda found him a bit of an eyesore.
< 015. Imperial Prince is Toiling Away -4 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
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