Chapter 717

I am the third prince of a certain country.

I’ll be 20 years old this year.

I excel in literary and martial arts.

I’m even superior to my brothers.

That’s why I’m pretending to be incompetent.

I’m pretending to be incompetent because if they found out how capable I am, they’ll be wary that I’ll take the throne from them. At worst, they’ll kill me.

I thought it was thanks to that I managed to survive until now.

But it was a big misunderstanding.

-0-

My first older brother will be 27 this year and my second older brother will be 25 this year.

My two older brothers are really my brothers.

I mean, they were doing the same.

They were as good as me. My first older brother is pretending to be incompetent so that our father, the current king, would not be wary of him.

My second older brother is pretending to be incompetent so that our father and older brother would not be wary of him.

I would like to say “what are you doing?” but I should ask myself that too.

Thanks to this, the first to the third prince of this country are considered to be incompetent and its future is being looked upon with great concern.

To give you an idea of how worried they are….you’ll probably understand if I told you that me and my brothers are all single, right?

……

Maybe I should have held back pretending to be incompetent for a bit.

-0-

The pretense of incompetence that my siblings and I had been discovered since no one’s acting now.

First, my second brother showed his excellence.

Then me, and finally, our older brother.

Maa, it’s a bit sad because even though we showed our competence, our father and his vassals didn’t approve of us…..

But at least my brothers and I recognized each other.

We knew exactly what was going on and we were all worried about the same thing.

The three of us talked about it.

What should we do about this situation?

Yes, the current situation where the human country is being destroyed.

 -0-

There is no such thing as a country named human country.

Human country is a general term for all the countries other than the Demon King’s Kingdom.

In other words, the Demon King’s Kingdom is destroying other countries, becoming the sole winner.

The country I’m in is one of the human countries so there’s no way I’ll be happy given that situation.

Especially since I’m a royal.

The royal family of a defunct country would be considered a hindrance wherever he goes.

At worst, he would be killed.

I don’t want to die.

Because of that, I want to do something.

My brothers and I first tried to persuade our father.

「I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you guys are worried about.」

My father was not incompetent but he was not aware of the current situation.

I had no choice but to explain one by one.

First of all, almost all human countries are united in their stand of being hostile against the Demon King’s Kingdom.

Among them, the three most important are the Galbart Kingdom and Fullheart Kingdom, which borders the Demon King’s Kingdom on the central continent, and the Garrett Kingdom which are backed up by the angels.

These three countries have historically been incompatible with the Demon King’s Kingdom as they were successor countries of the brave queen.

These three countries are being supported by other human countries, both big and small, with aid to fight against the Demon King’s Kingdom.

「Right. And there’s nothing wrong with that, isn’t it?」

Nothing wrong?

That’s not the case.

Both the Galbart Kingdom and Fullheart Kingdom haven’t recovered from their previous food shortage and they can’t even maintain their own army much more on the front line.

The Fullheart Kingdom is particularly terrible.

The Demon King’s Kingdom did not go on an offensive for some reason or else, they won’t even be able to maintain their kingdom.

「Right. The Fullheart Kingdom has been hit especially hard with the succession of the sword saint.」

The sword saint is now in the Demon King’s Kingdom.

「Eh?」

The sword saint matter is nothing but trivial.

In Garrett Kingdom, the angels are migrating away.

The royal family of Garrett Kingdom has been crying and begging them to stay so they managed to keep them there.

But the angels issued a condition for them to stay.

Don’t fight against the Demon King’s Kingdom.

There’s no need to submit to the Demon King’s Kingdom but they demand to not fight against them using force.

「Nonsense. That country is only getting by because of the angels. If the angels leave, it will collapse.」

Incidentally, according to the report, the angels are migrating to the Demon King’s Kingdom.

「What? I thought the angels hated the Demon King’s Kingdom to their bones?」

They must have had a reason big enough to suppress their hatred against the Demon King’s Kingdom.

No, did the angels really hate the Demon King’s Kingdom in the first place?

Or perhaps they only said that in order to live in a human country?

Whatever it is, the Garrett Kingdom’s army will not advance their army.

It has completely stopped moving.

In other words, the three most important countries are useless.

On top of that, the Goruzen Kingdom, which held together the countries behind them, has collapsed.

The Elf Empire, which was located at the throat of the Demon King’s Kingdom, disappeared.

The Demon King’s Kingdom only has advantages and no disadvantages.

「So what? Don’t we have heroes with us? They are invulnerable and will revive no matter how many times they were killed. As long as there are heroes, there’s no need to fear the Demon King’s Kingdom.」

Father.

What are you talking about?

The heroes have long become useless.

「The heroes? What do you mean?」

You really don’t know?

They don’t come back to life anymore.

「Impossible. Have they tried?」

There are heroes who tried and died.

The heroes of our country heard that and ran away.

「Why ran away?」

Since they have the ability to come back to life, they have been doing whatever they want so they are much hated by everyone.

If they know that the heroes can die, those who have been oppressed by the heroes will get their revenge.

「Guh….w-we still have the holy maiden. She can hear the voice of god and can guide us.」

No, the holy maiden is no more.

As a result of many countries secretly targeting those who are qualified to be holy maidens, the holy maiden has gone missing.

No new holy maiden has been found.

「…..Son, what will happen to our country in the future?」

That’s what we wanted to talk about.

But, can I ask you something before that?

「What is it?」

Do you hate the Demon King’s Kingdom?

「What are you saying? The most important goal of human countries is for the Demon King’s Kingdom…….areh?」

It seems like father has noticed.

There is no reason for our country to be hostile against the Demon King’s Kingdom.

However, for some reason, everyone thought that the Demon King’s Kingdom must perish until a while ago.

Me included.

My brothers too.

Whether it was a preconceived idea by history or some group of people who subjected us to malicious magic…..

I’m not sure about the old Demon King’s Kingdom but for the past ten years, the Demon King’s Kingdom has been moving in a rational manner.

It’s not like they’re trying to invade us.

There is also the matter with the Elf Empire. They protected the citizens of the Elf Empire that were destroyed by the dragons.

In fact, when some countries complained about the Elf Empire, they said that they could take over the land and its citizens.

The technology of the Elf Empire is attractive but no one wants a territory close to the Demon King’s Kingdom. In addition, them being attacked by dragons made it a done deal.

As a result, no one took the empire in and the complaints all stopped. On the contrary, the Demon King’s Kingdom said “don’t tell us later that we didn’t offer them to you”.

「….can we not fight against them? 」

Me and my brothers nodded to my father.

However, there’s a problem.

Our country continues to support the front line against the Demon King’s Kingdom.

This is a good reason for the Demon King’s Kingdom to attack us.

However, stopping the support will also cause a problem.

The neighboring countries will be hostile to us thinking that we are the Demon King’s Kingdom’s ally.

Our country is not big enough to get rid of them.

We are also considered as a small country.

「What should we do? 」

Let’s reduce the scale of our support and give them a reason or another.

From now on, let’s only give aid in the form of money and food and not weapons or troops.

In addition to that, I think it would be a good idea to send someone to the Demon King’s Kingdom to explain to them our country’s policy

Yeah, my brothers also agree.

「So, who’s going? 」

The one who suggested it?

Eh?

You want me to go?

Then, the three of us must go.

Our father grabbed my first brother’s sleeve.

It looks like he’ll be detained.

So, it will only be me and second brother.

Hurry up and get ready….my second brother was caught by a court lady.

That was a brilliant low tackle.

Hey, my second brother is a prince you know….ah, you two are in a romantic relationship.

It looks like she won’t let him go.

I understand.

I’ll go alone.

Maa, I’ll bring a guard though.

I arrived in Shashaato City.

It’s a busy place.

I hid the fact that I was a prince and entered the country as a normal traveler.

I don’t think I’ll be discovered.

Once I pass through the teleportation gate of this city, I’ll soon be in the royal capital of the Demon King’s Kingdom.

But before that, I need to eat something.

Actually, there’s a place I want to go.

It’s a place called Marla. I heard from the report from our spy that the food served there is quite delicious.

I’m also curious about Village Five, which is a city next to Shashaato City, because it has different kinds of delicious dishes.

Should I go there too?

Yeah.

As I was looking for Marla, a beastkin man approached me.

「I’ve been waiting for you. I’ll take you to the royal capital of the Demon King’s Kingdom. 」

……

For now, let’s confirm it.

Do you know who I am?

「If you want an audience with the demon king, I think it will be faster if I accompany you. 」

Ah, this is completely revealing my identity.

And my purpose too.

On top of that, the other party came alone.

But perhaps I’m already being surrounded.

In other words, there’s no point to resist.

Let’s give up.

Oh, can you tell me one thing?

「What is it? 」

How did you find out?

「I asked someone from your country. 」

You mean….

You’re telling me that one of our spies has been captured and is being held for information?

「Don’t worry, we didn’t hurt him. 」

…..that’s good.

I hope you don’t mind if I ask your name.

「How rude of me. My name is Bron. Will be with you for a short time. 」

I followed Bron’s lead to the royal capital.

Before the audience, he brought me to Marla, and dishes were already laid out.

Yeah, no way I can win.