The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

“Y, You’re quite good…….!”

“Your Highness as well! There has been no one who can have a tie with me before!”

Saying so, we started swinging the practice swords again.

As we are both bad at martial arts, our stances are unstable and lack power.

So I intended to have something like a close bout with him. I intended to.

After the bout, I asked Sebas who had observed us for his opinion.

“Haa, Haa……how was it?”

“Nothing was standing out at all. It felt so bland as if I was watching children playing make-believe.”

“As I thought…….”

Jurgen drops his shoulders.

thinking of it as a battle between equally bad swordsmen, it seems that children playing make-believe is better than this farce.

Well, this is well within my expectations. Since he keeps saying that he is no good about it at all, I just wanted to see how bad he actually is.

We each wipe away our sweat with our towels and think about our next move.

“So it seems that using swords is a dead end……do you have anything else you are good at?”

“What I am good at is it?……There is one thing that I have been practicing for quite some time now.”

“And that is?”

“A Halberd.”

Sebas retrieves a practice halberd from the weapons we prepared in advance.

Halberd is a weapon that is a mix between a spear and an ax with the ax blade attached at the tip of the spear. It is a versatile weapon but it is heavy and difficult to handle. The dwarves developed it to compensate for their short reach.

If you can master it, it is a strong weapon but for an amateur human, a spear would be better.

“Why did you choose the halberd?”

“When I was fifteen, the time I applied for marriage with Lizelotte-sama, I met her directly then and she told me that she wouldn’t marry anyone who couldn’t wield a weapon. I already expected that so I trained to use a spear but I couldn’t beat Lizelotte-sama with it at all.”

“Well, of course…….”

Lize-aneue is certainly strong as a general but she is a terribly strong person by herself as well.

No matter what weapon she uses, she is a master at it.

Someone with a superficial knowledge of a weapon wouldn’t be able to compete with her.

“That time she told me that my attack was too light. I was quite scrawny at the time you see. My height is much shorter as well. Because of that, I couldn’t deliver a blow that would convince Lizelotte-sama. That’s why I chose a heavy weapon but since it is quite heavy I always lost my balance when swinging it so I…..”

“Don’t tell me…….”

“Yes, I ate a lot and gained some weight. There are limits to how much I can build up my muscle after all.”

How pitiful……

Certainly, a halberd in the current Jurgen’s hands would, how should I put this, it looks like he can maintain balance when he swings it and from his bearing, I guess it should hold quite a force as well. I can imagine him swinging one but……don’t tell me he sacrificed his physical figure for that.

Aneue…….there’s a person whose life has changed because of your words here. I can’t help but find him pitiful right.

Talking to my sister who is currently far away inside my mind, I look at Sebas.

“What do you think?”

“His form is pretty good. It is uncertain that this level of skill would be able to impress Her Highness Lizelotte though.”

“If we are setting the bar with Aneue’s standard then only our generals and imperial knights would be qualified. I’m sure that she doesn’t set such a standard for him either.”

“That would be reassuring but this certainly looks more promising than a sword. You don’t need any skill if you can use your weight behind your attack. It would work out if you can maintain balance to handle that weight. The Duke must have trained quite hard for it as well. As far as I see from his swordsmanship, his martial arts talents should be on the same level as you, Arnold-sama.”

“Nonexistent huh. Even if it is just one, to be able to actually use it as a weapon like this……he is quite a man. I definitely can’t imitate that.”

Jurgen learned the business and enriched his newly established duke house. He probably has a talent for a merchant. There’s no doubt that he is an excellent person in that regard.

Still, Jurgen continued to train. He knew what he was actually good at but he did not spare any effort to get my sister to acknowledge him by turning his weakness into his strong point.

“Duke Reinfeld.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Have you ever looked at another woman?”

“Never. I declared my love to that person. Since I already told her that, I can’t turn my words into a lie. My father told me that honesty is my only merit but I like being honest like this. That’s why I want to live like this. I love only one woman and I want to get my love through to her. I thought that this love is beautiful and I believe that if I don’t do that much, Lizelotte-sama wouldn’t turn to look at me.”

“……Sebas. I’ve got the feeling that I am doing something bad right now………”

“Whether Her Highness chooses to accept or not is up to her after all. If she would marry any hardworking man, everyone would already do it. She may value effort but it is not a certainty. Women’s hearts are especially fickle like the autumn sky. There were many stories about a woman choosing a sloppy man over a hardworking one after all.”

“Oi, Duke Reinfeld is already on his knees you know!?”

“That is just how the stories go, in the end, it will be up to Her Highness decision.”

Maybe he tried to shut off all the voices around him.

Without thinking that he might be going in the wrong direction, he has been working so hard after all.

Those stories might be a bit harsh for Jurgen.

I try to approach and call out to him.

“Duke Reinfeld, cheer up.”

“Kuh! If I’m getting depressed from this then I won’t be suitable for Lizelotte-sama! How am I so weak!”

“…….”

“If she says that like a sloppy guy then I will just become both! Your Highness Arnold! Please tell me how to become more sloppy!”

Jurgen raised up and asked me.

He suddenly approached me so I unintentionally backpedaled toward Sebas.

“He is really someone that couldn’t be broken isn’t he.”

“And he asked me how to become sloppier too, isn’t that rude?”

“It’s the truth though. There is no one who walked down the path of sloppiness better than Your Highness in the imperial capital after all.”

“What path of sloppiness, don’t make up something ridiculous. I don’t remember walking down such a path. I just never choose any path at all.”

“I see! So you don’t choose to do anything in the first place! This has become quite a study for me!”

“………”

“………”

What is this.

That’s one cruel word.

When people are in love they can really go this far huh. I have underestimated love.

“My elder sister basically likes strong people. If we can find something in Duke Reinfeld that can appeal to that side of her then we should have a chance right?”

“Even so, Her Highness has observed the Duke’s hard work for the past twenty years hasn’t she? Shouldn’t she already recognize his strength by now?”

“She just saw the result. We need to show her the process. She will be moved if we show her how hard he is working, don’t you think so?”

“That sounds reasonable.”

“Your Highness Arnold, um, it might be rude of me to ask you this now but,”

“You were plenty rude enough already so please ask away.”

“Oh, then I am relieved. I just want to ask how did Lizelotte-sama come to like you, Your Highness?”

He really is such an unreserved person huh.

While thinking so, I remember the time when Lize-aneue came to like me.

It was eleven years ago. It was the time when I was in prison for a week to save a girl.

It seems that my eldest brother knew of the matter from Father and told Aneue that I went to prison to protect a girl so she came to visit me in prison every day.

She told me that if I admit that I did it to protect someone, she will talk to Father for me.

Of course, I didn’t know that she already knew everything so I persistently said that I did it alone until the very end. Now that I think about it, wasn’t she quite mean?

Imprisoned for a week to protect a girl, I thought that if I told her the truth, everything I have done will become meaningless.

That’s why I kept it a secret until I left the prison.

At that time Aneue gently stroked my head.

“As expected of my little brother……”

“Yes?”

“I was told that when I was a kid. Aneue was praising me for my determination to see things through to the end. Since then, she has been paying more and more attention to me. Maybe it was because of my attitude at the time that my sister started to take a liking to me.”

“This is good news. At the very least, this means that Duke Reinfeld’s action so far wasn’t wrong.”

“Right. Duke Reinfeld’s actions so far should be what my sister likes. She like hardworking people after all. Well, I don’t really know her preference in men but…….letting you two meet each other should be faster to confirm this.”

Saying so, I stood up.

In the first place, it is wrong to do something important like this through a letter.

“Sebas, make a preparation. We will first head toward Duke Reinfeld’s territory.”

“Certainly. I will arrange it immediately.”

“Y, Your Highness!?”

“Your territory is closer to where Aneue is than the imperial capital after all. If I went there, she might come to visit me. If she doesn’t come then we can just go to her place as well.”

Saying so I smile.

Dealing with that sister of mine, if I do all this while I am remaining inside the imperial capital, I would be looking down on her too much.

I will have to go to the frontline myself.

Now, with that decided, let’s get ready.