The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

“There are so many of them. If it wasn’t for your help then I would already be caught by now. Thank you, Sonia.”

Rebecca, who was looking out at the capital from the window of her inn, called out to Sonia when she entered her room.

Hearing her, Sonia takes off her hood and smiles.

“No, don’t worry about it. We got to stick together when we are in trouble right. I have a business in the capital myself as well.”

The appearance of Sonia who took off her hood was beautiful.

Her skin is snow-white, her light purple hair is trimmed at the shoulders. Her reddish-purple eyes also give off a mysterious light.

Sonia’s ears were long however, they were not as long as an elf’s.

Half-elf.

Neither an elf or a human. It is said that they are an incomplete existence and are quite despised outside the Empire.

Sonia is one of such half-elves but her cheerful smile doesn’t even give off a speck of such feeling.

“Since they saw Rebecca at the outer layer around noon, they will probably be looking around there for a while. It will buy us some time but this surely won’t serve as a permanent solution.”

“Right…..I have to hurry and get to the castle.”

“You were entrusted with a letter from your lord right?”

“That’s right. I have to get it to His Majesty…….so that my lord’s death was not in vain…….”

Rebecca sadly looks down.

On her way to the imperial capital, she heard about what happened in the South.

The Demon appeared and Bassau turned into a battlefield with Leo, Lizelotte and the adventurers solved the incident.

Hearing the news, Rebecca gave up on Dennis’s survival.

A battle between humans aside, she couldn’t believe that Dennis would survive a battle where Demons were involved.

Still, Rebecca never stopped moving. It was easy to be drowned in sorrow and give up but then she will not be able to find the meaning of Dennis’s death if she stops now.

“I will deliver this letter to His Majesty and expose all the wrongdoings of the Southern Nobles. My Lord was just threatened so he had to take a part in it……..even so, he tried to do the right thing at the end. If people don’t know that, my lord’s honor will be tainted.”

“You really like him huh. Your lord.”

Rebecca silently nodded to Sonia’s question.

She thought of him as her own father. She became a knight because she wanted to do something for Dennis.

However, in the end, she couldn’t even die together with him.

“I……I will surely clear the regret of my lord. Then I will take my revenge on the Southern Nobles who threatened and cornered him.”

“……I won’t say anything if that’s what Rebecca wants to do but right now you should focus more on how to get to the castle safely okay.”

Saying so, Sonia turns her eyes outside.

Assassins are lurking around in the capital that is shrouded in darkness.

The most important political struggle of the Empire, the succession war. Rebecca’s letter which had a direct connection to it was something that every faction desired.

Up to now, she was able to fend off the pursuers by cooperating with Rebecca but that is no longer the case in the imperial capital.

“We need some kind of strategy. By the way, is there a prince that you can trust?”

“I don’t know much details about him but, I heard that Prince Leonard is a man of character.”

“The rumored Hero Prince right. But I don’t think that we would be able to easily get in direct contact with him though. He’s the inspector that was dispatched to the South so he is the prince that Rebecca will most likely be trying to contact, that being the case your pursuers should be on alert around him. If you approach him, you might get found out immediately.”

Sonia said as she analyzed the situation.

She needs to catch up on the events of the succession war as much as possible. That is something necessary for Sonia.

Which camp is connected to which Duke and what kind of movement they are having, thinking about all that, Sonia exhaled.

“For the time being, we have no choice but to run. Prince Leonard should currently be out looking for Rebecca as well.”

“I hope so……..”

“There are many factions moving around right now so there is no doubt that he is also looking for you. The problem would be how he is doing it and how much men did he mobilize. Right now, the capital is crawling with assassins. If you get discovered by them, they might kill you immediately you know.”

“The question is whether he has enough power to protect us huh.”

“That’s right. For now, to find out all of that we need to run away for a few more days. At worst, I have a hand to play but it would be something that Rebecca would certainly want to avoid, I don’t want to do it.”

Rebecca tilts her head at Sonia’s words.

She met Sonia on her way to the imperial capital. There are many mysteries about her but she has been helping her out so far.

She has been supporting Rebecca with her magic and came up with a way to elude her pursuers and entered the imperial capital. It was unbelievable for her that she would find Sonia’s plan to be disadvantageous toward her.

Rebecca tried to open her mouth to ask her about it but Sonia slightly smiled and cut off the topic.

“Let’s sleep for the time being. Which one of us should be the first lookout?”

“Eh? Ah, then, I will do it first.”

“Alright. Then I will leave it to you.”

Saying so, Sonia lay down on her bed and closed her eyes.

The ability to go to sleep immediately is a skill required by both military personnel and adventurer.

However, Rebecca didn’t think that Sonia was either. Still, there were many of her remarks that made her think that she is familiar with tactics and strategies so Rebecca couldn’t grasp Sonia’s identity.

But there is no doubt that she is her ally.

“I trust you.”

Rebecca said that and began scanning the surrounding area.

“Prince———-! Prince Arnold!”

“Nn? Ah, sorry.”

Al apologizes as he was spacing out.

In front of Al is Earl Langheim, who has been gathering the nobles who want to support Leo inside the Imperial Capital.

He is still in his early thirties so he is still quite young. He is someone who likes Leo’s personality and chose to support Leo together with General Dominique.

His appearance is that of a glasses-wearing noble. Perhaps he has undergone some training as he looks more fearless compared to other nobles. Al’s evaluation of him is that he is not a bad person nor an incompetent. The only defect he has is that he can sometimes be inflexible.

“Seriously, please pay attention. Prince Leonard is out searching for Rebecca you know? If you have time to take a nap then please properly listen to the report.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Al wryly smiles at Earl Langheim who is having an unpleasant expression on his face while rubbing his eyes to wipe away his sleepiness.

It has been three days since they started looking for Rebbecca. None of the factions were able to locate her.

The reason for that is clear. The information of her sightings that were coming in from here and there was clearly strange.

Since many people were gathered to look for her, the battles between them are more common than progress in her search.

In the end, it didn’t become a search for her at all.

The sporadic report of her sighting is probably a decoy as well. Al read that it was an attempt from her side so that no one can accurately locate her.

To combat that, Al had been giving his instructions to Sebas and Sieg all night without any sleep. Because of that, he’s currently short on sleep.

“Baron Borman, who we had been trying to lure into our faction doesn’t look like he will come over to us easily. He was someone originally being moved with a huge sum of money from Prince Gordon so I think that he wouldn’t move unless we can present a larger amount to him.”

“Yeah.”

“Haa…..is that all?”

The clear disappointment was reflected through Earl Langheim’s eyes as he sighed.

Al muttered that he shouldn’t have brought this up to him from the start. Al had no right to make any decisions so it was strange for him to approach him with this.

Still, Earl Langheim asked him such a question.

“Prince Arnold. Let me ask you a question.”

“What?”

“How do you think we should get Baron Borman to our side? Please tell me what you think.”

Just what I think huh, Al murmured in his mind.

There was clear irritability in the eyes of Earl Langheim. Al knew those eyes well.

They were the eyes of a person who couldn’t contain his irritation and tries to let it out. And the target of that outlet is usually Al.

No matter what I say, he will just shoot it down so that he can let out his irritation anyway.

Al let out a sigh in his heart. The troublesome thing is that the person himself doesn’t do it consciously.

“Can’t we just add more money?”

“Haa….please use your head a little bit.”

After a fed-up sigh, Earl Langheim enters preaching mode.

Thinking that it was a hassle, Al only pretended to listen to him.

“Listen, please. There is a difference in financial power between us and Prince Gordon. Because the number of companies that back us is different, we can not win against him with just a simple money game. Please at least understand that. You are the twin brother of Prince Leonard so when Prince Leonard is absent, even if temporarily, you will be the head of our faction you know.”

“Sorry, sorry. I will be more careful.”

“Do you really understand……..you don’t have enough sleep because you were just playing around all night anyway right? Please stop living that kind of life and help your brother out more already.”

Saying so, Earl Langheim bows and head out of the room.

However, as soon as he left the room, Earl Langheim suddenly tripped over and fell.

But there was nothing there that he would trip on.

There was a question mark floating on the Earl’s head as he irritatingly got up and walked off.

“Sieg. Stop with the prank.”

Al turns his eyes toward Sieg who was entering the room.

Sieg climbs on the desk and tells Al that the Earl wasn’t hurt.

“Don’t say that. I could hear his complaint even from outside you know? Let me at least do this much alright?”

Using the time when Earl Langheim left the room, Sieg entered. He then tripped over Earl Langheim on a whim.

‘Seriously’

Al muttered.

“He’s from our faction so there shouldn’t be much problem if he sees you but don’t make yourself stand out too much alright.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will be careful. So? Have you thought about our next move yet?”

“I will do that once I see today’s sighting report. There’s no doubt that Rebecca is nowhere near those locations so I will backwardly calculate it from there.”

“That’s hard to do right. Your younger brother is praised simply because he took along his subordinates and foolishly searched around the capital straightforwardly while you are here racking your brain out and still got made fun of. Quite a hardship you are in isn’t it.”

“Leo’s search is also necessary. As long as we have no clue where she is, his search will be useful. Moreover, if Leo is out there looking for her personally, Rebecca will know where to find him in case she wants to make contact with us as well.”

Leo is no idiot.

He knows well how to effectively move himself.

And it’s my job to move behind the scene. Thinking so, Al freshens up.

“We have to find her soon. It’s meaningless to keep this night battle up after all.”

“Yeah, I will leave it to you. The girl you’re looking for seems to be good at hide-and-seek as well. If you can narrow down the search area for us then we will definitely find her for you.”

Nodding to Sieg’s words, Al takes out the map of the imperial capital from his desk.

Marked on them were all the Rebecca sighting reports so far. They are spreading in a disorderly fashion so that the pattern can not be read.

“Rebecca seems to have an excellent strategist by her side but to think that she can toy with us to this extent huh.”

While thinking about how troublesome it is, Al looked at the place where Rebecca was likely to hide in.

TLN: Yep, new character. I like her a lot because of the upcoming chapters though.