Chapter 41: The Uncanny Encounter

It’s a brand new day.

And for the first time in weeks, the Fifth Prince had absolutely nothing to do.

Garm’s dwelling period showed no signs of ending.

And Feena hadn’t finished the focusing claws yet.

The spear project was at a standstill.

So Adonis did the only thing he could do.

Nothing.

He paced back and forth across the bedroom floor, tapping at the air like a madman. His fingers swiped through diaphanous blue panels that only he could see.

Occasionally, he’d mutter to himself.

"Uh-huh... okay... oh, that’s new..."

Alpis sat cross-legged on the bed, watching him with growing concern. Her purple eyes tracked his every movement as her tail swished lazily behind her.

She tilted her head.

"Hm?"

Her master had been doing this for an hour now.

Walking, tapping, talking to no one. In that order.

She was convinced he’d finally lost his mind.

Adonis, meanwhile, was educating himself.

He’d never really explored the system menu properly. Back when he first transmigrated, he’d been too panicked about surviving. Then there was Minerva’s blood array. Then the Dunamis family. Then the duel announcement. Then the weapon project.

This time, he had time to browse.

He took a deep breath and exhaled shamelessly.

’Man... I’m not a virgin anymore.’

All of a sudden, life was beautiful and full of color.

He’d spent an entire morning naked on a warehouse floor with Mariella Soron. His jacket was the only thing covering them as they talked for hours about pretty much anything.

He’d always thought the best part of bedding with a woman would be the touching, physical stuff. But after that long chat he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Mariella was... fun.

When she wasn’t desperately trying to get him to humiliate her, she was actually enjoyable to be around. She had opinions on magical theory. She laughed at his dumb jokes. She even teased him back when he said something stupid.

A part of him had always thought she couldn’t be saved.

Now, that part was very silent.

He swiped open the reward list.

There’s still his rewards from the Dunamis family shakedown.

[Item: Magic Analyzing Sword Mergen]

[Grade: Platinum]

[Limiters: 5/5 Active]

[Description: Analyzes and copies any magic it touches.]

Adonis raised an eyebrow.

A platinum-class magic sword. Those were so rare it was hard to even acknowledge their existence. Most nobles would start a war just to hold one.

And it could replicate magic?

’That’s... actually insane.’

[Passive Skill: Silver Tongue — Upgrade]

[Persuasion Effectiveness: +20% (45%)]

He nodded approvingly.

[Item: World Healing Leaf]

[Grade: Platinum]

[Description: A mystical leaf from the World Tree that has the ability to resurrect the dead.]

Adonis rubbed his chin.

’Single-use. But still... resurrection? That’s a pretty good reward for an almost impossible mission.’

Then he swiped open the Gold Gift Pack he’d received from bedding Mariella.

[Item: Magic Saint Armor]

[Grade: Gold]

[Description: Built for classes with low physicality.]

Adonis nodded very satisfactorily.

’Finally. I won’t have to commission armor anymore.’

The set had three separate components:

The torso armor converted a portion of absorbed magic damage into mana. The gauntlets were sturdy and you could throw a mean punch with them. The leg armor had mana-spring steps for short bursts of acceleration. There was even a majestic hooded cloak for high-speed movement.

’Not bad. Not bad at all.’

Still, the armor didn’t feel complete to him yet. The physical protection was good enough for a mage or classes with low physicality. But a gold-class swordsman like Prussia could still threaten him.

He’d need to enchant it later.

The door slammed open.

BANG!

Adonis nearly jumped out of his skin.

Prussia quietly stood in the doorway with arms folded like she hadn’t almost kicked the door off its hinges.

Alpis, on the other hand, didn’t find her or anything she did scary in the slightest. Prussia was always so sweet to her. She waved happily from the bed.

"Morning, Prussia!"

Prussia acknowledged her sweet greeting with a nod. Then she looked seriously at Adonis.

"We’re going out today."

Adonis blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Prussia huffed indignantly as her broad shoulders proudly perked up a little.

"Do you always have to ask so many questions? You never ask this many questions when it’s Mariella or Garm. So why is it different when it’s me?"

Adonis tilted his head.

"I always like going out with you. But you’re the one who’s always saying no."

"Tch—!"

Prussia almost bit her tongue out of frustration as she couldn’t blame this one on the prince.

She held up her head with a partly mean face.

"Well, today is different then!"

Her tone was too demanding to say no to. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the room.

Alpis was all alone now, she folded her arms and pouted.

"How unfair... no one ever takes me out..."

---

A short time later, they were in the capital city, walking around like everyone else. Many people recognized Adonis as the prince but they also knew he was the useless one. The one the King didn’t bother to acknowledge.

Greeting him was pointless.

Other than their awkward stares, Adonis was a little bored by most of the walk.

Prussia was very quiet. She was a bold woman, but also a shy one when it came to matters of the heart. She bought him his favorite skewered meat from Omyujin with her own money.

Adonis stared at the skewer.

It reminded him of how he’d spend lots of money on dates with women from his online dating apps. They’d never spare change to get him anything, since a man should buy it all. It was around that time he gave up on romance.

Prussia was different. But tomboys were always different and some would call them special.

Technically, they were on a date. He couldn’t let silence be the highlight of it.

He gave Prussia the skewered meat.

"Here."

"What?"

"Come on, take a bite..."

"No."

She expressionlessly looked away.

"I bought that for you. If I wanted to eat one, I’d have bought one for myself, too..."

"Oh, just take it already."

She accepted his offer with a sigh and took a disinterested bite out of it.

Adonis stroked his chin and thought out loud.

"Hm. I’m giving you the meat I just ate. On the stick my tongue pretty much licked from top to bottom. There’s some people that’ll call that indirect kissing."

One moment, Prussia was peacefully chewing the meat and the next her face turned red. She shoved the skewer back into his hands and looked away as she continued to chew.

Adonis smiled at her with a sleazy side glance.

’She’s so easy to tease these days. Heh.’

He knew how to get under her skin.

Huh? Prussia, who was grumbling at herself for being so easily flustered, noticed something.

There was a massive crowd up ahead.

"What’s going on there?"

Adonis shrugged. "I don’t know. Some kind of festival?"

The original story had a lot of festival Chapters. He knew all of them by heart. But he was sure no festivals were supposed to take place until Volume 6 at least.

They walked closer to the crowd.

"Adonis!"

A calm voice called him.

Adonis didn’t need to turn to confirm the voice belonged to the First Prince. Godfrey was the only one who actually called his name with any respect.

He turned and smiled at his brother.

"Oh, brother. You’re here."

Godfrey nodded with a smile.

"Mhm. Where else would I be on a day like this? The festival is a Melcian Church thing. Didn’t you hear what happened? The news has been blowing up everywhere."

Adonis scratched his cheek. "Err, I’ve been out of town."

"Oh yes, about the duel for second-rank succession to the throne... hmm... I can’t believe I almost forgot about that..."

He didn’t sound the least bit bothered. This was just how the First Prince was. If any of Adonis’s brothers said they had no interest in the throne, he’d call them liars, except for Godfrey.

He didn’t have much ambition in anything that didn’t concern his Melcian Faith and treating people with kindness. He was the only member of the royal family that was still a believer and an active member of the church. So it made sense he was here.

"So what’s the occasion?" Adonis asked.

"The church has finally returned with the Holy Sword of Saint Melcius. After all these years of searching and being mocked and laughed at by the northern theocracies."

Adonis tilted his head.

’The Holy Sword... that doesn’t make any sense.’

But he didn’t push further.

Godfrey smiled at Prussia and bowed politely.

"It’s always a treat to see any of my little brother’s fiancées. It reminds me how much we’ve all grown. I hope we can talk more some other time."

Prussia and Adonis were silent as graves.

In their eyes, the First Prince was beaming with so much light it almost felt like he was a saint.

"Can we get closer to the festival?" said Adonis.

It wouldn’t hurt to socialize with his brother.

Godfrey smiled. "Of course!"

He pulled both of them along until they were squeezed into the tight crowd of people cheering at the majestic display of white horses and carriages.

A minstrel sang epics of great praise.

"When the evil dragon ravaged the kingdom ages ago, Saint Melcius gave his last breath to save us all. His holy sword vanished. So did its great blessings and miracles. The pope and his cardinals searched the ends of the earth and promised us a world of light again! Today, they’ve brought returned the holy sword back to our hopeless lives!"

The crowd went wild with screams and cheers.

A white pegasus of unexplainable majesty descended from the skies, and on it rode a man. He was an extremely old man with a hardened face covered in wrinkles and a scalp covered with winter-white hair.

The dark blue zucchetto and vestments with gold trim and the insignia of the Melcian Church emblazoned on his back was enough to tell anyone who he was.

Pope Anthor Verdigris.

Adonis glared viciously at the ancient-looking old man the moment he descended.

’Pope Verdigris... he’s supposed to be dead...’

The original story said very little on him; a summoned hero from another world. He was nothing but an extra piece of lore from a hundred years before the story started.

In the vastness of that crowd, Adonis could’ve sworn the old man smiled back at him with intimidating eyes.

[Ding! Host has encountered a major antagonist!]