In this world, there are children born with abnormal mana. When I say abnormal, you might imagine something deformed, but their appearance is often perfectly normal. That's all it is, though — normal on the outside.
These children are born with special abilities.
Inhumanly fast legs, superhuman strength, ears that hear better than others, a body as light as a feather — or as heavy as lead.
The power to freeze everything they touch, to breathe fire from their mouth, to secrete poison from their fingertips, to teleport short distances, to shoot beams from their eyes.
Total immunity to all poisons, the ability to go without sleep for an entire day without tiring, the capacity to bed hundreds of women simultaneously without losing one's vigor…
Children born with such supernatural abilities are called "God-children" in this world. Those with useless or inconvenient abilities are apparently called "Curse-children," but let's set that aside.
Now, with that context established, let me tell you about the Sierrone Royal Palace. At present, there are five princes in this palace. The eldest is 32, and the youngest is… well, age doesn't really matter.
In this kingdom, when a prince is born, he is given a personal guard. The idea is to provide them with their future subordinates from an early age, teaching them how to command people.
As they grow, good deeds earn them more guards, and bad behavior costs them guards. When the king dies, whoever has the largest guard unit becomes the next king — that is the custom of this kingdom. The more guards you have, the more power you wield. There are probably plenty of problems with this system, but…
Among all of them, the first prince has the most guards. He has a keen sense of his status as the eldest, is somewhat arrogant, but conducts himself befitting royalty. As a result, he has nearly thirty guards.
So who has the fewest? The seventh prince, Pax Sierrone, who is looked down upon by the soldiers? Indeed, his guard count is low — only three at present. At one point it had dwindled to just one, but he managed to gain an extra man by forging connections in the lawless slave market. The other one will be explained later.
Three. Only three. His guard is small. But there's someone with even fewer.
That would be the third prince, Zanoba Sierrone.
His guard count is zero. Zero. Zilch.
He has not a single soldier he can command. Up until about a year ago, Ginger — the twelfth-strongest fighter in the kingdom — served as his guard. But even that last one was traded away in a deal for a certain doll and ended up belonging to Pax. Ginger had apparently tried to resign at that point, but the panicked Pax took her family hostage, and she reluctantly became his guard.
Now then, this third prince, Zanoba Sierrone. He was a God-child. Born with superhuman strength and a sturdy body. He was simply a man with that one extraordinary ability.
It wasn't much of an ability, but the king was overjoyed. A God-child was destined to become someone useful to the kingdom someday. Especially in this kingdom, where conflict zones lay to the north, the birth of someone who could serve as a military asset was cause for celebration with both hands raised. The woman who bore Zanoba was a concubine, but she too breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her role had been fulfilled.
The king's raised hands came down three years later.
When Zanoba was three, the fourth prince was born. Fourth in birth order, but the first child of the queen. Everyone rejoiced over the precious child, and a kingdom-wide party was held.
Zanoba toddled through the party toward his baby brother. He touched the infant lying in the crib and said, "Cute. He's like a doll." Everyone who heard this smiled warmly, because Zanoba loved dolls at the age of three. It was endearing that he compared what he cherished to his favorite thing.
The next moment, Zanoba tore his brother's head off. Just like a doll.
The party became a scene of hellish screaming. The king and queen went mad with grief, and Zanoba's mother was exiled from the country. But Zanoba remained. He was still young, and he was also a God-child. In this world, a God-child was apparently that important a person.
Zanoba's guard was reduced to three after the incident. It had been eight, and now it was three. The king declared that no more would be added.
The next incident occurred when he was fifteen. By this age, Zanoba — doll-obsessed as he was — had developed some judgment. So a bride was arranged for him: the daughter of a powerful family to the north. The king likely intended to use Zanoba as a front-line fighter in the event of war.
The wedding went off without a hitch. The morning after the wedding night, the bride was found in bed, a headless corpse. Zanoba had torn her head off. The noble family, furious over their daughter's murder, launched a rebellion, which was quelled.
The king stripped two of Zanoba's remaining guards and placed him under house arrest in the palace until war broke out.
At that time, the king attempted to confiscate the doll Zanoba was obsessed with, but the soldiers sent on that task all had their heads pulled off and died.
"The Head-Taking Prince," Zanoba Sierrone.
After this incident, Zanoba earned that title. Surely even the king must have wanted to do something about him by then. But all Zanoba needed was dolls. As long as dolls were provided to him regularly, he was harmless. So the king decided to think of him as a dangerous weapon shaped like a human.
From then on, Zanoba was treated like a sore spot, and that is how things stand today.
I recount all this with an air of authority, but I only learned this story afterward.
At the time, I had no idea that Zanoba was one of the greatest military assets in the Sierrone Royal Palace.
---
Zanoba was standing there with a beaming grin on his face. I was staring at him with a twisted expression.
My gaze wasn't on his cheerful smile. It was fixed on the object in his hand.
"Master, please! Now you'll take me on as your student!" "Ow ow ow ow ow! Stop! Let go, brother!" "Shut up, Pax." "Aaaaahhhh aaaaaahhhh!"
It was Pax Sierrone, his face being crushed in a grip. Blood dripped from the grasp point. It wasn't Pax who was bleeding, though. Zanoba's entire body was drenched in blood.
"…"
I was speechless. I couldn't make sense of it. I thought they'd been having a casual conversation about apprenticeship, and all of a sudden it had turned into a splatter horror. Seriously, I had no idea what was going on.
Zanoba was grinning. An innocent smile. Terrifying. A blood-soaked grin only suits a beauty — it's lustrous on a gorgeous woman. On some dorky, lanky-looking guy like this, it's just grotesque.
"Stop it, Zanoba! Let go!" "Th-that's right, Zanoba, pull yourself together…!"
This cramped room held several people. Ginger, with her sword drawn, facing three soldiers. Behind the soldiers lurked two princes in expensive attire. Both were technically princes, though one of them looked a bit too old for that. Including me, nine people in this tiny room — it was a bit tight.
"Brother. Do you know that Pax has been taking soldiers' families hostage and manipulating them for his own ends?" "N-no…" "Soldiers who are not personal guards, but belong to Father — the kingdom's soldiers, I mean."
Zanoba was grinning. He spoke while grinning.
"It seems Ginger's family was also held hostage." "…Is that so?" "Ha."
Ginger answered the prince with her sword still drawn. Is it fine to keep the sword out like that? Zanoba maintained his cheerful expression.
"Brother, do you remember Roxy?" "Ah, yes. Pax's tutor…" "A Water King-class magician and a great benefactor who taught our Sierrone soldiers the essence of anti-magician combat. Father had also spoken of formally inviting Roxy to the royal palace. All of that was reduced to ashes by Pax's foolish actions." "Y-yes… that's right, Pax was wrong, but you too…" "And yet… look. His very student — Master… Lord Rudeus is being subjected to this humiliation. At Pax's hands. According to Master Roxy, he has a student more talented than herself. Lord Rudeus, who should be a person of immense value, is being—"
Zanoba's cheerful expression didn't waver. In a sense, you could call that a poker face too.
"Y-you, you always look bored during council meetings, but you've been listening after all. As your brother, I'm relieved. I thought you didn't care about anything to do with the kingdom…" "Brother, I have interest in nothing but dolls. I am merely explaining the justification for what I'm doing to Pax. The reason I'm doing this is a single one."
Zanoba declared this clearly, then lifted Pax overhead.
"Iyiyiyiyiyi, noooo!" "Lord Rudeus is the one who creates dolls unlike anything else in this world. For such a person to be used for Pax's pointless revenge is something that must not be allowed!" "Aaaaahhhhh! It's cracking, it's cracking, it's craaaacking!"
Pax's anguished scream echoed through the room.
"Brother, if you continue to side with Pax, I will cause a scene."
The three soldiers and two princes murmured nervously. I'm thinking, isn't he already causing a scene? The atmosphere in the room quivered. Back in my previous life, when I'd thrown tantrums at home, it never got this intense.
"I am not saying anything complicated. I wish to help the doll-maker, but Pax's wrongdoing is in the way. That is what I'm saying." "But Pax and the slave market…" "Brother, don't make me repeat myself. I'm about to tear off my own brother's head."
Zanoba was no longer smiling. I couldn't figure it out. I was bewildered — what kind of metaphor was "tear off his head"? But I understood that Zanoba held the power in this room. Hang in there, my student. You're a little scary, though.
"Uuuiiii, I don't waaant to! Stop! Let go, Ginger! Help me! My family — my family, do you not care what happens to them?!" "My own family was rescued last night by Lord Ruijerd." "Whaaaat?!"
Pax thrashed about while Ginger answered coldly. Who had Ruijerd rescued? He's always saving someone. That said, something had clearly been happening behind the scenes that I knew nothing about.
"That is the situation, Brother. Because I have the least power among the princes, I came to ask you. But if you refuse, I will cause as much of a scene as I'm capable of. Why, at this distance, I could twist off either one or both of your heads. After that, I'd probably be burned to death by the court magicians, but…" "Your Highness, I will remain by your side until the end."
I genuinely thought, you don't look like much, but you've got some nerve. I watched with genuine worry, thinking it's dangerous to convince yourself you're strong. Yet the two princes — presumably the first and second — broke.
"F-fine! We'll do as you say!" "Brother, please investigate thoroughly. Also, Lilia, who caused a commotion two years ago, should be imprisoned somewhere in the palace. Please secure her as well." "Of course. I shall bring it to Father's attention…"
I was genuinely wondering why these two princes were defending a scumbag like Pax. But no — they were afraid of Zanoba. They were terrified of a bomb on the verge of detonation.
Without fully understanding that, I was escorted out of the barrier. Apparently, the magic crystals had been hidden in the ceiling.
Pax was captured, Lilia was freed, and just like that, the incident was resolved.
---
What follows is more of an afterword — the full story behind the incident.
It explains the chain of events that led to Lilia's detention. She had initially been suspected of being a spy from another country. When questioned, she named Roxy and Paul, which spared her imprisonment but resulted in her being confined. When information about the Teleport Incident came in, she was about to be released, but Pax intervened, imposed an information blackout, and had her locked inside the palace.
After Roxy had fled, Pax established connections in the slave market. Using those connections, he hired mercenaries and kidnapped soldiers' families. He threatened them: do as I say, or your loved ones die. The soldiers wanted to do something about it and had been poking around the back alleys. They managed to find where the hostages were held, but the place was well-guarded and rescue was difficult.
Then Aisha escaped, and a pursuit order came from the prince. Reluctantly, the soldiers moved out and located Aisha — and that's when I appeared, swooping in and carrying her off in style. The soldiers realized I was Roxy's student the moment they saw me perform silent casting during my rescue of Aisha.
So the soldiers hatched a plan overnight. First, cause a fight at the slave market to make it unusable. Make it look like Aisha was abducted by a mysterious man and send the mercenaries out in pursuit. Then explain the situation to me and have me participate in the hostage rescue. They would raid the lightly guarded hostage location and have me help free everyone. In return, they would do whatever it took to secure Lilia's release. That was the flow.
Incidentally, before this plan was put into action, I'd sent a letter to the palace convinced Roxy was there, and that letter led to my detention by Prince Pax. If I'd only delayed sending that letter by one more day, I could have learned the situation from the soldiers and helped turn the tables on Pax with a trap of their own. The Man-God's advice to write the letter after rescuing Aisha really did seem to mean just that.
As for the rescue plan — it was nearly derailed but ultimately carried out. When the soldiers went to the inn where I was staying, Ruijerd was there. He'd heard the whole story from the soldiers, sprung into action, and rescued all the hostages in the blink of an eye. Apparently, he used that alias of his again that time.
After safely delivering the hostages home, Ruijerd reportedly wanted to charge into the palace himself, but the soldiers insisted on handling it on their own. A matter of pride, you might say. According to the soldiers' plan, they weren't going to report that the hostages had been returned. They intended to lure the prince to the back alleys and simply kill him there. A murder in the back alleys would delay discovery and make it easy to conceal the body. It sounded reckless, but apparently they had good odds of pulling it off. Ruijerd conceded.
Incidentally, Ginger was kept in the dark about all of this until the operation was over. She'd been sidelined — or rather, they considered her dangerous because she was a personal guard. Poor thing. When the hostages were freed, Ginger's family was found among them, and the soldiers realized she was in the same boat they were.
Ginger, for her part, saw the whole affair as an opportunity. She gave Zanoba dolls, among other things. Zanoba, the most powerful combat force in the kingdom — if she fed him dolls, he'd take an interest in her. If she talked to him about me, Zanoba might become a valuable information source and side with her. That was part of the calculus, but Ginger also genuinely had loyalty to Zanoba. Having been freed from Pax, she wanted to return to his side. Even though she'd been sold off for a doll, she still pledged loyalty — I find that hard to fathom, but perhaps she had her own tear-jerking reasons.
So then.
The following day, Zanoba killed two of Pax's personal guards and took him into custody.
Nobody except Ginger had predicted that.
---
The king, looking thoroughly exhausted, had Pax exiled. The slave market connections were apparently too valuable to lose, but taking soldiers' families — personal guard families, no less — as hostages, and then arresting a magician who should have been won over, and furthermore trying to lure and murder Roxy… even by royal standards, that was beyond the pale.
Officially, it was a study abroad arrangement. In reality, he was being sent to somewhere like the Dragon King Kingdom as a hostage who could be killed without consequence.
Zanoba was also exiled. This too was officially framed as studying abroad. The first and second princes had proposed it, saying his methods were inelegant, that Zanoba bore some responsibility — but in reality, they were scared that a nuclear warhead that might explode at any moment would hurt them. The king apparently didn't want to let Zanoba go either, but since the reins he'd use to control him were unreliable, he figured it was safer to keep him outside the palace.
Lilia's custody was released, but even after all this, there were still people insisting she was a spy for another country. They claimed Lilia had gotten close to Pax and was secretly stealing Sierrone intelligence from behind the scenes. To think she could do all that while being imprisoned — our Lilia is something else.
To shut those people up, Lilia was to be "escorted" not to the Asura Kingdom, but to Paul. Well, even if she'd been sent to the Asura Kingdom, there was no one there who could verify her identity. Oh, actually, I suppose her hometown was technically in the Asura Kingdom — she did mention sending money back. But since they were a married couple, she was being sent to Paul instead. Paul apparently had stronger ties to the Millis Holy Kingdom these days, and it was better than being sent to the Asura Kingdom where suspicious questions might arise. Well, it was probably all a matter of appearances.
I was worried she might be killed as a silencing measure during the escort, but Ginger would apparently be joining as a guard. It was Zanoba's order: protect your master's family. Ruijerd would also be bringing soldiers he'd rescued. With that, I could rest easy.
As for me, the king himself offered me a position as court magician — would I stay? His voice carried a sigh, like a long shot. I declined, naturally. The king let out a clear sigh and said I was free to leave. That was it.
Oh well. I knew it would work out from the start, and I wasn't about to demand compensation.
---
As I was about to leave the palace, Zanoba came running to me, sobbing.
"Master! You're leaving?! You're leaving without your disciple?!" "I'm sorry. I'm in a hurry to continue my journey…" "Then the doll — won't you make me a doll?!" "That takes quite a bit of time, so…" "Whaaaat?!"
Zanoba, devastated that I wouldn't be making him a doll, clung to my hand and wept.
By this point, I'd heard that he was a God-child — the prince of slaughter who tears off people's limbs and heads.
Honestly, it was terrifying. I was on edge, afraid he might rip my head off at any moment. People whose breaking point you can't predict are scary. Not that I wasn't grateful — but fear is fear.
"If… if we meet again, I'll teach you how to make dolls from scratch." "Really?! But I… is that alright? Isn't it a secret technique?" "How can I not teach my own student?" "Oooooh, Master!!!"
Zanoba, crying, hoisted me up in celebration. I was smashed into the ceiling.
"Oh no!! Ginger! Healing magic!" "Right away!"
Ginger cast healing magic, and my injuries were sealed immediately. Zanoba had gone pale and was panicking after nearly killing me, but when I stood up safely, his face relaxed with relief. I was half-tempted to expel him as a student… No, better not. I'd rather not have my head ripped off.
"Well then, Master, take care! I don't know where I'll be sent to study, but — I have a feeling we'll meet again someday!" "Ghk… yes, take care."
Zanoba nodded through his tears and watched me go. Ginger, watching from the side, shed a quiet tear as well.
---
And so, the Sierrone incident came to a close. Lilia and Aisha were rescued and sent to Paul. Pax was exiled. And I, somehow, ended up with a disciple named Zanoba.
I'd intended to act only on the Man-God's advice. There were parts where I fell short, but… the outcome settled into what you might call the best possible result.
I can't shake the feeling that I was dancing on someone's palm. No matter what moves I made, as long as I broadly followed the advice, it seems like I would have ended up with a similar outcome.
It felt like I'd been watching a staged performance.
But everything did turn out well in the end. Lilia and Aisha were both whole and unharmed. Zanoba — I still don't quite get him, but he bears no ill will toward me. Pax probably does, but he's been sent abroad with not a single piece to play.
Regardless of the process, at least for me, this was a convenient ending. The previous advice never pushed things in an unfavorable direction for me, either.
Maybe I should trust the Man-Gad a bit more. No — swindlers always give you a taste of success before they exploit you. I'll keep watching more carefully.
Well, a promise is a promise. Next time he shows up, I'll hold off on the hostile attitude.