ebookland #425 - The prince of the neighboring country is my little fanboy
#425 - The prince of the neighboring country is my little fanboy
The next morning.
Zun Zun was at the hotel, seeing his companions off.
Aqua was going to the casino as usual, Hui Hui wanted to explore a certain place, and You You, afraid that something might happen to her, accompanied her, while Darkness went to gather useful information.
Then, Zun Zun and the others, following yesterday's declaration, decided to leave for the royal capital.
“Seriously, I still think it's better to solve things with force.”
“Don't be like that! Things are already on the right track, doing extra things will only complicate matters. Besides, didn't Darkness beg you not to do that when we parted ways?”
Sato Kazuma was referring to this morning when Darkness repeatedly begged Zun Zun not to do anything out of line, even almost kneeling.
This guy never thought that things would go so smoothly, entirely thanks to Zun Zun's efforts. Yet, that guy still thought he would do something out of line.
…Of course, this also had a lot to do with him constantly acting like a combatant ever since arriving here.
“Alice, if you feel that the prince is making things difficult for you, you can refuse at any time. When that happens, I'll flip the entire royal capital upside down!”
“Yeah, I agree with that.”
Sato Kazuma nodded.
He absolutely wouldn't allow Alice to be wronged.
“Thank you.”
The girl said nothing, only revealing a happy smile.
After arriving at the royal capital, they were immediately taken to the training grounds to face the prince's test.
“What's this about a duel…”
“It's simple, I just want you to back down.” He spread his arms towards the knights in the training ground and said, “I like interesting things. If you fight my subordinates and win, I'll increase your support funds.”
He seemed very confident in his knights.
“Oh ho, then I—”
“Wait! It's not you, it's her!”
Prince Levey would of course not be foolish enough to let Zun Zun take action, so he stopped Zun Zun, who was itching for a fight, and pointed to the somewhat dazed Alice.
“You are from the Zelberg royal family, right? As a martial royal family, you should set an example. Or are you so weak that you don't dare to face these knights…”
“I accept!”
Alice readily agreed to his proposal, then drew her sword as a matter of course and stood in front of the prince, gleefully.
The surrounding knights probably didn't expect such a young girl to accept the duel, so they were stunned for a moment…
“Prince Levey, please leave it to me!”
“No, let me go! I'll teach this arrogant little girl a lesson!”
“Please wait, I'm the weakest one in this knight order, so it's only natural that I go first!”
Perhaps feeling looked down upon, the knights eagerly volunteered to go first.
Prince Levey, wanting her to back down, didn't expect Alice to agree, and said somewhat worriedly, “Are you okay? It's better not to force yourself. If you get hurt…”
“I'm fine, I'm confident. Well then, everyone, I'm ready for your teachings.”
“Hmph… Is that so.”
Seeming to feel that his kindness was being trampled on, Prince Levey was a little angry.
One of them, who seemed to be the captain of the knights, also stood up with a face full of indignation and said, “How dare you despise Prince Levey's kindness! And from what you just said, you don't mean a one-on-one fight? Even if you are the famous martial Belzerg princess, you're still looking down on us too much, aren't you?”
“That's not what I meant… But, I can take on several of you, and I'm already ready to fight at any time.”
Perhaps taking her words as a provocation, the knight raised his sword high before the starting signal was even given.
“—Extelion!”
The next second, Alice's casual slash sent the sword he raised above his head flying.
“…Ah?”
Someone exclaimed.
The knights, who were originally laughing and talking, all froze, and the atmosphere in the training ground froze.
“Next.”
“…Eh?”
“Please, come at me all together.”
“How dare you look down on us! Charge—”
The enraged knights swarmed forward, but they were all sent flying by Alice's simple and unadorned Extelion. The training ground, littered with corpses, was filled with motionless knights.
If it were depicted in anime, it would be like they were roaring in the previous frame, and lying dead in the next.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was fleeting.
The prince, on the other hand, sat among them like a well-behaved little wife, with an incredulous expression on his face.
Alice truly showed him how strong a martial princess could be.
Despite fighting so intensely, she didn't even sweat a drop, and with a calm expression, she stuck the training sword she was holding into the ground and smiled at Prince Levey.
“Then…”
“I, I understand! I'll increase the support funds! P, please…!”
Prince Levey kept backing away, waving his hands frantically, not knowing what to do. Zun Zun, on the other hand, looked regretful because he didn't say the standard line of ‘Don't come over here!’
This guy doesn't understand anything.
Alice cheered joyfully after achieving victory: “Great, Zun Zun, Brother! I got another 10% of the budget!”
“That's right, great.”
“Well done, Alice.”
The two weren't worried about Alice fighting. They already knew her strength on the way here, so mere knights wouldn't cause any trouble.
“Wait a minute, it's not 10% yet.”
“What, are you trying to go back on your word?”
“Of course not! As royalty, how could I go back on my word!?”
Prince Levey seemed very insistent on going back on his word. No, perhaps it was precisely because he was from the royal family of a gambling superpower that he was so insistent on these things?
“Then…”
“Don't misunderstand. You remember what we said last night, right? You can increase the support funds if you win, but I said you have to leave the coin flip. That means—”
“Only if we win the coin flip will the support funds be increased by 10%?”
“That's right!”
He didn't expect the other party to set a verbal trap as well. He really underestimated him.
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However, Sato Kazuma wasn't worried. They couldn't lose the coin flip no matter what. It would just lengthen the time it took to win enough support funds.
“Of course, if you just take this little bit and leave…”
“Stop talking nonsense, let's flip the coin!”
Sato Kazuma took out a coin and quickly shook it in front of him, then clenched his fists and had Prince Levey guess.
“Left!”
“Too bad, you guessed wrong.”
“Damn it!”
The empty left hand made Prince Levey stomp his feet, but he didn't try to go back on his word or make excuses. Instead, he readily accepted his loss.
His impression of him changed slightly.
Zun Zun then said, “Okay, now that it's over, we'll take our leave for today…”
“Wait!” Prince Levey suddenly stopped them, then put his hands behind his back and said somewhat coyly, “D, do you want to have lunch together… or something?”
“…Eh?”
“D, don't misunderstand! As royalty, I can't just drive away distinguished guests like that, s, so…”
This guy suddenly became inexplicably tsundere.
He was so high and mighty yesterday, chasing people away, but now he was saying such things. Just as Zun Zun and Sato Kazuma were wondering what he was up to, Alice had already happily accepted the invitation.
An invitation from the royalty of a neighboring country couldn't be refused casually, so they had to accept it with the proper demeanor.
The reception was still very simple.
It seemed like they were still going to extend the setting of tight finances.
During the banquet, no one spoke, not even casual chatter. Prince Levey often hesitated, and he often peeked at Zun Zun, but when Zun Zun looked over, he would suddenly lower his head.
Eventually, even Zun Zun couldn't take it anymore.
“Prince Levey.”
“Y, yes!?”
His tone was a little shrill when his name was suddenly called.
Zun Zun didn't mind his strangeness and asked, “Is there something you want to say?”
“I, I…”
Prince Levey opened his mouth.
Actually, Sato Kazuma and Alice also felt very strange. From the moment they met… no, after learning Zun Zun's real name, he had frequently cast his gaze over.
Whether it was last night's banquet or the competition just now, it was the same.
Could it be that he mistakenly thought Zun Zun was a girl and wanted to express his true feelings…!
—Sato Kazuma wanted to stop Prince Levey from confessing. After all, Zun Zun was the kind of person who would drop his pants at the slightest disagreement. If it aroused Prince Levey's displeasure, it might ruin the negotiations.
“Wait a minute, Prince Levey, actually, Zun Zun is—”
“I'm Zun Zun's fan!”
“—What!?” X3
The three of them were stunned.
Prince Levey, as if finally breaking free from his shackles, said with a relaxed expression, “Actually, after hearing Zun Zun's name, I really wanted to talk to you, but the timing was always not quite right, and now I finally have a chance to have a good chat.”
“N, no… that…”
Zun Zun was completely bewildered.
He never expected that the prince of the neighboring country would actually be his little fanboy. No wonder he kept staring at him during the banquet.
Sato Kazuma was also very strange.
“Wait a minute, why would Prince Levey know Zun Zun's name?”
“Hmm… because of the prime minister, maybe?”
“What?”
“At first, the prime minister often mentioned Zun Zun's name, like intercepting the mobile fortress Destroyer, subduing the headless knight, Clairvoyant Demon, Poison Slime, and Synthetic Beast of the Demon King's army, and recently subduing the Evil God… And every time, the prime minister would mutter about it for days, and also said that he received orders from someone to pay attention at all times. Over time, it aroused my interest. After some investigation, I felt that Zun Zun was really amazing…”
Prince Levey's eyes shone as if he had seen his idol.
“I see, I see, so that's how it is… Hey, wait a minute, I was the one who intercepted the mobile fortress Destroyer, not Zun Zun!”
“Ah, is that so.”
“Hey! Don't act like you don't care!”
Sato Kazuma thought that he would also make Prince Levey look at him with new eyes, but he didn't expect the other party to be indifferent at all, which immediately caused him a serious sense of frustration.