Chapter 362 – How to Become an Alchemist
“That’s right. The owner of the noble hound Edward. He is the first prince and crown prince, Lissel von Belendorf.”
“Oh, I think I remember. Anyway, why did the crown prince move? And, why is that a blow to you?”
Pirina sighs with a very tired expression at Seongil’s question. She stared at Seongil and opened her mouth.
“It’s simple. It’s because of Young master.”
“…Is it because of me?”
“Well… It’s the sum of complex incidents, and it’s actually a little conclusive that Young master is the cause, but… In the end, if you look at the story, it’s Young master who is the starting point.”
“Why!?”
An incomprehensible causal relationship. In response to the question of her holy day, Pirina continues her explanation to him, running her beautiful silver hair through her hair.
“Suddenly, the guild started to take a hit thanks to the government power that was strongly clamped down from last month. Of course, I didn’t know what was going on at the beginning.
“…”
“The problem is that the usual bribe or the power of the back boat didn’t work at all.”
“Why?”
“…I also did my best to find out. The crown prince is going through a political crisis.”
“…?!”
Pirina’s outrageous words. Seong-il couldn’t understand why the story suddenly popped up that he was going through a political crisis, and why it had something to do with him.
Perhaps reading Seongil’s expression, Pirina smiles bitterly and begins to recount the behind-the-scenes story.
“You won’t understand. I understand. Because I did too.”
“Hmm…”
“As for the reason for this complicated problem… First of all, do you remember that Edward we killed a while ago was nicknamed ‘Noble Hound’?”
“Of course.”
“…And that he ruined many aristocrats through all sorts of despicable acts using his back as the crown prince?”
“Of course I know. The reason I killed Edward was to help Erica, a fallen aristocrat who fell victim to his demonic spell.”
“Yes.”
Pirina responds calmly to Seongil’s answer, and she takes out a portrait painting and hands it to Seongil.
“…This?”
“Do you remember how in the past, Edward threatened and manipulated the nobles he destroyed, especially his young ladies?”
“Ah…”
One thought passed by Pirina’s words. Of course, even before he came to the world of alchemy, Seong-il had already learned the shocking story behind it through unofficial routes, so he couldn’t help but remember his misdeeds.
“…Joridolim, torture, tattoos, forced prostitution, rape?”
“Yes. By the way, the person in front is a noble lady who was tortured and admitted to being a ‘no sin’ and became a slave.”
“!!!!”
When he sees a victim of a game he only knew about behind the scenes, Seong-il feels confused.
‘…If I hadn’t helped Erica, she would have been like this too.’
Seong-il was lost in thought. Pirina calmly begins to recite her personal details.
“Her name is Marina. She is the daughter of the now-defunct Viscountess Romen.”
“…Brothers?”
“The male siblings are all ‘missing’. Only she is alive.”
“…”
An obvious situation. Pirina nods her head, affirming his imagination.
“That’s right. There is a saying that Edward secretly killed her at the instigation of the crown prince. When the succession passed to the young lady, she was the first woman to marry Edward for convenience on the condition that he gave a huge loan to the crumbling family.”
“…”
“Well… Anyway, after she married Edward, she was deprived of her title through a ridiculous scheme, broke off the marriage, and sold as a prostitute.”
“Under…”
“What’s worse is that she was pregnant with Edward’s child when she was sold. He did that even though the young lady was in such a situation.”
“After…”
“Fortunately, Lady Marina’s father must have been quite a popular man, and he had quite a few friends here and there.”
“Oh, can you?”
“Yes. She was rescued by a merchant who owed her to her father.”
“…By the way, what does this story have to do with your crisis?”
Feeling a little frustrated with her, when her Seongil sends Pirina, she just smiles softly and soothes her Seongil.
“Listen a little bit. Isn’t Socheop talking about this for nothing?”
“…”
“Anyway, after being rescued, she lived under a merchant and met eyes with his son. That’s how Lady Marina got married to that merchant family.”
“Hmm…”
“Live like that, she gave birth to Edward’s child, and resentful of her bastard, she thought about sending her child to a monastery, but she couldn’t bear to deny her own lineage and raised the child.”
“…However?”
“After so many years, Edward died by our hands.”
“…No way?!”
“Yes. Embarrassingly, since Edward was a young and ambitious man, he hadn’t fostered an heir. Even, since he had no family, he had no one to pass on his title and property to.”
“…You said you didn’t have a family at all?!”
“Yes. They say that one of the reasons the crown prince pushed him was that he had no relatives. He was also monitored for having children. It seems that a secret agreement was signed to hand down one of the royal family members. The successor was to be raised at that time. That’s why he had no successors except for the first child.”
Reasons that make sense. From the standpoint of a person in power, if the subordinates he raises are swayed by his in-laws, it can be annoying, so the Crown Prince seemed to have pointed out such a person from the beginning and raised them as his subordinates.
“Ah…Then was the first child an accident?”
“Yes. He didn’t do any harm by getting his hands dirty, perhaps because he felt guilty about the first child… But after that…”
‘I can’t see it. The world of alchemy is full of all sorts of elixirs, so he must have taken birth control with drugs, or secretly got rid of any children he had. Devilish bastard…’
“…Anyway, Lady Marina, who happened to hear the news of the bastard’s death, was inflamed with vengeance and asked her husband for help, and her husband asked her subordinates, the temple and the nobles, to reveal the identity of her child. It’s guaranteed.”
“…Is that possible?”
“Surprisingly, it’s possible. The holy magic of the temple can distinguish blood ties.”
“Like…”
“Well… Even so, the Crown Prince’s faction would have somehow swallowed Edward’s property… But the problem is that Miss Marina and her husband’s aristocratic patrons are quite strong.”
“Hmm…?”
“… In fact, she liked her words and said that her merchant rescued her to pay off her heart’s debt. Maybe her rescue from the beginning was the order of her ‘her benefactor’.”
“Hmm…”
“Anyway, Lady Marina obtained her right to inherit with the help of those around her, and thanks to her, she succeeded in inheriting Edward’s mansion and property.”
“I see. What does that have to do with us…”
“There is now. While searching through her mansion, she found documents documenting the evil deeds Edward had done to the nobles under the Crown Prince’s orders, and presented them to her husband’s ‘sponsor’.”
“!!!!”
“…The sponsor who was surprisingly revealed was the Duke of Paloren. He was the vanguard of the aristocratic faction and a distant relative of the royal family. He was even the second prince’s uncle.”
“…I can roughly understand it. It seems that the Crown Prince has suffered quite a bit, right?”
Unlike the original work, where Edward survives no matter what he does, Seong-il infers that the crown prince has been hit hard politically by the butterfly effect caused by his own actions that killed him. However, Pirina answers with a light snort, as if asking what Seongil’s opinion was about.
“It’s not just a blow. He’ll be officially deposed as crown prince soon.”
“What?!”
The crown prince’s situation far exceeded his own imagination. Seong-il feels dumbfounded by Pirina’s words.
“Haa… The ripple effect of the data hidden in Edward’s secret room was that great. It seems that he was secretly holding on to his weakness in case he was abandoned by the Crown Prince.”
“…”
“And the Duke of Paloren and the 2nd Prince, who obtained the data intact, are in a situation where they have launched a political wave offensive against the current Crown Prince based on that information.”
“…That worked?”
“Surprisingly. Do you know that the nobles have been holding their breath at the progress of the centralized kingdom for the past hundred years?”
“Ah, well, about that…”
“Then, it would be easy to explain. The nobles, who had been half-suffocated by the coercive royal power policy, began to come together with this incident as their starting point. Centered around the 2nd prince and the duke.”
“…The king left it alone?”
In order to confront the Empire and the Republic, Nerke Kingdom has been aiming for strong centralization, starting with the king, in the traditional aristocracy. As much as they pursued centralization while grinding their teeth, their work was never easy. Because of this, Seong-il makes a face that does not understand Pirina’s words.
“…Surprisingly, the nobles’ desperate efforts are being eaten?”
“That can’t be the case. As far as I know, nobles have been completely deprived of the right to raise enlisted men, so they won’t have the power to fight the king?”
“That’s right. So they came with the worst possible move to scare the opponent.”
“…Which?”
“According to the information I came across through unofficial routes… If the kingdom does not properly explain this case and furthermore does not raise the authority of the nobles, a declaration is made that, starting with the nobles of the periphery, they will surrender the white flag little by little to the empire. They say it came out.”
“!!!!”
The nobles of Nerke Kingdom, who had virtually declared treason. Seong-il, dumbfounded by the unconventional opposition, stares blankly at Pirina.
“That worked? Due to the nature of the Nerke Kingdom, it seems that he immediately took up a sword and attempted a bloody suppression?”
“That means that the nobles are also in a pinch. There are even rumors that they are hiring large-scale private soldiers by mobilizing funds, ignoring the law.”
“…Isn’t that crazy? Does that still seem to give the king a just cause for bloodshed?”
“Well… You might have thought it was like this or that. And the cause was given by the Crown Prince. Did you forget? Stealing the rightful title with a mean act?”
“Ah…”
“So the king has no choice but to notice the nobles who are now fighting to the death. Even, rumor has it that he secretly proposed an unconventional proposal to the nobles in order to gently resolve this situation.”
“Which…?”
“I don’t know for sure. However, seeing as they don’t stop the gathering of enlisted soldiers, it seems that they gave away part of the military authority while shedding blood.”
“Oh my god…”
Seong-il never imagined that one small act of his would cause such a big stir. He reads the data Pirina gave him with a blank expression.
“…Come to think of it, why was the Crown Prince dethroned?”
“That, too, is part of the agreement. Rather than dethroning, to be precise, it should be suspended…?”
“…If you’re dethroned, what’s the abdication pending?”
“It seems that the nobles have asked for a chance for the second prince, who is pro-noble.”
“Ah…”
“The 2nd prince, who was greedy for the next throne, does not miss this opportunity and is strongly aiming for the position of the next crown prince as the center of the nobles.”
“…I understand now. But why is the first prince targeting you? Why not me?”
“From the outside, I seem to be the main culprit in this case rather than Gongja.”
“…”
“Well… Actually, a petty criminal like me… Actually, it shouldn’t have been a big deal. Prince 1 is so full of anger, so it seems he needs someone to vent his anger on.”
“…Is that you?”
“It is.”
Pirina put on a slightly pathetic expression. When Seongil sees her expression like that, she feels her blood gushing backwards.
“…You bastard dare to take my woman.”
“…”
Even after hearing all about her circumstances before and after her, instead of being scared and trying to distance herself, she feels a strange emotion filling her heart.
“I can’t help it. Pirina.”
“…Yes?”
“Did you cash in all the treasures I gave you?”
“Ah… I’m almost finished.”
“Let’s bounce.”
“?!”
“Let’s jump out. To be honest, it’s not like we didn’t prepare. Do you remember the South?”
“Ah… Yes…”
The escape route that Seong-il had planned in the past considering that he might have failed. Of course, as it was the order of her own master, her holy day, she faithfully followed his word and finished her work.
“What’s the method… As I said at the time. It’s possible for me to open up to 150 km of portals three times in a month and move quickly. Let’s use it to move goods to the hideout you prepared in advance and quickly escape to the southern country.”
“Ah…”
“So don’t worry.”
“Whoops… Thank you.”
“However, it would be a pity to abandon this place because of me. It is a place you took over with difficulty.”
“What? She’s the concubine of the former Young master. She also received her enormous wealth from the Young master, enough to play and eat her whole life… Just think of her as an early retirement.”
“…If that’s the case, I’m glad.”
“Whoops…”
She is in effect Pirina, a situation where her life is at stake because of herself. Nevertheless, when she does not resent herself in the slightest, her seongil feels more sorry for her.
“Ah… That’s right. I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Will you be my ‘follower’?”
“…Suddenly?”
Pirina makes a puzzled expression at the unexpected request for a holy day. But when she asked herself again with a serious expression on her name, she replied with a nod of her head.
“Well… I’m Young master’ woman, so there’s nothing difficult about it.”
“Yes. Anyway, will you be my ‘follower’?”
“Yes. I will become a follower of Young master.”
Just like that, as soon as the consent fell from Pirina’s mouth, her holy day’s smartphone emitted intense light. Pirina stood in place blankly for a long time, flinching as if she received a powerful shock from the baptism of light. As her time passes and her dazed-looking Pirina looks at her holy day, he answers her with a smile on her face.
“Congratulations. Knowing the truth of the world.”
