I Became the First Prince

Chapter 237

A Group That Follows The Dawn (1)

My eyes beheld the arrogance of my true body, which was unable to overcome its hunger, and I laughed at it. I found it all absurd. But the main question was much greater than that: “Who the hell are you?”

Now that I was outside it, I couldn’t even guess what it was.

‘Woow,’ my true body just kept complaining, making it clear it didn’t care about my doubts. Now that the cold was dissipating from it, it looked like a beggar who had starved for four days and was now drooling in front of a sumptuous dinner.

‘Farrre!’

Meanwhile, Verduisterung was trembling and crying.

‘Jii-r!’ It sounded so pathetic and sad as if it wanted to create compassion in the listener. Of course, in my opinion, it deserved nothing of the sort. It had lived its life sating itself on the blood of innocent people, and it was more than fair for it to be called a monster.

“Unfortunately, Gloomdark, your days of feeding are over.”

This time, I wanted it to believe that it was not the one who would feed, but rather the one who would be eaten. With a laugh, I hefted Dragon Slayer and brought it close to Verduisterung.

‘Ji-ee-ee-ing!’ The moonsword had begun to cry like crazy. I stopped my hand from moving and studied the greatsword. It was entirely thanks to the moonsword that I could access the memories beyond the mental block that existed in my mind. It felt like it was a waste for it to become a meal for my true body. If there were other such blocks and restrictions that existed within me, the moonsword could be helpful in resolving them. I gently put my body down and began to think seriously. My eyes glanced over my body of flesh. Where should I stab myself to finish the job neatly without any aftereffects?

Arms, legs, belly, and chest — I drew Verduisterung’s blade back and forth over me. Its body was big, so it would need to be a big surface area, even if the stab wouldn’t end up being that deep.

“Your Highness, a change of clothes-” Just then, a familiar voice came. I was standing with my back to the door, so I turned my head to see who it was who had spoken.

“Well your Highness… What are you doing…?”

The palace maid looked at me with a pale face. Only then did I realize what I was doing surely looked misleading.

“Ah- Don’t misunderstand. This isn’t self-harm or anything like that.”

I turned around, letting the moonsword hang in my grip. The maid’s face turned blue as she stared at my chest. I couldn’t figure out why, so I followed her gaze and looked at my torso.

“Ah…”

My front was stained in blood that I had retched while reciting the poem to break the mental block with my strong determination.

“This wasn’t a sword – I just vomited some blood-”

“Kaah ah ah!” the maid screamed before my words were over.

“Why are you screaming suddenly!” I heard someone demand.

“This is where his Highness is!”

It became noisy outside my door.

“Your Highness! What happened!”

Carls suddenly appeared.

“Well, his Highness-” The maid lifted her finger and pointed it at my reddened chest.

“Now, you were doing self-harm!” Carls widened his eyes as he alternated his gaze between me and the moonsword.

“That evil magic sword! How dare it do this!”

Carls charged into me at full speed.

‘Kudangtang!’

Then other palace knights appeared and joined Carls.

“What are you doing! Let go! I’m fine!” I cried out, but no one listened to me.

“Shut up, evil magic sword!”

* * *

It took a long time for the turmoil to subside.

“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I couldn’t help misunderstanding …”

The maid apologized to me several times, bowing her head.

“No. I don’t care, so go out.”

“I’m really sorry.”

The maid looked down and all but fled from my room.

“Why did your Highness not tell me right away?” Carls, who had taken a few steps back, asked me, almost as if he was coughing.

“I told you. How many times did I tell you? But nobody listened to me,” I responded, barely suppressing my anger, and Carls then told me of the urgency he had felt at the time, using it as an excuse. He had run into a hysteric maid, then saw me holding a magic sword in my hand, with my body being blood-drenched. At my feet, the royal sword was keening loudly and emitting frost, so Carls had no time to form other thoughts — he just acted.

“Because a precedent has been set, I had no choice but to think that your Highness was possessed by an evil sword.”

If Carls had referred to a precedent, it was surely when the third prince had been consumed by my body.

It wasn’t a difficult excuse to understand, so I started to feel a bit sorry for Carls. As I watched him, with his eyes swollen blue, I wondered if I had been a little too hard-handed with him. But no, I wasn’t sorry: as much as I had messed up Carls, I had also become a mess.

When the palace knights had pressed me down without reason, my clothes had become torn and my hair tangled. My energy was made unstable, and my fatigue had doubled after wrestling with the palace knights.

“Rather- Why is there blood?” demanded Carls.

“It’s because I gained some enlightenment, but the price for it was a little high.”

I couldn’t tell Carls that I had seen memories of my previous life, so I looked around and then noticed that he was looking at me with shining eyes.

“How much stronger does your Highness want to become?”

“It’s not that kind of enlightenment. Well, in a way, it is.”

The maid who had left the room pale-faced returned.

“Your Highness, I brought a change of clothes.”

“Thanks.”

Seeing her so swiftly helping me, I sighed in relief.

“But I’m glad this fuss is over. If word of this event reached someone else’s ear-”

I suddenly stopped talking and looked at Carls. His expression was somewhat awkward.

“Well, if something happens to your Highness, there is this new order from his Majesty to promptly give him a message, no matter how trivial-”

“So. You already sent someone to his Majesty?”

Carls nodded at me.

“Oh shit! Dress me up quickly!” I urged the maid. I wanted to take no chances; I had to avoid the king’s nagging by showing him everything was fine.

“His Majesty is here!”

But it was too late.

“What the hell is-” The king suddenly entered the room, saw my condition, and stiffened.

He usually came so leisurely to me. Why did he come so quickly today? I frowned and glared at Carls.

“What the hell is the meaning of this!” the king shouted. “I know you have an unusual desire for swords, but you are the Crown Prince of this kingdom, not a mere knight!”

“Sire, it’s not what it-”

“If you just look ahead and run, only going fast, you won’t get far. You have to take a moment to stop and look around at times. If you can’t stop by yourself, I’ll have to do it.”

I knew I was now set for a long nagging session with the king.

“Do not leave your palace until you are completely healed. Dedicate yourself to the cleansing of your body so that many who are troubled by your state may once again be at ease.”

It was a bonus for the king that there was no distinction between healing and confinement. The king had been scolding me like an unleashed storm; he now suddenly looked at me and said, “I’m glad there’s nothing wrong with you.”

His soft tone and expression were unfamiliar to me, so all I could do was stare at Carls.

“I would like to stay longer, but it will be difficult. I left the meetings with the envoys for a while to come here. Please take care of yourself.”

The king left. Carls, whom I wanted to curse all the time I listened to the king, also left the room.

“I’m glad it didn’t get confiscated.”

I decided to think positively. Now I knew that I had no motivation left to solve the blocks that might remain within me by using the moonsword. The Nightmare Knight, Morte de Morte, had already inflicted dozens of wounds upon me with the sword. Some of them had been near-fatal, having cut deep into flesh. If some other forbidden parts of me existed that Verduisterung could have unlocked, the blocks would have been resolved immediately.

“That’s it for you.”

I lifted Verduisterung and placed it upon my true body.

‘Kyaah ahhh!’ The moonsword screamed.

‘Quap!’ My true body produced a hazy frost that began creeping over Verduisterung’s larger body. The moonsword struggled by unleashing tendrils of dark crimson blood. However, there was an overwhelming difference between my body and Verduisterung that could not be overcome by the lesser sword. All resistance ended, and the moonsword soon froze completely.

My body’s meal began. It ate it very slowly — with a steady pace as if savoring the energy accumulated for hundreds of years.

“I’m eating well.”

Looking at it, I laughed happily. I even felt like I was raising a child. I don’t know if it was okay to call a bad-tempered guy who breathed frost and could turn the entire world into a frozen hell a boy. Still, my true body was like a child who ate sweet candy sparingly, over several hours. That is the terrible manner in which it ate Verduisterung. Later, he started to feast on his meal alive, releasing the coldness that had held it in bondage.

‘Jeeing!’ The moonsword, which had lived for hundreds of years, now groaned in pain. Then even such sounds were consumed by my true body. In time, when the meal was completely over, Verduisterung was in a state that was worth less than scrap metal. And even then, the iron that formed the blade broke away into ferrous dust, leaving no shape of the sword it once was.

‘Wooow,’ my body cried contentedly. I glanced at it, then grabbed it. I slashed out then brought it to a halt. My body pretended as if nothing had happened. I was left speechless by the absurdity of its behavior and almost bashed it against the floor. I had filled its stomach, but it ignored me like this?

“If you are satisfied with your full belly, you should pay for the meal.”

I decided to be patient and soothed him, and his reaction became felt on my fingertips. At first, it was a weak sensation, as if I was dipping my hand in a stream. But as time passed, the stream became a winding river, and soon a huge wave. Then, at one point, it reared up like a tsunami and swept through my whole body. My exhausted energy quickly rose. Yet it was not finished; the energy continued to fill every corner of my body, struggling to find enough space.

That tremendous feeling of fullness brought me excitement. My mind soared endlessly, and I felt the ecstasy of that elevation. My heart started pounding with the anticipation that I would be able to maintain this form in the near future. It was an illusion.

My spirit, which walked on the highest ground, plummeted. The vitality that had filled my whole body escaped and a feeling of loss poured into its place.

“Aah…” I couldn’t help but sigh. My true body trembled, and I stared at it.

‘Woow,’ it cried in comfort as if laughing at me. It seemed to me that this was all I would get for feeding it a low-level magic sword. It seemed to me that it wanted the real thing, that it was trying to fill its stomach even more.

I just laughed because, again, I found it all absurd.

“Well, it’s not that I have gained nothing.”

I weighed the mana in my body. A great amount of it was constantly spinning around, so much that it was difficult to hold it all within the vessel of a human Master. My mana heart had reached the limit of its capacity and was constantly wriggling. It was a sign that my mana heart would expand again. The moment it stopped shaking, it would be bigger and stronger than before.

This was more than enough of a reward for the meal I had served. Moreover, I had to consider the significant fact that the sword, which had constantly rejected me, had now given me some of his strength for the first time. Whatever one’s goal might be, the first time is hard; the second time is always easier than the first.

“Please feed me so that my stomach bursts soon.”

If there were imperial knights and paladins, they would be quite a good meal for him. Only when I filled his stomach to satisfaction would he show me his face.

‘Woow,’ my body cried. It sounded as if he was telling me he really hoped the war would begin.

“Don’t say that. You might hate waiting, but it won’t be for long.”

Even after hearing my words, my main body kept whining.

As if answering the guy’s moans, a great energy arose from far away. It was a high-level martial spirit; it felt like an army that was about to charge. I shoved my head out of the window and pursued its source.

It came from the hall, where the king and the envoys should now be, upon which the kingdom’s flag was fluttering.

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