Chapter 5

“Anyway, let’s go on an inspection tour first. What’s the biggest city around here?”

At my question, Amalie puffed out her chest a little.

“Why, the royal capital, of course.”

She looked a little proud as she said it. It was kind of cute.

“Huh. I see.”

If it was called the royal capital, it had to be the country’s center. And if it was nearby, then this place had a pretty good location for an entertainment district.

I needed to check it out for research, too.

Big cities naturally had their dark sides. Places that existed to satisfy human desires. For starters, I wanted to see what kind of adult entertainment this world had to offer. It could serve as a reference for my plans, and maybe give me a few ideas.

“Anyway, I’ll take a quick look around this city, then head to the royal capital. Someone can show me arou—”

Before I could finish, Clive moved. He positioned himself right behind me, radiating the presence of an impenetrable wall.

—It was only natural for a royal guard, but being around this guy made me nervous.

I’d better not provoke him too much.

“—Inspecting the city is fine, but I cannot recommend traveling to the royal capital afterward.”

Clive spoke from behind me in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Why not?”

“The royal capital is half a day’s journey by carriage. Travel becomes slower at night. If we depart now, we will arrive around noon tomorrow.”

“Half a day by carriage?! …Are you serious?”

That was far. Way too far.

Right, of course. In a world like this, there were no cars, trains, or subways. The power of modern civilization was nonexistent.

“Then arrange for us to leave early in the morning. We should arrive at a decent time that way. I’ll sleep in the carriage.”

“Understood.”

Still, half a day… That was a long trip. Well, maybe it was a reasonable distance for a vacation destination. It felt far to me, but people in this world were probably used to traveling that long to reach a resort. Probably.

I’d get people to travel half a day from the royal capital, get them drunk, entertain them, have them stay for a few nights, spend their money, and send them home satisfied.

Then I’d make them want to come back.

To do that, I’d need to make the place feel like an escape from everyday life and give people a reason to return. Now, what should I do? This was exciting.

“—I’m going on the inspection tour, too.”

Amalie stood up.

“…Just around this city, right?”

“Why? I’ll accompany you to the royal capital as well.”

No way. Taking a young noblewoman to some shady district and having trouble break out would be a pain in the ass.

Besides, I wasn’t too keen on exposing a sheltered young lady to anything too extreme.

I stared straight into Amalie’s eyes.

“Do you even know where I’m planning to go?”

“Yes. I can show you around the royal capital as well.”

“—I want to see the places where the lowest dregs of society gather in the royal capital. I can’t take my adorable little princess to somewhere like that… I’d be so worried about you that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else.”

“Ad-adorable…? Oh, honestly… I suppose I have no choice.”

—So damn easy.

Her cheeks were red, and it was cute. It was cute how she seemed unused to being complimented like that. Don’t let some bad man trick you, okay?

And so, we left the temple that served as our team’s headquarters.

Wait, I’d been staying in a temple? That felt weird.

With our guards in tow, we took a quick look around the city.

The place looked… old. Just like some run-down foreign city. That was pretty much it. There was no vibrancy to it whatsoever.

But an entertainment district came alive at night.

The darkness would do a good job of hiding the city’s age.

Hell, that old-fashioned atmosphere might even become part of its charm.

The streets were lined with somewhat sterile-looking stone buildings. A lot of them resembled churches. The whole place had an excessively sacred atmosphere.

“This city was once considered a holy sanctuary. Many priests gathered here, and it flourished greatly.”

Amalie, walking beside me, explained the city’s history.

“Sounds like an insanely pious city… I’d feel uncomfortable here.”

Amalie gave a small smile, then continued with a serious expression.

“But as the times changed, the population gradually declined, and people’s faith began to fade… That was why you, Prince Yuri, came up with the plan to restore the city’s faith, promote the arts, and transform it into a great religious center.”

“Was that because I was the ‘Holy Prince’? I planned to use those so-called divine arts, the miracles of God, to attract followers?”

“…Y-yes, that’s right. His Highness took great pride in his own power and was deeply grateful to God for granting it to him.”

“Huh. I see.”

…What a noble story.

So why the hell did it irritate me?

In any case, the city was quiet.

Night was approaching, but there wasn’t even a hint of excitement in the air. It certainly didn’t feel like a place where people went out to have fun.

I could practically feel the residents’ eyes following us, watching us warily.

This really was a run-down city. With no entertainment around, people probably had nothing better to do than pay attention to everyone else.

And it wasn’t like we were trying to hide the fact that we were a group of nobles.

As we continued through the monotonous streets, a large building suddenly caught my eye.

It had the same sterile appearance as a government office. And it looked old.

But there were people inside.

“—Prince Yuri, I would advise you not to approach that place…”

“Why?”

“That is where vagrants who have committed crimes are detained.”

What the hell was that? Some kind of holding cell or prison?

“—The process was temporarily suspended because of what happened to His Highness, but… the people here will be sent outside the city tomorrow. Please rest assured.”

So criminals were driven out of the city, huh…? Was that how things worked in this world?

Well, if those were the rules, there wasn’t much choice but to follow them.

“Huh. Let me take a look inside.”

I was curious about what passed for criminals in this world.

“N-no, you mustn’t! It’s dangerous!”

“Don’t we have a whole bunch of guards with us?”

There wasn’t a chance in hell those idiots would try anything against a group like ours.

I practically forced my way through and entered the grounds, then stepped inside the building that looked like a government office.

I approached someone who looked like a security guard.

“Thanks for your hard work. I’m Prince Yuri. Show me the people you’ve gathered in here.”

The guard stiffened with nerves but led me farther inside.

We came to a courtyard-like area. In the open air, exposed to the elements, stood a sturdy iron cage.

Inside were sick people, elderly people, and the injured—people who looked utterly frail. They huddled together, shrinking away from everything around them.

They made themselves smaller and smaller, looking as though they’d lost every last bit of hope for living.

“…What did these people do?”

They certainly didn’t look like they had the strength to commit crimes.

There were people with missing legs, people whose eyes were covered in bandages, and elderly people sitting limply on the ground.

—And they were going to throw these people out of the city?

Were they serious?

Wasn’t that basically the same as telling them to go die?

I couldn’t believe they’d committed crimes bad enough to deserve this. No matter how I looked at them, it just didn’t add up.

“—His Highness Prince Yuri used divine arts to heal the people and grant them relief. However… these people were unable to receive God’s blessing.”

Amalie spoke with a pained expression.

In other words, these were the people the former Prince Yuri had been unable to heal.

“—It was said that this was because they were sinners.”

…Huh? So the reason he couldn’t heal them was supposedly their own fault?

“Those who have sinned and been abandoned by God are unfit to live in the new city…”

“…So that’s why you’re throwing them out?”

“—It cannot be helped. We cannot allow people whom even God has abandoned to live in a holy city.”

“Who said that?”

The moment I pressed her, all emotion drained from Amalie’s face. She stared straight at me, looking as though the thought that someone might question that statement had never even crossed her mind.

…Wait. Could it have been… the former Prince Yuri who said that?

I could practically hear Amalie’s eyes asking, Aren’t you the one who said it?

“Actually, never mind who said it. Do you seriously believe that yourself?”

I asked Amalie directly.

Maybe that was the normal way of thinking in this world, but I hated that kind of discrimination. After all, I was a defective product myself, someone who’d been thrown away because of my circumstances.

Even if that weren’t the case, the whole thing left a disgusting taste in my mouth.

“Don’t just throw people away like they’re worthless. Someone who can’t walk might be good with their hands. They might be able to write beautifully, for all you know.”

So what if someone was blind in one eye or couldn’t hear very well?

Old people had knowledge, connections, and years of life experience behind them.

Seriously, don’t just throw people away so easily, former Prince Yuri.

It almost felt like you’d cast yourself as God, then blamed your failures on divine will whenever your powers weren’t enough to save someone.

—If God’s miracles couldn’t save people, then use human effort to give them a chance to live. That’s what a prince should do.

I walked up to the cage, took a deep breath, and raised my voice.

“All right, then. Whatever orders I gave before? I take them all back.”

A ripple of shock spread through the crowd.

It wasn’t just the vagrants. Amalie and the guards all stared at me with their eyes wide open.

“I died, after all. When you’re dead, everything’s wiped clean, right? And I came back to life. Resurrection is a cause for celebration, so why not throw in an amnesty while we’re at it?”

I slowly raised my right hand.

The divine arts Luca had just taught me.

The very power that had earned Yuri the title of Holy Prince.

I wasn’t expecting to be able to heal them.

Sure, there was a little hope that I might pull it off.

But if I couldn’t, all I had to do was apologize, say, “Yeah, turns out I can’t do it after all. Sorry,” and ask to hire them normally instead. No big deal.

That’s right. I wanted to hire these people. Put them to work. No matter how many people I had, it wouldn’t be enough to redevelop an entire city.

A golden light gently illuminated the surroundings.

The vagrants inside the cage narrowed their eyes.

Wounded arms, damaged skin, and rotting feet were enveloped in light one after another.

Bodies bent with age straightened up.

People who’d been dragging their infected feet across the ground planted both feet firmly beneath them.

The light washed over them as if cleansing their very lives, healing their pain and frailty one person at a time.

“…T-this level of miracle…! Even His Highness Prince Yuri in the past never…”

Amalie’s tearful voice rang out.

…Holy shit. They were all healed.

Even the guy who’d been missing a leg had grown a new one.

—WHOOOOAAAA?! SERIOUSLY?!

This is incredible! Miracles are fucking incredible!!

That guy’s missing leg grew back!! Holy shiiiiit!!

Whoa, this is insane… Wait, am I actually the Holy Prince? This is scary… Am I seriously a god or something…?

No. Don’t laugh yet. Hold it together.

Shit, I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from turning up… Whatever. I’d just put on a composed expression and use the same tone I did when charming a young lady at the club.

While the divine light still lingered faintly in the air, I ordered the cage to be opened.

Then I stepped inside and held out my hand to an old man who was still sitting on the ground.

“Come on, get up. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

The old man, dressed in rags, hesitantly took my hand. His was dry and covered in wrinkles, but I could feel something burning deep inside him. This old man was strong.

I knew it. You could tell a lot about the life someone had lived just by holding their hand.

I took each person’s hand in turn, or gently touched their shoulder or back.

Physical contact was important, you know. It could close the emotional distance between people in an instant. You just had to be careful when and how you used it.

“From now on, you’re all going to work for me. We’re going to transform this city. Even if God has abandoned you, I won’t.”

One by one, they fell to their knees and bowed their heads. Some even burst into tears.

Hey, come on, don’t do that. I’m not a god.

I’m just a scumbag host. I’m a human being, just like you.