MBHE | Chapter 2.2

The carriage, enchanted with anti-shake magic, moved with remarkable smoothness. But to Iellon, who knew modern cars, it was nothing, so his expression was utterly bored.

Born into the world of 『Heroes Never Die』 and realizing its reality, there was a time when this world felt wondrous.

As he absorbed countless pieces of knowledge, first forcibly, then willingly, the overwhelming novelty turned into a concern about how to unfold the story.

Here, a member of the protagonist’s party was present, and there, a subordinate of the demon king. Thinking about such things made him anxious, preventing him from fully enjoying the beauty of this world.

Iellon propped his chin and pulled back the curtain. Through the glass, he saw various people curiously watching the carriage. A grand and beautiful carriage bearing the Leronan imperial family’s emblem didn’t pass by often, so it was only natural.

The streets were cleaner and more developed than expected. The ground was paved with white bricks, and there were intricately carved fountains. Although the clothes weren’t as high-quality as those seen in the Imperial Palace, the people’s faces were full of smiles.

The people of Leronan. If Iellon became emperor, they would become his subjects. Watching them quietly, knowing that his trivial choices could sway their lives, Iellon closed the curtain and shut his eyes.

The journey to Tarta wasn’t short. It was a large-scale expedition, leading knights, so he couldn’t arbitrarily increase the speed. Moreover, since the Mendez estate was on the outskirts of Tarta, it was unavoidable.

Still, his first trip outside the Imperial Palace wasn’t a bad feeling. Since the original story hadn’t started yet, the world was just peaceful.

Every night, the attendants and knights headed to nearby noble mansions. Naturally, they couldn’t let a prince sleep on the roadside.

Though it was quite bothersome to exchange pleasantries with the bowing nobles who rushed out barefoot, it was the price of wearing good clothes and eating good food, so he accepted it without complaint.

After traveling for several days, they finally arrived. The city of Jeron, where Lucas, a reliable member of the hero party, was.

As they got closer to Jeron, he desperately racked his brain on what to do. He couldn’t stop worrying, as he couldn’t predict what consequences today’s choice would bring.

Jeron was a city that processed and sold gems from the Mendez estate. Since one could buy high-quality gems relatively cheaply before they were distributed further and have the raw stones processed as desired, it was always crowded.

However, just as strong light casts a darker shadow, Jeron had chronic problems.

There were noticeably more crimes, such as human trafficking, compared to other regions.

No matter how cheap gems were, ordinary commoners couldn’t even touch them. Jeron, with its severe wealth gap, was divided into beautiful streets where the so-called wealthy strolled and back alleys filled with starving people.

While most cities had back alleys of some scale, Jeron had a noticeably larger gap compared to other places for its size.

And today, the imperial carriage would pass through Jeron. If Iellon said nothing, they would pass straight through and arrive at the Duke of Mendez’s estate.

In the carriage, with no one else around, Iellon clasped his hands and tapped his foot, closing his eyes tightly before opening them. His red eyes sparkled like well-cut rubies. Pulling the cord, the carriage stopped, and a knock was followed by the window opening. The now-familiar face of an attendant appeared.

Iellon, with a very solemn and still tense expression, swallowed secretly.

“…Let’s take a break in Jeron.”

The words were so serious that the suggestion that it was too dangerous for His Highness to stay there, and that they should rest at the Mendez estate, which was just a little further, couldn’t even be voiced.

Thus, the splendid carriage entered the city of gems and crime, Jeron.

Jeron was part of the territory belonging to the Count of Myers, but since the mansion was elsewhere, there was no place to stay.

The carriage stopped on a secluded forest path. It was by Iellon’s command. The knights easily agreed that revealing his identity in a place with poor security was dangerous.

Of course, the real reason was that it was better not to stand out while searching for Lucas, but since the context was the same, it didn’t matter.

Iellon pulled on a thick navy robe. He also made sure to wear a special magic tool from the Imperial Palace that cast a recognition-disabling spell. The necklace-shaped magic tool made others perceive him as an ordinary, somewhat indistinct person.

With this, even if Iellon walked around with his silver hair and red eyes on display, no one would recognize him as a prince.

“That’s not allowed. You can’t go alone, even with guards.”

“If the knights surround me, I’ll be even more targeted.”

“Even if you’re targeted, we can protect you.”

The prince’s eyes narrowed, but the loyal knight didn’t back down. The knights standing a little distance away shivered.

“Absolutely not.”

Pablo, the deputy commander of the Imperial Knights, spoke firmly. The presence he exuded was enough to make an ordinary person, child or adult, collapse in fear, but Iellon stood his ground, glaring at him.

Pablo’s words were not wrong. No escort knight in the world would allow a mere thirteen-year-old prince to wander a city with poor security alone.

But Iellon had a reason he couldn’t back down. Having knights with him would make it much harder to find Lucas.

A prince searching for someone while poking around the back alleys of a city he’d never been to before. It was suspicious, even to Iellon himself.

If this story reached Helen’s ears, she might use Carpe as leverage to interrogate him about what he was plotting. No, she definitely would.

Having calculated this, Iellon slowly removed the necklace. Before the knights’ eyes, the ordinary child with brown hair disappeared, replaced by the prince with shimmering silver hair.

His ever-cool red eyes, which usually glared at others, caught the sunlight filtering through the leaves and sparkled mysteriously. The upturned corners of his eyes drooped, showing a different look from when he was with Carpe.

“For once, I just… wanted to be a kid.”

Iellon, lowering his head pitifully, caught the slight tremor in Pablo’s hand. Sensing victory, he nudged the grass with his toe.

“Strolling leisurely, buying a gift for my brother, wandering around without worrying about others….”

The knight standing beside him, Ska, swallowed hard. Everyone here knew how much Iellon had been tormented by Helen.

“Ah, please keep it a secret that I called Carpe my brother. You know why… Haha. It’s not a laughing matter.”

It was a bitter, resigned smile, not at all childlike. The forlorn demeanor of Iellon, who always seemed noble and sharp, swayed the knights’ hearts like reeds.

“Your Highness….”

“I think I’m strong enough to protect myself, but yeah. I must seem weak to you. Since I couldn’t even beat Ska.”

After losing to Ska and coming out of the empress’s room with swollen cheeks, Iellon had become a small topic among the knights. Ska’s face twisted into a grimace.

“I just… I was being stubborn. I’ll probably get scolded again for not acting like royalty.”

The smile he forced was clearly visible, making the prince’s face look especially young today. His hand, rubbing his cheek, trembled slightly, seemingly unconsciously.

No one could resist that sight. Especially the knights who had taught Iellon the sword since he was a very young child.

Pablo, closing his eyes tightly, let out a silent sigh. Iellon, savoring his victory and continuing his act, looked at Pablo, who knelt on one knee before him, with still drooping eyes.

“Then let’s do this. Your Highness can enjoy the outing alone. We’ll follow discreetly and protect you.”

It wasn’t a bad condition. They might stop him from going to the back alleys, but Pablo wasn’t one to break promises. Unless it was truly dangerous, he wouldn’t intervene.

Having gotten what he wanted, Iellon smiled brightly.

♣ ♣ ♣

The streets of Jeron were as beautiful as they were rumored to be. Fountains studded with jewels, people dressed in splendid clothes. There were many travelers, likely drawn by the sights.

No one paid attention to Iellon, who walked alone with his robe pulled over his head. He wasn’t the only one dressed like that, and the magical artifact around his neck didn’t hold anyone’s gaze for long.

Even though imperial knights were probably watching him from unseen places, it felt great to walk freely without having to manage his expression.

It would have been even better if Carpe were here. Surely, Carpe would have held his hand and smiled brightly with eyes more beautiful than any jewel here.

Though it wasn’t something he could change or regret, he couldn’t help but feel a bit wistful.

Still, Carpe was a hero of the future. He would travel to various parts of the empire and see things far more beautiful and precious than Iellon ever could.

With that consolation, Iellon stepped confidently into a shabby alley.

The deeper he went, the more ragged people’s clothes became. The place was so large that not everyone looked like a rough criminal.

Even children were running around. They wore dirty clothes with holes, but their smiles were as cute as any child their age.

However, Iellon didn’t smile. Here, unlike outside, he couldn’t afford to look around carelessly. If he was unlucky enough to be marked as a wandering traveler, he’d lose his wallet and everything else.

In the original story, the protagonist’s party gets their money stolen by a pickpocket here. That’s how their connection with Lucas began, but now, if Iellon lost his money, no one would help him.

The knights would just watch unless there was direct harm and later nag him, saying they warned him it was dangerous.

He had to walk confidently, not pretending to be a local but looking like someone with a purpose.

Searching for someone who looked like Lucas, Iellon spotted a stall.

It wasn’t a fancy restaurant on the jewel-studded street but a place grilling meat over an unknown fire. The skewered meat looked like chicken, but he couldn’t be sure.