Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 107: Prince Rodel Goes Mad (Part 2)
Deep within Sabnok Plain…
On the ground, slightly away from the central area where the monstrous beast Sabnok reigns as the master of the monster realm, a young boy lay collapsed.
“Ugh… Agh…”
The boy let out feeble breaths.
Covered in wounds, his whole body was battered, with limbs twisted in unnatural directions. Several ribs were broken, and the pain stabbing through his brain made it impossible to discern where it originated from, as his entire body ached.
(Why… on earth….?)
The young boy, Rodel Iwood, pondered hazily with his fading consciousness.
He couldn’t recall the events that led him to this point.
Had he suffered a significant impact…? His memories were fuzzy, unable to determine where he was or why he had collapsed.
“Ow…!”
The only thing clear to him was the pain coursing through his entire body.
Despite maintaining consciousness, the pain was so intense, excruciating, and unbearable. It felt as if some invisible entity was punishing him, not allowing Rodel to let go of his consciousness, even though fainting might offer relief.
(That’s right… Today was the Monster Hunt Festival. I was supposed to be hunting monsters in the plain with Goura and Tony…)
“Ugh… Goura! Tony!”
Rodel squeezed out air from his lungs, calling out the names of his two companions.
“Aren’t you here?! Come quickly!”
Despite their lord calling out, there was no sign of his two attendants.
Rodel grimaced at the disobedience of the two, yet he still shouted with determination.
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“I am calling for you! Come out already…!”
Trying to move his body, he found himself immobilized by the intense pain.
Nevertheless, he managed to raise his neck to look around, and in the distance, he spotted a familiar large figure.
“Goura!”
It was the back of his attendant, Goura Dora, the son of Count Dora.
With a muscular back and a shaven head, he was unmistakable.
Goura stood beyond a thicket in the plain, facing away from Rodel.
“Goura, what are you doing!? I am here!”
“…”
“Come quickly and help me! Can’t you hear me!?”
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“…”
Despite Rodel’s desperate shouts, Goura remained motionless.
They were only a few meters apart. There was no reason for Goura not to hear his voice.
“Goura…?”
After calling his name several times, Rodel finally noticed something peculiar.
Staring suspiciously at the back of his attendant, something happened suddenly. Goura’s body collapsed backward unexpectedly.
“Huh…!?”
Goura, who fell towards Rodel, had only his upper body, with his lower half missing.
Witnessing his attendant, whose lower half had seemingly dissolved as if melted by strong acid, Rodel felt nauseous.
“Gou… ra… This must be a joke… right…?”
Of course, with only his upper body remaining, Goura did not respond.
The eyes, now deprived of light, gazed vacantly at the sky.
“Yes, that’s right… I remember now…”
As the death of a familiar acquaintance shook his heart, memories flooded back.
Rodel had ventured deeper and deeper into the plain while defeating monsters, reaching the boundary where entry was prohibited.
Beyond that was the territory of a Monster called “Sabnok,” the master of the monster realm.
Despite stern warnings not to enter, as stated in the pre-festival briefing.
“Hmph… How absurd.”
However, Rodel sneered at such taboos.
No matter how powerful Sabnok might be… it was still just a beast. In his arrogance, Rodel was convinced that it was not an enemy worthy of his talents, chosen by the gods.
“Do not enter Sabnok’s territory… But there would be no complaints if I did, right?!”
Rodel commanded his two attendants to retrieve a certain magical item.
It was a torch with intense “Monster attraction” power, provided by Marquis Eiger, a sponsor of the Monster Hunt Festival.
“Monster attraction” was the opposite of “Monster repellent,” capable of attracting monsters. The smoke emitted from the torch strongly stimulated the fighting spirit of monsters, drawing them aggressively.
When one of his attendants lit the torch, red smoke billowed out.
And… the change occurred immediately. With thunderous footsteps like ground tremors, a gigantic six-legged monster appeared from the depths of the plain.
“GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Accompanied by a scream piercing through eardrums, a lion-like creature of towering stature emerged.
With six legs and a head containing a large, gaping mouth adorned with multiple glowing red eyeballs.
The saliva dripping from its mouth reeked terribly. Each time the saliva hit the ground, grass and trees corroded, spreading death.
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The evil lion of corrosion, “Sabnok.”
The master of the monster realm, who ruled over Sabnok Plain, had appeared.
“What…!?”
“This is…!”
Upon the emergence of the enemy, whom one could indeed call the master of the monster realm, Rodel, too, was petrified.
However, he quickly remembered his purpose and began to channel his magic.
“All right, let’s kill it! I’ll kill it and make everyone realize that I am the true king!”
The disaster-inducing monster that had been left unvanquished by all the past kings, including the previous king.
By defeating it, Rodel Iwood would establish himself as the next king and a historic hero in the eyes of the people.
Rodel bravely challenged the colossal beast with his two attendants in tow… but the current situation spoke for itself.
Rodel lay on the ground with his entire body broken, one attendant had perished, and the other’s fate was unknown.
“Why… Why has this happened…?”
Rodel might have regretted his actions from the bottom of his heart for the first time in his life.
“I am… supposed to be the chosen one… Yes. It has to be so… Didn’t my grandmother say that…?”
His grandmother, the queen dowager, had said so.
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That Rodel was a hero. That he was chosen by the gods to change history.
He had believed those words and lived his life accordingly… Was this the fate of someone loved by heaven?
The queen dowager had never spoken falsely.
She was always right. That’s why she had so many followers.
“Could it be… Was I wrong…?”
Was he wrong?
Was he not the chosen one, just an ordinary person?
If that were the case… What had his life been until now?
The deeds he thought would be forgiven because he was special… What would become of the people he had trampled on?
“What… am I…?”
“Oh, there you are, Prince Rodel.”
“…!”
“I’ve been looking for you, my lord.”
A familiar voice reached him.
Turning his head to confirm the source of the voice, Rodel saw Marquis Eiger, an elderly man with a calm expression, looking down at him.
“I’ve come to fetch you. Let me take you away from here.”
While speaking in a gentle tone, Marquis Eiger cast healing magic on Rodel.
Complete healing was difficult here, but it would serve as first aid.
After finishing the treatment, Marquis Eiger carried Rodel on his back and walked away from the plain.
“W-Wait… Wait!”
Rodel hurriedly shouted.
“Goura’s corpse is over there… And Tony is not here! I can’t just leave the two of them behind and run away…”
“Ah… Is that Goura, the son of Count Dora?”
Marquis Eiger looked at Goura’s upper body lying a short distance away.
“It’s enviable to be able to die following your orders, Your Highness. He must have been happy.”
“Happy… with this death…?”
“Yes. He sacrificed himself for Your Highness, acknowledged by the great queen dowager. Is there a greater happiness than that?”
Marquis Eiger asserted with a rough breath.
“Tony, the son of Viscount Boyle, became food for the monsters over there… But surely that was his wish. Your Highness need not worry about them. You only need to think about living as you please as the king… That’s the wish of the queen dowager.”
“…”
Rodel, being carried on Eiger’s back, couldn’t see his face.
However, he could imagine from his voice that his face was colored with joy and madness.
(What… is this man saying…?)
At that moment, Rodel realized for the first time the abnormality of the people who worshipped him as their lord.
They were clearly deranged when they mentioned the queen dowager… his grandmother’s name, as if they had lost their sanity.
(Should I… Should I continue to believe in this… in this man, in my grandmother’s words…?)
Being carried by Marquis Eiger, Rodel questioned himself.
Rodel, who had finally realized his own foolishness, may have been happier if he hadn’t noticed…
Sabnok, awakened by Rodel, had departed from the depths of the plain and was heading towards the outskirts.
Driven by Sabnok, other monsters were also flooding towards the entrance of the plain.
The resulting damage, the sight of his deceased friends’ bodies, crushed Rodel with guilt for the first time in his life.
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Oh? Growth for Rodel? Maybe that’s why the queen said he was special. Being able to have pride/power in oneself and also grow to that would probably be needed for royalty.