Chapter: 530
The second attempt. After both the second and third attempts flopped, I took a step back, leaving the various bombs I had laid out on the perfectly fine floor.
“Did you make some mistake?”
“I’m sorry, Shoddy Useless Prince. Can you stop treating me like an idiot next to you? It makes me feel a bit bad when I hear such words from someone as vague as you.”
“What’s wrong with me!”
“What do you mean vague?! Isn’t that an insult?!”
Joy and Arthur raised their voices, caught up in my remarks, but instead of replying to them, I reflected deeply on what I had just done.
There was nothing wrong. The combination of the bombs and the magic circle was perfect. So under normal circumstances, just like last time, the ceiling should have collapsed.
‘Did that bug get resolved in the meantime?’
[It’s highly likely.]
The skeleton with Erginius’s memories had barely been given less than a month’s time.
But to solve this bug in just that time?
Is that even possible? To solve something it couldn’t even understand and cry about? It’s ridiculous!
“…Like someone who isn’t a loser.”
“Uh, Young Lady.”
While I mumbled and collected the mess I had made on the floor, Phoebe chimed in softly.
“Isn’t something strange?”
“What? Sloppy Saintess. Are you sad that I only targeted those two? Should I include you too?”
“Huh? No! That’s not what I meant.”
Was she trying to say I made a mistake like the other two? Then what was it?
“With this much commotion above, it’s strange that Lord Erginius below isn’t reacting at all.”
…
Oh? Now that I think about it, she’s right.
If this were a game, it would be normal for Erginius not to react. The NPC in the dungeon wouldn’t move unless you entered it.
But this is reality. Erginius is perfectly fine down below.
Yet, there’s no reaction despite such a disturbance above?
He should even know who caused the ruckus?
“What if Lord Erginius has gone wrong?”
“That won’t happen. Even if he’s a loser who can’t talk to women, his skills are legit.”
It makes no sense to harm that skeleton.
Before anything else, the talent that Erginius possesses is incredible. The dungeon down there is unbelievably treacherous.
Perhaps it’s because it’s guarded by a skeleton with its own memories that the difficulty of this dungeon is so high that normal people wouldn’t even dream of attempting it.
If we sent the mercenary group that brought us here, it would be a blessing if they weren’t wiped out.
The worse part is that because the skeleton has Erginius’s memories, it can affect the dungeon inside.
Erginius can set up traps and enemies at the worst possible moments, making it nearly impossible for anyone to win inside that dungeon.
It’s said that even getting through the dungeon was only possible because Erginius allowed it.
To take down the skeleton that resides in such a dungeon, we’d need a monster on the level of Lasha, if not Benedict!
“Then why doesn’t Lord Erginius respond at all?”
“What else could it be? The socially impaired loser is probably complaining that last time was really irritating.”
Last time was an exceptional situation, but this time is different. Prove that we have the right to speak after conquering the dungeon.
Haha, it’s really funny. Anyone would think we came here this time based on our needs, right?
The reason we came back here again is because Erginius called us! So what’s with this whining!?
He’s still a virgin because of this lack of social skills!
And he’ll be a virgin forever!
A loser with a terrible personality and no confidence in speaking won’t find a woman anywhere in this world!
“Are you saying to conquer the dungeon? It can’t be that hard.”
“Excuse me, you incompetent prince who knows nothing. Do you know what kind of place the dungeon below is?”
“No, not particularly.”
“Of course you wouldn’t know. I didn’t expect anything. With you not being able to handle your tasks even when a stage is set, how would the incompetent prince know about this?”
“Ugh, that’s…”
Pointing out what happened two days ago made Arthur stutter. Hmm, it seems he can’t deny that he was useless in that situation.
“Or maybe you wanted me to be in more danger and drag things out? You wanted to see me get hurt that badly?”
“What nonsense are you talking about! I would never!”
“Thinking about it, didn’t the pitiful prince freeze up when he saw me all injured? What were you thinking then?”
“…Um.”
“If you truly didn’t have any sinister thoughts, you’d be able to answer honestly, right?”
I waited for Arthur to get all hot and bothered, but his reaction was different than I imagined.
His face flushed red like it was painted under the sunset, and he stepped back with a foolish voice.
Seeing that, I naturally squinted my eyes.
I said it half as a joke, but I didn’t expect it to be true.
Such despair, Arthur.
I hoped you’d at least be a decent human being, but in the end, you’re acting like a sloppy fox.
“Prince.”
“Ah! No! It’s true that I thought it was noble then, but I never had any sinister intentions!”
Arthur, who was next to me, confessed his wrongs the moment Joy started to press him.
“It’s alright. Third Prince. The beauty of the Young Lady is enough to topple even the apostles of the Arts Church. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Y-Yeah. Prince. To be honest, compared to the others around Lucy, your reaction is perfectly normal.”
“Isn’t there something wrong the moment they became the comparison?”
Despite the white ashes Arthur had turned into, Phoebe and Joy were trying to comfort him, but with each of their words, his shoulders shrank even more.
If I got involved, I think I’d see Arthur crying, so I’ll keep my mouth shut until the situation calms down.
[So, what are you going to do? It doesn’t seem like you’re planning to enter the dungeon.]
‘How did you know? Are you reading my thoughts!? Grandpa, Transform!…’
[Ha. It’s already been almost two years since you were with me. You’ve always been the type to charge into a dungeon if you decided to conquer it, instead of casually tapping your elbows.]
‘That’s unfair! If you speak logically like that, I can’t mess around.’
I can’t respond because it’s too true.
[Hehe. Complaining, huh? What should I do? Should I pretend I don’t know even now?]
‘No, what about it? You asked what I will do, right?’
[Yeah.]
‘I was thinking of engaging in a bit of a power struggle. It feels like the current situation isn’t going to resolve itself anytime soon, so I should get a leg up first.’
I need to make it clear that it’s not anyone else who’s in a hurry, but myself. That way, even if I impose some unreasonable requests, they’ll comply.
‘Isn’t it going to be amusing to watch the great Lord Erginius saying he was wrong and pleading to have a chat with me?’
[I’m drooling just hearing about it.]
‘Right?’
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