It had been two days since I woke up. In other words, including the three days I was unconscious, it had been a total of five days since I entered this damned body.

Right after I woke up, I had been gaining attention as an unfortunate prince who was almost assassinated despite staying low. This attention was kind of annoying because I could not find any history of Prince Yuan receiving so much interest in his fragmented memory. However, I had no choice but to endure this attention since I was the one who induced it in the first place.

No matter how capable the person behind the assassin was, it wouldn’t be easy to send another one on my way with all the attention I was getting. It was especially getting more difficult to do so because the King became furious, taking this as a challenge against the authority of royalty after learning about the assassination attempt.

“Protection is good and all, but having people tagging along sure is annoying,” I grumbled.

I saw four knights standing guard at the garden of the palace while sipping black tea. I was pretty sure this was all just pretense, but a few of the royal knights were ordered to escort me. Then again, I didn’t know how long this would last.

“Even if you do not like it you have to endure it. Your safety is of utmost importance, Your Highness,” Precia responded to my grumble, smiling.

Looking at her, I put on a sour face. “You two are really starting to bother me. Why don’t you sit down instead?”

At my suggestion, both my escort Precia and old attendant Herion refused politely.

“If I stay seated I won’t be able to react properly in unexpected situation.”

“I cannot sit alone when everyone else is standing.”

Goodness, she is being too careful; she should be able to handle any unexpected events even if she was seated.

“By the way, what is that thick book that you have been reading since yesterday?”

I answered Precia’s answer while flipping through the book.

“It is dictionary for ancient language.”

To be exact it was a crude makeshift dictionary made from analyzing the results of some of the previous kings’ dictionary compilation business. It was a historical item that would be designated as a national treasure in 200 years, but hey, what’s that got to do with me?

There was quite a number of editions so I was sure that at least one of those books will be preserved and be declared as national treasure.

“Dictionary? You’re reading just a dictionary?”

I answered with a rough nod to Precia. “Yeah, I am.”

Actually, no, I wasn’t. What I was reading right now was Aquila’s magic book on my finger-ring. Text was floating right in front of my eyes, but seeing as no one else could see what I could see, it seemed that only the owner could see it.

“Is that so…?” Precia looked at me in confusion but I just sipped the tea and focused on the magic book.

Aquila’s magic book not only contained magical knowledge, but also some diary-like letters to her child she did not even have. The preface of the book even said that Aquila had left this book behind in case when she could not teach her child magic herself. There were also many interesting things about Aquila’s life that were not mentioned in the novel.

I needed two types of information from the magic book right now. One was explanation about Aquila’s magic circuit and the other was about the Founder’s legacy. In case of the magic circuit, the reason I suffered as if I was struck by lightning contrary to the person who originally obtained it in the novel was apparently because I didn’t have the slightest talent for magic.

Learning magic properly required developing the magic circuit, and that process would also supposedly come with a lot of pain. I had no idea why I came in this body and had to suffer so much. There were talented extras in every field that died an early demise, but it had to be this doomed character.

No, I didn’t even wish for a body full of talent. I wouldn’t have to suffer like this even if I was on the level of a normal person!—I complained to myself and then looked at the information about the Founder’s legacy.

As Aquila explained about the Founder’s legacy, she mentioned that the one who found magic book should hinder the one who got the Founder’s legacy from learning it properly, should he or she not have obtained it. At the same time, she explained in detail about the principles of the legacy and how to hinder the learning.

I could see why Aquila was betrayed by the Founder. In <The Sage of the Winter Tree>, Gilbert had never come into contact with the person that obtained the magic book. Maybe thanks to that, he didn’t receive any hindrance in learning the Founder’s legacy, but if he was hindered, then “War God Gilbert” would probably not have appeared.

No, since I have got what was supposed to be taken by Gilbert, will there be no War God now?

Anyways, according to this book, there was only one way for me to learn Founder’s legacy perfectly. And that… was to work out. In order to modify my body with Founder’s legacy I needed a bare minimum of physicality. The percentage meant how far I was from that bare minimum requirement.

“Haa, exercise, huh…”

I didn’t know how many years it would take for this rotten body to get there.

Closing the dictionary, I got up from my seat. “Well then, let’s go for a walk! The palace physician has also told me that I should move.”

I went around the palace under the pretext of a walk.

* * *

I walked around diligently in preparations to get the hidden secrets then saw a cathedral within the palace and went inside. This was the seventh location where a treasure was hidden.

“Woah, pretty neat, huh?”

The cathedral was magnificent and beautiful just as any other palace. It was white as it was built from marble, and the stained glass windows glistening under the sunlight created a reverent yet mysterious atmosphere.

In particular, the huge sculpture of the goddess which smiled affectionately under the sunlight that passed through the glass dome was mesmerizing, so much so that it was a pity to smash it open.

When I let out an exclamation, an old bald priest, who was cleaning the cathedral with the nuns approached me. “It has been a long time since you visited. Your Highness.”

Curiously, the priest had some forelocks of hair, even though he was bald for the rest of his head. He had probably shaved the top of his head deliberately. His hair style seemed to be a way of ascetic practice just like how the medieval Capuchin friars—where the word cappuccino came from—did with their own hair.

No, maybe he just has a strong hair loss?

“May the blessings of the Earth be with you.”

I didn’t know the priest, but he seemed to know me, so I decided just to play along. “It has been long. May the blessings of the Earth be with you.”

The priest looked surprised and delighted when I imitated his greeting. “Your Highness, have you decided to believe in the benevolent Mother Earth?”

Ah, did Prince Yuan originally believe in different god?

In this world, there was a religion that believed in seven gods, each representing a different natural object. The seven gods were all tied into one religion, and the religion was split into seven denominations according to each god. The priest here seemed to belong to the denomination that believed in the Goddess of the Earth.

Without panicking, I spoke with a smile. “I believe in all gods. However, as this is the place where the will of the great Saintess Daliana resides so I thought this greeting would be appropriate.”

The priest seemed rather disappointed, but still nodded at my answer. “I see. This is definitely where the will of Saintess Daliana resides. Though, many people have forgotten about it lately.”

Saintess Daliana was a priestess who served the Goddess of the Earth and had made a great contribution in establishing this nation. She was the reason why the cathedral in palace had a sculpture of Goddess of the Earth and not of the God of the Sun, which was the most powerful denomination.

“I see Your Highness has been studying a lot.”

Daliana was a person who was revered regardless of denomination because she had achieved many accomplishment for the whole religion. However, as she was a figure from many centuries ago, many people did not know of her unless they learned religious history.

Obviously, I knew because I had read the novel.

“Haha, you flatter me.”

“That aside, I have heard about the incident. It must have been difficult for you but I am glad to see you safe.”

“Fortunately, I have no injuries. Isn’t this all thanks to the grace of the gods? The moon has yet to call for me.”

I responded with a pretentious smile and approached the goddess statue saying that I wanted to pray for a while. Then, I pretended to pray while telling Nabi, who was invisible, to look for a space that I could sneak into.

—Meow~!

Nabi toddled in the air and made sounds that only I could hear while I read the scriptures written under the sculpture.

Inside this goddess statue was a scared relic of Saintess Daliana lying dormant. The small rosary was a relic that had effect of defending against all kinds of diseases and poison and enhancing the natural healing power of the owner. For this frail body, it was a must-have item.

In addition, it was said that just by holding it in one’s hands it could temporarily amplify one’s divine power by dozens of times, but that was useless to me. There wouldn’t come a day I would wield divine powers after all.

I wanted to get my hands on it right away but there was a small issue in getting the relic. It was that the statue was supported by the power of relic so if the rosary were to be taken away, the statue would collapse as well.

It was none of my business whether the statue was intact or broken but the question was if I could get out of the cathedral after stealing the sacred relic.

“…Goddess please help me.”

Please let me take the sacred relic safely. If you do, I will raise the next saint properly. Even if I cannot give Rosario to the next saint, I will help them with all I can whether it is getting saint’s staff, incarnate remains or taking them to the forgotten sanctuary, so can’t you do something about it?

—Meow~!

Nabi came back to me and snuck into my pocket, seemingly having looked around the whole cathedral. I slowly left the cathedral after I made a request that would never get an answer.

“Now, where should I go next…”

There were still many places to go. There were still four places left to visit aside from the king’s residence. As for doing the deed, I would have to wait until the night.

While I was thinking about the next destination one of my escorts complained. “Your Highness, let’s return to the palace now. The investigation into the assassination attempt has not been completed yet.”

From the contents of his words, it seemed that he was worried about me, but the way he spoke he looked annoyed as I kept going around places and he had to tag along. Well, I could understand him. If the target of the escort kept wandering around, they would have more things to pay attention to, which might be annoying.

But what did that have to do with me?—I raised my eyes to see the face of the knight who was taller than me and asked.

“…What is your name?”

The knight looked at me with a frown, seemingly asking what I was going to do with his name. Just because he was escorting me didn’t mean that he had become my knight, so he probably found it absurd.

“Do you not have a name? Or are you ignoring the words of a prince?”

The knight flinched at my question. The king had entrusted him to be the escort as he was furious about the assassination attempt, saying that the authority of the royalty was being challenged, so if he ignored the question of that very royalty, it too would be a challenge to the authority of royalty.

Considering the position I was in, if it was some other time then, at most he would have had to write a written apology or at worst, get a pay cut for a while. But now he could even get demoted and in the worst case he might be executed according to the law.

“…No, please forgive me. My name is Pacil di Conrad.”

“Well then, Sir Conrad. Why do you suggest I return back to the palace?”

To my question the knight answered as if stating the obvious, “As I said, the investigation into the incident has not been completed yet, so for your safety—”

“Oh, I see!” I deliberately interrupted him and exclaimed.

“For my safety, you say! Do you mean to say that the royal palace not safe? You admit that the knights of this nation cannot detect a single assassin! That is your opinion! I heard you well!”

When I clapped loudly, I caught the attention of the priest and the people working in the cathedral and the soldiers on patrol then the knight turned pale.

“You are the most loyal of all! Who else would be willing to reveal their own shortcomings for the sake of those they serve?”

I smiled brightly as opposed to his distorted expression.