When Adel left, Prince Erik removed his armor, revealing a young man around twenty-five, with brown hair and eyes as blue as the sea.
"Alfred."
"Yes, my prince."
Alfred knelt on one knee, waiting for orders.
"Send someone to follow him, but make sure they keep their distance. For now, I want to know his movements."
"It will be done," Alfred nodded.
The prince turned his gaze to the window, watching Adel leave the courtyard light-heartedly. He narrowed his eyebrows, thoughtful.
"What do you think of him?"
"Cold, unsettling, strange."
"In short words."
"He's a frightening person, my prince," Alfred admitted.
"It's rare to hear you say something like that."
To Erik, Alfred was like an uncle: he had raised him, trained him, and taught him all the tricks he knew. He had only seen him struggle against those far stronger than himself.
"My prince, do you remember what people chase the most?"
"Money, fame, and glory. Then there's power too, but that still falls under the third category."
"Exactly. Some more, some less, but everyone wants one of those three. But him? Nothing. If he wanted money, he could've extorted us. If he wanted fame or glory, he would've informed the other factions. But during our whole talk, not once did I understand what he really desired."
"He seems to hold a particular grudge against the other factions."
"And who doesn't?" Alfred sighed. "Hate is only a means, not the destination. And then, what confuses me most is the certainty with which he said he would conquer the archipelago."
That was the point that puzzled Alfred the most.
Even he, with his entire network, couldn't oppose the other factions so easily. If he tried, they would have stopped him right away. They might have money, sure, but their number of men was still limited. The other factions would never let them grow too powerful.
"Maybe he really does have someone backing him," the prince speculated.
"That, too, doesn't quite add up. That boy doesn't seem the type to work with anyone. But at the same time, there's no way he got all that information on his own."
The prince remained silent for a few seconds.
"How do you think we should handle him?"
"For now, better to do nothing. We know too little about him, and the risk of his information reaching the wrong ears is too high. Let's just prepare for a possible escape, and I'll assign more men to watch for strange rumors."
Erik nodded in agreement.
"And about the place he mentioned?"
"Don't you think it's a trap?" Alfred asked suspiciously.
"It wouldn't make sense, would it? If he wanted to strike, he would've done it when we least expected it. From what I've seen, that doesn't seem to be his intention."
Hearing the prince's clear reasoning, Alfred smiled with pride.
"You've grown a lot, my prince."
"We still have much to do," Erik replied with a small smile, then turned serious again. "Still, I don't want to leave anything to chance. We'll go at night, with a few armed men."
"Your words are commands."
Alfred bowed once more and left to prepare everything.
****
That night, a group of men sailed silently, protected by the darkness, toward the island of Viltrix.
Now that they were within the main territory of the Explorers, they had to be extremely careful not to be seen, so as not to worsen relations between the two factions.
Among the group were Erik and Alfred. Of course, none of the men knew the prince's true identity. To them, Erik was just Alfred's young nephew, a talented boy the old man was training as his heir. No one suspected a thing, and Erik was fine with that.
When they docked, they did so among the rocks, where the small boats left no trace.
"Here," Alfred whispered, pointing to a path among twisted trees.
"Remember," added Erik as he adjusted his cloak, "no one acts alone. If this is a trap, I want to see who shows up before we strike."
"As you wish, young master," replied one of the guards, gripping his sword's hilt.
They moved through the vegetation, following an old stone wall, until they found the abandoned building Adel had described. It was a crumbling structure, with moss-covered walls and broken windows.
Alfred raised a hand, signaling two men to open the door carefully. The rotten wood gave way with a crack. Inside, the smell was pungent, damp, and dusty.
Alfred signaled to raise the lanterns. The flickering light cut through the dark… and what they saw made them freeze.
"Mother of the gods..." Alfred turned his head away immediately.
In the middle of the room, hanging between two crooked beams, was a body. Or what was left of it.
The chest had been split in two, ribs broken and spread like wings, held open by rusty hooks embedded in the wood. The arms were tied above, the legs pulled back, making the posture unnaturally tense. From afar, it looked like a butterfly—but it was such a grotesque sight that some vomited on the spot, while others collapsed with trembling legs.
Erik stood still, his eyes fixed on that deformed corpse. He felt a chill run down his spine, cold as the blade of a knife.
"It's not human..." he whispered to himself.
Alfred, for a moment, had the same thought. Then he stared again at the corpse, his jaw clenched.
"I already had a bad feeling just talking to him, but now... what will you do?"
Erik clenched his fist and looked at Alfred. "I want to know his every step. Every word. Everyone he meets. But for any reason, no one is to interact with him. I don't want any of our men ending up like this."
"Your words are orders, my prince," Alfred murmured so no one else could hear.
And in the damp silence of the building, as they took down that macabre trophy, the message left by Adel turned into fear, which crept into the heart of everyone present.
— Adel —
A couple of days had passed since my little show at the Merchant Guild headquarters, and I had to admit it had gone even better than I had hoped.
To be honest, it had been a real gamble.
Everything I knew about the situation between Alfred and the prince was just a detail I had picked up from what, in the future, would eventually come to light. Apparently, someone from their side had discovered the truth about their connection and had leaked it to a rival faction. The result? The prince was executed publicly; Alfred was captured and tortured until he spilled everything.
Beyond that, I knew nothing about them. Not even their true nature. That's why it had been a gamble. All I could do at that moment was improvise and try to understand what kind of people they were.
But in the end, my gamble worked, and from what I'd seen, it looked like they had gone to the building, so they'd think twice before doing something stupid.
The only annoying part of all this?
Since then, there hasn't been a moment I didn't feel their eyes on me. It wasn't a problem; I had nothing to hide. But that sticky attention... it was irritating.
Anyway. It was something I knew would happen. Only a fool wouldn't do anything to monitor the person who had the power to destroy them.
The only thing in this whole story that caught me off guard, though, was the prince.
"He's a Grade 2 too, tch."
That was something I never knew. Now I wondered if it simply hadn't been revealed in my old timeline, which was what I hoped. If, instead, this was one of the changes that the World's Will told me, then it meant the future was only going to get worse.
In my original plan, once all the factions had nearly destroyed each other, the only one I'd have to worry about was Alfred, who, even though he was a Grade 2, I was sure I could handle with a bit of preparation. But with the prince added in, it was simply impossible.
Right now, they feared me for what I knew and what I could do, but once things calmed down in the archipelago, they'd focus all their attention on me, and I couldn't let that happen.
"Honestly, I wanted to wait a bit longer, but I don't have any other options."
With a sigh, I looked around at the endless stretch of brackish water.
I had "borrowed" a small boat and sailed far enough to go hunting.
Truth be told, I was still convinced this was madness, but I had no other way to grow stronger. Unlike those blessed by a god, if I didn't kill some reptilian monsters, I wouldn't be able to get stronger.
"This whole core thing may have its advantages, but the drawback is just as clear."
Then I glanced at the Golden Rule rune, watching it with suspicion. These past few days, it had been strangely inactive, but rather than relief, my discomfort only grew.
I still knew too little about how this curse of misfortune worked, which meant I could never let my guard down.
With another sigh, I took off my shirt, gripped my dagger tightly, and the next moment, I dove into the water.