I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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Green light flowed from the spirits.

The light gathered not at Zion but in front of him.

As the gathered light began forming a shape, divine energy spread across all of Elbrium.

"Th-this is...!"

Spirena's eyes widened as far as possible.

Not because she was surprised by this strange phenomenon that had never occurred before.

Rather, because she knew exactly what this phenomenon was.

"D-descent!"

Though not a perfect descent but merely a temporary form borrowed through the spirits' power, even this was incredibly rare, happening perhaps once every few hundred years.

As Spirena hurriedly descended from the altar and ran toward where the light gathered- FLASH!

The light finally formed a perfect female shape.

Though extremely faint since made of light rather than flesh, Zion easily recognized the form as Akenidia.

That fresh smile on her lips and divine energy were something no other being could imitate.

"Ah, Akenidia!"

All fairies present knelt on one knee and bowed their heads toward Akenidia.

Their eyes held infinite emotion at directly receiving their deity.

Moreover, faint relief that Akenidia hadn't abandoned them yet.

Then-

-...n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The goddess, who had been silently watching Zion, slightly bowed her head.

As if expressing gratitude to him.

The fairies were her followers and like children to her, so she seemed to be thanking him for saving the World Tree and Fairy Forest.

Though this scene wasn't particularly significant from Zion's perspective-

"!!!!!!!"

It was completely different for the watching fairies.

"Akenidia... bowed her head?"

"How could this..."

The fairies' eyes showed blank shock beyond amazement.

Even for giving thanks, it was extremely rare for a deity to directly bow to a mortal.

No, one could say it had never happened before.

Regardless of the fairies' reactions, Akenidia raised her head again and silently moved her lips while looking at Zion.

I'll. Be. Waiting.

Those were the words her lip movements formed.

Before Zion could answer, the light forming Akenidia scattered and her form naturally vanished.

But silence continued filling the plaza even after Akenidia disappeared.

"..."

This silence lasted quite a while.

After the first day of the festival ended with both anomaly and amazement-

"I didn't expect you to leave so soon."

Zion stood at Elbrium's outskirts with Liushina and Celphia.

Having finished all business here and with the next schedule tight, they were departing the Fairy Forest immediately.

Only Diana and a few Leaves stood quietly seeing them off before Zion.

"We haven't even properly hosted you yet... wouldn't you consider staying at least until the festival ends?"

Deep regret filled Halegrion's eyes as he spoke these sincere words toward Zion.

His attitude was clearly different from when Zion first visited the Fairy Forest.

That was inevitable.

Zion had not only saved the Fairy Forest from destruction but even received thanks from their deity.

Before Zion could answer his words-

"It's useless saying that. I've never seen Zion bend his will before."

Diana, standing beside Halegrion, spoke while watching Zion with complex eyes.

Not because of the throne or Fairy Forest issues.

Pure curiosity about Zion himself.

'He clearly said the Eternal Emperor's ring was his from the start.'

An ambiguous and outrageous statement.

Unless he was the Eternal Emperor himself.

'And Akenidia even bowed to him.'

That scene was still unbelievable.

Throughout history, how many humans had received acknowledgment from deities?

Though she thought about this throughout the festival, Diana couldn't find an answer.

Having watched Zion's growth from birth until now, she couldn't even consider that he might be the Eternal Emperor himself.

"Are you returning to the empire now?"

Diana shook her head once to clear that thought and asked Zion.

"No."

"Then where are you going?"

"Beast Sea."

A quiet answer flowed from Zion's lips.

Diana's eyes filled with bewilderment.

"Beast Sea? Currently that's..."

"I know."

Zion spoke before Diana could finish and immediately turned around.

"Keep my going there secret."

With these final words, Zion began walking away.

"See you later in the imperial palace."

Until Zion's gradually retreating back completely disappeared.

Diana and the fairies quietly saw him off without taking their eyes away.

On an unnamed island in the Beast Sea-

"Which number is this? How many battles have we joined?"

Rain watched the desolate battlefield before them with emotionless eyes while asking Tirian beside her.

"The sixth. And all six times we succeeded in reversing the tide and bringing victory to the rebel side."

"But the overall situation is still disadvantageous for the rebels. Overwhelmingly so."

Following Tirian's words, Turzan spoke while turning toward the hero who seemed deep in thought.

"Claire, this won't work. No matter how many times we reverse individual battles, it's only temporary and won't solve the fundamental problem."

"Yes, you're right."

Claire immediately acknowledged this with a nod.

She had been thinking about this herself.

'I thought the rebel leadership would contact us by now... they're being more cautious than expected.'

Though contact had been made, it was far from enough.

'At this rate we might really miss the timing.'

Claire thought this while recalling an upcoming event and the Beast Sea's end she had seen before regression.

A future that must be prevented at all costs.

But at this rate, it seemed the same events would repeat.

'Though it goes against instructions, I'll have to move independently from now... hm?'

Just then-

FLAP!

A crow carrying a letter in its beak landed before her.

The crow held out the letter as if telling her to take it.

"Eye of the Moon?"

Seeing the information guild's mark stamped at the top of the envelope, Claire immediately took and began reading the letter.

Then-

"Prince Zion himself...?"

A strange tone colored her voice as she read the letter's contents.

Beast Sea.

True to its name, this was a sea where beast-kin lived, consisting of over hundreds of large and small islands rather than a single landmass.

Because of this, it was more closed off than anywhere else and had a unique culture.

Even the powers used were mainly martial arts and sorcery, with magic rarely used.

Moreover, transportation mainly consisted of ships rather than horses, magic cars, or trains.

Therefore currently-

"Urgh! I think I'm going to throw up..."

Zion stood on a passenger ship's deck cutting through the waves, watching Celphia suffering from seasickness beside him.

'She said this was her first time on a ship?'

As Zion thought this watching her, his appearance was slightly different than usual.

Black hair and black eyes.

And subtly altered features.

The reason Zion hid his identity was because of the civil war occurring in the Beast Sea.

'A war between the current Beast King and opposing rebel forces.'

Zion had come to the Beast Sea to intervene in this massive war, and if he intervened with his original identity, the sparks of war could spread and involve the entire empire rather than remain a civil war.

'That can't happen. We need to end the civil war while maintaining maximum forces.'

This was something Zion, facing the great war soon, had to avoid at all costs, which was why he hid his identity.

Moreover, he hadn't brought along anyone whose identity might be revealed like Liushina, so currently only Celphia, who was busy emptying her stomach, was by Zion's side.

'Liushina couldn't join this mission anyway.'

After briefly recalling her, who should be breaking through the final wall toward 'the end' by now, Zion organized his thoughts about upcoming events.

'Meeting the hero's side comes later, first I should contact the rebels.'

Zion had reason for choosing to help the rebels rather than the overwhelmingly advantaged Beast King's side.

Originally, the rebel leader and legitimate heir - the Crown Prince - should rightfully sit on the Beast King's throne.

The current Beast King, Wolbyeokcheon, was the Crown Prince's uncle who had killed the previous Beast King while driving out his nephew to take the throne.

That had reversed their positions.

Though Zion didn't particularly care who sat on the throne, the problem was that Wolbyeokcheon and his forces had allied with the demon realm.

'Because of that, in the chronicle the Beast Sea side completely joined the demon realm as soon as the great war began.'

That was the future Zion needed to change this time.

'For that, I need to meet the rebel leader - the Crown Prince - first.'

Actually, Zion knew nothing about this either.

Perhaps due to assassination threats, even the rebels thoroughly hid the Crown Prince's location and identity.

Few even among allies knew.

Moreover, he couldn't move according to the chronicle's contents this time.

Before contact with the hero, the Crown Prince had already died in some incident, so nothing about him was written in the chronicle.

But one thing.

There was something to reference.

'Was it this time? When the Crown Prince died.'

The location where the Crown Prince met his death.

That location had been written in the chronicle, which was why Zion was currently traveling there by passenger ship.

'This speed is too slow though. We might not arrive in time at this rate.'

Just as Zion thought this while watching the passenger ship slowly cut through the waves like a pleasure craft-

"Ho ho, seems you're from the empire."

An elderly voice came from beside him.

Turning his head, Zion saw an old man with raccoon ears and tail, small enough to only reach his waist.

"And seems it's your first time on a ship too."

The old man smiled good-naturedly with these words.

Seeing him, a small strange light flickered in Zion's eyes.

'This person is...'

Wandering Fist Jang Maldong.

He had appeared in the chronicle as one of the hero's helpers.

Despite his friendly appearance and name, he was actually a powerhouse belonging to the 'Twelve Seas.'

True to his title, he loved wandering without being bound anywhere and mixing with people while hiding his identity.

It seemed Zion and Celphia, the only non-beast-kin on the passenger ship, had caught his interest.

"Are you two here traveling? Well, the Beast Sea's tourist spots are world-famous attractions. However... you picked quite a bad time. Did you know the Beast Sea is currently in civil war?"

The old man approached Zion's side and spoke as if they were old acquaintances, without a trace of awkwardness.

Zion slightly nodded at Jang Maldong's question.

That was precisely why they had come after all.

"Ho ho, fearless friends you are. Still, war isn't happening everywhere, so you might be fine if you move carefully avoiding it. If you want to know about that, feel free to ask me."

"M-more importantly... is there no way to stop seasickness... urgh!"

Celphia asked with a haggard face, but Jang Maldong shook his head.

"No. You just have to endure it."

Celphia made a gloomy expression at this answer, like when surrounded by fairies offering mint.

Watching her, Jang Maldong stroked his beard as if recalling the past and continued:

"I used to get terribly seasick too. Could barely stand when I first rode. But..."

But before the old man's story could finish-

"Oh no!!"

"Turn the ship!"

"It's too late! H-here it comes!!"

Urgent shouts rang out as commotion began at the ship's front.

Heads naturally turned that direction.

Seeing something rapidly approaching the passenger ship's front, Zion's lips curved slightly.

'Perfect timing.'

It seemed a way to compensate for the slow speed would appear.