The inside of the village chief's house was a godawful mess in more ways than one.
The furniture was all broken, and bloodstains could be seen here and there.
"You seem rather uncomfortable."
The village chief's prickly voice.
He was poking at a campfire in the middle of the house.
Riddled with holes as it was, it was still a house of sorts.
Not a fireplace, but a campfire.......
"It does look uncomfortable."
"......You are quite honest, are you not?"
"You seem like the type who can't stand pointless pretense."
Perhaps that was the right answer.
Without a reply, the village chief tossed something like a pebble into the campfire.
Whoosh!
The flames grew larger.
The chill eased, if only a little, and the village chief straightened his back.
"I thought you would head straight back to your carriage instead of coming into the house. The carriage has heat-retention magic on it, does it not?"
"Mana stones don't come cheap."
Maintaining the carriage's heat-retention magic required the magic power of mana stones.
If that magic power ran out, the carriage would be reduced to a freezer on wheels.
So I had to conserve it.
It would have been a different story if I had at least brought a whole sack of spare mana stones.
"......I am terribly sorry. The mana stones are not under my charge......."
It seemed that my great stepmother, Empress Cassandra, had graciously restricted them herself.
As an aside, the fact that not a single guard had been assigned to me, even though I was supposedly on my way to a state wedding, was in the same vein.
Well, with Cassandra having bolstered imperial authority like a madwoman, would there even be a bandit reckless enough to rob an Imperial carriage?
"It's all right, Harben."
I patted his broad back.
"......A member of the Imperial Household worries about money?"
"Given my circumstances, I suppose."
"......."
The village chief stared at me intently.
"Please wait a moment. I will bring out a meal to fill your stomachs, meager as it may be."
Then he turned his back and disappeared beyond the wall.
"Hah....... That friend of mine, honestly."
Harben, seated next to me, still wore a troubled look on his mug.
"I told you it's all right."
"Even if you say so, Prince, I am the one who feels uncomfortable."
"Well, his tone may be curt, but he's doing everything he should for us."
I turned my head.
There was one wall, at least, that was intact without any holes.
On it hung a large double-bladed axe.
"Isn't it something that he didn't swing that at us right off the bat?"
"Hmm....... That is true. The years truly are a frightening thing."
What did he mean by that just now?
It sounded like if the village chief were just a little younger, he would have buried that axe in my skull right off the bat.
"Besides...... there is his wound, after all."
Wound?
Just as I was about to ask about the word that bothered me.
Step, step.
The village chief appeared, carrying three wooden bowls.
The food of unknown identity he plopped down on the floor.
No....... Could this even be called food?
Something thick and dingy dark, with a murky gray tinge.
It did seem to be soup, at any rate.
"I apologize. This is all I have to offer you."
"By any chance, what exactly are these chunks?"
"Tree bark. It tastes dreadful, but nothing beats it for forgetting your hunger."
I carefully took a spoonful.
Slurp.
Aha.
So the strategy was to forget your hunger by ruining your appetite.
The moment I took a bite, my appetite vanished completely.
Slurp, slurp.
The village chief, on the other hand, was gulping down the tree-bark soup with ease.
The look of someone eating, quite literally, to stay alive.
'......A food shortage?'
The third problem, following the monsters turning ferocious and the abnormally harsh weather.
It seemed life in the North was going to be far rougher than I had expected.
***
By the time I had choked down the soup and the bowl was finally showing its bottom.
"......You really did finish it all."
The village chief murmured, as though surprised.
Honestly, my stomach rebelled every time I chewed on the coarse fibers.
But if I thought of it as an effort to win the village chief's goodwill, it wasn't something I couldn't do.
And once I had put something that passed for food into my stomach, warmth began to spread through my body.
"There's something I'd like to ask, though."
I set down my bowl and carefully broached the subject.
"......Go ahead and ask."
His tone was still curt and sharp-edged.
But the village chief didn't avoid me and met my eyes squarely.
The look in his eyes when we first met, the one that had blatantly raked over my imperial attire, had been wiped away completely.
"I'd like to know in detail about what's currently happening in the North."
"Y-Yes! I want to know too!"
Harben, who had been holding back his worry about his granddaughter all this time, hastily joined in.
"......Very well. But I am not sure exactly what I should tell you."
"I'd like to hear first about the phenomenon of the monsters collectively turning ferocious."
I looked around.
Perhaps because of the campfire, now burning higher.
The snow that had piled up inside the house melted away.
And on the floor thus revealed, more dark red bloodstains appeared.
"What would I know? This place is at the very entrance to the North, so it is hard to know what happened over on the front line. But what is clear is that, starting the year before last, an upheaval struck this land."
The village chief raised his head.
I followed his lead as well.
Beyond the holes in the ceiling, a pure white sky was visible.
It was a curtain created by the blizzard.
But that hazy curtain wasn't blocking out the moonlight.
The moonlight, blue upon blue, was visible.
"Strange, is it not?"
"......Looking at it like this, it certainly is odd."
No matter how brilliant the moonlight was, this sight was deeply strange.
A blizzard was raging so fiercely that one couldn't make out even an inch ahead.
So how could the moonlight alone be this clearly visible?
As if the blue moonlight were striking straight down onto my retinas.
"I thought it was a mysterious sight that could only be seen in the North......."
"No. The moon only began to turn blue the year before last."
"Don't tell me you....... You think that moonlight is what made the monsters turn ferocious?"
"I know it sounds crazy, too."
The village chief shrugged.
"But what can I do? I have seen what I have seen with these two eyes."
"That makes no sense!"
"Well, perhaps the Demon King is pulling some insidious trick."
"......If the Demon King had enough power to meddle with the moon, couldn't that power simply be used to push down through the front line and be done with it?"
Harben's words were perfectly sensible.
The people of this fantasy world might not know.
But I was someone who had come over from a modern age where astronomy was advanced.
'How far is the Earth from the moon, anyway?'
If the Demon King's power could affect a satellite out in space.
That was a scale far, far beyond the category of a mere living being.
If such tremendous power existed, there was no way the Northern front would still be holding.
Not only the Empire, but even the Holy Kingdom on the other side would have fallen long ago.
'But the timing itself overlaps...... so I can't call it completely unrelated.'
While I was lost deep in thought.
"How am I supposed to know what those demon bastards are thinking?"
The village chief grumbled.
"One thing is certain. Ever since the blue moon rose, the monsters have turned ferocious, and in the aftermath of it, His Grace the previous Grand Duke fell in battle."
"......Pardon?"
A bombshell out of nowhere.
Harben and I froze at the same time.
"......Surely, news of His Grace the previous Grand Duke has not reached you yet?"
"No. I knew he had passed away, though....... Is this certain?"
"Yes. I do not know the details, but that His Grace met with misfortune while trying to discover the cause of the monsters turning ferocious...... that much I have heard."
Grief seeped out of the village chief.
He seemed to be trying to speak as calmly as possible, but apparently he couldn't hide it.
It was right then.
"......!?"
The village chief's tightly shut eyes flashed open.
He shot to his feet in a hurry.
"Kuh....... H-How did I not notice them until they had pushed right up to our noses?!"
"Wh-What's wrong?"
"Your Highness, Deposed Crown Prince, you must never step outside the house. Harben, I am leaving His Highness in your hands!"
"Wait, Gra—"
It took only an instant for the village chief to snatch the double-bladed axe off the wall.
BANG—!
Soon after, the village chief kicked off the floor and dashed out.
His retreating figure was astonishingly valiant, utterly unlike his frail appearance.
"What in the......?"
Startled by the sudden situation, Harben froze up.
I calmly got to my feet.
"P-Prince! For now, it would be best to stay here......."
"I know. I just want to take a look."
The village chief's house had plenty of holes anyway.
It was more than enough to survey the situation outside without going out.
'What on earth is going on......?'
I hid myself as much as I could, then stuck out only my head to look outside.
Like the village chief, old folks each clutching a weapon of cold steel were pouring outside one by one.
"What in the world is going on!? I did not sense their presence!"
"Neither do I know! We have to defend the village first! There is a noble personage staying here right now!"
"What......? Don't tell me that carriage really—"
The old woman holding a spear was flustered only for a moment.
"Skreeeeek!!!"
A spine-chilling screech rang out.
Flinching in surprise, I witnessed the owners of the sound.
The creatures revealing themselves as they broke through the fierce blizzard.
"Goblins......?"
It was strange.
This village was nowhere near the front line, but close to the entrance of the North.
An area that could fairly be called a backwater.
In a place like that, why were monsters running rampant?
But I had no time to ponder that question.
All that mattered was the fact that a goblin horde had come to raid this village.
"Krrkh......!"
Goblins.
Monsters dispatched by the Demon King to break through the Northern front.
Creatures that it would be no exaggeration to call the weakest among them.
But the ones raiding the village now were far from 'weak,' no matter how I looked at them.
They might be puny in height, but their bursting muscles writhed grotesquely, and a blue glow blazed savagely from their bloodshot pupils.
"Skreek!"
The goblin at the front swung its club.
"Not a chance!"
The village chief thrust his double-bladed axe out to meet it.
CLANG—!
A deafening roar that shook the eardrums.
The village chief had displayed absurd brute strength compared to his shabby appearance.
"Kuh......!"
But it was the village chief who was pushed back in the clash instead.
Had it been an ordinary goblin, far from withstanding the blow, it would surely have been split in two.
"Skreek......!"
But the blue-eyed goblin was different.
The brute split its mouth in a wide grin and sneered.
"Skraaaaah—!!!"
The bastard raised its club high into the sky, as if it were a commander.
Taking that eerie roar as the signal, the goblin horde lurking behind it charged all at once.
Clang!
CLANG—!
Clang!
Sparks flew in every direction.
Fitting for Northerners who had inherited the blood and spirit of the Barbarians.
The old folks breathed out ragged breaths and resisted desperately.
"Skreeaaah!!!"
But the goblins' momentum was simply too strong.
CRUNCH—!
The village chief, who was displaying the greatest prowess of them all, fought fiercely as he smashed the skulls of several goblins.
"Guhhh......!"
But it wasn't enough to turn the tide.
Instead, in exchange for taking one goblin's head, three stab wounds were carved into the village chief's body.
The force of the attacks tore his shabby clothes.
And through the gap, the village chief's upper body was exposed.
There was a horrible scar.
A scar shaped like cracks, like a shattered mirror.
"These damned monsters......!"
The village chief clutched the dark red scar and tried to get up.
"Gah!"
But in the end, he coughed up a clot of blood and sank to one knee.
Damn it.
The 'wound' Harben had muttered about earlier.
Was that what he had meant?
"Aaaagh!"
The moment the village chief, their core fighting strength, lost his momentum.
The balance crumbled in an instant.
They had already been losing ground.
And because the old folks overexerted themselves to protect the now-defenseless village chief, the goblin horde's one-sided beating went on.
Crimson blood was strewn across the pure white snowfield.
No one had died yet.
But if this went on, it was obvious that not a single one of them would survive.
Grind.
I heard the sound of lips being bitten hard.
Drops of blood were trickling down Harben's chin.
"......You must flee, Prince."
He turned his gaze away, as if in frustration.
"We must take advantage of this chaos to drive off in the carriage and escape. Right now!"
I couldn't answer.
I was just blankly watching the old folks being ravaged by the goblins.
I knew, too.
That there was nothing I could do.
Since my Aura Heart was shattered, had I ever so much as properly gripped a weapon?
Just look.
There was no sword sheathed at my waist.
Not when it would be nothing but dead weight even if I picked it up.
I wasn't foolish enough to bother bringing one along.
But I was incompetent.
This world wasn't stupid enough for me to play the 'modern man is a genius' card.
Even in my previous life, I had been an ordinary nobody.
Whether it was studies, hobbies, or work, I did just enough not to fall behind others.
A person who had lived a life of blending into the crowd well enough.
Even if someone like that was reincarnated into a fantasy world, it was impossible for him to bring about any special change.
No, maybe my previous life was better.
At least there, there was no Empress trying to stuff and mount me as the 'incompetent deposed crown prince.'
Be that as it may, Cassandra's scheme had succeeded.
After I lost my mother and even had my Aura Heart destroyed.
I was confined to a corner of the Imperial Palace and raised like livestock under the name 'deposed crown prince.'
As a result, 'the incompetent deposed crown prince' Abel Draco Whitelion was complete.
'......But.'
Even someone as incompetent as me.
I at least knew that fleeing to save my own skin while people were dying right before my eyes was deeply cowardly.
Of course, that cowardice was the right answer.
If I jumped in, what would come of it besides one more corpse?
Besides, if I died, I'd only be helping Cassandra's scheme succeed.
Judging rationally, I ought to follow Harben's words this instant.
"But......."
The creature called a human.
Since when had it ever judged and acted on reason alone?
-Abel, please...... become a benevolent ruler.
In that moment.
A lovely voice brushed past my ears.
I smelled baby's breath.
A musty smell, closer to the stench of grass.
"It's not because of her last words."
It's just.
Me, turning my back on those people over there and leaving.
"It'd just make me feel like fucking shit, that's all."
Of course, spitting out profanity didn't make strength I never had well up.
But what about strength I had possessed all along....... No, what about a fortuitous encounter?
Ding!
I brought up the golden status window.
[■■■■■■■■■□(99%)]
The loading bar was still stuck at its critical point.
I threw a punch.
Having lived completely cut off from exercise ever since I let go of the sword, it came out as a feeble punch.
Bang!
But it was more than enough to smack the status window.
The impact traveled back to me.
"It didn't scatter?"
It didn't vanish emptily like a mirage the way it had before.
In other words, the moment for this fortuitous encounter to prove its worth was right in front of me.
But there was no sign that the remaining 1% would fill up.
"Hey."
I muttered in a low voice.
"I don't know why you're still sitting there loading......."
I ground my teeth.
"Hurry up and give me something. ......No."
I glared, my eyes wide.
"Shouldn't you at least be worth the 300G of Allen's that you gobbled up, you bastard?!"
The moment I let out a shout filled with anger at the status window playing games in a desperate situation, and a slight personal grudge.
[Guest's will synchronized!]
[■■■■■■■■■■(100%)]
[Welcome to the Shop!]
A huge interface unfolded.
Countless items contained within a grid pattern, like something you'd see in a game.
But I had no time to peruse this vast catalog one by one.
"Recommended items!"
For I somehow had the conviction that the status window....... No, the [Shop] understood my words in real time.
I just shouted without preamble.
Sure enough.
[Guest's current assets: 300G.]
[Analyzing story. Synchronizing to current situation.]
[Purchase recommended item 'First-Time Bonus Starter Set (100G)'?]
100G (Gold).
An amount on which an ordinary household in this world could live comfortably for several months.
Spending it with a single touch could feel quite painful.
But in front of my eyes were 20 old folks bleeding.
A calculation that didn't need any scales.
I pressed [Purchase].
In that instant.
"......Huh?"
The chill that had been squeezing my body vanished in one go.
My puzzlement lasted only a moment.
Whoosh—!
Bright red flames flared up.
Their source was none other than me.
"This is...... I see."
I instinctively opened my palm.
There was no need to understand.
I simply followed the sensation etched into my entire body.
'Magic power' boiled up within me.
BOOOOM—!!!
An enormous ball of fire.
The 1st-Tier spell, <Fireball>, bloomed from my palm.
"Krk?!"
The goblin that had been about to drive its spear down into the village chief sensed the magic power and hurriedly spun around.
KABOOOOM—!!!
But by then, the crimson flames had already swallowed the bastard.