035
The RP he had painstakingly accumulated.
He had almost depleted it all while ‘working’ with the Northern Liberation Army.
– In Beortio’s mansion study, behind the third bookshelf to the left of the fireplace, there is a hidden storage room.
– If you clear the desk in the corner of the dispensary, there is a passage leading underground. Go there, and you’ll find the ‘real dispensary’.
Austin would wiggle his butt with every piece of information I revealed. Each time, there was a peculiar sense of gratification, but my heart also ached as my RP drained away.
Especially when I found out the recipe for the poison used on Beortio, I couldn’t help but gasp.
Those seeds of suffering eventually bore sweet fruit.
**”You have achieved the achievement, ‘I am the prince of this country!'”**
**”[Approval Rating] has been unlocked.”**
**”[Panacea] has been unlocked.”**
….
‘Approval Rating? Panacea?’
In addition to those two, there were numerous messages accumulated during the hearing. After skimming through them, one message caught his eye.
**”The [Deception] skill has been registered.”**
**”You have achieved the achievement, ‘The One Who Laughs in Hiding’.”**
**”You have achieved the achievement, ‘The Diligent One Who Doesn’t Rely on Luck Alone’.”**
‘What is this?’
Indeed, the [Deception] skill had appeared in his skill window. It seemed to be because of all the pranks he had played.
Not [Eloquence], which left a bad taste. [Evan’s Glib Tongue] would have been better.
Anyway, he had achieved many other achievements and experienced ever-changing relationships with those present at the hearing, leaving him with a surplus of RP.
At a glance, he had recovered everything he had used to bring down Beortio, with plenty left over.
‘Well, RP isn’t that important…….’
Oh, I had a brief thought of being full.
RP is certainly important, but an even greater reward is that the locked functions in the status window have been unlocked.
I wanted to check it out right away, but the place wasn’t quite right. Alfonso was waiting outside the hearing room, and in the audience seats······.
‘No one’s there?’
Surely until the fanfare erupted and notification windows popped up in droves, the back of my neck was burning from the gazes of the two humans, Miloa and Kleang, watching me.
For now, I used the ghost hand to push all the notification windows to the corner of my view and left the hearing room.
“Prince Evan! You were amazing!”
Alfonso, with a smile on his face and at the corners of his mouth, greeted me. His expression was no different from when he was hiding his true colors, but for some reason, it felt a little different.
I chuckled and opened my mouth.
“Let’s go, chief butler.”
“Loyalty! I will serve you faithfully.”
Right. Of course, I must show loyalty.
Considering how much I’ve racked my brains because of you, really.
“Your Highness, but please speak well to Senior Austin.”
“What do you mean?”
“There will surely be people who think I’m a traitor who leaked information about the Northern Liberation Army.”
“That’s right. You spilled everything to me to save yourself. And anything to be conveyed to Austin has to go through you in the end, doesn’t it?”
“······.”
Alfonso fell silent for a moment.
“hahahahaha, hahahahaha. As your chief butler, if I were to disappear without a trace, wouldn’t Your Highness face some inconveniences? Please······ spare my life!”
He begs for his life quite boldly.
I shook my head and walked past Alfonso. I was thinking of returning to the Emerald Palace quickly to check out the newly unlocked functions.
***
In the early morning before dawn.
I woke up at the usual time and opened the window wide, taking in a deep breath of the cool air.
The snow that had fallen overnight covered the garden.
After gazing at the scenery for a moment, I turned my head towards the door.
“Alfonso.”
“Yes! I’ll come in!”
Alfonso, who had been waiting, came in with washing water, a towel, and a cup of cool water. After he handed me the cold water, I drank it refreshingly and finished a light face wash.
Alfonso doesn’t seem to sleep much.
‘He’ll sleep when he needs to.’
The Emerald Palace’s manpower will be replenished soon. Even if he can’t sleep properly right away, once he becomes the true head butler, he’ll have plenty of time for naps. No need to worry about it.
“Keep watch diligently.”
“I’ll guard it like a fortress!”
Trusting Alfonso, I began my mana meditation practice.
Inhale- Exhale-
Around 30 minutes later, feeling refreshed, I opened my eyes and asked Alfonso,
From noble mtl dot com
“It snowed a lot. How’s the training grounds?”
“If you wait a bit, I’ll sweep it right away.”
“Oh, thanks for your hard work. Once we get more staff, you’ll be free of chores, so hang in there a little longer.”
“hahahahah, got it!”
Alfonso disappeared like the wind. Soon after, I saw him walking to the training grounds with a broom. With nothing else to do while waiting, I checked my status window.
━━━━━━━━━×
Evan Lionel
Gender: Male
Age: 14
Race: Human
[Stats]
[Skills]
[Library]
[Bestiary]
…
RP: 61,897
Popularity ▶
━━━━━━━━━
It had changed a lot since the beginning.
First, my age.
Lionel Kingdom and the surrounding countries use the Korean age reckoning system, so with the new year, they turned 14 years old.
It feels like a lot of time has passed, but it’s been just over a week since the hearing.
‘Stats and skills haven’t changed much, so no need to check them. Support rate…’
By imprinting the existence of the country on the new citizens of the Lionel Kingdom, I achieved the achievement “I am the prince of this country!” Thanks to that, the support rate function was unlocked.
With a ghostly hand, I tapped the arrow (▶) next to the support rate.
━━━━━━━━━×
Berington: 25%
Rockdaron: 19%
.
.
.
Barona: 10%
.
.
.
━━━━━━━━━
The administrative regions of the Lionel Kingdom above the rank of Count appeared in a list.
I assume the numbers like 25% and 23% indicate the degree of support for me in those respective areas.
The northern regions have higher rates, while the southern and eastern regions are nearly non-existent.
Perhaps in those areas, they don’t even know of my existence. They might only know of the First and Second Princes…
If I average it out, it’s roughly 5%?
‘Oh, it dropped.’
Some areas dropped slightly compared to yesterday, around 1-2%. It had only been rising since the support rate function was unlocked.
Seeing the declining chart felt disheartening, like watching a falling stock.
The support rate is important because it’s closely related to the [Allmall] function that was unlocked simultaneously. I hurriedly opened the [Allmall].
When touched with a ghostly hand, a shop window appeared, selling all sorts of items, starting from trinkets that couldn’t even be considered items.
‘Ah…’
The Rockdaron steel sword that was available for purchase yesterday had disappeared. I didn’t intend to buy it, but having it taken away felt a bit disappointing.
To cheer myself up, I spent 1 RP to purchase a bag of famous chocolate chip cookies from the renowned bakery in the city of Barona.
The ghostly hand flickered, causing the surrounding mana to tremble.
Goooo-
The ghostly hand, now twice its original size, split its palm wide open and dropped a bag of cookies.
I swiftly caught it.
The packaging felt warm, as if the cookies had just been baked.
I took out a cookie and bit into it.
“…… Delicious as always.”
Sometimes they taste even better than the ones actually sold. I would be truly saddened if this chocolate cookie also disappeared from the catalog due to low popularity.
I don’t know how this is possible.
If I raise the popularity of the entire region to 100%, would legendary items like the demonic sword [Barisada] used by the founding king Lionel appear in the catalog?
‘Does that mean there would be two Barisadas?’
The stigmata gained by saints and holy figures are mere miracles not worth a snicker compared to [Omni-Mart].
The shock I felt when I first used [Omni-Mart]…… I pondered again, seriously, what the Rosa System wants from me.
Well, I never found the answer.
One thing is certain.
‘I must never be caught.’
If someone sees me, they might misunderstand and think I’m receiving ominous items from a contracted demon. I should buy a large [Subspace Pouch] and pretend to take things out of it.
“Huh……”
Mentioning the [Subspace Pouch] made me sigh involuntarily.
I can’t afford it with RP.
Due to its low popularity, I can’t obtain it from [Omni-Mart]. It’s also impossible to get it in reality.
The reason is simple.
I have no money.
The money I had saved from the allowance my sister gave me, which Alfonso had scolded me for spending on magic books, is barely enough.
From this month onward, I should receive the proper allowance for maintaining my dignity. However, it’s merely pocket money.
Compared to the vast amount of funds needed for my grand ambition of uniting the remaining northern forces beyond the Northern Liberation Army, it’s a mere speck.
That’s why I even considered actually running the ‘information guild’ that Alfonso had jokingly suggested before.
‘Ridiculous.’
Even if I could obtain 1 cron’s worth of information or items for 1 RP, their values are not equivalent 1:1.
RP is far more precious.
Using [Allthingstore] for business was something I considered, but the profit margins just didn’t add up. With my current low popularity, I could only get items slightly better than miscellaneous goods, earning at most a 2-3 times markup.
It felt a bit ambiguous to use RP for that level of profit.
The risk was too high. If someone became suspicious of the items’ origins and started investigating, it would be an utter disaster.
‘How do I get money?’
That was the only thought occupying my mind when I noticed Alfonso waving at me while holding a broom.
He had finished sweeping the training hall, signaling me to come out and practice. I nodded at him.
Tap tap, I cleared my head and grabbed my sword, heading to the training hall.
Surviving by gambling was nothing new to me, but I also needed to develop my own fighting abilities to protect myself.
Whoosh- Fwish-
After a light warm-up, I started my swordsman training, channeling mana.
1 second Cleaving Mountains.
2 second Shadow Slicing.
3 second Piercing Flashes.
4 second Shattering Strike.
Any more than that would be straining my mana reserves.
My mana, the fuel for my powers, was depleted. This really had no solution. They say achieving profound enlightenment can instantly raise your realm, but that’s only after surpassing the 3-Star realm at minimum.
Before then, diligent training is the fastest path.
Ah! There is one more thing.
Spirit herbs.
Especially if I could obtain Skyflowers from the Elven Forest……
Ah, it always comes back around to needing money.
“Prince! I sense hesitation in your sword.”
“Sh, shut up, you brat! Just get me back the money you squandered quickly.”
“Kya! It felt like your sword’s aura grazed my neck. Impressive!”
That’s how I spent a complicated morning.
After lunch, I left the Emerald Palace.
My steps led me to the Akasha Palace, the residence of 3rd Princess Annette Lionel, my elder sister. Had it been 5 years? It was the first time since regaining my past life’s memories.
Was it because it was the Princess’ palace?
The atmosphere was definitely different from the Emerald Palace’s. Something more…lively and vibrant?
Despite it being winter, the gardens were in full bloom with flowers that naturally blossomed in that season.
Well, my impression of them was obvious.
‘Those must be incredibly expensive.’
Does my sister have a lot of money? Come to think of it, I did overhear that there are many scoundrels showering gifts here and there.
The reason I sought out my sister was……
“Evan, you did marvelously. So different from yesterday.”
“Thank you. It’s all thanks to your guidance, sister.”
To learn how to dance.
The royal court’s New Year’s ball is coming up soon. I had agreed to escort my sister there.
Why isn’t there something like dancing in the [Skills] menu?
All that’s there are things that turn people into miserable wretches.
Still, I seemed to have become somewhat passable at dancing over these few days. Of course, only when paired with my sister.
If someone were to ask me to dance at the ball, I plan to refuse.
“Ah, to think I’ll be attending the ball with our Evan…… I’m so moved.”
Suddenly, during teatime after dance practice, my sister dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. Hmm, this is awkward.
“But you seem a bit distracted today. Is something worrying you?”
“Ah, I was pondering how I could earn some money.”
“Ah……”
My sister nodded in understanding.
Being one who received higher education and has survived at the royal court until now, my sister understands. She didn’t explain in detail, but she knows my ties with the Northern Freedom Army are rather close. I don’t need to explain why I need money.
“There’s a good way.”
She paused with her hand near the teacup.
I raised my eyes to meet her sparkling gaze.
“There are many ladies who wish to have tea with me and Evan these days. Some are even only daughters of wealthy families.”
Oh…um…….
I slowly lowered my gaze from hers.
Evan Leonel, age 14.
My heart was still in winter.