Chapter 7

By the time Todd turned twelve, his nickname had changed to "Alchemical Prince."

He would bring suspicious figures into the palace and introduce them to Rienbach, the commander of the Royal Guard, to conduct dubious experiments.

The materials from monsters had already overflowed his private room, so they were now stored in the earth cellar owned by the royal family.

Thanks to this, he attracted more attention from others and was branded as a suspicious boy who dissected monster corpses.

In contrast, Edward's reputation grew day by day.

Just recently, he had gone abroad as a goodwill ambassador to the neighboring country of Rienfeld and achieved great success in negotiations.

The nobles quickly gave up on Todd and began to promote Edward as the future king.

The king and queen, unable to ignore their actions, gradually lost patience with Todd, who refused to change despite repeated warnings.

They didn't realize that the downfall of the former prodigy was something Todd had deliberately orchestrated.

...

In the earth cellar at the back of the main residence, a dilapidated shed that no one used.

This old shed, built by the great-grandfather, had long been abandoned. As a result, it had become a collection of useless items that might be used someday.

Todd had inherited the ownership from his father and was using it as their laboratory.

The spacious area allowed for easy movement, and the surrounding trees provided excellent secrecy.

"Rien, let's take a short break."

"Ah!"

Todd removed his helmet and wiped his face with the towel that was handed to him.

He was wearing red armor, not the typical metal armor, but only the outer side was covered in metal.

The inside was stuffed to the brim with monster materials.

Larger than the enhanced armors developed by Hart, and smaller than the powered armors, this unit was the result of two years of their blood and sweat.

The enhanced heavy armor Type II, "Shiranui," was the name of the armor he was wearing.

About half a year ago, there was a vicious monster called the Red Ogre that had caused chaos in the country.

The Red Ogre, which could use magic and command other Ogres, had destroyed several small villages and killed many people.

Todd and his team were struggling to obtain magic stones, so they managed to secure the cooperation of his father for the extermination.

Using the prototype enhanced armor, Todd, Rienbach, and Renge successfully exterminated the Red Ogre and also hunted down the surrounding Ogres.

It was supposed to be a formidable enemy that required a full extermination team, but it was no match for Todd and his team with the enhanced armor.

As research progressed, they no longer needed such large magic stones.

Thus, the magic stones from Ogres were sufficient, and the enhanced armor now had a considerable surplus.

With the successful acquisition of a large amount of materials, they were able to start mass production of the enhanced armor and began production of the powered armor.

However, the powered armor was different from previous armors, and its production was proving difficult.

Therefore, they were in the stage of experimenting and testing various improvements to transition from the enhanced armor to the powered armor.

The enhanced heavy armor that Todd was wearing was not like the powered armor, which used almost the entire body of a monster. Instead, it was made by trimming and attaching muscles and various materials to fit the wearer's body.

The body of an Ogre was strong, but it had difficulties in transmitting the magic power from the inside.

To compensate for this, they used materials with high magic conductivity, such as the electric sea cucumber and wind loach, on the inside.

By channeling magic power, it could achieve the same effect as an enhancement spell, and the attacks assisted by the Ogre's muscles were terrifying.

A punch with the Shiranui could make a rock sink, and a swing of a sword could easily cut down a large tree.

It had only been a month since its development, and they were still struggling to control its power.

However, compared to the enhanced armor, its combat capabilities had significantly improved.

Since using the Shiranui, Todd had finally been able to match Rienbach in combat.

"How is it, Your Highness? How does it feel?"

"The ventilation is terrible, but it's powerful, so it's fine. Finally, I can fight Rien on equal terms."

"Indeed, it's amazing. When you were given this armor, I thought the same. Being with you, Your Highness, constantly overturns my common sense."

Rienbach, stroking his beard, was covered in black armor from head to toe.

This was a prototype of the magic armor Type B, which was designed with the expectation of using alloys in the powered armor.

The armor was made of an alloy mixed with mithril, which had a high affinity with magic, and was designed to allow enhanced magic stones to be inserted inside.

From the outside, it looked like ordinary armor, but if you opened it, you would see that the inside was densely engraved with geometric patterns of magic circuits.

They planned to create a mold and simplify it to make it one of their armors.

"If we officially equip the Royal Guard... no, the Royal Army with this, we could not only conquer neighboring countries but also dominate the continent. It's truly a pity that we are bound by a secrecy agreement."

"Well, I don't think that's possible. While I doubt there are people like us, if someone skilled in magic item creation could make a degraded copy, it could lead to dead copies and technology leaks. I think it's still too early to reveal it, Lord Rienbach. We lack the human resources, and a quantity-based strategy would be our downfall."

Rienbach was testing several armors, including the enhanced armor and magic armor.

He was bound by a confidentiality agreement, which was a top-level contract at the national secret level.

Rienbach was now caught between the king and Todd.

Todd wanted to relieve him of this burden as soon as possible.

However, it was still too early.

Even if they had incredible technology, it would be meaningless if it were stolen by other countries.

They needed something that would allow the country to keep it secret while advancing research.

"If we do it, we need the approval of my father and gather absolutely trustworthy personnel to proceed in secret. What we are doing now is... conquering the mountain people, adding them to our forces, and returning with them as a gift. We need to demonstrate the effectiveness of the enhanced armor and other weapons in actual combat and secure a national-level budget... Right? I don't really think it will go well, though..."

Renge looked worried.

She was one of the opponents, thinking that it was impossible to suppress the mountain people with a small, elite force as Todd suggested.

In fact, her father, King Rienfeld IV, was also against Todd's external expedition.

This was because the plan Todd submitted, which involved a minimal budget and personnel, seemed impossible to succeed.

The budget was only for food and maintenance costs, and the total amount was less than the queen's monthly entertainment expenses.

The personnel he would take were only Todd, Rienbach, Renge, Hart, and a few others from the Royal Guard.

The king was quite reluctant, but thanks to Rienbach, who said,

"If things get tough, I'll grab him by the neck and bring him back alive,"

it seemed that he would be persuaded soon.

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