Chapter 50

As soon as we left the palace, Elysia muttered in disbelief.

"Does this mean he's refusing to meet us...?"

"No, even the servant really doesn't know."

Sure enough, or perhaps unsurprisingly, the Fourth Prince Virtus was not in his room. When we asked the servant, he just said, "I don't know where he is."

I didn't really expect him to be in his room. Virtus is thirteen. Normally, he should be attending the Magic Academy.

But if he's not at the Magic Academy, where is he?

He's not the type to attend school diligently.

Elysia asked me.

"Should we wait until night?"

"No, Virtus is actually more active at night. He's rarely in the palace. I have a few places in mind, but... they might not be pleasant to look at."

"Don't worry. I've probably seen those places before."

Elysia looked at me with a serious expression.

In the midst of this, a familiar voice echoed from the palace corridor.

"Brother! Alex, brother! Where are you?! At least show your face!"

It's Louis...

Elysia and I nodded to each other and teleported to the park outside the palace.

Then we walked toward the slums where Virtus was likely to be.

Elysia muttered.

"What does he want with you, Alex?"

"I think he wants to settle his grudge."

But before the reset, he should have been able to settle his grudge with me quickly.

Gradually, he started using me as a tool to highlight himself, who bears the crest of the Holy God. In the end, he only saw me as a piece of filth with the Dark crest.

But what about now?

Louis hasn't had any contact with me. Just being disinherited wasn't enough to settle his grudge. If he can't meet me, he might have plotted with Varios to kill me.

In any case, Louis now wants to show everyone the power gap between us.

That's why he wanted to force me to go to school.

"But, kid. Louis is still a child. We are brothers, and before we received our crests, we used to play and laugh together."

If I go to Mire and keep my distance, he might gradually forget about me... that's what I believe.

While walking down the main street of the capital, Elysia looked into the distance and muttered.

"Having brothers... I used to envy that. I wished I had a sister or an older sister. But..."

Elysia was separated from her human mother when she was young.

It's hard to believe that her mother reconciled with her orc father. Perhaps she remarried a human and had sisters.

For Elysia, who has no family, it must be a source of longing.

"...If we weren't in such a special situation, this wouldn't have happened. If we didn't have the completely opposite crests of Holy and Dark."

"...Crests are not always a good thing."

I nodded deeply at Elysia's words.

While they are a blessing, they also force people into certain roles and positions in society. Elysia was assigned to endless undead hunting at the monastery because of her crest.

There are also those who receive a Dark crest that is more of a curse than a blessing.

Elysia said, as if she had just realized something.

"By the way, what crest does Prince Virtus have?"

"Pantheon..."

"What kind of crest is that?"

"A crest given to one who is loved by all gods. It means he can handle all types of magic well. Not only that, he can skillfully handle swords, bows, and anything else. There might even be a god of swords that we don't know about."

While it doesn't match the effects of crests that grant specific magical attributes, for example, in holy magic, Louis, who has the Holy God crest, would still be superior.

Elysia said, surprised.

"Such a crest exists?"

"Virtus is the first person to receive this crest. Well, Virtus... no, I don't know who might be listening."

Elysia didn't ask any more questions. She must have sensed the complicated situation.

Virtus is believed to be the child of one of the emperor's concubines.

But in reality, he is not the emperor's biological child.

If he were just a human, this fact would never have come to light.

When he was born, Virtus was thought to be a normal human.

But at the age of seven, his canine teeth began to grow like a bat's. Eventually, black wings sprouted from his back.

In other words, Virtus has the blood of a demon.

The concubine must have mated with a demon of vampire lineage and given birth to Virtus.

When the emperor learned this, he wanted to kill Virtus.

However, Virtus was already known to many people. He was respected for having the Pantheon crest, which no human had ever received, and even the emperor, as his biological father, was respected.

Moreover, the concubine fled westward as soon as the truth came to light. The emperor feared that the surrounding countries would learn the truth from her.

Therefore, the emperor had no choice but to cut off Virtus's teeth and wings and raise him as a normal human. If anyone said anything, he could claim that Virtus was human.

I told Elysia.

"But... he's not a bad guy."

"If you say so, Alex."

By the time we arrived at the slums, the area was filled with people begging for money and goods, and monsters for sale.

Indeed, it was not a pleasant sight.

I walked straight ahead, heading for our destination.

Suddenly, three large men in tattered clothes blocked our path.

"Hey, hold it! You need to pay a toll to go any further! How about you, miss, you can pay with your body... Hey!!"

When I tried to pass by, one of the men grabbed my shoulder.

But Elysia grabbed his arm firmly.

"Don't touch Alex."

"Wh-what the... What the hell!?"

The man was easily thrown over Elysia's back.

Seeing the other men draw their knives, Elysia reached for the hilt of the sword hidden under her skirt.

"...Stop, Elysia. That guy runs this district."

When I said this, the man got up and said.

"Heh, heh, you know, right?"

"Yeah. I know you work for Virtus. You're Bozer, right?"

"Wh-what, how do you know my name? ...Wait, you said Virtus? You know the boss?"

"He's my brother."

Hearing this, Bozer was stunned.

"...You're kidding, right? Only the boss would come to a place like this..."

As Bozer said, Virtus is probably the only one who would come to a place like this... Even before the reset, I visited Virtus here a few times in secret.

"It's a hassle to show the crest on my chest... How about this?"

I handed a silver coin to Bozer.

"You're a smart kid... Fine. If the boss says to leave, you leave."

Bozer snatched the silver coin from me and led us to a nearby building, saying, "Follow me."

The building was adorned with gaudy decorations and had overly large windows. It was a suspicious place, but there were no customers or workers around because it was still daytime.

We walked down a creaky corridor and stopped in front of a door.

"Boss... A guy who claims to be your brother is here."

"Brother? I don't have such a person. Get rid of him... I'm in the middle of something good."

"Right... The boss won't see you. Leave."

Bozer said this, but I spoke to the other side of the door.

"Virtus... I have a business proposition. It's worth at least a hundred gold coins."

"Hey, let me talk..."

But the voice from the other side of the door interrupted Bozer.

"Wait thirty seconds... Open the door after thirty seconds."

Bozer was taken aback, but he opened the door after thirty seconds.

"...Here, come in."

In the back of the room was a large, gaudy golden bed, and several people were sitting on it in disheveled clothing.

A brown-skinned, blonde-haired boy surrounded by various demons spoke.

"Hey, you came."

The brown-skinned boy, Virtus, muttered.