Chapter 32. You can’t, but I can.

When I opened my eyes, it was the third day since the Devil Bear had died.

“Your Highness!”

Elliot, who was by the bed, burst into tears and stroked my face. Anyone watching would think she was my mother.

“Your Highneeeess!”

Bethel, who came running at the sound of Elliot’s voice, had the same reaction. Anyone watching would think he was my uncle.

“It’s His Highness!”

Michelle also… she didn’t cry, but she stopped eating. Which was a huge reaction.

“My heart sank when I saw Your Highness collapse.”

Elliot said, sniffling. According to her explanation, I had collapsed right after being drenched in the Devil Bear’s blood. My condition had been a mess from the fierce battle, so collapsing while covered in blood, it wasn’t strange for them to think, ‘Is he dying?’.

By the way, my Mana Heart…….

“It’s fine?”

It was empty with almost no mana, but the Mana Heart hadn’t burst from mana deprivation. I thought it was dangerous since I had scraped together the last of my mana at the end, but it seemed a speck had been left. Was it because it was high-purity mana that even that small amount was enough for it to function without issue?

“The young lady of the Rosenberg family took care of you.”

“Huh?”

At Elliot’s words, I tilted my head. I wondered if I had heard her correctly. It was a widely acknowledged fact that Adellian disliked me. I had no idea what it meant for a girl like that to have taken care of me.

“She used Healing Magic when she saw you were gravely injured.”

This time, Bethel spoke. So I cleaned my ears.

“It’s true.”

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“No, I mean, why would she use something like that on me?”

“Because she saw you were seriously hurt… wouldn’t that be why?”

It seemed Bethel didn’t know the reason either. Well, it wasn’t like he was in a position to ask the Duke’s daughter why she was healing me.

If that’s the case, it means Adellian saved me…….

“Where is that distinguished young lady?”

“That… Your Highness…….”

Elliot hung her head low, like someone who had committed a crime.

“What is it? What happened while I was out?”

“That is… I… I have committed a crime worthy of death.”

“Huh? What did you do? Did you kill someone?”

“What? No! How could I do such a thing…….”

“Then why?”

“Without asking Your Highness, I yielded the carriage repair order to the young lady.”

Does that constitute a crime worthy of death?

“I will gladly accept any punishment you give me!”

Since she said she would gladly accept it, I guess there was no need to refuse.

“Prepare something sweet for me.”

“……?”

“I haven’t eaten anything while I was asleep. My sugar is so low, I think I need to eat something sweet for my head to work. So, something sweet.”

“Ah… Yes.”

“Why? Didn’t you say you’d gladly accept it?”

“……Yes.”

It was a bland joke.

Anyway, to summarize, Adellian’s Healing Magic seemed to have prevented my Mana Heart from bursting. Of course, that wasn’t her intention, but she saved me nonetheless.

‘The Mana Heart absorbed the mana.’

The mana that constitutes Healing Magic is sharply refined. With such mana flooding into my body, my starved Mana Heart must have welcomed it like rain in a drought.

‘She must have been quite flustered.’

Even after using Healing Magic, the wounds on my body remained, I didn’t wake up, and my breathing was still erratic. I wanted to see Adellian’s flustered face. There were few people whose emotions showed on their face as much as hers. The sight of her sweating bullets and not knowing what to do would be hilarious.

“So Adellian went on to Saint-Denis first?”

“Yes. After treating Your Highness, she said she needed to be looked after and left first.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

I nodded at Bethel’s answer. The last time I saw Adellian, she was very tired after using Healing Magic. Since my condition was not good, she must have used more power than before. She might say something when we meet later… something feels strangely unsettling.

I have a strong feeling that Adellian will hold this as a debt and use it against me.

“That’s right. The mayor requested to see Your Highness.”

As I was frowning, thinking about Adellian, Bethel’s face lit up with an exclamation mark as he spoke.

“The mayor? Why?”

“I think he wants to thank you for stopping the monster. The place you are staying now was also specially prepared by the mayor.”

Come to think of it, this place was different from the lodging I had been staying at. If the previous place was modest, this place was luxurious. The bed was much softer, and it seemed to be well soundproofed. I should thank him when I see him.

Then now, I need to check the most important thing.

“Tell the mayor to come whenever he’s ready. What happened to the Devil Bear’s heart?”

At my question, Bethel’s eyes widened. Michelle blinked her eyes, a candy-like thing in her mouth. And seeing this, my heart began to pound rapidly.

“What’s with these reactions? The purplish-black, round thing. I think I grabbed it before I lost consciousness.”

“……”

The two of them couldn’t answer and just exchanged glances. My heart was pounding like crazy.

“Hey, no way. You don’t know what it is, do you?”

“That… foul-smelling…….”

“Foul-smelling or whatever, the heart. Don’t you know? The thing that pumps blood. The thing you use when you circulate mana.”

Bethel’s lips just trembled as his brow furrowed deeply.

“The Devil Bear’s heart. Don’t you know? At the end, I sliced the bastard’s belly like this, and blood gushed out, and its intestines spilled out. The purple thing from there, the heart. The heart!”

My blood pressure rose, and I blurted out words without realizing it. Not only that, but I also flailed my hands, something I don’t usually do.

But these bastards were looking at me as if they had no idea what I was talking about.

Really, I felt like I wanted to breathe fire like a Devil Bear.

“No! The heart! Damn it! The heart! You don’t know what a heart is!”

“That… the heart, was that the thing Your Highness was clutching when you fainted…….”

“Whatever! Bring me what came out of the Devil Bear’s belly!”

I went through all that trouble for that thing, what the hell are these bastards doing! Don’t tell me?

“Did you throw it away?”

“What? Do you mean the intestines?”

“Did you throw it away!”

“We disposed of all the intestines… but the purplish-black… black… that strange thing, we did set it aside. But…….”

“Forget the ‘buts’ and just bring it. Quickly!”

I glared at them and roared.

Bethel and Michelle started running in a flurry. A moment later, they came back carrying a trash can. With clothespins pinching their noses.

“Bring the heart… Keuk. This is… Ugh. What… Oh.”

The stench from the trash can was so bad that it was hard to speak properly.

“Your Highness, what you mentioned… Uwek! What is this… Keoheok! Ek.”

Elliot, who had brought a sweet dish, started retching.

Me too, and Bethel, and Michelle, we all retched uncontrollably.

If I left this in the room, the smell would never go away.

“Fi, first. Keok! Ou, outside. To the outside… Ek! Uwek!”

As soon as I managed to sputter out the words, Bethel ran outside with the trash can.

Michelle followed him. And Elliot…….

“Uwek! Ek! Ueek!”

She threw up right there. And me too…….

***

Bethel and I were in the front yard of the lodging the mayor had provided. Michelle and Elliot were cleaning the place I had been in, burning lots of candles to get rid of the smell. They were burning so many candles that from a distance, someone might shout, ‘Fire!’.

“This is the Devil Bear’s heart?”

I asked Bethel as I looked down into the trash can with a clothespin clamped tightly on my nose. Inside the trash can was a shapeless, purplish-black. No, it was a nearly black object.

Holding my breath, I got closer to the trash can. The stench felt like it was scratching my skin.

“Hmm.”

There was still a faint trace of purple. Its shape had collapsed, but if I held it, it would probably have the same shape as the heart I saw then. The blood vessels looked similar too.

“I don’t know if it’s a heart, but it is the intestine Your Highness was holding in your hand.”

“It’s the heart.”

If I hadn’t seen the Devil Bear’s heart at the end, I probably would have been stammering just like Bethel or Michelle.

“Why are you looking for this? Count Klaus said it was trash and to throw it away quickly……”

“It is trash. But not to me.”

“Why is that?”

“I’m different from you guys.”

“That’s… because Your Highness is a prince and I’m just an ordinary person……”

“No, not that. You and I are both human, how different can that be?”

“What? Still, Your Highness is a noble person and I am not, am I?”

“What noble. Forget it. What’s the point of saying it now. Anyway, that’s not what I meant by different.”

I paused for a moment and placed my hand on the right side of my chest.

“What’s in here is different.”

The difference between a Mana Circle and a Mana Heart.

A Mana Circle focuses on taking in mana and manifesting it as magic by circulating it through the circle. It doesn’t do things like refining mana. Instead, it can use a large amount of mana.

A Mana Heart refines mana. And it stores it inside the heart. The degree of refinement would differ depending on the nature of the Mana Heart.

For that reason, to those who use Mana Circles, the hearts of high-grade monsters like Owlbears or Devil Bears are nothing more than foul-smelling trash. No, they might even be a deadly poison. A monster’s heart contains a large amount of condensed mana, but the degree of contamination is also significant.

“Ehehehe.”

So at this point, it’s the only thing that only I can eat…….

“Kuek! Keok! Keok!”

I leaned my face close to the trash can and the stench stung my nose. Bethel took a step away from me. The look in his eyes was like he was looking at a madman, which was disrespectful.

“What?”

“It seemed like you were enjoying it too much……. So what are you going to do now?”

“I have to eat it.”

“What? That?”

His eyes were asking how I could possibly eat trash that smelled so rotten.

Is there a way? I just have to eat it. Raw. But this is a bit strong. How did I eat it before…….

“Alcohol.”

“What?”

“Prepare some alcohol for me. A strong one.”

“Alcohol?”

“Yeah.”

I don’t think I had the confidence to do it sober, so I think I ate it while drunk. In a state of being pleasantly tipsy and having lost my sense of taste…….

“I should be able to eat it, right? Hmm… I should. Right?”

“N-no way… I’m not… eating it, am I?”

Bethel trembled, his eyes filled with terror.

“Why would you eat it? I told you, you’ll die if you eat that. Only I can eat it.”

“Then why are you looking for alcohol? Have you ever had a drink before?”

“What are you talking about? Of course I’ve dr….”

Ah! This 5th Prince fellow wasn’t of drinking age yet.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

I laughed once to hide the awkwardness.

Bethel tilted his head as if he didn’t know why I was doing that.

“I’m just thinking of trying it on this occasion. Isn’t it about time I learned the taste of alcohol?

Right?”

“Your Highness?”

“Why? You don’t think so?”

“I think it’s still too early for you…….”

“One can learn a little early. Prepare some good alcohol.”

“I understand. But there’s a bit of a problem.”

“What problem?”

“We have no money.”

“Why is there no mon…….”

There isn’t any. Too many unexpected situations had occurred, and we had spent it all.

First, a considerable amount was spent on carriage repairs.

Second, a lot was spent on renting lodging. With a big eater around, the food expenses were also enormous.

Third, in preparing for the Owlbear hunt, we spent some money on steel arrows and what not.

Lastly, Rodrigo was managing the money, and the remaining funds were with him. It would still be a few more days before Rodrigo arrived.

“Can’t be helped. Where did you say the mayor lives?”

I guess I’ll have to ask for some free alcohol. And while I’m at it, I should also ask for a suitable place to eat the Devil Bear’s heart.