Get to Work, Prince! Chapter 15 - Good-for-Nothing Madman

Perhaps because of his position as the prince’s aide, even though they were both commoners, he seemed to more or less follow Renata’s words.

 

‘…Or maybe he thinks she has some close connection with His Highness and that’s why he’s acting like this…’

 

Ever since they arrived at the campsite, he had obsessively tried to wait on her—taking out all kinds of accessories and clothes to show her.

 

Fortunately, every single piece of jewelry Renata had brought was old and tarnished, brooches and hair ties covered in patina. 

 

The dress she wore didn’t have even a fingernail-sized gem anywhere on it.

 

She had received clothes as a gift from the prince, but since they didn’t match the dress code at all, he seemed unsure and suspicious.

 

“Ah, finally it’s quiet. Should’ve chased him away much earlier.”

 

The urge to say “Weren’t you the one who talked the most?” rose all the way up to her throat, but Renata just gave a bright smile and pointed at her own lips and then at Marex with her finger.

 

It was a clear sign that she didn’t want her voice leaking out, so please let her inside the barrier too.

 

Then the shadow that had been lingering only around him slowly extended to cover Renata as well.

 

After confirming that she had entered the same space, she pulled a chair over and sat down facing him. She held out her hand.

 

Marex took it and slowly began to channel mana into her.

 

Since this was something they had been doing for the past three days, the process started smoothly without any wasted movement.

 

“Are you lazy by nature? Your speed is the slowest I’ve ever seen, yet the finished product is always a masterpiece. I’ve never seen a Heinsbrun like this before. Are you even training in alchemy?”

 

“No.”

 

“What’s so great about wasting that kind of talent that you answer so honestly?”

 

“I was taught that honesty is the best policy.”

 

“Who the hell taught you such old-fashioned nonsense?”

 

“My father.”

 

Marex, momentarily at a loss for words, clicked his tongue.

 

“Tsk”

 

And with his other hand summoned his own mana core.

 

The orb resting on his palm was still stained with all kinds of murky, clouded light.

 

Generally speaking, a mage’s core should consist of a single pure color, yet Marex’s was in an alarmingly contaminated state, riddled with impurities.

 

Renata had been actively cooperating for the time being after hearing that it was the role of the Heinsbrun family to purify and maintain such a core… but.

 

“Look at this. It hasn’t changed at all since three days ago. Ah, wait—there’s a tiny speck here that shows a trace of my own color. At this rate, you’ll only finish when you’re old and leaning on a cane.”

 

“Please find meaning in the act of completion itself.”

 

Marex was an exceedingly harsh teacher.

 

Still, Renata silently did her very best with the task assigned to her. Because she had something she wanted from him.

 

But soon, a sigh escaped him along with her real name, and a vertical crease formed between Renata’s delicate brows.

 

“Ha… Renie. If you keep acting like this, it’ll be difficult for me to help your younger sibling.”

 

Her father had once told her: no matter how great the person in front of you may be, there are times when you must honestly express your own will.

 

And it seemed that time was now.

 

“Then I will stop here.”

 

As if she had no intention of continuing the purification work, Renata pulled her body back and shook her head from side to side.

 

“What are you trying to pull?”

 

“What you just said was excessive.”

 

“So I should lie and praise you? When your skill doesn’t even come close to expectations? If that’s the case, why don’t you just ask me to play nanny while I’m at it?”

 

While she struggled to keep her anger in check and spoke as politely as possible, her face somewhat stiff with restraint, Marex responded in a remarkably relaxed posture.

 

“I am currently making a legitimate protest because Lord Marex has just declared that you will no longer fulfill the mutually agreed-upon terms.”

 

“This generation’s head of the family really has an exceptionally sharp tongue. How annoying.”

 

As if he were merely humoring a child’s tantrum, Renata bit her lip once to force down the rising surge of anger.

 

“It was written in the letter Father left as well. That you must save us, even if only to atone. Doesn’t that mean, in essence, that you, Lord Marex, have done some kind of harm to the Heinsbrun family?”

 

“So what exactly did I do to your family? Do you even know what happened?”

 

Renata knew nothing. Her father had told her nothing at all. 

 

The letter she had only managed to find with great difficulty had already been handed over to Marex three days ago and in the blink of an eye, it had turned to a handful of ash and vanished.

 

The letter, the only clue that might allow her to secure Marex’s cooperation for her younger sibling’s treatment, had been burned by him without any prior discussion because, he said, it could become a source of future trouble.

 

Even though it was one of the last possessions that still carried her father’s handwriting… he had disposed of it so easily.

 

“If Conrad had truly intended to demand something of me in earnest, he would have told you everything long ago. Instead, he brings me a letter that looks like he scribbled half of it and then shoved it somewhere and forgot about it, Tsk.”

 

“…”

 

“In the end, your parents chose to bury everything and disappear into the back alleys of history. That’s probably why they only gave you the advice not to get too close to alchemists, and left behind a successor who has neither pride as a Heinsbrun nor any real sense of duty as the head of the family, isn’t it?”

 

There was a time when Renata herself had thought the same way Marex was saying now.

 

Her father had taught her in such meticulous detail about the duties she must perform as head of the family and the basic knowledge she should possess as a noble—yet why had he never spoken a word about the true power of the family?

 

Was his promise that he would tell her when she was a little older really just an empty excuse with no fixed date, nothing more?

 

“No. Father delayed telling me because he wanted me to choose my own path in life. Even if he didn’t explain it directly, it was something I would inevitably come to understand with the passage of time.”

 

But the parents Renata had known had cherished her and her younger sibling immensely. 

 

Despite their modest circumstances, they had always put their children first.

 

So it was only natural that he hesitated to reveal the truth, fearing it would cause his daughter heartache.

 

“That first day we met, Lord Marex, you were the one who asked after my father’s well-being and spoke of the Heinsbrun bloodline.”

 

As if she had struck a nerve, the mana that had been flowing into her paused for a moment—and in that brief gap, she sharply withdrew her hand.

 

“That can only mean you had some reason you had to find me. It also implies that you need the Heinsbrun family, doesn’t it, Lord Marex?”

 

“My ears are starting to hurt. Stop dragging this out with all the long-winded details and just get to the point.”

 

Renata took a moment of silence to gather the scattered thoughts swirling in her mind.

 

At the same time, she clenched her fists tightly in an effort to stop her hands from trembling uncontrollably.

 

Though she was doing her utmost to hide it, she was so tense that she felt as though her heart, pounding hard enough to burst, might come flying out of her mouth at any second.

 

This was clearly the decisive moment.

 

Her sibling’s life hung in the balance of how she chose to continue speaking from here.

 

“In truth, we’ve essentially entered into a contract to achieve each other’s goals. Therefore, just as I am cooperating with you, Lord Marex, I also have the right to make legitimate demands of my own.”

 

At Renata’s words, Marex carelessly bounced the mana core resting on his palm like it was a toy ball and answered in a half-hearted drawl.

 

“You? Making demands of me?”

 

He jerked his chin toward the murky orb in his hand, giving her a look that said she must be out of her mind.

 

“Are your eyes just for decoration? You haven’t produced a single visible result yet, and you’re already talking about compensation?”

 

“That part… I will take responsibility for it somehow.”

 

“Are you completely clueless about your own limits? Right now, your skill doesn’t even reach the soles of your father’s feet back when he was your age—so exactly when do you plan to ‘take responsibility’?”

 

Marex withdrew his core, stood up from his seat, and scowled deeply.

 

The Tower Master, who had maintained an indifferent or completely expressionless face the entire time, finally showed an emotion for the first time, and it was anger. It felt ominous.

 

“Thirteen years ago, I tried to cure Conrad’s illness. As you already know, the result was failure. Because of the aftermath, I slept for several years, and even now my strength has not recovered, I’m left with a mana core this badly damaged.”

 

Renata could offer no rebuttal; she simply stared blankly at Marex.

 

“Even with the great alchemist Conrad cooperating, that was the outcome. And now? You, who are even more lacking than he, and your younger sibling, whose condition is worse than your father’s ever was.”

 

His words crushed even the faintest flicker of hope, and her mind went completely blank.

 

“In other words, even if my condition improves and I receive treatment, your sibling’s illness cannot be completely cured, so give up and start preparing yourself mentally. Clinging to something hopeless is nothing but foolishness. I can’t afford to waste several more years just to try saving one person.”

 

Is it truly right to cause harm to someone else in the name of saving one’s own family?

 

Failing to save my sibling… is that my fault?

 

“As for atonement toward your family, I will consider it fulfilled by restoring the glory of the Heinsbrun name. Given the current situation, that seems to be the best possible choice.”

 

Renata had no intention of completely abandoning her identity as an alchemist.

 

It was simply that after becoming the head of the family, she had been too busy trying to make ends meet, and whatever little time remained, she had spent caring for her sibling, so she kept putting off her training again and again.

 

She had thought she had lived with considerable determination and effort… but had she really needed to try even harder than this?

 

‘How much longer do I have to keep going from here?’

 

Watching Renata’s complexion darken noticeably, Marex let out a short sigh.

 

“Ha… Having to babysit a kid at my age.”

 

He placed his hand on the crown of her head and continued.

 

“I’ll give you a proper chance, so prove your ability. I’ll transfer a portion of my core to you. Purify it and bring it back.”

 

Soon after, an energy distinctly different from before began flowing into her head from him, then it raced down her spine and pounded against the back of her skull.

 

“W-Wait just a moment…!”

 

“If you feel dizzy, just sleep for a bit and wake up later.”

 

It wasn’t dizziness, it was a bizarre, wrenching pain that tore through her mind. 

 

Renata flinched, but Marex seemed not to notice as his grip on her head tightened even more.

 

“Ah, of course, if you fall asleep in the middle of suddenly receiving such a vast amount of power, most people end up having nightmares. It’s probably better to wake up after sleeping just enough.”

 

Despite her desperate efforts to hold on, the creeping, hair-raising sensation spreading through her entire body steadily dragged Renata’s consciousness away until she finally lost it completely.