95-095-What does the prince think "true strength"?

128 years in the life of the King, the 7th of the Red Moon.

＜Jedite Empire, Castle City, Innkeeper.

If it was the world I once saw and saw, on this day, as soon as I paid a visit to Prince Laika's room in the morning, he would have suddenly gotten away with a shadow stitch.

That was supposed to happen....

"Good morning, doctor!

Oh, yeah. Good morning.

Instead of us going to pick him up, Prince Raika came to the inn himself!

And there's one more thing that's very ~very~ annoying.

By the way, what do you mean by that........sir?

"I want to be as strong as you are. I would be happy if you let me call you Sensei!

Yeah.

Prince Laika's tail is moving very much as he declares with a twinkle in his eye.

Ah, the dog (doggie) in the neighborhood of my parents' house was like this when I played with him....

Hmm, I don't know what a true strongman is, but........let's try matching hands for now, shall we?

'By all means, please!　........Oh, and I'm in a position to teach you a lesson, so you don't have to use honorific language!

'Cause I'm a big girl!　Well, I'll be speaking in the same language from now on, so take care of me, Raika-chan.

"Ah, yes!

No, no, no, no, no, no, you need to use a real polite term!

I mean, "Laika-chan" to your prince partner is a matter of respect or something else before you even know it!

I'm getting nervous that this guy is going to get caught for real disrespect one day.......

[That evening]

＜Jediite Imperial Training Center.

"Thank you very much... haha.

Oh, yeah. Good job.

In order to measure Prince Laika's strength, he challenged me with a wooden knife for training, and as expected of a royal family with a motto of "strength is justice", his strength was quite impressive.

It was clearly not a novice move, and I could feel that His Majesty Emperor Dinosis must have gone through a lot of lengths to get Prince Laika to become stronger.

However, there were some points that bothered me in places, and I had Elena watch the whole thing for the purpose of having her judge it objectively....

''Elena, is there any change in the prince's abilities?

''Hmm........ Perhaps because of the mock battle with Kanata-san, who is overwhelmingly superior, my level has risen considerably. Just.........''

"Just?

''It seems like you are not very good at fighting by nature. I have the compensation of my physical abilities as a beast race, but I don't seem to be able to make use of it.''

It's true that although I had a few mock battles with Prince Laika, I didn't feel the same kind of heroism as Leopard.

Although she didn't seem to be holding back against me, I think I can somehow understand what Elena is saying.

''I see that Spirit-sama thinks so too, after all. Although your father said the same thing to me, I didn't understand it myself...''

When I heard his reply, I asked him the one question I had also noted in my diary.

'You know what? If you were royalty, you could become a wizard or a summoner if you gave a donation to the temple and changed jobs, and that would make you stronger even if you weren't good at melee combat, but do you have any special interest in Thief?

But in response to my answer, Prince Laika replied a little sadly.

I think you are right, and I am not a fan of the vocation of a sifu. I'm not sure if this is the right way to govern the country, showing off your power by using money to attract a convenient vocation.

I guess that means I don't want to cheat.

Prince Raika nodded in response to Satsuki's words and began to speak with a look of determination.

I used to think, as the others say, that power is everything. But I heard a strange story a few years ago when I visited our country's prisons, and ever since then I have not been able to understand what true strength is.

Strange story...?

The prisoner said that there once was a 'weakest beastman' in our country. He was so called because he had a disease that rendered him incapable of harming others.

...I've heard this story before.

But he said that the beastman emigrated to another country and quickly emerged as a priest, and became a very accomplished person. Even if you are the weakest, depending on the values of the world and how you use your power, you can be the strongest.

The weakest of beastmen, incapable of harming others. Emigrate to another country, Priest, Great....Ah!

The image of a priest flashed through my mind.

After rising to the position of high priest in the Holy City Central Church, that man who tried to destroy the world to avenge the grudge of his mentor who had fallen in mid-heartedness.......

Zwei...?

When I whispered the name, Prince Raika's eyes widened in surprise.

''That's the one!　'Oh, my God, the doctor knew,'

'Oh, Zwei is the former high priest, or former head of the Central Church organization in the Holy King's Capital, Platena.

'Wow!'

Although Prince Raika seems happy to see him, Zwei himself has gone mad with a grudge against his mentor Einz who was killed after being discarded as "unnecessary" by the Jedite Empire.

I feel uncomfortable telling him that fact....

When I was at a loss for what to say next, Satsuki suddenly spoke up with a question.

'By the way, how did the prisoner who told Prince Raika about it know about it?　Wasn't Zwei, I think, hiding the fact that he was a beastman?

'Oh, by the way!'

We learned of his identity through the Greater Demon Summoning incident, but Zwei must have been hiding the fact that he was a beastman ever since he came to the Holy King's Capital.

In other words, the prisoner that Prince Raika spoke about was someone who knew the two facts that Zwei was a beastman and that he had become a Priest in the Holy King's Capital Central Church.

.........Well, no way!

Do you remember the prisoner's name?

Prince Raika nodded in response to my question, and then he uttered the name.

''Einz he called himself that.''