Sometime after the group arrived at Vegalta’s capital, Ariel was standing by the side of the road with a look of pure bliss on her face and a juicy skewer in hand.
“Ahhh... Real meat is the best...” she said around a mouthful of beef. “So juicy... So sweet... So yummy...”
“Mmngh... Grilled meat is the best,” Norn agreed.
Millis shot them both a look of concern. “Is it just me, or have Ariel and Norn just been repeating the same lines for a while now?”
“Can you blame them? They’ve rarely had food this good,” Raid reminded her. “Ariel, Norn, just take your time and enjoy. We’ll wait until you’re finished.”
“Here, have some drinks too!” Millis offered Ariel a cup of juice.
“Thank you so much...!” Ariel sniffled and took a sip from the cup. “Ahhh... Juice is the best...”
“Aaand there she goes again... Has her vocabulary regressed to that of a child’s?”
“As she is now, she definitely looks like she’d follow a stranger for food...”
“I-I would never, not even for food!” Ariel indignantly shouted as she continued sipping on her juice. Unlike in the First World, where juice was artificially flavored and colored, juice here was filled with natural sweet and sour flavors that could only come from fresh fruits.
In any case, Ariel and Norn weren’t the only ones going crazy over this world’s food.
“Fareg! I demand another sausage and beer!” Valtos exclaimed with a hearty laugh. “None of that wretched ‘hot dog’—it is far too plebeian to eat with my hands! But the sausage—that was truly delectable!”
“Stop treating me as an errand boy! I am the son of House Verminant!” Fareg snapped.
“And I am the crown prince of Altane! It only stands to reason that you obey my commands, no? Ha ha ha!”
“Freeden told me that you’re no more than a civilian now! In that case, I—an aristocrat—am above you in status!”
“Hah! Then let us duel for superiority! Whoever can eat the most sausages shall be above the other!”
“And you want me to pay for all that with my allowance?!”
“Hey, keep it down over there,” Millis called, waving the scepter in her hand. “Keep making a ruckus and you’re in for a shock, hmm?”
Although she just issued him a warning, Valtos hadn’t actually been causing them as many problems as they had expected. At most, he was keeping himself busy frolicking with Fareg. Much like with Ariel and Norn, the food of the Second World had greatly piqued his interest.
Raid approached Fareg and asked, “Kid, how much have you spent so far?”
“How much...? Well, thanks to that gluttonous alcoholic over there, at least one month’s worth of my allowance has gone up in smoke!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll reimburse you for Ariel and Norn’s costs.”
“But not the guy who’s spent most of my money?!”
“Oh, of course, he’ll shoulder his own costs—right, Valtos?” Raid wore a bright smile as he grabbed Valtos’s shoulder in a vise grip. “You’re going to work for everything you’ve eaten and drunk here, yeah?”
Valtos scoffed. “Must I remind you again that I am the crown prince? The food and drink I’ve consumed today would hardly make a dent in my treasury of—”
“And might I remind you that you’re an ordinary civilian without a single coin to his name?”
Valtos blinked. “What?”
“The previous emperor—your father—took everything of value with him to Paradise,” Raid told him. “The contract also states that anything left behind now belongs to the Lambut family. So you’re quite literally broke.”
“Do you mean to say that the gold I’d hidden in my closet has also been taken?!”
“Oh. Guess I gotta confiscate that when we get back.”
“Ack! I messed up! Noooo!” Valtos held his head and fell to his knees.
“So, seeing as you’ve got no money to your name, how ’bout you earn some by contributing as a Hero in our operation?”
“Urgh... But I am the crown prince!”
“Sure...” Raid shot him a dry look. “Unfortunately for you, you’re nothing but an ordinary civilian and a penniless debtor.”
“Nooooo! I’ve gained yet another shameful appellation!”
Raid shrugged. “I guess your debt isn’t so grand that you couldn’t just refuse to pay it at all. But then you’d be leaving your name in the books as a cowardly prince who ran from a debt he’d incurred with someone of lower status.”
“Do you think a proud member of the Altanian imperial family would bear such a disgrace to his name?!”
“Oh?” Raid slung his arm over Valtos’s shoulder with a grin. “So what you’re trying to say is that you will contribute to the operation!”
“To flee in shame or defend my honor in battle... Are those truly my only options?!” Valtos gritted his teeth, cornered like a mouse.
Ariel had heard that Raid was adept at handling troublesome characters such as Valtos, and she was now witnessing it with her own eyes. He clearly knew Valtos’s personality and how to corner his type.
Finally, after much internal struggle, Valtos released a heavy sigh. “Very well... I shall fight on the front lines as one of the Heroes...”
“It’s about time,” said Raid.
“I stand by that I was unjustly cornered into this... However, I am not as foolish as I may seem.” Valtos furrowed his brow, a solemn look in his eyes. “I was ordered not only to protect my ancestor, His Majesty the Emperor Viteos, but also to live as Altane’s Hero, the future ruler of our nation, and a symbol of hope for the people. If I were to fall, then the citizens would be left in despair as they await their deaths... Some may even succumb to despair and end their lives before the world itself falls to ruin.”
The Heroes were the last hope of humanity. Nauvis Videre, the fiftieth Hero, had given his life to remove the Demon Lord from this world. But in exchange, he, too, had disappeared, leaving the world with neither its greatest enemy nor its greatest hope. Faced with a world rife with Calamities and no Hero to save them, many people had crumbled under the looming despair and taken their own lives. Valtos, being a Hero and a ruler of imperial blood, could inspire within his people the strength they needed to fight till the bitter end.
“It was imperative for me to simply continue being the Hero and crown prince. The masses may mock me for being a mere decorative ruler...but the sight of my lavish lifestyle may yet grant them a sense of relief amid our harsh reality.” Valtos quietly raised his head, revealing a self-deprecating smile on his face. “But now, the empire is gone, a new hope is born, and the people can look to a future that is well within their grasp. I am not so cowardly as to insist...that a decorative ruler is still needed in such a world.” Valtos’s expression brightened into his usual confident smile. “For I am the crown prince, the Hero...as well as the hope of humanity, am I not?”
Faced with such a raw and sincere confession, Raid felt a small smile tug on his lips. “Actually,” he said, “you’re just a hopelessly broke civilian who’s still got a debt to pay.”
“You dare stain my wonderful resolve with such a shameful appellation?!”
“Besides,” Raid continued, “you will actually be contributing something to our forces, not that I can say I’m expecting great things from you either, what with your pathetically meager practical combat experience. At most, I’d assign you grunt-level tasks.”
“You mean to say I cannot even make my stunning debut as a Hero on the battlefield?!”
“Eh. Maybe after you prove yourself as a grunt.”
“Gaaah! Does that mean that on top of being a broke and indebted civilian, I even have to work as a common soldier? Perhaps I should have remained a decorative ruler after all...!”