TPIMAWW Chapter 2

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Chapter 2: Looking For a “Dangerous And Risky” Person

Even though no one had any idea when the heroine would appear, was Shun supposed to endure the excessive affection received from all of these beautiful men until then?

As a reminder, Shun was only interested in women. Although, he’s afraid he hasn’t really dated anyone before. While Shun’s head was hanging between his knees, he heard the hurried voices of several, busy women.

“We don’t have enough glasses.”

“Bring some boxes from the warehouse.”

Shun looked over toward the far side of the corridor. A maid walked out of the shabby, utilitarian door, which was a far cry from the ornate doors of Shun’s room. She didn’t seem to notice Shun and ran in the opposite direction quickly.

The older knight, who guarded Shun’s room, had told him that there would be a dinner party or an evening party today. It would be troublesome if he went back and met the prince again.

Shun was fascinated and looked inside through the door that had been left open by the retreating maid.

“Well, there are seven ministers, thirty-eight dignitaries from the duke’s family, and eighty-two other guests, so let’s see…”

A short lady-in-waiting, who had a girlish face, was staring at a square cake with a knife in hand. She had black hair similar to Shun’s, but her face was that of a chiseled beauty of South American origin. Looking at the ruler beside her, she seemed to be tasked with dividing the cake into slices.

“The chef will fix the guests’ portions as needed, so you can cut them accordingly for the number of invited guests,” a woman a little older than her spoke loudly from the side. 

In response, the knife-wielding maid turned to the cake again. The scale of the ruler showed that one side of the cake was forty centimetres long, and she needed to make nineteen slices. The troubled maid looked around for help, but everyone was too busy with their work to help her.

“…nine. Two centimetres.”

“What?”

The round eyes of the maids and not only them, but also the ladies-in-waiting around them, all turned to look at him. Shun had thought he was just muttering the calculation results, but it seemed he was quite a loud.

“Well, I think it’ll be just right to cut the cake into nine, two or three centimetre slices.”

It couldn’t be helped now. He coughed in deceitfully and told the maid who held the knife. She opened her mouth wide in surprise, but nodded when Shun reminded her.

“So, that’s how it is.” Why was there a prince here?

While the question mark was floating over their heads, Shun quickly made his getaway. This is the first time he had run like this since the previous year’s athletic meet for teachers.

Half a day later, Shun had severe muscle pain.

What? I’m just a math nerd. Shun collapsed on his bed and let out a great sigh. He meditated on what had just happened and pushed back the bad memories. The words had just slipped out of his mouth.

He had planned on taking the fact that he was an mathematics nerd to his grave.　

Feeling a gaze on him suddenly, Shun looked up. A painting on the Bordeaux wallpaper had a large beast on it that looked like it was staring at him. Impoverished peasants on barren land gasped before the beast that threatened to trample them, and a knight in embellished armor with a butterfly design brandished his golden sword at the beast. 　

Butterflies were the symbol of the country, and the old-fashioned knight in shining armor was probably a member of the Royal Knights. The silver-furred beast, which was evidently portrayed as the antagonist, had its sharp fangs out and was about to roar.

For some reason, Shun had gotten the feeling it was looking at him, but instead it was looking at the knight who was determined to destroy it. It was definitely a wonderful picture. However, Shun would never put up something like it in his own bedroom. Maybe if it was a beautiful, heart-warming flower garden or even a painting of a cat he would.　

He didn’t want to look at it anymore, so he hugged his pillow and lay back down, facing away from it.

Nevertheless.

What if I waited for the heroine to show up?

The world seemed to have been inspired by medieval and early, modern Europe, based on the character’s clothing and the architecture. That’s good. Shun had always been a fan of fantasy worlds with swords and magic.

At this time, Shun rolled onto his back and picked up the dagger he had strapped to his waist and raised it in front of him. The sheath, which was only about thirty centimetres tall, was probably made of brass. It was embossed with a metal that looked silver, and it felt unexpectedly solid in his hands.

The design was embellished with both precious stones and magical stones in the handle and shaped like a butterfly, the symbol of the country, that was spreading its wings. Underneath it was engraved the number, twenty-one.　

He had been reborn as the twenty-first prince. That’s right. He wasn’t the third, nor fifth, but the twenty-first one, who was never expected to ascend the throne at all, unless all the top twenty people died due to some catastrophe!!

There were twenty concubines, not including the Queen, in this country, where Alan, a bloodthirsty king, reined. The lustful king was evenly devoted to each of his wives, all of whom were normally out of touch and busy attending to their respective duties.

As a result, there were twenty-one princes and ten princesses.

There were so many princes, such as Theodore, the first prince, who led the First Royal Knight Corps at the tender age of thirty, and Arista, the fourth prince, who was a master of earth magic and had made distinguished military service in the demon suppression operations. Every single one of the princes were considered manly and brave.

As the black sheep among them, the twenty-first prince was an asthma sufferer, commonly described as “sickly”, “weak”, or as a “thin and beautiful boy”. Moreover, he has been reincarnated as Shun, both inside and out, so the “handsome boy” setting has been lost. Shun could, at least, appreciate that he wasn’t sickly or weak as he had been described.

In other words, the twenty-first prince, Shun, had now become a healthy, young man with no power or major characteristics. I know that he has no kingly charisma; he is a virgin; and he is a mob character, but even the twelfth prince would have been better than this guy. With a groan, Shun buried his face in a pillow as thick as an old, cathode-ray tube television set and rolled around the bed with his arms wrapped around himself.

Some people would have a spectacular life in their first lives, like Bill Gates or Justin Heaver. Why is it that he can’t make any progress even on the second time?

Virtue? Are you saying he didn’t have enough virtue?

“But, at least, he’s a royal… not all bad…” a muffled voice rose from inside his fragrant pillow after a while.

That’s right!

In his previous life, he was a mediocre commoner, so this is much better than that. As he remembered the lavish breakfast he had eaten that morning, took note of the size of the bed he was rolling around in, and the comfort of the sheets, his mood gradually began to rise. Plus, he was pretty sure the twenty-first prince’s route was an idyllic, mellow happy ending with enough money to buy a house in the peaceful countryside and live happily ever after with the heroine.

…No, wait a minute… He had the creeping feeling that he was forgetting something important.

Shun scolded himself as he lifted his head from his pillow and dug up his memories. He had also seen the youngest prince’s name on the route of another prince. He was sure it was the last one…

“You’re kidding, aren’t you?” A cartoon-like, exaggerated cry sprang up. He didn’t care if someone heard him or not. 

Shun jumped off the bed, stumbling like he was going to fall down and managed to pull off the prince’s clothes, which he barely understood the bells and whistles of, changing into clothes that were easy to move around in before running out of the room.

He was pretty sure there was a way out of the castle near the eastern tower.

After wandering around the vast castle, he finally found the landing that led from the first to the second floor of the eastern tower after hesitating and even getting lost several times. There was a hidden door on the wall that led outside of the castle.

Remembering the details from the game, he knocked on the wall. Shun stopped when he heard a sound.

“This is actually embarrassing to say…” He gave a phony cough and put his hand on the spot, which only looked like a normal part of the wall.

“I am your creator. Show me thy truth — oh, open — sesame!” After speaking the last word he was confused about, it became deathly quiet and mellow around him.

Nothing happened.

Shun was about to be crushed by his shame. When the first prince did this, the door appeared with cool, blue and white lights. As he was considering saying another embarrassing, stupid spell, the door suddenly appeared and opened with a rusty sound.

“…don’t put on airs. It’s bad for your heart,” even though Shun was feeling sorry for himself while complaining about the inorganic matter, he went down the dark stairs with a lantern in hand and found the path divided into two.

One went up while the other led down, so he chose the latter path.

It seemed his guess was right, and he exited at a bush close to the gate leading from First Avenue to Second Avenue, where the royal family and the nobles lived. The Butterfly Kingdom’s capital, which was the setting in the game, was in the center of the country, where there was a royal district that surrounded the royal palace, stretching from the First Avenue to the Fifth Avenue in a circle.

The First Avenue was inhabited by high-ranking nobles; the Second Avenue was inhabited by wealthy merchants and wealthy farmers along with low-ranking nobles and commoners; the Third and Fourth Avenues had ordinary commoners; and the Fifth Avenue was inhabited by the poorest commoners. In other words the higher the street number, the cheaper land prices were, and the less safe it becomes. Fifth Avenue and beyond were, so to speak, the slums.

The restrictions on entering First Avenue from Second Avenue were strict, but the reverse was comparatively lax. Although Shun was surprised by the guards, he was able to leave the magnificent castle gate with just a single word. The central market was formed along the road that runs straight from the Royal district to Fifth Avenue.

First, Shun went there. There were other markets, but this was the largest market in the Butterfly Kingdom, and many people that came looking for goods there could find things weren’t available anywhere else. It was a vibrant marketplace full of grains, ornaments, and other goods that were freshly harvested, making it tempting to loosen your purse strings, but now was not the time to enjoy shopping.

Shun ran through a narrow alleyway between a flower shop and a clothing store and left the central market. He turned several corners, even getting lost a few times before finally arriving at his destination before the sun set. The harmonious banter that had filled the market previously was now gone, and tall merchants puffed on their cigarettes while shoppers shuffled around, hiding their faces.

Armor made of extremely expensive cloth or unknown material had no listed price, weapons such as guns without a manufacturer’s code and axes with sharp spikes, and poisonous drugs in the deadliest colors were sold side by side in glass cases.

It was the so-called black market.

Shun looked around breathlessly. It wasn’t that he wanted something suspicious. He had to meet the man who haunted this place. A young man who had platinum blond hair and dazzling, golden eyes.

Craig Thurwolf. 

He was 26 years old, only two years younger than Shun. He was over 180 centimetres(5’11”) tall and had a well-trained physique, long legs, and a handsome figure with sharp eyebrows that would make a shoujo manga hero pale in comparison. Additionally, he was an abominable man with a combination of magical power and swordsmanship that ranks first in the country.

Although he was a capture target, as was made evident by his dazzlingly high spec settings, because he was not a prince of the country, he was a bit of an alien presence among the other capture targets.

Watching the dubious people buying suspicious products, the beauty Shun was looking for was nowhere to be seen. Should I walk around or wait here? When he finally started to wander around, he saw a poster printed with a portrait that didn’t even look remotely similar to the person he was looking for, as if to mock Shun’s feelings.

The words “DEAD OR ALIVE” leapt across the page, followed by the attributes of the person. That’s right, Mr. Thurwolf was not a prince, but a wanted man.

There were ten capture targets in the game. Seven of them, including Shun, were princes, one was magician and fortune-teller from a competent country, one was brave general who leads the Butterfly Country’s army at a young age, and the final one was this high spec wanted man. Considering that other capture targets didn’t have that many underground ties, it was no wonder that it felt like Craig Thurwolf was the only character carrying the game’s “dangerous and risky” title.

Regardless, Shun had to see him. For the bright future of his second life…

Although it was good that he ran all the way over here with great vigor, there was no way he could conveniently find Craig Thurwolf with only the vague tidbit of information that he often appeared here. Due to Shun going back and forth through the black market many times, he was starting to get stared at by several people with quizzical eyes. Additionally, although they were easy to move in, his silk and woolen clothes were clearly superior to what anyone else here had and stood out tremendously.

The streets were already beginning to be dominated by a faint darkness, and merchants began to light their orange lamps — which were powered by meteorites in this world.

Shun shivered with a chill that did not come from the temperature. Several large, sinewy men with bad looks in their eyes and worn clothes whispered while glancing at Shun. He saw something like a barrel glinting from on of their pockets.

“Well, let’s go home…”

He was originally a very cautious person, but as soon as he muttered that aloud, he was seized with fear. Let’s do the search tomorrow, and let’s have a delicious meal today and sleep in a warm futon. Let’s do that.

Shun ran as fast as he could, even faster than when he got there, toward the exit, when he bumped into someone. Shun staggered back, finding himself leaning against a strong arm.

“Are you all right?” It was a young man with a refreshing atmosphere that wasn’t suitable for the current environment they were in that had supported Shun. His slightly long, blonde hair, well-defined nose, and sunny, blue eyes that looked at him with concern spoke volumes about the good nature of this person.

Shun was dumbfounded for a moment as to whether there was anyone but Craig who would be a capture target. But he didn’t remember seeing him in the game.

Shun mouthed an apology and let go of the body he was leaning against. However, he was stopped as he started to step away.

“Oh, um, I need to see this guy, do you know where he is?” Shun pointed to the portrait that did not resemble Craig Thurwolf at all. He couldn’t expect to meet this man again if he left to start afresh tomorrow.

In an RPG, you can find information about others from the elders you often met in town. If his appearance was as good as that of the capture target, he would have been given a certain role, and his appearance was good. Plus, he didn’t look like a bad person.

Shun figured there was no harm in talking to him if he was going to leave soon anyway.

“Oh, it’s not like I want the bounty, and I’m not a spy for the security forces either.” The security forces were what they called the police in this world. Shun had a sinking feeling that he was not being very persuasive, but hoped that adding that he was not an enemy helped. Looking up Shun saw the handsome, young man smiling for a few seconds after giving him a wink. Then he bent down and whispered in Shun’s ear like he was telling him a secret.

“I know. Follow me but in secret.”

Shun followed him after receiving such a refreshing wink that reminded him of a midsummer commercial for Yotsuya Cider, saying, “Okay.”

For some reason, this good-looking, young man pulled Shun’s hand as he staggered off down a side street. The number of shops and outdoor lamps decreased as they went. Shun wasn’t sure if it was just the atmosphere that was distracting or not, but he was beginning to feel like things were going a little too well while listening to the sound of their footsteps.

He not sure if it was a good idea to tell the whereabouts of a wanted person so easily. As he walked with a little uneasiness, the number of people became extremely low, and he reached a narrow alley surrounded by high walls at both ends.

Then, Shun heard a sound that he had become accustomed to. Shun’s back was driven into the stone wall of the alley. Needless to say, the ‘bang’ was the sound of the young man’s hand hitting the wall while trapping him in a kabedon.

“I’m going crazy because you look at me with such eyes…!”

Et tu, Brute?

When a handsome man accused me with anguish, I have no choice but to look at him like a Tibetan fox¹. He was starting to get a headache.

At any rate, it seems that all men who were classified as handsome in this world were set up to be disturbed and driven crazy by the heroine – who was tentatively, Shun.

“You’re mistaken.” If you go home and eat delicious food and take a warm bath, you’ll forget about me as soon as you go home and let go. Shun said as he bit down to avoid including his additional thoughts. The young man’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Misunderstanding? That’s a very presumptuous thing to say. I can treat you much better than a brute, can’t I?”

“Well…?”

The tone of the man’s voice, which had been brisk, dropped an octave or so, and the sudden drop in his mood was clear.

It was getting cloudy.

Shun tried to shake the arm that was pinning him to the wall, but the man didn’t budge. His blue eyes, which had looked like a clear, summer sky, had become dark and muddy and were suddenly no different from those ruffians back in the black market, and Shun’s shoulders that were pressed against the wall started to feel a terrible pain.

Reflexively, Shun looked around, but the sun had gone down, and the narrow street was dark and empty except for a crude, outdoor light over to one side of them.

“Don’t do that,” despite his strong rebuttal, Shun’s confidence was quickly fading as the blood drained from his face. Isn’t this a bad guy? Shun was fed up with all of the kabedon attacks, but up until now he had always thought of it like it was a joke, mainly because his assailants were princes or a really good-looking, young man.

But not this time.

“I like that face you’re making. It’s getting more and more tempting.”

The outdoor lamps flickered, giving off a strange orange glow. Underneath this light, the man’s eyes gleamed, and he put his hand on Shun’s collar. He laughed at Shun, who gulped in fear and was about to touch him with the hand on his collar when a large object fell from above and onto his head.

With a rather ugly moan, the man fell to the ground with his hands stretched toward Shun.

“Don’t be a lowlife in someone else’s territory,” a voice that was moderately low and sweet spat out irritably. Shun’s eyes that had been screwed shut while he was in a state of emergency opened in surprise.

“Oh…!”

Don’t point at people. That kindergarten teacher’s words were blown away by the man who had appeared in front of Shun and was restraining the unknown man with a sleeper hold.

Craig Thurwolf!

The jet-black overcoat he wore fluttered like a cloak. His thin, amber eyes and pale, blonde hair that glowed as if it was reflecting the moonlight had suddenly appeared before Shun. He wore dark-colored trousers and boots, a stuffed collar and a tunic that fell just above the knees with a belt tied around his waist, where his sword and a gun hung.

Apart from his weapons, he dressed like Shun and many others had been that day, and he was indeed the wanted man Shun had been looking for. The former, handsome man was not a mere passerby to guide Shun, but played an important role in staging the romantic moment for this capture target to swoop to the rescue.

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TL Note: I have no regular publishing schedule planned for this since I’m in college. However, I’ll try to get something out at least once a week.

Word Count: 3,673

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1. I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory from just looking at how these guys look: