Prologue: Early Summer, Unemployed Youth, and Mountains of Paperwork

Prologue: Early Summer, Unemployed Youth, and Mountains of Paperwork

On this hot, early summer day, a young man was summoned by his father, the head of the family.
After knocking on the door, he entered the study and bowed, before raising his head, only to be met with the raised eyebrows of Roland Ordis, head of the famed Marquess Ordis family who had served as knights for the royal family for generations.
Even though the head had retired from his position as general several years ago, he was still in the prime of his life, muscular and with brilliantly blazing red hair despite his age.

“You called for me, Father?”

The one who spoke was Octavian Ordis, the 3rd son of the Ordis family, who had just graduated from the Royal Knight Academy last year.
This young man had loose and messy orange hair, like a sunset dissolving, with hidden streaks of gold, only visible if one looked closer. However, his drooping eyes, that looked like they had sapphires embedded in them, brought a gentle feeling to his well-featured face.

“Octavian, there’s a knight interview today. Head there at once.”
“…..Huh?”

Octavian raised a dumbfounded voice.

“Did you not hear me? I said ‘Go to the interview.’”
“No I heard you, but why all of a sudden? Plus, today? I mean, where should I even be going?”

Octavian quickly retorted his father’s sudden and unexpected declaration but then released a heavy sigh, drained of his strength.

“….First of all, I don’t even wanna become a knight. So, I’m definitely not going.”

His well-featured face warped in displeasure. He did an about-face to his right and placed his hand on the door knob, ready to leave the room.
But in that next moment, a breeze blew past Octavian’s ear, and the sound of something piercing the door echoed. He timidly looked to his side and was met with the reflection of his own face in the polished blade of a sword. Incidentally, this was no ordinary sword. This was the beloved sword belonging to the head of the family, Roland.
The blade’s length was from his shoulders down to his feet. Its width was large enough to hide his whole face and seemed more fitting to beat enemies down than cut them. This specially designed, heavyweight greatsword was currently stabbed perpendicularly to the wooden door right in front of his eyes. You could easily imagine that the tip of the blade pierced through the door.

“Who said you could leave?”

His father’s rage-filled voice made Octavian’s shoulders drop in defeat.
At this point, his father had made it clear that his words were absolute. He could try to bend his father’s will by demonstrating his merit, but, the only one able to win against the head was the eldest sister of the current Ordis family.

And that sister was in the middle of her journey in search of the strongest bridegroom. Although it was really just a simple training trip, she claimed that her mother and father said otherwise and forcibly put together a wedding interview.

Octavian resigned and faced Roland.

“It’s been half a year since your graduation from the Academy and yet, all you have been doing is lazing around the house, being absolutely unproductive.”
“No no. I haven’t missed a day of training yet….”

Octavian tried weakly to object , but bit his tongue. Roland’s sharp gaze had silently ordered him to shut his mouth.

“Listen well. Our family motto is ‘Those who don’t work don’t eat.’ We cannot have idlers remain on these premises.”
“That’s why I said that I will go on a journey to better myself…..”
“And that is why this knight interview is the perfect opportunity for you. Rather, just leave. Hurry up and leave.”

Octavian resigned. His father was the type of person to never listen to what others had to say.
The only exception to this was Octavian’s mother, Roland’s wife. Octavian had heard that even when his father was a general, he would only listen to half of what his superiors had to say; at the same time however, he would listen to whatever Octavian’s mother had to say, without a doubt. His mother was never without a grin and was as friendly with her children as she was with her husband’s subordinates and their own servants. However, for some strange reason, his father would turn pale whenever he saw that smile.

(That’s right. If I ask Mother…..)

“There’s no point in asking your mother. This is an order from Anne as well. How should I put this….If you won’t go, I’ll be in trouble; I value my life.”

His father said as he trembled faintly and went pale. Octavian decided that it would be better to not ask for details. Infact, he decided to not touch the matter at all and to just follow orders.

“So, where should I go?”

Upon hearing his father’s answer, he immediately regretted that he hadn’t gone away for training like his sister.
With heavy steps, he passed through the mansion’s gate. As if cheering him from the back, the early summer breeze rustled through his sunset-colored hair.

The same early summer breeze entered through a window, making the mountain of documents in the room dance around like petals.
In the middle of these ink scented petals was the owner of the room lying on top a first-class sofa, asleep. The cool breeze brushed his hair, waking him up.

“……A tragedy.”

The room’s owner was at his wit’s end at this spectacle.
The documents he had carefully arranged by category were now muddled together in the breeze.

The troubled owner’s name was Herscherik Greisis, the 7th prince of the Greisis Kingdom. He turned 5 years old this year, and was called “Hersche” by his father and his primary butler.

His name is his previous life was Hayakawa Ryouko.
She was an office worker for a certain listed company in an island nation known as Japan, but the day before her 35th birthday, she passed away in a traffic accident. She didn’t have a boyfriend, let alone a husband and was a hardcore otaku who decided that she would spend her life together with her 2D lover.

Now, such a woman had reincarnated into a beautiful young boy with silky smooth, pale blonde hair long enough to cover his ears, jade eyes the color of fresh leaves, and a facial structure that resembled his father, highly rated for his looks. However, even though he held such beauty, his brilliance could not hold a candle to his siblings. This disappointing fact was common knowledge.

Herscherik jumped down from the disproportionate leather sofa to pick up the scattered documents. This was his office; though if you look at his age, it should be called a study room.
It was smaller than a living room or bedroom, but it was large enough that the desk, sofa, and table set for visitors to use weren’t in the way. The wallpaper had a calming green tint, and the furniture was all first-class, making this room a bit wasteful to be used for a 5 year old.

However, not only were the bookshelves of this first class room completely stuffed, but the top of the desk and even the floor were overflowing with a mountain of documents he had secretly gathered.
According to the person himself, “The documents are organised in a way I understand.” But considering he had complained about piles of documents in a different situation, he didn’t really have the right to say such a thing about his own mess. In his past life, Ryouko’s room at home was on par with that of a male high school student in terms of messiness, but luckily for him, there was no one here who could point that out.

As he was sluggishly tidying up, he heard a voice from heaven resounding in his ears and… no, it was just a knock on the door.

“Excuse me. Master Hersche, I have brought you something to drink.”

It was the 7th prince’s primary butler Schwartz Zweig, a man with lustrous black hair and ruby red eyes. Despite it being early summer and having the long, butler clothes wrapped his body, and it didn’t look like the high temperature bothered him.
He had already become extremely popular among the female attendants in the inner palace, but he didn’t concern himself with that at all.

“You’ve come at the right time, Kuro!”

Having his name called by his master, Kuro took one look at the disastrous spectacle through the doorway, and closed the door with a short bow and a refreshing smile. His movements were exceedingly smooth.

“Wa, wait! Why are you leaving!? Have you forsaken me!?”

The door opened up again at Herscherik’s shriek.
Standing there was no longer the butler with a refreshing smile but a frowning Kuro looking down at the prince.

“Hersche, I’ve warned you over and over again that if you don’t close the windows, the documents will be blown away. You weren’t intending on jumping outside, right?”
“I’d thought that it would’ve been fine, but…..”

Herscherik pitifully mumbled.

(I mean….)

While it was true that he was warned by Kuro, the air in the room turns stuffy when the window is closed.
The room was equipped with a cooling device that operates by consuming wandering magical power, but artificial air like the air conditioners of his past life didn’t fit him.

Kuro sighed, placed the drink on the table, and went to the window.
After confirming that there were no documents fluttering about outside, he closed it. He clearly understood that if the window was left open, the disaster would happen again the next time a wind blew.

“……It’s hot.”
“Don’t complain. Anyways, isn’t it about time? Get ready after you’ve finished that.”

As his master was complaining, Kuro pointed to the cold black tea left on the table and began to clean up the documents.
Despite muttering complaints at Kuro, Herscherik was thankful for the help, and sat by the sofa near the table set, placing the drink by his lips. Fragrant, cold black tea was the perfect thing to wake him up.

“……What’s going on today?”

Herscherik tried to recall today’s schedule.

There weren’t any plans for studies or training today. He was even thinking about sneaking off to the castle town in the afternoon. Kuro let out another sigh for the nth time today at Herscherik.

“Today is the day you’re selecting your primary knight.”
“…..Oh yeah.”

(Now that I think about it, that’s right.)

Primary knight——in other words, a knight from the Imperial Guards for his exclusive use. On that subject, it did sound like his father had arranged for some candidates. The original plan was to wait for the prince to grow a little older before deciding on such matters, but it seemed that this worry-wart father wanted a bodyguard for his son.

“Does it matter? I have Kuro, isn’t that already enough?”

Herscherik’s absentmindedly muttered words caused Kuro to freeze for a moment. He immediately began to move again, but his movements seemed lighter than before.

“If you don’t like them, why don’t you just drop them all?”

His words came out of his mouth lightly, like his actions, but Herscherik didn’t notice.

“That’s true.”

(I don’t need people who are only after fame and titles.)

What he wanted were like-minded comrades.

Herscherik looked up at the sky from the window.
The blue sky foreshadowed a further rise in temperature today.

(I wonder what kind of people are gonna show up…..)

Herscherik whispered silently as he finished his tea and placed the cup back on top of the table. The ice left in the cup made a refreshing sound.

Author’s notes: Sorry to keep you waiting.
This is the start of the 2nd volume of “The Reincarnated Prince” Series: The Knight of Twilight.
I hope that you enjoy this volume like the previous one.

If you feel that this is interesting, I will be happy if you bookmark and rate this.
I will be fixing any misspellings or missing words when I have time, so please lightly ignore them.

Well then, please enjoy!