"Olea..."

Grat glared at me with eyes full of hatred.

Did I do something to this guy for him to do that to me?

"Stop doing that to His Highness, right now, Duke's son."

It is true that his father is the king's—my father's—younger brother. However, since he is still our subject, that order is still absolute, even though he's my cousin.

"Shut up, you failure of an aristocrat! If you hadn't been born in the first place, I would have been the crown prince!"

Huh?

What is this guy talking about?

"Sophia!"

When I called her, Sophia, fully armed in combat while wearing a crimson dress, stepped out from among the students.

"Hey, can you understand what he's saying?"

"It's a failure of our school's educational system."

Sophia said that while hiding her lips with a black bushy fan.

I have no idea what he's saying.

While it's true that I was born after my father and mother became old, but...

"Hey, do you know what your father's succession rank is?"

"Before you were born, he was third in line!"

So he fully understands that part.

"Then, even if I wasn't born the late Duke Crestos  should be next in line to succeed the throne of my father, am I right?" *

"But he died too early! Also, a woman can't inherit the throne!"

Ah, somehow I can already guess what he's trying to say.

"But, even so, there's still Uncle Callisto, who was the second in line in succession."

"Didn't he hate being royalty because it's suffocating? That's why he ran away! Naturally, since the first and second lines in succession can't fulfill their roles, then our family was supposed to become a royal family!"

I see, it looks like Uncle probably thought that way, which is why he taught Grat that way of thinking too.

"With how you see things being only convenient to yourselves, no wonder your business isn't doing well these days."

Grat was surprised when I sarcastically said that.

"Hey Grat, If I remember correctly, your family owns and runs a theater. Ah, Sofia, how many theaters does Grat's family own?"

"There are five of them. But all of them are on the brink of collapse, well, it's probably due to their inability to respond to the changes in the market due to the issuance of the new banknotes and the outflow of entertainers to the Grand Theater."

Now that Sophia has said that, there have been a lot of theater companies, actors, and comedians who want to be hired to perform at the grand theater.

When Grat heard Sophia's candid assessment of their business, he raised his voice in rage.

"That's right! That's happening because you're doing unnecessary things! A theater for commoners? How could a lowly person even understand sophisticated things like a theater performance? Only nobles can understand and appreciate things like that."

I can only laugh at those words.

"So the reason why you are pursuing Ellis is that you want her to perform in your theater, is that right?"

"That's right! Her singing voice is perfect for our theater!"

I could tell that Ellis was surprised when she heard that.

"Hey, have you tried walking around town? If you've done that, then you surely have noticed that even ordinary people love to sing, play, and dance."

As someone who has memories of my previous life, I still prefer the simple but powerful performances on the streets being performed by ordinary people rather than the extravagant theater performances and classical music favored by the nobility.

"Did you know? In the downtown area, people make dolls out of rags, and they put those on a stage. I don't think those kinds of things are inferior, even when compared to a play being performed in a large theater."

"Are you saying that you went around the downtown area using your privilege as part of the royal family? Watching performances being played by those lowly commoners, as expected, you are not worthy of being the crown prince."

I sighed and handed my jacket over to Sophia.

"So?  What are you going to do about that, little boy?"

"I will eliminate all the failures wanting to get on the throne until the time that I rule this kingdom."

Sophia smiled suggestively while hiding her lips with her fan.

"Since that's a declaration of committing treason, he's guilty of treason, Your Highness."

"Alright, since you already gave your verdict, let's do this!"

Loosening my tie, I then stretched my shoulders.

"You can't use magic, and on top of that, you can't even fully summon your "King's Knight," yet you are acting so proudly, I will destroy that arrogance of yours. Get out "Cavalry"!"

When Grat said that a magic circle formed behind him and a five-meter-long white armor called "Cavalry" appeared, the armor opened the side of its chest and swallowed Grat.

When that happened, screams erupted inside the party hall.

Ah, it looks like he's so angry that he's not thinking straight right now.

"Sophia, use those people in the student council to help you evacuate the students. Also contact the royal castle and call the guards and have them ready to arrest him."

"I got it; good luck in your fight."

I nodded and gave Sophia the thumbs up.

"Your Highness..."

Cynthia called out to me when I was about to run outside so that Grat would chase me.

"I apologize for the misconduct that my fiance is committing."

"Former fiancée, right? Don't worry about that; it's not your fault. Rather than that, take Ellis and quickly run away from this place."

After I said that, crimson lights suddenly lit up in the eight slits on the Cavalry's face, signaling that its activation is now complete.
 
"Hey!  Over here!"

Shouting those to Grat, I jump out into the courtyard of the party venue.

[Don't run away, you coward!]

While shouting those words, the "Cavalry" broke through the walls of the party venue and jumped outside.

Running to the wall of the courtyard, I look back at Grad, who has been chasing me.

"Hmmm?"

[What is it? Are you going to beg for your life now? That's really pathetic for a failure like you.]

That does it, this guy has been calling me a failure since a little while ago.

"Why do you think that I'm incompetent?"

[Isn't it proof enough that you are a failure when you can only summon one arm of the "King's Knight," which is the proof of being the king."

Ahhhh, I see. I got it.

"By any chance are you talking about the incident on that monkey's rampage?"

[That's right. I've heard it from my father! At the time of the Crown Prince's engagement annulment incident, you were only able to use one arm of the "King's Knight" against the hero.]

"Well, if you insist it that way..."

I brush up my hair, and I look up at Grat's "Cavalry".

"Do you really think that just because I didn't seriously fight against the hero that I wouldn't be able to deal with you?"

I sighed once again; it looks like this guy is really disrespecting me too much.

Certainly, aside from the first time that I summoned it when I was young, it looks like the incident at the Spring Anticipation Party is the first time that I've used the "King's Knight" in public. In that case, it's unavoidable to have such a misunderstanding.

But it's still wrong to call the crown prince a failure.

I took a step forward, then I looked at the "Cavalry" as if I could see through it, and I directly stared at Grat.

"Wha... what is it? I'm going to crush you!"

If this guy can be intimidated by something like this, aiming for the throne would be an impossible task for him.

"It will be troublesome  in the near future if someone has a similar misperception about me... That's why let me show you how serious I am."

I then clench my right fist in front of my chest.

"Wake up and come to my side "Inheritance Regalia"."*

When I muttered that, a magic circle appeared behind me, from which the "King's Knight" appeared.

The "King's Knight" has a helmet that looks like a dragon, and scales cover its shoulders up to its arms. The mane that is running down on its back is pure white, while its faceless face awaits for me.

[No, no, no! This is a lie; it's a trick! You shouldn't be able to fully summon it...]

"It's because you only tried to see what was convenient in front of you; that's why it misled you."

The side of the "King's Knight" opened, and it swallowed me.*

Inside the "King's Knight" is a seat that looks like a saddle; when I sat on it, my limbs were fixed to it, and a mask was then put on my face.

At the same time, the color of the "King's Knight" changes from a rustic iron color to a fiery crimson one, and silver patterns running across its face light up.

[I won't lose! If I lose, then it's all over...]

Uoooooooooo

Grat's "Cavalry" draws out its sword, then he swings towards me.

I then used the scales on the "King's Knight" to block the attack.

When I put the hands of the "King's Knight" on the handle at the base of the scales on its shoulders, those scales detached from its shoulder and it became a huge knuckle guard.

"Did you know that if you trace our bloodlines from our ancestors, you will know that even the royal family are descendants of commoners."

While saying that, I punched the body of the Grat's "Cavalry".

"Did you know that the predecessor of the Hortessa Kingdom, the Lucius Empire's last emperor, didn't care about people's rank; he employed people regardless of their rank as long as they were talented."

While Grat's "Cavalry" is still staggering because of the punch I threw earlier, I punched the hand that is holding the sword using my right fist, causing the sword to fly away.

"The founder of the Hortessa royal family was a former commoner who became a noble after being given an important position by Emperor Isteria III during the reign of the empire."

Speaking of, Isteria III, the last emperor of the Lucius Empire about 150 years ago, was also a tyrant.

For the people of his time, he's kind of crazy, but even so, I sincerely respect him, because in his time he treated the imperial aristocracy and the commoners as equals, but because of that, the country was divided, and eventually he lost his life when the nobles assassinated him.

I would also like to let the commoners enter politics, but right now it's quite impossible as the groundwork for that isn't ready yet.

"But he was given a special position because of his superior blood. He's not just a mere commoner! Yes, that's it! Ellis maybe a commoner, but he also has superior blood; that's why we can welcome her into our family. "

"Your argument doesn't really make sense. You really are an idiot for being fixated on bloodlines! And that's why I'm here; it's my role to get rid of idiots like you!"

When I put both of the "King's Knight" fists together, the space between them distorted, and after a few seconds, a sphere was formed, releasing purple electricity.

"Roar! Ark Tyrant!"

In response to my voice, a torrent of dark purple gushed from both of the hands of the "King's Knight," dyeing the night sky of the royal capital.*

[Hiiiiiiiiiiii!]

Grat's scream echoed in the surrounding area.

"Well done using the Dragon Breath."

Sophia quietly said that while covering her mouth with a fan as she peeked through the hole that was created by the Ark Tyrant's attack on Grat's "Cavalry."

In front of me, Grat's "Cavalry," which had lost its head, gave off a white smoke, and after a short while it collapsed on the spot where it was standing.




Note:

1. So, in short, the MC and Sophia are cousins.

2. Grat's mecha is written as 公騎 which roughly translates to Public Knight I changed it to Cavalry to make it sound more normal, while the MC's mecha is written as 王騎 which roughly translates to King's Knight, Royal Knight, or even Royal Cavalry, I just used King's Knight to properly disambiguate the difference. BTW, technically both the MC and Grat's mecha are pretty much like Gundams; they just have different models. Again, I'm just using different words to clearly distinguish them.

3. Inheritance Regalia is written as 継承神器 and it roughly translates to Inherited Sacred Treasure, but since the author put katakana on top of those Kanji, I'm just using those katakana words.

4. Yup, swallowed is the right translation for it.

5. I don't really  know what was released by the Ark Tyrant, as the author doesn't write anything specific about it, the author just wrote dark purple torrent, so I guess it's some kind of water or a type of liquid.

6. This is a really long chapter with almost 2k words on it.