Chapter 4

2. The Princess Who Has Nothing Left to Offer

It wasn’t common, but it did happen from time to time.

If someone used more power than their limits allowed, their mana or holy power would no longer recover.

“When I heard that hundreds of years had passed, I was already prepared for this. Perhaps because I was the Princess of Total Victory, I still have more holy power left than I expected.”

“To be completely honest, the fact that you can walk and speak normally right now is a miracle.”

Living an ordinary life would be fine.

However, Her Holiness Celestia warned me to be extremely careful, saying that if I used my power the way I had on the front lines, I wouldn’t live for even another year.

“You fought on the battlefield for many years, Princess. Even if you try not to use holy power, you may end up using it unconsciously. I’ll give you a holy-power control device, so please wear it at all times.”

The control device Her Holiness personally fastened around my wrist was a thin silver bracelet.

I had only ever used artifacts that amplified holy power, so this was my first time using a control device. Surprisingly, it felt comfortable because it calmly regulated my power.

I’d had enough rest.

Now it was time to hear what the Princess of Total Victory needed to know.

I couldn’t meet the Emperor wearing pajamas, so I needed to change clothes.

The imperial palace maids brought in a mountain of dresses.

“W-What are all these?”

“The Princess of Total Victory Collection!”

“All of these are my clothes? I’ve never seen them before.”

“Of course you haven’t! They were made after the founding of the empire!”

The smiling imperial palace maids explained that the Groxdel Empire held a competition to create clothes for the Princess of Total Victory.

“Every year, they choose the outfit that they think would suit the princess best. It’s a prestigious competition that has been held for more than four hundred years!”

“Spring, summer, autumn, winter. The designated season changes every year, so there are clothes for all four seasons.”

“Her Holiness brought these over from the underground storage room of the Central Grand Temple.”

As a test, I tried on Dress Number One, the very first design ever created.

It fit me perfectly.

Apparently, the clothes were made according to measurements estimated from my full-body portrait.

The Goddess’s Cloud, the only clothing I had been wearing, was a treasure and therefore had to be returned.

I’d been a little worried about what I was supposed to wear afterward.

But suddenly, I had more than four hundred outfits for all four seasons.

For the record, because reproducing the winning designs was prohibited, there was only one of each outfit.

The winning designers would then create simpler versions of their designs using cheaper fabrics and sell those commercially.

I’d heard all the explanations.

Now I just had to choose what to wear today.

There were far too many options, and since I was in the imperial palace, I also had to follow proper etiquette.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, so I asked the maids to choose for me.

After an intense debate, we settled on Dress Number 387, embroidered with gold thread along the hem and sleeves.

“Who should explain it, Your Holiness?”

“You, as the Hero’s blood relative, are the most suitable.”

“You’re giving me a difficult task.”

“I did try to stop him at the time. Besides, the person who caused the mess should be the one to clean it up.”

“By Your Holiness’s logic, wouldn’t it be best for Richt to explain everything himself?”

Listening to the Emperor and Pope talking back and forth in front of me made me increasingly uneasy.

Neither of them looked willing to be the one to explain everything, so I had no choice but to poke the Hero in the side.

“Please explain it briefly and clearly so that I can understand.”

He lowered his eyes for a moment as he thought.

Then he dropped a truth that made my head throb.

“The Holy Sword was destroyed.”

“AAAAH! What did you say?”

“The Four Great Temples, which stood in the east, west, south, and north, were also destroyed. The cost of repairs is so enormous that restoring them isn’t even being considered at the moment.”

“U-Ugh!”

I was so stunned that I suddenly became dizzy.

The Hero caught me as I staggered, while holy power came rushing toward me from across the room.

“Princess! Calm down—though I suppose there’s no way you can calm down. Take deep breaths!”

I clenched both hands tightly and took several long, deep breaths as Her Holiness instructed.

I managed to regain my composure, but my stomach still hurt.

The Holy Sword had been destroyed.

What on earth had happened?!

I glared around the room, and this time, Her Holiness Celestia began explaining what had happened.

When the Hero Dietrich, who had fought alongside me in my era, went on the subjugation campaign, the Holy Sword was shattered while he was blocking an attack from the Demon King.

“The entire sword, including the hilt, was destroyed beyond repair. They say the attack was so powerful that Hero Dietrich even lost his right arm.”

The subjugation army had no choice but to retreat after losing the Holy Sword.

According to the records, the Northern Grand Temple and Eastern Grand Temple had already been destroyed by then.

“During the period between the Hero’s death and the appearance of the next Hero, we couldn’t even protect the two remaining temples. So now, the Central Grand Temple is the only one left.”

“Didn’t you pray for the Goddess to grant you a new Holy Sword?”

“Of course we did. But as you know, Princess, the Grand Temple is the foundation that gathers the Goddess’s power. She answered that there wasn’t enough power remaining to create a Holy Sword.”

So that’s why it took five hundred years to defeat the Demon King.

The Princess of Total Victory was trapped in the Demon King’s Castle, and humanity had lost its strongest weapon, the Holy Sword!

With only the Hero left to cut down the Demon King, it was inevitable that it would take an incredibly long time.

Wait.

Then how exactly did the current Hero, Richt, manage to cut off the Demon King’s head?

Ordinary weapons couldn’t even scratch the Demon King’s skin.

The Goddess hadn’t given the Hero a special sword for no reason.

The answer to my question came from the Emperor.

“We overwhelmed him with sheer numbers. We gathered talented blacksmiths and craftsmen from across the continent and had them forge swords.”

“One or two wouldn’t have been nearly enough.”

“We made a total of one hundred swords over twenty years specifically for Richt to use. Ninety-nine of them broke during battle. Only the one with the most expensive materials survived.”

Just as the Princess of Total Victory possessed an enormous amount of holy power, the Hero also possessed several special abilities that only Heroes could use.

One of them was the ability to obtain an extradimensional storage space for weapons the moment they learned that they were the Hero.

Even if the weapon in his hand broke, the Hero could immediately summon the next weapon and continue fighting.

As long as he still had weapons stored in his extradimensional space.

“You really managed to defeat the Demon King by some miracle.”

“Exactly. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. The rulers of the other countries all feel the same way. There have simply been too many failed attempts.”

Richt was probably one of the three strongest Heroes in history.

Even under such unfavorable conditions, he had ultimately secured victory.

All right.

Back to the main issue.

The Holy Sword was gone, and the Grand Temples had been destroyed.

There was no guarantee that the next Hero would be as strong as Richt.

For the sake of future generations, we had to solve this problem somehow.

“According to the records, the temple is responsible for maintaining the Holy Sword, but only the Princess of Total Victory can repair it.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

Even though they were asking me with such desperate expressions, I didn’t have an immediate solution either.

The conventional method was to completely restore the Four Great Temples, then have the Pope and all the High Priests pray to the Goddess and ask her to grant them a new Holy Sword.

“I was a princess who had no choice but to fight on the front lines, so I mainly learned healing and combat techniques for using holy power. I did learn some other techniques during my special training, but I forgot the ones I’d never actually used.”

Let’s not expect too much from someone who crammed for an exam.

The very first technique the Pope of five hundred years ago taught me was the Goddess’s Iron Fist, which involved filling my fist with holy power and launching it at a group of monsters.

“As the Pope, there may be information that even I don’t know but that the Princess does. I’ll grant you access to the Central Grand Temple’s library and restricted archives, so please…”

“I think I’ll also need the assistance of a priest who is highly skilled in controlling holy power.”

“I’ll assign High Priest Avilus, whom you met earlier, as your assistant!”

“You may also use the imperial palace’s restricted archives whenever you need them.”

Huh?

Restoring the Four Great Temples was the temple’s responsibility, so I could understand why Her Holiness Celestia was being so cooperative.

But even the Emperor was being extremely helpful.

The Demon King had been defeated, so at least during the current Emperor’s reign, there shouldn’t be any need for another Holy Sword.

Had he read the confusion on my face?

The Emperor immediately revealed a painful reality.

“The cost of making a single sword capable of withstanding a Hero’s power is enough to build a large mansion, with money left over.”

“Ahem. Be precise. A large mansion in the imperial capital. For reference, the capital of the Groxdel Empire has the most expensive land prices on the entire continent.”

Now I understood why the two people at the very top of the continent’s power structure were desperately asking me to somehow solve the problem.

Whether you were the Emperor or the Pope, no one could overcome a limited budget.

In the end, I made the same request to Emperor Payton.

I asked him to assign someone to help me.

“I’ll introduce you to the greatest scholar on the continent, Princess.”

“Oh, are you thinking of bringing Dr. Riepart?”

“He’s the most suitable person when you consider everything.”

The Hero briefly explained things for me, since I knew absolutely nothing about him.

Dr. Elmaren Riepart was a genius scholar with a memory so incredible that he never forgot anything he had seen even once.

His nickname was the Walking Library.

“He’s the best teacher when it comes to explaining the knowledge he possesses in an easy-to-understand way. His favorite field is history.”

“So if I ask him about something I’m curious about, he can teach me right away?”

“Yes. The doctor is currently conducting research at Groxdel Imperial University, but if he can meet you, Princess, he’ll come running like the wind.”

Well, of course he would.

If a scholar who loved history was told that he could meet someone from five hundred years ago, there was no way he wouldn’t drop everything and come running.

Anyway, had I finally heard everything I needed to know?

I looked at the clock.

Two hours had already passed.

So many important matters had been discussed that no one had touched the tea and snacks laid out on the table.

I picked up a cookie to eat, but the Hero snatched it away in an instant.

After wiping the crumbs from my hand with a handkerchief, he broke the cookie in half, tasted one piece, and then slipped the remaining piece directly into my mouth.

Aaaah!

He’s doing it again!

Again!

I had once again ended up being waited on by the Hero so naturally that it felt like water flowing downhill.

I screamed internally.