At this, Magnus’s eyes widened slightly.

“……What did you say?”

“Well, if you become a beggar, can I perhaps return to the Marquis family?”

Serena said with a somewhat serious expression. Magnus, seemingly flustered, opened and closed his mouth before shaking his head.

“……I can safely provide for you.”

“Hmm. Or how about you coming into the Marquis family as a son-in-law?”

“That’s fine too.”

Magnus promptly nodded.

Pride or whatever, son-in-law or whatever, being with her was what mattered most.

“Then shall we do that?”

“Sure. It wouldn’t be bad to assist His Grace the Marquis from the side.”

The Crown Prince looked dumbfounded at the two people already envisioning their future after throwing away the duke title right before his eyes.

When one person speaks, at least the other should try to stop them, but here they were in perfect sync.

The bewildered Crown Prince glanced at Crown Princess Rosia beside him, and she was shaking her head with a sigh.

“…The joke went too far, Duke.”

“No, you don’t have to. Appoint someone else.”

“No, I need you. I’m sorry. I momentarily stepped over a line I shouldn’t have.”

The Crown Prince hurriedly apologized.

The moment he goes back and tells the Emperor, ‘Due to the Crown Prince, he ended up throwing away his duke title,’ the empire would be half turned upside down.

And he didn’t have the confidence to face the Emperor’s wrath either.

“……”

Magnus was turning his head away, uninterested.

“Or Serena. Since we might be a hindrance after all, how about we live by ourselves in a separate building and commute to the main building?”

“Oh, that sounds good too. It would feel like setting up our newlywed home. I’m in favor.”

Serena said with a bright smile, clenching her fist.

In fact, Serena was closer to deliberately playing along because the Crown Prince kept provoking Magnus.

The problem was that Magnus was serious.

Even if he gave up his duke title, Magnus wouldn’t become a beggar.

He had another profession, and the money coming in from the information guild was substantial.

That alone was more than enough for the two of them to live comfortably.

And he would have much more time too.

Magnus nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Drukan, let’s go quickly. Serena, how about you get in my arms? I want to move faster.”

“I don’t mind. Drukan?”

“If Your Grace can adjust accordingly, I’m fine with it. Given my age, it would be difficult to keep up with Your Grace’s full speed.”

Drukan answered calmly. He was also starting to get bored with this leisurely journey.

‘I want to go see my daughter too……’

Originally, since they were a dragon race that takes long hibernations, it wouldn’t matter much if this sleep was prolonged, but still, he couldn’t help but worry.

“Drukan, from now on, I’m not a duke, so you can call me Magnus. I decided to quit from today.”

“……Duke, I’m sorry.”

The Crown Prince finally reached out and grabbed Magnus’s clothes. Magnus furrowed his brow.

“I want to be with Serena more.”

“I was wrong. I won’t insist on following anymore, so please forgive me.”

“……Hmm.”

Magnus glanced at the Crown Prince with a displeased look. Serena slightly shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know what you want. Aren’t you going back and forth too much?”

“Yes, it’s all my fault. You’re right.”

The Crown Prince spoke, now resigned.

If the gatekeeper duke quits, who on earth would protect the empire at the forefront?

The Crown Prince acknowledged that he had misspoken.

“Then return to the imperial palace. I don’t mind if you follow if you can.”

“…I’ll try at least.”

Magnus took Serena in his arms. Drukan held the child with one arm and gripped the sword with the other.

Finally, after the Crown Prince took Rosia in his arms, Magnus opened his mouth.

“Drukan, you lead the way. I’ll match your speed.”

“Yes, Your Gra… Ahem, Mr. Magnus.”

Drukan glanced at the Crown Prince and adjusted to Magnus. Magnus smiled quite contentedly.

“…You guys, really.”

The Crown Prince sighed with a half-resigned expression.

“Yes, I’m the sinner here.”

“Hang in there, Your Highness.”

“Rosia……”

The Crown Prince buried his face in Rosia’s shoulder, whom he was holding, with a crying face.

Rosia smiled slightly while comforting him as he pretended to cry.

“We’ll depart now.”

As soon as the words ended, Drukan kicked off the ground and started running.

The Crown Prince chased after him, and after a little while, Magnus quickly followed them.

It was a speed that couldn’t be considered normal for ordinary people.

* * *

‘Are they really monsters?’

The Crown Prince thought, dripping with sweat and gasping for breath.

The Crown Prince had also studied swordsmanship in depth since his academy days.

In fact, he had a separate swordsmanship instructor even before attending the academy.

Therefore, the Crown Prince had been receiving lessons from excellent swordsmen since quite a young age.

‘…But why am I the slowest?’

He couldn’t believe it.

Somehow he managed to follow by gritting his teeth, but in the end, he arrived about 5 minutes later than Drukan and Magnus.

‘I couldn’t bring myself to give up in the middle……’

He didn’t know how many hours he had run without rest. No, in fact, today was the first time he had ever run for hours without rest.

It was only because Rosia used some healing power using the saintess’s power in between that he could endure this much.

He did his best, but still, being the last made him sigh involuntarily.

He didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of Rosia.

“Good job, Your Highness. I saw you in a new light.”

“Huh? I was the last, what are you saying…… I’m really embarrassed.”

But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t believe the two people who had run this distance faster than him and arrived before him without a single drop of sweat or disturbed breath.

In fact, Drukan and Magnus were surprised that the Crown Prince had managed to keep up.

Drukan hadn’t particularly slowed down for the Crown Prince.

Magnus had only matched his speed for Drukan, and the Crown Prince had followed on his own, adjusting his breathing appropriately.

That alone was quite commendable.

“Is this where the World Tree is?”

“No, I think we need to go further, but I judged that moving beyond this point would be too much.”

Serena nodded at Drukan’s words.

The place they arrived at was a village, one they hadn’t seen before.

In fact, villages Serena hadn’t seen before were rarer, but that’s beside the point.

“Are you guys really monsters? Running is one thing, but how do you not sweat a single drop?”

“Your Highness is drenched in sweat, I see.”

“……Yes, I was the only one who struggled. Just me.”

“Yes.”

Magnus answered the Crown Prince calmly.

In reality, no one except the Crown Prince was tired.

Three people were carried, three people ran, but those who were carried had no reason to be tired, and two of those who ran were fine.

“……”

So the Crown Prince kept his mouth shut.

Because if he added even one more word to that correct statement, it seemed like another fight might break out.

The Crown Prince learned patience.

“We should find a suitable house and stay for a day.”

“Yes. I’d like to stay separately though.”

“…Then let’s go to a place like an inn with multiple rooms.”

The Crown Prince said.

Magnus nodded and slowly strolled through the village.

“It’s really quiet. And it really doesn’t seem like anything is alive.”

“To think we could reach a place just by running……”

“The problem is not knowing how long we need to keep running.”

He frowned, holding Serena’s hand after setting her down.

In fact, carrying Serena while running wasn’t a problem, but things were taking a bit longer than expected.

‘The problem is that it’s uncertain if we can solve this.’

Living in this darkness, the chances of going crazy were high.

“But do you know what to do when we get to the World Tree?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are we just going blindly?”

“I thought there might be some meaning in the direction the light is pointing.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense…… It’s really without a plan. But it seems good too.”

Serena giggled.

Still, she thought that walking somewhere like this wasn’t too bad.

“I’m hungry……”

The child in Drukan’s arms suddenly mumbled softly.