Then he pointed to his second brother, a handso young man dressed in a white robe adorned with jewelry.
"The Governor of the eastern Antisuyu, Second Prince [Playboy], [Frivolous] Vascar Kapak, is also the son of our father and his sister, with a very pure bloodline. But ever since his mother, the forr Principal Queen Mother, passed away, he began to indulge in a life of debauchery. He was a typical royal noble, indulging in hedonistic pleasures like fine food and wine, beautiful won, gambling, and hunting; his interests were extrely varied. Fortunately, the entertainnt offered by the Sun Empire was still relatively primitive; otherwise, on the Old Continent, he would have been widely known as a famous playboy. Surprisingly, although this Second Prince had noble blood, he had a wide range of friends, especially among the Totem Gods and various tribes on the Continent. If he were to compete for the throne, he would probably have the support of many small surrounding tribes. Even the Eldest Prince, with his Totem God blood, could not compare with him in this respect. Rather, it was a case of ’convert’s zeal,’ making the mixed-blood Eldest Prince appear, ironically, more like a staunch defender of the Empire’s traditions than the pure-blooded Second Prince."
"My [Playboy] second brother has a particular affection for beauties of all ethnicities and has even developed a sort of collecting obsession, amassing at least over two hundred exotic beauties. He even has a Fly Lady from the tribe of the Totem God: Plague Bringer. Can you imagine that? Moreover, he often falls into a state where lust governs his mind, without regard to the occasion. He always prefers to rely on those foreigners who offer him beauties rather than trusting his own tribespeople."
As Atahualpa spoke, an image of the Night Demon, who had disguised herself as the widowed Princess Perta Kapak, suddenly ca to Byron’s mind. Although Byron could not yet ascertain her origins, it would not be difficult for a Night Demon, who naturally possessed the talent to ’Charm Humans,’ to bewitch this Second Prince. After all, she had secretly approached Atahualpa’s Captain of the Guard without revealing her identity, which hardly seed like the behavior of soone up to good deeds.
Atahualpa had now reached the final young man, who had a strikingly fierce and capable deanor.
"The Governor of the western coastal region, Contisuyu, is the brave and combat-skilled Third Prince [Heroic Blood] Anqui Kapak. He has the smallest territory within the nation but commands the Empire’s strongest Air Force. All the islands in the nearby seas were his conquered strongholds. No one knows how many private tribes he has hidden away that worship him alone. [Heroic Blood] is just a superficial title; my intelligence officers have discovered that in his tribes, the common people call him [God of Wine]! My third brother loves fine wine. He orders his followers to brew purple Chicha, a purple-red drink made from purple maize, as an offering to him, along with their Mind Wish Power. In the Empire, Chicha is also known as Heroic Blood; it can fill a person with courage, making them fearless, though it can also render them reckless and impulsive. My third brother, who wishes to be the [God of Wine], often gets blindingly drunk and has committed quite a number of outrageous acts. Once, in a dispute over a gentle and adorable Rabbit-eared Lady at the Cusco Royal City, he got into a major fight with our second brother. In the end, our father confined them both for half a year, and that Rabbit-eared Lady was executed on the spot."
There was no need to elaborate on The Fourth Prince, as he was right before them.
Compared with his brothers, The Fourth Prince Atahualpa Capac, Governor of Chinchasuyu and the youngest, had not accumulated as many achievents or special skills. The only thing he excelled in—he had an abundance of Gold. He had also acquired the title [Hand of Wealth]. If he wanted to advance to the Fifth Order [False God] in the future, he would probably lean towards the Authority of Wealth.
When it ca to indulgence in wine, won, wealth, and worldly passions, Byron’s subordinates were re dabblers; these four brothers were the true masters, far beyond comparison.
"His Majesty, the Lord of Heaven," Atahualpa continued, "we don’t have any traditions here of ensuring princely succession by age, wisdom, or other criteria. Anyone with the ability to last until the end of the coronation ceremony has a chance to ascend the throne. Furthermore, the ans are unlimited. Whether it’s through Wisdom, martial strength, allies, or cunning sches, as long as you can achieve the goal, the Nobility Parliant presiding over the coronation ceremony will not interfere excessively. In the succession before last, during my grandfather’s generation, there was a Divine Descendant. Though born of a concubine with an impure bloodline, he rose from the bottom through sheer effort. He continually fought and bled for the Empire, expanding its territory, and progressively increased his own power. At the ti of his coronation, he killed all of his brothers and their Attendants from that generation and ascended to the throne with indisputable strength. He then married all the highborn sisters and the wives of his brothers. With over two hundred wives and even more female slaves, he fathered nearly a thousand children and finally succeeded in advancing to beco a Fifth Order Divine Being. That is our ancestor, the ruler of shadows and dusk, [Death Dusk] Supay!"
Speaking of his ancestor, admiration filled Atahualpa’s eyes.
Byron and Violet fell silent.
It’s one thing to kill enemies, but to slaughter your own kinsn is a bit much. Probably only the Sun Empire, with the [Sun God] Inti firmly in power and its stable rule, would dare to operate like this. The competition for the Sun Empire’s throne has a bit of the flavor of keeping venomous creatures—it is far more bloody and barbaric than on the Old Continent.
However, as Byron himself often said, to lose Human Nature is to lose much, but to lose Beastliness is to lose everything. In the perilous Hundred Beasts Paradise, to be without this essential barbarity would an nearing extinction.
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