The Youngest Prince Copies Skills with Skeleton Soldiers Chapter 86 : Chapter 86

Chapter 86 - Plotting a Rebellion

Tinkle—

“Welco. Levering Firearms…. Ah, it's you, Young Master.”

Reggie, who was managing the store as always, was wiping a gun barrel.

These days, he spent more ti alone than before.

Josephine was practically living in Belir, and Kio had recently t his family and was living with them.

So Reggie picked up a cloth more often than usual.

He wiped the guns more often than usual, and the shop sparkled more than usual.

“Are you planning to see your reflection in the barrel?”

He laughed awkwardly.

“Maintenance is a hobby, and it makes ti fly. Despite how I may look, I'm quite the neat freak.”

“‘Despite how you look,’ you say. You have no choice but to be a neat freak, don't you.”

“Haha. I’m not sure what you an. In any case, what brings you here? Josephine is in Belir.”

“I ca here for you.”

“Are you planning on expanding the gun shop for ? If so, I’ll devote my entire being to helping you.”

Reggie, who answered slyly, finally put the firearm down and began to assemble it.

He set down the soot-covered cloth and fitted the parts in order.

“When you wipe and polish them like this, foreign substances sotis co out from the inside. Every ti that happens, my heart sinks.”

A misfire.

It was only natural that the mont one had to pull the trigger was a mont when life teetered on the brink of death.

A misfire that unluckily occurred at such a mont was perfect for ending one's life.

“Since misfortunes like misfires can be eliminated beforehand. Isn't this a hobby that extends one's lifespan, in a way?”

“Speaking of that lifespan, now that you've extended it this far, have you any thought of betting it on a big job?”

Reggie laughed heartily and slowly shook his head.

“I don't know what it is, but I'll take care of my own affairs, and you, Young Master, will be able to accomplish anything without the help of soone like .”

“Well. I agree with that statent, but I have no choice but to refute it this ti.”

I took my hands out of my pockets and naturally clasped them behind my back.

The well-built man standing before my eyes.

His stance, his maintenance thod, his ticulousness.

He was a trained soldier, and from his posture, an officer.

But he didn't beco a soldier because he wanted to.

He beca a soldier to survive.

But he had to die on the battlefield against his will.

“William Reggie Krawl. The third prince of the Julsin Kingdom.”

“……”

The soldier's hand naturally caressed the gun.

But it had no bullets, and he couldn't shoot.

He couldn't do that to the benefactor of those he considered family.

A hand that couldn't move.

A body that had frozen stiff.

His ears had to keep listening to my ensuing words.

“He withdrew from the succession competition and suddenly entered a military academy. After graduating with excellent grades, he was commissioned as an officer, but for so reason, he wandered the front lines.”

“…Please stop.”

“A soldier is a being who receives soone's orders. After the ‘mysterious’ death of the Second Prince, Commander William was always made to wander only the most dangerous battlefields. What was the reason?”

There was no answer.

It didn't matter.

Since I knew the answer anyway.

“It was because of the check from the First Prince, who is confird to be the next king of the current Julsin Kingdom. You faked your death to escape that check.”

His beard trembled faintly.

From below it, a small, empty puff of air escaped his lips.

“You know one thing. But you don't know the other.”

“What is it?”

“First of all…”

That it wasn't a faked death but a planned cri by soone else.

Secondly, that he had no intention of running away.

And that he never once had the slightest thought of wanting to sit on the throne.

“I believed the throne belonged to my older brothers, and my mother, who was of no great status, always told .”

Stay out of the competition.

That is your path to survival.

“So I lived my whole life lying low. I cast aside the little power I had as a prince and the people who followed , and beca a soldier.”

But they were still not at ease.

Ssk—

He lifted his shirt.

An ugly burn scar ran across from his side to his chest.

“A ground-based cannon supplied from above to hunt a monster. When the shell placed in it self-detonated, my resolve also died along with my subordinates.”

Resolve.

I will not beco king.

Even if soone places the crown on my head, I will take it off again and yield it to my older brother.

The young prince's resolve died that day.

“Did you say my life? I'll bet it all. As long as I can achieve my new resolve.”

What could have changed anew?

Neither of them said it, but they could tell.

A big job and a new resolve.

That compound word once again ca out of the Youngest Son's mouth.

“Rebellion”

Reggie’s shoulders trembled slightly.

“Even if you don't want to, I will make you king. That is why I ca here.”

How could he not want it?

How could he possibly refuse?

Josephine and Kio both t the wave that was the Youngest Son and were swept away, and in doing so, they obtained what they wanted.

But having watched from the side twice, Reggie seed to understand.

This man was not a wave.

‘The wind…’

He was the wind that creates the waves.

This ti, that wind was about to stir up a new wave.

Why did that wave and wind co to us, and why did they push us forward?

“Is all of this… a coincidence?”

“I don't know what you an.”

“You know what I an. , standing here in this demonic realm. Kio, who is with his family. Josephine, in her engineering workshop. I'm asking if all of this is a coincidence.”

A coincidence that fit the situation too well.

From the listener's perspective, it was a strange question to answer.

It was as if…

“The revolution and rotation of a planet. The life that ca into being because of it. Is this coincidence? Or is it fate? Why don't you try to answer.”

“……”

“The answer is, I don't know. Isn't that it? It's the sa for . Whether it's a coincidence or not. Why you all are in front of my eyes. I don't know.”

The Youngest Son turned around, his hands clasped behind his back.

“It's tomorrow. A eting to plot the rebellion will be held at the Dark Moon Grand Castle, so follow the Head Maid’s guidance.”

“Under, stood.”

The Youngest Son ca out of the gun shop.

I'm good at uncovering lies, but I don't know if I'm good at telling them.

Seeing that Reggie just let it slide, it seed I had so talent in this area as well.

‘Coincidence, you say. What coincidence could there be in this world?’

It was my personal theory, but I believed it to be so.

At least from the mont I suddenly began living as the Youngest Son, there were no coincidences.

Josephine. Kio. Reggie.

For the three of them, eting was a coincidence.

But from my perspective, it was fate, it was a plan, and it was a struggle for survival.

If it looked like a coincidence, I was grateful.

***

As if by coincidence.

As if such coincidences piled up to beco an inevitability.

Or as if it were fate.

Four individuals, entangled like the fine roots beneath a lawn, gathered in a single garden, at a single table.

The discussion proceeded quickly.

There was no room for awkwardness.

It would be strange to be timid when they had co to plot a rebellion.

They knew their roles, their uses, and spoke within those bounds.

Except for the collateral branch mber who did not yet know hers.

First, the Youngest Son.

“A coup d'état. First, we must not call it a coup d'état.”

As the one standing at the very top, he did what only he could do.

“This is the hocoming ceremony of a war hero. It must be welcod, and it deserves to be praised. The reinstatent will be achieved amidst everyone's blessings.”

He frad the coup d'état as a hocoming ceremony.

This was the privilege of a noble.

The great rchant also nodded and continued.

“To do that, rather than laying siege with a large-scale force, we must make the people of the kingdom open the gates themselves.”

Therefore, a large force was not needed.

That was one of the reasons for recruiting a small elite rcenary company.

“However.”

Reggie opened his mouth.

William Reggie Krawl.

Everyone's eyes turned toward him.

Perhaps because it had been a while since he received such attention.

Reggie continued in a slightly softer voice.

“Isn't this an overly optimistic situation?”

Not just one thing.

Most of the plan was dangerously reliant on a single coincidence.

“You say an incident that could overturn the kingdom will occur, caused by the king himself or his actions.”

He said kingdom, not a domain belonging to the kingdom.

This ant.

“Doesn't that an the capital city, Krawl, will fall?”

“Correct.”

“Is there any evidence that a major incident of this scale will occur in the future?”

“The evidence.”

This ti, everyone's eyes turned to the Youngest Son.

“Doesn't exist yet.”

But what ca back was a disappointing answer.

A drop of sweat trickled down Anthia’s back.

It was surprising enough that a legitimate heir, who was thought to be dead and whose whereabouts were unknown, had appeared.

But regardless of what was surprising or not, a rebellion had to be perfect in every aspect.

Even then, success was not guaranteed in a treasonous plot.

Silence fell over the room.

“The tea’s fragrance is especially good today.”

And yet, the Youngest Son leisurely enjoyed his tea.

The tea's aroma was indeed good.

But if things continued like this, the next thing I might sll could be the stench of my own burning corpse.

Jubel was the one to speak up.

“…Young Master. I am prepared to believe everything you say. Even that the gun shop owner is in fact the third prince who was processed as deceased.”

“Thank you.”

That brief thanks left him at a loss for words.

But he had to say what he had to say.

“Is there even a sign that this major incident will occur? In the first place, why would a king destroy his own capital?”

“The king won't do it. What kind of king would be mad enough to do that?”

“Then who on earth would? Who would do such a thing?”

The Youngest Son smiled.

“It would be the person who is most desperate right now.”

Knock, knock—

Soone knocked on the door from outside.

It was the Head Maid.

“Young Master. An urgent ssage has arrived from Cailin-nim.”

“Already?”

It’s faster than I thought.

“He must have been more desperate than I thought.”

“What should I relay to Lady Cailin?”

“It's fine. I will go to the scene myself. Tell ‘The Watchman’ to prepare to accompany .”

“Understood.”

The conversation through the door ended.

Anthia asked blankly.

“The scene… what are you referring to?”

“The scene of the incident. The one full of the evidence we want.”

The faster I go, the more valuable the evidence will be.

That's why I had the wolves' ears perked up.

And that bite just ca.

“Today’s eting ends here. Return to your respective places and act as you normally would.”

Grabbing his overcoat, he was the first to leave the eting room.

Silence once again filled the place.

If anything had changed, it was that one person’s face had brightened considerably.

“I'll see you all next ti. With healthy faces.”

Jubel Maxman.

He left the room with a relaxed expression and a relaxed tone.

The money-grubber who had been grilling a direct blood relative just a mont ago was gone.

Once again, only trust remained.

Anthia, unable to believe what she was seeing with her own two eyes, grabbed the wrist of the departing man.

“W-Wait a mont.”

“What is it?”

“How did your worries vanish as if you'd flipped your hand? There was no reason for them to.”

Jubel gazed into the air for a mont, then opened his mouth.

“The Young Master once said to . Let's each do our best in our own positions.”

“…What about it?”

“The reason I beca serious was that it seed there was no place for the Young Master to do his best.”

“Yes…?”

“But the Young Master has just found that place, and he has gone to do his best. Then the job will succeed.”

She couldn't understand even after hearing it.

Her questions only multiplied in size.

Anthia’s face wavered with question marks.

Jubel patted her shoulder.

“Relax. And wait. Until your turn cos. So that you can do your best when that turn cos.”

“Ye-Yes.”

“I will now go to do my best.”

Jubel opened the door and left.

“Best….”

Reggie muttered quietly.

Then, after a mont.

He grabbed his coat and strode away.

It was the walk of a man who had realized what his best was.