"Melclius, my son. You understand, do you not?"
"Y-Yes, Father. However..."
"There is no 'however.' You have lost the Royal Skill, [Royal Tamer], which is the qualification for succession to the throne. Therefore, your right to the throne is revoked. The throne shall one day pass to the second prince."
Thanks to Nathan's offhand use of Reverse, the first prince had become unable to inherit the throne.
"Wh-What? Please wait! There must be some mistake!"
"You and I, along with the court mages, have verified this multiple times. I am your parent; this is an extremely regrettable outcome. The cause is unknown. However, I will not strip you of your status as royalty—consider it an act of my paternal grace."
"...I thank you for your unparalleled grace, Father..."
◇◇◇
"How? When did this happen?!"
Melclius, the first prince of the Gloria Kingdom, was flustered.
Without his knowledge, his unique royal skill, [Royal Tamer], had somehow become [Third-Class Tamer].
When he went as usual to see his wyvern mount, it had nearly bitten him.
This was something impossible for someone with [Royal Tamer], a skill that could even tame dragons.
And of all the moments, it was witnessed by the second prince, Piero—the next candidate for succession.
Piero had cheerfully reported the scene to the king.
Seeing Piero like that, the king felt a twinge of unease about having him succeed, but he could not ignore the report.
Thus followed the declaration at the start: the revocation of his right to the throne.
He had briefly considered rebellion, but since he had lost his Royal Skill, he stood no chance against his father.
Even if he could somehow deal with his father, Piero possessed the Royal Skill [Royal Hood].
If Piero's guaranteed-hit archery sniped me from a distance, I'd be dead.
The only one who might stand a chance would be the Third Princess with her Hazard Skill.
Anyway, when and where exactly had I lost my Royal Skill?
There hadn't been any strange ceremonies or anything.
A prince for whom dealing with commoners was as routine as breathing would probably never arrive at the truth.
◇◇◇
After the Capital Martial God Festival ended, I went to Duke Giess's manor.
"Lord Nathan, Lady Sarah — it's great to see you both doing well."
"Ah, thank you, Alan."
"Thanks to you, Alan, we had a comfortable stay."
It seemed the duke had kept his promise and looked after the two of them.
But when I thought about it more carefully, hadn't the duke come out ahead in this arrangement?
The duke's faction had said they wouldn't enter the festival this time, so by going in their place, I'd dealt damage to the duke's political rivals.
Alright — next time something came up, I'd squeeze even more out of them.
That aside, I needed to send Nathan and Sarah abroad.
"Are you ready?"
"Yep, ready to go."
"Then — Transport!"
The place I sent them to was Boomashi Kingdom, two countries over.
Apparently it was a place that valued brute strength and muscle above all else.
It's probably the perfect place for Nathan to make a name for himself as an immovable shield tank.
Weapons?
Just clobber them with the orichalcum shield and problem solved.
The two of them thanked me, but I did it because I wanted to, so I don't need any thanks.
I did tell them to buy me a meal if we ever cross paths again.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse], [Divine Eye], [Sword God], [Gentleman Thief], [Dark Magic], [Stone-Iron Magic], [Holy Magic], [Space-Time Magic], [Scorching Heat Magic], [Freezing Ice Magic], [Magic Hand], [Seduction], [Pain Dulling], [Complete Status Abnormality Resistance], [Fire Spirit's Protection], [Phantom Demon], [Tempest], [Dark Spirit's Protection], [Monstrous Strength], [Thunder God Sword], [Luck Boost], [Clear Storm Magic], [Humility]
Rank: Silver (Alisa: Gold)
Thank you for always reading😊