The Abandoned Prince Heals an Enemy Soldier on the Frontlines, Only to Discover She’s the Seventh Imperial Princess - Chapter 51: The Abandoned Prince Turns to the Wrong Person for Help

Chapter 51: The Abandoned Prince Turns to the Wrong Person for Help

The lamia’s welcome was… intense.

Sure, the fact that the entire village was filled with beautiful women and cute girls was amazing on its own—

But even more amazing was how every single one of them came at me with zero hesitation.

Getting wrapped up and thoroughly squeezed by their powerful snake tails… honestly, it felt incredible.

Especially the little lamia girls. They were on a whole other level.

Those younger ones worked together to pin down my arms and legs, and yeah… they showed no mercy.

Even as kids, their grip strength was no joke.

And the way they whispered things while teasing me… let’s just say it nearly awakened something inside me.

Not that I’ll admit that out loud.

The next day.

I sat down with Ailynn to talk about what to do going forward.

“So, you wanna know how to get back to the country, huh~?”

She gulped down booze straight from the bottle as she thought it over.

Honestly, I would’ve preferred asking sober-Ailynn for help…

But I figured draining her too much would just be mean.

If she wasn’t being serious about helping, I could always flush the alcohol from her system with Perfect Regeneration—

But if she was giving it actual thought, I decided to leave her be.

Though lately, she’s started dodging me whenever I try to sober her up.

Guess she really is Rosemary’s sister.

Even while drunk, her reflexes were crazy sharp. I was honestly impressed.

“Would it be possible to build a ship and sail across the sea?”

“Nope, not really~ The sea out here is super unstable. Even a light breeze can turn it into a mess. A regular ship would sink in no time~”

“Then… what if we built a large ship?”

“Still wouldn’t recommend it. There’s an entire region of the ocean ruled by a Leviathan. You’d need a ship that could go around that area, meaning it’d have to travel an incredibly long distance. On top of that, you’d need room for enough food. A sea route’s probably not gonna work~”

So… all of my ideas were shot down.

And really, we didn’t even have the skills or knowledge to build a proper ship in the first place.

Even if the lamia helped out with manpower, we still lacked the technical know-how.

In other words… we were stuck.

That meant my only hope was for Rosemary or Alcarion to crush the rebellion quickly and come find me…

But just sitting around doing nothing felt wrong.

“If only we had someone who actually knew about ships…”

“Eh, don’t stress too much~ Mama wouldn’t lose to something like a rebellion anyway~”

“…Um, Lord Reyshel?”

While I sat there rubbing my forehead, watching Ailynn chug from her bottle, Queen Michaela quietly spoke up.

“Hm? What is it?”

“I may know someone who’s well-versed in shipbuilding.”

“Seriously!?”

“Yes. However, that person isn’t a lamia… She’s a dark elf.”

Dark elves…

Right, they were the ones who lived near the dried-up lake to the west, if I remembered correctly.

“They used to have close ties with the dwarves and even built large ships to sail across the sea. If we could get help from the dark elves, there’s a chance we might be able to build a proper ship.”

“Whoa, that’s awesome!! Then let’s go ask the dark elves for help!”

“…Unfortunately, that’s where the problem lies.”

“Huh?”

I tilted my head, and Michaela began explaining with a troubled look.

“Are you aware that the dark elves don’t have any males?”

“Ah—yeah. One of the lamia girls mentioned it. Said they’re a race where only females are born.”

“That’s actually not quite true. Dark elves do have males. In fact, our tribe used to have friendly relations with them—including their men.”

Wait—so the lamia and dark elves used to get along?

“From time to time, we received seed from their males, and that’s how we avoided extinction. But recently, all of the dark elf men were taken away.”

“…That explains why so many lamia girls are insanely pretty. But—wait, taken? Who would even do that?”

“It was the succubi. They live in the northern lands… the area that used to belong to the Demon Lord.”

“Succubi!!”

The word alone was enough to make most men’s imaginations run wild.

Violetta once mentioned she had a bit of succubus blood herself, but to think I might actually meet the real thing…

…No, no. Focus.

Now’s not the time to be getting excited.

“The male dark elves… they’re being kept as livestock by the succubi and are getting drained to the brink of death. In fact, some of them have already died.”

“…Gulp.”

“Reyshel, are you thinking right now, ‘Lucky dark elves…’ or something?”

“F-Wh—!? N-No way I’m thinking that!!”

Tch… Ailynn.

Even drunk, she could still read my mind like an open book.

“Ahem. Anyway, the remaining female dark elves—after losing their men, both adults and children, to the succubi they once trusted—have become deeply wary of other races…”

“So… talking things out is probably a no-go?”

“Most likely. If the succubi continue to monopolize the dark elf men, then our people will eventually be unable to reproduce as well… and go extinct. We’d like to cooperate, but the female dark elves are extremely distrustful of outsiders now.”

“I-I get it… That’s pretty rough.”

“And just when we were worrying about that—Lord Reyshel, you appeared.”

Wait… hold on.

Did I just become the guy who saved the future of the lamia race?

“That said, even if your presence lets our people bear children… it’s only buying time.”

“Yeah… that makes sense.”

Thanks to me showing up, the lamia’s extinction deadline had been pushed back a bit.

But that’s all it was—just buying time.

Give it another hundred years, and they’d be right back in the same situation.

“We’d love to find a way to work together with the dark elves—and the arachne who live in the southern forest of darkness—to take back the male dark elves from the succubi… but it’s not going well.”

So that kind of cooperation wasn’t really happening right now.

And apparently, the succubi weren’t entirely to blame for hogging all the men either.

For them, a man’s essence isn’t just for making children—it’s actual food.

Unlike the lamia or arachne, who face slow extinction from not being able to reproduce, the succubi are on the verge of dying out from literal starvation.

Yeah… this was way more complicated than I thought.

As Michaela and I sat there, both of us deep in thought with serious looks on our faces—

Suddenly, Ailynn flashed a big, confident grin and said,

“Oh! In that case, I have the perfect idea~!”

“…Okay, I’ll hear it. Just… it’s not something crazy, right?”

“Of course not! Come on, trust your big sis~”

Well… Ailynn is someone I can count on.

And she sounded really sure of herself this time.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to let her take the lead on this one.

I was a fool for trusting her.

“Ailynn… what is this?”

“It’s a cage~! Made of wood, yeah, but sturdy enough that you can’t break out~”

I was currently stuffed into a small wooden jail cell.

It was cube-shaped, with a few wheels attached at the bottom.

I felt like some rare animal being carted off to a zoo.

“Why am I even in a cage?”

“Because I’m going to sell you to the succubi~”

Yeah. No good.

This plan was really no good.

I should’ve known better. The only version of Ailynn that can be trusted is sober Ailynn.

Ailynn under the influence?

Yeah, she’s the kind of woman who’ll sell you off while humming cheerfully.

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[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

Author: “Next time!! Succubi!! Duel Standby!!”

R: “…”

If you found yourself thinking, “Getting sold made me laugh,” “That’s classic Ailynn,” or “It’s time to d-d-d-d-duel!!” —then please leave a comment, bookmark, ★ rating, or review!