"Is this all the battle mages that we have?" I hold up the list of the soldiers, feeling incredulous.

The army only consisted of five water mages, twelve healing mages, and two wind mages. The rest were ordinary swordsmen.

The knights avoided my eyes. Perhaps they did realize it was a hopeless battlefield, after all.

The Mage of Fire Storm was quite famous for gaining a title at such a young age. She was what you'd call a child prodigy. I had seen her fight myself.

She was an absolute beast.

Not to mention, our battlefield was centered in the forest. Derita had burned it down along with all of us. In that case, luring her away from the forest and then using the water mages to oppose her would be the correct method.

The problem was, five low-ranking water mages wouldn't be able to hold her down.

If you thought about it, our loss in Derita's hand was pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point.

||Giving up already?||

Who said I was giving up? If we couldn't win with magic, we just had to beat her with numbers.

"We have to change the strategy." I pointed at a specific point on the map. "If Derita showed up, we have to concentrate our forces here."

"Your Highness-"

I urged on, ignoring the Commander. "And then we will move the troops over here-"

"Um, Your Highness." The Vice Commander raised his hand.

I continued, "If the time is right, the Commander will-"

"Your Highness!"

I started. When I looked up, all the soldiers were watching me.

"Ah, yes?"

"Your Highness, you're bleeding!"

I brought up a hand to my nose, feeling warm blood trickling down to my face.

"Quick! Call the healer!"

Nosebleeds were a common occurrence in my life. It seemed these soldiers weren't aware of that. They all looked tough and healthy, not weak and nearly malnourished like me.

I leaned back and sighed. I guessed I had pushed myself too much with the sword training yesterday.

|You still have a long way to go, young Prince||

Tu popped up beside me. [[Tu already told you to take a break, didn't she?]]

Rikal peered up behind her, looking rather pale. [[...Are you dying?]]

"Prince, please hang in there!"

"This is my fault," Dutro murmured with a blue face. "Because I didn't force His Highness to take a break..."

Today was quite hectic.

Once again, I had to hole up in my tent, this time entirely not out of my own volition. The healer insisted I should lie down on my bed for the rest of the day.

The Commander had visited earlier, stating an apology for pushing me too hard. It wasn't his fault, though. I was the one who refused to stop despite Dutro's insistence. As if I wasn't feeling guilty enough about it, he also brought a steaming bowl of soup.

||They're good men, Prince||

I knew that without the Deity of Knowledge telling me.

"Can you guys just call me by my name?"

Tu shoved her head above my eyes, invading my vision. Her hair fell down and trickled my cheek. It felt itchy.

[[But Tu doesn't know your name.]]

Oh, now that I thought about it, I hadn't introduced myself yet. "Huan should have known, right?"

Rikal pushed Tu away from my face. [[Yeah, but we just assumed you don't want us to call you like that since you never bothered to mention it]]

"..."

[[Prince?]]

"My name," I murmured. This would be the first time in my life I had to introduce myself. "-is Erik Albertani, the Seventh Prince of Albertania Kingdom."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught Rikal tilting his head at me. His expression was strange. It was a mix of recognition and wonder. [[...Like the hero?]]

||A wonderful name♡||

||(◍•ᴗ•◍)||

For some reason, Tu started jumping around. [[Erik! Erik! Erik! Erik!]]

"You don't have to repeat it like that..."

She smiled. I didn't remember ever seeing anyone smiling sincerely at me like that before. [[Tu will remember your name forever!]]

The names of royal family members were already carved in the history books. There was no need for one more person (or a deity) to remember me. But because Tu was smiling brightly, I couldn't look away.

"Thanks," I uttered awkwardly.

[[And then we can make a name card-]]

I sat up and let Tu's voice filling up the silence. The soup the Commander brought to me was starting to get cold, but it still tasted delicious.

"Do you want to have some?"

I offered to them. I didn't know if deities could eat human food, but Rikal was staring daggers at me. I figured it was rude not to share.

Rikal shook his head. [[It's alright. You need all the nutrition you can get.]]

I continued eating.

I'd work harder tomorrow. I had to if I wanted to save everyone.