Asura Kingdom, capital Ars, Silver Palace.
It was a chilly night.
Gilgamesh sat on the balcony of his room, sipping on hot tea. Though he would have preferred a fine wine from his special cellar, he was but a child, and the alcohol his young body could handle did not currently satisfy his desires.
"It has already been a week." Gilgamesh mused, taking a sip of black tea.
The memories of this body were never granted to him, so he had to learn everything from scratch. It turns out he is the prince of the Asura Kingdom and is in the third position in line for the throne of this realm, considering only his brothers. If his sister entered the line of succession, she would be second, leaving him in the fourth position.
As he had researched, the Asura Kingdom is a human realm with the largest national power in the world, located in the western area of the Central Continent. It is one of the most abundant and prosperous regions globally; thus, becoming the king of the Asura Kingdom is equivalent to becoming the richest person in the world.
However, none of this mattered to Gilgamesh, as both the nobles and many of the inhabitants of this kingdom were worse than scum. None of them deserved to have him as their monarch, and he had no interest in taking the throne from the man who was now his father.
Despite the abundant resources found in this region and the relatively few monsters that appear in the vicinity, which makes the Asura Kingdom flourish with its people, Gilgamesh held his previous reign in high regard, and only a few individuals were worthy of living in his realm if it still existed.
In this capital of the Asura Kingdom, named Ars in honor of a hero who led his comrades to victory in the First Great Human-Demon War, it was also the largest city in the world. The headquarters of the Water God Sword Style could be found here, where knights trained.
Ars also boasted a massive coliseum, a beautiful knight training ground, exquisite temples for the Saint Milis religion, an aqueduct system that spanned the entire city, and the headquarters of the world's largest commercial enterprises.
However, even though it was the largest city in the world, it was a challenging place for adventurers to make a living. This was due to the fact that knights were regularly dispatched to exterminate monsters in villages and towns, leading to very few extermination missions being organized.
"In its vicinity lies the Fittoa region... The Boreas Greyrat Family governs that region and is famous as the land of perfume." Gilgamesh mused, stirring his tea cup with great interest.
"As for the Notos family, it's famous for being considered the land of alcohol; I hope their praises are worthy," Gilgamesh had developed a strong desire for wines, which is why he had collected hundreds of thousands of bottles of the finest quality according to his taste.
But he had heard from his recently hired history teacher that most of the wine consumed in celebrations was produced in Milbots.
"I'll end up with the Donati and Wishiri families, neither of them really interests me..." Gilgamesh then looked at the names he had written down on a sheet, and these were his brothers, the princes of the Asura Kingdom.
"What a bunch of misfortunes, none of them is worthy of becoming a monarch, but considering the state of this kingdom, I didn't expect any less."
Gilgamesh shook his head, left the balcony of his room, and went straight to bed. He was slowly getting accustomed to the rules and power divisions in this world; he had heard interesting things, so he just had to wait until he regained some of his powers.
...
The next morning.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The wind blew as Gilgamesh struck a woolen dummy over and over again; his wooden sword moved swiftly, and the strength hidden in each of his attacks was highly abnormal.
Next to him were some broken wooden swords and pieces of training dummies on the ground. All of this demonstrated how hard Gilgamesh had been working to sharpen his senses and gain better control of his body.
"The first in the line of succession is your brother, Prince Grabell Zafin Asura, who will ascend to the throne if the succession line is considered. His desire to claim the throne is great, and he is very skilled in politics."
A middle-aged man in neat and high-quality attire stood beside Gilgamesh, who was vigorously swinging his wooden sword. The history teacher and advisor looked at the young prince and broke into a cold sweat after getting a closer look at his character.
"You may continue." Gilgamesh said without even glancing at the elderly man.
"The second in the line of succession is your sister, Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura. She hasn't shown her desire to rule, but she's the second most supported after your elder brother, the first prince, and she's your father's only daughter."
"As for your second brother, Halfaus, he is the third in the line of succession and possibly has the most support from the noble families of the realm. All of this information, of course, comes from personal research I have conducted over the past few years."
Standing beside the elderly man was Simon, who stood like an unmoving structure. He had curly, unusual hair and wore a robe over his silver armor. His eyes were fixed on Prince Gilgamesh's swordplay. How had his prince become so fierce with a sword?
"As for the alliances supporting your two elder brothers..." Before the teacher could finish his words, Gilgamesh swung his sword, shattering the woolen dummy into a thousand pieces. Boom!
"Since the incident at the inn, my two brothers haven't shown up to check on my condition. Of course, they must have heard the results without coming here, but that's rather suspicious," Gilgamesh said in a disdainful tone, accompanied by an ironic smile.
"Prince, please mind your words." Simon said, a little worried about the repercussions Gilgamesh's words might cause.
'This knight worries too much about nothing, I suppose it's because he has no idea how far I can go if I set my mind to it. But that's a boring idea; I've already ruled what I had to rule, so being a king in my new life is not up for discussion.'
"Prince, you've been training intensively for two hours; I recommend you take a break."
However, no matter how much fear Simon felt toward the current Prince Gilgamesh, his job was to protect him, and he didn't want to fail again.
"You're right..."
Looking at his hand, which was rapidly healing, Gilgamesh agreed. He had been maintaining this training pace to adapt to the size of his body, and it must be said that it was more challenging than he had imagined.
"May I continue?" The teacher hesitated about what to do after his narrative was interrupted.
Gilgamesh frowned, feeling a pair of eyes staring at him through the window. He walked slowly to the wooden sword rack, took one in his right hand, and approached the window.
"You're quite far away, but if you let your guard down, you'll die." Having said this, Gilgamesh launched his sword at a terrifying speed. The disturbance of the wind caused the window curtains to flutter, and books along with empty tea cups flew to the sides.
"This is..." The teacher had a pale expression. What was happening with Prince Gilgamesh?
"Is there something I should know?" Simon asked, genuinely confused. Gilgamesh's attitude was very difficult to predict, so whenever he didn't understand something about what he was doing, he would ask directly.
"Not at all, it was a bat that seemed to be rabid. I just scared it away as it could infect someone with its disease," Gilgamesh waved his hands and looked at the teacher, who appeared to be paralyzed. "You can continue; pay no mind to my demeanor."
"Oh, yes, I'll continue..."
The teacher adjusted his tone and said, "Those are your two brothers and sister who are in the line of succession, so you, being the third of your siblings, would make you fourth in line."
After hearing the introduction the teacher had prepared per his request, Gilgamesh displayed a satisfied smile. This realm was as decadent as any other, with princes and a princess engaged in an intense battle to claim their father's throne while factions sought a foothold for future gain.
As he correctly understood, he was the youngest of the princes, so the factions supporting those who aimed to become rulers did not see him as a potential threat. He was indeed an obstacle, but no one knew him well enough to reach such a conclusion.
However, the blatant assassination attempt against him must have been orchestrated by someone from his siblings' faction. As for who the culprit was, as long as they didn't trouble him further, Gilgamesh would let the matter go for his peace of mind.
While still debating what to do, Gilgamesh realized he had an easy path to do as he pleased. After seeing for himself what this kingdom had to offer, he would begin visiting other historically curious places.