The Hidden Extra: The Lazy Prince Refuses to Ascend The Throne

Chapter 826: The Oddities of Halveran

The City of Halveran...

It had been over a year since the beautiful city of Halveran was destroyed by the Singularity of Chaos. In that short time, the city had been rebuilt, though it had yet to regain its former glory.

The city’s reconstruction was made possible thanks to the Blue Moon Trading House, which lent money to the imperial family in exchange for assets and other collateral.

The interest rate was extraordinarily high, reaching ten percent.

Although it was a heavy burden, the imperial family had no choice but to accept it. The cost of rebuilding the city of Halveran was simply too enormous.

The total expense reached tens of billions of Sharn and eventually swelled to nearly one hundred billion Sharn.

In this world, no trading house other than the Blue Moon Trading House was capable of providing such an enormous amount of capital.

There was, of course, the option of borrowing from other empires or kingdoms. Unfortunately, aid never comes for free.

Aside from charging similarly high interest rates, those empires and kingdoms would inevitably demand territory, resources, and other concessions.

The Holy Valtanir Empire clearly could not accept such terms.

So, despite the extraordinarily high interest rates, the city of Halveran was successfully rebuilt and gradually regained its vitality.

The people looked joyful. Children walked alongside their parents, while merchants hawked their wares in the streets.

Throughout the city stood statues of the Goddess of Light, though far fewer than before Halveran was destroyed.

Tap... Tap...

A carriage drawn by two horses traveled down Halveran’s main street.

Inside, a beautiful woman gazed out the window.

”What a bustling city,” she whispered.

The woman was none other than Elina, whom Ragan had ordered to meet the Saint in Halveran.

It had been more than four days since she set out, and only now had she finally arrived in the city.

Of course, the long journey wasn’t without reason. Taking the long way around was safer.

With the war between the Holy Valtanir Empire and the Great Velmora Empire heating up, the Holy Valtanir Empire had tightened border security and no longer allowed horse-drawn carriages from the Great Velmora Empire into its cities.

As a result, merchants had no choice but to take detours or pass through neighboring kingdoms—including Elina.

”But come to think of it, there are far fewer statues of the Goddess of Light than before,” Elina muttered, noticing something unusual about Halveran.

She had visited this city once with her father to attend a special conference.

Although she had been just a child at the time, Elina still clearly remembered the layout of Halveran.

Statues of the Goddess of Light stood on every corner of the city, with many people gathered around them in prayer.

The most impressive of them all was the giant statue of the Goddess of Light in the city center. It wasn’t just the main place of worship for the people of Halveran—it was also a popular tourist attraction for visitors like her.

But not anymore. There were far fewer statues, and people no longer gathered around them to pray—a stark contrast to what she had seen in the past.

The horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of a small inn not far from the city center.

”Young Lady, we’ve arrived,” the coachman said.

Elina stepped out of the carriage and walked over to him.

”Find a place to rest. Come back and pick me up here in four days,” she said.

The coachman nodded. He then pulled the reins, and the carriage rolled away.

Elina covered her head with a scarf before stepping into the inn.

”Welcome,” the receptionist greeted her.

She was a woman in her twenties with short, brown bobbed hair.

Elina smiled gently and gave a slight nod.

”Can I rent a room for a week?”

”Of course. What kind of room would you like?”

”One on the top floor, if possible. I’d also like it to be spacious and have an en suite bathroom.”

”All right. That will be five hundred Solaris, including breakfast but excluding lunch and dinner.”

Elina said nothing and paid the fee.

When she was done, she received the key to room 120.

Without another word, she headed up to the second floor.

***

”Phew...”

Elina flopped lazily onto the bed. The nonstop journey that had lasted for days was truly exhausting.

She hadn’t even taken a shower or cleaned up yet. Although her body didn’t smell at all, she still felt sticky and wanted to wash up as soon as possible.

”For the empire... it’s all for the empire!”

After encouraging herself, she forced her lazy body to stand up and head to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, she emerged looking refreshed.

Elina dried her long hair with a towel before walking over to the bed and sitting down.

”Saint Helena should be at the church right now. But how do I approach her?” she wondered.

She was confident in both leadership and combat, but this was her first time carrying out a mission as a spy.

What’s more, she hadn’t brought anyone with her except the coachman. This was to minimize the chance of arousing the imperial family’s suspicion.

But Elina wasn’t worried. She was under the protection of the Singularity of Chaos. Only a fool with a death wish would dare target her.

Taking a deep breath, Elina stood up and changed her clothes.

Once she was finished, she wrapped a thin headscarf around her head, covering the lower half of her face, before walking out.

***

The Church of Light’s headquarters was located on the southern side of the city of Halveran. As the center of the Church of Light, the place was obviously enormous. Many people came there every day to pray, mainly because it was the residence of Saint Helena.

At least, that’s what Elina thought. But when she arrived in front of the church headquarters, she didn’t see a single person.

The place was vast, yet it looked deserted, with not a single worshiper in sight despite it being the middle of the day.

”That’s weird. Why is this place so deserted?” Elina muttered, frowning in confusion.

Although she had never been to the headquarters of the Church of the Goddess of Light before, a place like this shouldn’t have been so empty.

As she walked through the church grounds, a cold voice called out from behind her.

”Hey, what are you doing?”

Elina flinched and turned around.

A guard in silver armor, a sword hanging at his side, was walking toward her with a cold expression.

Suppressing her surprise, Elina replied politely, ”I came to the Church of the Goddess of Light to pray. But why is this place so deserted? What’s going on?”

The guard narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

”You’re not from around here, are you?”

Elina nodded. ”Yes, I’m from another kingdom.”

”Where exactly are you from?”

”The Ancient Kingdom of Eron.”

”Oh... No wonder you don’t know about the recent events.”

The guard’s stern expression softened, replaced by a calm, neutral look.

”Recent events?” Elina asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. ”What exactly happened?”

The guard took a deep breath, stepped closer to her, and lowered his voice.

”The Church of the Goddess of Light has been suppressed by the imperial family. Its activities are now severely restricted.”