The Crown Prince Who Raises a Side Character-Chapter 17: New Adventurer Bern (15). Hierarchy

The cleaning mission became more efficient with time.

At first, Bern had to assist by subduing the monsters and tossing them in front of Blanca. But as the battle progressed, Blanca was soon able to massacre monsters on her own, flinging mid-tier spells like regular attacks.

What started as Bern feeding kills to Blanca gradually evolved into a system where Blanca focused on her own hunting, Bern focused on his, and Renya took over the role of fire prevention. With that, the monsters were, quite literally, on the verge of extinction—thoroughly slaughtered.

“Here, please try this! I may not look it, but I, Renya, have a decent bit of confidence in my cooking!”

Evening darkened the sky with its inky tones.

Bern, receiving the grilled skewer Renya offered, swallowed involuntarily at the intoxicatingly strong aroma.

Bern’s body, being a product of clone magic, was sustained by the Crown Prince’s mana, so he didn’t need to eat regularly like others.

Still, eating food did help him recover some mana—albeit inefficiently—and more importantly, his sense of taste functioned perfectly fine.

Crunch.

The moment he bit in, a wave of spicy heat and greasy flavor flooded his mouth.

The wild texture and gamey scent stimulated all five senses, but not so much that it was unpleasant.

That was thanks to the powder sprinkled on the meat, which subdued the odor considerably.

Bern tilted his head slightly.

The flavor felt both unfamiliar and oddly familiar, stirring a memory from his past life.

“It’s not pepper—pepper’s commonly used here too. More like «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» mala sauce, but less spicy and more aromatic?”

Blanca, who hadn’t looked particularly expectant, took a bite of her skewer—and her eyes widened in surprise.

“This isn’t just seasoned with salt, is it?”

“It’s a herb called Sharbi.”

“...Isn’t that a poisonous plant? The one that stings your skin and makes your eyes tear up if you get too close?”

“That’s right.”

Blanca made an incredulous face as Renya nodded nonchalantly.

With a hearty laugh, Renya added an explanation.

“It’s the wisdom of hungry countryside folk. If you soak it in water once and then dry it into powder, it becomes a great spice for masking gamey smells, like now. Even if the ingredients are garbage, you can still make something decent enough to swallow. That’s the charm.”

“It won’t harm us, right?”

“It depends on how long it’s soaked, but this batch has been in water for over two days, so it’s safe. Personally, I prefer soaking it just one day before drying it, but most people say eating that feels like their mouths are on fire. On the flip side, some folks love it and eat it sweating like mad!”

“Eating something painful on purpose? That’s quite the odd taste.”

Blanca shook her head, but for some reason, Bern found himself smiling.

He could picture the scenario vividly.

“I’d like to try that version someday, if that’s all right.”

Blanca looked at him like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard, but Renya’s expression lit up.

“Of course! I’ll do my best to prepare it in a way that satisfies you, sir! Sharbi is a pretty common herb, so it’s easy to get more!”

“Are you sure, Bern? What if you get sick from it?”

“Isn’t this sort of thing part of the adventure?”

Bern truly enjoyed these moments—sitting around a campfire with companions, grilling meat, and passing the time with trivial talk.

It felt like his soul, worn thin by the endless wave of work, was finally being soothed.

Renya seemed to notice that the mood had softened too. He spoke more playfully than usual.

“Still, I’m honestly amazed by how strong the two of you are. I’ve done all sorts of requests as an adventurer, but I’ve never seen anyone hunt this many monsters so easily.”

At Renya’s words, Blanca shook her head.

“I don’t know about Bern, but I’m not really that amazing. I only reached Tier 3 in the mage hierarchy.”

“Is that different from adventurer ranks?”

“It is. Adventurer ranks are based on performance—skill plus achievements. But the mage hierarchy is purely about one’s level of mastery.”

As expected of a former receptionist, Blanca began explaining with a clear and pleasant voice.

If you only had knowledge of magic but couldn’t use it—Tier 1.

If you could use basic spells useful for everyday life—Tier 2.

If you could wield practical spells usable in combat—Tier 3.

If your mana developed unique traits, allowing you to display your individual character as a mage—Tier 4.

And if you could go beyond just casting existing spells and actually reshape or even invent them—Tier 5.

“Anything above that is pretty much a godlike existence no normal person will ever meet. Realistically speaking, even reaching Tier 4 makes you a highly sought-after elite.”

“But you’re only one tier away, aren’t you?”

“That one tier makes an unbelievable difference. For example, someone like Karina—since her mana is naturally aligned with the ice element, she probably consumes half the usual mana for ice spells, and their power is twice as high. And that’s just the minimum estimate.”

If a Tier 3 mage and a Tier 4 mage were to cast the same low-level spell, and the Tier 3 mage produced a result worth 10 using 10 units of mana, then the Tier 4 mage could produce a result worth 20 while using less than 5 mana.

Even if they possessed similar levels of mana and used spells of the same grade, the actual output wouldn’t even be comparable.

What’s more, these mana traits weren’t fixed ratios—they became increasingly efficient as the mage’s skill grew.

Blanca explained that this was also why most mages chose to specialize in a single elemental attribute and were reluctant to learn or use spells outside their domain.

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“Tier 4—that is, the point where mana acquires its own unique trait—can be reached more easily by repeatedly using only one type of elemental magic to ‘specialize’ the mana.”

“Ohh! I thought it was like a warrior sticking to their favorite weapon, but it’s something else entirely! That’s pretty profound!”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call it profound...”

“No, I, Renya, have been enlightened today thanks to you, ma’am! Then, if you keep using fire magic, you’ll develop fire-specialized mana, right?”

“That’s...”

Blanca paused at Renya’s question.

The concept of elemental specialization was something she knew about, but had never been able to bring herself to act on.

As she’d mentioned before, in places like forests, it was often safer to enhance her body and swing a sword than to recklessly launch fireballs. Plus, when taking on rough and dirty jobs, she frequently found herself using healing magic as well.

More importantly, in the past, Blanca had owned a staff that improved the power and efficiency of her spells. Thanks to that, she had never felt much inconvenience using a wide array of spells.

But now she no longer had that staff. And she no longer needed to do everything herself—she had allies who could cover different roles.

So perhaps, instead of scattering her focus, it would be better to become a pure fire mage. No—perhaps that was the fastest path to becoming stronger.

“......”

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Even as she understood all of this in her head, Blanca couldn’t easily reach a conclusion.

Of the four spells she knew, only Flame That Burns Stone was one she had purchased and learned on her own.

The other three—Flame That Burns Wood, Slight Body Enhancement, and Minor Healing—were all taught to her by her mother.

To abandon two of those spells, which in a way were like mementos, didn’t sit right with her.

You might say she could just use them again after reaching Tier 4—but she had heard stories of other mages who tried similar things, only to have their mana distorted and their skills deteriorate drastically.

Still—

...I can’t afford to be sentimental.

Protecting the spells her mother gave her was important—but even more important was defeating the lich and freeing her mother.

And above all, if she wanted to repay Bern, she needed to grow stronger, quickly.

As she gathered her resolve and was about to nod—

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Bern, who had been quietly listening to the conversation from the side, cut in with those words.

“In large organizations, specialized mages can be useful since they get assigned to specific roles. They’re also easier to train. But Blanca, you’re an adventurer. Instead of focusing solely on raw firepower or efficiency, having a wide variety of tools at your disposal would serve you better.”

There were plenty of mages who wanted to learn all sorts of spells but couldn’t, simply because it didn’t suit their aptitude.

If it were just learning multiple types of offensive magic—like fire and ice—that’d be one thing. But for Blanca, who already wielded attack, healing, and enhancement magic across entirely different categories, taking a specialization route would be a waste.

“I see! Sir, you’re absolutely right! Versatility is the greatest weapon for an adventurer! Now that I think about it, I said something really foolish earlier! I’m sorry, ma’am!”

“N-no, it’s okay.”

Blanca tried to suppress the fluttering feeling in her chest.

Bern had said exactly what she’d secretly wanted to hear, and her heart had started racing because of it.

She couldn’t believe how easily she was swayed by someone else’s words or behavior—it even surprised herself.

Meanwhile, Bern had his own concerns.

‘What I just said was pretty much common knowledge, so that’s fine... but if a pure warrior who supposedly knows nothing about magic keeps giving advice about spells, that’d be suspicious. The Absorption Ring will help her grow stronger just by hunting, but still...’

Just then, his eyes landed on the sword at Blanca’s side.

According to her story, that sword had been carefully maintained by her late mother.

So far, Bern had taken the front lines, leaving Blanca no chance to wield her sword. But she had said herself that when using fire magic was too risky, she’d enhance her body and swing a blade—so she must at least have the fundamentals.

It might be odd for a warrior to give magical advice, but sword advice? That was another matter.

[Isn’t that pushing it? What if she ends up trying to do both and fails at everything? You know magic swordsmen are all flair and no substance, right?]

‘That’s not quite my situation, but if some flashy Crown Prince who actually followed that “pointless build” heard you, he’d be pretty disappointed.’

[A-hem. I mean, I was just speaking generally! With the right teacher, anything’s possible, right?]

Tuning out Lucidra’s rapid backpedaling, Bern spoke again.

“Since we’re on the topic of strength, why don’t we incorporate some training alongside this request? Blanca, Renya—both of you.”

“Sorry?”

“Ooooh! If you’re willing to teach me, sir, I, Renya, will follow your lead with utmost reverence! Shall I begin with nine bows of respect?”

“That won’t be necessary. Blanca, is that all right with you?”

Blanca’s eyes wavered for a moment before she shyly nodded.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Bern’s lips.

The classification systems for warriors and mages differed, but in practice, their strengths were usually seen as comparable.

And the level of strength that “Adventurer Bern” could currently produce... was around the peak of Tier 4.

To defeat a lich—who had likely reached at least Tier 5—his companions needed to become stronger too.