“What should we do, Prince Hicked?”
“We have to make sure this place is not discovered.”
I am with the slaves, or rather, former slaves. Since I am royalty and their owner, I had their slave collars removed and liberated them.
…This made the rebel army finally accept me as their ally. No matter what the beast people working with me said, I’m still a prince of the kingdom of Migha, the son of the king who enslaved them, and someone who took action to enslave people like them.
I am also learning for the first time that there are humans in this army, not just beast people. It seems there are plenty of humans who don’t harbor ill feelings towards beast people, and some who used them as labor without knowing the full details of their enslavement.
Generally speaking, people in this country look down on non-humans, and the idea that it’s only normal for everyone else to be seen as inferior is deeply entrenched in people’s minds. We should start by changing that way of thinking.
Since these people are no longer slaves, they have the option to escape this place. I proposed this as well, but if possible, I would like to change this country’s way of thinking. The people who suffered through slavery agree with me.
Even if they run away from here, if the kingdom of Migha gets the power to occupy lands further away, they’ll just fall into slavery again as non-humans. We need to work to make sure this does not happen.
However, I am told that abolishing slavery all of a sudden is not a realistic goal. I am only fourteen years old, and I understand that I lack the ability to think very far ahead. A realistic goal would be to gradually tear down the system of slavery, but we can’t do anything about those that become slaves due to problems such as debt. We need to make it so innocent people are not enslaved, and those that do fall into slavery have at least a decent environment.
Other races are enslaved when their villages are attacked, but the country’s citizens can fall into slavery due to things like debt. However, there are a lot of humans who are forced into slavery as well. That is a problem with this country’s system.
The kingdom of Migha is a big country, so maybe my father is too busy to pay attention to this, or maybe he simply doesn’t care about the townspeople. I am a prince, but I am not important enough to make my father listen to me, despite what I think.
…If I could, if I was in a position where I could do something about this, I would act while making sure I looked at the people below me. But that would take a lot of resolve and dynamism.
This is what I think, but there is always the possibility that I can end up doing things that cannot be taken back. I cannot forget that the idea is to end this as peacefully as possible. At least that is how I see it, but many of the people who were attacked, taken away from their families, and enslaved are less inclined to accept a peaceful resolution. In fact, while this is called a rebel army, it is far from a cohesive unit.
Many people accept me, but some still oppose me.
Sometimes I find myself thinking about what a difficult position I threw myself into. But this is the result of my own actions that were propelled by my own will, so I have no regrets.
Some are more extreme, and even have thoughts that they should kill all those in their way and take over the country, but settle on ending this as peacefully as possible. At least that is a relief.
Some say we should avoid killing people, but take hostages and make demands. I would go along with this if I was a more valuable hostage, but being the seventh prince means I am very disposable. My father would not hesitate to abandon me if I were taken hostage.
In fact, I get the feeling that he would massacre everyone while pretending to go along with the hostage negotiation. My father is not soft enough for these tactics to work.
Even if we attempted to negotiate by taking someone important to the country hostage, it probably would not go well. Everyone is expendable to some degree, no matter how important their position is.
While certainly not peaceful, the most effective way would be to take the king’s head and declare myself the new king. Not that we have the power to kill the king, and even if we did, I still have older brothers.
Our talks have stalled.
If changing this country’s way of thinking really is impossible, we should leave the country and regroup. That seems to be an opinion shared by most of us. It would be one thing if losing our lives led to changes, but we would just die for nothing. The ones taken by hatred would probably gladly take that path, but most seem to understand.
The leader of the rebel army proposes that we gradually free slaves, and send the ones who do not wish to fight here to the miko.
There are many different people among them, and I do not know if sending them to the miko will work out well, but we have no choice but to act.
I think, as I stand here as a part of the rebel army.
—Prince and uprising – Part two
(The prince stands as a part of the rebel army, although no one knows what their actions will bring.)
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ah interesting thing. i can actually see a real life allegory in the black slaves of America.
contrary to what people like to believe, despite the system in place favoring white people and despite discrimination and the thought of black people as inferior being the norm at the time, there were white people who were against the system and on the sides of the slaves. the sentiment toward such people was worse than that of the slaves. they were race traitors blood traitors they were mobbed, beaten, disowned, and ostracized by their communities. and they did so gladly because they were standing up for what was right in their eyes.