In regards to this country, when princes are born they're granted direct control over imperial guards.
They're granted in order to move as one's hands and feet since they are young, and it holds the design to let them learn to move people.
And then as they're raised and live, if they do good things the number of imperial guards they have are increased, and if they do something bad they're decreased.
When the King dies, the one who has the highest number of imperial guards at that time ends up becoming the next King.
Or at least that is the tradition in this country.
The more imperial guards you have, the more power you hold basically.
I think there are many problems, but among them the one who has the most imperial guards is the first prince.
The one who has the self-awareness as the eldest son, he might be a bit arrogant, but in regards to royalty it's an appropriate conduct.
Which is why, he holds close to 30 imperial guards.
Then, who is the one who has the fewest.
It's the one despised by the soldiers, the seventh prince Pax Shirone.
Certainly he has a few imperial guards.
Currently, he has around three.
For a period it had decreased down to one, but since he was able to create a connection with the slave market in the strife zone it increased by one.
The final one I'll mention later.
Three people.
Just three people.
His imperial guards are few.
However, there's someone even further below.
That is the third prince, Zanoba Shirone.
The number of his imperial guards is zero.
Zero.
0.
Not a single soldier exists that he can move himself.
Before he was alone, he had the imperial guard known as Ginger, this country #12 in skills as an imperial guard.
However, eventually that last one as well, was traded for a certain figure, and ended up becoming Pax's belonging.
It seems that at that point Ginger applied for a resignation, but Pax panicked and held her family as a hostage, so she unwillingly ended up becoming his imperial guard.
Well then, this third prince Zanoba Shirone.
He was a Miko.
He's had superhuman strength and a sturdy body since he was born.
Just by holding that ability alone, he became one who had a special existence.
It wasn't a significant ability, but the king was delighted.
A Miko will definitely be a useful person to the country in the future.
Especially, in this country which is close to the strife zone in the north, an existence which could become a war potential is something to hold with both arms into the air and congratulate.
The one who gave birth to Zanoba was a concubine, but with this she was seen as accomplishing her part, and felt relieved.
The time when the king lowered his raised arms was after three years had passed.
When Zanoba was three years old, the fourth prince was born.
He was the fourth prince, but in regards to the royal consort it was the first child.
It was a child like a ball and everyone was delighted, the country held a ceremony party.
In that party Zanoba walked and walked to the place where his own brother was.
And then, he started to touch his little brother stretched out on the bed, and said he's cute, like a doll.
Everyone who heard those words was laughing with smiles.
Since Zanoba was three years old he liked dolls after all.
The fact that he wants to liken it to something he likes is... pleasant.
In the next instant, Zanoba tore off his little brother's head.
Like a doll.
The party turned into a hell of agonizing cries.
The king and royal consort went mad and exiled Zanoba's mother outside of the country.
However, Zanoba remained within the country.
Part of it was because he was still young and it was also because he was a miko.
It seems that in regards to this world, miko are very important individuals.
After that incident Zanoba's imperial guards were reduced to three.
It was originally eight, but it became three.
Never increase it beyond this, is what the king declared.
The next incident happened during the time he was 15 years old.
Around this time, though he was suffering from a doll disorder, Zanoba possessed judgement.
Since that was the case, it was decided he would accept a bride.
She was the daughter of a powerful family from a place somewhere to the north.
In regards to the king, during a time of war, he intended for Zanoba to bear the full brunt of it and stand strong.
The wedding ceremony completed safely.
The next day, after the first night...
The bride was discovered in the bed as a corpse without a head.
Zanoba tore it off.
The fact that a powerful family's daughter was killed caused a civil war which had to be suppressed.
The king took two imperial guards from Zanoba, and decided to confine him to the inside of the castle until a war starts.
On top of that, he tried to have Zanoba's favorite dolls taken away, but all the soldiers who took on that job had their heads torn off and died.
[Head Ripping Prince] Zanoba Shirone.
After that incident, Zanoba became called as such.
As expected, if he were to push things that far, the king must have tried to think of doing something.
However, as long as he had dolls he was fine.
As long as dolls were granted to him occasionally, then Zanoba had no harmful intent.
Which is why he thought that this is a dangerous weapon in the shape of a person, so he decided to act as such.
Since then, Zanoba was treated as a tumor, and we arrive at the present.
Although I'm arrogantly talking about it right now, the time when I heard this story was afterwards.
That time I still didn't know that Zanoba was the Shirone Royal Palace's greatest war potential.