½ Prince V1C4: The Necromancer and the Bard

posted in: ½ Prince | 130

½ Prince Volume 1: The Beginning of a Legend

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)


Chapter 4: The Necromancer and the Bard – translated by Julyflurry

In an extremely romantic European-styled garden, an angelic and devastatingly handsome elf sat beside a beautiful, rose-like girl. Together, they formed the flawless image of a fairy-tale prince and princess and the only word to describe them was “perfection”. Unfortunately, the image was marred by an ugly wolfman seated together with them. All the players nearby shook their heads, feeling as though they had ordered a bowl of za cui noodles,1 only to find out that the delicious pig’s intestines had not been cleaned properly and still contained some feces.

Putting on a charming smile, the corners of my mouth lifted up as I carefully examined the white menu in my hands. Having made up my mind, I lifted my head, ignoring the mesmerized gaze the other players were giving me as I turned to an equally enraptured waitress. In an incomparably gentle voice, I said, “Miss, a bowl of soy milk and five you tiao2 please.”

Blinking her eyes enchantingly, Lolidragon said lightly, “Prince, you really know how to ruin the mood; what’s with the soy milk and you tiao?” The players around us nodded in agreement.

“At least have some sesame cake! Miss, get me two bowls of soy milk and ten sesame cakes,” Lolidragon said.

Just then, Wolf-dàgē3 added in his bestial voice, “Little sister, also add a cup of Italian espresso, Caesar salad, and a roast…”

After finishing her soybean milk, Lolidragon wiped her mouth daintily and spoke. “Prince, I think we should hurry and find more teammates!”

“What’s the rush? We have Wolf-dàgē to heal us, so we won’t have trouble gaining experience. We can slowly gather other teammates!” I swallowed a mouthful of you tiao, slowly answering the question.

“No, experience has nothing to do with why I want more teammates.”

“Then?” I asked. Why else would we need teammates other than leveling up?

Lolidragon heaved a deep sigh. “‘The way is mine to clear and the tree is mine to cut; for you to pass through here… With. The. Hottie. You. Must. Part.’”

“Did you have to rub salt in my wounds?” That damn Lolidragon! I… I’m so pissed!

Lolidragon snickered. “Wounds are meant for rubbing salt in… Prince, the point is that we managed to scare off Fairsky this time, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be others who will try to snatch you from me. The next time, I might not be able to protect your virtue… That’s why – for your pretty little face, for your virtue, for our glorious monster-fighting honeymoon trip – we need to build up our combat strength quickly. That’s why comrades are the most important assets in our battle to protect your virtue.”

“….” I was rendered speechless. Lolidragon really knows how to scare people, I thought, But she’s usually right. Will I really be offering up my virtue to my fellow females? Could this be considered lesbianism?

Lolidragon thought carefully. “I think we should get a mage and, after that, an archer. That should complete our party.”

At this moment, Wolf-dàgē spoke. From what Lolidragon and I had gathered of Wolf-dàgē, he only opened his mouth when we were discussing something important. Therefore, he rarely spoke.

“Finding any mage is easy, but it will be difficult to find a mage that suits us. Some mages specialize in area spells good for handling a number of mobs at a time. Others prefer to focus their attacks so that they have stronger spells, but they can only take on one mob at a time this way. There are mages who choose to spam weak but fast attacks, as well as mages who prefer all-or-nothing bursts of magic. The type of elemental magic also plays an important role, so we’ll have to find a mage depending on what types of mobs you want to fight…”

Amazing! Both Lolidragon and I turned starry-eyed, staring at Wolf-dàgē in awe. It’s amazing how much theory there is behind finding a mage…

“You are amazing, Wolf-dàgē. You know so much…”

Wolf-dàgē gave us an embarrassed smile. “It’s nothing really. I wanted to be a mage before, that’s why I researched the class.”

A twometertall mage? I smiled numbly at the thought.

“Then why didn’t you become one?” Lolidragon also had a slightly stunned smile, but she thought, a twometertall mage was at least slightly less strange than a twometertall priest…

Wolf-dàgē heaved a deep sigh. “Err…!”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay.” Wolf-dàgē probably has his reasons… Rubbing salt on other people’s wounds was Lolidragon’s specialty, not mine – although I was also rather curious.

“It’s not really a big deal.” With a plaintive expression, Wolf-dàgē stood up and turned around to gaze at the faraway horizon, the very picture of dejection. Just what could have happened that led Wolf-dàgē to give up his dream of being a mage?

Wolf-dàgē’s expression darkened. “Actually, the reason was because… There were too many people lining up outside of the mages’ temple, so I went to the empty priests’ temple instead.”


My foot sent the skeleton warrior’s skull flying and with a spin kick, I broke the skeleton’s backbone. There was a loud “crack” as the skeleton turned into a pile of bones. Behind me, Lolidragon was busy gathering bones – I’m not joking. Since half a kilo of bone dust is worth ten silver coins, this is definitely not a laughing matter!

Before I forget to explain, the reason we’re here is because Wolf-dàgē said he wanted to see our combat technique before trying to find compatible teammates. That’s how we ended up in this eerie forest full of skeletons, using our craziest techniques to show Wolf-dàgē what we were made of.

Wolf-dàgē stared at me in disbelief. “Your taekwondo posture is incorrect. Come! Let Dàgē teach you.”

Wolf-dàgē then sent three skeletons flying in one with just one kick Are you really a priest?

Ahaha! I was leveling alone before, so I gained some strength… Here, come, let me buff you with Song of Battle, Fleet-footedness, and Impenetrable Wall.

After receiving a huge boost in strength, agility, and defense, I finally understood the benefit of having a priest. As I darted through the midst of a bunch of skeletons, I was reminded of the last time Lolidragon and I were fighting low-leveled skeletons in the cave at the newbie’s village…


“Lolidragon, are you sure we can fight against skeletons?” I stared at the dark, creepy cave, feeling myself break out in goosebumps.

Just thinking about the skeleton’s white frames in the school clinic left me feeling scared… And, more importantly, skeletons didn’t drool, so what was I going to rely on to go on a rampage?

Lolidragon too, gulped nervously and said, “We…should…be able to…”

We forced ourselves to enter the cave. Lolidragon! Go and check things out up ahead… What? What do you mean, ‘no’?! Are you really a thief?

Since it couldn’t be helped, I had to light up a torch and walk ahead with Lolidragon hiding behind me. Suddenly, we heard the sound of bones grating up ahead. My face turned pale. I turned to Lolidragon, hoping to find some comfort in her presence, only to see that her face had turned green.

“Ahh….” Lolidragon suddenly let out a squeak, her forefinger shakily pointing in front of her.

I turned to discover that three white skeletons had suddenly appeared, but to my surprise I realized that I wasn’t really afraid. As I looked left and right, I kept thinking that those three skeletons looked like the sparerib soup that my brother and I had eaten yesterday. I raised my Black Dao and approached the skeletons cautiously…


Lolidragon:

I stared at Prince, who was fearlessly approaching the group of skeletons and thought, Looks like she’s becoming manlier! Not bad, not bad; a handsome face cannot have a spineless personality.

Suddenly, something white fell on my shoulder. Timidly, I peeked at my left shoulder to see what had fallen. Ahhh! A skeleton’s hand! I tried to shake it off, but it was clutching onto my shoulder tightly. I’m scared!

Scared to the limit of my endurance, I finally understood what Prince meant when he was talking about hating the taste of saliva… I’m furious, furious! I’m so furious! Stupid skeleton, don’t you know you can’t just grab onto the shoulder of a fair maiden?

I reached out, grabbed the elbow joint of the skeleton, twisted it forcefully…and found that there was only a skeleton’s arm left in my hand. Uwah! I hurriedly threw it aside, but the stupid skeleton decided to use its other hand to grab me.

I immediately repeated my earlier movement… And then I lost control. Seeing the white bones in front of me, I dismantled them the moment I reached out my hand, destroying bone after bone…

I regained consciousness after sometime, and the first thing I saw was Prince staring at me in disbelief and the ground littered with bones. The system notice stated that I had just learned a new skill: Dismantle Bones.

As the saying goes, “Saliva for Prince, skeletons for me.” – Lolidragon.


“Help… Nooooo!” A sharp, shrill scream snapped me out of my stupor. At first, I thought it was Lolidragon going wild again, but when I turned around, Lolidragon was sitting on the ground, crushing bones into bone dust with a blank look still on her face.

“Prince, the voice came from there,” Wolf-dàgē said as he pointed towards the direction of the sound.

Lolidragon, Wolf-dàgē, and I quickly ran in that direction and saw a very cute girl of the angel race, with her hair tied in two buns, covering her face as she dashed toward us, sobbing.

“Flaming Skeletons…” Wolf-dàgē’s expression became grave.

Watching the fiery skeletons pursue the pretty little girl, my expression was no less grave than his. If I get burned, it’ll really hurt!

It couldn’t be helped however, as the bun-haired girl was already rushing toward us. I could only raise my sword to ward off the mobs, reminding myself not to give in to the impulse to pull some crazy stunts. From my cooking experiences, I knew better than anyone just how painful burns could be…

Nine-headed Dragon Strike!” Nine blades of flame shot out, rapidly striking at nine different spots on the skeletons. Ah! These Flaming Skeletons are incredible; even players and the skeleton boss from the newbie’s village couldn’t handle this technique, but for these skeletons to actually stand their ground against it…

I felt a growing sense of defeat. I retreated, drank a mana potion, and executed yet another Nine-headed Dragon Strike. Still not dead? Furious, mana potion, Nine-headed Dragon Strike, mana potion, Nine-headed Dragon Strike! I panted heavily. Such powerful skeletons! To still be alive even after so many Nine-headed Dragon Strikes…

“Prince, if you continue to use fire-based attacks against these Flaming Skeletons, then I’m afraid you’ll be fighting until Second Life closes down,” Wolf-dàgē couldn’t help but remark. His words were accompanied by the sound of Lolidragon’s snickers.

“…A mistake, a mistake!” Embarrassed, I extinguished the flames on my blade and simply used the “Ten” Strike instead. This time, the Flaming Skeletons scattered into pieces onto the ground.

<Ding! System notice: Prince has PKed Doll’s minions, Flaming Skeletons, Reputation -100>

That’s a false accusation; when did I do that?

Wolf-dàgē’s and Lolidragon’s expressions changed from mirth to alarm and they came over to stand beside me cautiously. Shielding the bun-haired girl by standing in front of her, a bunch of questions burst from Lolidragon’s mouth. “Little girl, how many people summoned those Flaming Skeletons? How did you manage to offend them?”

The girl shyly replied, “I did not offend anyone.”

“Then why were the player Doll’s Flaming Skeletons chasing after you?” I asked suspiciously.

“They were my skeletons…”

What? Did I hear correctly? The three of us exchanged a flabbergasted look, but Lolidragon forced her voice to remain calm. “You are ‘Doll’?”

“Yes…”

“You summoned those skeletons?”

“Yes…”

“You are a necromancer?”

“Yes…”

“You are of the angel race?”

“That’s right!”

“Then why were you running and even shouting for help?” I was slightly pissed.

Doll said tearfully, “Because this is my first time summoning those scary skeletons! They actually had fire, how frightening! Doll just kept on running, but those skeletons kept on chasing me, waaaaah!

The corners of Lolidragon’s mouth twitched. “You summoned them, so of course they would follow you! Why be a necromancer if you are scared of skeletons? Besides, you’re from the angel race…”

The cowering Doll suddenly raised her head and lifted her chin. “Necromancers are not evil. Their real job is to discover the true meaning of death and unveil death’s mystery. Besides, a necromancer’s real forte is medicine; no one is more familiar with the body than a necromancer!”

“Little girl, it seems like you’ve memorized The Eye of the Soul4 quite well!” Lolidragon said coldly.

Ah, no wonder those words sounded familiar; they came from the novel The Eye of the Soul.

After Doll heard this, she stamped her feet on the ground angrily and said, “I am different from the necromancer in The Eye of the Soul! I am…ahem! Ahem!” She suddenly cleared her throat, lifted her wand, and twirled around while reciting, “For love and justice! I am the pretty necromancer, Doll! Evil, beware! In the place of the skeletons, Doll will punish you!”5

As she finished, one foot touched the ground while the other was lifted up playfully and both of her forefingers were pointing at her dimples.

Both Lolidragon and I could say nothing in response, but Wolf-dàgē asked, “Little sister, what level are you?”

While still maintaining that extremely difficult pose, Doll replied, “No one’s applauding, so I’m not saying!”

Clap, clap, clap… No choice; we had to start clapping.

“Hehe, I am level thirty! Amazing, right?” Doll said proudly as she reverted to a more normal stance.

At this point, I should mention that Wolf-dàgē is level thirty-six, one level higher than me.

“Level thirty.” Wolf-dàgē considered, then asked, “Doll, what abilities have you learned? How many skeletons can you summon?”

Doll tilted her head and with an adorable expression recited, “Slumbering skeletons of the dead in the dark and remote depths of the world, abandon your slumber and answer my call, the call of the necromancer, Doll!

As soon as she finished chanting, the ground began to shake and many skeletal hands began to pop out of the ground like bean sprouts…

“Prince, there’s a skeleton grabbing my foot,” Lolidragon trembled.

Oh no, if Lolidragon gets touched by the skeletons, then…!

Aaaaaah!” Lolidragon let out a piercing scream and reached out to grab the offending skeleton’s hand. She actually pulled the skeleton completely out of the ground, as though she were pulling out a radish. Then, using her Dismantle Bones ability, she tore the skeleton apart. After she finished, she moved on to tear apart another and another and another…

Lolidragon, what are you doing, harvesting? Forget it, I thought. Despite my words, I immediately began to pick up bone after bone – half a kilo of bone dust is worth ten silver coins and the last time Lolidragon went on a rampage, we gained a total of ten gold coins. Looks like this time we can eat at a restaurant!

“Prince… Player-summoned skeletons will automatically disappear, you cannot sell them.” Wolf-dàgē’s voice drifted into my ears.

Wh-wh-what?! Why can’t we sell them? I watched sorrowfully as the gold in my hands disappeared.

To one side, Doll watched as her skeletons were turned into a pile of bones. Awestruck, she exclaimed, “My idol! Could I inquire as to that big sister’s name?” she asked me, her eyes glittering with reverence.

“…Lolidragon.”

“Lolidragon-jiějie6 is so powerful, to know every joint on the skeleton and twist it so that every bone in the skeleton’s body breaks! That lack of hesitation and methodical execution is amazing! Lolidragon-jiějie definitely has a profound understanding of the souls of the dead. I must learn from her,” Doll said, looking entranced as she watched Lolidragon dismantle the arm of a skeleton.

I watched speechlessly as Lolidragon, who apparently had a profound understanding of the souls of the dead, used her strength to dismantle bone after bone. I was a little worried, since at this rate her infamy might soon earn her a spot on the hall of shame…

“One, two…four…eight…” Wolf-dàgē began counting the number of skeletons no more slowly than Lolidragon was pulling skeletons out from the ground. “That’s a total of eight low-leveled skeletons! That’s not bad at all. How many flaming skeletons can you raise, Doll?”

Doll, who had been looking at Lolidragon with reverence, began to chant automatically, “Skeletons of the vengeful dead, cloaked in the raging flames from the depths of hell, answer my call, the call of the necromancer, Doll!”

Four flame-enveloped bean sprouts popped out off the ground. I immediately dashed toward them, ashen-faced, deeply worried that Lolidragon might—

Ahhhhh!”

Looks like I’m too late. Lolidragon’s already clutching her hand and whimpering tearfully.

Before I could reach Lolidragon, however, a figure faster than me had already charged over. “Lolidragon-jiějie, are you okay?! Waaah! Doll didn’t mean for big sister to get hurt.” As she finished speaking, Doll began to cry, wailing loudly. Lolidragon stared at her in bewilderment for a moment and then looked at me.

I scratched my face. “Doll says she idolizes you, as you have a profound understanding of the souls of the dead.”

“…”

“Prince, I think we should ask Doll to become a member of our party,” said Wolf-dàgē. Seeing Lolidragon’s expression, he added, “Doll’s ability to summon the dead is quite impressive. Right now, Prince is our only warrior. No matter how strong he is, he cannot go on the offense and protect a priest and a mage at the same time, so a necromancer with a number of skeleton minions would be quite suitable for our group.”

I stared at him, incredulous. Our priest actually needs protection?

Doll began to act all cutesy. “Oh goody! I want to follow Lolidragon-jiějie.”

A chill ran down Lolidragon’s spine.

I had no opinion on the matter and thus our party – with two votes for, one against, and one abstained – gained a new member. In addition to a handsome, transgendered elf warrior, a beautiful elf thief (who always refused to scout ahead), and a two-meter-tall wolfman priest (able to send three skeletons flying with one kick) – our team now included an angel necromancer of love and justice who feared skeletons…

Truth be told, shouting “DIE!” at the skeletons one moment and fighting alongside them the next leaves me with an indescribably weird feeling. At least I’m slightly better than Lolidragon; she keeps huddling behind Wolf-dàgē’s broad back. Only when she becomes embarrassed of having leeched too many experience points does she occasionally stick her head out and throw a hidden blade…

God damn it, Lolidragon! Aim carefully before you throw! As two throwing knives whizzed by, scraping the side of my head, I was started to feel the urge to beat someone up.

Do you guys miss Meatbun? I had actually wanted to take Meatbun out for some throwing practice so that it could level up, but the moment I took Meatbun out, Doll squealed about how cute it was and snatched it away.

See! Doll is still over there playing with Meatbun, tossing it up and down… Wait a second! Why is Doll holding a bone in her hand? And why is Wolf-dàgē beside her, looking as though he is coaching her in something?

Also, why does Doll’s posture seem to suggest that she’s playing baseball?

Before I could utter a word, the baseball – Meatbun, that is – had already been sent flying with a hit from the bone.

“Right, your batting posture is pretty good,” Wolf-dàgē said approvingly.

My jaw fell open. I could only look on helplessly as my poor Meatbun was sent flying again, hooting happily as it went. It first struck the skeleton standing next to me (which had been summoned by Doll), before rebounding and hitting a second skeleton, then rebounding back to the first, then the second, the first, the second…

My head swiveled left and right continuously as I watched my innocent Meatbun bounce back and forth between the two skeletons.

<Skeleton HP -50, HP -50, HP -50>

With a “bam!” and a “bonk!”, two innocent skeletons announced their departure from the world of the living.

<Ding! System notice: Prince’s pet Meatbun has PKed Doll’s Skeletons, Reputation -200>

<Ding! Pet: Meatbun has learned a new skill – Double Kill>

I seized Meatbun as it flew back to me. I looked once at Meatbun, and then at the two-headed giant I was fighting, the corners of my mouth lifting into a cold smile.

“Meatbun, use Double Kill.” I tossed Meatbun at the mob with a savage throw, but it just bounced once before returning to my hand. That left me in deep trouble for the giant began charging at me, and I ended up having to hack the two-headed giant to death. Wolf-dàgē even had to heal me once.

Finally, I can take a look at the skill’s description…

<Double Kill: Offensive ability; Requirements: Requires a stick-like object in order to bat pet; Damage: 80>

A stick-like object! I looked everywhere, at first wanting to borrow a bone stick from Doll. After some thought, I realized the bone would only last for a little while before disappearing. Instead, I took the sheath of my sword and – with a swing – sent Meatbun flying.

“Meatbun, Double Kill.

This time, Meatbun struck a two-headed giant with impeccable precision and destroyed half of its HP. Then I rushed forward and, using Continuous Attack, kicked the two-headed giant until it fell. The other, surrounded by Doll’s Flaming Skeletons, fell as I dealt it a final blow.

I then lent my sheath to Wolf-dàgē so he could use it as a bat. Doll stood beside Wolf-dàgē, tossing Meatbun to him so he could hit it. We waited until after Meatbun had destroyed half of the mob’s HP before the Flaming Skeletons and I finished it off.

What a perfect way to level up!

In the next few days we perfected a new method: I would use Meatbun’s Aroma Release to attract many mobs after Wolf-dàgē buffed Lolidragon up. Next, using sneak attacks, Lolidragon would get every single mob to focus its attention on her and begin running like mad around us. Doll would then toss Meatbun so Wolf-dàgē could hit Meatbun out; this way, two mobs would be lured out with their HP already reduced to half. Then, the Flaming Skeletons and I would go forth to finish them off.

By repeatedly attracting mobs, throwing the “ball”, striking out, and then killing the mobs, we managed to take down enemies ranging from the level thirty-five two-headed giants to the level forty gorgons. We all earned experience points at an insanely fast rate, having been promoted three levels each on average. Fighting in a team really is a great way to train, I thought.

But then, one day, something happened…

As always, Lolidragon had gotten the mobs to focus their attention on her. However, as she began to dash around us, we noticed there was one particularly weird-looking leopard-headed mob which was running at an astonishingly fast speed. Even with Lolidragon’s boosted agility, which was enviably high, it was still catching up with every step.

We began to worry and Wolf-dàgē attempted to hit the leopard-head mob using Meatbun. However, Meatbun’s weakness was that it could only attack within a small area, and it could not reach the leopard-head. Lolidragon kept swerving, hoping to get close enough to us, but her swerving caused the leopard-head to catch up to her while we were still out of range…

We could only watch helplessly as the leopard-headed mob raked at Lolidragon’s back, knocking her down. What was still more frightening, however, was that there were already a lot of mobs chasing after her. I hastily chucked Meatbun at the leopard-headed mob as I ran towards Lolidragon.

This time it struck spot on, causing the leopard-head to run toward me instead. But it was too late; the other mobs had already surrounded Lolidragon and I could only look helplessly at her terrified face before she was swarmed under…

“Lolidragon!”

A white light shot into the sky from the midst of the mobs. I was extremely upset now, since I had been unable to protect Lolidragon properly. I tried venting my frustration on the damnable leopard-headed mob, but discovered that it was… Strong! This mob is incredibly strong! It ruthlessly swiped at me twice, and I still couldn’t manage so much as a hit. Don’t tell me…

“Run Prince, that’s a boss!” Wolf-dàgē roared.

I frantically tried to back off, but run… Where can I run to?!

The pack of mobs that killed Lolidragon had already surrounded us. We stood back to back, knowing our deaths were imminent.

(Second Life did not have any scrolls of teleportation, to maintain the level of realism. There were only teleportation stations in each city that allowed players to teleport to other cities.)

Three streaks of white light shot into the sky…


Death truly couldn’t be compared with any ordinary type of discomfort. When I returned to the rebirth point in Star City – the closest city to us – I was pale-faced and suppressing the urge to throw up.

Wolf-dàgē and Doll had already logged off, but I refused to log off with them – I had to find out what happened to Lolidragon first.  I looked everywhere for signs of Lolidragon, but I couldn’t find any trace of her. She probably felt so awful that she logged off first!

By then, I was feeling much better. After some thought, I decided to just walk around and wait for the others instead of logging off.

I wandered about the city, making sure to follow Lolidragon’s advice: To look like first-rate merchandise by maintaining a graceful, refined aura and wearing a mesmerizing, faint smile on my lips. Sure enough, even though the whole street was watching me, no one dared to bother me, and so I was able to roam the streets happily.

Seeing a crowd gathering on an otherwise empty street, my curiosity was piqued and I decided to take a look as well. As I approached, I could hear the most beautifully poignant music coming from the heart of the crowd. Offering nearby players a polite smile, I used the opportunity to slip effortlessly into the center of the crowd as they gazed at me, dumbstruck.

As it turned out, it was a bard – a dark-haired, purple-eyed bard of the demon race – playing a guqin.7 It was rare to see someone of his race and class, not to mention the fact that he was holding a very unusual instrument. Then I suddenly thought of my own team and winced. I really have no right to judge others! In any case, he played very well and I listened attentively to that smooth and gentle sound.

Suddenly, the music stopped. I looked questioningly at the bard, only to see him staring back at me, looking surprised. It was then that I got a clear view of his face…

He was handsome enough to give my brother a run for his money, that much was clear. However, while my brother gave others the impression of a suave swordsman, this guy came off more as an unearthly beauty.

He’s sooooooo hot! My god, I’ve finally met another man whose handsomeness can make me sigh in admiration!

He, having already recovered from his surprise, had set down his instrument and was staring at me with a gentle expression, clearly captivated. Ignoring the people around us, we gazed soulfully at one another.

Thank you for sending me this opportunity, God. It looks like I don’t have to choose between the two options of narcissism and incest after all!

The man slowly walked toward me, and he was still looking at me tenderly. A faint blush spread across my face as I shyly waited for him to approach. It was very hard to keep calm while waiting for him to walk over, however.

Finally, he stood in front of me, and in an unexpectedly bold move, he knelt down. “Fair beauty, you are truly the most exquisite person I have ever met. Your eyes are like incandescent stars, your lips would put even the loveliest rose to shame, and your skin is like the fairest snow…”

My face is red, red, red! How embarrassing! I can’t help but feel shy if you say something like that in front of so many people! But hearing it feels sooooo good!

“…An elegant air, oh!  All of the elements of perfection are joined in you… No, you are perfection. The word ‘perfect’ can be used on you alone. I wonder… May I have the honor of kissing your fair, dainty hand?” He looked at me expectantly, lifting his right hand invitingly.

Ah! My face must clearly reveal that I’m intoxicated by his words. Feeling like a princess, I shyly extended my right hand to my knight. His expression was clearly one of extreme surprise and gratification. Receiving my right hand as though it were some sort of treasure, he kissed it tenderly, yet passionately. I want to remember this elegant scene forever…

“Prince, what are you doing?!” I suddenly received a PM from Lolidragon.

I replied breathlessly, “Lolidragon, I met a super hottie and he seems to have fallen for me!” My face was suffused with wonder.

How fast! Lolidragon had only just logged on and had already discovered the crowd. Before replying, she ran eagerly toward the group, only to see her husband cheating on her with another man.

“…Does he know you are a girl?”

…Wait, that’s right, I look like a man right now. Looking at the handsome bard, I felt a twinge of apprehension. Don’t tell me this guy is…? That’s not possible, right?! I wanted very much to cry…

And so, clinging to my last shred of hope, I opened my mouth and asked, “Umm, do you know that I’m a guy?” God, please please, PLEASE tell me he thought I was a girl!

The hottie stood up. He was taller than the current me who was about 175 centimeters tall – I think he’s around 180 cm tall! Using a finger to tilt my face upwards, he looked at me with a besotted gaze and said, “Of course I know. You exude such a spirited aura, how could I mistake you for a feeble little girl?” Then he hugged me abruptly. With a blissful sigh, he added, “Men are the best. With muscles as firm as these… It feels soooo much better than hugging those soft, squishy girls!”

My lips lifted into a faint smile…


In a tavern…

“Prince, you really showed him no mercy! Actually using the Nine-headed Dragon Strike on him,” Lolidragon said, laughing hard. “Your reputation will go down that way!”

I could feel my veins popping with fury. Grinding my teeth, I replied, “He should be thankful that I didn’t kill him all the way back to level one! I’m totally pissed!”

To think that I’d finally found a satisfactorily good-looking guy, only for him to actually…turn out to be a GAY! Waaaaaaah!

Right after I killed that stupid bard, Lolidragon and I had received a PM from Wolf-dàgē and Doll and we’d decided to meet inside this pub. Stupid Lolidragon told Wolf-dàgē and Doll what had happened earlier and as a result they just couldn’t stop laughing. Damn it!

In the end, Wolf-dàgē coughed twice to get Lolidragon’s and Doll’s attention, bringing them out of their seemingly never-ending laughter. “Okay, let’s give Prince a break and analyze the reasons for our deaths earlier.”

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere became heavy at once. We all paid careful attention to Wolf-dàgē’s words. “That leopard-headed monster is a medium level boss. Even if we couldn’t win, it shouldn’t have ended so horribly in our total annihilation. I think that happened because our team was missing a vital player: a ranged class. If we’d had someone capable of ranged attacks, Lolidragon wouldn’t have died in vain simply because we could not catch up to her. It also wouldn’t have resulted in us being surrounded and getting completely annihilated.”

Everyone couldn’t help but nod their heads in agreement.

“So basically, we’re missing an archer or a mage?” Lolidragon asked.

Wolf-dàgē nodded and said, “Yeah. I think it would be best to find both classes, since they both have their unique characteristics. They are equally important. Our team would be pretty much perfect if we could find an archer who could hit with high accuracy within a fairly long range, and a mage specializing in AOE8 attacks.”

“Then let’s go to the Adventurers’ Guild to recruit new members!” Lolidragon suddenly exclaimed. “Afterwards we can also register our team.”

“Good idea,” said Wolf-dàgē.

I nodded in agreement. “This way we should be able to find some normal teammates!”


My first impression of the Adventurers’ Guild was that it was big – Huge! – like a baseball field, with an open roof. It was full of people looking for teammates, receiving quests, selling goods, etc and was on the whole a very lively place, but…

Even though it was generally noisy, I was, as usual, greeted with silence wherever I went. Under everyone’s gaze, we gradually arrived at the recruiting area and lifted a sign that read: “Recruiting long term leveling archers and mages, between levels thirty and forty.”

We were pleased at everyone staring at our sign, secretly thinking it wouldn’t be long until we found a comrade.

It really was fast. After ten seconds, we looked on helplessly as a few thousand people moved toward us. The females were all shouting, “I want to join, hottie,” or “Handsome, pick me!”, while all the males were saying, “I’m coming, cutie!” or “Take me, gorgeous!”

Lolidragon, the cute and angelic Doll, and I all turned white. I was the first to hide behind Wolf-dàgē’s back. Lolidragon followed suit second, and Doll last. The current situation was pretty much like a game of “The Eagle and the Mother Hen”.9

“Line up!” Wolf-dàgē bellowed in his loud, ringing voice.

The results were excellent. After Wolf-dàgē bellowed, the once-scary mob froze for three seconds. After another ten seconds, an army – with soldiers marching ten abreast – appeared. Dàgē, it’s really a waste of talent that you aren’t a general.

We placed all our trust in Wolf-dàgē and handed our decision-making power over to him. Lolidragon, Doll, and I then took our guazi10 and beverages out and, setting up shop to one side, ate away.

After a long time…

How long? Long enough for all three of us to finish eating our guazi, buy a few more bags of them, leisurely go shopping, and then eat dinner…as well as to order take out for Wolf-dàgē. During this time I also logged off to cook, flipped through some manhua, turned on the television, and watched Naruto. Then I logged on again and started to eat Lolidragon’s newly purchased guazi

“All right, I guess these people will do!” Wolf-dàgē said, having finally finished his selection.

We looked up, and up, and up. Finally Lolidragon said in a shaking voice, “Dàgē, we’re trying to form a party, not an army!” There are at least two or three hundred in this sea of people!

Wolf-dàgē scratched his gray fur. “It couldn’t be helped. These people all fit the qualifications; they’re all pretty good.”

I beckoned Lolidragon over and whispered in her ear. I could have done this via the personal messaging system, but it couldn’t be helped; it was human habit! “Lolidragon, I think most of these people are here for us. Why don’t we tell them about our relationship?”

I cleared my throat and said, “Everyone, we must clarify something first. This beautiful woman and I are already married. That is why…” Before I could even finish, around eighty percent of the players had already disappeared.

We could hear lots of grumbling going on below. “Why didn’t they say so sooner?! Making me wait for so long…”

“Pisses me off, such a beautiful girl is already taken!”

“Now I can’t get that hottie to be my husband…”

But the people who stayed were saying something along the lines of, “At least there’s still that cute angel girl….”

Lolidragon and I looked toward the youthful and naïve Doll. No way! So I opened my mouth again, “Everyone, this angel race girl is my little sister. Anyone who tries to get close to her had better….” Before I could finish, everyone had left.

“What are we going to do now?” I asked.

“These people… We don’t want them anyway!” said Lolidragon.

“Might as well go level up and regain those levels from before,” Wolf-dàgē responded.

Biting her index finger, Doll tilted her head with a look of confusion.

Our party began to train seriously in the barren land of the zombies. We came to this zombie-infested land specifically, in order to avoid another conclusion as disastrous as the last time. Zombies were strange mobs that moved slowly, but dealt very heavy blows. You could see Lolidragon walking around, occasionally dozing off…

All of a sudden, however, a particularly fast zombie charged toward Lolidragon. It can’t be!

“Lolidragon, run! That’s the Zombie King!” Wolf-dàgē’s cry woke Lolidragon, who had nearly been asleep. She looked back at the Zombie King, frightened, and was not able to hold back a loud scream for help as she ran away wildly.

Damn it! I can’t let Lolidragon die again. Why did the Zombie King have to appear right when Lolidragon is furthest away from us? I can’t catch up…!

“Hang in there, Lolidragon!” I shouted as I ran.

This time, Lolidragon didn’t dare to swerve around the corner. She ran straight ahead, not allowing the Zombie King to gain on her. However, we weren’t able to catch up with her speed either.

As I watched Lolidragon run further and further away, I began to panic. We should’ve recruited an archer, no matter what!

Just when we were about to give up hope, I heard a voice behind me.

Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrow.” The melodious and very familiar voice was accompanied by the sound of music.

A translucent arrow streaked toward the Zombie King, causing it to change paths and charge toward us.

I turned around to discover that stupid black-haired, purple-eyed demon bard. He looked at me, smiling, and said, “You’ll have to help me block it, I’m afraid. I am just a frail bard, after all.”

“And if I refuse?” I told him coldly.

There was a helpless smile on his handsome face. “Then… I shall die at your hands again. But that’s fine; let it be revenge for kissing your hand.”

Hey! I gestured to Wolf-dàgē and Doll. They nodded in understanding and took Meatbun out, getting into a striking position. I drew my sword and inched closer to the already approaching Zombie King.

No wonder it’s called a Zombie King – its agility and strength are all top class. It even has a considerable amount of HP. I’d already tried my “Nine-headed Dragon Strike” twice, but most of my attacks had been blocked because my agility was no match for the Zombie King’s.

Two of Doll’s Flaming Skeletons had already been destroyed, but I was grateful for them. If it hadn’t been for the Flaming Skeletons blocking most of the attacks, I would long since have been pounded into the ground.

Though only a mid-ranked boss, the Zombie King boss’s agility and strength all greatly exceeded mine. As for me, I’m used to finding and attacking a mob’s weak points rather than “fighting it out”, therefore I’m not fighting at my peak… I’m currently only scraping by thanks to the Flaming Skeletons and Wolf-dàgē’s healing.

Then, a beautiful voice began to sing, accompanied by the strumming of a guqin.  “Sheng-ge Entrancement Technique,” sang the bard, triggering the ability.11

I noticed a huge decrease in the Zombie King’s agility as it fell under the influence of the music. I also felt the tension in my body alleviate, finally allowing me to concentrate on attacking its weak point – its neck – rather than struggle to defend myself.

Under my persistent attacks on its neck and joints, the Zombie King’s HP slowly began to decrease. Around this time, Lolidragon also came back to join the fight. With her super high agility, she helped to divert the Zombie King’s attention, making it even easier for me.

Nine-headed Dragon Strike!” After three of Lolidragon’s Fatal Blows plus three of my Nine-headed Dragon Strikes, the Zombie King was finally pushed to its limit. It exploded into a staff, two gems, and some materials that could be used to make high level weapons or armor.

We identified the staff, discovering that it was a growing-type magical staff with light-type damage – the Light of Glory. We gave the wand to Wolf-dàgē and decided to split the rest in the city.

“Let’s go! We need to get back to leveling up,” I urged everyone, but…

“Would you be interested in joining our team?”

Noooo! Wolf-dàgē, can you not see me desperately trying to ignore him? Now you’re even inviting him to join our team!

“Were you the one who saved me? Thank you, thank you very much.” Lolidragon was desperately trying to fight back laughter.

The bard gave me a brief but passionate look. “I would very much like to join your team.”

“No way! I object!” I yelled frantically.

Wolf-dàgē cocked a brow and said, “You saw it too, Prince. He…what’s your name?” He turned to ask the bard.

The bard gave a bow and said, “My name is Guiliastes.”

“Guiliastes can not only attack from afar, but he can also use support-type magic. He would make an excellent teammate.”

“That’s right Prince, just accept him!” Lolidragon said in a falsely earnest tone.

“No, Lolidragon,” I begged. “Didn’t you say we were finding teammates to protect my virtue? How could you let a pervert in now?!”

Lolidragon giggled but immediately feigned a contemplative look. “You’re right. Then how about this: Guiliastes, you have to swear not to do anything unspeakable to Prince.”

Guiliastes revealed a horror-stricken face. “Please do not misunderstand. Guiliastes would never try to perform any profane acts on his beautiful and noble Highness.” He gazed at me warmly again. Scary! “His beautiful and noble Highness should only be looked at, not touched.”

I looked toward my last helper, Doll, with an expression of desperate pleading.

“Sure, the more the merrier!” Doll encouraged happily.

Thus, under the circumstance of four votes for and one against, we now had a new addition to our team: Guiliastes, a gay demon bard.

“Gui-whatever, I’m warning you, if you try to…do something to me, I will make you pay.” I leveled my dao at his face.

“My beloved Highness, if you cannot remember Guiliastes’ name, then please call me by my nickname,” Guiliastes told me tenderly.

“What’s your nickname? It would be so tiring to call you by your full name all the time,” Lolidragon said.

He gave Lolidragon a small smile and then turned his head to look affectionately at me. “Just call me Gui.”

[½ Prince Volume 1 Chapter 4 End]

Footnotes

1 Za cui noodles: An unusual noodle dish that seems to be very popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It often includes carrots, pig’s skin, curry fishballs, pig’s blood, and pig’s intestines, together with the noodles.

2 You tiaos: Deep-fried bread sticks. There are huge air pockets in the flour, so even though it’s deep-fried, the inside is actually quite fluffy. A popular Chinese snack or breakfast food.

3 Wolf-dàgē: The suffix is written in Chinese as “大哥”, meaning “big brother” or “elder brother”.

4 The Eye of the Soul: “亡灵之眼” (prn. wáng líng zhī yăn) is a fantasy novel published by Adventurers’ Heaven (which also published ½ Prince).

5 For love…punish you!: Reference to the Japanese manga and anime series, Sailor Moon. This is an obvious parody of the battle-cry used by Sailor Moon, the protagonist of the Sailor Moon series.

6 Lolidragon-jiějie: The suffix is written in Chinese as “姐姐”, meaning “older sister”.

7 Guqin: Written as “古琴” (prn. gŭ qín), which literally means “ancient stringed instrument”, this is a well-known type of Chinese musical instrument belonging to the zither family. It is usually associated with intelligence and grace. Fans of the ½ Prince manhua should note that the guqin actually looks quite different from how it was depicted in the manhua. The manhua version of Gui’s guqin resembles a cross between a guqin and a harp with its curved top and fairly short body, and it is played by Gui while held vertically. Actual guqins tend to have longer bodies, flat ends (that is, not curved), and are usually played while placed on a flat surface with the strings facing up (although it is possible to play them the way Gui does in the manhua). For more information on the guqin, check out Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin.

8 AOE: This stands for “Area of Effect”, a gamer term for attacks that deal damage within a certain area. Such attacks are usually quite devastatingly powerful and are used for crowd control, but their weakness is the long amount of time needed for casting. Examples of AOE spells include Meteor Shower, Blizzard, and Earthquake (such skills may have different names in different games).

9 “The Eagle and the Mother Hen” game: A children’s game in a number of Asian countries, with variations. The game requires three or more players, with one player as the “Eagle”, one as the “Mother Hen” and the others as the “Chicks”. The chicks line up behind the mother hen and hang onto the person in front of them while the Eagle tries to catch the chicks by touching them. Once the mother hen loses all her chicks, the game is over.

10 Guazi: Written as “瓜子” (prn. guā zĭ) in Chinese, guazi are a curious sort of snack that’s especially popular during the Chinese New Year and are actually seeds that have been salted and dried. There are many types, including sunflower seeds, watermelon seeds, wintermelon seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Each seed is encased in a hard shell (its shape would resemble a flattened almond), and you have to bite them very carefully to get the seeds to crack open without crushing the “meat” within. They are much tougher to eat than peanuts.

11 Sheng-ge Entrancement Technique: “Sheng-ge” is written as “笙歌” (prn. shēng gē). The first character, “shēng”, refers to a Chinese woodwind musical instrument made of reed. The second character, “gē”, means “song”, thus “shēng gē” refers to a song that played using a shēng. Do note that Gui isn’t actually using a shēng. For more information on the sheng, check out Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheng_(instrument).

130 Responses

  1. Alaris

    Thats pretty quick. Nice work. I am actually wondering whether the ‘Pantheon’ in the manga or ‘Temple’ should be used to describe the job change place to sounds better.

    As I have no idea what it actually said in Chinese, I will content myself with Temple I guess.

    • erialis

      Hmm. The author uses the word “神殿” (shen dian), which is usually translated as “temple”. (For instance, Chinese-speaking Christians translate the phrase “the body is the temple of God” as “the body is the 神殿 of God”.) Unlike the word “庙” (miao), which refers more specifically to Buddhist/etc temples, or “教堂” (jiao tang) which refers to churches and cathedrals, 神殿 (shen dian) is a more neutral/generic way of referring to places of worship – the first character refers to “god(s)” and the second character refers to a large building/place, and in particular, the “seat” or “throne” (such as where religious artifacts or statues are placed for worshippers to view/pray to). The problem here is that a lot of people associate “temples” with religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, etc, which isn’t necessarily true. (Eg. The game civilizations refer to all places of worship, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, etc as “temples” and/or “monasteries”). So hopefully that clarifies things… This is a rather lengthy explanation…

      As for “Eye of the Soul”, I think it is a fantasy novel with a school setting (magic in schools, like Harry Potter or smth – the last bit was pure speculation!). Not sure if it’s a good read, but it seems to be much more recent than any of the Jin Yong novels.

    • CheshireCat

      I would even say that the explanation is worthy of being a footnote :D

    • GR4V3Y4RD

      Can’t wait for more of the translation, love the job your doing. Also helps pass the time while I wait for the next volume of the manga :)

  2. Alaris

    I am wondering how good the ‘Eye of the Soul’ is. Also if it is already translated in english. Thank you for people that will be posting anything under this later.

  3. xDannab

    OMG!!!! That was FAST!!!! thx soo much for posting this and for creating this site! i absolutely luv it!!!!!

  4. Lirin

    Ah, so quick~ And we’ve now met Doll. Surprisingly, I have no real feelings about Doll, other than that she’s probably nobility of some kind. And she’s of the angel race? I had no idea…

    I can’t wait till we meet Gui. GuiGuiGui~ <33

  5. lemongel

    Thanks so much for the novel translations and the hard work! Can’t wait to meet the rest of the characters! ^^

  6. Almatt

    Hmm, just a thought, but isn’t it a bit inconsistent to use -dàgē for Ugly Wolf, but -sister for Lolidragon?

    Other than that, yay.

    • erialis

      Sharp-eyed, as usual! We were changing the “Wolf-bro”s to “Wolf-dage” but we clean forgot that there was a “Lolidragon-jiejie” in there. XD It’s been edited, thanks for the note!

  7. Solumbus

    I love 1/2 Prince. I am currently reading the translated manga of it and it is awesome. The translated novel is even better. I just want to show my appreciation of your work. Thank You for your hard work!

  8. Lostassyria

    that was fast! thank you so much for you dedication and hard work! :D

  9. BarbarianBear

    I love reading this, thank you so much. Good luck on the anti-theft work.

  10. noobzilla

    Thanx for the updates! ah can’t wait for Gui’s appearance. As much as i’d love to read the novel translation of the following parts… i must say reading it in proper english makes it so much more enjoyable! I hope you don’t get discouraged by other translators popping up as 1/2 prince gets popular! i love your translations, feels like a proper novel!

  11. Daywalker

    But it seems, the chapter is unfortunately not yet complete :( The Bard is missing so go on translating *yeh (or something along the line for cheering)*

    • erialis

      Give it a couple of days. :) On a happier note, Chapter five will definitely come out hot on the heels of Chapter four.

  12. Jedai

    The Half-Prince manga is pretty nice but I must admit that I find the novel much more interesting, there’s more details but on the other hand you have the advantage of novels over comics : the world is only limited by your imagination.

    Good work guys, and pretty fast recently, thank you very much for the translation. :)

  13. sirenalune

    I’m sorry I haven’t replied to all of the chapters, but I just wanted to let all of you hardworking people know how much I appreciate all of your work. :D

    Being bilingual myself, I understand how hard translating can be, though tbh I can’t even begin to imagine translating a language with as much complexities as Chinese. ^^;

    Well, good luck! I can’t wait to see the next update!

  14. ASIAN_LOVER

    Thnx this chapter was pure esctasy!!
    can’t wait 4 chapter 5

    keep up the good work!!!!

  15. Xinnie

    Well thanks for this chapter! oh and I want to ask something. You know the 1/2 Prince Novel have 8 books, but when I looked up on –> http://search.kingstone.com.tw/SearchResult.asp?SE_Type=%A5%FE%C0%5D%B7j%B4M&s_name=1%2F2+%A4%FD%A4l&c_name=1%252F2%2520%25E7%258E%258B%25E5%25AD%2590&c_type=%25E5%2585%25A8%25E9%25A4%25A8%25E6%2590%259C%25E5%25B0%258B&LID=000&imageField.x=4&imageField.y=13 <– there were more than 8 books! and up to 12! are those the continues?? well My chinese isn’t good so i just wanted to ask if you guys knew :P well thanks in advance! :P

    Man I can’t until we meet GUI!

    • erialis

      It’s a re-release which includes both the older 8 novels and the sequel. (Not sure how many books the sequel has.) The sequel doesn’t seem to be available on the net. (:

  16. MyCurrentObsession

    A very nice (portion of a) chapter! You all are doing a great job, translating it nicely. It actually reads like any other novel, which I’ve discovered translated series usually don’t. One thing, though.

    Reading through, I noticed what I think is a grammer error…? Here: “Just thinking about the skeleton’s white frames in the Health room made me feel scared… And more importantly, skeletons don’t didn’t drool, so what was I going to rely on to go on a rampage?” It says “don’t didn’t”, but shouldn’t it just be one or the other?

    And another suggestion, maybe mention in a footnote or at the beginning of her section that the point of view has switched to Lolidragon’s, because it took me a few minutes to comprehend that the PoV had shifted.

    Keep up the great work!

  17. yuchin4life

    :D
    Awesome but I was confused at this part, where Lolidragon learned bone dismantle,I thought that was prince, so I think you should put “Lolidragon” on the top of it.
    Very nice chapter :D Love it! Can’t wait for the others! <3
    I was very tired today cause I got night school, this cheeered me up right away!
    I read the chinese raws on the website you gave me, I didn’t understand some of it, but I have an idea what it is about and I know the ending cause of the raws :D Thanks for translating this novel!
    XIE XIE!

    • hopehime4

      Lol, I’m actually surprised people didn’t notice the change in point of view (you weren’t the only one, though).
      The section starts out with her watching Prince (Prince couldn’t be watching himself, obviously), and the end of the section there’s the “by Lolidragon” moment, but idk.

    • erialis

      I’ve actually edited it to have a “Lolidragon:” at the top of the section.

    • hopehime4

      Ah, I see. Well that should help clear it up, for those who were lost.

  18. alexlmlo

    Just discovered this site today, didn’t expect someone is translating the novel now! I read the Chiense one more than 5 times and still want to read more.

    Just sent an e-mail to Yu Wo (the author) about this project, I think she would be delighted.

    • erialis

      We’re actually waiting for her approval (or otherwise) at the moment. Depending on her reply, we may either continue or stop. There are certain legal intricacies involved, so there’s a fair chance that she may say “no” just as much as “yes”.

    • Eia

      …WHAT?!

      *cries* Who e-mailed her?! Why?! I hope she’s one of those open-minded authors who welcomes a larger fanbase.

      Otherwise I’m going to cry. A lot. Because I really want to read this.

    • erialis

      Well, how should I put this? I’m speaking only for myself, but anyway… I would probably feel a lot happier continuing this knowing that I have the author’s blessings, rather than continue with the fear of facing a lawsuit or a sudden site closure. I did feel worried that she might disapprove, but I decided to contact her anyway. As a diehard fan who loves the author to bits (for creating Prince and Gui and Wicked and Loli etc), to continue while ignoring the copyrights/trademark ownership would only be hypocritical (imho). We’ll figure out what to do later if this project does get the thumbs down anyway, so don’t be too worried.

    • Elysian

      waaahh.. i understand how u feel..but I will be crying a lot if she disapprove and this translation project is dropped T_T

      Actually if the English version of the novel (official) is available, i will definitely buy it… I will be very happy if I can buy the original one >.<

    • serao

      I agree with Erialis on this. Even if the author doesn’t approve, I’d love for her to be aware that she has potential readers in other markets! It would be great if her stuff could be published in English for more people to enjoy.

    • Alaris

      I will bet she will say yes. She will have more fans by having her work translated. And….I cant read Chinese. I dont buy a book I cant read. If this comes up in English, sure.

    • alexlmlo

      awesome again, and just would like to know if you guys will plan to translate another great story: 混亂學園 in the future? I think that one is as good as half prince, although it got a crap ending, the story was great. hope you guys will think about it.

      Alex

    • erialis

      Hmm. Don’t think I’ve heard of that before, but if I ever see it I’ll read it… Although we probably won’t do more than one project at a time.

    • alexlmlo

      This is the link to that story:

      http://paradise.ezla.com.tw/modules/article/articleinfo.php?id=19522

      Its sort of fantasy, gender bender, romance, adventure, comedy… you name it, lol.

      author is 貓邏, and like half prince, this story is one of the highest rating among thousands of novels in that site. (Actually half prince is the top rating, and this one is the second)

      Thanks.

  19. saibur

    yooo, i read it and loved it! and i’m glad you used “dage” and “jiejie” keeping with the culture xD

  20. Odinn

    i hope she says yes, even if it is conditional, because this isnt licensed in english yet and you arent providing the chinese version to the public. besides i would buy the book as well as read it online. besides american official translations always “try to broaden the target demographic” and fail miserably by censoring any swearing and giving it a kids’ feel.
    btw good job with keeping the chinese titles.

  21. quastar

    I love this story! Thank you for translating it! :)

    After I read the latest manga on OM, I googled for halfprince novel translation, and behold, your site here is ranked 1st. :D

    One thing I would like to comment / suggest though, and it comes from the site layout POV:

    Make use the excerpt function / box in WordPress so that the front page will not be a text wall and too long to scroll.

    with that function, you can set so that visitor will be able to see the title of new post, and (say) the first paragraph. If they want to read more they can click the link.

    The way it is now, the whole texts of a few posts are on the main page, which makes it looked cluttered. Not only that, I could have missed the other non-story posts (announcements and such) since it’s buried somewhere in that long page.

    If you keep the front page tidy and easier to navigate, readers will be happy. At least, I will =)

    Just a suggestion though ;)

    • erialis

      Fixed, for your happiness. =P Now you will see the “read more” sign for the chapters. Also made it such that there’s more posts per page, so you can see the older admin info.

    • quastar

      Yay! Thanks! Now that it’s more coordinated, I can sleep in peace. :P

      I’ve stumbled upon the RP suggestion on MF, hopefully it’ll work out.

      It’ll be nice if the RP is done here, lol. ;)

  22. n4d4

    You guys are doing a great job! I really really really appreciate the hard work and effort you are putting into sharing this great novel with the rest of us non-chinese speakers. The people over at the little corner put in a note at the end of the last scanlation that they would not be scanlating anymore which sucks so I hope you guys can keep going since I love the story and characters so much! horray run-ons!

    If it does gets canned … I don’t know, who do you think we should contact, tokyopop maybe? They did/are doing the translated versions of the twelve kingdoms series, so it seems like it might be a good fit. This is of course worst case scenario, since the author may be fine with it given that there isn’t a translation yet … you know the drill, hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

  23. gya

    Thanks a lot for the translation! It isn’t licensed in french either (well if it’s not in english why bother with french) so it’s the only way to read it. Thank you so much! you’re awesome!

  24. Houka Ryuu

    I just found out about this site from someone’s signature in MangaFox. I just want to say, “OMFG! This is a great site! I love the fact that the novel gives me more in-depth detailed scenarios rather than the manga’s short version of scenes. Great job in doing this project and keep up the good work.

    I hope that the author does let you keep translating the novels into English. It will surely increase her fan base if nothing else. If the novel does become available in English, then I’ll buy the original. Otherwise, my only source of 1/2 Prince will be this online translation.”

  25. Ethermina

    OH MY GOD!!! Thanks a lot for the translations. I just finished reading chapters 1-4. I love it!!! Thanks a lot for your hard work and keep up the good work.

    While I’m waiting for the volume 6 of manga to buy, this will keep me busy ^_^ and occupied. Thanks!

  26. alexlmlo

    Hey, just got the e-mail reply from Yu Wo, she said she is delighted with the English version manga, and saying currently the copyrights is held by Ton li, no English publisher but a Korean one approached them so far for translation.

    No mention of the novel translation in her reply though, may ask her again when I have time.

    By the way, she said even though she can’t physically meet the fans oversea, she is thrilled her work is loved by you guys, and ask you guys to visit her blog, its only Chinese though, lol.

    Alex

    • erialis

      Don’t have to ask her about the novel translation, alex. =P In case you haven’t noticed, she has already given us the OK. Thanks for checking with her though.

    • noobzilla

      Ah i would love to comment in Yu Wo’s blog… but i can’t read a word of chinese… can anyone help tell me if there is an easy way to do that?

    • alexlmlo

      Hey, thanks for telling me, I didn’t notice at all, lol. about her blog, its just like any other blog but in Chinese, so if you are good with blog, should have no problem with leaving message to her i guess.

      Alex

  27. Phall

    Thanks very very much for this translation!!! Nice work!!! :o)

  28. wasabi_peas

    Hi! thanks so much for translating!!!! ILU!!!!! I’m glad we have permission from the author, and it’d be interesting if it was published in english (I’d buy it)

    Anyway, I was on MF and found this link. http://princee.weebly.com/index.html
    This person has translated chapters 4&5, although a few english mistakes need to be corrected. Maybe you could ask her permission to revise and post it? to speed things up?
    whatever you decide.

    Again, keep up the awesome work!!!!! I really appreciate it.

    • erialis

      Hello wasabi! Yep, we know about that link, but as a policy we don’t use the translations by anyone outside of Prince Rev. Also, we’ve actually started work on C4 and C5 a long time ago, but we’ve been busy dealing with issues such as requests to put up our translations elsewhere, people “borrowing” our characters wiki and content, and even trying to get official permission for our translation. Also, it’s harder to keep the tone of our translation consistent if we draw from different sources (that’s why teachers always know if someone’s plagiarising!). We’ll try to speed up a bit, but no promises!

    • nadaness

      slow and steady wins the race, even if you do have rabid fans nipping at your heels. I mean, it isn’t like i’ve been checking the blog every half hour for last two days or anything… :-)

      You guys are doing great, thanks so much for translating!!!

    • quastar

      I regretted reading that translation, because it’s not as smooth and as good as the one here. :(

  29. melika

    Thank you so much for translating the novel :). I love the manga, but once I started to read your translations this became my fav. :) YAY!! Thanks again

  30. noobzilla

    I am eagerly awaiting the continuation – only lifeline now since the manhua updates will take a while…
    /cheers on erialis and team!!

  31. Daywalker

    after reading the manga and then starting with the novel it’s really awsome, with the extra stuff and muc more funny stuff and you can actually picture the characters in your head. Yes it’s just great!!!!

  32. GR4V3Y4RD

    Going to be interesting reading this how long do you thing it will take you guys to get caught up with the manwha. Also does the manwha follow the novel completely or have they branched away from the original storyline.

    • erialis

      I think we will catch up with the manhua, because the manhua is currently at volume 3 chapter 4 or so – and we will pretty much finish this volume by early next month. Volume 6 of the manhua will, at best, cover up to chapter 1 of book 4 of the novel. Assuming that we have a pace of 1 book of the novel per month (or so) and that volume 6 of the manhua will be out in August, we will definitely catch up sooner or later.

    • Lirin

      It didn’t occur to me that you guys would get past the point that the manhua’s at. The novel is so much more descriptive; how will I ever be able to read the manhua after the novel? n__n

  33. Neon Carrot

    I love you people so much!! I can’t wait til you get to the part where we meet Kenshin! I love him so much! I think I prefer the novel over the manga, It’s a bit funnier in my opinion.

  34. krimie

    Ooh! more of ch4, Thanks! I’ve been checking here about twice a day since the start of the project ^_^ You’ve been amazingly quick about all this and doing such a good job of it, too.

  35. John

    Hmm, not sure if I like the way you are splitting chapter 4 in small translation steps. Is it because of different translators?

    Personally I like 1 new chapter (complete) maybe just me though.

    Well regardless, thank you for the second part of chapter 4.

    Maybe brackets (Complete) – (Ongoing) on the Novel Translated page would be good if you are planning split releases of chapters?

    • erialis

      Actually, it’s just for Chapter 4. We’re not planning to break it up into small parts, but we’ve been making you guys wait, so I figured we could give you a small chunk first. The rest is REALLY lengthy… We’re all pretty busy these days, that’s why things might slow down a tad.

    • hopehime4

      Technically all of chapter 4 has been translated – so all the translating is done. The reason why it’s being uploaded in pieces is because the proofreaders are too lazy to work on it in one piece, hehehe…
      But don’t worry guys, Erialis just finished adding the next part of chapter 4, so we’re almost done with it now. There’s about 1 (maybe 2) chunks left until chapter 4 is completed, so you can probably expect it to happen in the next couple days (maybe tomorrow, who knows). But in the last chunk, Gui will be joining the team!

    • John

      Sounds great :)

      Another q, will you be using the short end published on the internet or the longer revised ending used in the novel?

      Since you got the authers offical approval she might send you the novels?

      The site with the chinese prince novel is a pirate verison/site ish something?

    • erialis

      Urgh… I have no idea. The only version I’ve gotten the chance to read so far is the one on the net, reason being I haven’t been able to figure out where the heck to get the simplified Chinese version of the novels (all the ones I’ve come across on the Taiwanese sites seem to be in trad Chinese). If anyone has any idea where to get either simp. Chinese version of 1/2 Prince or the 1/2 Prince artbook, please send tell… >_> Hmm. Maybe the other translators might know…

      It would be nice if the author did that, but really, I would be more than happy to buy the books… if I even KNEW how to get the books… No credit card either…

    • alexlmlo

      the site there isn’t pirate, but the original site yu wo posted onto there. what happened was, that site is a novel sharing site, which allow people to post their works onto there, and the site will publish the popular ones as hard copy novel as well. 1/2 prince was one of them.

      Do ask Yu wo if she would happy to send you the complete novel, as cat (author) sent us the complete version for chaotic academy (混亂學園) already, lol. (have to read it too, since i don’t have chance to read the complete version on the net, lol)

    • erialis

      What did you tell her to get her to send you the novels anyway? O_o

    • alexlmlo

      xd, she requrested it in the first place, lol. I initially saying we don’t need it as long as not much different to the online version, but then she said the published one is the revised version and have a more complete ending, and ask me to give her my email to send me the files, lol

      Thats why I said cat is like a friend more than a author, and Yu Wo is like a proper author (high up and can’t reach).

  36. Brid

    Sorry, stupid question, but where is the second part to chapter 4? I can’t find it on the site…

    • BoP

      The second part of the chapter is on this page, but there is not any real separation, which can also be seen by the fact that there are actually three parts/updates for this chapter right now. So, if you have already read all there is in this portion… up to the recruitment at the Adventure Camp, then you have already read all of the part available so far. Therefore you will just have to wait for the next update, which seems wont be too long from hopehime’s post.

  37. MK04

    Thank you so much for translating the novel! You guy are so fast! I absolutely love 1/2 prince: both the novel and the manhua! =)

  38. yuchin4life

    Omg I was like reading the comments and noticed that one about the author of the novel,I panic for a minute and then scroll down and read that she said “YES!”
    :D I’ll be like super totally sad if she said no cause I can’t read much chinese but I’ll learn for of it.I think for the chinese manhua, I can read like 50 % of it, but it is still no fun!

  39. alexlmlo

    Hey, Eria, do you mind if you can give me contacts of translators you turned down previously, so they can possibly join my translation project? thanks.

  40. Vaxon

    i checked out the other link for a bit (2 paragraphs). and i have to say your site is better by miles especially the format. instead of the tradition white bg and black color font, its the opposite which reduces computer sickness. keep up the good work guys and you really know how to get a translation to flow well either that or you have some really good editors backing you up.

    PS. i literally have been checking this site every 30 minutes

  41. xDannab

    OMG! I’ve been constantly checking for updates and chp 4 is out! YES!!! btw I got impatient and tried to read from the prince.weebly site (the link is posted in one of thecomments) and while they did have chps 4+6 (and part of chp 5) the grammar was so horrible that i kind of regret it. From now on i’m supporting this site all the way! YAY! http://halfprince.wordpress.com/ ftw!!!

  42. Daywalker

    i really don’t want to say this, but you’ve written 3nd update in your news/status chart… it is 3rd ;)

    • erialis

      /dryly/ Yes, as you can see, I am totally ZONKED out. XD Will fix it.

  43. MyCurrentObsession

    Ah, the introduction of Gui! The novel goes all out and makes him seem to be quite impressive and romantic, not to mention, the description of him is quite attractive sounding! Though in that one front, I think I prefer the manhua (is that right?); that way, I can actually SEE how cute people are. Still, the manhua isn’t nearly as good as the novel is so far story-wise. It seems to leave out quite a bit.

    I certainly don’t remember Prince going so ga-ga over Gui at their first meeting in the manhua. S/he may have been a bit shocked and found him cute, but I don’t remember her going this crazy. LOL at the “I now have a choice outside of incest and narcissism!” part.

    Keep up the great work translating!

  44. DreamscapeLegend

    I am very happy to find a good translation well done.

    Perhaps I don’t know enough about the story but wouldn’t summoner be better translated as necromancer? When I think of a summoner I think of either demons or magical spirits/ elements.

    • erialis

      It depends. Games such as Guildwars uses Necromancer, WoW uses Warlock, Fire Emblem uses Summoner, and there’s tons of other variants. In any case, can you really think of Doll as a Necromancer (especially if you’ve seen some of the renditions of Necromancers in mmos) without choking with laughter? XD

    • DreamscapeLegend

      Well they are fairly similar. I feel like I didn’t make my standpoint very clear.
      I was thinking in terms of necromancer literally meaning “A magical enthusiast attuned to the subject of death of a body.”
      From what I have read so far it seems she can only summon skeletons and her explanation of this class being “to discover the true meaning of death, and unveil death’s mystery” makes me think that the best fit is Necromancer.
      In Wow the warlock summons demons, not dead things, through the aid of souls and in Fire emblem Summoners summon phantoms but there is also a Necromancer class similar to them. If there are as many classes as I think there are there has got to be some other classes that would fit warlock or summoner.

    • erialis

      Good reminder about the warlocks. I’m just totally swamped under, so my brain’s going to bits. I’ll edit the “summoner”s to “necromancer”s anyway (when I find the time), since Second Life’s central continent is clearly similar to western mmos, the terms used (for central continent anyway) should probably reflect ’em. I think the reason why “necromancer” isn’t often used in asian-originated games would be because there isn’t really an idea/concept in asian cultures that corresponds exactly to the term. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Chinese movie that involved the deliberate reanimation of the dead… only a lot of zombies with their tongues hanging out and a fu (a paper with odd stuff written on it, possibly curses or blessings or protection spells – Jing, Prince’s friend, uses those) stuck on their foreheads. They don’t shamble, either. They hop. Summoners, exorcists, etc are less alien concepts… Maybe that’s why I went with “summoner”…

    • DreamscapeLegend

      Oh I also think that us choking with laughter is the point of the author and why her race/class combination is repeated several times.

      Thanks again for all the hard work.

  45. Odinn

    do you have enough proof readers, because im sure many people here would be happy to help if you dont. i would

  46. alichi

    In the manhua isnt Gui an elf? Here Prince said he was of the demon race.

    Oh well, both look good.

    • ensis

      actually, in the manhua Gui is an “evil spirit”. i remember reading this once in the manhua though i don’t remember where i read it.

    • Eia

      I’m not sure how to picture that then… I’ve never encountered a game with a “demon” race before that wasn’t goblin or vampire-esque.

    • ensis

      how you picture it is up to your mind… i generally use the mental images set forth by the manhua.

    • 젠니퍼

      Ummm, I think you are refering to page 13 and not 12 >_>

  47. aqualens

    Thanks for the update!

    I’ve also always thought of Doll as a necromancer myself when I was reading the books, precisely because I found it more amusing to think of her that way than a summoner, since she can only summon the dead. Think of it: an angel race necromancer who is scared of skeletons… LOL… even more reason why she fits in the Odd Squad! Just the angel race paired with a necromancer job is contradiction in itself. But I can also understand why you chose to call her a summoner though.

  48. Alaris

    I am actually never quite figured out what Gua Zi or the melon seed actually made of. I was under the impression that it was actually dried and salted watermelon seeds. Someone that really know the stuff please let me know. I those things things off my decease grandma’s hands and never quite have a clue what it is. Thanks

  49. Leen ♥

    erialis, well~~ guess it time to update your characters info on Doll and Gui. :D

    • erialis

      I will when I update Ch. 5, since I don’t want to have to update it twice, with the Dark Phantom team AND Odd Squad’s new peeps.

  50. Alaris

    It am wondering if Footnote 3, 小妹妹 actually better to be translated as Missy.
    I am not exactly familiar with Chinese language nuances. So I am curious if actually Chinese people call younger female, strangers, as 小妹妹. Someone who knows please tell me. Thanks

    • erialis

      小妹妹 can be interpreted as either Missy or Little sister. The only thing is, the closer Chinese equivalent to Missy would probably be 小姐. For Wolf to be using “小妹妹”, instead of 小姐 (the more commonplace way of addressing female waitresses), it would seem to suggest that Wolf-bro has a tendency to speak from an “older” perspective – hence little sister is more appropriate. It’s really fine either way, though.

    • Alaris

      I guess when you are nearly 30 and nearly 2m tall that can be forgiven. LOL~

      Thanks for the explanation.

  51. Altiera

    Hi, thanks for the awesome translation! It flows so smoothly and naturally.

    This is really nitpicky of me, but 瓜子 are actually sunflower seeds. I have no idea why it’s written with the character for “melon” and “seed,” but I’m pretty sure they’re sunflower seeds.

    Anyway, I can’t wait to read more! Haha, gotta love Gui! :D

    • erialis

      Yosh people. I have sorted out the issue of the GUAZI. Both Altiera and Alaris are partially correct. The answer is…

      There are many, many types of guazis. Both sunflower seeds and watermelon seeds are varieties. There are others, however – including pumpkin seeds and wintermelon seeds. Because the majority of these are “melons”, it is written with the character for “melon’ (gua). I’ll fix the footnotes again in any case, and we’ll be switching the in-text reference to guazi instead melon seeds. (So as to include the poor neglected sunflowers.)

  52. Altiera

    Haha, so that’s why they’re called “melon seeds!” It’s so weird though, because we refer to sunflower seeds (which is the kind most commonly eaten) as guazi, but for the other kinds (which are actually from melons)we usually elaborate and say they’re watermelon seeds or pumpkin seeds and such. xD Chinese is so hard to translate, I’m so happy there’s people willing to tackle this. Haha. Thanks you so much. x3

    • erialis

      Yep! But nowadays people don’t bother to tell what type of seed it is, they just recognize them by the colour/size. So they’ve become generically known as guazi.

  53. LunaCarmin

    Great translation. Also, thanks for all the foot notes XDD I think now I can understand more things about the history.

    ***INNER YAOI FAN*******

    WIIIIIIIIII FINALLY GUI APPEARS!!!

  54. Ozzers

    YES GUI IS HERE YAY he is my Fav char, Prince second. This series is PERFECT, for people who love yaoi we have GuixPrince and the ones who don’t can deal cuz it’s actually a girl <3 thx so much must go read more now bye bye

  55. Grace

    “…a gay demon bard.” For some reason, that phrase makes me laugh so much!!

  56. Star Knight

    I just reread this, and the editor notes that come below the chapter, and I started thinking about Gui’s Guqin. Since real guqins are pretty long and heavy, they need to be played while sitting down. So how does Gui, with a bard’s strength, carry that thing around all the time..?

  57. cocoflower

    woah wait what Gui’s a demon? I have no idea how this completely skipped me when I read the mahua light years ago. I wonder if he has demon attributes like horns or wings or cool dark tattoos in the novel :D

Leave a Reply to Leen ♥ Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *