Chapter 23

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Leon’s family was close to the middle class, to say the least, and although he was a powerful family, he did not make any effort to get close to the king. Some people ridiculed Leon’s family as ‘one tightrope masters’, but he was showing such excellent behavior. They didn’t get too close to the king, didn’t interact with the king’s enemies, looked like an entertainment-only family, but everyone was faithfully occupying their place. He chose a different way from others to live in the times.

Everyone has a different way of surviving.

After the meeting was over, Leon smiled while biting the cigar. He didn’t leave the hall, so he just had something to say. On the other hand, Chris had something to say so he remained, but at Leon’s words, “Get lost,” he squeaked and disappeared.

When Leon’s words become harsh, it means that he doesn’t feel very well. He’s a cold-hearted type, so he’s scary when he gets angry and nagged a lot, and so he fell back. Oh, I don’t want to hear that. Leon slammed the door where Chris came out and looked back at me as if something was written on my face.

“My lord.”

“Huh?”

“Really, why did you save the Grand Duke?”

I also didn’t understand.

“To some extent, there was a genuine inheritance problem.”

“It was a problem that could be solved in another way. It wasn’t a big deal enough to risk Hastred.”

“… … .”

“In the first place, without Hastred they don’t have the title or property they want, so how will they keep it? Hastred belonged to the lord and this is immutable. Don’t look at me like I’m an idiot.”

“Hastred is mine, but my uncles are not easy people. Of course, the knights follow me but, some of the family members have been conciliated.”

“… Who? Whose family is it?”

“If I tell you, they’ll run and catch a mouse with a mouse, so how can I tell you?”

Leon clicked his tongue vehemently at my words. He seemed frustrated because he didn’t know the other person, even though he wanted to argue and run away. But I couldn’t tell him. The knights know me. They have seen closely what kind of person and capabilities I had. But what about the knights’ families? To them, I was just a twenty-six-year-old, well-bred girl.

Oh, the beginning of the year is delicious. Tobacco is known to be good for the body, but in the case of holy knights, there were many people who stopped smoking. They would define this languid sensation as pleasure and as an obstacle to an ascetic life. Also, as a sex holy knight, they advised me to lead a celibate life in order to maintain my credibility and to quit smoking.

I can’t cut this off. It’s too delicious.

“My lord.”

“No. And it’s not their fault. Do I have to cut off their throat just because I’ve been trying in living my life in different ways?”

“When did I say I to cut their throat?”

“It’s like that.”

“Ah, you misunderstood. These deer-like eyes.”

“I think I saw it right.”

“No. Look at my eyes, these innocent, clear eyes.”

Leon pushed his face on me. I looked into his gray eyes and smiled bitterly. It’s far from being clear, it’s quite insidious. I probably don’t agree with what you say, so please stop. Seeing the words written on my face, Leon clicked his tongue.

“The traitor must be caught immediately.”

Who betrayed whom?

I don’t even know every time I heard this. Did they betray me? From my point of view, that might be the case. But strangely enough, I’m on the side of a fence.

I don’t.

Was it because I was living on the verge of death? I always feel like I’m standing in a gray area. People organize their positions more clearly than ever and move forward with their will, while slaying enemies and embracing their allies, but I always stand in a place where neither the earth nor the water is half-submerged, and watched everything. Twenty-eight. Duke of Hastred. I know I have to decide and take responsibility for everything.

Why am I doing this?

The reason Eden suddenly came to mind was probably that he was thirteen. The age at which I killed a person. At that age, I thought that life would all be clear by the time I reached my present age, or when I was approaching 30.

There are times when I find it difficult to bear the feeling of floating alone. As always, I inhaled the smoke of the beginning of the year deep into my lungs. I drank the drowsy smoke to the end of my stomach and sighed.

Leon was about to say something but finally bit his mouth. I know his loyalty. I’m the lord who only knows money so that’s why he’s loyal only to me. But I often think. What makes you loyal because I’m Ilyd Sarian’s daughter? Because I’m a holy knight? What makes you risk your life? Is it worth it to me? Am I worthy of that?

I know I have to pretend I don’t know.

I have to understand everything with a chin raised up, pretending to be worthy.

“My lord?”

Leon called me as if he felt something strange. I breathed in the last smoke of the beginning of the year and laughed as I dusted off the ashes of the cigar. Perhaps the beginning of the year tonight was needed a little more than usual. After holding onto the last act, I felt like I was getting better as usual.

“Why?” When I asked, Leon looked at me intently and shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing”

“Leon.”

“Yes.”

“Bring me a map.”

Leon is here anyway, so let’s finish the story.

“Yes?”

“For the next month. This war will be over.”

I laughed languidly as the last ashes fell from the cigarette. Now that we’ve cleared up some in the battlefield, it’s time to rush. It was a plan to remove the nests of the monsters. This time, I will cut off the monsters’ buds in the north. A cruel smile lingered on Leon’s face when he saw my expression.

“Everything will be done according to the will of the lord.”

As always.

Leon did not make a sound and added only the shape of his mouth. I smiled at that face. I felt most at ease when talking about the war when we could smile with the same face as usual.

***

It took less than a month to finish the 7th monster subjugation.

The plan was expecting up to a month, but I was lucky. Everything happened one after the other as promised, and in three weeks we arrived at the nest of the northern monster king, Lichtatline. Lichtatline. The monster did not become a dragon but pretended to be a dragon and gathered the surrounding monsters. From a human’s perspective, the gathering place of the monsters should be described as a ‘nest’, but in fact, it was not insufficient to say that it was a small town. Everything was there. From the blacksmith to the farm, he had all the minimal things that make up a village.

“If it had been a little longer, we almost would have faced a city,” said Leon, who came closer to me and was covered in demons’ blood. He looked very tired.

“We have dismantled the ruins that have been abandoned nearby. You can see stone walls here and there.”

“Damn, are they now living in a house made of stone walls by demons? People live in a wooden house too?!”

Chris pulled out his sword that stabbed the monster’s heart and came to our side while complaining. It seemed that he was more dissatisfied with the monsters living in a stone-walled house than fighting them. … In fact, it was more like a castle than a house. It is because the fortress was not completely built with stone walls and was covered with grass in some places.

“The Griffin is coming!” Someone shouted. Sophie pulled out a crossbow from her back and fired at the rushing griffins. Then a few shots flew away in an instant. While the griffins dodge arrows, some pull out the crossbows, while major forces such as Leon and Chris focus their minds on fixing their swords and dealing with the falling griffins.

Then suddenly the sky began to darken. Whooosh! A strange and bizarre cry, it was difficult to call a monster or a human scream, but it seemed to fill the whole world. I quickly looked around. Not only me, but everyone else did. Everyone looked around to find the source of the sound, but it was so loud that they couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

Flutter, flutter. The wind blew with the sound of wings flapping.

“This is Lichtatline!”

It is rare to find a monster with a name. The Lichtatline was one of the few monsters with a name. Lichtatline “Prophet of the damned” in cursed language.

“I was going to get angry.”

It was large enough to say that it filled the sky.

Lichtatline. The monster that didn’t become a dragon seemed to be bigger than a dragon. A huge black monster was floating in the sky had yellow eyes that were looking down on us, and it’s every move gave us a chill in our spines. The eyes were too big and too bright that it was like two, thin moons were floating.

“An unexpected person has arrived. It’s a holy knight, isn’t it?”

The way he spoke was slightly different from that of humans. It wasn’t a sound, it was a feeling that was transmitted directly into my head. I could understand him, but I couldn’t hear his voice. It was a strange feeling. Some of the knights stepped back. It was an instinctive fear.

“I didn’t think my name would be so great that even monsters would know it.”

I crossed my arms on the horse and smiled. It would be difficult to say what a terrifying monster the Lichtatline was until I met him, but I know how powerful his magical powers are. However, on the day that I show even the slightest sign of a decline here, everyone’s morale will be shattered.

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And, oddly enough, I wasn’t afraid of this. In fact, I seem to have forgotten that I am scared from some time ago. I can’t remember since when.

If you die, you die.

Just that.

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