Chapter 122
Chapter 122
I returned to the mansion in a very disturbed state after my conversation with Sian and the system’s uncooperative attitude, and stood blankly at the door, facing the chaotic situation.
“Hey, Irina! Why are you just coming now?”
“…What on earth happened to cause this.”
What a mess.
Unlike in the past, we now employed quite a number of staff to maintain the mansion.
Seeing them bustling around the mansion so busily, I couldn’t bring myself to step forward.
Roen, who spotted me from afar, immediately approached and scolded me first.
I felt like saying, ‘I wasn’t just out having fun!’ but the situation looked very serious, so I asked for an explanation first.
Before explaining, Roen dragged me to an empty reception room.
“What’s going on, Senior?”
“Well, it’s a big problem.”
“What is it?”
With a troubled face, Roen spent a long time choosing his words before finally speaking.
“‘That thing’ has appeared.”
Oh…
“Why is that your reaction when I tell you it’s appeared?”
“Isn’t it currently in the Jenoria Mountains? I heard demonic beasts are popping up there like crazy these days.”
I heard the number of humanoid demonic beasts has decreased somewhat, but an enormous number of animal-type demonic beasts are emerging.
Isn’t it all because that gigantic supreme demonic beast is there?
As I responded rather indifferently, Roen said as if exasperated:
“Not Jenoria, this time it’s the border region.”
“…”
I immediately straightened my posture from my previously disinterested stance and grabbed Roen right away. Seeing my reaction, Roen added an explanation with a ‘that’s more like it’ expression.
“‘That thing’ has appeared at the border with the Kingdom of Kawen, and currently the situation is chaotic with an incredible number of demonic beasts pouring out.”
“It seems they weren’t properly prepared there.”
Normally, if there’s a brief crisis in Jedo, or if there’s a major crisis even in a distant place, nationwide preparations would be made.
“It’s not that they didn’t prepare, but the area occupied by demonic beasts is right in an awkward blind spot, they say.”
“…Is that so?”
The moment I heard those words, I strangely became suspicious.
An outbreak of demonic beasts occurred in such an overlooked area? And among them, a supreme demonic beast appeared?
According to what I heard from Sian, all he did was make the supreme demonic beast appear in the world a bit earlier.
He said that demonic beast would have appeared in the world at some point anyway.
He said he could only summon it incompletely, which is why it could only tear through space and reveal just a part of itself.
He said everything after that was not his domain.
So… the fact that this supreme demonic beast appeared in Jedo, showed itself in the Jenoria Mountains, and now reveals itself at the border region, is highly likely to reflect Leilyranda Jackmüller’s intentions.
There were too many suspicious points to hastily conclude it appeared by random chance.
“So? How has the imperial court responded?”
“That’s the problem.”
Roen said gravely.
“The princess said she will represent the imperial court and go to the border region.”
“What?”
“Leading the army.”
My mouth fell open. I didn’t know where to begin objecting.
No, more than that, she’s not even a prince with succession rights to the throne, but a princess whose very existence wasn’t properly known until recently. To think that such a princess would go to such an important battle.
The fact that it’s specifically her going led my earlier suspicion to become half-certainty.
“It’s difficult to come to terms with, but it’s really not our problem.”
“That’s right. It’s not an area the House of Grand Duke Luwin needs to concern itself with.”
“But the princess mentioned His Grace at the state council.”
At this point, I was certain.
Princess Leilyranda, though I don’t know how she gained power, seems able to control demonic beasts. Both the demonic beast incident in the Jenoria Mountains and the newly erupted border demonic beasts are all Leilyranda’s doing.
And she currently wants the world’s destruction, though the cause has not been identified.
She is not the female protagonist of the original story, Leilyranda Jackmüller.
“What did Leilyranda say?”
“She said she would like the Grand Duke of Luwin, who is the best at countering demonic beasts, to accompany her.”
“And?”
“The Emperor agreed.”
“…”
“The princess somehow persuaded Marquis Cloi, and through him, she’s had a ton of related reports spread in the newspapers.”
Saying this, Roen threw a few newspapers at me. The newspapers all praised Cassis and expressed the desire for him to head to the border where the new chaos had erupted.
At the same time, they talked about the sacredness of ‘Lu & Cream,’ with the underlying tone suggesting that such great people who care for the citizens should naturally go to war against demonic beasts.
“We have no choice.”
“That’s right.”
“What about Lord Cassis?”
“He’s preparing for the expedition.”
I swallowed hard.
The first thing I thought after finishing my conversation with Sian was that I needed to investigate Leilyranda Jackmüller in detail.
I had already investigated several times, but most of that information was about her personal background.
This time, I wanted to focus differently… on her ideology, her attitude at parties and tea parties, and so on.
But if the situation turned out like this, there would certainly be no time to quietly investigate behind the scenes.
“Has His Grace ever met Princess Leilyranda separately?”
“The imperial decree just came down. There’s no time to meet her.”
And, in truth, there was also something that displeased me for personal reasons.
Some people want to go to war together but are refused for safety reasons, while Leilyranda, who was the female protagonist of the original story, gets everything she wants without any achievements.
[Is that really all?]
[It seems like there’s something more.]
‘…’
Of course, that couldn’t be the only reason.
Leilyranda Jackmüller was, after all, the female protagonist of the original story, and Cassis was the male protagonist.
That in itself was irritating, but the princess’s somewhat unhinged behavior at the party was equally unsettling.
‘Not once.’
‘I.’
Incoherent, abrupt words.
‘…Until the very end, Cassis Luwin, you were never helpful to me.’
‘You won’t be able to pull that off now.’
Words she recited as if she knew Cassis well.
“…It’s unpleasant, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
Ah, did I speak out loud?
Roen was staring at me.
He crossed his arms and nodded.
“You’re right. I’m displeased too.”
Of course, I didn’t mean it in that context, but anyway, it wasn’t wrong.
“We have no choice in this situation anyway, right?”
“You can refuse if you want.”
“But if we refuse, everyone will attack Luwin.”
“We might not get a second chance.”
I opened the system window to check the remaining debt, then closed it completely out of frustration.
I wonder what meaning the debt has when the situation is turning out like this.
If the world is going to be destroyed anyway, as Sian said, shouldn’t we be enjoying the world until the last moment instead of struggling like this?
[No… it won’t be destroyed.]
[Irina is working hard to prevent it from being destroyed.]
My mind was blank with frustration.
There were clearly many things that needed to be done, but so many things were happening that none of them were registering.
“There’s no choice.”
“Huh?”
“Senior Roen, please assist Lord Cassis by his side.”
“…Lord Cassis is always strong, so it’s fine.”
“Is that so? Then please keep the family in order, as it’s quite chaotic.”
Roen raised his eyebrows sharply.
“And you?”
“I…”
All these issues stem from one person.
The system doesn’t provide proper information, just tells me to deal with demonic beasts and pay off debt.
The words Sian told me had many questionable aspects.
Leilyranda, whom I briefly encountered, behaved somewhat like a madwoman.
In this situation, there’s only one choice I can make.
“I’ll go to see Her Highness Princess Leilyranda.”
* * *
It’s not that I wasn’t worried about what to do if she wouldn’t meet me.
[What were you planning to do if she didn’t meet you?]
“I’d have to climb over the wall.”
“The walls of the imperial palace aren’t low enough to be easily climbed.”
Hearing a voice from behind, I rose from my seat.
Leilyranda appeared wearing a beautiful dress, with a face more benevolent than anyone. She wore a smile that had a hint of mischief over her kind face.
“Your Highness the Princess.”
“I was surprised that you suddenly asked to see me.”
She brushed past me and plopped down in her seat.
Then, with a nod of her head, she gave permission for me to sit down, as I was still standing.
“So what’s your purpose?”
Today her eyes curved gently. Her dark green eyes sparkled in the light.
‘They had a reddish tint that day, though.’
She looked much healthier than when I saw her at the previous party.
There was no trace of the somewhat misaligned appearance she had shown then.
“How are your preparations for the expedition?”
“My goodness, are you worried about such things?”
She spoke brightly, as if she were very pleased, and as if she found me cute. However, behind those bright words, I seemed to hear something like, ‘Who do you think you are?’
“Yes.”
“Well… His Majesty cherishes me so much, so I don’t think I need to worry.”
She said, lovingly curving her eyes.
“You would be better off worrying about your master.”
“Ah, Lord Cassis is so strong against demonic beasts. He’s probably the person in the empire who has experienced demonic beasts the most.”
I tried not to put emotion into my response to Leilyranda, who was openly showing hostility toward me without any attempt to hide it.
Instead, I calmly blurted out whatever came to mind.
I swear, there was no intention behind my words.
“…Is that so?”
But I realized I had made some verbal mistake when her expression hardened as soon as I finished speaking.
“Do you really think so?”
“…Pardon?”
“You, really?”
In the blink of an eye, Leilyranda was gripping my chin. Her eyes, devoid of light, were frightening like those of a dead fish. Those dark red eyes were staring at me intensely.
‘Ah, they’ve turned red.’
I froze in place, like a herbivore left alone in front of a predator.
