Chapter 323.
Chapter 323.
After slowly sharing her story, Arwen trembled a little due to the bad memories that came up.
Feeling sorry for Arwen, Hillis hugged her tightly with sad eyes. Her divine power gently spread out and stabilized Arwen’s mind and body.
"You’ve really suffered,” I said, stroking Arwen’s head and smiling. She nodded slightly.
I wondered where Flam had run off to, leaving his younger sister behind. Suppressing a sigh, I asked Arwen, "Did the Demon King worshipping organization that locked you up get destroyed by Grandfather’s hand?"
-Yes.
Perhaps the old man in Arwen’s story had been the previous leader. If so, then the current Libra was the second Libra. That was why my aunt had known that even if Libra died, a second and third Libra would appear.
"Then it means those roaches have changed their habitats,” I remarked. In response, Hillis’s expression turned dark, and Arwen apologized.
-I feel like it wasn’t much help. I’m sorry.
I simply grinned and said, "No. It helped quite a lot. It should help a lot in finding their home base, because you remembered the religious organization’s form, environment, fanatical gatherings, and ceremonies in such great detail.”
Hillis and Arwen looked at me with surprise as I continued, "Usually, ceremonies depend a lot on the location. Especially if you need special mana."
"Then can you figure out where Unni is?!” Hillis asked, her expression lighting up with delight.
"Well, I’m not sure yet, but I think I’m halfway to figuring it out," I said.
Even if the location could be found, there were too many candidate sites. First, it was necessary to hear accurate details about the locations of the Demon King worshipping organizations my father had destroyed in order to narrow the scope. To be sure, I’d need to catch a pushover.
Hillis joked as if she had regained some composure, "But didn’t Arwen become your grandfather’s adopted daughter? Then doesn’t that mean Arwen is your aunt?
I smiled at the joke. "Of course not. I explained this when Arwen came to the boarding house and I introduced her. She’s more like a relative’s younger sister."
Hillis scratched her head as if she had only just remembered that and said, "Ah, you did."
"And she’s more like a disciple or a granddaughter than an adopted daughter. Also, in reality, it was Flam who actually took care of Arwen,” I added. My grandfather had been tired of the accidents caused by my father and his three siblings, so it was clear that he would take off if told to take care of any more children.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since I last got in touch with my uncle in the Republic. That said, there was no guarantee that he would be in the Republic anyway, because his wife had wanderlust.
"By the way, we don’t have enough time to repair the destroyed knights,” I remarked. There was still quite some time before dawn from the looks of it, but as long as I couldn’t use magic, I had to repair the knights using the reserve magic of the workshop. "My father will try to go up to the Demon’s Territory by lunchtime, so I’ll have to finish preparations before then."
In the first place, my father had intended to go straight to the Demon’s Territory. The only reason he had come all the way to the capital was to monitor whether I would run away. Rather than ignoring and suppressing my will, he was respecting it.
Of course, the bigger reason was likely that, if he forcibly overpowered me and I decided to rebel in the future, he couldn’t handle the aftermath of the accidents that would occur. My father wanted to ‘convince’ me, whether it was through words or strength. I couldn’t just ignore that, considering that I was still his son.
After seeing that the two were resting comfortably, I left the room and headed to the underground laboratory. If I used the tiny amount of recovered mana I had for repairs, it would take two days longer to finish recovering fully, but I couldn’t help it. Now that I knew that Duke Asteria was my grandfather, I couldn’t help but assign more escorts to him. It was even more important considering the Demon King worshippers might be aiming for him.
"Gwalchavad, get the broken ones out of the pocket space,” I commanded.
"Yes, I understand." Gwalchavad opened the pocket space and took out the remains of the knights.
Well, if my mana recovery slowed down, then I would just have to stick to my father like gum even longer. What else could I do?
"Then let’s fix both of your arms first,” I said.
"Thank you, Master,” Gwalchavad replied as he held out both arms to me. I took control of my workshop, using what little mana I had to manipulate the repair equipment.
* * *
Sunlight shone into my eyes through the ventilation window and disturbed my sleep. Considering I could hear the sound of morning birds chirping in my ears, it seemed to already be dawn.
"Are you awake, Master?" Gwalchavad asked.
Lifting the blanket that Gwalchavad seemed to have placed on me, I asked. "Ha-am! How long did I sleep?”
Gwalchavad, who had watched over me and taken care of me in my sleep, replied with a smile, "You slept for about an hour and a half."
I had fallen asleep around 5:30 a.m., so it had to be 7 a.m. now. The problem was caused by the sense of lethargy caused by mana depletion, rather than a lack of sleep. If it were just that, I could just sleep on the train heading to the Demon’s Territory.
I got up, stretched, and stood in front of all the repaired knights. "Everyone, wake up,” I commanded. The knights opened their eyes at once.
"Where are we?"
"Oh, my head."
"Uuk! I’m dizzy!"”
The knights staggered from the shock of their souls settling in again.
"Ohh, seeing that Boss is safe, it looks like we won." Gwalchmai, who had been the first to be cut in half, chuckled.
"Master seems exhausted, so it must not have been easy fighting against that strong guy.” Percival worried about me even as he held his head due to dizziness.
"But I don’t feel any mana at all from you as if it’s completely gone, Mordred." The first one to realize my condition was Bedivere.
"It’s nothing much; I just used the Firefly’s Bright Annihilation,” I said.
The knights nodded seriously and continued to chat with each other.
"The masked man who introduced himself as Sagittarius was definitely strong on a different level. It reminded me of the King of the Giants in the past."
"It might have been even stronger than that."
"Perhaps? I’ve never faced the King of the Giants, so I don’t know."
I clapped my hands to draw their attention and said, "All right, let’s go up. Unlike you guys, I have to eat breakfast."
In response, Gwalchavad smiled gently and said, "This morning, I prepared steamed oxtail stewed in wine with beef bone broth to cheer you up."
"I’m looking forward to that. But my father is a big eater, so you probably should have prepared a lot,” I remarked.
"Don’t worry. I’ve prepared enough for there to be leftovers even after you finish eating,” Gwalchavad said confidently, and I went up to the first floor with a smile.
"Did you sleep well?” I asked as my maternal grandfather, who was sitting on the sofa and was reading the newspaper with a cup of tea, welcomed me.
"Yes, I slept well. The knight next to you—Gwalchavad, was it?—said you stayed up all night,” my maternal grandfather said, looking at Gwalchavad as he stood next to me.
I sat opposite my maternal grandfather and answered while pouring tea into an extra cup, "No, I did sleep a little. What’s your schedule for today?”
"First, I’ll get a conscription agreement from the emperor, get some priests from Fernando, then go up right away,” he replied.
It was clear that it would be easier to receive support from priests under the pretext of having been attacked yesterday. Although they had been brainwashed by a black magician, it was still true that my maternal grandfather had been attacked by paladins in the Great Temple.
In addition, it wasn’t difficult to guess that Cardinal Fernando’s position and standing within the temple was in crisis. Since the emperor and the prime minister wouldn’t side with him or go easy on him, Cardinal Fernando, who was in the anti-emperor faction, had no choice but to borrow the power of Duke Asteria.
"Cardinal Fernando may even suspect Grandpa of scheming this yourself,” I remarked.
"Hmph, but what is he going to do even if he says so? If I could, I’d like to let him fall into the abyss as it is, but now I’m not in a great situation either, so it can’t be helped." My maternal grandfather snorted and smiled playfully.
"But just in case, I’ll add more escorts. Yvain, Ovain,” I called. Agravain had already been assigned to escort my maternal grandfather, but I decided to add two more.
The twins answered vigorously as they came up.
"Yahoo! Did you call me, Crow Prince?”
"Really, I was bored in the pocket space because you didn’t call me after I was cut in half."
What would be the point of calling on someone who couldn’t even move because their body had been broken in two? Besides, it hadn’t been long since they recovered. They had lost consciousness due to a mana discharge, so what was there to be bored about?
"You two hide yourselves and protect my grandfather,” I commanded.
The twins laughed cheerfully.
"Oh! It’s an escort! I always thought it’d be an assassination.”
"That’s right! I thought I’d be killing witches all my life.”
My maternal grandfather looked at the twins with interest and remarked, "They’re rather cheerful friends. But at the same time, they certainly seem skilled."
"Ahaha! Of course!”
"Ahaha! That’s obvious!"
The twins hid themselves while laughing and boasting. Afterward, not even a single breath could be heard from them.
"Oho, that’s impressive. I’ve never seen a hiding skill that can make one disappear like teleportation even while being watched openly. You have good subordinates,” my maternal grandfather said.
Yvain and Ovain usually acted wild, but they were serious when working.
"Okay, let’s go eat breakfast,” I said while grinning, leading the way to the dining area.
* * *
Tristan and Caradoc had chased the Demon King worshipper all night, but they reported that they had lost him sometime this morning. I had already expected that, so I ordered them to return without being disappointed and moved busily alongside my maternal grandfather throughout the morning.
At the same time, I was preparing to go up to the Demon’s Territory. Of course, all that meant was telling my family members, who were staying at the boarding house, to get ready to leave. If I had to think of anything else, it was probably that I needed to mobilize the Big Mama Information Agency to gather food and war supplies.
After finishing my work in the capital, I came to the train station with my maternal grandfather. I was surprised to see Uncle Bloody there, so I asked, "Uncle, are you going up to the Demon’s Territory?"
In addition, my uncle wasn’t alone; he was leading the Capital Defense Force and the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard was an unexpected sight, as it was the most elite force in the capital and ordinarily never left the emperor’s side.
My uncle shrugged and said, "I came here quickly for the sake of going to the Demon’s Territory to begin with."
Still, I had thought he would join the Black Water Buffalo Knights after the award ceremony before heading up there, but the situation in the Demon’s Territory must be worse than I had thought.
My maternal grandfather should also have participated in the award ceremony as a noble, but he had returned after finishing his work in only a day.
"It’s being said that half of the imperial army’s main forces, including the Black Water Buffalo Knights, are on their way to the Demon’s Territory,” Uncle Bloody said.
"Then I’m guessing the award ceremony will be at the Demon’s Territory?” I asked.
Uncle Bloody nodded and replied, "I expect that’ll be the case.”
"Then I’ll see you up at the Demon’s Territory," I said. Uncle Bloody had to lead the army, so he couldn’t travel with me or my father.
My uncle whispered, "Okay. Keep an eye on Hyung-nim so that he doesn’t make any trouble."
"I think it’s better to tell Hestia noona that, rather than me,” I replied. Even if I kept an eye on him, I couldn’t stop my father from moving around as he pleased.
"Haha, is that so?" my uncle remarked.
"Then I’ll go first." I waved to Uncle Bloody and got on the train heading to the Demon’s Territory.
I hoped there wouldn’t be anything annoying, but I suppose that’d be asking for too much.