Chapter 38 - Wrapping Up The Engagement Annulment Ceremony (1)

No matter how wealthy a city was, not every area was perfectly paved.

If there were those who shone brightly in everyone's gaze, there are also those who die coldly without receiving anyone's attention.

Therefore, it could be seen as a natural flow that the alleys on the outskirts were not maintained and were excessively muddy.

"If there's an artificial sun, we could bring warmth to the North even without Damian."

...Raindrops pour down, riding on dark clouds.

Elisia felt the muddy ground sticking to her shoes and tried to ignore it, bu the proposal of being able to stand alone independently was too sweet, making it difficult to move her feet easily.

If that's possible... it might solve all the problems.

The numerous problems in the North? The tangled political issues? The problem with Damian?

Not only could it render all the problems that were binding and eating away at her meaningless,

It would also be possible to completely eradicate the parasites that had been clinging to the North.

So if those words were true, it would be right to accept it, but…

There were too many things that bothered her to accept it purely, so she had to step back.

As she tried to refuse the deal and run away, he spoke to her with a mocking voice, "There's no other way besides this, is there? Yet you're going to run away?"

"..."

At those words, she stopped her retreating feet.

As the man said, persuasion was becoming nearly impossible, and taking away the ability was also an action that would require bearing enormous risk.

So she felt hesitation sticking to her like the mud on her shoes.

"...What's your reason for making this offer?"

"The greater good. Simply that."

A ridiculous answer came back, but because hesitation had already stuck as much as it could, it was difficult to just pass it by.

...So thinking to listen a little more, she asked, "I know that creating an artificial sun is virtually impossible. Even if we assume it can be made, it would continuously require massive energy, so I'm not sure if this is realistically possible."

"The artificial sun is already almost complete, and the energy problem can be solved by converting living beings."

"...Living beings? Do you mean humans?"

"Humans or monsters. Anything with life force."

"..."

The moment she heard those words, her mind became complicated.

Starting from how many humans would need to be sacrificed to maintain this,

...to thoughts of whether, if she accepted this, she could somehow satisfy it with something like war.

These thoughts swirled in her mind, and all sorts of assumptions and solutions came up, but to implement these, she first had to accept that man's proposal, so hesitation came first.

"...Please give me time to think."

Deciding to think about it more as the conditions were too good to accept immediately, he nodded impassively as if he had expected it and flicked a letter to her.

"You don't have much time, so it would be good to choose quickly. When you've made up your mind, contact me with this."

A black letter.

The moment she received it, all sorts of miscellaneous thoughts spread out, but since having more options wasn't a loss, she accepted it for now and turned around.

***

"Ow, Young Master, it hurts."

"You're exaggerating."

I poured a potion on the whining Loraine and then wrapped it with a bandage.

Actually, just pouring the potion would heal it completely, but since she said it hurt, I thought it would be better to at least wrap it with a bandage, so as I was wrapping it, Loraine said to me, "Then I'll go train for a while."

At those words, I told her to wait a moment, then brewed a lot of tea and handed it to her in something like a thermos.

"Ah... thank you."

Loraine received the thermos, fidgeting as if she felt sorry for skipping her guard duty to go train.

I patted Loraine's back and said, "If you're sorry, just finish your training quickly and come back."

"Ah, yes. I'll finish as quickly as possible."

Seeing that reaction, I suddenly wondered why Loraine kept taking on the role of Damian's guard.

...Is she bound by some kind of contract?

Otherwise, it didn't seem like she would need to cling to guard duty like this.

Thinking it was strange, I waved to Loraine.

"Take care."

"Then I'll be training nearby. I'll come back immediately if I sense any danger, so please try not to leave the lodgings if possible."

I nodded, and Loraine hesitated for a moment before greeting me and immediately leaving the lodgings.

Watching this, I decided to go take a bath first and moved my feet.

After bathing, I saw Siren reading a book.

It seemed she was analyzing it to modify the artificial sun, so as I was patting Siren's head,

This time, Liana stretched and said goodbye to me.

"Then I have to go report to the Saint, so I'll be going now."

At those words, I put the remaining tea I had brewed for Loraine in a thermos and handed it to her.

Liana smiled brightly and said to me, "Thank you. Oh, by the way, the Saintess said she wants to meet you soon."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll let you know again after adjusting the schedule. Get some rest."

I waved to Liana as she left, then sprawled out on a nearby sofa.

Perhaps because I had just finished a big incident, my body felt somewhat limp, and as I was blankly staring at the ceiling,

Daisy rolled over and jumped into my arms.

"Myayang!"

Then she rolled around in my arms, acting cute.

I found Daisy rubbing her face against me cute and patted her head, then fell into thought for a moment.

I need to get stronger.

Since I didn't know what would happen now that things had diverged from the original work, if I just relied on Loraine and became complacent, I would meet a terrible end.

So, deciding to grow quickly so that I could solve things myself rather than depending on Loraine, I narrowed my eyes.

Either gain new power, or greatly enhance existing power.

Both were not bad options, so as I was contemplating what to do first, someone gently knocked on the door.

"Young Master. Dale is here to see you."

"Tell him to come in."

"Yes."

With those words, Dale soon entered.

The moment I saw Dale, I felt mischievous and said with a smile, "Did you come looking for the woman-turning medicine?"

At those words, Dale quickly hardened his expression and said to me, "...Are you crazy?"

From Dale's perspective, the fact that he had become a woman seemed to be quite stressful, as he frowned deeply and narrowed his eyes.

I was about to tell Dale it was a joke and ask why he came when, "But just in case, if you have any left, give me a few."

"...?"

A somewhat shocking sound was heard.

I frowned and looked at Dale, and Dale, still frowning, said to me, "No, fuck. It's not like that, it's for infiltration or information gathering."

"...Let's say that's true. So why did you come?"

Dale got irritated at my words "Let's say that's true," but judging that there was nothing to gain by continuing on this topic, he quickly stopped and brought up something else.

"No... Ha. Ah, really. Forget it. Uh, it seems the hero appointment ceremony will proceed faster than expected, so I came to tell you."

"Really?"

"According to the Archbishop, it seems they want to have the test this evening and hold the appointment ceremony tomorrow?"

It was proceeding faster than I expected.

No, it might be more correct to say it was urgent rather than fast.

I looked at Dale, not understanding why they were trying to handle it so urgently, but Dale also didn't understand why and just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know? They said something came up so they have to do it quickly?"

At those words, one hypothesis arose in my mind.

Perhaps because I discovered the artificial sun, they were trying to urgently handle the hero appointment ceremony?

Of course, it was just a baseless speculation, so there was a possibility it wasn't the case, but somehow I had a strong intuition that this was the reason.

Whatever the case, it's true that things are proceeding urgently.

So, just as I was about to order Dale something to prepare for this,

"Young Master, the Duchess is calling for you."

I heard that Damian's mother was calling for me.

***

I immediately went to see Damian's mother, Eleanor Carsaril, leaving Dale behind in my lodgings.

Considering her personality, she only called for Damian when there was something special, so I entered her lodgings with some tension, and saw Damian's mother welcoming me with a kind expression.

"Come in."

At those words, I greeted her politely, and she waved her hand and chuckled.

"That polite greeting still doesn't feel familiar no matter how many times I see it. Well, come sit here. I have something urgent to tell you."

"Yes."

As I sat down in the designated seat, Damian's mother took out a contract related to the engagement annulment and said to me, "As you wished, the engagement annulment ceremony will end faster than scheduled. I don't know the reason, but the Northern side, which had been dragging out the schedule, is now urgently trying to end all contracts."

At the mention of the North, I was reminded of the “hero appointment ceremony” story I had heard from Dale earlier, and I could sense that this whole situation was happening because I had discovered the artificial sun.

I nodded at those words and said I understood, and she looked at me and said, "So we plan to wrap everything up tomorrow evening. If there's anything you haven't finished yet, make sure to end it before then."

...If it was tomorrow evening, it meant they'd finish the engagement annulment ceremony right after the hero appointment ceremony was over.

At those words, I sensed that the situation was becoming complicated.

***

Since things were moving urgently, I needed to act a step faster, too.

Thinking this, I immediately returned to my lodgings and said to Dale, who was waiting, "There's something you need to do."

At those words, Dale answered me with an indifferent expression.

"What is it?"

To that, I smiled gently and told him what I had planned before.

"The moment you're appointed as a hero, announce at the appointment ceremony that Elisia colluded with black mages."

"..."

At my words, Dale laughed helplessly and said, "Isn't this guy a crazy psycho?"

I've already heard that from Liana.

I smiled calmly at those words.