Chapter 7 - The Rift

A rift meant that space itself was artificially twisted, causing spatial distortion.

The important points here were the artificial creation and spatial distortion.

To interpret it directly, it means someone deliberately opened a passage to invade.

Considering that monsters came out of the rift, it was quite clear who was sending these beings.

The Demon Lord or demon race.

Thinking based on the original work, since this was still the very early stages, it would be more correct to think that demons far below the Demon Lord were behind this rather than the Demon Lord himself.

Of course, at this point, even if low-level demons had done this, the probability was high that the protagonist and the supporting characters following him were still not mature enough and would find even this overwhelming.

That was why there were numerous casualties.

Thanks to my restoring warmth to the city, the damage was significantly less than what appeared in the original work.

Nevertheless, it was undeniable that the damage was severe enough to be described as serious.

I had been warning about this for a while.

“It was dangerous,” “We need to increase our troops,” and “Are there really no problems?”

I had been subtly giving these warnings continuously, but it seemed no one had listened carefully.

It can't be helped.

In the original work, since it progressed from the protagonist's perspective, when he arrived in the North, there was only a description of fighting monsters.

Since there was no exact description of when the rift burst open, it was impossible to infer this, so it was an ambiguous situation to insist on blindly building up strength.

Moreover, in the original work, it was only after suffering like this that they began to thoroughly prepare for the rift.

Rather, suffering extreme damage now and becoming vigilant might actually be better for the North.

Reaching this point, the thought of what action would be best for Elisia spread.

Immediate help? Or leaving her alone so she can stand on her own in the future?

What’s the right answer?

Seeing that my emotions were pointing towards immediate help, the rational judgment would be to leave her alone.

Realistically thinking, the latter would be right... but a bitter smile spread at the somewhat complicated growth achieved through someone's death.

I don't know. Anyway, there's nothing I can do.

I shouldn't do anything either, so I decided to focus only on making the North warm while distributing the spirit.

At that moment, Loraine rushed into my room and told me an unexpected situation had occurred.

"Many people on the Northern side are saying that the young master is the cause of the rift appearing."

***

This was how the incident started.

There was a large loss of life, so someone needed to take “responsibility” for it.

From their perspective, quite fortunately, someone with the attribute of being an outsider and who could take responsibility just with the power of their family name had appeared, so people trying to pin it on me emerged.

Considering their closed-off nature, it feels like they're protecting their own people.

This was Loraine's opinion, that just like how even disliked siblings unconsciously protect each other when faced with danger, they were banding together as fellow Northerners.

My opinion was slightly different.

"With monsters pouring out of the rift en masse, the Northern side probably doesn't have the leisure to turn their attention to the South. So one of the reasons they accepted me, the plan to advance into central politics, has become a bubble... I think they're trying to push this onto me."

Hearing these words, Loraine seemed to remember something and added, "Ah, could it also be related to the problem that occurred in the Carsaril family?"

"Problem?"

"Ah... it's nothing."

I felt something was strange and was about to question him thoroughly.

But before that, people sent from the Northern side arrived at my room and knocked on my door.

"Young Master Damian, Lord Lake Rick Wintreaven, the head of the family, summons you."

Hearing that the Northern Grand Duke and head of the Wintreaven family was calling for me, I had no choice but to follow them for now.

***

Realistically thinking, they couldn't harm me.

Not because of some naive reason like my innocence, but because I was the youngest son of the Carsaril ducal family.

The moment even a scratch appeared on my body, the Carsaril family, which had considerable influence in central politics, would exert great pressure.

Even if I really were guilty, there was a high probability they would just express “regret” and appropriately admonish me before sending me back to my family home.

And this would be the flow they want.

Looking at just the conclusion, it could end without anyone dying or getting hurt.

From the perspective of the Wintreaven family, which had strong closedness but also had the obligation to maintain cohesion among themselves, there was a high probability they would think this was not a bad calculation.

However, what I don't understand is…

They must have implicitly known that I was creating the warmth.

I didn't quite understand why they wanted to exclude me, who brought great benefits to the entire North.

As I was walking forward with this puzzlement...

Loraine whispered to me in a small voice from the side, "Young Master, if you wish, I will prepare a carriage to return to your family home immediately."

Whether I went to the Northern Grand Duke like this or returned home, it was obvious that the relationship would break down, so he was suggesting we leave before seeing an unpleasant sight.

At those words, I pondered for a moment, then shook my head and said, "It's okay."

At least Elisia knew everything I had done.

With her usual fairness and coolness, she would immediately realize it wasn't my fault.

Thinking that as long as Elisia saw me uprightly, even if no one else did, it wouldn't matter what happened, I opened the door.

***

There was nothing more foolish than expecting rationality from those who had lost children and parents.

Those gripped by anger and emptiness wanted a blind perpetrator like a psychopath rather than a perpetrator with complicated circumstances.

The one pointed out as that perpetrator was Damian Carsaril, Grand Duchess Elisia's fiancé and former delinquent.

"Did Lord Damian open the rift?"

What was heard at the start of the meeting was a direct question.

In a normal way, it would be right to go through procedures and then express such questions along with the reasons.

But since they had already drawn conclusions and were creating reasons for them, they had thrown away all such procedures and were just throwing out confirmations.

"How could that be?"

"For someone who says that, Lord Damian's actions just before the rift opened were quite suspicious."

Looking around, about 30% of the people had hostility, while the majority were either watching the situation or pretending not to know.

Seeing the situation, it seemed everyone knew I hadn't done anything wrong.

But knowing that if they spoke the truth, they would have to select someone responsible from their own people, that was, from the Northern side, everyone was avoiding eye contact.

"What were you doing going out to the deep forest every night? Weren't you trying to open the rift for some reason?"

"How could that be?"

Since the conclusion would be the same no matter what I said, I repeated the same words and fell into contemplation.

What words could change the current situation?

At first, I thought about bringing up the story of the Sun Spirit to bring warmth to the North, that was, the truth.

But the reason this meeting was held in the first place was to push the responsibility onto me.

Even if I showed the Sun Spirit, they would likely use it as an excuse to claim that I created the rift because I contracted with such a thing.

Moreover, they weren't unaware, just arrogant and greedy.

They couldn't have not known that the sudden warmth in the North was because of me.

...No, even if they didn't know, this probably wouldn't be very important.

Considering their nature, as people who created their own safety and value using the North's closed nature, they might even want to exclude me for bringing warmth and thinning the closed nature.

What was important to them was not the future of the North, but their own future.

So mentioning the spirit wouldn't deal a blow, but rather might become an opportunity for them to unite.

Rather than mentioning such things, it would be better to flip the situation in another way.

So what I needed to do in the current situation was...

Since they were trying to pin the responsibility on me because there was no risk, I needed to create a risk to make them unable to pounce.

"Depending on your answer, a judgment equivalent to the death penalty could be handed down, so please think carefully before speaking..."

"Can you handle all of this?"

I raised my head brazenly, basically pulling a, “Do you know who I am?”

This strategy worked better than one would think in reality, though it didn't work in movies or novels where the protagonist was crazy.

Moreover, this is the North.

Although the soldiers on the front lines were strong and sturdy, they would gradually wither away without supplies and troops sent from the South, so no matter how closed-off a group they were, it would be difficult to ignore the influence of central politics.

In reality, they all seemed to be hesitating, probably not expecting me to come out so strongly.

But because they would lose more if they reversed a conclusion they had already made once, they pushed ahead with it.

"I misspoke. However, isn't it true that the rift appeared after Lord Damian entered the deep forest? Can you really prove that there was no effect from that?"

A hollow laugh escaped at the word “prove”.

In this world, the only ways to prove something were through third parties or expensive magical tools like magic artifacts.

There was no way I would have such things after entering the deep forest.

Well then, what should I do?

Since it was nearly impossible for an individual to win against a group, I couldn't overturn this with a one-sided method.

So rather than trying to beat them normally, what I needed to do was throw away the board itself.

With this in mind, I looked at them and said, "So you're asking if I, the youngest son of Duke Carsaril, joined hands with the demon race to invade the North, is that right?"

They were aiming to just pin some responsibility on me, admonish me appropriately,

And then cover everything up as if nothing had happened and move on.

But the moment I mentioned joining hands with the demon race and invading, all the issues they were aiming for would be shattered, so the need arose to reconstruct the entire board.

In reality, those who realized the situation was turning serious showed signs of trying to mediate, but they all seemed unwilling to take responsibility, so in the end, they were just busy avoiding my gaze without saying anything.

Just as I was about to not only throw away the board with this momentum but burn the board itself…

"Emergency situation! The second invasion from the rift has begun!"

The second invasion had begun.

This meant unimaginably huge damage would occur in the North.

Furthermore, it meant that Dale, the protagonist of this world, would come here.