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“Damian! Surely what you have in your hand right now isn’t a coffee ball made from coffee bean powder, is it?!!”

“It’s chocolate…”

“That’s a lie!!”

Noel, who had just woken up, looked at everything I did with eyes full of skepticism, wondering what on earth had happened in my dream. Just now, I pulled out what I called a piece of chocolate from my pocket, but instead, she was calling it a coffee ball.

For some reason, it seemed she was trying to connect all my actions to coffee.

“Stop!! Liar!! You’ve deceived me!!!”

“Chocolate is supposed to be bitter.”

It shouldn’t be so bitter to the point of grimacing like that.

Our chef had made a specialty chocolate for me, who doesn’t like sweet things, increasing the cocoa content compared to other chocolates. While the bitterness was heightened, when slowly melted in the mouth, it had a pleasant bittersweet taste.

“Why on earth are you carrying something like this?!”

“It refreshes your mind when you eat it while you’re tired.”

“Now that you mention it… wait, no! You said it was chocolate, so of course, I thought it was the sweet kind. Hmm… it’s not completely inedible. Still, ugh! Stop…..”

The caffeine in cocoa keeps the mind alert. While it may look a bit different now, it serves the same role as energy drinks did in my previous life.

To me, it was a reasonable snack, but it seemed it didn’t match Noel’s taste at all.

Not long after, Orcus appeared before us, looking like he had rolled through the forest.

Despite his exhausted state, he seemed to have pushed himself to keep running, his breathing ragged, as if he were on the verge of collapse.

When I first encountered Orcus among the bushes, his face was filled with rage and despair over Noel’s death, but upon seeing Noel looking perfectly fine, his expression softened, and he collapsed right there.

“Thank goodness…”

“Brother?!”

Noel caught Orcus as he fell to the ground.

I quietly approached Orcus and, like I did with Noel before, infused him with my energy.

He hadn’t lost consciousness; he simply lost strength in his legs, so it didn’t take long for him to rise again. The two siblings were already quick to recover due to their overflowing divine power, so with my help, he stood up sooner than expected.

We talked about what had happened in the forest, and as soon as Orcus was able to move again, we headed straight for the castle.

Considering the events in the forest, the monsters’ ultimate target was the castle. It might be that a battle with the monsters was already happening around the castle by now. Nevertheless, heading to the castle was certainly safer than remaining quietly in the forest.

Unlike this empty place, the castle had the southern army stationed, and more importantly, since my father was there, I was convinced that no matter how many monsters came, the castle and the people inside would be safe.

“Damian! Can’t you move a bit slower? What’s with your hurry?”

“…..”

Yet, even while thinking that, my steps toward the castle were not those of someone who believed they were heading to a safe place.

What mattered most to me right now was the safety of Elena and Alphonse.

No matter how safe a place it might be, the fact that those two were in the castle while the monsters’ goal was there unsettled my mind. Objectively assessing the situation concluded that there was no problem, but this unease just wouldn’t go away.

So, I needed to see them with my own eyes.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest, I saw the castle and the camp intact, confirming that my fears were unfounded.

The monsters were retreating, becoming mere compost, and the well-kept grass around the camp showed just how well they had defended it.

If the front of the camp was this clean, then surely, the people inside the castle must also be safe. Once I confirmed Elena and Alphonse were safe, I quickly relaxed my tension. But that was short-lived as I caught sight of familiar markings on the ground beneath my feet and steadied my heart.

“Is this… magic?”

It was too subtle to be naturally formed, the cracks in the ground reminded me of the magic of Joachim, who once saved me from a landslide. As I regained my focus, I noticed that there were many visible traces of magic around.

Everywhere on the battlefield were remnants of fire and ice, showing where magic had danced in the chaos. Among the people gathered here, to have such manifestations of power, there was only one person I knew.

Just as my mind was becoming hazy from that realization, my eyes caught a glimpse of Elena rushing toward us.

“Elena!!”

I called out her name, intending to ask what was happening, but before I could, she pulled me and Noel into her embrace. With a strength that surprised me, we were held in her arms without any resistance.

I wasn’t the only one taken aback by Elena’s sudden action. Right next to her, Noel, hugged tightly by Elena, was blushing fiercely and stammering, unsure of how to react.

‘Ah.’

Only after taking in the battlefield around us did I understand why she acted this way. Just like I felt in the forest, Elena clearly felt the same way. It was a realization that came late.

Before I knew it, I found myself staring at a green bird perched on the tip of the castle, gently resting my forehead against Elena’s hair. Seeing this, Noel joined me and leaned her head against Elena too. We held each other for a moment, calming our hearts together.

“Wow… did I get left out of this?”

Except for one person.

*

The incident at the Legion concluded with the death of the heretics who planned to kill Noel and Orcus, and now the monsters that had rushed the castle were being dealt with.

Given the scale of the incident, there could be a third party involved, so further searches of the forest and interrogations of a few were conducted, but no significant traces were found, and the two who previously died were declared the main orchestrators of the incident.

And their identities were none other than the Cardinals of the group known as <True Night>, which worshipped the foreign deity considered a malevolent god.

Not long after the Crusade against <True Night> began, such an event occurred, especially touching upon the royal family’s two sole heirs. The imperial palace quickly set up a large-scale response.

Naturally, Noel and Orcus had to ascend to the imperial palace at once, and soon after, the imperial army dispatched from the imperial capital began searching down south, intent on completely eradicating the heretics.

Since this incident had involved the imperial family’s heirs, even the territories known for their strong autonomy had to accept the imperial army’s involvement without complaints.

Of course, even if it was impossible to completely uproot a group that had been fighting the empire for hundreds of years, searching all over the country meant they would still catch some who were thought to have been eradicated during the Crusade.

In any case, they had successfully diminished the influence of that group.

With such a major incident occurring, the Hunting Tournament was inevitably suspended, and my plan to gain fame by winning the tournament was dashed as well.

Still, one consolation could be the fact that some key figures who would later become the backbone of the southern invasion had been dealt with in advance.

Fame can be earned by other means, so I decided not to dwell too much on it. What mattered was that we managed to prevent the potential murder of royal family members. And while it did take a slightly different turn than expected, my name wasn’t entirely unknown either.

The ones who led the assault on Legion Castle fell to my father’s hands, and those who attacked the prince and princess fell to mine.

The reason the search in the south was heavily led by the Kraus family was due to this.

Incidentally, since all the Cardinals known were killed by the hands of the Kraus family, I experienced a change in perception among people, albeit in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

Previously, I was merely a successor of a mediocre noble house, but now it seemed my family’s name held some weight.

Even though the divine power of the Sun opposes the divine of the foreign god, the fact that three sixteen-year-olds had taken down a Cardinal-level opponent was surprising, warranting a new evaluation, even if it wasn’t as high as I expected.

‘Well, in my case, most opinions are that I just landed the finishing blow on a dying guy.’

But that was true, so I had no words to counter that.

After all, when I faced that guy, he was already on the verge of death. According to people, all I did was finish off that dying fellow who was bleeding out.

Thus, rather than the fame I initially sought to build, it was my name spreading instead due to saving the princess from danger, and many say it was just a matter of luck, not skill or loyalty.

The distance between myself and Orcus was considerably widened, and it would seem odd to anyone that I immediately rushed off into the magic-sealed forest. People might think I was capable enough to find my way, but this was an area even my father, renowned as the greatest genius of the Kraus family, would find impossible.

So others would likely prefer to think that I was just lucky.

I, too, would not have been able to make it without the tools Elena gave me, so I chose to keep this fact under wraps rather than amplify the situation.

If I wanted to establish my name officially, I could have done so by finding the monsters and prey I had captured and left in the forest, but with the tournament canceled, there would always be another chance, so I didn’t want to struggle too hard just to present myself favorably to others.

“Well, considering she showed such a performance, anything I bring back would quickly be overshadowed…”

No matter how many monsters I caught in the forest, it wouldn’t draw people’s attention. They focus more on what they can see with their own eyes than on what happened unseen.

I picked up my cup while thinking of her, who wasn’t here right now.

Leaving Sarham wasn’t just Noel and Orcus. Elena, one of the main figures in this incident, was also absent from this place.

It wasn’t a major issue. After the incident, Joachim, worried about his daughter, had her stay at the House of Edelweiss until everything settled down. Perhaps he was quite the doting father, but it could also be that he wanted to verify that Elena’s magic, which she demonstrated in the Legion, wasn’t a mere fluke.

While Elena was publicly known as a genius who reached the 5th rank at a young age, what she displayed in the Legion was not something that could be simply categorized as the 5th rank. Joachim’s reaction was entirely understandable. Perhaps we were witnessing the birth of the greatest genius the magical world had ever seen. If I hadn’t already read about her talent in advance, I might have made a bigger fuss over it.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve been sleeping poorly lately. My eyes look lethal enough to take someone down…”

As I tipped the cup of cider to drink, I caught a glimpse of my reflection and rubbed my eyes, relaxing the facial muscles.

I already had a reputation for looking sharp, but the reflection staring back at me looked like a sharp knife, as if it would provoke someone into a fight at any moment. No wonder people were hesitant to approach me today.

Even though the major issue had passed, for some reason, my face still looked exhausted.

Was it because Elena wasn’t by my side? That couldn’t be entirely ruled out, but the main reason had to do with the imperial family delegating the entirety of the investigation and aftermath in the southern region solely to the Kraus family.

It would be the legitimate role of an inquisitor given by the Emperor in a state where politics and religion intertwined.

During this investigation, every noble family at the imperial palace received the emperor’s intervention, but the South was an exception. Initially, the imperial family sent people, but it was merely a formality. Soon after, the palace transferred all investigative authority in the South to the Kraus family.

In uncovering the truth of the incident, neither the Imperial family nor any other family could interfere with Kraus’s actions. In essence, if my father and I were determined to wipe out any family in the South, we could use this incident as a pretext to erase any house without a sound.

In any case, while this incident showed how much trust the imperial family had in the count family of Kraus, I wondered who I was?

I was the Lesser Baron of Kraus.

Honor or whatever else aside, it meant that collaboration with other families was impossible, and I had to conduct investigations solely with Kraus’s internal personnel. While the family’s power was not lacking, it was inevitable that my duties as a lesser baron would increase, which is why my face looked like this now.

Perhaps the imperial family hoped to give some reward through this authority, but all I felt was like I was being passed along to do the dirty work.

In the end, with the external interference gone, my considerable freedom as a lesser baron could be preserved.

From my standpoint, slightly aware of the future, I could easily investigate as I wished, removing those who would become a thorn in the future, but in exchange, I lost sleep. Well, now that the work was finished, it would have been nice if I could sleep soundly…

I mumbled quietly, so no one could hear me.

“I just don’t understand why nobles love banquets so much.”

Of all days, on the evening when the work was done.

A banquet was to be held in celebration of the incident’s resolution. It was understandable. With what was almost a disaster ending with minimal damage, it was perfectly reasonable to hold a banquet to commemorate it.

“If only they had held it tomorrow or the day after…”

Surprisingly, the host of this banquet was my father.

My father wasn’t someone who enjoyed hosting banquets, but for this event, it was necessary to show that everything had come to a safe conclusion. It seemed he aimed to wrap things up quickly on the same day, but I wished he would consider the stamina of the people around him.

For the knights who participated in the investigation, attending the banquet was not compulsory, so they could choose not to come. But since I was one of the main figures of the banquet along with my father, there was no escaping it. Because of this, I noticed the absence of Sir Gwen and other knights, who had always been with us during the investigation.

They must have all gone off to rest. Those traitors.

Perhaps because of the tense atmosphere swirling around me, no one approached to speak with me, but I didn’t want to be alone; I just wished to get back to my room, so despite having come to the banquet, I didn’t enjoy the now-quiet surroundings.

No matter how few people approached me compared to usual, I couldn’t just doze off with my head resting on the banquet table.

Taking a few sips of cider and glancing at my watch, I realized I had been sitting around doing nothing at the banquet for nearly an hour.

By now, I could say I had held my ground, so no one would say anything if I got up to leave.

But just as I resolved that, the hall suddenly became noisy.

“Wow, look over there…!!”

“Oh. Is that the lady who did something big in this incident?”

“Big deal? You bet! I saw it with my own eyes right there; the monsters rushing toward the castle were swept away by the magic she used.”

“Huh. I didn’t see it like that… So that rumor wasn’t false?”

I controlled my volume, but the whispers reached my ears clearly. The murmurs among the people informed me someone had arrived.

I followed the familiar scent of flowers, turning my steps toward my room. As I moved, people parted at regular intervals. I couldn’t tell if the same was happening on the opposite side, but the crowd parted for me like the Red Sea.

As the last person blocking my way stepped aside, I finally saw her. The people exchanged whispers and gradually moved out of her way.

I approached her slowly and spoke up.

“You returned early. You could have stayed longer, Elena.”

“You’re just saying that… What’s your true intention?”

“I was eagerly waiting for you to come back.”

At my response, Elena chuckled softly.

Seeing that made me feel strangely more relaxed.

 

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