<Wasn’t This a Strategy Game? Episode 85>

It was such an impulsive question. Eden quickly turned to catch a glimpse of his expression change.

But Sereman’s face was downright peaceful. He chuckled as if he had never heard such nonsense before.

Eden, feeling unnecessarily anxious, quickly added in a joking tone, “I had a terrible nightmare yesterday about the Empire collapsing. Haha, that won’t happen, right…?”

Sereman replied in a gentle voice, “Don’t worry, Priest. Such a prophecy will not come to pass.”

Just listening to his trustworthy voice filled my heart with reassurance.

Just then, the carriage rolled into the plaza. With the roaring cheers, Eden quickly glanced around the square.

‘Ibthan……’

Although it wasn’t perfect, the sight of the plaza was indeed orderly managed, causing a smile to bloom on Eden’s lips. Ibthan had kept his promise.

Trust and affection for Ibthan surged in Eden’s heart.

‘I can’t miss out on Ibthan either.’

Despite that, there were still many crowds inside the plaza, and the same went outside. The Solar Festival was simply too grand an event for the gathered crowd to be perfectly controlled.

‘Even with the control, there are so many people. This is definitely dangerous.’

Eden swallowed hard, steeling his resolve.

The carriage finally came to a stop in front of the circular stage in the plaza, and the priests began to shift positions.

On the stage, I could see the Emperor and the nobles in prime seats. Eden rolled his eyes, searching for Asmun.

“……!”

Eden, whose gaze met Asmun’s, who had been looking at him for a while, smiled faintly, causing Asmun’s eyes to darken.

Of course, Ibthan, the Chancellor, and Karon, the Commander of the Holy Knights were present in the plaza. Eden was too anxious, ready to bloom like a flower, not realizing that they were all watching him.

Sereman raised his hand high, prompting the priests to simultaneously raise theirs.

At that moment, the plaza filled with people fell eerily silent.

“Blessed be Hesmoro.”

As Sereman’s short blessing concluded, shining flowers began to bloom one after another from the stage where they stood.

The mysterious sight evoked cheers once more.

“Chancellor!”

“Blessings!”

“Ooh!”

Eden, captivated by the spectacle of the vast plaza being covered in flowers, held his breath.

Flowers bloomed richly from the bare ground of the plaza, from the circular columns, and between the people, petals fluttering down.

‘Unbelievable.’

It was a divinity that surpassed the illustrations. Seeing something like this made me feel like I couldn’t help but believe in gods.

And right in this entrancing moment……,

Boom.

The ground shook violently, and petals soared in all directions.

‘……Things have gone south.’

Eden quickly snapped back to reality and looked up. He saw figures cloaked in black standing atop the roofs surrounding the plaza.

This was truly the moment when the Solar Festival episode began in earnest.

“W-what was that? An earthquake?”

“Aaaah! Look over there!”

Everyone immediately spotted the uninvited guests on the roof and began to scream.

“Dark Sorcerers!”

As the crowd recognized their identities, chaos quickly enveloped the plaza.

Ibthan turned to Eden with a stern expression. Seeing Eden look up at the Dark Sorcerers without a shred of surprise, Ibthan let out a sigh of exasperation.

“Capture them!”

The Emperor, furious at the audacity of those intruding into the Solar Festival, commanded, and the Royal Knights moved with precision.

However, the Dark Sorcerers were much quicker. As they all joined hands and began chanting an incantation, a black magic circle was drawn across the vast sky of the plaza.

“Get out of the way!”

Eden shouted, causing those who had frozen in place, eyes glued to the magic circle, to snap back to reality, leading to renewed chaos.

“Protect His Majesty!”

As the Commander of the Royal Knights shouted, Sereman quickly set up a shield around the Emperor. At the same time, monsters began pouring down from the massive magic circle.

“Gargoyles! Run!”

As the bat-like, dwarf-like monsters blackened the sky, a war had arisen. The Royal Knights and the Holy Knights fought against the gargoyles attacking people like lightning.

Thanks to Ibthan controlling the plaza, half of the people managed to escape, but the commotion hadn’t subsided.

‘Asmun……!’

Eden urgently searched for Asmun, but finding him in the pandemonium of the plaza was impossible.

As Eden instinctively attempted to move forward, Sereman grabbed her arm.

“You must not move!”

It seemed Sereman had also set up a shield where the priests were.

As the Holy Knights and Royal Knights had their hands full warding off the gargoyles, another magic circle appeared in the air.

“Damn……!”

The once lively faces of the knights turned pale, but the magic circle mercilessly spewed forth more gargoyles.

Just then, the sound of hooves clattering echoed through the debris-strewn entrance to the plaza, followed by a flooding wave of troops coming in.

“Grand Duke Yuren?!”

At the Emperor’s pained voice, a triumphant smile spread across Eden’s face.

‘Jepar……!’

As Jepar came to a halt in the plaza, his soldiers charged the swarm of gargoyles like the splitting of the Red Sea.

Moreover, the mages he brought along were attacking the Dark Sorcerers on the roofs, causing the magic circle to grow faint.

“The Grand Duke has sent reinforcements!”

“We’re saved!”

No one had imagined that something would happen during the Solar Festival, so the number of royal mages mobilized for the already complicated festivities was utterly insufficient.

However, thanks to Jepar bringing a substantial force of mages at just the right time, the tide was slowly turning in their favor.

Cheers for Jepar erupted from all around. Still, Eden knew that it was just the beginning.

“They’re retreating!”

As the beleaguered Dark Sorcerers started to fade one by one, the crowd, thinking they had driven them off, roared in triumph.

“We’ve driven them away!”

“Grand Duke Yuren! Grand Duke Yuren!”

It was in that moment of euphoria that a massive magic circle reappeared in the sky.

“Ugh! Another magic circle has formed!”

“Don’t worry, we have the upper hand now! Those gargoyles are nothing……”

The voice of a braggart man, who had gotten all cocky, abruptly stopped. What emerged from the magic circle this time was not a gargoyle.

Above the heads of those slowly looking up, a dark, enormous shadow loomed.

“I-It’s a Dragan……”

Someone exclaimed, as the enormous monster floating in the sky was a Dragan. Finally, the black Dragan that had fully emerged from the magic circle let out a roar, its red eyes gleaming fiercely.

Kyaaaah!

As the Dragan spread its massive wings, horror struck the faces of everyone present.

“Red eyes……!”

“It’s Libyatan! The Demon King’s Dragan!”

“Aaaaah!”

As someone recognized the identity of the Dragan, a scream of utter terror swept through the plaza, far worse than when the gargoyles had appeared.

Eden’s eyes gleamed sharply. She recalled the contents of the prophecy book she had obtained as compensation.

『The 1st Prince Kiris Decland has lost his financial support and sees his reputation dwindle due to the Reblem incident. Cornered, Kiris Decland plans to use the Solar Festival to incite a backlash. Kiris Decland’s plan is as follows: summon a horde of gargoyles and the Demon King’s Dragan, Libyatan, to create a commotion and then overpower Libyatan himself to prove his legitimacy and enhance his reputation. If this is not stopped, there will be great sacrifices.』

Libyatan. It was clear why Kiris had chosen that creature. Libyatan was a monster that reminded people of the Demon King.

‘Moreover, there’s a legend saying that whoever defeats Libyatan will save the Empire because the saint Haila has history of defeating Libyatan.’

So Kiris likely intended to summon him artificially and take him down in front of everyone to portray himself as the ‘destined savior of the Empire.’

Perhaps, choosing Asmun and proceeding with the plan had been set so that even if Kiris managed to defeat the Dragan, the game wouldn’t end, and the quest related to the Solar Festival would not activate anymore. Eden had decided this time to pull a fast one on the game.

“Take it down!”

The knights, momentarily stunned by the Emperor’s command, finally snapped out of it and tried to move, but their spirit had already diminished.

The Dragan, defeated and enraged, glared wide-eyed, causing parts of the plaza’s roof to come crashing down, plunging everything back into chaos.

“Kyaaaah!”

Eden scanned the surroundings with urgent eyes.

She couldn’t see Asmun, but she spotted Kiris, trembling, gripping his sword with hesitation.

He had recklessly instigated things but was now overwhelmed by the imposing presence of the Dragan.

“That pathetic loser……!”

Seeing him frozen in disbelief at the consequences of his own reckless actions made Eden involuntarily curse.

“……”

At the same time, a Dark Sorcerer hiding on the roof chanted incantations with an expressionless face, causing chimes to ring around Kiris.

“Ugh……!”

The Dragan, searching for prey, immediately focused its attention on Kiris.

“N-no……”

Kiris tried to back away cautiously, but he couldn’t stop the now-locked-in sight of the Dragan.

With its claws bared, the Dragan turned its body toward Kiris, whose face had gone pale.

‘It seems even they know the characteristics of that brat……!’

The easiest way to attract Libyatan’s attention was through the sound of ringing bells. This information had already been conveyed to Asmun.

“Libyatan reacts to the sound of bells. We’ll need to lure him in with the sound. Kiris will likely use the same method, so prepare a large bell.”

Yet, finding Asmun was futile. If things continued like this, Kiris would defeat Libyatan, which meant it would really be the Dark Sorcerers behind him who would take it down.

‘Where on earth……’

At that moment, just as Eden’s anxiety was boiling over.

Ding―.