Chapter 143

“Where did you get that water?”

Leonard and Reina glared at the water skin, looking as though they were wary of the contents.

It seemed the Imperial Knights also knew that the fortress’s water storage was contaminated.

I feigned total ignorance and replied nonchalantly.

“It’s water I’ve been carrying separately. I drew it from Nelvin Fortress.”

“Not Hiter Castle?”

“…? Right. I drew plenty, so I had some left over.”

Looking half-convinced, Leonard and Reina cupped a small amount of the water into their palms.

Naturally, what pooled in their hands was clear water.

“Seems… fine, I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“…The water at Hiter Castle is completely contaminated. The ducal knights tried to keep it hush-hush, but we all knew about it anyway. That’s why we’ve been rationing the water we were allocated, though.”

So that was how it was.

They had been managing the situation in their own ways.

“Our group has plenty of water brought from elsewhere. You guys can keep this water skin.”

…!!!

“This is…. Thank you….”

They must have been desperate. They didn’t even refuse.

Visibly delighted, Leonard immediately helped Villero drink a small sip of water.

Villero earnestly resisted, saying he was a lost cause anyway and that the young knights should drink it instead of an old man, but the two knights remained unyielding.

Villero must have had a stubbornly long life span, after all.

To have encountered two people who considered yielding water to a sick person over themselves as a matter of course.

Confirming that Villero had swallowed his gulp, Reina turned her gaze back to me and opened her mouth.

“By any chance, could we get more water? We have quite a few people here who need it…”

Reina glanced back toward the survivors behind her as she spoke.

-They have no shame.

It’s hard to afford pride and shame when you’re trying to save people’s lives.

Reina was fulfilling her role as the person in charge here admirably.

I had been wondering how to hand it over anyway, so this worked out well.

I summoned rations from the bulky bag I had been carrying to deceive Belita.

When I pulled out a few water skins, biscuits, and dried meat from the bag, Reina and Leonard’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

“No, h-how on earth did you get all this….”

“Ah, at Hiter Castle, we only need to hold out for a few days. Before the Duke left, he received word that reinforcements would arrive within a few days.”

“R-Really? Good grief!”

“Commander, that’s a relief!”

“Right? Ahem. Well then, I’ll head back up. Ah, I’ll bring you more rations whenever I secure some, so you don’t have to worry about running out of food.”

.
.
.
.

I said that just to mean don’t come up, but not only Reina and Leonard, but also Villero and the people behind them who had been listening to our conversation were all looking at me with misty, deeply moved eyes.

While I was startled by the unexpected reputation grind, Reina, looking both pleased and uneasy, spoke to me.

“It’s dangerous alone. I’ll escort you.”

I firmly shook my head.

“Traveling alone minimizes the chances of getting spotted.”

“Still….”

“Of course it won’t be easy, but… I’m better at hiding than I look. You knights need to protect the people here. Please stay here.”

While the three of them stood there looking hesitant, I climbed the stairs.

My reasoning was to vanish before they could ask anything more.

-Will this be enough?

[ “Probably.” ]

Reina was a by-the-book stickler far beyond the protagonist, coupled with a fierce sense of justice.

If I kept showing my face to supply food and water, I figured she wouldn’t take the gamble of heading up to the surface in a situation where they had sick people to look after. If they got hurt themselves, the survival odds of everyone else would plummet exponentially.
Above all, they must have been exhausted from staying on guard, so shouldn’t they fill their bellies and get some rest now, at least?

-Well then, only the golem-type magic beasts are left now.

Reina cleared out the basement, and I cleared out the surface.

Ascending to the top floor of the fortress, I looked down below.

A large number of golem-type magic beasts were prowling around outside the fortress.

-If we take care of those, Sir Jeffrey will be able to arrive comfortably, too.

If we could eliminate the loss of reinforcements on their way to Hiter Castle, it would be beneficial for me, as well.

We’d need to march to the defensive wall with that full force intact, after all.

-You’re going to take care of them, right?

[ “Of course.” ]

-The orthodox strategy for golem-types is to cause cracks through blunt impact.

[ “Impact?” ]

-Just hit them with your fists like you did earlier. Slashing or stabbing isn’t effective against monsters like that.

[ “Really? That’s great. That means I just need to do it like before, right?” ]

-No. Let’s use a sword this time.

[ “…Why, specifically?” ]

-Impact schimpact, the truth is, if you just coat it properly with mana, it’ll slice right through in a single blow. They’re mere rank-5 magic beasts, after all. This time, let’s focus on condensing mana.

While I wondered if I really had to struggle against an unfamiliar magic beast using a sub-optimal weapon, Belita insisted firmly.

Since we’d come this far, trusting Belita’s judgment was the right call.

‘…….’

Following a brief moment of mental preparation, I summoned Ilian’s sword.

-Your bag holds all sorts of things, doesn’t it?

Since the bag I carried around was large and long like a Boston bag, it was plenty big enough to fit Ilian’s sword. There was nothing strange about it, but it seemed I had pulled out a bit too many random things after all.

Belita reacted as if she found it puzzling.

Deciding to just brazen it out, I ignored Belita and concentrated my energy into my fingertips.

Then, I slowly transferred the energy into the sword.

Faint yet palpable, purple mana wriggled, traveled up the blade’s fuller toward the edge, and eventually reached the very tip of the sword.

‘I managed to coat it somehow, though….’

The mana coating the sword was wavering turbulently.

I tried putting force into it so that the flow of mana would be as straight as possible and flow gracefully along the fuller, but it was no use.

-It’s unstable, but for a first try, you did well. If you go higher tier, you can circulate the mana coated on the sword to increase cutting power, but you’re not ready for that yet.

For once, Belita offered a compliment.

-Of course, any other sword would have shattered, though. If you don’t coat a sword with mana at a consistent concentration and strength, the original edge ruins in no time. Where on earth did you get such a fine sword?

I was just starting to feel slightly good about myself, but true to form, she couldn’t just say nice things only.

Anyway, I had no idea Ilian’s sword was that good of an item. Being the Pope’s son, he apparently didn’t walk around using ordinary swords.

‘I never imagined it would come in this handy when I first received it.’

I needed to thank Ilian. Even though the Ilian of this run had never met me before.

Well, now wasn’t the time to reminisce about the past.

It was time to fight the golem-type magic beasts.

Griping my sword tightly, I moved my body out of the fortress for the first time in a while.

Meanwhile, Drott, Noah, and Luca were still cooped up in the room with nothing to do.

On the wall, Luca had drawn four short lines using a fountain pen from the desk to make sure they wouldn’t forget how many days had passed.

Amidst this, Belita had tossed a few books their way so they wouldn’t die of boredom.

It was a downright destructive taste, which was why Drott had ignored and treated them as nonexistent for the past few days.

Understandably so, because the true identity of those books was, shockingly, pulp romance novels!

‘Aren’t things like this supposed to be read by kids like Mina?’

As Drott hesitated, looking as though he might touch a book or leave it be, Noah, sitting on the parlor chair, spoke up.

“Those will make time vanish instantly. Don’t let the titles fool you and give it a read.”

In the hands of Noah, who had said such things, rested a different romance novel.

The title read: The Plain Maid I Used to Be Turned Out to Be the Saintess?….

‘I have no idea what kind of absurd nonsense a novel like that could possibly contain.’

That’s right. Noah had long since succumbed to boredom and was plowing through them one by one just as Luca recommended.

While chewing on chocolate chip cookies that Belita had tossed aside with instructions to eat them if their mouths felt lonely.

‘Ugh…. Why is she giving me a trial like this!’

Belita had brought quite a diverse variety of books, not just pulp romance novels, but also magical beast encyclopedias, the history of the Rubel family, ancient Pelsus continental languages, and beginner’s investment guides.

Northern Grand Dukes, Saintesss—that kind of genre was obviously meant for Luca, but…

No matter how free they were, the two young men seemed more drawn to childish pulp romance novels than studying.

Since there were only three of them, the psychological hurdle to dropping their pride was quite low, too.

Ultimately, after much hesitation, Drott grasped a book in his hand and flopped down onto the sofa.

Flip, flap. Only the sound of turning pages filled the room.

Before long, the faint sound of breathing mixed in, which was made by Luca, who had fallen asleep while reading.

Reaching the climax of the novel, Drott gripped the front cover tightly enough to crease it.

‘What the heck. Turns out the contract marriage was just an excuse and the Northern Grand Duke actually fell in love with the protagonist when they were kids? But the protagonist forgot the memories of her abused, wretched childhood, so she didn’t recognize the Grand Duke? And the Grand Duke thought the protagonist was pretending not to know him on purpose, got hurt, and consumed by a desire for vengeance, tormented her throughout their entire married life?’

Drott found himself deeply immersed in the book before he even realized it.

‘The Grand Duke is so pitiful! The Grand Duke did everything he possibly could for the protagonist! Though tormenting her was a bit petty. …Wait, aren’t I getting way too worked up over a mere pulp romance novel?’

Struck by a sudden wave of self-awareness, Drott randomly muttered out into empty space to clear his head.

“Ahem! But when is this Belita chick coming back anyway?”

Narrowing his eyes, Noah watched Drott fan his face with his hand while darting his gaze around.

“…I’ve wanted to ask you this for a while. Did you know Belita from before?”

Drott’s eyes widened and he shook his head. It was an exaggerated reaction.

“Huh? No way! This is my first time seeing her. Haha!”

It was obvious he was trying to brush it off with an awkward laugh, but Noah decided to let it drop.

‘Everyone has at least one secret they want to hide.’

Just as he did himself.

“If you say that, are you close with Belita?”

“We’re coworkers. When you see each other’s faces every day, you naturally get close.”

It was a brilliant answer to a foolish question.

Without backing down, Drott added a few more words.

“Is she good at her job? Well, I was just curious~.”

“She did well enough. She’s a high-ranking maid. If she couldn’t do it after doing it since she was a kid, wouldn’t that be strange?”

“That’s true. But with a personality as prickly as hers, isn’t that a fatal disqualification for a maid who basically has to serve nobles? That’s what I was curious about.”

“Isn’t someone like Belita pretty normal?”

Doing the assigned tasks without talking back, making sure not to cross any lines that would give the person she served something to hold against her…

Even just this behavior was worthy of serving as a model for upper-class maids.

Yet Belita had endured quite well between that brutal Duke and Duchess, and though she had some minor friction with workplace interpersonal relationships, she had managed to resolve it somehow.

On top of that, whenever he felt depressed, she would awkwardly yet maturely comfort him. He couldn’t even begin to express how much strength that kind of Belita had given him.

To draw a conclusion, Belita was a deeply affectionate person who kept a close eye on the people around her.

“Normal?”

Thump!

“Normal, my foot…“

Muttering to himself, Drott picked back up the book he had dropped in sheer astonishment.

“Then, what on earth do you know, Lord Drott?”

Right from the beginning, Drott had acted as though being by Belita’s side was the safest place possible, yet he had desperately tried to keep traveling together with her.

And that judgment hadn’t been wrong.

Above all, Belita’s extraordinary physical strength that wasn’t normal. The aura that made magic beasts avoid her.

Drott must have known Belita’s secret, which was why he acted that way.

“Ah, dammit. Hey, I think it’s crazy-ass amazing too, so don’t ask.”

Continuing his sentence while opening the book back up, Drott said.

“You, me, and that kid got extremely lucky, so be grateful, and if you value your lives, forget everything that happened here once we get out.”

Adding that this was just advice, Drott refocused his attention back on the printed text.

Locking his lips and swallowing down his curiosity was something he was used to.

Noah, too, stopped weaving words further and turned his gaze back to the book.

How many hours had flowed by like that?

Darkness gradually crept into the room and a chill began to set in.

Fearing it might stimulate the surrounding magic beasts, the three of them opted to forgo the fireplace, lighting only a small lantern instead, and tried to warm their bodies under thick blankets to catch some sleep.

Just then.

“Cough! Ugh, ugh….”

Belita strode into the room, coughing out dust from her mouth. Carrying dry firewood tucked under her arm.

“Big Sis, are you okay?”

Luca tossed off her blanket and scurried over to Belita with quick, pattering steps.

Waving her hand dismissively, Belita said it was just because she had accidentally eaten a bit of sand.

The three of them couldn’t even begin to imagine how on earth someone could end up eating sand inside a fortress, but since it was Belita, they simply chose to give up trying to think about it.

“I’m going to use the bathroom for a bit. Oh, and you can use the fireplace from now on. There’s still some left inside the fortress keep, but there weren’t any magic beasts outside. Looks like they all left.”

Handing the firewood she had brought over to Noah, Belita disappeared into the bathroom.

Judging by the sound of running water that immediately followed, she seemed to be taking a shower.

The fortress’s plumbing system was contaminated with demonic energy and unusable.

Consequently, the group hadn’t been able to wash a single day since that day.

Above all, splashing water over one’s body in weather like this was practically suicidal behavior, but Belita apparently had no issues with it.

Utterly sick and tired of Belita pulling off all sorts of bizarre stunts, Drott stared at the bathroom door with a look of utter contempt before letting out a sigh.

“Did that girl go on patrol all the way outside the fortress?”

“It must have been dangerous… Even though Big Sis is reliable, I’m worried. Aren’t you a knight too, Mister Drott? Leaving aside Noah, I think you should go help her.”

“Forget it. I’d just be in the way. Hey, whatever, didn’t she say all the magic beasts disappeared?”

Parting the curtains, Drott opened the tightly locked terrace door.

Noah, who had been piling firewood into the fireplace, adjusted his clothes against the biting, freezing wind.

The room instantly brightened thanks to the brilliant moonlight, and feeling the refreshing night breeze for the first time in a long while, Noah involuntarily turned his head to look out the window.

And at the landscape beyond the terrace that met their eyes, Noah was left utterly speechless.

“The outside of the fortress is a pile of sand. There wasn’t anything like that originally…”

Stepping out onto the terrace out of curiosity, Luca gripped the railing and looked down below.

“Are you kidding me. Belita?”

Stepping out onto the terrace with a leisurely gait, Drott let out an exclamation laced with profanity.

“Could that possibly be…?”

Following out belatedly, Noah trailed off at the end of his sentence.

On the ground near the cliff, piles of sand were scattered sparsely in small heaps.

And they looked rather like graves, while also looking somewhat like a desert straight out of a book.