Chapter 37

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The next day.

Noel and the others stayed in the village chief's abandoned house last night. There were plenty of places to stay since all the residents had left.

If Noel had witnessed that scene, it might have become a trauma, but fortunately, she was surrounded by guards and hardly saw it. Besides, right after that, there was no time to pay attention to anything other than the dragon. The knights were angry at the settlers for slacking off and were used to such gruesome scenes, so they didn't seem to think much of it. As a result, the dead village chief and other criminals were already erased from the memory of Noel and the knights.

This morning, a nearby lord's official, who had been informed early by a communication magic device, came to help with the inspection. The scouts had already informed the palace that the village chief of the settlement was "black," so reinforcements were expected to arrive.

Noel, the head of the knights, the guards, and a few other knights set out to the Demon Forest as planned to practice attack magic. They had intended to hunt after capturing the village chief, but instead, they were all taken out by the dragon. It was the worst possible outcome. The merchant who sold the magic device to the village chief and the craftsman who made it would be captured and face severe punishment.

Upon arriving at the forest, it was eerily quiet and ominous, as if last night's chaos had been a lie. The trees were all blackened, as if they had rotted while still alive and turned into black zombie trees.

"Shall we begin, then?"

Noel nodded in response to the head of the knights. They had planned to thin out the monsters, but since the settlement had not done any work to burn the Demon Forest, they decided to use Flame Burst to set it on fire. Noel was fine with either, as long as she could be of help.

"I'll make up for the village chief's negligence."

"You are a powerful queen, indeed..."

Noel carefully gathered magic in her palm, the basic technique for casting a major spell. It had been a long time since she had used such a high-powered spell, since her student days. Back then, she wasn't very good at casting large spells.

Once she had enough magic stored, she unleashed a Flame Burst with all her might. A ball of flame, larger than a human head, appeared and shot out like lightning. It exploded with a loud boom, shaking the surroundings.

—Damn, I used too much magic in one shot...

She felt a bit lightheaded. It was still manageable, but she might need a short rest. When she looked around, the head of the knights and the guards were all staring at the explosion site in shock. The ground was gouged out, forming a shallow pool.

Only that part was scattered with trees.

"...Your Majesty... You didn't need to scrape the ground."

The head of the knights said modestly.

"You're right. I miscalculated the magic distribution on my first try."

She took a magic recovery potion and prepared for the next attempt. The task was to use Flame Burst to burn the forest. She cast Flame Burst five times, but the trees didn't burn. She had heard they were hard to burn, but they really didn't burn at all.

"It's like they're made of rock."

"They do burn more than rock. However, the miasma seals in moisture, and the theory is that the miasma itself is non-flammable, making it hard to burn."

"The moisture is the problem."

"Old Demon Forests are even harder to burn. Places that have been Demon Forests for generations are almost given up on. The new Demon Forests, which became so during the previous king's reign, can still burn, though not much. This is a new Demon Forest, so if we had been persistent in burning it, it could have been reduced more."

The head of the knights looked regretful.

—Those guys probably deserved the death penalty.

Noel was still angry about it.

—But if the moisture in the trees is the problem, there might be a solution.

She thought for a moment. She felt like there was something she could do. Drying out the moisture should be easy.

"Head of the knights, may I have a word?"

Noel whispered to Romane. If she used enchantment magic, she couldn't show it to the knights who didn't know about it.

"Hmm. That's very Noel-like."

The head of the knights smiled, his bear-like face breaking into a grin.

With the head of the knights and a few guards, Noel started the work. She would use wind magic to enchant the trees in the Demon Forest with "Drying." The advantage of enchantment magic is that "the enchanted magic absorbs surrounding magic elements as a power source." In other words, it allows you to save magic and maintain the spell. Enchanting large, uneven objects like trees is difficult, but even a part of it would do. If a part of the tree burned, it would still take damage. She focused on the base of the trees. She worked steadily, and since she was strong in wind magic, the enchantment was easy to perform.

Once the preparation was done, she waited for the "Drying" effect to take hold. During this time, they had lunch. After eating and taking a magic recovery potion, she unleashed Flame Burst. The results were immediate. The trees burned. They burned from the base, which Noel had treated, and the trees fell one after another.

"Amazing..."

"How did you do that?"

The knights working on monster hunting nearby couldn't help but ask.

"Hehe. I just dried out the base a bit."

Noel then cast Flame Burst on the deeper trees she had treated.

The fire spread from the base of the tree to the top, burning well. Noel suddenly noticed that the flames looked like a smile. The trees seemed to be smiling. It might have been her imagination, but it was a memorable scene.

—That's right. The trees, unlike the monsters, were turned into Demon Forest trees later.

If they had legs, they might have run away. But they couldn't, and they turned into the blackened trees of the Demon Forest. It must have been painful. They probably didn't want to become miasma-infested trees.

—Poor things. Because of the negligence of those people from the settlement.

Noel continued the work as long as time and magic allowed, and left the rest for the next day.

On the third day of the operation to reduce the Demon Forest, the training was over. She thought the results were better than the training. The Demon Forest was actually being reduced. The strategy of using enchantment magic to "Dry" the trees was working.

The Demon Forest continued to burn with a "smile." It might have been her imagination, but the flames now only looked like smiles. If the trees were to be reborn, they would probably become happy and peaceful forest trees in their next life. That's what she felt.

Just as they were preparing to return, a group of horsemen from the settlement approached. Noel immediately recognized one of them.

"Sirius!"

Sirius's horse stopped after running up to Noel and the others.

"What's going on? Your work?"

Noel ran up to Sirius.

"I missed you, Noel. It seems you've had quite an adventure?"

The last sentence was directed at the head of the knights.

"That's right! The village chief was terrible! The forest was in a sorry state!"

Noel reported angrily.

"I see, I see. I'm glad you're safe. It was really nerve-wracking. I won't let you go far again."

Sirius hugged Noel and stroked her hair.

"That's... I thought since this trip went well, we could go again..."

"Go again? Went well? What do you mean by 'went well'? You were in danger!"

"I wasn't in danger at all. The barrier I set up wasn't even touched."

"Setting up a barrier in the first place means it was dangerous!"

"Let me set up a barrier!"

"Ah, Your Majesty, Your Highness. Let's discuss this when we're calmer. It's time to prepare for the return..."

The head of the knights mediated, and the two finally stopped arguing.

On the way back, they separated from the knights. Sirius had used a transfer magic device in the Luka Michelle Duke's territory to get here, which took him three days, while it took Noel and the others seven days. They would take the same route back, but since Sirius and his group had pushed themselves on the way, they would take four days to return.

Noel thought, "Maybe it would have been more fun to travel with the head of the knights and the others," but wisely kept it to herself. They stayed at several lords' residences along the way. They could have stayed at inns, but Sirius didn't refuse the invitations from the local lords. Each time, Noel was told, "I read the newspaper, what a lovely romance," by the ladies, blushing. Many articles about their marriage and their love story had been published. Noel had read a few but stopped because she was embarrassed. She hadn't seen the articles that were currently being talked about and didn't realize they were so widely read.

"Actually, that's... not quite right."

Noel tried to deny it at the tea party, but she didn't know what to deny since she hadn't read the articles.

"Oh, not right?"

A cute-looking lady tilted her head. She was much older than Noel but still charming.

"Sirius was a very serious and strict teacher. He proposed to me six months before graduation, but it was very simple, just 'I want to be with you.'"

"Oh, how lovely. We had a political marriage, so there was no proposal."

"Oh, I see. But you two seem like a very close couple."

"Hehe. Indeed. After we got married, he turned out to be very kind. I feel like I hit the jackpot."

While listening to the lady's love story, Sirius returned from his inspection, and it was time to leave. They were riding horses instead of a carriage because it was faster. After finishing the farewell greetings, Noel was about to climb up to Sirius's horse when he tried to lift her up.

"Sirius, I can ride by myself."

She tried to climb up by herself in front of the lady, but Sirius lifted her up in an instant.

"Oh my, oh my."

The lady's cheerful voice made Noel's face heat up.

After denying the passionate romance, she was now being carried by Sirius.

Noel forced a smile and waved to the lady, unaware that Sirius was gently smoothing her messy hair and looking at her lovingly.

As a result, the suspicion of a passionate romance only worsened.

After that, the story spread quickly through the network of noble ladies in the north, but fortunately, Noel didn't realize it as she headed back to the capital.