Chapter 631

Capturing the Duke of Saengtu-an has a different meaning than Kerrenstadt's acquisition in terms of overall power. While Kerrenstadt secures "scale" in terms of overall strength, the Duke is the chief responsible for the Titan management, one of the main forces of the Allied Forces. Although the Duke cannot operate the Titan alone in detail, the Titan is a significant force in the Allied Forces, capable of overturning the situation in a major city attack in just seven minutes. Having the Duke on my side does not mean that I can have a Titan, but it means that I can neutralize the Titan. As with hoping that Immortal will not be used in such a situation, using the Titan in a way other than fighting monsters should never happen. As long as there is a direction to pursue, I must thoroughly neutralize the Allied Forces and the Empire. Capturing Kerrenstadt has neutralized the Allied Forces by about half, and if I can neutralize the Titan, I can make one of the main forces of the Allied Forces unusable. Regardless of how we meet, I will go alone to meet the Duke. Sarkagar will meet the Duke and talk to him. The Duke will decide where to meet. We could meet in the capital of Saengtu-an, but the Duke may be very uncomfortable in that case. I don't want to threaten the Duke in any way. That's why I'm not sending Harriet, but going myself. The Allied Forces have already left Gesonosia and started to regroup. After returning to Lazark with Lucinil, Sarkagar returned earlier than I thought. "What? Why did you come with Lord Gaju instead of Harriet?" The person in charge of transportation usually assigns Harriet, who has fast casting, to deploy and return at the designated location. But why did Lucinil come instead of Harriet? "I don't know, but the Secretary wanted to bring him, and he said he wanted to come with me." "...Why?" "Yes, Your Highness." Does Sarkagar discriminate against people? Although humans all hated him, I don't remember him hating Harriet in particular. Why did he suddenly change his mind? "Anyway, have you decided on a location?" "...We haven't met the Duke yet." Why did you come when the job wasn't finished yet? I'm used to seeing his evil and gloomy expression, but this is the first time I've seen Sarkagar like this. It's a little strange that he asked to send Harriet back and bring Lucinil instead. "Well... it may not be that important, but I think Your Highness should know... and there's a reason why I didn't involve the Secretary..." Seeing Sarkagar flustered and rambling like this is something I haven't seen in a long time. "...What's going on? What is it?" Sarkagar's rare hesitation and Lucinil's strange expression made him tilt his head. Did something happen? "What's not working out?"

"Well... it seems like... the Duke's classmate who developed the Titan..."

"Adelia? What about her?"

"What if she... has feelings for the Duke of Saengtu-an..."

"...?"

Wait, is this really what's happening?

"Oh... no way."

Lucinil's lips trembled as she spoke.

Sarkagar's face turned red.

"Adelia... probably has feelings for the Duke..."

It was a very sudden, strange, and meaningless event that wouldn't affect the overall situation, but...

"This is insane..."

A major accident that made me feel like I was going crazy had occurred.

But wait.

This isn't right.

"The Duke... he's not the one, right?"

It's not the Duke?

Then what is it?

This is bad!

What about our plan?

What about me?

"The Duke... is definitely not that kind of person..."

I've almost died several times before, but this is the first time I've felt like I actually died and came back to life.

* * *

Sarkagar had been lurking around in various forms to catch the Duke alone.

"He's never alone."

"Well, the Duke is busy... when you think about it, it makes sense."

He's not just a failed contractor, he's someone who could fail publicly.

Louise von Schwarzkopf is also a busy person. But the Duke is both a commander and a chief research officer.

The scale may not be comparable to the Kerrenstadt army, but the Duke doesn't even have time to rest properly.

So it was very difficult to approach him when he was alone.

There was a reason why Sarkagar couldn't carry out my order to contact the Duke and came back empty-handed.

But that's not important now.

Sarkagar was very flustered because of this situation, and Lucinil was listening to the story as if she was possessed.

"Well... the Duke often sleeps in the research barracks instead of his own mansion. And there are other researchers there, but... Adelia is almost always there too."

The Titan is a war weapon created by combining the technology of an old golem from the Saengtu-an Kingdom and Adelia's genius magic crafting.

In other words, the Duke is the head of the research institute and Adelia is the chief researcher.

They see each other every day, every hour, every minute.

But still.

I still believe in the possibility of a misunderstanding or misinterpretation by Sarkagar.

I have to.

I have to do this!

It's so confusing!

"Well, if the Duke skips a meal, Adelia prepares it for him, or if he falls asleep, she covers him with a blanket... that kind of thing..."

"It seems like it's the opposite though..."

Lucinil muttered with a troubled expression at Sarkagar's explanation.

Yeah.

If your daughter's friend follows you to the battlefield and develops war weapons, it should be heartwarming, and your daughter should be happy, so you stay up all night in the lab and fall asleep, and the Duke covers you with a blanket...

That's the kind of heartwarming picture it should be, but it's the opposite!

"Well, maybe that's something she can do?" Translation:

However, isn't this a really strange situation? Cover him with a blanket and give him some bread if he seems too hungry. We can do something about it. It's possible that Adelia respects or sympathizes with the Duke, rather than having those kinds of feelings for him. Well... But that... She's so kind and caring that she can't help but worry about him, and before she knew it, she was only looking at him... That's a possibility that could happen unexpectedly. Still, Sarkagar had a very awkward expression when I said that it could happen. "It's possible, but..." "Yeah, Adelia's personality is like that. She can't say harsh things, and she's kind even when it doesn't seem like it. I don't know if it's true, but she's kind. Right..." "Your thoughts are similar to mine, but your personality is different from mine?" "...Gaju-nim, I don't feel like fighting with you right now." "Oh, this kind of thing. You're just picking on me with ugly words and living off of it..." "Stop it! Eunbal, you little brat!" "What? Little brat?" "Eunbal, you old fart!" "What did you say!" Sarkagar watched me and Lucinil fight with an adult expression. A really pathetic expression. Anyway, let's get back to the point. "So... you're sure about this?" There's no evidence! If you like giving blankets and food, the world will be filled with sudden confessions! "It's not evidence, but... I'm sure." "How can you be sure when there's no evidence?" "Her gaze..." I felt like I was suffocating at those words. Adelia's gaze towards the Duke. Her expression. That... There's no evidence, but that's the only evidence. It's not even evidence, to be honest. It's evidence to the extent that there's no other evidence. "Yumbyeong." So that's it... The kidnapped graduate student who was a slave in the professor's lab started to see the professor as a man because he only saw the professor. * * * Unimaginable things can't even enter your mind. The Duke is a polite person. So the Duke is a person who can't even imagine that Adelia might like him. So whether Adelia thinks that way or not, the Duke won't even notice. He's a person who doesn't even have that possibility in his head. Sarkagar eventually finished his brief report and returned to the Allied Forces. If he gets a chance to approach the Duke, he'll deliver my message. The fact that Sarkagar learned about Adelia's feelings for the Duke is not really a big problem. Even if Adelia has those kinds of feelings for the Duke, it's not a big deal. The Duke's family is all safe and sound. Even strictly speaking, it's not a big deal. Even if they were really having a weird and embarrassing affair, what does it matter? The important thing is the war, not romance. Summary of previous part of chapter only for context: In this chapter, the characters discuss the possibility of Adelia having feelings for the Duke. While some believe it's possible, others are skeptical due to the Duke's polite and oblivious nature. Despite the lack of evidence, the group concludes that Adelia's gaze towards the Duke is the only indication of her potential feelings. However, they ultimately agree that the war is more important than any romantic affairs and that Adelia's feelings, if they exist, are not a significant issue. Sarkagar agrees to deliver the message to the Duke if he gets the chance.

"I wish I didn't know!"

It's a problem that I can't solve from the beginning, and it has nothing to do with the situation, but I feel like I'm going crazy for no reason!

"When will you go?"

"Not yet...."

"Really? Then why did Sarkagar come earlier? His expression was strange, is something wrong?"

"It's not that... "

"And earlier, when you insisted on taking me, you told me to call the Duke. Did I do something wrong to you?"

"No, no. You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing's wrong."

Our grumpiness is nothing wrong!

"Then who did something wrong? What's going on?"

"No! No one, it's, no one did anything wrong."

Then is it Adelia who did something wrong?

No, what is it?

What's wrong with liking someone... it can't be wrong...

Nothing happened!

"...What's going on? It feels like something's wrong."

"No, nothing's wrong. There's no problem...."

Of course, Harryott seemed to think there was a problem because he was perceptive.

Harryott asked me all sorts of things with an innocent expression, and my tongue was paralyzed.

Harryott and Adelia became friends when they met at the temple.

Adelia seemed very happy about her friend's historic achievement when she heard that Adelia had developed the Titan with the Duke.

Your precious friend fell in love with your dad...

How do you deal with this kind of thing!

* * *

A few days passed, and the Allied Forces left Gisonosia and set out, so the Duke had some time during the march.

Report from Sarkagar.

The Duke made contact safely, and the meeting place proposed by the Duke was the capital of the Shengtuan Kingdom, Arnaka.

The White Palace of Arnaria.

Meeting at the Allied Forces' base carries a risk burden. And the Duke is originally able to move around here and there.

So he seemed to prefer to meet in his own territory.

"...."

Actually, it's true that I have to be very nervous.

I don't know how the Duke really thinks of me, and I have nothing to say even if the Duke gets angry about what I did to Harryott.

But I found something strange.

It was a completely different kind of tension that became a problem.

Anyway, the task was set.

Meet the Duke.

And win him over.

That's all I have to do.

I don't know anything else.

Neither does Harryott nor the Duke.

I don't want to make things more confusing by saying unnecessary things!

* * *

Capital of the Shengtuan Kingdom, Arnaka.

I've been to Arnaka twice.

During my time at the temple, I came because of Adriana's sudden withdrawal. Adriana's monastery was in the Shengtuan Kingdom.

At that time, I knocked on the door of the palace in broad daylight to get priority use of the warp gate.

Come to think of it, I was a pretty crazy guy.

At that time, I met the entire Duke family. I had seen the Shengtuan Duke once before.

They thought Harryott and I were almost getting married. The second part was when I came with Harryott after the gate incident. I didn't go into Arunaria, only Harryott did. And now, it's the third time. The magic towers in Arunaria were still standing, but people's expressions were still dark. They thought that the empire would retaliate when the war ended. They would rather be grateful that Shengtuan Kingdom stood with the demon king, or they would have thought that the Duke had really defected. We still don't know what decision the Duke will make. If the Duke stands with me, then the misunderstanding will eventually become a fact. I won't even be able to make excuses. I will hear criticism that his daughter followed the demon king's household and had been colluding with them for a long time. It's not true, but it's impossible to explain. What will the Duke think about the fact that the slander has become a reality? Elelrisda brought me to Arnaka, not Harryott. I didn't want to come with Harryott for no reason. I walked through the quiet streets of Arnaka to the giant palace in the center of Arnaka, the White Palace Arunaria. The palace was still beautiful. Looking at the tall turrets of the palace, I had various thoughts. When he was young, Harryott used to climb up to those tall turrets and watch the children playing on the street. I imagined a scene where young Harryott watched the children playing from that lonely turret in the distance, and it felt awkward and cute. Arriving at the square where the entrance to Arunaria was visible, Elelrisda warned me to be careful. Of course, I was the only one going in. There was no need to make the Duke nervous by bringing a lot of people. Golem guards in human form were guarding the entrance to Arunaria. Golems in human form. It was creepy because I could only imagine the appearance of a real human overlaid with a golem made of real human materials. "What's the matter?" "Speak." The same question as when I first visited Arunaria. "It's Rhinehardt." All that was needed for entry was a name. "It's the testimony of the Duke." The same answer as before to the golems. "Come in." But. "Demon King." I introduced myself as Rhinehardt, but they called me the demon king. -Gugugugung The door of the giant palace began to open, revealing the white, tall stone stairs leading to Arunaria. There was no need to go all the way to the palace. The Shengtuan Duke was looking down at me from the middle of the stairs leading up to the palace. The Duke was holding a staff. Of course, it wouldn't be a staff used because of a leg injury. It was probably his weapon. The Duke in formal attire just looked down at me silently. He was different from the wizards who usually wore wide robes. The Duke exuded an elegant and noble atmosphere, to the point where he could be considered the epitome of a noble magician. Honestly, I was scared. Is this not a place I shouldn't have come to? Shouldn't I have just sent Harryott instead? Did I just make a fool of myself by trying to do everything? "Um...excuse me..." Let's at least maintain a respectful posture. If I fight with the Duke, my life will really be ruined! I can't handle it! "May I come up...?" When I met the Duke during my time at the temple, he honestly looked like a half-witted old man. However, now that the war is ongoing, the Duke has returned to his true form. The strongest magician in the world, Raphael de Shengtuan. The Duke looks down at me and speaks. "Come up." Honestly, in many ways, I was afraid of the Duke.