Chapter 71

Blanche's Lillian and Natalie led Melfiela away as she disappeared behind the door. I felt apologetic for causing them unnecessary worry with the frequent emergency messenger bees.

“Sir?”

I shrugged at Ducas, who was staring at me with a puzzled look, and slowly ascended the stairs.

“Sir, where to?”

“If everyone is gathered, then as you say, we can hold the strategy meeting now. Really, do I have no freedom at all?”

“Well, that’s not exactly the case, but—”

As I threw in a sarcastic remark, Ducas followed behind me with a stern face, as if he had just bitten into a bitter pill. This man, who is often mocked as seriousness in a knight's uniform, served as the commander of the East Elzenie Fort. He was as well-built as Gareo and was a heavy-armed knight known for his impenetrable defense. Moreover, he was an old acquaintance of the previous Duke Galbreath. Among the twelve fort commanders, he was the most senior knight and one of the few who knew the Galbreath before my reforms.

(Sigh, there will be a confrontation, I suppose.)

I inwardly sighed as I looked at Ducas, who had his thick, strong eyebrows furrowed and his mouth tightly closed. He seemed the type who would say, “I won’t recognize Melfiela unless she proves to be beneficial to Galbreath.” I had already informed the fort commanders about this engagement, but Ducas was the first to show resistance.

The title of ‘Duke Galbreath’ is more like a position now, and anyone, noble or not, can take it as long as they show their strength. Still, there have been talks of political marriages for financial support. Now, we can earn our own funds, but some still enthusiastically recommend their daughters, who come from wealthy families, to me (most of them are rejected by the other party just by hearing my name).

I took off my hat with decorative feathers, changed my mindset, and ordered Ducas.

“Ducas, gather everyone at the usual place.”

“Yes, sir!”

The agenda includes the large-scale extermination of the Ygrosh Salt Lake, scheduled for nine days from now, and the matter of the Celestial Wolf. However,

(Well, how do I convince them to let Melfi join the extermination?)

Of course, whether they agree or not, if I say I’m going to do it, I will. I haven’t done anything personal like this before, and I don’t intend to in the future.

I turned my back to Ducas, who was running off, and hurried back to the tailors. Chaos immediately came in.

“I’m sorry, Sir, I couldn’t stop Ducas.”

Chaos, who apologized right away, looked tired. He probably spent a lot of time trying to calm down the shouting Ducas.

“I made another appointment with Melfi. Well, given the recent unsettling movements of the monsters, I can understand her urgency. The reports of berserk beasts are nearly double what they were last year.”

The East Elzenie Fort is located near the defense line of the Elzenie Great Forest. The fort, which is constantly exposed to the threat of monsters, must feel the unusual atmosphere more acutely than we do.

I understand his concern. The vague fear that the disaster from seventeen years ago might strike Galbreath again is probably driving Ducas.

However, I’m not just floating around. I feel sorry for Melfiela, but I took her to the Lucebleu Forge because there was a matter of large-scale extermination to discuss.

“Is Melfi in the next room?”

“No, actually, I thought she was changing, but she went to check on the Celestial Wolf as it was.”

“I see. I’d like to spend some time with her, but this is also a part of life in Galbreath. It’s difficult.”

With the fall season, there was a mountain of work in Galbreath. In winter, I might have a bit more free time, but I don’t want to leave everything to others. At least when I’m in the castle...

I looked at Chaos. That’s right. Before convincing the fort commanders, I had to win him over.

“What is it?”

Since he was so close, I could see Chaos’s surprised face quite clearly. Chaos is not unattractive; in fact, I think he has a handsome face. He must have had some romantic interests, but he has remained single, perhaps to align with me.

“Sir?”

“I forgot to mention. I decided to take Melfi on the next large-scale extermination of the Ygrosh Salt Lake.”

“What?”

Chaos’s eyes narrowed immediately. I had a feeling he would say, “This is ridiculous, Sir,” so I added something very tempting to him.

“Melfi says that the Ygrosh centipede crabs are more delicious than the rainbow crabs. She said she can’t forget the taste from when she was a child... Well, it’s dangerous to take her on the extermination. It can’t be helped. I’ve heard that freshness is key for crabs. If I can’t take her, I might just burn them.”

I sighed and ended the conversation with, “What a pity.” But,

“Sir.”

“What is it, Chaos?”

“You deliberately provoked me, didn’t you?”

The black pupils in Chaos’s monocle were dilated. His usually pale face was flushed, and he looked unusually agitated.

“Don’t be so angry.”

“Using my favorite food to manipulate me is unfair, don’t you think?”

“You’ve always had a weakness for crabs. Don’t you want to eat them? Melfi said she wants to boil them fresh from the catch.”

Given our long history and our irreplaceable friendship, it was no surprise that Chaos, my calm and reliable assistant, fell for it.

In the strategy room, there were five people: Giller from Ygrosh Fort, Yanish from Azaro Fort, Patrice from Galvers Fort, Zachary from Lieber Fort, and Ducas from East Elzenie Fort.

While I was preparing, I had Chaos explain the situation to them, so they all looked deep in thought. When I entered the room last, after Milan, Ambry, Zeph, Blanche, and Odilon, everyone stood up at once.

“Sit down, everyone. You’ve heard from Chaos about the attack of the Bergenyon and the Celestial Wolf, right?”

I deliberately kept the information about Melfiela hidden, but Yanish from Azaro Fort was quick to notice.

“I’ve heard bits and pieces, but the crucial part is missing.”

Yanish, with his finely braided golden hair, narrowed his one eye. His blue right eye is a magic eye, though not as powerful as mine. I heard his left eye was crushed by a monster called Dreaumvanteer when he was a child. This man, who boasts that his life’s purpose is to slay monsters, rose to the rank of fort commander through his own strength.

“About the Celestial Wolf walking around the courtyard. How did it escape the berserk state? Surely, it didn’t cast magic like Sir, did it?”

“I was also curious about that. Could it be that the Chief Mage Odilon used some new magic?”

Patrice from Galvers Fort, who agreed with Yanish, turned to Odilon. Patrice, with his long, withered grass-colored hair loosely braided and a gentle face, is often mistaken for a woman but is actually a dangerous man skilled in using herbs and poisons. He seems to consider Odilon a worthy rival and often competes with him.

“The Celestial Wolf was almost berserk. However, it was the merit of the Marshell Raid’s daughter, her fiancée, that it recovered.”

Upon hearing about the fiancée, Ducas’s thick eyebrow raised. He clearly had a lot to say.

“So, this fiancée, is she a famous mage or a brave warrior from the northern stronghold of Marshell Raid?”

Patrice glanced at Blanche. Blanche, a tall and slender woman, has the strength to pierce a massive door of the Lucebleu Forge with a sword. She once challenged Gareo to a duel, risking her life, and won, leading to their marriage, a legend among the knights. Blanche, with a fierce look, retorted to Patrice, “Why are you looking at me? That’s disrespectful to the Lady, Patrice. Sir’s Lady is delicate and lovely, unlike me!”

Ambry and Zeph nodded in agreement with Blanche.

“She is more of a mage than a knight. Like me, she is a user of ‘Ancient Magic.’ She is stronger than me in constructing magic arrays. Moreover, her magic is quite special. She used an ancient magic array to extract the ‘magic poison’ from the Celestial Wolf without harming it.”

The fort commanders were speechless at my explanation.

“We haven’t seen it with our own eyes, so it’s hard to believe!”

Ducas immediately jumped in.

“Yes, I agree. The idea of a berserk monster being restored by magic is unprecedented. But if it’s true, then the Lady must be as powerful as the mages in the royal castle!”

Zachary from Lieber Fort looked genuinely shocked. However, as a mage himself, he seemed to understand the significance.

“Did you see it, Odilon?”

Odilon, asked by Zachary, looked at me. I nodded, and Odilon, who usually has sleepy eyes, opened them wide and began to explain.

“First, I think the Lady from the North is of the same kind as Sir, in my opinion.”

“Of the same kind? Does she have a magic eye? How strong is she compared to Sir? Is she strong enough to hunt Dreaumvanteer?”

Perhaps because he has a magic eye, Yanish bombarded Odilon with questions. Melfiela doesn’t seem to have a magic eye, but her hair glows red in response to magic. Odilon’s theory is that she uses her hair as a medium to control magic, but it’s just a hypothesis.

“With training, perhaps. But the Lady’s true value lies in the type of ancient magic she uses. She used a ‘composite magic array’ combining over ten types of ancient magic languages to extract the magic poison from a living Celestial Wolf, right before my eyes, and with ease. How long do you think she kept the magic array active? Unbelievably, for over six hours. She’s like a female version of Sir.”

Odilon’s explanation left everyone speechless.

Thank you for always reading.

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