Chapter 268 – 268. Reunion, Return (1)
The subjugation of the Demonic Beast that invaded the frontier fortress ended successfully.
However, it was a meaningful word in the sense that it protected the fortress, but the fact that it was the result of the sacrifice of many people’s lives remains unchanged.
Erin questioned whether this could be wrapped up in the word “Successful.”
“Erin! This person is next!”
“Yes!”
However, without time to resolve the question, Erin had to move busily.
Even though the defense of the fortress was over, there were as many things to do as mountains.
The first thing that had to be dealt with was the transportation of the wounded and dead.
Among them, the one who commanded the people with the most intense presence was neither the highest officer in charge of this fortress, Margrave Mograf, nor Alex, who had brought reinforcements, nor Yuria, the princess of the Kingdom of Pernias.
“Put the critically injured first!”
“Yes!”
Many soldiers who heard Eleanor’s voice shouting loudly responded vigorously and moved their bodies.
“Ah, Princess Armitas! Please put this one first… !”
A knight hurriedly asked Eleanor to examine another knight on her back.
After examining the patient’s condition on the knight’s back, Eleanor frowned.
“Can’t you see I’m busy right now?”
“But this person is one of the high-ranking nobles of the kingdom… !”
“It’s okay because I won’t die that much! I’ll look after the seriously injured, so wait!”
In a situation where there were a lot of seriously injured patients who needed to check her condition, Eleanor, who could not afford to take care of the lightly injured while prioritizing the weight of her status, nervously shouted at the knight.
“If this, this person goes wrong, the princess… !”
“I am responsible.”
“Cow, Little Duke…”
Hearing Alex’s voice intervening between Eleanor and her knight’s scuffle, her knight’s complexion hardened.
In the past, Alex responded with a dry reaction that was clearly unwelcome to the reunion with a former colleague who belonged to the same Krasir Knights.
“… Brother.”
“Good. You do your thing.”
“Thank you for your help.”
Eleanor was able to get away with Alex’s help, and as she entered the fort, she checked on the seriously injured.
Alex stared at the knight, her former colleague, then eyeballed the condition of the other knight on his back.
“Looks like it’s not a serious injury.”
“It’s up to the Duke to decide…”
“Really serious injuries mean things like that.”
“… !”
Alex, who turned him to the side, pointed to the seriously injured as they were being rushed into the fort.
Horrible sights with limbs severed, skin ripped open and broken bones protruding from the inside.
“Do you think life can go so wrong that your limbs are intact and your skin is barely torn?”
“…”
“At least I don’t think I’m talking about people who will lose their legs and not be able to walk properly for the rest of their lives, or lose their arms and won’t be able to work.”
“… Shit!”
The knight spat out curses and moved to the inside of the fortress by securing the other knight on his back so that it would not fall.
“It’s been great.”
“Princess. You worked hard.”
Yuria shook her head at Alex’s words and politely declined.
“No. I only used magic on top of the fort. The real suffering is what you should say to the soldiers who fought directly with the Witchbeasts.”
It was sincere.
I don’t know if the word ‘hardship’ can comfort the soldiers who lost their limbs and are wandering between life and death, but they didn’t turn a blind eye to the fact that that was the only word they could say.
In comparison, Eleanor is different.
“Eleanor has grown to another level.”
“I am proud to be your brother.”
Alex agreed with YuRia’s sentiment and nodded.
Her younger sister, Eleanor, who saw her in a year, seemed to have made greater progress as a priest, and at the same time, she fully exercised her capacity to stand above and lead many people.
It makes you wonder what the hell happened on your honeymoon with Eunhyun.
“That child… She must have grown up.”
YuRia stared at Erin, who was working with the others to help transport her slanderers.
“Mister! Cheer up! You can’t die!”
Erin was desperately talking to the slanderer in order to keep the slanderer’s consciousness alive as his breathing gradually faded and the spark of life went out.
“Ah… Eww…”
“Because he raised a child with great care.”
Yuria nodded her head with a complicated expression at Alex’s words.
How can you regard that girl who is sweeping the battlefield and working hard to save the lives of many people as a danger?
Actually, that idea has been abandoned for a long time.
So, wanting to help Erin, she even tried inviting her to join her knights.
However, her Erin was already in full bloom with her own talent, and she was becoming a loved one, giving her hope and laughter to many people.
Even before she helped herself, the girl was already growing and growing steadily.
No, she is just briskly walking along when she meets a guide more competent than herself who already knows part of her future.
If she hadn’t been preoccupied with the stereotype that Erin’s role was a ‘villain in a novel’, if she’d noticed Erin’s presence a little sooner and reached out to her girl, she’d be like that. Could she have grown into a girl full of vitality and dedicated to helping others?
She can categorically say it’s absolutely impossible.
Eun-hyeon is better than herself knowing a part of the future.
It was the moment when she realized her true feelings, which she had been pretending not to know while deceiving her, considering her jealousy and competition in her heart to be ugly.
‘Now I have no choice but to admit it.’
This is not a fictional story.
She was unmistakably a space in reality in which she was breathing.
Then, what should she do herself in this reality.
It didn’t take long for me to come up with an answer to my worries.
“Alex.”
“Yes. Princess.”
“When I return to the palace… I have a story to tell.”
“Is it a story?”
Alex questioned after recognizing Yuria’s expression, holding a heavy atmosphere with a firm expression.
“It’s about a secret I’ve been hiding from you, no, no one else has been able to tell except that man.”
It tells the story of her own past life, the existence of memories from the days she lived on Earth, and how she knows some of the future of this world in some form.
“… !”
Alex made a puzzled expression at YuRia’s sudden decision.
He immediately caught his expression and nodded his head.
“I will be waiting for you.”
I realized that the moment I had been waiting for to be told by holding back while hiding my sad feelings was approaching.
Yuria’s determination changed Alex’s mood from bewilderment to joy.
Ugh
The moment Alex finished talking to YuRia.
A huge magic circle appeared on the plain along with a wave of intense magic power.
“This magic power…”
Recalling that it was a familiar sensation, Alex and Yuria realized whose magic it was and looked at each other’s faces at the same time.
After confirming with each other’s eyes that ‘successful’, the two of them nodded and moved straight to the place where the magic circle appeared.
Eventually, Alex, who confirmed the seven people who appeared inside the magic circle, spoke to Eun-hyeon, whom he had seen for the first time in a year.
“It’s been a year.”
“I know. How have you been doing?”
The two of them nodded their heads as they exchanged light greetings as if they had met friends after a long time.
“As you can see. Stampede Dungeon…”
“I overpowered you.”
“… Thanks.”
“Well, you will get a reward for this. That’s not your reward, so don’t be too grateful.”
“Eww…”
Realizing that she was talking about the person standing right next to her, Yuria slightly averted her gaze with a slightly confused expression.
Soon, she bowed her head to Illyana, who was standing next to Eunhyun.
“See you in a year. Master.”
“Huh. You’ve grown quite a bit since then, haven’t you?”
“Because I have practiced Master’s teachings every single day for a year.”
While Yuria was having a conversation with Illyana, Alex lowered her head while looking at the characters other than Eunhyun one by one.
“I will see you inside. However… You two… ?”
Alex glanced at Alice and Derkin, the faces he hadn’t seen before, and then looked at Eun-hyeon demanding an explanation.
“A colleague who had teamed up with me in the past. Call me Alice. And this is her husband.”
“… You say you’re a hero. I get it.”
“It’s embarrassing to be a hero.”
Alice had a complicated look on her face at the fact that in her 20 years without herself, she had been arbitrarily given such a title to herself on the continent.
“I’m going to find the Artia member right away and get a report on the current damage to the knights, so let’s break up here.”
“Huh. Great job. See you later at Pernin.”
“I will.”
Riod was the first to leave the team.
As the head of a group, he had a lot of work to deal with after receiving reports from this job, so no one thought to catch his departure.
Like Riod, Eunhyeon asked Agnes, who had led the priests and paladins to the fortress on behalf of the Temple of Vesta.
“What are you going to do?”
“What am I? The report from that side is zero. I’ve set up my agent, so he’ll take care of it. I will treat the wounded.”
Seeing Agies shrug and answer, Eunhyeon nodded and moved to the inside of the change fortress, guided by Alex.
“How are Eleanor and Elvin?”
“Eleanor is now directing people and concentrating on caring for the wounded, and Elvin… It has changed beyond recognition.”
Alvin’s performance, which transformed into a dark knight and crushed the monsters, was a topic of discussion not only for knights but also for many adventurers.
“And… There is also one matter I need to consult with you.”
“Consulting?”
“It’s about Erinn.”
“Eww…”
At the mention of Erin’s name, YuRia’s shoulders shook as she walked beside her while talking to Illyana.
“… Talk in detail.”
Unable to miss that reaction, Eunhyeon raised her eyebrows and listened closely to her.
When she heard from Alex about the incident between Villa de Orba and Erin, the new members of the Krasir Knights, she let out a blank laugh.
Illyana, who was listening to her story together, couldn’t hold back her laughter and had to cover her broken mouth with her hand.
“My baby? It seems that a lot has changed in one year.”
Erin’s story of how she beat three or four knights with her bare hands when she was a student in Aether, who never resisted bullying because of her extremely timid personality, while showing the end of her weakness and weakness, and overcoming her past trauma that she suffered severely. There really was no comedy.
“For now, the princess and I put our hands together, so we prevented the situation from getting worse on the spot. But the real problem is later. If the knights who were assaulted in the capital or Krasir’s side risked Erin’s happening and fell, that’s a problem we have to prepare for.”
“Ah, I guess.”
Eunhyeon, who shed her cheeky smile, looked at Yuria, who was in a very ambiguous position for her in this situation, and asked her.
“What do you think, princess?”
“When I returned to Pernin, I was thinking of claiming self-defense for Erinn’s case and raising questions about the knights’ basic character, including their skills and personalities. I’m thinking of catching all the corruption related to the procedure for the knights’ entrance exam and getting rid of it, but there will probably be a strong backlash from the aristocrats who joined the knights due to corruption.”
Because Yuria has accumulated her merits through her support expedition this time, she has room to raise and defend her issues, but it was difficult to accurately gauge how far her influence would go.
“I hope for good results.”
Yuria looked at Eunhyeon’s expression with a sly smile on his face as he readily said good things.
“You’re not going to do anything else, are you?”
“I am just preparing for it. Contrast.”
“I know that my strength is not enough. So you know it’s funny that I’m sanctioning you and I don’t deserve it. But… I hope you don’t make too big a mess.”
“Well, that’s up to you.”
Eunhyun’s expression, which gave meaningful answers, was infinitely anxious.
‘I think this person is going to do something again…’
The moment I was walking inside the fortress like that.
“Ah!”
Erin, who met her in front of her, saw the faces of Eunhyeon and Illyana, whom she hadn’t seen in a year, and stiffened her body.
“Ah…”
The rigidity of his body, which had been frozen like a statue, was soon relieved, leading to cautious steps.
Soon, the tempo of his steps rapidly increased, and his quick steps turned into galloping.
“Hyunaaaaa!”
The moment they got closer, she leaped and jumped into Eun-hyeon’s body.
“You can’t run.”
“Huh, huh…”
Eun-hyeon’s light warning did not reach Erin’s ears.
As the feeling of loneliness that she had endured for a year melted away, clear liquid began to flow from the corner of the girl’s eyes.
“I missed you…”
“Okay.”
“I worked really hard…”
“Know. I heard everything.”
Eunhyun tried to calm her girlish emotions by stroking the hair of her Erin, who was rubbing her face against her own chest, hugging her own waist tightly.
“Whoa, I thought the baby was all grown up, but is it still a baby?”
“It’s Iliana!”
It was hard to see her as a 19-year-old lady who had just become an adult.
“Baby, should we finish the rest of the cleanup and get ready to go home?”
“Yes! I’ll do my best!”
As if Erin, who had fallen from Illyana’s arms, had recharged her energy, she showed a lively smile and replied vigorously.
