Chapter 117 – Episode 116. Meeting (2)
“… D, come in.”
Leopold was guided by Astrid and entered her home.
It was said to be a house, but I wonder if this is really a house.
It was Leopold’s usual idea that a house should be a place with good sunlight, good ventilation, shelter from rain, enough space to lie down, and no other inconveniences in life, but now Astrid’s guidance The place he went to after receiving it was a place that was in direct contrast to his thoughts.
“This is home, you mean… ?”
“It’s shabby, but… Yes. House… Are you.”
Astrid was not aware of what Leopold was thinking.
Rather, it is understandable.
Astrid, too, now that her memories have returned, she was on the verge of sighing when she came to this house.
Compared to the house she lived in in the house of the Grand Duchess of Mitterien, that is to say, Astrid, she is a stark difference.
The size of the room, the fact that it’s a semi-basement room that doesn’t get enough sunlight, and the only thing separated is a room and a bathroom, and this single room with a kitchen combined is so shabby that you can sigh.
Leopold was so embarrassed that he couldn’t even utter a word from the moment he entered the room.
Is this really a house where people live?
It was even smaller than the dorms for students living at the academy.
It would be rude to even compare them.
“Juice… But, please eat.”
Astrid had a very complicated mind.
The memories of living as a man and the memories of living as Astrid are mixed together, and it is difficult to properly organize what is what.
It was all the more so when Leopold appeared in front of him in the midst of the mixed memories.
“Ugh.”
Leopold, who had never tasted sour orange juice before, took a sip of Astrid’s juice and frowned.
It was not the juice squeezed out of oranges, but the mixed juice made by mixing various mixtures, so it was inevitably not suitable for Leopold’s taste.
“Asti.”
“… Yes.”
The two sat across from each other with a tray holding cups between them.
Sitting face to face, Leopold looked at Astrid.
Astrid is looking down at the tray.
“Let’s go back.”
“…”
They said let’s go back.
It was obvious where Leopold wanted to go back.
“Verasien, Veracien said. She said she sent you into a dream like this. She said it clearly, and said it would if you made up your mind to go back. So, let’s go back. You are not here.”
“…”
But Astrid couldn’t answer.
I knew at least that this wasn’t real.
Whether he should reveal everything, Astrid couldn’t decide.
“Majesty. But I… You probably don’t know, but I… It’s not the real Astrid.”
After much hesitation, Astrid finally confessed.
The Astrid here is not the real Astrid.
If it’s a dream, it would be right to wake up.
However, I thought that if waking up would solve everything, that would not be the case again.
Astrid is one.
At least the Astrid here isn’t real.
However, if she went back, it meant that she would have to live with two Astrids in one body again.
“Know.”
At the unexpected answer, Astrid raised her head and looked at Leopold.
“Astrid’s body, should I say her soul… Should I call it consciousness? I heard there were two of them. And you… Because you are Astrid too.”
You say that you are Astrid, but the person in question couldn’t accept it.
Rather think not.
Thinking otherwise.
It’s just the appearance, but for some unknown reason—probably because it’s a dream, it’s Astrid’s figure, but not the content at all.
He himself was a man.
And if Leopold finds out about that fact.
‘… Need I say anything?’
Astrid suddenly had an idea.
He didn’t have to tell me that he was a man.
The real Astrid knows, but because of her personality, she doesn’t seem to have anything to say first.
If you just go back, find a way and go back to the way it was.
… If you go back
If you go back
If you go back…
It was Astrid, whose mind suddenly became complicated.
*
“They’re getting tired of it, really.”
Violet grumbled, brushing the black blood off her sword.
The misfortune that started in the middle of the academy eventually spread throughout the academy, and monsters began pouring out of the cracks caused by the ground cracking.
Actually, looking at it, it wasn’t a big deal.
The academy is an institution that trains officers called cadets, so it is an institution that teaches combat, and cadets were also those who had already received sufficient combat training from their families before entering the academy.
In addition, most of the instructors and other faculty, except for some office workers, were skilled knights, so there was not much damage from a monster of this level.
As can be seen from the fact that no deaths have occurred so far, the attack of these monsters itself was not a big problem.
If it’s just a problem—
“I don’t know what to do with that.”
“Since the instructors are also looking for a way, it will be resolved soon.”
It was Emily, who was in the same group as Violet.
Emily, too, was looking up at the sky and answering her Violet, but she wasn’t too sure either.
A bloody curtain in the form of a huge dome.
That curtain that covered the entire sky of the academy blocked everything from going out of the academy to entering from the outside, preventing all passage.
It’s not that I haven’t tried it before.
Even if Emily and other sorcery professors stick together and shoot great magic, it just seeps in like ink soaking into paper and disappears. Rather, it shatters and explodes.
Looking at that scene, I don’t even dare to try a direct assault.
“… It will work out.”
Got enough rest
Violet slammed her sword into the ground and stood up on it.
To be honest, I was exhausted too.
I don’t even know how many days have passed since then.
That damned tent made it impossible to tell whether it was night or day.
It only covered the sky and revealed its red light, but did not even show the movement of the sun.
“The world is turning red, so my eyes are tired.”
“I mean.”
It’s rare, but Emily’s grumbling has increased a lot lately.
Now, there was no problem because the academy was stocked with food and supplies.
And even for that, they say they are saving food as much as possible by going into a food distribution system, but that will run out someday.
Before that, I’d have to wipe out all these fucking monsters, but it’s not easy to find out where the end is.
“Would it have been different if Astrid had been there?”
“Maybe.”
“Oh my, what’s going on?”
“What.”
Her Violet smiled and said, Emily opened her hatchet eyes and glared at Violet.
“It’s kind of weird to see her willingly admit that if Astrid was there, she would be different.”
“… Fighting is a ghost.”
Violet was like that, so was Emily, and she has experience fighting Astrid.
No matter how blessed she was, Astrid was strong.
Astrid was strong enough to make her think that she wouldn’t have won if she fought Astrid even if she didn’t have the protection.
Now that she needed her strength more than anything else, she couldn’t help feeling her empty seat.
“So that’s why it’s called witchcraft.”
“It is. Your majesty.”
While waiting for Wolfgang and Wei Sick to arrive, in the imperial palace, Emperor Kreuz von Eindhafen was tying his beard and reading a report.
Dozens of reports have already been posted about the incident at the academy.
I read and confirmed each and every one of them, but nothing has been revealed yet except that the veil covering the academy was caused by witchcraft.
“Does it mean that no one noticed while such a large-scale sorcery was taking place?”
“It is difficult to know the details, but there have been reports that strange things often happen inside the academy and that the culprit is being tracked down.”
Seeing the bureaucrat in charge constantly lowering his head and contemplating as if it was his own fault, Kreuz was deeply troubled.
It has been a long time since the empire was unified.
Until now, there had been no threat to the empire at all, and if there were any enemies in the east, west, south, or north that could threaten its security, it wasn’t like that.
However, the aliens from the north remained, but they didn’t care too much because Grand Duke Mitterien was completely blocking them.
Because there was no need for it in the first place.
However, it was not an issue that could be overlooked that no one noticed that such a large-scale sorcery was being carried out in the academy, which was right next to the empire’s capital and was the cradle of the National Guard Corps.
Empires aren’t just built.
Washing away blood with blood, laying a foundation of bones and flesh and building upon it is an empire.
“… It’s time to show the might of the Empire. Please check and report where the Grand Duke of Mitterien and the Marquis Giorgien have come.”
“I understand, Your Highness!”
Watching the back of the bureaucrat hurriedly retiring, Creutz murmured as he clenched his hand, which was covered with scars and calluses. He is still in the prime of his age, and it is not unreasonable to say that he goes to the battlefield again.
“… Whatever it is, you seem to have underestimated the power of this Einhafen.”
