Episode 155
Crash! Chelon was crushed underfoot, unable to resist.
Lucius, ignoring her, stared at Elonia, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“Y-Your Highness…?”
It was undoubtedly Elonia standing over Chelon’s remains.
Could there be two Elonias? No, one had to be fake. Then…
“Her Highness… Elonia is the real one…”
As if proving his words, Elonia plunged her rapier into Chelon’s back. The phantom Chelon dissipated like smoke.
“Ah…”
Tears streamed down Lucius’s face, hidden behind his mask and eye patch.
Elonia knelt down, meeting his gaze, and gently removed his mask and eye patch. She wiped away his tears with a handkerchief, her voice soft and reassuring.
“Yes, it’s me. So don’t cry.”
“I thought… I thought you were gone.”
“As if I’d be defeated by a mere chimera.”
“That’s not it… Ugh.”
Lucius choked back a sob, lowering his head. Elonia was surprised. She knew he must have been scared, but she hadn’t expected him to cry like this.
She panicked.
“Why are you crying? Was it that scary?”
“…Yes.”
“What did the fake do to you? You survived Heilan, and yet… D-don’t cry!”
“Sob… Ugh.”
Tears streamed down Lucius’s face.
He wasn’t afraid of dying. He was afraid of losing Elonia.
They say you only realize the value of something when you lose it.
He had realized it the moment he saw her.
Elonia, flustered by his tears, didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t scold him while he was crying.
“I’m sorry. I came as fast as I could…”
She pulled him into an embrace, patting his back comfortingly. It was the most effective way to soothe someone who was crying. She knew from experience.
“Ugh… Sob…”
But Lucius’s silent tears continued to fall, soaking her shoulder.
Elonia returned to the Peace Treaty Zone, carrying a new burden. She immediately sought out her knights. Ricardo and Ethan spotted her first.
“Your Highness!”
“We were worried when you disappeared.”
“Ah, I had something to check. Is the situation under control?”
She could see for herself, but she asked anyway. Ethan nodded.
“Clerics from the Temple are treating the injured.”
“And I sent Noah back.”
“Good work.”
They worked well together, understanding each other without needing words. Elonia asked another question.
“What about the academy?”
“Professor Caroline managed to contain the situation… but she collapsed from exhaustion.”
Caroline collapsed? Elonia asked urgently,
“Is she badly injured?”
“No, just mana depletion.”
Elonia sighed in relief.
Caroline was seventy years old. Creating the purification potion, protecting the academy… she must have been more exhausted than Elonia. It would have been strange if she hadn’t collapsed.
Elonia walked through the Peace Treaty Zone, her knights following closely behind her.
“Report everything you learned from the academy.”
“Yes, Your Highness. According to the academy, the chimera appeared from the east.”
“Here. But didn’t it appear suddenly here as well?”
“Yes. The knights all said it appeared out of thin air.”
“But as we reported earlier, there’s no place here where a chimera could have appeared, nor is it a headquarters for the Church of the Resurrection God.”
Elonia stopped walking. The center of the Peace Treaty Zone looked like it had been hit by a meteor.
‘It must have originated from here.’
Elonia pondered the situation.
The phantom Olivia Noah had seen, the phantom Chelon Lucius had seen, the two massive chimeras…
They had all appeared suddenly.
It was strange for a person to appear out of thin air, but it was even stranger for a chimera of that size.
‘And this is where the Heilan hostages live.’
Heilan citizens had died in this incident, and others would be permanently disabled.
It meant only one thing.
‘Felix has abandoned the hostages.’
The Heilan citizens in Ravanta were all children of influential families. Abandoning them meant Felix had consolidated his power in Heilan, no longer needing their support.
Heilan, which had been a fragmented nation held together by conquest, must have finally unified.
‘Which means they now have a military force comparable to Ravanta’s.’
Heilan had lost its greatest weapon, but it had gained a god.
‘I have to discredit Tristan before war breaks out.’
How powerful was Tristan now?
Her head throbbed, but Elonia forced herself to think.
The chimera in the arena had collapsed as soon as she removed the sword. And the sword was a dead holy relic.
‘But the chimera that appeared this time didn’t have a sword in its back.’
She had assumed the sword was the key to controlling the chimera. But she had been wrong.
‘The faith gathered from the nobles must have been enough to control the chimera without the dead holy relic.’
She couldn’t let the chimeras wreak havoc in Ravanta any longer.
‘I have to figure out how they’re created.’
She had called the fake Olivia and Chelon “phantoms,” but they weren’t illusions created by mana. They had substance, a tangible presence.
Noah had mistaken the phantom Olivia for a real person. Elonia had felt the impact of the chimera’s attacks.
They must have been created using a medium.
‘The core, in the case of the chimera. Does that mean the core was hidden somewhere in the Peace Treaty Zone?’
The hostages used supplies provided by the Imperial Palace. Could the core have been hidden among those supplies?
“Haah…”
Elonia slumped to the ground, overwhelmed. Ethan knelt beside her, concerned.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
“No, my head is about to explode.”
Every time she thought she had found a clue, she was back to square one. And the constant suspicion was draining her mentally.
This wasn’t something she could solve alone. She needed to discuss it with someone who knew the inner workings of the Imperial Palace.
“Is Dad still at the academy?”
“Yes, but the investigation should be wrapping up soon.”
“Then he’ll be returning to the palace soon.”
Elonia stood up, dusting herself off.
“Let’s finish up here and go back.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Ah, and take care of that carriage.”
“…?”
Elonia pointed at a carriage that hadn’t been there before. Ricardo, unable to contain his curiosity, asked,
“What’s that?”
“It’s a secret for now.”
Elonia, with a mysterious smile, summoned her knights. Ethan and Ricardo exchanged puzzled glances.
Artius, upon returning to the palace, immediately asked Aaron,
“Where’s Elonia?”
“She’s still at the Peace Treaty Zone.”
“Is she hurt?”
“This isn’t the time to worry about Her Highness.”
Aaron scolded him.
“You still haven’t learned to be careful. Weren’t you supposed to be providing support? Professor Gunnar was there, you didn’t have to push yourself so hard. What if something had happened to you?”
“Quiet. You expect me to ask a seventy-year-old woman to cut open a chimera’s mouth? And Professor Gunnar was exhausted. What else could I do? Stand back and watch?”
“That’s not what I meant, but you injured your arm.”
Aaron had noticed it as soon as Artius returned.
His clothes were stained with sticky green slime, and his sleeve was torn, revealing a bloody wound underneath.
Artius clicked his tongue and made an excuse.
“I was injured, but I defeated the chimera. And Professor Julietta treated me, so stop nagging. And don’t tell Elonia.”
If Elonia found out he had been injured, she would be furious.
Or rather, she wouldn’t be angry, since it was for the sake of the nation, but she would be worried.
“So, Elonia wasn’t injured?”
Aaron sighed at his repetitive question.
“…No. Unlike you, she defeated the chimera without a scratch.”
“That’s good.”
“She’ll be returning soon. You should wash up before she sees you.”
Artius reluctantly went to the bathroom.
He had told Aaron he was fine, but something was bothering him.
He removed his dirty clothes and washed himself, then stared at his injured arm.
“…The scar.”
It hadn’t disappeared, even after Julietta’s treatment.
He remembered the moment the chimera’s teeth grazed his arm.
‘It felt like my arm was melting.’
It had actually melted slightly. If it had been a direct bite, he might have lost his arm, his title as Sword Master becoming a thing of the past.
‘But I can still move my arm. And the Temple is short-staffed. I can’t bother them with just a scar.’
He had received treatment. Artius pushed aside his worries and soaked in the bathtub.
Everything would be fine.
Nothing would happen.