Chapter 252
Chapter: 252
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 252
>Chapter Title: Attic Room (1)
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News from Sigismund Territory reached the capital through Arenza almost immediately. It had been less than a full day since the fastest messenger had departed the margraviate.
Upon hearing the good tidings casually dropped by Steward Louis, Amelia and Sisley were greatly relieved, as one might expect. Even the usually somber lunch in Pearl Palace brimmed with unusual liveliness that day.
"Logan oppa must have hurried like crazy. So, they'll be back soon, right?"
"Yes, Sisley. They'll probably arrive in the capital within a month."
At Amelia's response, the little saintess tilted her head in confusion.
"Huh? But it's all over, isn't it? Won't they come right away?"
"The territory was once in dire peril, wasn't it? In a situation like that, the two of them won't just up and leave immediately. The wounds left by a large-scale battle are bigger than you might think. The aftermath won't sort itself out so easily."
The Lilium detachment's real work was only just beginning. While subjugating sea beasts and magic beasts was important, healing the injuries of the afflicted subjects and aiding reconstruction were even more crucial.
"But Mores oppa and Logan oppa did amazing things, right? That should be enough. We can just leave the rest to the people of Sigismund Territory. Why do we have to wait a whole month?"
"It's not that simple, Sisley. Unlike Logan's usual subjugation campaigns, this time the Lilium detachment was formally dispatched with the clear objective of 'rescuing Sigismund Territory.'"
Though hastily arranged, it had gone through proper procedures, and funding had been allocated accordingly. To show satisfactory results to the administration and the Holy Council, they would likely need to stay in Sigismund Territory for a while.
The territory probably had mountains of work piled up.
To focus on reconstruction for a time, they would need to press the advantage and drive the magic beasts deep into the frost wastes. They also had to treat the wounded and hold rites for the dead.
Lilium's holy knights were competent hands capable of handling both tasks.
After hearing Amelia's calm explanation, Sisley let out a small sigh.
"I guess there's no helping it then. I wanted to show them how much I've improved in training so far..."
Sisley had now learned to swing a flail quite convincingly.
Amelia gave her deeply disappointed little sister a gentle smile.
"You can just train even harder for that extra month. Then you can surprise them with how much stronger you've gotten, right?"
"You think so?"
"Of course. Besides, you know how serious Mores is about training. To surprise him, ordinary practice won't cut it."
"Yeah, you're right."
If it wasn't tough, it wouldn't count as proper training, would it? But I don't tire easily anyway. Should I just increase the intensity and duration?
Amelia quietly added to Sisley, who was lost in such thoughts that would horrify Saint Marthius's inquisitors if they knew.
"Moreover, most of Sigismund Territory's soldiers will be tied up repairing the ice wall. Even though it collapsed once, there's no faster or sturdier defense against the frost wastes."
"I see. So even chasing magic beasts, they won't be able to ride horses? They'll have to use the pulley to cross the ice wall on the way back. It might take even longer than expected."
"Exactly. You know a lot about the ice wall, don't you, Sisley?"
"Yeah, I read about it in a book."
Sisley nodded reluctantly.
In truth, it wasn't from a book circulating in the markets, but one she'd read in a dream. Volume 1 of the *Delcross Chronicles*, with Orden as the protagonist, had detailed the ice wall.
"But why doesn't the Margrave of Sigismund make proper gates in the ice wall?"
It was something she'd wondered about while reading the chronicles.
Why not just build doors? Climbing over the ice wall on ropes seemed so inefficient.
"It's due to the peculiar nature of the frost wastes, which makes ice grow bit by bit. It even expands in places without water. No matter how large a gate you carve out, in just a little time, everything freezes over."
Amelia took a sip of her after-meal tea and smiled faintly.
"So in the end, only a narrow tunnel wide enough for one person remains."
Even more wondrous was that once such a narrow tunnel formed, the ice stopped growing further.
"But that doesn't make sense."
Sisley cocked her head after mentally calculating for a moment.
"If the ice grows fast enough to seal gates, why hasn't it filled the gorge over time? The frost wastes have existed since the era of the three ancient dragons, right? After so many ages, it should have overflowed Sigismund Territory and blanketed the continent in ice by now."
"If you think that way, the frost wastes themselves become inexplicable."
"Hmm..."
"We don't know why the frost wastes are eternally frozen in biting cold, and no one knows the reason for that phenomenon either. It's just a tale passed down from long ago."
Amelia's gray eyes deepened in thought. She was recalling faint old memories.
Long ago, around the time she could run without stumbling, a whisper in her ear from someone.
*-Long, long ago, an old wizard who lived in the era of the three ancient dragons discovered a beautiful flower field in the forest one day and made a wish. May those who enter and exit this secret land be none but me...*
"...none but me. Thus, may this place be eternally protected from the world. And may it become my personal paradise that no army can invade."
The girl's dreamy, unfocused eyes slowly regained their sharpness.
"It's said his words became a curse, and from then on, the forest was engulfed in the frost wastes of cold blizzards. Even after, the frost wastes allowed no outsiders, opening paths only for that one wizard."
Sisley flinched.
Seo Iseo, in Cadmos mode, paused her diligent eating and slowly lifted her head.
"Is that so? I didn't know that story. Fascinating."
The little saintess tilted her head.
It wasn't in the *Delcross Chronicles*, nor anywhere else she'd heard.
"I heard it when I was too young to remember the source clearly. Maybe someone read me a book."
At that moment, Cadmos narrowed his elongated, slit pupils and asked Amelia.
[How do you know that, descendant? Who told you that tale?]
"...Pardon?"
[I'm asking who told you about that mad old coot's curse on the frost wastes.]
The carnivorous plant Cadmos's face was utterly serious. After a brief glance at Sisley, Amelia calmly replied.
"As I said, it was from my childhood, so I don't remember precisely. Whether someone told me the story or read me a book."
[From a book? No way! Almost no one knows it, and no one's written it down.]
Cadmos's bright golden eyes flashed.
[Where did you pick up such drivel, descendant? Think carefully. Was it something like Granius's *Wondrous Continental Travels*? I hear that book is full of all sorts of continental trivia.]
"I don't remember well, but I don't think so, Lord Cadmos."
Among Granius's many works, the only one designated forbidden by the Holy Council: *Wondrous Continental Travels*.
The books Amelia had access to as a child were all from the Sigismund count's library, none of which would have included a forbidden tome.
The little saintess then warned Cadmos with a coldly frozen expression.
"You mustn't so casually mention a book forbidden by the Holy Council, Your Imperial Majesty the First Holy Emperor. Don't make trouble for Amelia unnie and Seo Iseo with such reckless words."
[...No, descendant. I merely...]
"If you're borrowing someone else's body without permission, at least you should know better than to say things that could harm her."
The meaning of those chilly gray eyes glaring at him was clear.
-You've eaten your fill, so act with some sense now, you useless weed!
Cadmos, who had greatly taken a liking to Sisley, looked deeply hurt by her uniquely cold attitude toward him. He soon huffed in offense, reverting his irises to a deep brown.
"Huh? Lady Sisley? What...?"
Seo Iseo was dazed, not realizing she'd suddenly regained control of her body. Then, spotting the feast before her, she shed tears of.
"B... Bwoop!"
*Chomp chomp.*
The false saintess's second storm of food intake began. It was somewhat understandable why her ample priestess robes were starting to feel tight lately.
"...It looks like I'll have to take Seo Iseo and head out a bit late. Don't you have an appointment today, unnie?"
"Yes. I'll go on ahead then, Sisley."
A scene that had become everyday for the sisters.
Amelia gave them a light farewell and rose from her seat.
Leaving Pearl Palace, Amelia headed straight for Silver Rose Palace.
Lately, she spent most of her time in the main palace assisting the Holy Emperor with state affairs, but this afternoon held a meeting with Lady Chloe.
"I'm still too young to attend the birthday celebration myself, but I know well enough what a sight the Brittany folk made at the imperial banquet, Your Highness."
As always, Chloe arrived with a Brittany periodical for foreign language study. She sipped her Melbourne tea carefully, grumbling with a dissatisfied face.
"Good heavens, do you know what Desté Street looks like these days? Young people, men and women alike, paint their cheeks bright red and pout their lips like duck bills!"
"Haha."
Amelia smiled awkwardly.
"I've heard rouge cheeks are all the rage in Brittany right now, Chloe. At the birthday celebration, they were even praised for looking healthy and rosy."
"Really? Noble guests showed up to the banquet looking like that?"
Chloe's eyes widened round, then she furrowed her brow in a scowl.
"Isn't it utterly vulgar? I really hate that clownish cheek rouge, Your Highness."
Chloe, mature beyond her years with no lapses in propriety, had grown less guarded from frequent visits to Silver Rose Palace.
In particular, she was opening her heart more to the elegant princess who treated even a child like her with the courtesy due a lady.
Thus, she comfortably voiced complaints she would never make outside.
"Though my family hails from Brittany, I don't care for that country's pretentious air. I can't see what's so advanced about it, and I'd rather they kept clownish trends like that to themselves."
Watching the pouting little girl, Amelia felt a fresh fondness.
*-Sister, maybe I should ask Father to ban rouge outright. Imagining the palace guard lined up with red cheeks gives me nightmares already.*
Unable to hold back laughter at the memory of her sulky little sister from not long ago, Amelia felt her affection for Chloe surge the moment she noticed the resemblance to Mores.
"Brittany is a country where performing arts and culture flourish alongside its cuisine, Chloe. It boasts hugely popular theater actors. People admire them so much that exaggerated stage makeup has become the fashion."
"Oh, is that so?"
Yes, Lady Chloe.
So don't dismiss other cultures as ridiculous just because they seem funny. You're the future foreign minister my brother has his eye on.
Chloe blushed and exclaimed in admiration.
"I always think it, but Your Highness is truly amazing. How do you know so much about countries outside the Empire? Things even few people know, not in any books."
"Oh, no. I just heard it from someone, Lady Chloe."
Even as she answered, Amelia felt inwardly puzzled.
*'Yeah. Who did I hear all this from?'*
Until now, she'd brushed it off as something from a book somewhere.
But after Cadmos's question, pondering it, she realized she had no memory of reading any such book.
At that moment, a faint voice echoed in Amelia's mind once more.
*-That word would translate to 'deep and profound' in Imperial tongue. And there's 'angel' too. Let's see, other words with Arrhc...*
Who? Who had told her young self such tales? No matter how she tried to recall, she couldn't identify them.
Yet, despite the vagueness, it felt somehow nostalgic, leaving Amelia tilting her head repeatedly.
* * *
Max's errand took less time than expected.
The next evening.
Letting in the dog scratching at the door, Seongjin watched Max rush over wagging his tail and carefully place something before him.
It was Louise's remaining shoe.
"...You really met Louise! Good boy!"
Seongjin surmised Max had successfully delivered the soulstone. This must be Louise's reply.
*'Anyway, she must have set off barefoot on that long journey in the end.'*
Seongjin neatly paired the shoes on the floor.
As his daughter's final trace, he needed to deliver them properly to Sir Ilma and Sir Sebastian. He'd say Louise left them at the count's estate.
"Good job, Max! You're amazing."
Praising and ruffling the dog's head, Seongjin was met with vigorous tail-wagging barks.
*Woof woof!*
[Hmph! Even so, that mutt won't be your last companion!]
Suddenly, the Demon King grumbled in his head.
*'...You're still hung up on that?'*
Is that really important right now?
[Of course! It's something only I can do in this world!]
The Demon King's mood had clearly brightened as he snorted.
Well, glad you're feeling better, but why boast about something so weird?
And that night, the Lilium detachment finally arrived in Sigismund Territory.