Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Mapping the Barbarian Plains
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Drip-.
The saliva dripping from the captured barbarian's mouth soiled the floor. The torturer, watching the scene with a furrowed brow, adjusted the dosage of the drug flowing into the barbarians' bodies through their arms.
"Uhehehehehe-."
"He's completely lost his mind, huh? This one."
Not shitting or pissing themselves is about the best you can hope for. With that thought, the technician began the interrogation. Compared to all the others he'd handled before, this one was a breeze. The drugged barbarians spilled every hidden secret with just the lightest prod.
"Alright, keep talking. Who are the ones on the other side of here?"
"Thaaat crooowd-."
"Gold Tribe? So this is Gold Tribe territory."
The information gleaned from the interrogation was recorded on the spot, then cross-referenced and integrated with data from other barbarians later. In this way, they uncovered an entire vast world.
Jinah.
Mugeon.
Dawn.
Gold.
Geopsu.
Twilight.
Pacheon.
Hyunggwang.
The precise breakdown of the so-called barbarian forces beyond the Great Plains, their locations, rivalries between factions, sizes, distributions, and more.
Information not even the king possessed was taking shape.
Enri, receiving the compiled intel, peered at the map crafted from it and let out a hollow chuckle.
"No way this is..."
Gazing at the map of the Great Plains fractured into warring hordes, a certain ethnic group naturally sprang to mind.
The nomadic people who, right beside the greatest empire ever to dominate the Earth, built another empire and ultimately left the largest footprint in history.
The era, location, and worldview were all different now.
Everything was a different situation.
Still, Enri kept in mind the possibility that a new empire might arise right next to the kingdom.
"Well, probably not gonna happen."
In a world where firearms were already perfected, the odds were slim. The reasons the Mongol Empire thrived—overwhelming mobility and one-sided ranged attacks—were completely countered here.
At best, these barbarians might become regional powers. Most would end up as guerrilla or terrorist groups.
And yet.
The potential these barbarians held was deeply etched into Enri's mind.
"Ohoho—then may I take my leave?"
"Yes, thank you so much for your help. Lady Midmeyer."
"No trouble at all. I'm just happy to be of service to His Grace the Duke."
The red-haired girl (far too massive to call her a girl) climbed into the carriage. With that, the lopsided carriage slowly righted itself.
Only once it was fully level did the coachman crack his whip. The horses, wearing strained expressions, began dragging the carriage along with great effort.
Enri watched the departing carriage in the distance and let out a hollow laugh before turning away.
'...That's the one most like the princess right now?'
To fool the barbarians.
Enri had requested someone who most resembled the Barbarian Princess.
Those who hadn't seen the princess up close might be fooled, but anyone who had would never mistake her—it had to be a dangerously close lookalike.
Eve had procured exactly that: Lady Midmeyer, whom he'd just seen. In other words, a lady whose three-digit weight Enri—who had personally captured and handed the princess to the royals—could never mistake for the same person had been sent as the one who "most resembled" the Barbarian Princess.
Was it just a sloppy stand-in since they only needed to deceive anyway? Or sent out of necessity to build political connections? Or...
'No way the princess actually looks like that now?'
Had the princess somehow ballooned in weight during that short time?
He couldn't know the truth, but in any case.
Enri spurred his horse in the opposite direction from the vanishing carriage.
He'd been away from his territory too long. It was time to head back.
"Kyaaaaah-!"
"Whoa, it's the prince...!"
"Why is His Highness the 1st Prince here...?"
The 1st Prince of Gracia Kingdom.
Aurelia strolled through the academy, his golden hair fluttering down to his wingbones. Noble ladies who spotted him screamed and fussed in a frenzy. He already had a fiancée, but as befitting royalty, he was stunningly handsome.
The golden-haired, blue-eyed Gracian idolized by all in Gracia Kingdom. Seeing that pure golden hair proving his full-blooded Gracia royal lineage, the noble ladies could only shriek like idol-struck fan club members.
Cleaving through those screams, the 3rd Prince appeared.
"—Brother."
"Oh, Cassius."
"What brings you here, brother?"
If a royal like Aurelia visited the academy without reason, it was usually to see another royal like Cassius. Knowing this, Cassius quickly led Aurelia to a secluded spot away from prying eyes before the commotion grew worse.
He was long past twenty, graduated from the academy, and receiving crown prince-level education. For him to show up like this out of the blue might mean a major crisis for the kingdom.
Worried, Cassius regarded his brother with a grave expression.
But Aurelia, as if something else mattered more than his purpose, stared intently somewhere. At the end of his gaze stood Cordelia, hidden behind Cassius like a shield.
"You take her everywhere. Is she your concubine?"
"...I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult Miss Cordelia."
"Not stealing her. Relax your glare. Honestly... the baby of the family lives however he wants."
Aurelia looked at Cassius with pity. Throwing away royal duties to cling to a baron's daughter. To him, who had been betrothed to a duke's daughter since before birth, it was infuriating.
Yet at the same time—he envied and was grateful for his brother living freely, unburdened by politics. He could never do the same. A 1st Prince acting like he was abandoning the throne would be madness, bad for himself and the kingdom.
"—Nothing major. Just had business with that young lady."
"...Knew it! You think I'd let you, my so-called brother, get away with—"
"What? 'You'? Wanna die?"
As the mood between the princes heated toward a brawl, their escort knights breathed a sigh of relief that no one else was around. If anyone saw this, they'd have to kill them to protect royal dignity.
Cordelia? She's fine. She's essentially the 3rd Prince's wife. A future crown princess, half-confirmed.
Only after wrenching tears from Cassius's eyes in a headlock did Aurelia calm down and explain the situation.
"Lately, the Claudia family's been acting suspicious."
"...Eve Claudia, huh."
"Yeah. My fiancée, who's been holed up in her family."
Eve Claudia.
The Iron-Blooded Empress.
The true head of the Black Rose family.
Blue blood incarnate, purging anyone—family head or uncle alike—who obstructed her power, devoid of emotion or tears.
If you named the kingdom's hottest topic right now, she'd be in the top three.
"Word is, she's even assassinating nobles getting in her business."
"No way. Even for a ducal house, assassinating nobles is high-risk."
"True. She wouldn't do it openly. But intel says she recruited an Ars family lady suspected in a noble assassination. The excuse is ridiculous—apparently, the Ars lady tried to assassinate her and got caught."
Thinking rationally.
No one takes someone who tried to kill them into their service.
Lives aren't infinite, and it trashes a noble's dignity.
Just the rumor of hiring your would-be assassin would draw killers hoping to join her ranks, all attempting hits on her.
Even otherwise, it's pointless. Exposed assassins are better off dead, ally or foe.
"So? What does that have to do with visiting Miss Cordelia?"
"I need someone to dig up info in Claudia territory... and while scouting for that, I heard something interesting."
Aurelia turned to Cordelia as he spoke.
"Heard you're friends with Eve Claudia. That true?"
"Y-Yes? Ah, yes..."
Yes.
Cordelia nodded, recalling her first meeting with Eve.
She'd practically begged to become friends. Whether Eve saw her the same was secondary. At least verbally, she'd been acknowledged as a friend.
That was what mattered.
"Then as expected. You're the only one."
"Wh-What exactly...?"
"Friends."
Aurelia gave a wry smile at what he'd learned investigating his fiancée.
"Turns out my fiancée has only one friend."
That's you.
Cordelia, stunned by the heartbreaking fact, clamped her mouth shut, speechless. Aurelia pressed her again.
"What do you say? As her one and only friend. Could you check if she's going astray?"
Cordelia couldn't refuse the request.
"—If it's something only I can do, by all means."
Her one and only.
Friend.
The irresistible magic of those two words combined.
"Pardon? You're here to see the lady?"
"Yes, that's right."
Piesita Barony Lady.
At Cordelia's words, knight Luca scratched his cheek, looking troubled as he guarded the family estate.
"The lady isn't home right now..."
"...Pardon?"
Unfortunately, the timing was off.