Chapter 102
Chapter 102
"We did it! We really did it! We succeeded!"
Among the shouts of joy erupting from all directions, Logan's voice rang out the loudest.
Having contemplated what he thought would be his second demise in this returned life, only to miraculously survive, Logan leaped about with such vigor he might as well have flown into the sky, shouting at the top of his lungs.
At least until the awkward glances from his exhausted allies lying on the ground made him self-conscious.
"Your Excellency. Seeing how much energy you still have left, it seems you could have easily won even without all this elaborate planning."
"Ah... ahem, of course! It was a battle we were destined to win anyway!"
The sight of everyone chuckling at his obvious lie finally made the reality of their victory sink in.
"But, Your Excellency... Did you perhaps anticipate this incident?"
At Heinkel's question, all eyes in the room turned to Logan.
Had he predicted the king's death?
It was a dangerously loaded question, so Logan immediately shook his head.
"Oh, no, not at all. It was just..."
Logan sighed audibly as he glanced around, then offered a wry smile.
"My plan failed, but fortune smiled upon us. Let me apologize once more to everyone."
"Ah..."
Heinkel's dumbfounded expression seemed to spread like a contagion through the thousand-strong crowd.
Logan's honest(?) admission created various ripples.
While the majority remained loyal and positive...
It was inevitable that some negative perceptions of Logan would emerge.
And Logan, fully aware of this, accepted it with a smile.
'Far better than rumors spreading that I was somehow involved in the king's death.'
Had the news of the king's demise come on the exact same day as in his previous life, successfully executing his original plan, he could have simply said he hadn't used the prepared strategy.
But with events delayed by several days, considering the minimal damage and rumors, he counted himself extraordinarily lucky.
Of course, not everyone bought his excuse.
"Did you truly not know?"
"Huh?"
"Were you not keeping His Majesty's death in mind when devising this strategy?"
The question came unexpectedly from his father when most of the troops had begun resting, leaving only minimal guard forces.
This wasn't a question he could brush off lightly.
"...You're right."
"Don't tell me you had something to do with this?"
Logan could clearly see his father's face hardening at his admission.
It was far too grave a matter, and such suspicions needed to be nipped in the bud immediately.
"Absolutely not! Not at all! I merely heard some 'top-secret' bad news through my teacher and considered how to utilize that information."
"Hah... Sword Duke, again..."
As his father sighed, Logan silently apologized to his teacher for dragging his name into this yet again.
But this time, his father wasn't letting it go so easily.
"Still, it was far too reckless. Had the timing been even slightly off, everything would have been over. You realize that, don't you?"
"...Yes. I deeply regret my mistake."
"Good. Youth is the time for mistakes, after all. Fortunately, things turned out well this time, but think more carefully next time. Consult others too."
"Yes. I understand."
"Good. That's all I ask."
The father-son conversation ended with smiles, but as he walked away, Logan couldn't bring himself to feel entirely at ease.
That final exchange with his father had been completely sincere.
No matter how good the opportunity was, relying solely on information from his past life to undertake such a dangerous gamble had been foolish.
Already, his actions had changed much of reality from what he remembered. It was in the depths of harsh despair that he realized how complacent he'd been.
'The future will change even more from now on. From here on, I'll only use my past life's knowledge as reference. Never again will I gamble like this.'
Logan engraved this resolution firmly in his heart once more.
The news of the king's passing was also a mandatory summons calling all nobles to the capital.
Thus, even if others could stay, Patrick, as a formally titled noble, had to depart for the capital immediately.
But with the newly conquered territory's walls completely destroyed, the lord couldn't simply abandon it.
"After all, we're just minor border barons. No one will make a fuss if we're slightly late for the state funeral period. It's not like we belong to any faction anyway."
There was some painful truth to Logan's words, and he and Patrick decided to first handle the bare minimum of post-war cleanup with their retainers.
They hurriedly collected the remains of fallen soldiers to send back to town along with the wounded.
After requesting food supplies be sent from town, the remaining forces began rebuilding Tomodo Fortress's walls.
They couldn't immediately mobilize nearby villagers who were still too terrified to leave their homes after nearly a week of warfare.
Naturally, the first to be put to work were the exhausted mages of the Golem Tower who had collapsed earlier.
"Master. At this rate, I think I might actually die."
Grick, his complexion pale, complained of exhaustion.
Even using magic stones to operate golems still required some of the caster's own mana.
Grick, merely a 3rd-Circle mage, had long since bottomed out his mana reserves.
Now, after pushing himself to simultaneously maintain golems and auxiliary spells, he'd truly reached his limit.
The past few days had been the harshest period of his magical career.
Starting with tunnel work before the battle, then digging moats and waterways through all-night construction.
After collapsing from exhaustion, he'd spent five days squeezing out every drop of mana for magical circle work to coordinate with collapse scrolls in bringing down the walls.
And just when he thought he'd get a day's rest, they put him right back to wall reconstruction.
"If you were just going to have us rebuild them, why make us tear them down in the first place!"
It wasn't that Grick, as a mage, had nothing in his head when he blurted this out.
He simply wanted to express how unjust it all felt.
"You said if we left the Tower we could train in peace! What is this? We're busier than ever!"
Even Clayton, who'd been trying to ignore his disciple's complaints, couldn't help but wince at that.
Turning to placate his student, he saw—
"If you'd spent this time training, I'd have reached this level ages ago. What kind of dog's life is this... Huh? What the—"
"Whoa!"
Oooom.
As Grick distributed mana to his golem while simultaneously casting Earth Wall spells to raise the walls, his heart mana surged violently.
Then, as if by some miracle—
Oooooom.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
A new ring formed in Grick's heart as his golem suddenly gathered surrounding earth to expand its size.
Grick's golem now stood a full meter taller than Clayton's 5-meter golems.
So abrupt was this development that even Grick could only stare dumbfounded at his own creation.
"My circle... it rose? Ha, haha. What in the world?"
Unlike typical mage enlightenment, his circle had risen purely through endless grumbling during backbreaking labor.
Even Grick found it absurd.
But Clayton, who'd witnessed the entire process, had a strangely gleaming look in his eyes.
"Hoh?"
Sensing something, he quickly glanced at his other disciples.
Their gazes, a mix of astonishment and envy, were fixed on senior disciple Grick.
Yet Clayton could see—second disciple Enan, third disciple Truce—all showed signs of impending circle growth in their hearts.
Having guided them since they first formed their mana circles, Clayton could detect advancement they themselves couldn't yet feel.
His disciples were progressing far faster than expected.
'Perhaps I've been thinking about this all wrong...'
As something new crystallized in Clayton's mind—
"See! Pushing magic to its limits is the foundation of growth. Everyone, give your all to this work! Use your magic to the absolute limit!"
Before anyone knew it, he was shouting orders at his disciples.
The reconstruction of Tomodo Fortress's walls.
Little did anyone know this would mark the beginning of the Golem School openly walking the path of becoming an Engineering School.
'It's really over.'
Eileen's vacant stare was fixed on the rapidly rising fortress walls.
But what she truly saw wasn't the scene before her, but the desperate battles of the past few days.
Her first real combat as a knight. Her first war.
The first time she'd killed. The first time she'd nearly died.
Of course, the more intense experience was undoubtedly the latter.
How many times had she felt that terrifying possibility of death in this war?
The ideal knightly image she'd dreamed of—overcoming every crisis through her own strength, growing steadily, and proudly carving her name into history—had long since shattered to pieces.
'What was I really dreaming about?'
Did I truly want to become a knight, or was it just stubborn pride?
What she'd once considered life-or-death courage and conviction now seemed unbearably shallow.
'Can I... keep going?'
The more she replayed the battles in her mind, the less confident she became.
I should have done this then—why didn't I?
Next time I should do the opposite—why do I keep repeating the same mistakes?
'Pathetic.'
As she spiraled deeper into self-doubt, a familiar voice pulled her head up.
"Lady Eileen. How are you fee—"
"Prince Logan!"
"Ah... Am I that welcome? I expected to be cursed at."
"Huh? What? Why would I—"
"Wasn't it terrifying? Nearly dying so many times in your first real battle."
"W-well, that's just something knights have to experience, isn't it?"
Her pride made her answer boldly, but she couldn't stop her fingers from trembling.
'Please don't notice.'
Her wounded pride forcibly propped up her crumbling self-esteem.
She clasped her trembling hands behind her back, lifted her chin, and put on a haughty front.
"If you fear real combat, you're not fit to be a knight."
I am Eileen Floyd, the knight who will carve her name into Grandia Kingdom's history.
Like reciting a spell, she repeated this mantra to bolster her confidence.
Fortunately, her bravado seemed to work.
"Impressive. In my first battle, not running away was the best I could manage."
"Huh? What nonsense— Oh, you're not mocking—"
"It's true. Those around me now don't know, but my first battle was like that. First time seeing someone actually trying to kill me. Didn't even understand why I had to kill them. Just froze up completely."
Logan smiled bitterly, recalling his first battle as a mercenary in his past life.
"That's why I was worried about you, my lady. But you performed beyond expectations. The knights speak highly of you."
"R-really?"
"Yes. You proved your talk of becoming a knight wasn't just bravado. And I'm grateful you protected me when you nearly caught Aslan. I came to thank you, belatedly."
"Oh, no. You were the one who first—"
"Lady—no, Dame Eileen. I look forward to working with you in the future."
Maintaining self-esteem doesn't rely solely on one's own mindset.
Simply knowing someone recognizes and believes in you can spark confidence where none existed.
And for Eileen, never had she been so pleased to count herself among such ordinary people.
"Of course!"
Eileen's beaming face showed no trace of the dark thoughts that had plagued her moments before.
The reconstruction of Tomodo Fortress's walls progressed far faster than expected.
The Golem Tower mages rebuilt the walls at a pace that astonished onlookers.
Supplies, including food, began steadily arriving from town.
"Fortify our defenses thoroughly so we needn't fear Vifros attacking again."
"Yes!"
The MacLaine leadership smiled at the sight of their new territory taking shape.
Yet a lingering concern still weighed on their hearts.
'Will Vifros stay quiet after the state funeral ends?'
This unspoken question had haunted them since the battle's conclusion.
But when Logan, now effectively the heart of House MacLaine, declared:
"I'll accompany Father to the capital. There's a way there."
He said it with such certainty that it felt like a promise.