Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Edella Leonia
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Returning after destroying the gate, Sion's eyes fell upon a frontline engulfed in flames.
"...What the hell happened here.."
What in the world could have turned the entire mountain into a sea of fire?
She had heard some kind of explosion from afar, but surely they hadn't set off a bomb.
...Right in the middle of the mountain?
'Rainfall'
Either way, she couldn't just stand by and watch the mountain burn to the ground, so she decided to put out the fire first.
It was a nice bonus that she could rack up an achievement while she was at it.
Once the Rainfall spell extinguished the blaze, the frontline hidden by the flames came into view.
Proving it had been a brutal melee, corpses of magical beasts littered the area alongside exhausted soldiers collapsed in fatigue.
"Where are you..."
Sion searched the chaotic battlefield for one particular person.
"Rion? You're back! Did you destroy the gate? I knew you'd succeed—"
"Ah, yeah..."
This wasn't her, obviously.
"Rion?"
[You're finally back.]
She'd been worried something had gone wrong.
Thank goodness you're safe.
"Phew... Glad you're unharmed."
[Unharmed? Don't get me started. Cloe jumped right into the middle of a bomb, you have no idea how shocked I was...]
"What...? A bomb?"
"...It was unavoidable—"
"Cloe... We promised each other... to value our lives..."
"...I'm sorry."
Honestly...
She'd felt it back in the sewers too, but Cloe had a serious habit of not taking care of herself.
She always insisted self-preservation was her top priority, but it sure didn't look that way.
Anyway... Cloe was safe, and the magical beasts were dealt with.
For the most part, things in Prifre had come to a close.
There were still loose ends like Liriana or Erbert, but...
"Um... Should we just rest at the inn for a while...?"
"I don't mind."
[Well... We've been through a lot lately, so some rest wouldn't hurt.]
Right now, she just wanted to relax.
Lie in bed and sleep...
"Thank you so much, Rion. And Mayer—if it weren't for you two... Hoo, I don't even want to imagine it."
With the battle wrapped up and reinforcements arrived, the frontline focused on damage control.
The hero, who had been caught by Liriana, had joined the frontline to help with recovery efforts.
"Yeah... Sure."
"No big deal."
The hero was genuinely relieved that the two had joined the fight.
Without them, he would've been helplessly trapped in that garden, unable to protect anything.
"A demon strong enough to capture the hero... I hope you weren't hurt?"
"Nah, no injuries. I didn't fight—just... had some tea."
"Huh?"
"...Kidding."
Liriana had posed three questions to the hero in exchange for a deal, then released the garden and fled the moment they were done.
Thanks to that, he hadn't gleaned any info on her, but confirming the existence of such a powerful demon was harvest enough.
"If there's anything you two want as a reward, just say the word. I swear on my name, I'll do everything I can to make it happen."
The successful operation at the Vestia frontline was thanks to these two.
Letting them walk away empty-handed wasn't just a matter of propriety—it wounded his pride.
'...Though they don't seem to want much.'
"Hmm... Well..."
But contrary to Karl's expectations, it was exactly the offer Sion had been waiting for.
"I do have one request..."
"Name it. Anything goes, as long as it's not 'marry me.'"
"I'd rather die."
"..."
To keep traveling with Cloe from here on, there was some necessary groundwork.
"Actually..."
Sion cautiously glanced at Cloe.
At Prifre's infamous criminal, hiding her face and real name behind a mask.
"My companion Mayer... is actually a criminal from Prifre."
"R-Rion! Hold on!"
"Gasp... No way..."
Even if it was just petty pickpocketing, a crime was a crime.
She'd never crossed certain lines, but Cloe's name was still infamous in Prifre as a criminal.
"...So you're asking for leniency?"
"Yes."
If they'd asked for riches or fame, Karl would've handed them over gladly.
But pardoning a criminal? Even he couldn't accept that lightly.
"Sorry, that's a tough one... I'd need to know the severity at least."
"Pickpocketing."
"...That should be manageable."
If it were murder or something crossing that line, maybe not—but petty theft like that was forgivable.
"Only if it's truly just minor stuff like pickpocketing, though."
"Of course..."
Of course, the investigation would be thorough.
"S-So Mayer's a fake name?"
Even hearing she was a criminal didn't change Olivia's attitude toward Cloe much.
By now, Cloe was a comrade who'd brushed death multiple times together.
"Then... could you tell us your real name? And... take off the mask!"
Under Olivia's earnest gaze and Sion's 'do whatever' expression, Cloe removed her mask.
"Wow..."
"...I'm Cloe."
"You're way cuter than I thought! Ah, no offense! I just figured the mask meant scars or something!"
"Uh... Thanks?"
Criminal—that word had blocked Cloe's future for so long.
She wouldn't be here without her crimes, but as a criminal, her future had limits.
But now, her savior had shattered those chains, granting her the freedom to do anything.
The dazzling freedom to dream as big as she wanted.
"Rion."
"Yeah...?"
Cloe conveyed her heart to her savior.
"Thank you."
Thanks for the new life you'd given her.
Leonia Empire, Capital. Imperial Knights Captain's office.
Captain Edwin had been endlessly busy managing the empire's recent chaos, barely getting a wink of sleep.
The continent had found peace after slaying the great evil known as the Demon King.
Yet due to the hasty subjugation without proper prep, the empire remained unstable.
"Hoo..."
Still, Edwin firmly believed this turmoil would fade soon.
The Leonia Empire's roots were too deep to be shaken by this.
And in those shadows, he and the empire's loyalists worked day and night to quell it.
[Vestia Mountain Ferocious Beast Incident - Resolution Report]
[Reporter: Vice Captain Olivia von Leonhardt]
Edwin opened his sister's report announcing the resolution of one recent headache: the Vestia Mountain magical beast fiasco.
His eyes lingered on a particularly concerning detail.
"A demon, huh..."
The shadow behind Vestia Mountain: a demon and a black mage.
The black mage was trouble enough, but a demon stepping up personally was major.
After the Demon King's death, most demons had fled to the eastern continent and vanished.
'Why now...?'
A demon directly scheming against the empire? That wasn't something to overlook.
Especially one capable of briefly capturing the hero.
'Could mean... war again...'
The Demon King's remnants regrouping to threaten the continent wasn't impossible anymore.
As Edwin fretted over a potential demon war—
*knock knock*
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in."
*clunk!*
"Your Highness."
Confirming the intruder, Edwin rose and bowed.
"Am I interrupting, Captain?"
The girl before him was imperial blood he had to protect with his life.
"Never."
A girl with the black hair and eyes of the imperial line, exuding noble grace.
The emperor's precious youngest daughter, Edella Leonia.
The tomboy princess who brought life to this dreary palace.
"What brings you here, Your Highness...?"
"Captain, straight to the point."
Of course, to Edwin, she was just one more exhausting boss.
"Why didn't you tell me that Master Sion has a disciple?!"
*Just as I figured she'd react like this.*
The words nearly slipped out, but Edwin's ironclad patience, forged from years as captain, held firm.
"Surely you didn't hide it on purpose?"
"I'd never."
"...Make it so I don't have to suspect you."
Edella was the only imperial blood with magical talent.
Thus, she'd studied magic from youth and grown up idolizing Grand Archmage Sion.
"That insolent fool... How dare they receive Master Sion's teachings before me...!"
If only it stopped at admiration—but sadly, it had evolved into obsession.
"The audacity...! I'm more talented, I respect Master Sion more, so why them and not me...!"
*This is exactly why I hid it...*
"No, wait... Didn't that disciple of Master Sion—er, their disciple—play a key role in resolving this incident?"
One moment cursing them like they deserved death, now suddenly praising their merits.
"Y-Yes."
Edwin felt an ominous twinge at her flip-flopping attitude.
And unfortunately, his instincts were sharp.
"I must summon this Rion to the palace at once! It's only proper to commend a hero as an imperial!"
*Doesn't look like commendation's the goal, Your Highness.*
"...If that's your will."
With her so decisive, she'd likely gotten the emperor's approval already.
The wave was rising; Edwin could only hope no one got swept away.
"Rion...!"
Daring to surpass me with Master Sion.
I won't let you off...!