The Kingdom's Guardian Descends
The naval battle in the east that left the Holy Kingdom stunned, the Magic Kingdom in shock, and the Empire on its knees ended in a decisive victory for our kingdom.
‘Well, it somehow wrapped up nicely.’
I left the cleanup to the Magic Division and the knights, then rode the fastest horse back to the capital with Seria.
“I’ll head over to report to Father and my brother. You can go rest first, Seria.”
“I will proceed directly to the training grounds!”
“Huh? Right away?”
“Yes!”
The moment we arrived at the royal palace, Seria headed straight for the training grounds while I made my way to the office to deliver my report to Father and my brother.
The two of them used to have separate offices, but lately, with battle reports flooding in nonstop, they had started sharing one.
When I opened the door and stepped inside, both Father and my brother, who had been poring over documents, lifted their heads at the same time.
“I have returned.”
“Ian! You’re back.”
“Ohh, we heard the general outline through intelligence reports, but you did an excellent job.”
Their expressions were more animated than usual. Relief was written all over their faces now that the thorn in their side—the Imperial fleet—had been dealt with.
“Yes. The surviving Imperial soldiers and knights will likely be transported to the capital once the interrogations are finished. We also captured quite a few mages.”
My brother and Father nodded.
“Moreover, the Empire’s admiral ascended to Master. We nearly had a catastrophe on our hands. Well done, my son.”
‘Lately I’ve been getting nothing but praise. It’s a little embarrassing.’
Around this time last year, all I ever got from Father was scolding.
“Ahem. It was nothing. But…”
Feeling an itch at the back of my head, I scratched it while glancing at the desk. A pile of papers was scattered across it.
I thought they were documents, but upon closer inspection, they turned out to be newspapers published by the royal family.
The Royal Gazette usually carried advertisements for goods from the royal merchants or news about the kingdom’s political situation, but…
Who Will Become the Consort of His Highness the Third Prince? — Exclusive Interview with Crown Prince Rowen
The Recapture of Carban and Overwhelming Victory at the Eastern Naval Battle! How Did the Espada Kingdom Become a Great Power? — Special Column
Commemorative Victory Sale! His Highness the Third Prince’s Daily Necessities at Unbelievable Discounts!
The Charisma of His Highness Ian That Stunned the Holy Kingdom, Shocked the Magic Kingdom, and Brought the Empire to Its Knees?
Guardian? Consort? Interview?
‘And that last one is pure nationalist fluff…’
“…Brother?”
“Ahem.”
Rowen averted his eyes and picked up one of the newspapers.
“This is an extra edition that was distributed across the capital and nearby territories this morning. The moment you sent word of victory from the east, we pressured the printing houses to rush these out.”
“No, not that—what’s this about an interview?”
“Ahem. The citizens of the kingdom are currently very interested in you, Ian.”
“Ugh…”
Asking any more would probably give me a headache, so I quickly finished my report.
After wrapping up, I stopped by Elisha’s office before heading to the training grounds where Seria and Roxanna were waiting.
“Elisha?”
Buried among stacks of documents and magic scrolls covering her desk, Elisha had her face buried in paperwork.
When I opened the door, she looked up. The dark circles under her eyes were even deeper than before I left for the east, and her silver hair looked dull and frizzy.
“…You have returned, Master.”
Elisha tried her best to keep a neutral expression, but after spending so much time with her, I could tell she was feeling down.
“Yeah. I just finished reporting to Father and my brother. Why do you look like that? Are you sick?”
I had never seen her make that face before, so I asked with genuine concern.
“…I spent too long away from your side while tracking the traces of the black mages. I couldn’t even accompany you to Belfort…”
Her soft murmur was filled with clear disappointment.
‘I suppose that makes sense.’
This was the first time Elisha and I had been apart for so long.
Since it was a new experience for her too, it must have caused her quite a bit of stress.
“Is that why you’ve been so down?”
“…I was not down.”
Even though her cheeks puffed out slightly, she still tried to play it off. It was kind of cute.
At her answer, I let out a small chuckle and walked over to her desk.
“You worked hard. Tell me anything you want. I’ll grant pretty much whatever it is.”
I could spare a day for her. It should be fine.
A hint of hesitation crossed Elisha’s face before she met my eyes and spoke.
“Really… Anything at all?”
“Yes.”
“Then…”
Elisha set down her pen, stood up, and moved to the sofa on one side of the office. She sat down and patted her thigh a couple of times.
“Would you rest your head on my lap?”
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected request, I looked at her. The tips of her ears had turned bright red.
“I wish to soothe the anxiety I felt while we were apart. …Is that not acceptable?”
Faced with those earnest eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.
Besides, I had been wanting to lie down for a bit anyway, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t done this before.
There was no reason to feel embarrassed about it now.
“Sure, why not.”
I walked over to the sofa, sat beside her, and naturally laid my head on her lap.
“Is it uncomfortable anywhere?”
“Nope. Extremely comfortable.”
The corners of Elisha’s mouth lifted ever so slightly at the praise.
She began gently stroking my hair.
“Elisha. I’m going to take a short nap like this.”
“Understood, Master.”
Using the sound of her voice as white noise, I closed my eyes.
A few hours later.
“Mmm…”
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Elisha’s face looking down at me, her head slightly tilted.
A quick glance out the window showed that the sun had already set and the moon had risen.
‘How long did I sleep?’
It seemed the release of tension had let me sleep deeper than I expected.
“You are awake, Master.”
“Yeah… I think I slept quite a while. Your legs aren’t numb?”
“I am fine.”
For some reason, her face looked far more refreshed than mine after waking up from a deep sleep.
‘…Her skin is practically glowing.’
Her complexion had improved so much it almost looked like she had absorbed mana while I was sleeping.
‘As for mana… it seems to have decreased a bit?’
Since it was originally her mana that I had absorbed, it appeared some of it had been returned to her. Mana was a circulating substance after all, so the witch mana forming my fifth circle would gradually dilute and become part of my original mana.
“Well, as long as you’re okay, that’s good.”
I stood up from the sofa and stretched.
The fatigue that had built up from the eastern naval battle all the way back to the capital felt completely gone.
Now that I had rested, it was time to get back to work.
“How did the search for the black mage’s traces go?”
“While you were in the east, I reverse-calculated the residual mana from the Blood Worms planted in Count Valere and Baron Monte and tracked their origin.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yes. I have located what appears to be the black mages’ main base.”
‘Thank goodness we found it.’
In the original story, the black mages’ headquarters never appeared properly, which had worried me.
‘They just kept popping up randomly across the continent.’
“Where were they hiding?”
“That is…”
BANG!
Elisha’s words were cut off as the door burst open and Roxanna stormed in.
“Ian…! What are you doing that you didn’t come?! You get back to the capital and don’t even show your face…!”
Roxanna entered fuming, with Seria—who looked covered in bruises from training with her—standing behind.
‘Oh right. I completely forgot. But…’
“Why does Seria’s face look like that? Did you hit her?”
“It’s not like that…! Okay, I did hit her, but… Seria asked me to…!”
When I looked at Seria with a questioning expression, she nodded.
“Yes… that is correct. After realizing my weakness in this war, I requested training from the Commander.”
“See? I told you!”
Roxanna clenched both fists and trembled as if she had been wrongly accused.
“Alright, alright. Calm down.”
I soothed the still-fuming Roxanna.
“Seria, don’t push yourself too hard. The transcendent beings are simply that strong—you aren’t weak.”
“Understood.”
She said that, but I had a feeling she would keep training to the point of overdoing it.
Well, getting stronger was a good thing.
I turned to Roxanna, whose lips were still pouting.
“Sorry. The moment I arrived in the capital I had to report to Father and my brother. Once that was over, the tension drained out of me and I fell asleep. I just woke up.”
“Hmph… I figured as much. You even caught that Lexion guy or whatever his name is, right? You didn’t get hurt?”
“Nope. I got lucky. I only ended up with some burns on my hand.”
After firing the beam cannon, my palms had suffered burns.
Fortunately, healing magic took care of it easily, so I was perfectly fine now.
Hearing that, Roxanna grabbed my hand, turned it over, and let out a sigh.
“You got treatment… Good. Whew. So, did the King of the Magic Kingdom get involved?”
“Involved… I guess you could say that. He was actually a huge help.”
If Asterion hadn’t shown up and drawn Lexion’s aggro, we wouldn’t have been able to take him down so easily.
“That perverted voyeur mage actually turned out useful.”
Roxanna really didn’t like Asterion.
No, she hated him.
‘To be fair, hardly anyone among the transcendent beings likes that guy…’
Still, even if Asterion was an unpleasant fellow, his actual personality wasn’t that bad.
He was just a bit of a coward.
Anyway.
Once I confirmed that Roxanna had calmed down, I turned back to Elisha.
“So, Elisha. Finish what you were saying earlier. Where exactly were they hiding?”
“It is Verdin.”
“Huh?”
Verdin? That’s the city right next to the Holy Kingdom, isn’t it?