Chapter 97

"Aren't you pushing yourself too hard?"

Watching Iberin's worried face, Lyssel forced a faint smile.

"More importantly — something's happened in the forest."

"Why, were there too many monsters?"

"The opposite, actually."

"The opposite?"

Iberin tilted her head, puzzled.

Something had clearly happened, but Iberin's mind was on Lyssel.

"Lyssel, your face is so pale. Rest a bit before the meeting."

"He's right. You really don't look well."

"It won't be a long talk. I'll wrap it up and rest."

"Promise?"

"Of course."

He had to get word out and prepare them, fast.

Monsters that even Lyssel had struggled to handle had vanished overnight.

When Lyssel stepped into the council tent, every noble was already gathered.

"Your Highness!"

The nobles took one look at his face and stiffened, not knowing what to do.

"It isn't serious."

Lyssel said it shortly, as if to settle the southern nobles.

"At least not here in the south."

"Pardon? What do you mean by that?"

"Something's wrong with the forest. There wasn't a single high-tier monster — the ones that actually matter."

"What?"

"The monsters swarming the entrance are the weak ones. They've lost their footing and they're spilling out into the territories, but the high-tier ones — it looks like they've pulled up stakes entirely."

"That's even possible?"

A noble murmured it as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd heard.

"Monsters have ranks. The center of the forest is the kind of place that's packed with monsters even I can't touch lightly. And those ones — they don't attack first unless you provoke them."

"And monsters like that have come out…"

"Which means they'll be looking to carve out a new territory somewhere else. They've probably already moved. Honestly, it's better to give up the ground. Don't attack them under any circumstances."

Where they'd gone, no one knew.

The nobles looked lost for words.

"Before I went into the forest, I got the report that the monsters in the Argan region were retreating. Strange thing."

"How is that a problem, exactly? Do you have any idea what's behind it?"

"My guess is that the high-tier monsters are heading west."

"Hk."

"The south will be all right. They're moving to the west."

"Which means—?"

"Once we clean up the monsters at the entrance, the south won't have any more trouble from this."

That was the conclusion Lyssel had landed on.

The southern nobles were relieved on the count of their lands surviving, but a chill ran down their backs all the same.

They'd thought monsters were filthy creatures running on pure instinct, but didn't this suggest some level of reasoning?

The nobles realized it then.

Without Lecashe, the empire would already be overrun with monsters. Anyone who'd taken the field beside Lyssel could feel the weight of his strength firsthand.

Not one of them would ever again be able to throw around words like cursed or filthy with demonic energy about Lecashe.

---

Not long after the changes in the Forest of the World Tree were reported to the emperor, the monsters spilled into the west exactly as Lyssel had predicted.

Whatever you do, don't attack first!

Lyssel had warned them in advance, but the nobles were fools.

In the end, they poked the sleeping lion right in the whiskers.

The price was paid in lives.

Up to that point, the knights had been holding the line, just barely; now they were being swept away wholesale.

In the wake of the monsters, no living thing drew breath.

Even Cherity, who got the report belatedly, was thrown.

The scale of the losses defied estimating.

"Hah."

Cherity, serving as commander in the west, let out a hollow breath.

At this rate, god or no god, this place was going to be his grave.

The crushing defeat had broken the knights' morale, too. They had no fight left in them.

"His Majesty has sent an imperial edict."

He didn't want to die.

But he didn't want to throw a noble's pride aside either.

Cherity kept his composure and read the emperor's edict.

"…"

When Cherity didn't say anything, the nobles squeezed their eyes shut.

The order had to be all but a death sentence.

Die fighting there, or something to that effect.

If the west couldn't hold, the empire had no future.

No matter how much support was sent, who in the world was going to beat those monstrous things?

Was this how the Aleta Holy Empire fell?

The nobles bowed their heads, sick at heart. At the same time, they were already turning to thoughts of fleeing the country and gathering what they could of their wealth.

That was when Cherity spoke.

"Reinforcements. Grand Duke Lecashe is coming."

"Doesn't Lecashe have to hold the south?"

"The conclusion is that the trouble in the Forest of the World Tree triggered a great migration of the monsters."

"Which means—"

"Lyssel Lecashe can move. And the territory the monsters have chosen as their new home is here in the west."

The faces of the nobles whose lives were rooted in the west went white.

The south had fertile land to fall back on. The west didn't.

"So our west is going to become a land of monsters?"

One of the western nobles couldn't hold it in and burst out, full of grief.

Cherity understood the pain of it, but there was nothing he could say.

"How much ground we give the monsters — none of us know until we fight. Whose land it ends up being matters less than staying alive, doesn't it."

"Hk."

"His Highness the Grand Duke said for now, do not provoke the monsters."

"Are we not even allowed revenge? What about the people who lost their families, their homes — how do they get any of it back?"

"Lyssel Lecashe knows monsters better than I do. When he arrives, see that he has everything he needs. If anything happens to him, even dreaming about revenge is going to be off the table. I shouldn't have to tell you that."

Stripped of any hope of recovery, Lyssel was the only light left to them.

---

The emperor's order came down.

Lyssel had already decided to give up his noble title — there was no reason for him to obey an imperial command.

Accepting the commander's post to protect Iberin and being summoned to march west on the emperor's order were two completely different things.

This one cemented Lyssel's position as the emperor's subordinate.

"You're going?"

But he'd decided to go.

"Yes. He said that when I come back, he'll release Lecashe."

"Will he keep his word? It's a crisis — he might just be playing for time to get through it."

Iberin didn't trust the emperor.

Neither did Lyssel, but this was something he had to be present for.

"I hate that you're carrying all of this and giving everything up."

"Iberin."

"They haven't done a single thing for you."

In the original, Lyssel ended his own life.

The end of the world was unfolding much faster than the original — couldn't Lyssel die too?

She was scared.

"I'm not going to protect Aleta."

"What?"

"I'm going to protect you, Iberin."

"Oh."

"I hate it when you're in danger. I hate it when you're hurting. For that, there has to be peace. I don't like danger either. I don't want to die. I have to be alive if I'm going to be happy with you. So—"

"…"

"Don't worry. I'll come back in one piece. I promise."

"If only I were a little stronger."

It was one of those moments when she resented this body.

The transmigrated protagonists in novels always had something — strength or power, one or the other. And here she was.

A Grand Duchess title that was nothing but a label, and a body too frail to use.

"That wasn't meant to make you beat yourself up. Even for Ether — wouldn't he rather have a father who did what needed doing before leaving, instead of a father who ran from Aleta?"

"All right."

Lyssel looked like he'd made up his mind, and it was firm.

More than anything, it wasn't even the wrong choice.

"But you actually have to come back uninjured."

"Yes. I'll be as careful as I can."

Iberin let out a small sigh and curled into his arms.

Promises didn't stop the worry.

"Grand Duke!"

"Ether."

The news that Lyssel was leaving had clearly reached Ether too.

Tears streaming, he crashed into the office and launched himself bodily at Lyssel.

"Ngh."

The impact was hard enough that Lyssel let out a low grunt.

"Oh!"

Iberin, who'd reflexively dodged when Ether came flying, gasped.

Ether paid neither of them any mind and looked up at Lyssel with eyes welling.

"You're leaving?"

"That's how it's worked out."

"Don't go."

"I'm going."

He spoke gently to Iberin, almost coaxing — for Ether he was unrelentingly flat.

Ether's lower lip quivered and he burst into tears.

"Hngh. Everybody says the Grand Duke could be in danger!"

"Who's been saying that?"

"The village people…"

He must have overheard people whispering and gotten scared.

"That's not going to happen. Ether may not know it, but I'm strong."

"Pft."

The fact that Lyssel was declaring his own strength out loud was so funny Iberin couldn't help it — a laugh slipped out of her.

Lyssel cleared his throat, looking faintly sheepish.

"Anyway. I'm strong."

"Really?"

"Really. So don't cry. While I'm gone, Ether — you have to protect Iberin. We agreed on that, didn't we."

"That's right. We did."

"I'll be back soon."

"Okay!"

The firmness in Lyssel's voice seemed to calm him; Ether stopped crying.

Lyssel hesitated a moment. Then, carefully, he gathered Ether into his arms and patted his back.

"Be good while I'm gone. I'll be checking on it when I get back."

"Hngh."

The tears that had been ebbing came flooding right back.

Ether ended up dangling off Lyssel's neck, sobbing his eyes out, snot and all.

A little while later, Kal came in to say goodbye to Lyssel too. Rozelia couldn't show herself because of the priests.

---

And so Lyssel left.

Iberin decided she would simply, quietly, hold the place he'd be coming back to.

"Are the temple priests still hanging on?"

"Yes."

Even after almost all the forces had pulled out, leaving only a minimum presence behind, the priests still hadn't budged from Lecashe.

"Why?"

Before he'd left, Lyssel had said they seemed to be searching for something.

Had they not found it yet?

"My guess is it's because this is the safest place at the moment."

"What?"

"The capital isn't safe either, and the south has ended up being the most secure region."

"Hh. So they've stayed because they're trying to save their own skins?"