Banquet (4)
The banquet, which was supposed to be marked by a major announcement from the Emperor, ended in chaos.
Reports of a monster as large as a mountain suddenly appearing naturally spread among the villagers.
How was one supposed to explain that to the residents?
He wanted to play it off as some kind of act for the banquet, but it was impossible to hide the deafening roar and the aftereffects of the destruction.
Given the sheer size of the monster, its existence was bound to become known not just to the villagers, but across the entire Imperial Court.
"How on earth are we supposed to clear away something this big, and in what century will it ever be done?"
A few days had passed since that incident.
Louis, staring at the corpse of the monster he had slain along with two other corpses, muttered under his breath.
The corpses were spread far apart, but such distance meant nothing.
They were so massive that it felt as if they were right next to each other.
"If we could've gotten rid of them, we would've done it already."
Silia approached, lamenting.
"It's not that we won't remove them, we can't."
What kind of person could clean up a mountain-sized thing in a few days?
Even if they relied on technological power, it would take at least a month at the very least.
"If Rio and I each picked one up and threw it somewhere..."
"You know that would just cause even more damage."
Of course, there were physical ways to clean up the corpses.
But if they used those methods, the destruction would be multiplied by the immense scale of the monster's body, resulting in only further disaster.
"Ugh~ How did things end up like this?"
Silia let out a sigh as she watched more and more people flock to the village.
The usually quiet Seifert Village had only grown this noisy because of those corpses no one could dispose of.
With reports that even an advanced-rank monster had appeared, the number of people coming to see for themselves had dramatically increased.
Thanks to that, there hadn't been a single quiet day in the village lately.
So many people would show up without notice, eager to touch those corpses, that they were short-handed in managing the town.
Things were calm now, so they could rest, but until just recently, it had been like the battlefield of the 7th Legion all over again.
"If things had gone normally, we could've just brushed this away as if nothing happened here."
"No way that would've worked. That incident happened in front of His Majesty, after all."
There was a reason they couldn't hide it even if they wanted to.
Of all places, it happened at the banquet for His Majesty's major announcement, so no matter how hard they tried to cover it up, it would inevitably rise to the surface.
"Still, it all turned out alright in the end."
"What's alright? I almost died trying to handle all those people who came flooding in because of this."
From Silia's perspective, it was a fair complaint.
While she usually watched over the kids at the orphanage, in reality Silia was officially appointed as a knight of this domain.
Devoting herself to keeping order among the people was not a choice, but a necessity.
"By the way, where did that Rio disappear to? She's responsible for this too, you know."
He commented about Rio, who had vanished suddenly today.
Since Rio was the one who had dramatically beaten down the monster, she couldn't escape culpability.
"If you mean Rio, she's off taking responsibility right now."
"Responsibility for what?"
"See those mountains over there, past the ridge?"
Rio pointed her finger in a specific direction, where there was a particularly odd-looking mountain range.
The mountains, stretching all the way to the horizon, had become massive valleys, carved as if with an enormous shovel.
Those were the mountains Rio had cut in half while subjugating the monster.
There had been farms and mines along those paths, and their owners suffered major property losses due to Rio's attacks.
To compensate, Rio was headed in that direction now.
"I hear there used to be villages there that held domain competitions. I can only imagine how big the damages are."
"I knew it—she can't handle it alone. Are you sure we shouldn't help?"
"She's grown up now. She has to learn to take responsibility for things like this by herself."
"You do realize that even most grown adults couldn't handle something like this on their own, right?"
"......"
Louis fell silent at Silia's rebuttal.
Then, naturally, he changed the subject.
"What about the two of you sealed in the Bloodline blade?"
"You heard them; they haven't come out at all, still stuck in those corpses."
At the time, Frederick and Mirianne had been greatly agitated after inspecting the monster corpses.
Weren't the culprits of this incident supposedly their old comrade?
"They haven't stopped investigating since that day."
"And what about the ringleader nobles?"
"They were all questioned, but said they remember nothing. Sure, they hated the elves, but they said they never had plans to do such a thing."
At that, the knights carrying out the interrogation threatened them not to lie.
But they really didn't know anything.
Aside from saying their head felt strange after seeing some blonde girl.
"A blonde girl?"
"That's the only clue. We don't know who she is, but it's certain she wasn't an ordinary person."
Summoning spirits that only reside in the demon realm as she pleased,
and even summoning an advanced-rank monster,
these were feats no one in the current Imperial Court could achieve.
"Then as the two said, it's possible she's a hero like them."
"......"
Louis could sense that their hard-won two-year peace was beginning to crack.
If an advanced-rank monster that should never have left the demon realm was suddenly summoned here, what else might happen?
It felt as if something ominous and unpredictable could happen at any moment.
"Um..."
Just then, someone approached and spoke to Louis.
"Hm?"
A young blonde girl, looking shy but mature for her age, had come near.
Eyeing her curiously, Louis asked,
"Do you need something from me?"
"Perhaps... have you forgotten me?"
"Huh?"
Forgotten her? What was this girl talking about?
"Do you know her?"
Silia standing beside him was also puzzled.
But even Louis couldn't explain the situation.
"I don't think... Huh?"
Just as he was about to say he didn't know, a sudden flash went through Louis's mind.
A buried memory shot up from the ground like a sudden jolt, making Louis snap awake.
"Ah... right."
In that instant, Louis looked at the blonde girl's face and said her name.
"Emily... was it?"
"You remember!"
The girl's face lit up with joy and she ran over to Louis.
She hugged him with all her strength and shouted,
"I missed you, husband!"
Emily's voice echoed among the nearby villagers.
"What?"
Of course, the words landed with perfect clarity in Silia's ears as well.
Not only Silia, but the whole village seemed struck dumb by those words.
****
"It was hell."
With her shoulders slumped, Rio was riding in the carriage.
After the last battle, Rio had smashed several mountains to pieces.
Luckily, there were no casualties, but the property damage was so extensive she had to deal with the aftermath.
"I'm exhausted..."
The madwoman-like persona she had when slicing up monsters was gone, replaced by a dispirited, shrinking girl.
It wasn't easy to go around apologizing and enduring curses at every turn.
Even if her body was fine, the verbal abuse wore down her mind.
Surprisingly, Rio's mental fortitude wasn't strong enough to withstand all that abuse.
"That's what you get for causing trouble."
Pram, sitting beside her, sneered at Rio's weakened state.
Irritated, Rio replied,
"If you'd come sooner to help, none of this would've happened."
It was a resentful complaint, but Pram stood tall.
"Do you even know how much mana I had to expend to warp you out of there? Think before you open your mouth, idiot."
"I'll kill you."
"Do you even have the strength to?"
"......"
Just as Pram said, Rio was worn out in both body and mind.
In this state, she felt she would even lose to a newborn.
"Damn it."
"Don't be too upset, miss Rio."
As Rio bit her lip, Princess Estelle, seated nearby, tried to comfort her.
The only reason they were even able to ride in this carriage was because Estelle was by their side.
"You took some harsh words, but still, everything ended safely, so you can relax now."
Having a princess with her meant the apologies and cleanup were quickly settled.
Unlike the Emperor, who returned to the capital, she had stayed behind to wrap up the aftermath of the incident.
In reality, her motive was to stay with Rio a bit longer, but she was genuinely helping with the cleanup, so no one could complain.
"And in the end, something good came of it. Didn't those villages on the other side stop their domain battle because they saw your slash coming?"
The aftershock of Rio's slash had stopped wars that would've risked lives and property for domain competition.
That single attack ended up saving many people.
"So cheer up. We'll be at Seifert Village soon."
"Yeah. I need to hurry and build the tombstones I brought back from the demon realm on the domain."
"Tombstones?"
"Yeah. For the graves of the friends who died in the demon realm."
Louis' squad was originally made up of ten, but only half survived, leaving just the current squad members.
Pram also remembered one of those lost friends.
"Dimo... he was a really good guy among us."
"Yeah. He was supposed to survive in my place."
If Dimo had lived, he would have been the Hero. Rio lived instead, so she always felt a sense of guilt.
"If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have made it out alive."
In the end, the young master had saved them at the last moment, but Dimo and the others bought them time until he arrived.
"First thing when we get back, I'll make those graves on the domain."
"Yeah. And then I'm going to rest in the young master's arms."
"I'll just have dinner with him."
At that, Rio and Pram started watching each other closely.
"I'm going first."
"Yeah right. Why are you fighting to cling to the young master, instead of just going to sleep?"
"Because that's how I get my energy back."
"Sorry, but I need to do the same to recharge, too."
Sparks flew in their eyes, and Estelle hurried to intervene.
"Calm down, both of you."
She tried to stop them, but inside, Estelle was not so calm.
Rio had always been obsessed with that boy, Louis.
Estelle had realized by now that her favorite girl caring for another would stir up jealousy in her own heart.
"How much do you two even care for Louis?"
"Uh... a lot."
"Yeah. Like, an awful lot."
Without hesitation, Rio and Pram answered, showing not a hint of embarrassment and proving their sincerity.
She was jealous—sometimes to the point of frustration, she felt jealous of how much of Rio's love was monopolized by Louis.
But thinking deeply about it only embarrassed her more.
Like how she was saved by Rio, Rio too was only showing the same devotion to Louis as Estelle once showed Rio.
Rio's obsession toward Louis mirrored Estelle's feelings for Rio.
In the end, Rio and Louis were the same.
Resenting Louis would be resenting Rio in turn.
"Then, I'll support you."
So Estelle resolved herself.
If it made them happy, she'd say "okay".
"But what if, one day, there's another girl clinging to Louis?"
At that question, the carriage's atmosphere suddenly chilled.
"What do you think?"
Rio and Pram radiated strong killing intent.
"I'll tear her apart."
"I'll twist her up and turn her to dust."
Estelle instinctively felt threatened by the lifeless glint in their eyes.
If she pressed them further, she figured she wouldn't survive.
"Okay, I get it..."
Estelle closed her mouth on instinct.
The carriage soon arrived at the Seifert domain.
"Huh?"
Estelle noticed something strange about the domain's atmosphere as they rode in.
She could hear the townsfolk gossiping and saw people clustering around a certain spot.
"What's going on?"
At the center of the commotion, Estelle sensed with her Mind's Eye that Louis and Silia were standing together.
And beside Louis, a stranger stood.
"What happened here?"
Estelle dismounted and approached a resident.
"O-oh... Princess."
"Has something happened?"
"Well... eek!"
The villagers recoiled in shock as soon as they recognized Rio and Pram.
They started fleeing or shrinking away like startled goldfish.
"Don't let Rio see that thing!"
"Are you crazy? If she sees it and blows up, we're all done for!"
"Keep your distance for now!"
The villagers scattered and whispered in a panic.
Rio and Pram stared ahead, wondering what was going on,
and saw Louis revealed as the people parted.
Standing right by his side was a blonde-haired girl, linking arms with Louis.
"My, husband. Are those your subordinates?"
Husband?
At the blonde girl's words, both Rio and Pram's hearts started pounding.
Estelle flinched, sensing danger from the pair.
"Then, let me introduce myself."
Whether she knew the situation or not,
the blonde girl spoke, introducing herself.
"Pleased to meet you for the first time. I am Emily, who was engaged to young master Louis when we were children."
With that greeting, the mood instantly froze.
It felt as if a corpse might end up on the floor at any moment.