Chapter 251 - The Main Body’s Return
BOOOOOOOOM—
The Black Ship descended onto the Imperial landing platform.
The Skeleton Giant Horse and the Black Giant Castle continued advancing through the neutral zone, and only the Black Ship, which had the best mobility, temporarily broke away from the formation.
After landing safely at the Parfe Airship landing platform, the Black Ship waited for its master.
It was the master who had come to the Imperial Palace with it, only to be separated from it for a while.
Avoiding the dazzling morning sunlight and choosing the pitch-black night like the Black Ship, he slowly walked over.
The Head Maid waited in front of the Black Ship’s entrance with her hands politely clasped.
“My lord. It has truly been a long time.”
Dressed neatly in the Head Maid’s formal uniform, she was as composed as ever.
Had she recovered even more of her memories while he had not seen her?
She had already been like a shadow, but now she had become so stealthy that if she was out of sight, one might even question whether she existed at all.
“What do you mean, a long time? You must have seen my face every day through the Clone.”
“To me, it has been a long time. I can clearly feel that the Clone and the main body have different scents.”
“...You have not become stealthier. You have become sinister.”
“And the people behind you?”
There were two people who had come with him, but naturally would not follow him inside.
“General Raymond. I was much indebted to you.”
“Yes. From next time onward, please be indebted to me in moderation.”
“Is that so? Then I will be indebted to you next time as well. In moderation.”
“…….”
The thought that he had chosen his words poorly showed clearly on Raymond’s face.
Youngest Son laughed softly and turned his gaze aside.
“And Pale. Practice diligently until the next time we meet. I hope that time, you will shed not sweat, but blood.”
“...Of course.”
In Pale’s eyes, fighting spirit and a desire for improvement were evenly mixed. They were hot, as though different kinds of steel had been melted down and their thick molten metal stirred together.
It was the heat the Margrave wanted, and the heat Youngest Son would make use of one day.
Smiling with satisfaction inwardly, Youngest Son continued speaking.
“Tell the Margrave that I will send him a spear he will be satisfied with in the future.”
“I understand.”
“Then farewell.”
With the Head Maid beside him, he boarded the Black Ship.
RUMBLE—
The entrance sealed completely, and the Black Ship, which had landed for only a short while, rose once more.
Against the backdrop of the pitch-black night sky, it flew toward the direction of the setting sun.
Even seen from the vast city of Parfe, the enormous Black Ship became as distant as a star in the blink of an eye.
It was the same even when viewed from the Imperial Palace, the highest place in Parfe.
“…….”
The Princess watched its retreating figure until it grew farther and farther away and could no longer be seen.
After the Black Ship vanished completely, she looked next at the red Ice Flower he had given her.
In her spacious room, the Ice Flower garden had become the place she cherished most. If she considered not only her room but the Imperial Palace as well, then the back garden had become the place she cherished most.
The reason those places had become her most cherished ones was that Fifth Son of Millesdusk was deeply involved in all of them.
She had thought that even if she could not do so right now, if she lived busily, she would soon forget him.
Yet the insight she had inherited from her father, the Emperor of the Empire, worked even when she did not want it to.
“...Would that be impossible?”
She murmured alone in the empty room and let out a long sigh.
Whether she liked it or not, she had realized that she would never forget that man for the rest of her life.
***
After boarding the Black Ship, the first thing Youngest Son did was open the letters.
There were two letters in total. One had been sent by the Crown Prince. The other had been sent by the Chancellor.
Both letters had been delivered through Raymond, and he had looked surprised.
He had been startled not by the letter sent by the Crown Prince and stamped with the Imperial Palace seal, but by the letter sent by the Chancellor.
Then he had asked, with an utterly serious expression,
—What trouble have you caused this time?
I did not cause any trouble. Why did everyone interrogate me whenever something surprising happened?
Youngest Son read the Crown Prince’s letter first. That was because there was nothing particularly significant in this letter.
Of course, receiving a letter from the heir of the Empire was itself extraordinary, but not to a player.
RIP—
He tore open the letter and read through its contents.
[You became friends in just a few days.]
“He is someone worth making a friend of.”
[You are not that kind of person.]
Since he could not find anything in particular to say in response, he simply skimmed through the letter.
“The Emperor is trying to hand over the throne faster than I expected. Once the war ends, a new Emperor will soon be born.”
The main content was that he had been chosen to inherit the throne, and since there would later be a coronation, he hoped Youngest Son would support him even if he could not attend.
[You chose the right rope to hold onto. Your efforts will bear fruit sooner than expected.]
“I hope so.”
RIIIP—
Next, he tore open the Chancellor’s letter. He had asked the Chancellor for something.
-I delivered the cloth to the count and ordered him to find out everything related to it.
That single line was the end of the letter. But that alone was enough.
With a smile, Youngest Son burned both letters. The acrid smell lingered only briefly before the letters disappeared from the world.
“Count Baha. You will be sweating quite a bit over the next few days.”
If the other nobles groveled before Count Baha, then Count Baha groveled before the Chancellor.
Such a man had handed the culprit, who had not yet been revealed to the world, the tool of his crime and ordered him to find out what it was.
And so the count had to find out as quickly as possible how much the Chancellor knew and where he had obtained the cloth.
It meant he would become very busy from now on.
‘This will make it difficult for him to continue giving steady attention to the Main and the Black Cross Order.’
When one was busy to death putting out the fire that had fallen on one’s own feet, where would one find the time to enjoy a hobby?
‘While I am waging war against the West, I need to keep the Black Cross Order suppressed. I will clash with them after I have cleaned up the West.’
Having sorted out the relationships for now, he rose.
The Head Maid, who had been waiting outside the door on her own, perceptively asked,
“Will you go see Miss Josephine?”
“Yes.”
.
.
.
Josephine was handling the work he had conveyed through Clone Son.
Akiell was modifying the magic circle so that the Black Ship’s power source could be used to cast barrier magic.
Therefore, Josephine had to modify the power source so it could supply that power.
“For the past few days, she has not come out of the power room at all. She does not come out unless she is placing food dishes outside.”
In the midst of that, it seemed she was still eating regularly. That was like Josephine, and it was a relief.
Though he was a wicked employer, he did not want his employees working while starving. If they did that, it would only make things harder when he brought in new employees.
For the sake of the future, Youngest Son’s faction needed many talents, and then still more talents.
Josephine, who had laid the foundation for this greedy faction, was once again displaying her creativity today.
“Is the work going well?”
“Dante!”
At the sight of the face she had not seen in so long, a bright smile bloomed on her face.
Her long blue hair was tied up in a round bun, and her exposed skin glistened with sweat. The inside of the power room was exceedingly hot, so it could not be helped.
“W-wait!”
She hurriedly stopped Youngest Son as he approached. Then she spread a stream of water around herself and quickly washed her face.
With a sound like a middle-aged man washing his face, SPLASH SPLASH, water droplets flew everywhere.
Having maintained at least the bare minimum of cleanliness, she hurried over to Youngest Son.
“It has really been so long! It feels a little strange to say it has been a long time, but you are the real Dante, right?”
Her blue eyes carefully examined him to see whether he was the Clone or not. Even if she looked, there was no way to tell, but she looked closely anyway.
Youngest Son smiled faintly and nodded.
“It is really me, so do not worry. I came both because it has been a while since I saw your face, Josephine, and because I was curious whether the work was going well.”
“Ah, the work!”
Her expression brightened at once, and she grabbed Youngest Son’s wrist and pulled him along.
“See it for yourself!”
The Black Ship’s power room was humid and, as a result, very hot. The deeper they went, the hotter it became, but Josephine seemed to be enduring it well enough.
Perhaps it was because she always lived as though she were in front of a furnace.
“It is a little hot, is it not?”
“This much is fine.”
Youngest Son’s body, which had Fire Attribute resistance, was free even inside the power room.
“Would it be all right if I waited outside?”
However, the Head Maid did not have such resistance, so he sent her to the next employee.
“That would be best. Go to Akiell.”
“Thank you.”
When he went deep into the power room alone with Josephine, they entered a dome-shaped space.
In the center was a purple crystal orb. That object, larger than Josephine, was the Black Ship’s power source.
Even from where he stood, he could feel the powerful mana and Yin energy built into the crystal orb.
“Look at this!”
Josephine reached her hand toward the crystal orb.
A thread made of purple mana stretched from the crystal orb to her fingertip.
It meant that Josephine and the crystal orb were connected, and from that moment, many things changed.
“I thought there would be a limit to what I could do with my own modifications alone, so for the first few days, I made a dedicated magic circle with Mr. Tolan!”
“Mr. Tolan?”
“Y-yes. I ended up seeing his face often enough, and I did not want to keep calling him Master.”
“I see. What comes next?”
“This comes next!”
Josephine cupped both hands as if scooping up water. What rose above them was not water, but a purple magic circle.
“I named the magic circle ‘Sphere of the Polar Night’... but we cannot call it that every day, so Mr. Tolan and I just call it the sphere.”
“Does that sphere magic circle do what I requested?”
“Yes! I left an empty space so that the barrier magic circle Akiell modified can be applied, and the compatibility should be perfect!”
“You worked hard.”
“But there is also a drawback!”
The mage pushed the Sphere of the Polar Night magic circle with both hands and sent it into the air.
The magic circle, pushed along in accordance with her hand movements, received the mage’s signal.
SNAP—
When she snapped her fingers, the magic circle she had shown as an example wrapped around the crystal orb. Dozens of Sphere of the Polar Night magic circles were connected to each other, forming a shape that enclosed the crystal orb.
“As you can see, the magic circle that will operate will put a great deal of pressure on the power source! That is because it has to squeeze out that much energy!”
“The barrier range has to be wide enough to cover the entire Black Ship.”
“Yes, yes! So while the Black Ship is activating the barrier, high-speed movement like now will be impossible! It will probably become a little slower than the Skeleton Giant Horse.”
“I understand. This alone is an impressive result. You worked hard.”
Youngest Son raised his hand and gently brushed back her sweat-soaked blue hair.
“It must be dirty...”
“It is sweat that came from doing the work I ordered. If anything, I should be grateful.”
“Mm. Thank you.”
She nodded, then took one step away. Then, despite the heat, she even put on her robe and hood.
“D-did anything happen in the Empire?”
“Nothing significant happened.”
There had only been fighting the next Margrave because of the Crown Prince and the Margrave, meeting a Main, and persuading the Chancellor for the investigation into that.
Compared to what would happen from now on, those truly were insignificant matters.
“I am going to Akiell. Follow me if you are coming too.”
“I-I will wash first. It is too hot.”
“That sounds good too.”
It was so hot that her heart was pounding fiercely.
***
The neutral zone between the West and the Empire.
Once every three days, Cos came to the scouting unit to receive supplies, and they shared information with each other.
Of course, the information Cos brought was as useless as saying that today’s weather was clear.
However, her usefulness was fully accounted for by Wind Dragon Ventus beside her. It was thanks to the Wind Dragon that today’s weather could be clear.
“First Daughter. There is a report from the front.”
One member of the scouting unit handed her a note containing information along with the supplies. It was paper that would burn and disappear automatically once opened and read.
Cos nodded and immediately unfolded the note she had received. The option of reading it somewhere quiet did not exist for her.
It might have information concerning Fifth Son, so Cos wanted to check it at once.
And as expected, her guess was correct.
—The force presumed to be the Millesdusk main force will enter the neutral zone in one week.