“How did youuuuuu-ukh… come here?”
“I came by carriage, you silly thing.”
My grandfather, understanding my tearful and snot-filled words with perfect clarity, responded without hesitation.
“Benedict said something serious happened to you, so I hurried over. And now I see why.”
As he carefully examined my state, his expression darkened and he shouted in anger.
“Why are you so thin? Have they been starving you because I wasn’t here?”
“No way, my lord. Cherry eats very well.”
“Then why is she nothing but skin and bones?”
My grandfather easily dismissed my toned muscles, treating me like I was nothing but skin and bones.
However, given his large, muscular frame, no one could argue against his words when they saw me in his arms.
After all, anyone held by my grandfather would look frail.
“Feed her right now!”
Hearing my grandfather’s thunderous voice, I couldn’t help but laugh. There’s a saying that when you laugh after crying, something strange happens, but I didn’t care about that—I was feeling on top of the world.
Rubbing my face against his broad shoulder, I murmured softly.
“Dad, you’re the best…”
This much of a gift was enough to cover up the slap to the back of my head from earlier.
“Cherry has already eaten! Stop making such a fuss the moment you arrive.”
“You say she’s eaten, but you’ve raised her so weak that she’s only bones now.”
“Our Cherry isn’t all skin and bones! She looks just perfect!”
As usual, my mother and grandfather bickered.
Back when Aunt Diana disappeared, the two had a big fight, but they had since reconciled.
My mother had come to understand why my grandfather couldn’t provide any explanation regarding Aunt Diana’s disappearance, and she had apologized and made peace with him.
That was a huge relief for me.
“Since you’ve returned after such a long time, why don’t you and Cherry have a sparring match?”
As always, my dad was the one to put an end to my mom and grandfather’s verbal battle. His gentle voice lowered the volume of their argument.
“Hmph. Should Grandpa face off against you after all this time?”
“I’d love that!”
I was already on the brink of going mad from wanting to hold a sword. And now, to spar with my grandfather, a Sword Master no less? It was an opportunity money couldn’t buy.
“I’ll get changed and grab my sword!!!!!!”
I jumped out of my grandfather’s arms and sprinted towards the training ground. There was no time to waste.
***
The words Cherrya shouted as she left echoed loudly like a reverberation throughout the Emblem residence. Smiles naturally appeared on the faces of those left behind.
“Hahahahaha! Her voice is just like mine.”
Seffield Emblem let out a hearty laugh as he looked fondly at Cherrya’s retreating figure.
Even though they were far apart and couldn’t meet often, his love for his granddaughter only grew stronger by the day.
Sometimes, he was even tempted to abandon everything and live a peaceful life watching his granddaughter’s antics, a desire that often crossed his mind.
Understanding her father’s feelings, Melsia hugged him and said,
“You always said she inherited your competitive spirit.”
“Well, that’s how my granddaughter should be.”
“She’s my daughter, you know.”
The father and daughter shared their joy in this simple exchange.
As Cherrya disappeared down the now empty corridor, Seffield commented,
“Cherrya seems fine. Benedict contacted me so urgently that I thought she had given up on swordsmanship.”
“I was overly worried. I’m sorry.”
“If you thought it was serious enough to call me, then it wasn’t an overreaction at all.”
He patted Benedict’s shoulder a few times as if to tell him not to worry.
“Benedict, you must have worked hard to keep her from collapsing.”
“Cherrya is a strong child.”
“She’s strong because you raised her that way.”
“…….!”
At Seffield’s words, Benedict smiled as if a flower bud was blooming. Seeing that smile directly, Seffield cleared his throat. His earlobes turned red.
“So, what do you think, Melsia?”
Melsia, whose father had stolen Benedict’s bright smile from her, grumbled in response.
“What’s about?”
“Do you think Cherrya can continue to move forward?”
“Well, of course…”
Melsia started to answer confidently but trailed off as if something had come to mind.
It wasn’t typical for Seffield to ask detailed questions about Cherrya’s abilities.
His usual concerns only extended to whether she had defeated or lost to Gray.
“Has something gone wrong?”
Melsia’s words, as if she had sensed something, prompted Seffield to nod heavily in resignation.
“So, it seems your instincts have sharpened after being a Duke for so long. The Crown Prince’s merchant group has been wiped out.”
“………!”
This news had not been made public yet. Both Melsia’s and Benedict’s faces hardened at the same time.
“His Highness, the Crown Prince—Is he safe?”
“I just came back from seeing His Highness, who barely escaped with his life. He is unharmed.”
“………”
For now, that was fortunate. There was nothing more important than the Crown Prince’s safety. However, the fact that only the Crown Prince survived meant that everyone else had perished.
“In this incident, thirty soldiers responsible for the escort, the vice leader of the Lian Merchant Group, and two of the Crown Prince’s knights lost their lives.”
“…Servin and Roston…”
Melsia let out a painful groan and covered her mouth with her hand. The Crown Prince’s knights were all former members of the Emblem Knights, sent to guard him when she was appointed as the leader of the knights.
“The fact that His Highness had disguised himself and joined the group was directly supervised by His Majesty. How did this information leak? Who attacked them?”
“…It wasn’t human.”
“What?”
“The ones who attacked the Crown Prince and the Lian Merchant Group were monsters.”
At Seffield’s words, Melsia shook her head in disbelief.
“Servin and Roston were exceptional knights. How could they not protect His Highness and the group from monsters…?”
“There were hundreds of monsters.”
“……..!”
It was unbelievable. The area through which the Crown Prince had been leading the group, the Lowes Mountains in Baron Cortis’ territory, was a place where merchant groups frequently passed.
“Thanks to Servin and Roston, His Highness was able to buy time to escape. They wanted to go with him, but they decided to stay behind, as they said that if the monsters were to break out of the mountain range, it could lead to even greater sacrifices. That was their final message.”
“…How could hundreds of monsters appear in the Lowes Mountain?”
It was located near the center of the empire’s territory, a place where hundreds of traveling merchants came and went each day. As a result, large-scale monster exterminations were regularly conducted, making it considered the safest area.
Since this was the route the Lian Merchant Group had to pass through, even the emperor had allowed the crown prince’s secret journey.
“When I arrived, the Shadow was barely holding on.”
“What about the others’ bodies…?”
Seffield shook his head heavily. Melsia squeezed her eyes shut.
“The Lian Merchant Group is not the only one that has been annihilated by monsters. There have been other witnesses as well, and His Highness will soon have no choice but to make a decision.”
“No way…”
“He will likely order the extermination of the monsters in the Lowes Mountains.”
At Seffield’s words, Melsia and Benedict’s faces stiffened.
When it comes to extermination was vastly different from the royal hunting competitions where monsters were released to be hunted.
Historically, more knights had lost their lives in monster exterminations than in wars—it was a perilous task where life and death could change in an instant.
“Cherrya will be assigned to the monster extermination in the Lowes Mountains.”
Nooo!!!! Just not Cherrya