Chapter 40
Northern front line.
Humanity’s final front line is where hundreds of people die every day, and more and more monsters are subdued.
“what?! What happened to Lady Areline?!”
For the first time in a long time, a loud voice rang out from the northern castle that stood in the center.
As a front line, the Northern Castle has become a place where people turning into puddings, puddings turning into human shapes and imitating them, and puddings suddenly exploding are all not that big of a deal.
The voices of the knights of the Saren Knights stationed in the northern castle trembled slightly.
“No, why would that young, cute, lovely girl fall down!”
“Idiot! What a bastard! Catch him and bury him in the North!”
“No, what? But did she really fall down? Why?”
“Did she even wake up? What happened?”
The knights had just finished a bout of brawling with the monsters when unexpected news hit them in the back of the head.
The knights’ spirits were turning to dust.
“I see. She’s down, but I don’t know the details.”
Jaren scratched his head.
Mehen had reported and hung up like it was an emergency call.
Jaren’s irresponsible remark ruffled feathers.
“No, Jaren, you bastard! You should have listened to that!”
“That’s right, Jaren, you’re an idiot. Do you want to die? Is this the big picture of Jaren wanting us to die for wondering?”
“Wooo, Jaren, know your subject and reflect.”
Jaren, who had suddenly been slapped, protested.
“No, Mehen, that bastard just reported and cut off communication! I can’t even get through to him! Is this my fault?!”
“It would be if you weren’t such to him.”
“That’s right, it’s all Jaren’s fault.”
“Anyway, it’s Jaren’s fault!”
“Why don’t you know the details, Jaren? Why are you so incompetent when our sweet girl is down!”
“Wooo. Die, Jaren, and apologize in death!”
“No, not these.”
Jaren and the Templars are about to have a showdown.
Ugh.
A shadow looms silently before them.
Reflexively, the knights stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the shadow’s owner.
“Lord?”
The Archduke of Halbern, who had suddenly appeared without a sound, pulled off his blood-soaked gloves. The gloves, soaked in blood that was not his own, fell to the floor with a dull thud.
His dull violet eyes took on an odd glow as he stared at Jaren and his knights.
“Explanation.”
The knights stiffened under the glare, and all of them shuffled their packs to the side.
“Uh, we don’t know much about it, and you’re the one who’s supposed to be liaising with the main body, right?”
“Not me!”
“Because of the chronic manpower shortage on the northern frontline anyway?”
“You’re deliberately putting me off, aren’t you?!”
“Oh, because you’re the deputy leader.”
“What’s so great about being a deputy?!”
Jaren was dissatisfied with the role of liaison that had been unknowingly assigned to him.
Just as the <Saren Knights 2nd Great Clash> was about to reignite.
“Enough.”
A cold voice warned.
A single word that simply cooled the embers of the burning discord.
“Don’t you all have something to do?”
Jaren winced.
It was a weak voice, but he could sense the underlying ‘if you don’t have one, I’ll make one’, and one by one, the knights slipped away, each saying something.
“Ah, my sword is lonely. It’s calling to me.”
“I hear a monster barking somewhere, I’ll go beat it up.”
“Man, it’s a beautiful day.”
“It’s night and you can see the weather?”
With the knights gone, Jaren found himself alone with Archduke Halbern.
Jaren was stunned.
“Well.”
“Explain.”
“Ha. It’s a simple one… Mehen told me that he went to play with Young Lady, and that’s where Young Lady collapsed.”
The prickling on his skin grew fierce. Jaren felt like crying.
“She hasn’t been up for days.”
When the Archduke of Halbern’s gaze fell on the knights who hadn’t been evacuated, they denied it with every fibre of their being.
“…Is that all we heard?”
There was no reply.
The Archduke of Halbern had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. He moved so fast it was hard to keep track of him.
“Is he gone?”
“Gone.”
“Phew. I thought I was going to get one.”
The knights shook their heads.
“But why is he in such a bad mood?”
“Oh, yes.”
“You’ve been a bit of a bully today.”
Jaren frowned at the chattering knights, feeling the same way.
Back inside the castle, Archduke Halbern held a communicator in his hand.
A direct line to Mehen in the capital’s mansion.
It hadn’t worked in a long time, and it glowed.
“Explain, Mehen.”
***
“What is it?”
The line went dead, and Mehen pondered.
The call came from a northern castle.
It was his Lord, who hadn’t spoken to him in a long time.
Mehen ran his fingers through his hair.
“I thought you were the least bit interested…”
He couldn’t help but think.
No matter how many questions and updates he sent, that’s all he got back.
How could I know if he was interested in his one and only daughter, if he had any affection for her?
– The next time she falls, tell me.
Archduke Halbern’s attention was immediately drawn to the news that Arellin had awoken safely.
However, he asked her to contact him if she falls again.
‘Is this just a whim? Or does he really care?’
Mehen, who prided himself on knowing the man known as Archduke Halbern better than anyone else in the world, sighed deeply.
“Hahh.”
A lingering lump in his throat left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Hah. My lord, I misplaced one of these…”
His arms twisted in a dirty way.
“That’s just the way it’s been since the day I entered this mansion.”
Even now, every once in a while, a flashback to his childhood.
The hand that had been offered to him as he wandered the streets with nowhere to go.
“Come with me.”
Mehen smirked.
“If you ask me to come with you, my lord, and you end up in a northern castle all alone.”
***
After Arellin awoke, life returned to normal at Halbern Manor.
The first thing Mehen did was to file a lawsuit against the Matap and House Faraltri.
“Mehen, your eye is dead.”
“Didn’t you always keep your mouth shut when it came to young women like that…?”
“Her eyes are smiling, but I’m afraid.”
The intensity of the pressure was enough to send a chill down the spine of the parenting group who had been watching Mehen closely.
Letters and gifts had piled up in Halbern from the Matap and Faraltri families, who were trying to wrap things up before the trial had even begun, perhaps as an unwitting release of stress.
“Save him.”
Even Arellin received a plea.
The outcome of the trial was, unsurprisingly, in Halbern’s favour.
He was forced to pay three million gold in damages to each of the Matap and Faraltri families, six million gold in total.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“We’ll send you the damages right away.”
Matap and Faraltri were relieved that the matter was over. In fact, they even thanked her.
“Yes. Originally, we were going to make a more substantial rip-off…”
Six million gold is a lot, but more?
“I had a series of additional suits lined up.”
Mehen smiled, but the others shuddered in horror.
“Since you’re okay with that, I’ll leave it at that.”
“…Uh, yeah.”
Arellin nervously took the cookie Mehen held out to her.
Mehen smiled gently when she saw the messy, tiny mouth munching away.
“Do you want more?”
“No. Finish this.”
Arellin shook her head, holding up the cookies in her hands. Wiping the crumbs from her cheeks, Mehen nodded.
“I put all the restitution I received, minus taxes, into your savings.”
“Eh? Why?”
“Because it’s all the reparations I collected for you.”
“Uh, uh…”
“Think of it as pocket money.”
What the hell is Archduke’s pocket money?
There was a murmur, but it didn’t reach Mehen.
“Is there anything you’d like to do? You’ve got a lot of pocket money.”
“Mmm.”
Arellin munched on a cookie, mulling over her decision.
It was cute to see her eating so well, so Mehen, the nursery group, and you piled on the desserts one by one, until there was no more room in Arellin’s bowl.
“What do you want to do…”
“If you don’t have one, you can tell me when you do.”
“No, I do.”
Arellin glanced back at Mehen and the nursery with a more determined gaze.
“Mehen bonus…”
“What?”
“I want to give you a bonus, Mehen.”
Mehen stiffened at the unexpected response.
“Go home, you didn’t make it, so you’ll have to take some more.”
“Uh…”
“So, financial therapy?”
He was cured by cuteness.
