“Hee hee!”
A frivolous groan tore through the air in the barracks. Just a moment ago, Rosenit, who had been lying down like royalty in the sleeping forest, opened her eyes.
Bam!
The image of Rosenite sitting up with her upper body raised is just before drowning.
It was so urgent that she was just like someone who had just escaped from the water.
“Ugh, ugh..."
The heavy breathing didn't seem to stop. Rosenite's ruby eyes wandering through the darkness were filled with fear.
It was because a nightmare more intense and vivid than yesterday had taken hold of her mind and would not let go.
The nightmare was so horrific that just thinking about it made Rosenite shiver.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?”
“... Sir Millard?”
It wasn't just silence and darkness that surrounded Rosenite.
A lamb. In the darkness of the barracks, Silver's feet moved closer to Rosenit, clean and white as a moonbeam.
Slap!
Rosenite unknowingly opened her eyes and slapped Sylvestian's hand away.
This is because an unfamiliar illusion momentarily overlapped Sylvestian.
The vision was of a knight kneeling on the floor, looking shabby and miserable as if abandoned.
"Your Highness?"
"Ah."
An awkward silence flowed. The first to break it was Sylvestian, who had bitten his hand.
“Excuse me.”
Even so, it's been an awkward relationship lately.
Rosenite was at a loss in the uncomfortable atmosphere.
Then Sylvestian opened his mouth again.
“Your Highness, may I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Did you have a nightmare?"
It was an honest silence, no different from affirmation.
As we were warned early on, the nightmare here is a process of mental contamination that cannot be trivialized.
“Oh, I just had a dream about eating demon sausages. It’s nothing serious, so you don’t need to tell my sister.”
It was a lame excuse, no matter who saw it.
Because it's embarrassing to be caught with the fact that she has such weak mental power that she has nightmares.
No. Rosenite had long since given up on mental achievement. The reason was different.
'I don't want to tell anything to my sister!'
The rejection was strangely intense, almost desperate.
Fortunately, Rosenite kept her mouth shut.
The only person who could do that was her direct subordinate.
"...All right."
Sylvestian quietly lowered his eyes. As usual, there was a time when he would have tried to persuade Rosenit to change her mind. But today, he didn't.
“I will bring you some food since you are going to the market.”
“...If you bring me some sausage stew, I’ll spill it on the floor, so just know that.”
“Don’t worry, Your Highness. Other food is available.”
“Other food?”
Soon one of the Knights of the White Night brought her a bowl of food. It was stew again, but instead of sausage, there were pieces of cooked white stuff floating around.
“It’s fish stew.”
The shape was okay and the smell was familiar. Rosenite was immediately delighted.
“Are there fish here too?”
“They say there is a clear lake in the north.”
“Oh, she went fishing there?”
“Yes, Your Highness, I've heard from Lady Granice that the Seventh Princess personally dived deep into the lake to fetch it for you.”
Sylvestian's expression while mentioning Eve was gentle. On the other hand, Rosenite's face, which was about to take a spoonful of stew, hardened.
“Oh, my sister...?”
" Yes."
Rosenite's ruby eyes trembled slightly.
Her step-sister went into the water herself for her.
It is said that he even went fishing. However, in her dream, she was leading her sister to be immoral...
Shudder.
The tips of Rosenite's fingers lost their strength. The spoon slipped and fell back into the stew.
"Your Highness?"
“...I’ll eat it later.”
“If only to think about the feelings of the 7th Princess, take a bite..."
“I’ll eat later... Don’t worry about it and just go.”
“...Yes, I understand. Make yourself comfortable.”
Despite the fragrant and delicious smell, her appetite seemed to have diminished.
She still couldn't shake off the nightmare of her wickedness.
Sylvestian came out of the barracks and looked up at the sky. The time was now just past midnight, and the waning moon was hanging low in the eastern sky.
Here, beyond the gray barrier, even the moon seemed to absorb the turbidity. The light from the moon's imperfect form was unearthly, stirring the imagination.
He planned to sleep out outside the barracks like this.
Dandelion, where no light or sound had disappeared, was like a ruin. It was desolate.
There was no emotion in the eyes that scanned the scenery. However, there was a place that was captured in the eyes.
In an instant, his gaze was fixed and took on a dark light.
It was another royal barracks, the very place where Eve was staying.
A long exhalation came out muffled.
The longer he stares at Eve's barracks in his thoughts, the originally clear walls gradually become blurry, and loses focus.
Maybe some time had passed just like that.
The accumulated fatigue of the last two days hadn't caught up with Sylvestian. But the brief nap was no rest for Sylvestian. It was quite the opposite.
He came to his senses, but his chest, still suffering from the aftereffects, continued to rise and fall shallowly.
Sylvestian bit his lip and covered his eyes with one hand.
“Please... stop..."
It was a voice full of self-loathing.
Sylvestian, like Rosenite, was also haunted by nightmares.
His nightmares were just as vicious, if not more so: dreams too greedy for a virtuous knight to endure.
His heart was cold and his head was hot. His mind was gradually becoming exhausted at the thought of enduring the terrible night.
The next day.
Eve directed Dandelion's intermediate homunculus to work on woodworking and shellac extraction.
'Tomorrow at noon, the gates will open. I want the materials stacked up so that Lady Luciard and the craftsmen can begin work as soon as they enter Dandelion.'
This was because I had to think about how to clear a supply route to the area where the Dragon Ambroxa was sealed.
Just like yesterday, my group included several Dandelion residents, including Helione.
While moving northwest, I conversed with Helione.
“Chief, this is a bit late to ask.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Ask, or rather, inquire.”
“The day I came through the gate, Dandelion was attacked by a big enemy. Was it like this every rainy season?”
“That’s not it. This monster attack is an unusual thing for us as well.”
"Yes?"
“Yes. This is just a guess, but maybe there was something wrong with Ambroxa’s sealing stone.”
“Ah, the sealing stone. That seems likely.”
Sealing a Lord-class dragon required not only powerful magic but also a large facility to match.
To ensure that the seals would remain intact after the manpower was withdrawn, a device to keep them alive and a near-infinite source of mana were needed in place of humans.
Since magic is a discipline that mainly deals with phenomena, it is called a magic stone.
To connect and function with reality, alchemy had to act as a bridge in the middle.
'Alchemy is usually triggered by drawing a soft circle, but you can't climb mountains and hike through forests to draw a circle several kilometers in diameter to seal a demon dragon, so we created a sealing artifact.'
It is said that five sealing stones were used to seal Ambroxa. They were constructed in parallel so that if one was destroyed, the others would continue to function.
These sealing stones are said to be roughly pilasters, which were scattered around the Ambroxa and driven into the ground.
I looked around. Maybe it was my mood, but the forest seemed even more murky than yesterday.
'Is it because the village is protected by the World Tree?'
However, the village was not very clean. It was said that even the World Tree was only able to maintain the status quo by counteracting the negative energy.
On the other hand, the world tree seems to be getting stronger, so there is no need to think about it for a long time.
“Let’s change the purpose of our search. Let’s find the broken seal stone.”
So we ended up going deeper into the Dragon's Seal than we had originally planned.
Soon, all life forms in front of my group were extinct.
A barren, unseen rocky mountain stretched out before us.
The material appeared to be granite, and although it was heavily weathered, there were traces of human quarrying.
“It was used as a quarry when creating the Labyrinth Valley. It seems to have been forgotten as the Dragon was sealed and the surrounding area became more polluted.”
I decided to get closer to see if it could be used as a quarry again.
Roll, roll. Knock, knock.
Even though quarrying stopped a long time ago, the falling rocks and small pieces of dust were very dangerous. I thought it would not work.
I walked a few steps and then stopped.
But for some reason, I suddenly felt like my energy was draining away.
It was when I couldn't take a step forward and was holding my breath in my seat.
"Your Highness."
“Yeah, Michael.”
“Do you feel heavy?”
My eyes widened at the accurate diagnosis.
Looking back, it seemed that not only me but everyone in the group was in a similar state.
'You're saying this isn't just because I'm tired?'
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