Forgotten Fields - Chapter 236

He glared at the guard who could barely open his mouth and pressed him sharply.

"I asked what was wrong."

"Oh, big brother..."

Just then, a rough voice mixed with metallic sounds struck his ears.

Barcas turned his head and saw Raina sitting on the ground covered in dust, his face hardening.

"Why are you in a place like this?"

"Well, that's..."

His younger sibling, who had been sobbing with a pale face, lowered her head as if unable to continue speaking.

He grabbed his younger sister's shoulder with one hand and was about to interrogate him fiercely when the woman who had been kneeling and wailing in front of the pile of stones suddenly lifted her head and ran toward him.

"Your Excellency, the Grand Duke!"

Barcas looked down with frozen eyes at the face of the woman he had seen so often since his boyhood.

A woman with the blunt features characteristic of dwarf blood distorted into an unsightly mess wailed as she clutched at the hem of his blood-soaked clothes.

"Please help! Our young lady is trapped inside there!"

In an instant, a sharp ringing in his head pierced through.

He gazed at the mountain of building debris, feeling his field of vision rapidly narrow.

The sound of a woman's sorrowful wailing echoed into eardrums that felt muffled as if submerged in water.

"Your Excellency, please, please save my young lady! I, I beg you like this!"

He roughly pushed the woman away and approached the mountain of stones.

A pile of interlocking stones blocked the lower part of the building, appearing as if the entire outer wall had collapsed, and beneath it were stacks of debris from a staircase that looked as if it had fallen from the top of the castle tower.

He immediately bent down and lifted the huge block of stone blocking the building entrance.

Barcas felt spasms running from his shoulders to his arm and finger muscles, but he paid no heed; he pushed the debris of the building aside and cleared away the collapsed pillars and piles of stones indiscriminately.

The guards who approached him helped with the work by clearing away small fragments. However, Barcas could barely perceive their presence.

It felt as if all his senses were numb.

He could feel nothing, as if light, sound, and even the flow of time had frozen.

After he had been repeating the motion of clearing away stones over and over again, half-crazed, someone grabbed his shoulder.

"Your Excellency... blood is still flowing from your shoulder. You should treat your injury first..."

He roughly shook off a hindering hand and bent over the ruins of the castle tower again. Then, Barcas grabbed the bottom of the large stone pillar that had fallen on the floor and lifted it up. Something pale caught his eye.

Barcas stopped all movement and looked down at the pale face of the woman half-buried in the pile of stones.

Suddenly, his mind went black as if his thought circuits had snapped.

Pushing past him, who stood frozen in bewilderment without moving, the soldiers entered the building and hurriedly removed the pile of stones from her body. Then, they carefully dragged her limp body outside.

Only then did Barcas put down the stone pillar he was holding as if throwing it, and staggered toward her side.

The soldier, kneeling on the ground and checking on her condition, muttered in a mournful voice.

"...She is not breathing."

Before anyone realized it, a sorrowful murmur spread through the crowd that had gathered around the castle tower.

The man added in a trembling voice.

“She’s already passed away.”

The woman, who had slumped to the floor and was wailing, suddenly hugged her tightly and began to cry out even louder.

Raina, who had been standing there with a look of utter despair, also began to cry. It felt just like watching a bizarre and strange play.

Barcas stood motionless, silently gazing down at her pale face. As he did so, his vision gradually became strangely distorted. It felt as if the whole world had shattered into pieces.

Pitch-black darkness descends upon the world that has instantly faded to gray.

As if the sunlight had gone out. In the pitch-black abyss, he thought.

There will never be another morning.

The day when light dwells in his world will never, ever come.

***

The Grand Duchess's funeral was held over three days.

Amidst a ceaseless stream of mourners, a low funeral dirge echoed endlessly inside the cathedral, and flowers laid by the citizens of Kalmor piled high on the wooden coffin.

They all seemed to be sincerely mourning the death of the Grand Duchess.

Tears welled up in the eyes of the women who had lived with the Grand Duchess at Raedgo Castle for the three weeks of the siege, and the maids who had served her right by her side embraced each other and sobbed.

The guards, too, could not hide their grief. They seemed to firmly believe that the Grand Duchess had saved Kalmor. Most of them had clearly witnessed the sudden appearance of a pack of direwolves blocking the enemy's advance. It was the common opinion of the Kalmor security forces that had the wolf pack not appeared at every moment of crisis to hinder the enemy, the Kalmor security force alone would not have been able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Rumors even circulated in some quarters that the Grand Duchess might actually have been the incarnation of the Earth Spirit, Tiramer. And such an atmosphere of worshipful mourning spread throughout the city in an instant. Throughout the funeral, all taverns and markets in Kalmor were closed, and black flags were flown in various parts of the city.

However, even as the entire city was engulfed in grief, the Grand Duke showed not a single tear. He merely stood guard before the altar with a bloodless face, like a ghost. He looked just like a man who had been completely hollowed out.

The Grand Duke, who had stood silently like a statue until the final day of the funeral, returned to his duties immediately after his wife's coffin was buried behind the chapel of Raedgo Castle. Then, as if nothing had happened, he began directing the city's reconstruction efforts.

After a few weeks, Kalmor gradually regained its vitality. Hundreds of stonemasons flocked from all over the east to begin rebuilding the collapsed walls, guardhouses, watchtowers, and towers, and the sound of carpenters' hammers building new huts echoed through the ruined suburban villages.

Even on the fields once covered in blood and corpses, sparse weeds and wildflowers were blooming profusely, silently erasing the traces of war.

However, unlike Kalmor, which was gradually regaining its vitality, a gloomy atmosphere still hung over Raedgo Castle.

Edric Rubon, standing in line inside the eerily silent home, spotted the head maid with a grim face and cautiously spoke to her.

"I have come to see His Excellency the Grand Duke. Is he in his office right now?"

"Yes, His Excellency is conducting official business on the third floor."

The maid, having given a curt reply, left a brief nod and went straight into the kitchen. Scratching the back of his head, he soon turned around and went up the stairs.

As he passed through the dark hallway, two guards standing on either side of the door recognized him and immediately made way. Edric caught his breath for a moment and then knocked on the door.

"This is Rubon. Could you spare a moment?"

"...Come in"

As soon as permission was given, the guard quickly opened the door. Edric, who was striding inside, stopped involuntarily when he saw Barcas sitting behind the desk, looking at a ledger.

At first glance, he appeared no different than usual. However, Edric had noticed early on that he was growing gaunt day by day.

His face, which had noticeably lost weight in just a few weeks, looked even more sharply edgy, and the collarbones revealed between his collar were quite deep compared to before.

It felt like facing a blade sharpened to its absolute limit.

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