CHAPTER 177
Inside the barracks, four royals gathered and sat around a wooden table.
The personal knights stood upright behind each royal’s chair, quietly fulfilling their roles.
“Begin the report, Eve.”
Brigitte, acting like an elder sister, used an arrogant, commanding tone as if handling an underling.
Eve resolved that she had to become Crown Princess as soon as possible—if only because she couldn’t stand looking at that.
“Yes. Then I will speak about the monster attack and the situation at the outpost.”
Eve explained, neatly and clearly: how they’d held off the monster legion, the extent of the village’s damage, the state of stored supplies, and the search activities they’d carried out over the last three days.
Of course, she omitted both the part where she used the Silver Thread Arachne when defeating the monster legion, and the part where she discovered the black-gold mine.
Even though she’d left out two stories that important, there were still things left that were shocking enough to make Brigitte and Derrick’s eyes go wide.
“What did you say? Did you just say the World Tree Yggdrasil?”
“I-is it true? You found a branch of the World Tree and planted it?”
Eve nodded calmly at Brigitte and Derrick, who pressed her sharply.
“Yes. Fortunately, we succeeded in taking a cutting, and it’s grown big and beautiful. As you know, Brother Derrick, I’m rather skilled in everyday gardening magic.”
As if a bad memory of nearly being buried alive surfaced, Derrick’s face went pale.
Eve continued with a gentle smile.
“In that sense, I’m thinking of naming this land Yggdras.”
“Considering the name is something to do after it’s confirmed that the tree you planted really is the World Tree.”
Brigitte put forward a cautious stance, revealing her displeasure. For her, it was natural.
The World Tree Yggdrasil was a legendary artifact comparable to the Philosopher’s Stone.
If the fact that Eve had successfully grown such a thing were reported to the Imperial Palace, it would surely be recognized as a greater merit than discovering Galamut’s Tail magic-stone ore.
‘Ha! To think there was a World Tree in a useless frontier like this. If I’d known, I would have found it first!’
Brigitte lamented inwardly.
Wasn’t she the one who, right after Eve discovered the magic-stone ore, had fallen from an unshakable first place to a wavering first place?
There was no way she could welcome Eve earning even more merit.
No—beyond not welcoming it, she clearly wanted desperately to stop it.
‘Wow… Noona’s eyes are scary.’
Sure enough, Brigitte’s eyes right now were, at a glance, the eyes of someone weaving a sinister and terrifying scheme.
In her head, she was surely reviewing about thirty-one ways to harm Eve and steal the credit.
They were sisters who could never smile together under the same sky.
So there was no need to be newly terrified. Eve smiled faintly and said what she wanted to say.
“When the meeting ends, I will guide you to the World Tree immediately.
With Betty Noona’s discernment, you’ll recognize the World Tree at a glance, won’t you? Your guarantee will be good reference material for Father.”
It was provocative content that didn’t match her mild face.
Because it meant: even if Brigitte tried to tamper with the World Tree’s authenticity just to stop Eve from earning merit, Emperor Desmond II would only use Brigitte’s opinion as a reference—so don’t bother with pointless effort.
“Seeing how boldly you speak, it seems it isn’t an empty boast. Continue the report.”
“Understood.”
From here on, it was the truly important part.
Eve informed them that this monster legion’s attack had been unusually powerful.
And she also shared what she suspected was the cause of the situation.
“We suspect that something has gone wrong with one of the five seal stones used to seal the demonic dragon Ambroxa. At present, the village is suppressing the miasma with Yggdrasil’s power, but in places far from Yggdrasil, we have observed the miasma thickening day by day.”
“An ill omen.”
“If things continue like this, harm will come in many ways. The monsters, grown more vicious, will run rampant, and the number of people having nightmares every night will increase. Above all, there is the danger that the unstable seal on the demonic dragon may be undone.”
“That’s right. The seal stones are connected in parallel, designed so that even if one fails, the others continue functioning. But because of that, the remaining four seal stones are overloaded. We must hurry before another seal stone breaks.”
At times like this, it helped that Brigitte’s fiancé’s house was the Marquessate of Jinvellteor, which made its fortune in magical military weaponry.
Eve and Brigitte were able to continue discussion and reach agreements quickly.
Eve unfolded a map of the demonic dragon’s land—no, of Yggdras—and explained while pointing to key locations.
“The first seal stone was found at the quarry.”
“Based on the sealing site, we can infer the spacing.”
“That’s only if it stayed in its original place. And the first seal stone was easy to find quickly because there were no obstacles blocking the view, but I can’t guarantee the others will be. Outside Dandelion, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s all dense conifer forest.”
“Taking everything into account, we’ll set the search period at one week. We’ll divide the area around the sealing site into four sections and assign each knight order to one section.”
“Divide into four… is that what you mean?”
At Brigitte’s decision, Eve lowered her eyes, and Rosenitte flinched.
Because it meant the Baekya Knights would also be assigned a search mission.
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
The one who spoke up was Eve.
She didn’t particularly intend to accommodate Rosenitte, but she also didn’t want to assign work to an unqualified person and have it turn into a disaster.
“By imperial protocol, outside the Palace, it is the principle that a personal knight must always accompany a royal within a certain distance. As long as Baekya is bound by the relationship of knight order and commander and royal, they have no choice but to move with Rosie. Therefore, I think it would be better to assign the Baekya Knights to the outpost defense duty.”
But Brigitte was firm.
She even produced a solution as if she’d spent the past three days thinking about nothing else.
“There are exceptions in every law. As the senior royal and supreme commander, I intend to apply the rules of the ‘Demonic Beast Hunting Contest’ to the dispatch party.”
“…Ah, I see. There was that option.”
“Yes. In any case, this search mission also doubles as monster subjugation, does it not? Treat it as a kind of hunting contest, and I will temporarily allow the royals and personal knights to move individually.”
Eve didn’t agree immediately. She fell into thought.
However, Brigitte moved quickly, as if she wanted to ram it through.
“Any objections, Rosie?”
Brigitte asked Rosenitte—not Eve.
As if the final decision lay with her.
Meanwhile, behind Eve, Mikael glared at Rosenitte and shouted with his eyes.
‘Answer that you object, Eighth Imperial Princess.’
If the rule was applied, it would become possible for Eve and Mikael to be separated as well.
Given the tense standoff between the two candidates for succession, this was not a desirable situation.
Of course, the odds of Rosenitte helping Eve and Mikael’s lives were extremely low.
“Yes, no objections. Why couldn’t I? I’ll tell Baekya to participate in the search too.”
“Yes. That’s how it should be.”
Seeing Rosenitte snap back as if to prove she could do it too, Brigitte smiled with satisfaction.
Eve decided to allow it, for now.
Because the math wasn’t bad.
‘If we’re applying the hunting-contest rules anyway, I should use Noona and Brother to wipe out a whole lot of monsters.’
Eve planned to lay down numerous roads—under the pretense of supply routes—across land cultivated so well that the monsters’ very seeds would dry up.
An excellent transportation network would accelerate the development of Yggdras territory in the future and enrich the lives of Dandelion’s residents.
Just thinking about it was so rewarding that a smile naturally formed on Eve’s lips.
The meeting concluded after assigning each knight order its search sector and deciding the rotation for outpost defense duty.
The full-scale search would begin tomorrow.
Now, with the meeting over, it was late afternoon—an awkward time to enter the forest.
Besides, Brigitte and Derrick, newly arrived in Dandelion, had their own things to do, and Eve—who had joined up with the Lucchiad Construction Company—also had plenty to do in her own way.
When they stepped out of the barracks, Village Chief Helione and the landlord Morien offered greetings to Brigitte.
Brigitte said the timing was perfect and, instead of Eve, ordered them to explain the village and guide her to the World Tree.
“Phew, it’s over.”
Only Eve and Mikael remained in the barracks.
It seemed fatigue had caught up to Eve after dealing with Brigitte. She sank deep into her chair and let out a low sigh.
Mikael naturally placed his hand at the base of her neck.
“Ah.”
Startled, as if it might be sudden, intimate contact, Eve flinched—only to find his gentle hands beginning to knead her shoulders.
While Eve secretly felt embarrassed by where her thoughts had gone, Mikael continued massaging and suggested:
“How about getting some rest?”
“Mmm… If Anais isn’t outside, that means she’s in a meeting with the master builders, right?”
“Seems so. You can tell your heroic tale later—at dinner.”
“Ah, right. Dinner.”
Thanks to Mikael’s words, an important problem came to mind.
She needed to reveal that Dandelion’s staple food was demonic-beast sausage.
For some reason, it sounded entertaining to imagine demonic-beast chewy intestines going into Brigitte’s mouth—but when she thought about having to feed Anais too, she felt a surge of self-reproach.
“Ah… I didn’t bring Anais here to make her suffer like this.”
“She might eat it surprisingly well.”
“Was it edible for you, Mikael?”
“…I’m thinking of it as a tonic that’s good for stamina.”
The very line he’d used to keep Eve’s mind together came out unchanged.
It seemed it was also Mikael’s own self-hypnosis.
Eve gave a small laugh and said:
“Right. When we return to the Imperial Palace, it’ll be no joke—so let’s eat a lot while we can.”
“I’m looking forward to that.”
Mikael bent at the waist and lightly bit Eve’s ear rim with his lips.
At the sudden ambush, Eve was briefly startled, but she quickly regained her composure.
Then she tilted her head and pressed her lips to his in a quick kiss.
“An ambush for an ambush.”
“Is it just my imagination? Sometimes I think your reaction speed isn’t bad.”
“Only when it comes to you, Mikael.”
Whatever the context, the word “only” was sweet.
Eve and Mikael exchanged smiles.
After a moment, Mikael looked as though he was reluctantly preparing to pull away.
He still had the task Eve had given him earlier.
“Then I’ll go look into the nightmare issue.”
“Mm. Go on.”
With Eve seeing him off, Mikael left the barracks.
Left alone, Eve neatly folded the hand she’d been fidgeting with and sank deep into thought.
Now she had to resolve Sylvestian Millard’s issue.