Ch-106: Queen Maker (6)

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Katarina's sword dance was impeccable.

Sometimes heavy, sometimes fast.

Her ever-changing sword dance can deal with a variety of opponents.

If there is a problem, it's Katarina herself using the technique.

"You must have felt so in yesterday's combat, but you are not using your skills duly."

No matter how excellent a technique is, if used without thoughtfulness, it is worse than a run-of-the-mill horizontal slash used at the opportune timing.

The sparring between Katarina and Neria the day before yesterday was staunch proof of that.

Katarina jutted out splendid sword dance moves from beginning to end, no doubt, but she couldn't even scrape Neria's skin. On the other hand, Neria subdued Katarina with minimal movement, not even her brilliant skill set at use, even throwing away her shield and sword.

This is the difference between knowing how to use your skills properly and not to.

"There's nothing better than gaining experience through actual combat to get the gist of it."

I slapped three sheets of parchment on the table.

Shedia, Neria, and Katarina's gazes were fixed on the parchments.

""

"What are these?"

"Maps marking the location of dungeons."

I answered Katarina's question.

Inside the dungeons marked on the map, lay the weapons of epic proportions once used by the Heroes of the Kingdom of Prona, now inert.

Something they told me themselves, so there's no doubt about it.

'I couldn't get hold of an answer to my question as to why they'd made dungeons to hide their weapons.'

It's stranger when you think about it now, but at that time, maybe it was for the best?

Regardless, it will be easier to level up Katarina, so it was not a bad outcome.

"The three of you can form a party and explore these dungeons."

"The three of us? You aren't coming?"

"I have to keep my hold here. I am the only one who can deal in case of any unexpected situation."

"But…"

She knew the state of the city, so Katarina, despite herself, kept herself from expressing her exasperation.

I smiled and spoke.

"I have prepared all the equipment and consumables necessary for dungeon exploration, just load them up. Listen carefully to Neria in the dungeon. She knows more about dungeons than you do. Neria, you are the leader of this party. Take good care of the two of them."

"…alright, leave it to me."

Neria nodded her head.

Everything after that happened quickly.

They packed up their belongings and headed out for the dungeons. I looked at the backs of the girls leaving the city and spun around.

The spot where my steps halted was in front of a large building located in the center of the city.

Building belonging to a guild, the owner of which and all of his family members had died during the Heavenly King Incident, and so the building was unoccupied. Past tense.

We were currently using this place as a temporary administration hub.

When I opened the door and walked in, I could see piles of documents and people reviewing them, milling around here and there. These are people who originally worked for this guild, and we hired them temporarily when they lost their jobs.

They knew how to read and write, as they were the ones who worked for the upper strata.

"Ah, Hero?"

The one spotting me was a woman carrying loads of paper as she bowed her head.

"What are you doing today?"

Anxiety flickered in the quailing eyes.

I waved my palms.

"Don't worry, I didn't bring you a new assignment. I just came to see Leslie."

"Is that so…"

She breathed a sigh of relief.

I couldn't find in her the fresh impression when we had first met.

I could only see the face of a salary man who was tired of overtime.

Ooh, look at those dark circles.

Poor lady was definitely not a zombie.

"If it gets hard, take a short break and do it. If you work without rest, you could die from overwork."

"This is what you brought me yesterday."

She pointed her chin at the heavy pile of papers she was carrying. The pile of stacked papers reached from her belly button to the chest.

"Your sacrifice will be remembered, comrade."

I patted her on the shoulder and made my way upstairs. I felt a stinging gaze from behind, but I ignored it and opened the door to the room where Leslie worked.

"Whoever came in without knocking, rude is… Oh, if it's not Mr. Cloud."

The furrowed brows relaxed when they found me.

I tilted my head at the pile of papers piled on her desk.

"The amount of documentation seems to be the same as yesterday, do I assume it to be a hallucination?"

"No hallucination for you, only unending work for me. Whenever I finish one, a new one comes in."

Leslie said, rubbing at her dark circles with her fingers. Because of her pure white skin, her dark circles stood out distinctly.

"Looks like there's more work than I thought."

"Yes. From the money to be donated to the church, to the money to be assigned to the citizens who have become homeless, to the money allotted into rebuilding the city. Just sorting the budget… there are so many popping up that I feel like I'm going to explode, but with complaints coming in… I have no time to rest."

"Are there complaints coming in?"

"Yes. These are complaints from citizens, most of whom were wealthy. Aren't they the ones who suffered the most this time around? As a result of that, they are forced to incorporate themselves into the working class dependably, so there are begging us to do something."

Perhaps her head hurt, Leslie sighed and pressed her temples.

"May I help you?"

"If you do, I will be grateful. Would you like to sit next to me?"

"Sure."

I pulled a chair and sat next to Leslie.

As I turned my head to ask what I could do, her soft redness pounced upon my lips. Before I could react, her tongue squeezed in.

– Chep… Chewp… Churp…

"Haa… I feel like my head is clearing up a bit now."

Leslie parted her lips and put on a look of satisfaction.

"Is this what you were asking for help with?"

"Yes. Sitting next to me and giving me your lips whenever I want. Isn't it so? My 'salary'?"

"…yeah. Do whatever you feel like."

As I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender, she smiled and pressed our lips together again.

– Chewp…

After another long kiss, she lowered her face and licked the nape of his neck.

"Come to think of it, Katarina-san isn't here today, right? She's not going to be around for a while."

"Yes?"

"Then, won't it be alright if I sleep next to Cloud-sama today?"

"Why is that?"

"Well, we can't touch the subtle boundaries of the drawn line without being caught by Katarina-san, right? So, today's just the day! Whew. I am eagerly awaiting today's sunset."

Leslie spoke as if it were a done deal that we were going to sleep together tonight. I was about to say something, but shut up when I saw the pile of papers on the desk and the dark circles under her eyes.

Noticing that, she chuckled.

"It was a nice stroke of luck to accept this job."

Her arms wrapped around my neck. Just when her pink lips were coming close once again.

– Tuck.

Someone knocked outside.

"…Who is it?"

Leslie's voice flared with annoyance.

The person who knocked, as if taken aback by her, trembled.

– Me, Meria. It's Meria.

"I'm busy right now, so if it's not relevant, would you like to come back later?"

– Well, it seems like something important to me…

"What is it?"

– The princess has returned… But as soon as she arrived, she declared that she won't inherit the throne…

She said so even after taking a look at the city?

It seems that the princess is only grown up and not mature.

"Cloud? Where are you going?"

"To meet our princess."

The medicine of maturity, I'll have to find it.

* * *

The morning after the Heavenly King was subjugated.

– The Hero, Cloud, vanquished one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Creas, to nothingness.

Pope and the Saintess Candidates received an oracle with unbelievable particulars.

Of course, the Holy See was turned upside down.

Although the Four Heavenly Kings are under the command of the Demon King, they are one of the absolute rulers of the Demon Realm.

The rulers of the Demon Realm who reign only through strength, not cause of law, wealth, or politics.

It was hard to believe that such an existence was defeated by a single Hero, and by Cloud alone.

However, they did not dare to doubt the oracle, so the Holy See announced it to the Continent before sending an investigation team.

The Hero, Cloud, had annihilated a Heavenly King.

One of the giant threats hazarding the continent had disappeared.

After hearing the news, Lorian, the Crown Prince and the Hero of the Kingdom of Carta, sent for his retainers and commenced an assembly.

However, Lorian, who had initiated the assembly, was silent with a serious face; the vassals couldn't help but get nervous as they watched.

After a while, Lorian opened his mouth.

"Do you guys think that Frillite can dispatch a Heavenly King by herself?"

Why was Frillite being mentioned all of a sudden?

The retainers were puzzled, but soon began to think seriously.

"…It's hard to predict."

Someone said, and the other vassals nodded in agreement.

They knew that Frillite was a strong Hero.

It was known that she had subjugated the Ogre alone while the Lorian's party was incapacitated.

But she wasn't an open book to know exactly where her limits were.

They knew that the Four Heavenly Kings were gigantic evils that threatened the continent. But they didn't know how threatening such a monster was.

They did not dare to express their opinion because they lacked all the critical information on the subject to compare.

Lorian also nodded in understanding and asked another question.

"Then do you think Frillite is weaker than Cloud?"

Silence ensued again.

However, unlike before, the vassals shook their heads one by one.

Everyone admitted that lately Cloud had become a changed person.

However, comparing him to Frillite was different.

She was fundamentally different from other Heroes.

Comparing him and her was like comparing a just-turned adult dragon to a thousand-year-old elder dragon.

At least they thought so.

"That would mean that something is there. Whatever it is, if it's enough to defeat a Heavenly King, it won't be easy. What do you guys think?"

"I think what the prince said is right. It would have been impossible to defeat a Heavenly King through ordinary means."

"I've heard that the location where the Heavenly King descended was Lupus, the capital of the Kingdom of Prona. There is a high probability that it died there too."

"Anyway, the Kingdom of Prona is going to be in turmoil. Great."

Lorian smiled and ordered his vassals.

"Please ask all the lords of our Kingdom to mobilize an army within three months. Our army will head for the Kingdom of Prona."

The vassals gaped at him, astonished.

"To the Kingdom of Prona? The Empire won't stand still if we do so without justification."

"There is a justification. Isn't the harvest day coming just yet?"

Harvest day.

Once a year, a large army of Orcs travelled around the Kingdoms to receive food, a festival-like event for the Orcs.

"It's time to sort that out, too. We will head to the Kingdom of Alitia to stop the Orcs. We can ask the Kingdom of Prona to open the roads to the Kingdom of Alitia."

"Ah..!"

The eyes of the vassals shot up.

"Certainly, if that is the case, the justification problem is resolved. And if there is a justification and the Kingdom of Carta starts to move, other countries will not stand by. The Empire will be no different… Eventually, the Kingdom of Prona will be absorbed by other countries."

"In the end, it's a race against time. Please do your best for the prosperity of the Kingdom of Carta."

– Understood, Your Highness!

The retainers bowed their heads and scurried out of the meeting room.

Lorain, left alone, leaned back in his chair and recalled the face of that unlucky bastard.

'Cloud… I still can't forget the insults I received from you.'

He probably won't be able to forget it in the future.

So why not return a double of it all.

Lorian's teeth grounded agai—

– Thuk!

"Brother! Is it for real — you are going to the Kingdom of Prona?!"

Lorraine bust in, spurring the doors of the conference room open. Lorain was slightly surprised, but he replied calmly.

"Yes. Is there any problem?"

"No. There is no such thing as a problem. Yeah, so… When are you planning to leave?"

"I will leave in three months at the earliest, four months at the latest."

"…longer than I expected."

"You know very well that an army is not so easy to organize."

"It is… it is not. I know. Oh, brother. Are you free this evening?"

"Before dinner? Yes. I don't have any other plans at that time, but…"

"Can you combat with me then? I feel like I am lacking recently."

"If that's the case, I will be happy to."

"Thanks, brother! Then see you tonight!"

After saying that, Lorraine disappeared.

Lorian felt proud of his younger sister's determination to move forward.

But at the same time, he felt a bit uncomfortable.

'Have I missed something?'

He dipped back into the deep sea of thinking.

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02