“Haaaaah!!!”

Kuzan was still there, letting out strange battle cries while dealing with magical beasts.

Kuzan wasn’t even from the same knight order.

‘The Maltein family’s knight order should be positioned in the northwest.’

Although Medric knew that the northwest subjugation had just ended, and Kuzan was enthusiastically helping to deal with magical beasts, so he left him be…

It was puzzling why Kuzan kept appearing near Medric.

Medric didn’t notice that Kuzan was glancing at him from time to time.

A mid-level magical beast, a Sabeltiger, approached rapidly from the front. Medric casually cut the Sabeltiger in half and checked the area ahead.

Only after checking a couple of times to ensure no one was left behind and that all magical
beasts had been properly subjugated could Medric, David, and Kuzan return to their quarters.

Kuzan still stuck close behind Medric.

“Aren’t you going back?”

David asked Kuzan once they reached their quarters.

“Mind your own business.”

A wrinkle visibly formed on David’s forehead, but Medric ignored it and entered his quarters.
These two had been bickering all day while dealing with countless magical beasts.

Although Kuzan lacked experience, his basic physical strength and power were superior to others. At this rate, he seemed likely to grow to be as capable as David.

Before entering his quarters, Medric stopped a passing knight. It was Siegfried.

“What can I do for you?”

“Tell the supply team to replace all the lightning magical devices.”

“The lightning magical devices? Yes, understood.”

Siegfried responded respectfully without asking for a reason and moved toward where the
supply team was located.

Watching him enter the tent, Medric went to his own quarters.

He sat down, wiped the congealed blood of magical beasts from his sword with a cloth, and maintained it.

There was nothing better than sword maintenance for clearing one’s mind.

David, who had showered and changed clothes belatedly, entered the tent.

“Ah, so refreshing~”

David, drying his hair with a towel, flopped onto his bedding.

Rolling around on his bed in a good mood, David looked at Medric and said:

“I’m curious about something, Your Grace.”

“What is it?”

Medric continued maintaining his sword as he answered.

“Were you able to contact your wife?”

Medric’s hand, which had been maintaining the sword, paused.

After looking at David for a moment, Medric resumed maintaining his sword as if nothing had happened.

“Are you not going to answer?”

“Why are you curious about that?”

“Of course I’m curious! It concerns the wife of the lord I serve. No matter how you look at it, with Your Grace away from the mansion and even me gone, how difficult must it be for her to manage the mansion alone?”

Medric caressed the silk wrapped around the sword handle. The embroidered flower on the silk felt bumpy to the touch.

“Your body may be tired, but your mind seems clearer than when you were at the mansion.
You’re worrying about my wife, which you don’t usually do.”

David flinched at Medric’s pointed remark.

“You know how torturous it is to read densely packed letters all day. I’m used to physical work.”

David said with his lips pursed.

“There’s no one as talented as you right now. Archild can’t do without you.”

Though he hadn’t said anything inappropriate, a moment of silence fell.

David, who Medric expected to grumble, was silent.

When Medric looked up, he saw David frozen with his mouth open. Looking closer, his face seemed to be turning red.

Medric tilted his head at his incomprehensible reaction.

“Do you… really mean what you just said?”

When David asked in disbelief, Medric nodded.

“Yes.”

Medric had actually experienced the h*ll of not having David. Archild, without David, was quickly devoured by the royal family.

‘I was foolish back then.’

David, who had gone to the battlefield with him, lost his life instead of Medric, and Medric survived. Left alone, Medric dedicated himself to the country and carried out any task. The nickname he earned was “the country’s dog.”

In any case, Medric didn’t want to bring David to the battlefield again.

Medric knew that what David wanted was martial arts rather than scholarship. But if things continued as they were, David might die again. Medric had no intention of watching David die in this life.

‘I need to keep David away from martial pursuits.’

That’s why he had been delegating many tasks to him recently.

Medric sheathed the sword he was holding.

‘Even if I act, the axis of major events won’t change.’

The biggest example was that the knights of the Maltein family weren’t originally supposed to die here. In fact, Medric remembered from his previous life that the Maltein family had taken their knights on a shipping business venture, and they had died when the ship sank. He had informed Rudel Maltein to prevent their deaths.

If their business had failed, Count Renox, who had invested in it, could have suffered greatly, but Medric ultimately decided to save them.

‘The investment can fail in other ways.’

However, he hadn’t expected the knights to die like this. It was even a scene Medric hadn’t witnessed in his previous life.

‘Different methods, same result?’

The fact that Medric, knowing the future and acting directly, couldn’t save the knights of the Maltein family suggested that no matter how he moved, what was meant to happen would happen anyway.

What if, despite using every method, he couldn’t prevent David’s death?

If Eve’s death cannot be prevented?

If all of this is in vain?

Such anxiety overwhelmed Medric.

Medric shook his head.

And he got up from his seat.

‘I just need to check.’

As Medric abruptly stood up, David looked at him with a bewildered expression.

“W-where are you going?”

“I need to check something quickly.”

Medric walked out of the tent and strode purposefully somewhere.

He stopped in front of another knight order’s tent.

‘I still have hypotheses to test.’

Could the future not be changed if someone else moved according to Medric’s request or order?
He could verify that hypothesis in the tent before him.

When Medric made his presence known, a knight from inside came out.

“Who is… Oh, Duke Archild.”

Surprised by the unexpected visitor, the knight quickly straightened his posture.

Medric stopped him from continuing and got straight to the point.

“Sorry to disturb your rest. Are there any injured people inside?”

“Pardon?”

Medric recalled his previous life.

It was a day just like today. On a day without snow, when knights were resting comfortably in a tent, there was a problem with a lightning magic device. The device caught fire and exploded in a short time, severely injuring two knights in the tent.

Fortunately, they didn’t lose their lives, but the two knights who suffered injuries serious enough to affect their careers had to return to their homeland without completing the subjugation mission.

This incident became a major issue in the media after the subjugation ended.

‘After this incident, the Papal Office began regulating magic devices.’

He remembered the timing well since it happened right after the first day of subjugation.

“No, there are no injured people. Actually, earlier someone came by your order to check our magic devices. We had been having problems with malfunctioning devices in this tent, but thanks to your order, the supply team replaced all our magic devices. Thank you.”

At the knight’s answer, Medric drew in a breath.

The future had changed!

Medric suppressed the joy of reaching a certain principle in one corner of his mind.

“Good that there are no injured. Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”

Medric greeted him and quickly left the place.

To save the Maltein knights, Medric had acted directly. But ultimately, the future hadn’t changed.

Yet this time, the future changed easily. Despite Medric’s intervention.

‘Both were interventions, but.’

He had directly instructed Rudel which part of the ship to fix, while this time he had broadly ordered all magic devices to be replaced.

He had prevented the ship from sinking, but couldn’t resurrect the knights who were destined to die. If the knights remained safe until the end because of the device replacement, it would match his hypothesis that the future could be changed.

‘Perhaps.’

If he just avoided making conspicuous interventions with the knowledge of the future.

‘Perhaps I really can change the future.’

It felt like the fog that had been heavily clouding his mind was clearing a bit.

He stopped walking and looked up at the sky. Stars and the moon were twinkling in the pitch-black night sky.

During the day, the sky had been full of clouds, but now it was clear, just like his mind.

“When dawn breaks, I should contact my wife.”

A smile spread across Medric’s face.