Chapter 78. Dried Camellia
This was a rare opportunity.
Usually, when the subjugation in the Grodes Mountains ended, an expedition in the Sahar Desert awaited, and when that ended, something else awaited…
It was an endless cycle.
Sometimes, there was a time when Johann would call me to Elmon, but… honestly, going to Elmon was quite a hassle until I saved up enough money.
Even if I went, I couldn’t last a week before being sent back to an outpost.
Marc had gotten used to me disappearing without a word and returning just as silently. The dispatches were often decided abruptly, and it was not uncommon to depart on the same day as the notification.
The main cause was usually Ionia.
With her eloquent speech, she would silence Johann and send me off without mercy. She was so persuasive that I realized even the emperor’s power was no match for her words.
Anyway, going to Elmon now was the perfect timing.
The Sahar expedition and the Grodes Mountains subjugation had just ended.
Perhaps this time, if I went to Elmon, I could stay for at least a month. It was enough time to go through the resignation process.
“No.”
But Claude’s stern voice doused my grand plan.
“What?”
I asked in surprise, and he looked at me with even colder eyes.
Ugh, scary.
His gaze could kill me.
“Don’t make me say it twice. You can’t return to your main station tomorrow.”
Despite saying not to make him repeat, Claude kindly repeated himself.
I was confused and gaped like a fish.
No, I don’t understand…
Can’t I ask?
“…Why?”
“I said don’t make me say it twice.”
“But…”
When there’s no subjugation, I’m supposed to go to Elmon, you jerk.
Normally, I would have taken this chance to pretend to be out on subjugation and rest comfortably, but… I had a grand plan!
But I couldn’t exactly say I was going to submit my resignation.
I was at a loss, unable to do anything.
However he interpreted my situation, Claude tilted his chin arrogantly and added in a firm tone.
“Leave after a few days.”
“Oh.”
That’s what he meant?
He should have said so earlier.
I was confused.
I nodded, relieved. It was true that fatigue had accumulated from long-distance travel.
I could rest for a day and leave the day after tomorrow.
Thinking that, I looked up at Claude. Standing in front of the bed, he glanced at the case beside me and sat on my bed without permission.
We ended up sitting with the dried camellia between us.
“……?”
Claude stared at me silently.
Did he have something else to say?
I thought he came to discuss the departure date, but after finishing that, he sat down properly…?
It meant he had something more important to discuss.
Or so I thought.
But Claude remained silent.
As the silence started to feel awkward, I rolled my eyes stiffly and clapped my hands as I remembered something to say to him.
“Oh!”
“…?…”
“Was everything okay in the Grodes Mountains? You said it was an emergency.”
“Oh, that.”
His nonchalant tone was very annoying.
As expected, Claude waved his hand, avoiding the question.
“It’s nothing.”
“……”
Though irritation surged, I managed to suppress it and avoid a disaster of getting angry at a hero.
Anyway, Claude had deceived me by claiming it was an emergency, but for me, it truly was an emergency.
“I have something to report.”
When I started speaking, Claude nodded as if telling me to go on. I could feel him listening intently to my words.
“I experienced a strange phenomenon on my way here.”
* * *
Sitting in the quiet study, Claude tapped the desk with his fingers. In his mind, he recalled the strange phenomenon Seraphina had reported.
“A horde of ghouls…”
It wasn’t unusual to find ghouls appearing in a place not known for undead sightings. Just as nature cannot be controlled, neither can the undead be completely controlled.
The problem was the number.
A few, or even a few dozen, could be dismissed.
However, according to Seraphina, they appeared in such numbers that they covered the vast plains.
How could such a thing be possible…?
Claude let out a low groan.
He pondered what this phenomenon could mean.
This subjugation had been particularly tough. He told her it was nothing because it was already resolved.
If Seraphina had been with the subjugation party, she might have panicked and overused her purification ability until she fainted.
Fainting…
“Damn it.”
Claude cursed under his breath and clenched his fist tightly.
Since he never took his mind off Seraphina whenever he left for subjugation, he never thought he wouldn’t be able to protect her as he promised when he first brought her here.
The problem was her fainting.
<Leah, this rascal.>
He recalled a moment long ago, right here in this study, when he had discovered a petal falling from a book while turning the pages and had chuckled to himself.
It was a sad smile.
His younger sister, who had fainted and died upon seeing the undead, had cruelly left such traces all over Hilton Castle.
Since childhood, she was a child who would go outside and pick up all sorts of leaves. She would meticulously dry and preserve the useless leaves scattered on the streets as if they were treasures.
When he picked a camellia he discovered by chance and gifted it to Leah…
<Wow, brother!>
<How is it? You like flowers because you’re a girl after all.>
<It’s because there are no flowers here, unlike the south where there are plenty!>
<Do you like it?>
<Of course.>
Leah, who answered like that, carefully hid the camellia in her arms, seemingly afraid it would be taken back, and ran off somewhere.
Claude later found out that her destination was his study, and he let out a faint, deflated laugh.
Well.
It’s all useless now anyway.
Such pointless memories.
He lifted his gaze to the bookshelf that filled one side of the wall. Among those many books, could there be the one holding the petals from that day?
Though he could open each one to check, he decided against doing something so pathetic.
He had no intention of giving Leah the satisfaction of watching him from heaven, clutching her stomach in laughter.
“Tsk.”
Claude turned his eyes away from the bookshelf and looked at the vase on the desk, feeling his mood sink. A vivid red flower was placed there.
What was he thinking when he picked it?
On his way back from this particularly arduous subjugation, he discovered another camellia. It was the third one he had found in his life.
He had already given one two years ago…
“What was I thinking when I picked it?”
Claude frowned at his own incomprehensible actions.
What was even more absurd was that he hadn’t even given it to Seraphina after going through the trouble of bringing it.
The original plan was to find her, bring her to his study, and hand it to her along with the vase.
Yet here he was, staring at it alone.
“Idiot.”
Claude muttered under his breath, ruffling his hair roughly.
This subjugation had been particularly fierce due to the undead’s strong presence, and he fought desperately. He didn’t deny that a part of him worried about Seraphina fainting if she joined them.
However, in his excitement, he ended the subjugation just as she arrived. He could have delved deeper if he wanted, but the knights and mages were exhausted.
So they returned early out of necessity…
“It feels disgusting, like I’ve lost.”
Claude couldn’t figure out how to deal with the turmoil inside him.
He wanted to keep Seraphina here longer, but the subjugation ended too quickly…
It was truly a f*cked-up timing.
* * *
In the capital, Elmon.
The emperor’s office had its usual atmosphere.
Johann was busy moving his quill and stamping documents as he reviewed the mountain of paperwork before him.
He had somewhat resigned himself to it.
Those bastards seemed intent on chasing the undead to the ends of the earth, and they worked diligently whenever Seraphina was dispatched.
As a result, he hadn’t seen her in a long time.
Initially, he often became irritable, but upon hearing that his officials were suffocating and falling ill, he began to restrain his emotions.
At that moment, Ionia entered with a knock.
Without lifting his head, Johann continued reading. Ionia, unfazed by the emperor’s lack of reaction, abruptly handed him a document.
“Clear it. Finish reading this.”
“You don’t necessarily have to read it.”
Ionia continued as she withdrew the file.
“Do you know the Agulena Plains?”
“No.”
“Look it up on the map. A large-scale undead movement has been detected there.”
“Ha. How large-scale?”
Only then did Johann take his eyes off the document and lean back deeply in his chair.
“It seems we could dispatch about two elite knight orders.”
“Then have the nearby lord handle it.”
According to the established rules, that would suffice.
The problem was that there were no sizable cities near the Agulena Plains, which were about five days’ ride northwest of Elmon.
This meant that the knight orders led by the surrounding lords were also small in scale.
Understanding the general situation, Johann pondered as he rolled his eyes.
“The location is ambiguous.”
“Shall we recruit mercenaries?”
“Yes, proceed with that.”
Upon reflection, it wasn’t a particularly complicated matter.
Nodding nonchalantly as if handling just another task among many, Johann agreed.
- ianthe
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ynabispo
Finalmente! Estou curiosa para saber o que acontece depois que a ogfl aparece