Chapter 66
In the North, it snows.
It is a snowfield and a snow mountain, safe to say that snow is piled up all year round.
However, there is just one place.
A place that, despite being in the North, cannot be called the North.
That place is the Black Forest.
Even if it snows in that forest, the snow does not pile up. Only the dark and dense trees grow wildly, exuding a dreary atmosphere. Even in broad daylight, the inside of this forest is extremely dark.
Strangely, the trees here possess a slight heat, so even if snowflakes settle on them, they melt instantly.
Thus, even on the snowy paths of the North, only the Black Forest is not dyed white.
In such a forest.
Callias looked at Helena and, with a stiff expression, asked.
"So. Helena. Are you saying you want to marry me?"
"W-what are you saying! Who would marry you! I'm not crazy enough to marry the kingdom's most promiscuous man!"
Callias elegantly picked up his fork and knife and cut his steak.
"……."
That sight was like a masterpiece, and Helena's lips, which had inadvertently gazed at it, loosened softly.
'His face is really handsome.'
Even dining in the middle of a shabby forest, the moment he held his fork and knife, his demeanor seemed to turn elegant.
The dirt floor was wet and dirty from the snow, and the forest was full of damp smells and grass scents, but with him there, such things didn't enter her eyes.
'Should I ask what his perfume is? It smells so good…….'
She closed her eyes without realizing it and focused on her nose. It was like a floral scent, yet like honey, sweet and subtle—a scent she wanted to keep smelling.
'Still, marriage is out of the question. He has a child, too.'
The position of the mistress of the North was tempting enough to sway her, but.
Still, no means no.
"But why did you bring up such a topic?"
"I just said it. If your daughter is twelve, and she gets married and has a child quickly? I'd become a grandmother."
It seemed Helena had already imagined a future in her head that didn't even exist.
"So. I'm asking why you said that. Did you want to become a grandmother?"
"It's not like that!"
"Then why would you say such a thing."
"I can just say it! Isn't it a bit much to make me out to be a woman who wants to marry you just over a few words?"
"It's because you say useless things."
Useless?
She really hadn't thought much about it, but hearing it put that way infuriated her.
"That's why you can't even say a single affectionate word to your daughter."
As she blurted that out, Callias flared up as if it was a matter of course.
"What nonsense. I'm doing well by her in my own way."
He had his own pride in it.
Even though he had only recently learned of her existence, he had acknowledged Emily and was doing his best to treat her well.
In his own way.
"Just tossing presents at your daughter isn't everything. How delicate a young girl is! How nice would it be if you went and hugged her even once?"
Callias felt stung.
Thinking about it, he had never done such a thing.
Because it was still so awkward.
"She's not a child who wants that."
She's a kid who prefers crossing swords.
Probably.
"Did Emily say that?"
"No, those words……."
They hadn't talked much recently.
Emily was always training, and Callias had his own fair share of things to do.
The war was over, but that made him even busier.
The aftermath of war is always important. Funerals were held to comfort the souls of the dead knights and soldiers.
Bernard and Callias.
And the present Inquisitors recited prayers as they held a grand funeral.
Emily naturally earned the recognition of the knights, mingling with them or teaching the children alongside Bernard.
And Callias, too, was processing the agenda Elberton told him to handle between times, preparing for the hunt and the Order, so they didn't have many opportunities to cross paths.
Occasionally, just eating a light meal when Elberton called them to the dinner table.
But even then, for some reason, they didn't talk much.
They were a completely awkward father and daughter.
Callias wanted to shut Helena's mouth before she could snap at him any further.
If he left her alone, his eardrums would burst from her relentless rapid-fire chatter.
"Helena."
"Huh, yes? Why?"
"I've been in the North for a while, so I'm ignorant of the kingdom's affairs. You have a lot of information coming your way, can you let me know?"
Since Helena was a merchant, she was sensitive to rumors.
In times like these, information was money, so she likely knew a lot.
"Hmm, for free? You haven't even paid back the thousand gold coins you borrowed from me."
"Where do you think you are? This is the North."
A mere thousand gold coins.
He could hand them over if he just said the word.
"Well, there were over ten thousand corpses made from this war. And that's from the Order for free! You must be quite wealthy right now, so a thousand gold coins must be like gum to you."
"But did I borrow a thousand gold coins? Wasn't it around five hundred?"
"Interest is included. Don't tell me a Count wouldn't even pay the interest on a loan?"
"……."
For a moment, anger surged, but thinking about it, it was an amount borrowed three years ago.
Even if the interest had ballooned to the size of the principal, he couldn't say much. Back then, he was truly desperate, and it was money he needed.
Besides money, he owed his life, so that much was an easy amount.
"And the debt you really have to pay back is separate. The debt of saving your life."
She was a woman who would suck out his marrow if left alone.
He needed to slowly build a wall.
"I never asked you to save me."
"Geez, how can a person be so heartless? Still, saving you is saving you."
She really made a huge fuss about it.
Callias decided to change the subject.
"Did you receive my letter?"
"Letter? Ah~ that one. The copper mine in Torette?"
"Yes."
If he didn't know any better, she must have made a lot of profit distributing that copper mine.
"You're not trying to offset the debt with that, are you? We couldn't even do anything with that copper mine."
"What? Why?"
It's only copper, but there's a lot that can be made with it.
The reserves shouldn't have been bad.
"Didn't you know? The entire Torette has already been occupied and swallowed up by the Order. Something about a holy relic?"
"Holy relic?"
Callias's eyes narrowed.
There shouldn't be a holy relic of the Valterus Order in Torette.
For the Order's lost holy relic to be in mere Torette.
'It can't be the Tear of Valterus.'
It's on a similar level to a holy relic, but those guys wouldn't have come looking for it.
"Anyway, so I didn't bother touching Torette. I felt like I'd only get hurt if I got involved for no reason."
"I see."
So Torette ended up like that.
A holy relic.
'Then could it be that Raibun chasing me was also related to the holy relic?'
I wondered why he was chasing me so desperately, but to think a holy relic was involved.
Then the lord of Torette.
What happened to Leone?
'In the worst case, he might be dead.'
Leone.
He was quite a friendly guy.
"Is there no other story?"
"Nothing really big? Something you might be curious about... Ah! Come to think of it, Oliorlo was reduced to ruins."
"So Oliorlo ended up like that."
"What, you knew?"
"No. I didn't know."
There was a record of being asked to escort there at the recommendation of Count Altemion.
But he refused.
He had guessed it would turn out like that.
In the first place, it was a place that would be turned into a wasteland by the Empire or whoever appeared.
"They say heretics were hiding there. So the royal family's... you know?"
"You mean the beast."
"Beast... If you said that to the prince, your head would be cut off."
"It's not a wrong statement."
As he said it firmly, Helena also seemed to sympathize to some extent, shrugging her shoulders.
"Anyway, that's what happened. They say the prince went and destroyed, killed, and smashed everything."
"I see."
At Trista, Count Altemion had asked for an escort.
That escort target was probably the First Prince of Karpe.
'If I had escorted him, it would have been a disaster.'
The so-called Mad Prince.
A beast who went insane and mad just from mishandling a sword.
"But Oliorlo wasn't a simple rebellion. I don't think it was something a prince needed to step in for."
"Because it wasn't a simple rebellion, the prince stepped in. This is top secret, but do you know what weapon the rebels there were carrying?"
"Was it Mace?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"I see. So that's why they sent the prince."
Mace.
If it was that, it made sense.
A nation that had not been absorbed by the Empire but maintained a friendly relationship with them.
Radon was a place that worshipped the God of Mace.
The people of Karpe hated them second only to the Empire.
Depending on how you look at it, they might even loathe them more than the Empire bastards.
"Are you really sure you didn't know?"
"Now I know."
"What... Anyway, so it's a huge mess. I'm buying up this and that because they say a big war might break out soon. But the North was already at war. You really went through a lot."
The wheel turns.
The war in the North was the main quest.
It had started and ended, but it was only the first step.
'The flow is faster than I thought.'
He had to cut the buds in advance before the war properly broke out.
That was the only way things would be easy.
"But how long are you going to eat? Let's get up now? It's a bit cold just sitting still……."
"I'm not cold."
"You're armed with all sorts of artifacts, so of course you're not cold! And you're from the North! But I'm not! I'm cold! I'm freezing to death!"
It was annoyingly loud.
"How noisy. Brans. Clear this up."
"Yes! W-what should I clear up?"
Brans alternated his gaze between the tableware and Helena.
"……I meant the tableware."
"Ah, y-yes!"
"What, did you look at me just now?"
"Don't take your anger out on an innocent person. And you're the one who said you'd follow me. If you're going to whine about being a little cold, go back right now."
"The Black Forest is on the way to the capital anyway, so I'm just tagging along, why do you keep telling me to go back. How upsetting!"
Callias shook his head and mounted his horse.
He was terrible at horseback riding, but as with everything, it all came down to gear. With Humasis's saddle, horseback riding was nothing.
"Why is it like this?"
But the horse didn't budge.
"My horse doesn't want to go either. It seems scared. Callias."
Was it because of the creature in the Black Forest?
Since it was a creature with dragon blood.
It seemed ordinary beasts didn't even want to try entering the forest.
"To think it would be like this already. I heard it was a young one…… was it not."
He activated his Tricolor Eye and looked.
The entire forest right before his eyes was dyed red. There were patches of blue here and there, but most of it was red, as if dyed with blood.
It seemed someone had provoked the Lightning Wolf Dragon's temperament.
"Did they already encounter it?"
Well, a fair amount of time had passed, so they might have encountered it at least once.
If they had been stirring up the forest, it was a creature they couldn't help but encounter.
"Leave the horses. Brans. You stay here and guard the horses."
"Yes!"
Taking him into the Black Forest would only be a hindrance anyway.
The Black Forest was right ahead.
"Helena. The shadows……."
The moment he was about to speak.
Callias's instinctive intuition sounded an alarm.
The hair all over his body stood on end, and a chilling sensation seeped deep into his bones.
His body moved faster than his thoughts.
"Eek!"
He shoved Helena, who was beside him, away and dodged.
Right then.
Kwaaang!!
Blue lightning flashed.
-Hiiiiiing!
What suddenly appeared was a wolf's head.
A wolf with dragon scales, light blue tail fur, and two gleaming horns.
A hybrid of dragon and wolf. The Lightning Wolf Dragon, possessing the Dragon Bloodline, revealed itself.
With a bolt of lightning clamped between its teeth.