40 – Showdown
“…… !”
Break!
“That’s why, I’m going to give up on useless desk discussions… …. Sir Edwald?”
At the sight of Friedrich, who suddenly rose from his seat, the eyes of the audience focused on him.
“… ….”
However, despite the gathered questioning glances, Friedrich just stared blankly out of his window.
“Is something going on?”
Surely, the question amplified, and the emperor even directly asked about it.
“… ….”
Friedrich, who remained silent for a moment, opened his mouth with a serious expression.
“Someone has approached the barrier, Your Majesty.”
“…… !”
The emperor’s eyes widened.
“Someone approached the barrier…… ?”
As if he couldn’t believe it, the emperor muttered a doubtful voice.
“…… Are you talking about the confrontation in the imperial palace, Sir Edwald?”
Duke Kesil narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Um… ….”
Friedrich let out a silent sound for a while.
Then he opened his mouth again, his eyes shining seriously.
“As long as my detection magic isn’t wrong, that is.”
“…… !”
At Friedrich’s confidently professed attitude, the expressions of everyone in the audience hardened like stones.
Not only the emperor, but also the heads of the seven families and their successors.
In the conference room, there was silence like the night before a storm.
It was the Duke of Teikan Clifford who broke the silence by immediately removing his words.
“Then shouldn’t we move right away? I know that Sir Edwald’s barrier only reacts to those with malicious intent.”
Tay Khan continued, turning her head out of her window.
“I don’t know who he is, but shouldn’t he be subdued before he does anything?”
“I agree with Your Excellency, Sir Edwald.”
The Marquis of Lyikanter stood up and expressed his agreement.
“Even if we can’t figure out his exact identity, if he approaches the barrier with malice, we need a moment.”
Sureung!
Cutting off his words once, Marquis Lyikanter pulled out his own longsword.
“I don’t know why you are so quiet, but if you don’t want to step out—”
─He said he would go out and check with his own two eyes.
The moment when the Marquis of Liy Canter was about to finish Grieg’s words.
“──.”
Once, making a strange look in those two eyes.
“It’s already too late.”
Friedrich bit his lower lip lightly.
Just after that.
Quaaagh!
“…… !”
A huge roar made the entire palace reverberate violently.
“…… Cool.”
“Eh, Sir Edwald!”
It was not unusual for Friedrich, who was closely connected to the barrier, to spit out black blood once.
“…… I am fine.”
Blocking the others who were about to run, Friedrich roughly wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
“Whoa… ….”
After that, Friedrich cautiously leaned his back on one side of the wall.
After that, he gently closed his eyes and began to slowly increase his mana.
Ugh-
“…… A barrier.”
As Frederick’s mana gradually moved, the confrontation scene in the imperial palace also changed.
Saaa-
The barrier, which had been cracking as if it would break at any moment, began to slowly repair itself.
“…… I’ll maintain the barrier somehow, so let’s go out now. I’ll leave it up to you to catch the beast.”
“…… !”
At Friedrich’s low words, everyone in the audience deeply bowed their heads.
“Yes, Sir Edwald!”
Pot!
The first ones to move were Marquis Lyikanter and Teikan Qliphort.
Clutching their respective swords and mana in their hands, the two family heads quickly started running toward the barrier.
And before it was too late, the heads of other families followed them and left the meeting room as well.
Except for Duke Kesil, who was weak in his body’s strength, only the heirs were left inside the meeting room.
“…… Shouldn’t we be moving too?”
With one stroke of his red hair, Orca rolled his eyes.
“I agree with Orca.”
“… ….”
Sureung!
Julian Schneider nodded and clenched his fists, and Serena simply drew out her own rapier in silence.
“…… Sleep, hold on.”
Aidan hurriedly put the brakes on them as they looked like they would run away at any moment.
“You guys. Don’t you think we should be a little calm and take stock of the situation before moving?”
As long as the heads of households went to the barrier, there was almost nothing they could do anyway, so Aidan’s words were very reasonable.
“Ahahahaha. Well, thinking after moving is my specialty. I’m sorry, Aidan.”
Shuuk!
“…… Orca?”
Aidan’s call did not reach her.
After turning her body into blood and leaving the conference room in an instant, Orca looked blankly for a moment, then Aidan belatedly regained consciousness and looked back at her.
Aidan hurriedly opened his mouth as an ominous sensation swept through his body.
“…… Orca is second, but if you guys move now—”
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“I’m sorry, Aidan. I must go.”
“…… What?”
However, the answer that came back was just a short word from Yulian who was extremely calm.
Quang!
“…… Ugh!”
Julian kicked the floor and threw himself out the window, and a beat later, Serena also started moving her feet.
“I will follow my father too. Were you staying here?”
“…… Hey, hey You guys are real!”
Hook!
Her fever started to rise, so Aidan pressed her eyes and tried to spit out her words.
It was already after Serena quickly ran towards her barrier.
“… ….”
Aidan opened her mouth small with a puzzled expression.
…… What do you mean by thinking this now?
Did those guys not understand the seriousness of the real situation?
An attack that caused a crack in Sir Edbalt’s barrier was inflicted on the imperial palace, and the significance of that was not so light.
It’s because of the uniqueness of the battle system, but even Lord Edwald can’t move directly.
“…… What are you guys going to do?”
Aidan sighed and covered his forehead with the palm of her hand.
The fever rose rapidly and seemed to heat up the whole body.
…… Didn’t the family heads start first in the first place?
If it were the Duke of Qliphort and the Marquis of Lycanter, quite a few enemies would be dealt with in their line.
In the meantime, if even the heads of other families had followed them, even if that opponent was one of the 12 demon lords, it would have been possible.
Indeed, even the enemy demon king would have no reason to step forward, even when they were still young, unless they stepped forward directly.
“… ….”
…… It was a very reasonable idea, and at the same time it was very logical.
Before Aidan could even explain these things, the three had already left.
“Princess Aidan.”
“…… Uh, what?”
While Aidan was holding the back of his neck as if he was in pain, a soft voice came from behind him.
Aidan’s head turned back naturally, and Persia smiled lightly at him.
“Ahahahaha… ….”
That was a truly magnificent smile.
“…… No, isn’t it?”
For some reason, Aidan, the person responsible for receiving such a smile, had to feel a strange ominous feeling.
No, no way.
No matter how hard it is, even she, who falls into the category of a ‘normal person’ in her own way, won’t move.
…… With such hope, Aidan struggled to open his mouth.
“Please don’t say you’re leaving too. Just those three reckless people makes me feel like my head is about to explode.”
“…… Um, ugh.”
Persia evaded Aidan’s gaze, drooling with an uncomfortable look.
“… ….”
And what that meant, Aidan didn’t know.
Suddenly, a feeling of despair appeared on his face.
“…… I’m sorry, Prince Aidan. Someone might be hurt, so I’ll have to follow along.”
“… ….”
Leaving behind Aidan, who couldn’t even say anything, Persia left the meeting room.
Then naturally, the only heirs left in the meeting room were Aidan and Joshua.
“…… Joshua.”
“What? The Kecil family.”
Aidan moved his trembling gaze toward Joshua with one last hope, not paying attention to the title that still seemed oddly distant.
“… ….”
“… ….”
It was Aidan who didn’t say anything, but it wasn’t Joshua who couldn’t understand the meaning of that gaze.
“Haa… ….”
Joshua frowned for a moment, then sighed and opened his mouth.
“…… Well, got it I’ll make sure to stay around just in case. It wouldn’t mean much if we went anyway.”
“Ah…… !”
Aidan was delighted.
Aidan looked at Joshua with twinkling eyes, as if he were a lamb meeting his last hope.
“…… What a bad look. Why don’t you clean it up?”
Really, Joshua’s reaction when he was receiving such attention was nothing short of flirtatious, but anyway.
In this way, only six people, including Friedrich and the Emperor, remained in the meeting room.
“…… You met some interesting friends, Chris.”
“Yes?”
Chris blinked at the emperor, who started talking with a smile on his face.
“…… Friend, yo?”
“Then wasn’t it?”
“… ….”
Chris was silent for a moment.
And she turns her head back and forth once in a while, showing her troubles over and over again.
Instantly, her gaze turned to Aidan, then to Joshua, then to Joshua.
“… ….”
…… She stopped as she touched the other heirs who were running towards the barrier.
After that, within.
“…… Maybe.”
“Um.”
With her gentle smile on her lips, Chris nodded her head once, and her emperor’s expression eased a little.
Somewhere, a warm atmosphere settled between her father and daughter.
‘I’m relieved that I finally have a friend.’
‘…… Where is White and what is he doing?’
…… However, the thoughts of the two women were slightly different.
Isn’t that what’s good?
Emperor and Chris put smiles on their faces.