Chapter 232

✠“Long live the Holy Saint!”

“Long live the Duke’s Granddaughter!”

“She is the Duchy’s hero!”

When I leaped down to the ground, the front yard of Saint Agnes Church was packed with people.

Everyone celebrated the victory and raised my honor high.

The very front row of the bustling crowd was filled with the people most familiar and precious to me.

“Ai.”

“My child.”

“Aillet.”

“Noona.”

“Noona…”

Grandfather, Mom, Dad, Oppa, Hestio, Iphail, Ash, and Hilde called my name in their own ways.

I gently stroked Hilde’s head nearby as I passed by.

First, I stood before my family.

“I’m back.”

“Ai…!”

Mom’s face was filled with emotion.

I slightly hunched my shoulders, waiting for a lecture to pour out.

But what followed defied my expectations.

“Yes, my daughter… Thank you for coming back safely. Mom is truly grateful…”

“…I missed you, Mom.”

Mom hugged me tightly, and Grandfather embraced us both with his wide chest.

Dad and Oppa, who couldn’t find a place, stood by, waiting for their turn.

“…Move, Father.”

“Uh, uh-huh, alright, Eltea.”

Grandfather, to break the awkward atmosphere, asked me,

“By the way, my child, what on earth happened to you all this time?”

“Well… something came up and I got stuck in a dungeon. It’s too long to explain in detail, so I’ll tell you later.”

“Right, right. It’s good that you’re safe.”

Everyone understood, as the situation wasn’t entirely over yet.

Next, I looked at Hilde and the Silver Citadel Knights members.

“Our Vice-Bishop Hilde, you’ve worked hard while I was away.”

“I truly… truly worried… I prayed a lot, too…”

“Yes. I think I came back safely thanks to your prayers. Thank you.”

While hugging Hilde, I felt a sharp gaze pierce my cheek.

When I turned, there was a pair of amber eyes, tightly strained.

It was Hestio.

As if he had been waiting, he scowled fiercely and raised his voice.

“Aillet, hey you…!”

It looked like he was about to unleash a rapid-fire lecture, something even my mom hadn’t done.

I immediately cut him off.

“Sorry for making you worry, Hestio. It was all my fault, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. So don’t cry. It breaks my heart.”

“What? Who’s crying?!”

“You’re tensing your face exactly like you’re about to cry, though?”

“No, I’m not!”

After teasing Hestio to my heart’s content, I turned to Iphail. We lightly bumped our fists.

There was no need for any melodrama with him.

“Was your pay disbursed normally?”

“Yes. The Young Count of Gillette took good care of it. Oh, by the way, the Young Count is taking refuge in the Duke’s Castle basement. She should be safe.”

Since Bianca was an ordinary person who hadn’t awakened the Three Great Powers, it was natural for her to be in a safe place, avoiding the dark green smoke and demon army.

The basement of the Duke’s Castle had a space designed as an air-raid shelter for emergencies.

There, there would be no fear of the smoke of plague and potent venom seeping in.

Moreover, the Duke’s Castle had three quite reliable sentinels in addition to its well-trained guards.

They were Moriphis’s chimeras.

Bush warblers, cats, and squirrels that Hilde had personally fattened up by feeding them raw meat with blueberries and cream cheese every meal. Those guys must have earned their keep.

“That’s a relief.”

I had been more worried about Bianca than anyone else. Just as I secretly sighed in relief.

“Um, but, Noona…”

Ash opened his mouth very cautiously, looking hesitant.

It seemed the question on his mind was one shared by others.

Everyone asked me in unison,

“What about our son-in-law?”

“What about our grandson-in-law?”

“Tesillid?”

“And brother-in-law…?”

I couldn’t answer immediately.

Despite their expressions, which showed extreme curiosity and worry, there was no pressing. Everyone simply observed my reaction and waited for an answer.

Hmm, how should I explain this?

First, prolonged silence wouldn’t be good.

“We got separated for a bit, but he’s safe. He’ll join us soon, so rest assured.”

Sighs of relief erupted from here and there. I changed my tone to a heavier one to shift the atmosphere.

“More importantly, we need to organize the situation now. Though the dungeon is closed, the problem of treating patients affected by the leaked smoke remains.”

“Ai, I’ll take care of the lung disease issue, Dad will. If we go to the Gillette Territory, I think we can quickly make the cure. I’ll also ask for help from the Golden Ivory Tower to mass-produce it quickly.”

“Yes. I’ll leave it to you, Dad.”

Thanks to Dad stepping forward before I even asked, I could focus on the urgent matters.

Only Peronsa had finished subjugating its burst dungeon; in the capitals of the other three nations, the disaster was likely still ongoing.

I said with a firm expression,

“Other nations are probably in the same situation right now. They need support.”

“Hoo…”

“As expected…”

Their reactions indicated they had anticipated this. Thanks to that, I saved time on persuasion.

“The Theocracy should be relatively better off thanks to their Holy Ground Construction artifact. On the other hand, the Kingdom and the Republic are expected to be in bad shape.”

I mentally assessed the forces of the two nations.

The Winchester Kingdom had Marquise Lekandro, an Aura Master, and I had already sent someone of comparable ability to the Ragneif Magic Republic.

Though he was a somewhat unreliable individual.

“Then we need to decide where to send support first, or if we should divide our personnel.”

Grandfather said with a dignified voice, befitting a Duke.

Considering the severity of the damage, it would be right to go to the Magic Republic first.

But my mind’s thoughts and my heart’s priorities were different.

“I will go to the Kingdom alone.”

The burst dungeon that appeared in the royal capital Wilhellon was none other than the ‘Pleasure’s Dark Auction House’.

I had to go pick up Tesillid.

“My child, alone is danger— Huh?”

Grandfather stopped in mid-sentence. The space next to him suddenly wavered.

Everyone quickly stepped aside, realizing it was the sensation of a Spatial Teleportation Stone.

An familiar person, dressed in a Royal Knight Uniform, appeared.

Printz and I called him simultaneously.

“Young Duke?”

“Raywin? Weren’t you in Wilhellon?”

If he had gone to the royal capital Wilhellon, spatial teleportation should have been impossible. Demonization regions only allow entry via teleportation stones and block exit.

Raywin replied,

“I did go to the royal capital.”

“But how…?”

He awkwardly delivered the news.

“I confirmed the situation was over and came back immediately. The Demon Realm Moons just disappeared, and it’s daytime again.”

“…!”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the news that Wilhellon had completed its boss subjugation on its own.

I was no exception.✠About 5 minutes ago, in Wilhellon, the capital of the Winchester Kingdom.

Royal Knights Cheryl and Chez stared intensely ahead, their bodies extremely tense.

Before their eyes was a dark hellish passage that seemed to lead to the abyss.

The dungeon gate had unfortunately appeared in the Grand Hall of the royal palace.

Suddenly, the sky turned black, and poison poured from the royal castle, with demons streaming out, unfolding a disastrous situation.

The kingdom’s people cried out that the royal family was cursed, and the royal castle had become a Demon King’s castle.

The Winchester Kingdom faced a crisis where it could lose public trust and collapse.

Even the royal family chose to defend the palace instead of fleeing, so the royal knight army, led by Commander-in-Chief Marquise Lekandro, entered the battle with the mindset of having their backs against the wall.

Thanks to the Marquise Lekandro, an Aura Master, the monster wave of the demon army was endured.

The demons, who seemed to pour out endlessly, rapidly lost momentum after several hours, then abruptly stopped.

And so, currently, the entire army was gathered at the Grand Hall, the gate’s appearance point.

Before everyone’s eyes, sinister demonic energy slowly swirled in a circle.

As if hypnotizing them.

For more than ten minutes, the gate remained quiet. Yet no one expressed optimism that the catastrophe was over.

The demonic energy felt from the gate was at least SS-rank, and they hadn’t even seen the boss’s shadow yet.

It was truly the calm before the storm. Everyone watched the gate intently, waiting for something to emerge.

In the intense tension where even swallowing dry saliva was difficult, someone’s cold sweat dropped from their chin.

Thump.

At that moment.

‘It’s coming.’

Marquise Lekandro, who had been calmly closing her eyes, opened them wide.

Kwaaaang!

<Uwaaaaaaah!>

<Keeeeeek!>

With a tremendous roar, demonic beasts poured out. But the royal army did not move rashly; they waited.

What they were preparing for was not the resumption of a defensive battle, but the start of a boss fight.

Everyone thought,

‘These must be the boss’s escorts!’

‘Just the escorts are this numerous! How strong is the boss, then!’

Marquise Lekandro’s judgment was no different. She shouted at the top of her lungs,

“All forces, stand by to engage the boss! Only the 7th Knight Order moves! Swiftly annihilate the enemies!”

“Yes!”

The formation shifted, and the knights who received the order stepped forward.

Cheryl and Chez, belonging to the 7th Knight Order, also re-gripped their swords to respond.

“Don’t die, Chez.”

“Worry, unnecessary.”

While the two cared for each other, shouts and roars erupted around them.

“Let’s finish them!”

“Uwaaaah!”

The knights’ swords gleamed with a resolute light. They pushed off the ground to protect themselves, their comrades, the royal family, and their people.

But the clash did not occur.

<Woowoong…!>

<Kihieeeeng, ieeeeng!>

Dal dal dal dal geurak…!

The demons that poured out roared in an unusual manner, then simply passed by, completely ignoring the humans.

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

Cheryl and Chez, who had most bravely penetrated the frontline, turned around in confusion.

They even suspected if the demons were trying to break through the defense line and attack civilians outside the royal castle.

But somehow, the demons were frantically running straight ahead, only to have their necks cleanly severed by the knights in the rear.

Given their disorganized state, it seemed…

‘Are they running away in a panic?’

Everyone felt a similar impression as Marquise Lekandro.

…Stomp.

There was a sound that instantly restored the scattered atmosphere.

Privilege for the Possessor