Kuuung-! A large vibration that could shake the entire castle resounded, and the soldiers moved to their positions slowly yet swiftly, as if they were now used to it.
The Duke, who had been working in the office, abandoned his work and immediately rushed to reinforce the barrier while defending against attacks flying over the castle walls.
Beyond the snow-white horizon, a spear made of equally white bones shot sharply.
“「Block it」.”
The Duke, now quite familiar with the spell, blocked the javelin. After blocking it several times, he frowned upon seeing no more javelins coming.
“…Situation ended. Everyone return.”
“The situation has ended-!”
“Situation ended!”
The new recruits shouted with all their might to call the soldiers back. The soldiers sighed deeply and returned to their barracks.
Sighing in front of the Duke, who was practically their commander, would normally be an offense worthy of punishment, but the Duke let it slide. In fact, he was the one who wanted to sigh the most right now.
‘Don’t those bastards ever sleep?’
The Duke hadn’t slept more than an hour in ten days. To be precise, he couldn’t sleep.
Whenever he tried to rest, spears would fly in, forcing him to stay on high alert. And when he returned from maintaining the defensive stance, a mountain of paperwork awaited him.
Even after clearing the maximum amount of work the administrator could handle, this kept happening. He’d get attacked while handling paperwork, go back up to the castle walls, spend meaningless time there, return, and find more work piled up.
It was a vicious cycle. Ignoring the attacks wasn’t an option either—somehow, they always knew when the Duke didn’t block them and would keep attacking until they broke through the barrier and destroyed the castle walls.
“Damn it.”
The Duke sighed, closed his eyes, and manipulated his magic power. The powerful magic cleaned up the residue in his brain, allowing him to function without sleep, but even that had its limits.
One month.
If he couldn’t come up with a plan to resolve this situation within that time, it was over. Not just for him—the soldiers were also at their breaking point from fatigue.
‘Should I order my son-in-law to assassinate them?’
He was starting to think that might be the only option. But what if Kail got sent and ended up getting captured instead?
No matter how skilled Kail was, he couldn’t take on a Master and their unit alone.
If that happened, they’d lose a Master for nothing. That was the worst-case scenario.
‘The best option would be if Yuri reached the Master level… but…’
Honestly, that was wishful thinking.
Becoming a Master just because of a crisis?
If becoming a Master was that easy…
To begin with, the Empire wouldn’t have been pushed around by a few Masters if that were possible.
‘I can’t request reinforcements either…’
An Aura Master wouldn’t help in this situation. There were only three Master-level sorcerers in the entire Empire.
The Duke himself, the Academy’s Headmaster, and Merlin, the wandering leader of the magic squad.
The Headmaster had an obligation to protect the Academy, and Merlin was an unpredictable character whose whereabouts were anyone’s guess.
In conclusion, there was no Master he could summon here.
“Hah, I wish a Master would just drop out of the sky.”
The Duke muttered this and burst into hollow laughter. Given the situation he was in, laughing was the only way to keep from breaking down.
* * *
Three days later.
Kail began to move.
“…Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t cross the castle walls.”
“Alright… I understand…”
Leaving Yuri behind, who was tirelessly training day and night, Kail headed to the Duke’s office.
The Duke glared at Kail with sharp eyes as he entered the office. About to explode in anger, the Duke realized it was Kail and rubbed his eyelids before speaking.
“Kail… It’s you. What is it?”
“Aren’t we reaching our limit soon?”
“…I’m not sending you.”
“Isn’t it better to go while you still have some strength left? Once Uncle Chang collapses, there’s no answer.”
If Kail left to assassinate the barbarian warrior while the Duke still had energy left, there was a chance the Duke could assist in case things went south.
But if the Duke completely retired before Kail left? Kail would have to risk his life attempting the assassination, and they’d also have to prepare for the barbarians attacking while he was gone.
Logically speaking, sending Kail was the right choice.
“─Still, no. You’ll stay.”
“Hmm… Why exactly?”
“You’re the future.”
Kail stared at the Duke as if questioning what nonsense he was spouting, but the Duke was serious.
Seeing the Duke’s firm eyes despite his exhaustion, Kail sighed deeply.
“Haa, or are you planning to wait until Yuri becomes a Master?”
“…We don’t necessarily need Yuri. Just one more Master-level magician would do.”
“No, where are we going to find a Master who can come here now─”
As Kail continued, he paused, recalling someone’s face—a Master-level magician who owed him a favor and lived freely.
Though he had recently used up the favor she owed him, Kail thought she might help once more if he asked.
After all, if this place collapsed, the Empire would fall into chaos. Rizelotte probably wouldn’t want to see the barbarians rampage across the continent, burning everything.
“What’s wrong? You?”
“…Uncle, if I bring back one Master, can we resolve this situation?”
“You know a Master?”
“Yes.”
The Duke chuckled bitterly at Kail’s words but then gasped in shock when Kail said he actually knew a Master.
Kail ignored the Duke’s gaze and pulled out a burnt talisman from his pocket.
“There’s one problem. I don’t know where they are. The only clue I have is this.”
“…A talisman. Is it a substitute for a magic scroll? It’s ancient technology from hundreds of years ago.”
“Can you trace the remaining magic here?”
“Hmm, I won’t know until I try, but… it’s not impossible.”
Tracing the owner of the magic from a burnt talisman was extremely difficult, even for a Master-level magician, and possibly impossible.
But since this was the only way to resolve the current situation, they couldn’t give up without trying.
“Wait one day.”
The next day, the Duke successfully traced the magical signature.
* * *
Two weeks since the first attack.
The soldiers of the North were visibly growing weary.
Realizing how crucial his role was to save them, Kail felt the weight of responsibility.
“Father, do I really need to come along…?”
“It’s unsafe to leave it to Kail alone. If the magic wears off midway, we’ll need someone to reapply it.”
The Duke used this logic to bring Yuri along with Kail. Though Yuri felt uneasy about leaving the territory during such an emergency, she accepted the Duke’s reasonable command without objection.
As Kail boarded the carriage leaving the territory, he casually spoke to Yuri.
“Take a nap while we travel.”
“…No, I can’t rest even for a moment. If that person doesn’t help, I’ll have no choice but to become a Master myself─.”
“Yuri, do you know something?”
“…What?”
“Your skin’s melting off.”
After two weeks of all-nighters, Yuri’s skin had lost all vitality, and dark spots were starting to appear. The fact that she hadn’t developed pimples or acne was likely due to her age and powerful magic.
After hearing Kail’s words, Yuri gently touched her cheek and nodded lightly.
“Then just for a bit, I’ll close my eyes. Wake me up in an hour.”
“Sure, don’t worry and sleep. Want to lean on my shoulder?”
“…Yeah.”
Yuri leaned on Kail’s shoulder and fell asleep instantly. Even in the uncomfortable carriage seat, simply closing her eyes slightly was enough for her to drift off.
This was proof of how exhausted she was. Kail lent her his shoulder and took out the talisman the Duke had given him.
This talisman would lead them to Rizelotte. Whether she’d help him or not was uncertain… but he had to meet her and talk.
After traveling for a few hours, Kail saw the talisman floating upward and stopped the carriage.
“Stop!”
Squeeeak-! The carriage came to an abrupt stop, throwing Yuri forward. She looked at Kail with a dazed expression, still half-asleep.
Kail pointed to the talisman, indicating that Rizelotte was nearby. Stepping out of the carriage, Kail held the talisman and scanned the surroundings.
A vast plain filled with golden wheat. Amidst the waist-high wheat, one figure stood out.
A man with green hair. And a pure white dragon.
“This place…”
Arthur’s hometown.
The plains of Wales.
Descending onto the golden grain fields, Kail tilted his head as he spotted Merlin and Arthur facing each other in the distance.
‘…Why.’
The talisman was pointing to those two.
‘These two people?’
