Edward’s guess was a plausible hypothesis.
Cecilia also thought that if four demon dukes moved, that would be the only explanation.
For some reason, the Demon King died, and a grand meeting was held to fill the void left by the Demon King.
However, there was one puzzling point….
‘How did they find out?’
Edward vaguely mentioned that intelligence came from the Empire.
But that didn’t make sense. Even if they knew the location of the castle where the demon dukes resided, it was impossible to plant ‘eyes’ around it.
After all, in human history, no one had ever succeeded in an expedition that far.
Even an empire several times larger than the kingdom couldn’t achieve such a feat. People in medieval times seem to think, ‘If it’s the Empire, they can do anything.’
But Cecilia was certain that even if it were the Empire, having someone powerful enough to make that possible was out of the question.
Because…
Isn’t the ‘strongest’ right here?
In other words, Cecilia believed it was absurd for others to know something she herself didn’t.
‘…The reasonable suspicion is that Edward has an informant on the demon side. There’s no reason for him to lie.’
Cecilia stopped walking and blinked.
[Golden Honeycomb]
Ding-a-ling.
“Welcome!”
Come to think of it, that made perfect sense.
A sly royal like Edward would definitely do something like that.
Like casually touching the cheeks of a beautiful maiden sword heroine like herself, or grabbing her wrist and dragging her off last time—there was a 100% chance he was a perverted golden sun.
Not to mention his hair was golden too!
Good grief.
“Lady?”
“Yes.”
“That gentleman sent you this gift. It’s a freshly made strawberry parfait.”
Cecilia turned her gaze while looking at the kind smile of the employee.
Edward, with his eye-smile, was waving his hand.
“!”
How could the person who was just in the deputy commander’s office now be here? – Cecilia had already circled the capital three times –
Dangerous!
He must be watching me!
‘If Edward is the hidden villain…? No, once the internal strife decides the Demon King, a large-scale invasion will occur. First, I need to deal with that…’
As Cecilia’s mind raced, she stared blankly at the parfait.
Seeing the parfait practically begging to be eaten, her conclusion was set.
‘Who cares.’
Anyway, the main episode wouldn’t start for another year.
Edward-related matters were precious main quests for newbies.
Until then, it really didn’t matter.
Nom-nom.
The Rianen Kingdom had really delicious desserts.
This world didn’t seem to be based on medieval England.
‘She must be suspicious of me.’
Edward watched Cecilia with a strange smile.
The conclusion reached by that tiny head was probably suspicion.
After all, he had leaked the information precisely for that purpose.
‘But she won’t be certain.’
Though the source of the information was questionable, its value was undeniable.
The easiest way to quell internal chaos was to focus on an external enemy.
That was true for both humans and demons.
If they focused on the source, Edward was humanity’s enemy; if they focused on the information, Edward was an ally.
Depending on which aspect they emphasized, the outcome would vary greatly.
‘Am I humanity’s enemy? Or an ally? Either way, I’m certainly not on your side.’
What conclusion would Cecilia reach?
Watching her decision would be part of the fun.
“Nobles of the capital are different even in appearance…”
“She knows she’s pretty, how haughty.”
“I wonder what expression she makes in bed.”
“Maybe she’s of high status?”
“Look closely. She doesn’t have any attendants. She’s probably not of high rank.”
“…Should we ambush her in a secluded place?”
Edward’s expression suddenly filled with displeasure.
Sword Heroine Cecilia.
The closer one was to the sacred flame in the capital, the fewer people there were who didn’t know Cecilia’s face.
Once seen, her unforgettable appearance, combined with the fact that she was the only female knight of the Windsor Knight Order, meant anyone recognizing her uniform would know she was the famous Sword Heroine.
But for outsiders, things were different.
They didn’t know Cecilia’s face, and currently, Cecilia was in casual attire.
And those outsiders’ reactions were more than enough to irritate Edward.
‘This is why I told her to wear her uniform when moving around the capital.’
Cecilia was officially a political rival.
The biggest obstacle—she was the adopted daughter of Kairon, the Knight Order Commander who constantly doubted him.
But this wasn’t related to those internal factors.
Wasn’t it natural to feel disgust towards worthless insects?
“Excuse me, gentlemen. Could I have a word with you? I have something private to discuss.”
Afterward, the identities of the two barons could no longer be confirmed anywhere in the capital.
Returning to the training grounds, Cecilia pushed harder into the rookie training.
It was obvious that the sly prince would soon send them on a mission after dropping the bait about the Demon King.
Before then, she needed to maximize the rookies’ abilities as much as possible.
Because—
‘I’ll hog them all.’
The request for Cecilia, known for her mobility, to go on reconnaissance had been around for a while.
And while she was away, it was likely someone else would be assigned to train the rookies.
Her fun dungeon date with the newbies was at risk!
‘No way!’
The newbies’ firsts belonged to Cecilia.
She couldn’t let someone else take the glory of their first mission, which would leave the most memorable impression.
So, Cecilia had to lay down some bait too. Her plan was to kidnap the newbies for a mission after raising their level to a certain point.
“Their adaptation to the polar environment seems adequate.”
To that end, Cecilia drastically skipped parts of the rookies’ training.
‘The essence of training isn’t about filling time but maximizing the necessary skills in a short period.’
After about a week, the rookies adapted to the harsh cold.
Using blessings that generated heat, they maintained their body temperature as much as possible and even took turns standing guard against any surprise attacks from Cecilia.
Their food situation was a bit lacking, but they had become somewhat accustomed to using blessings in extreme environments, so it was a barely passing grade.
Now that they had roughly found their direction, it was time to shift gears.
“We’ll conclude the cold weather training here.”
The rookie knights each sighed in relief, but their faces turned pale at Cecilia’s next words.
“Next is physical conditioning.”
Commonly known as guerrilla training.
The outline of the physical conditioning training was simple.
Climb to the top of the mountain.
However, the mountain surrounding Windsor Training Ground 72 was a sheer cliff.
In other words, they had to scale the cliff face.
“This is absolutely necessary training.”
Even Rude, who always sided with Cecilia, thought these brutal training methods were a bit much.
But he couldn’t deny their necessity.
“It builds both stamina and judgment.”
The cliff was quite high and smooth.
The only way up was to manifest a blessing with just the right amount of mass, embed it into the cliff, and use it as a foothold.
If the blessing was too strong, the cliff would crumble. If too weak, the blessing itself would break.
Moreover, due to previous training sessions, the rookies were almost out of mana.
To climb the cliff, they needed at least some mana restored.
If they overcharged, they’d be delayed. Rush too quickly, and they’d run out of mana.
In other words, climbing required not just the application of blessings but also careful mana distribution.
“Brilliant! I should try this too.”
The faces of the safety crew—Rude’s squad—turned pale.
“What? Are you telling me you can’t even handle this much?”
When Rude glared fiercely, the knights of Rude’s squad quickly shook their heads.
“That’s easy!”
“Right!”
“Of course.”
Rude nodded along and subtly leaned toward Cecilia.
Kairon, with his hand on his hip, raised an eyebrow.
“Back off.”
“What?”
“Before I throw you down.”
“Yes…”
Rude quickly straightened up. Cecilia clapped her hands and looked down at the rookies below the cliff.
‘Please, look pathetic.’
Cecilia was full of worry.
She hadn’t expected Kairon to show up so soon.
-With demons gradually disappearing from the dungeons, a large-scale extermination campaign was planned to gather more information.
It was Cecilia’s mistake for focusing too much on Edward!
Hearing that the training had progressed to the next stage, Kairon said he would take a few promising rookies for the upcoming campaign.
‘I can’t give up even one! They’re all mine!’
Cecilia was determined not to lose them. The problem was…
“You’ve worked hard, Cecilia. I see quite a few promising ones.”
Kairon was eyeing the rookies like a shopper.
The rookie knights began climbing the cliff steadily, proving their previous training wasn’t wasted.
Those low on mana compensated through teamwork. Cecilia, used to solo play, was flustered.
‘I didn’t expect this.’
“To construct a usable blessing form with minimal mana… Even I’m impressed. There’s hardly any waste.”
After about two hours—
Finally, some reached the summit.
Cecilia flicked her fingers, and a strong gust blew.
Whoooosh!
“Aaaaah!”
The voices of knights falling from the high cliff echoed.
“…….”
Everyone looked at the back of Cecilia’s small head.
Cecilia desperately averted her gaze.
“Th, the wind is strong today.”
“Cecilia.”
At Kairon’s icy tone, Cecilia flinched.
‘He’s mad… I’m in trouble.’
Cecilia became sullen.
Rude, noticing the mood, tried to cover for her.
“Th, this is also part of the training, Commander. Please don’t be too harsh.”
“…….”
“It’s true that if it’s too easy, it won’t be effective physical training.”
Kairon sighed reluctantly and nodded.
Cecilia, who had become gloomy, brightened her eyes and continued to generate strong winds.
But—
“Now, Betty!”
Betty, Riharten, and Dusen.
The trio of apprentice knights successfully climbed despite the strong winds.
Riharten blocked Cecilia’s gust once, Dusen threw Beatrice upward, and Beatrice created a rope of light to pull the two up.
‘Be, Betty can’t succeed!’
Seeing her beloved newbie Beatrice succeed, Cecilia felt her heart drop.
“At this level, they’ll rarely d*e in real combat.”
Kairon judged coolly and decided to include those three in the extermination team.
“I, I want to go too.”
“Denied. Focus on nurturing for now.”
“I want to go…!”
“Tsk.”
Cecilia opened her eyes wide and bowed her head.
Sniff-sniff.
Cecilia, blinking rapidly to hold back tears, looked pitiful.
Rude didn’t know what to do, but even Kairon remained firm this time.
‘I need to somehow remove Cecilia from the Queen’s attention.’
Given Cecilia’s personality, she wouldn’t slack off on any mission.
She was the type to find something huge in even the smallest trace.
If she were to lead this extermination campaign, the Queen would place even greater expectations on her.
She’s still a fragile child.
Though he couldn’t shield her forever, the later the better.
“Commander. Since she wants to go so badly, isn’t stopping her overprotection?”
Kairon turned around with a stern expression.
Edward walked over with his hands in his pockets, wearing a sly smile.
“Therefore, Cecilia will participate in this extermination force.”
“What?”
“It’s the Queen’s order. Sword Heroine Cecilia will lead the assault on the ‘Ancient King’s Tomb,’ which failed last time.”
‘Was all this part of the plan?’
Pretending to help Cecilia, loosening their guard.
Then secretly moving to accomplish his plan.
All of this was part of Edward’s design from the beginning.
“Since the Commander was absent, I had no choice but to approve it. There won’t be any problems, right?”
‘I’ve been had.’
Kairon closed his eyes.
Meanwhile.
‘The Deputy Commander is a god!’
Cecilia smiled brightly.
