Chapter 208
Swish.
Cheian, who had been staring blankly at the scene for a moment, also brought forward a piece of paper stacked in the middle of the table and began moving his pen diligently.
“Uh… um…”
Scratch scratch scratch.
“Dessert…”
…The dessert has arrived.
Scratch scratch scratch, scratch scratch scratch.
A short while later, a server approached with the ordered desserts and drinks, but the two, busy writing their reflection notes, didn’t react at all.
In the end, the server quietly set the food down on a nearby table and quickly disappeared.
“…S-rank?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. During my time in the southern region, I entered the Black Forest three times, and in two of those locations, bosses with S-rank power appeared.”
Not long ago, word had reached that Duke Norua had rushed back to the southern region. Soon after, reports came that two other dukes had left for the western and eastern regions respectively.
Strange phenomena had been occurring in the Black Forests appearing in each region.
The news was that all mercenaries who entered the Black Forests, which weren’t even S-rank, and those trapped inside, had died.
The news first brought by Duke Norua upon returning to the capital was astonishing.
“A monstrous creature, you say.”
“They are currently being transported to the capital. Once they arrive, a proper investigation must begin.”
Emperor Debrika’s gaze deepened. An S-rank boss in a C-rank Black Forest… it meant the Black Forest had evolved in some way.
If Black Forests started to behave differently from previous patterns, it would only increase chaos.
“The same goes for the other two duchies.”
Dukes Schwaiss and Elcain, upon hearing about the Black Forest disasters in their territories, hurried to their regions and reportedly saw the same monstrous creatures that Duke Norua had encountered.
“They call it a ‘Chimera’.”
“Chimera?”
“It had incredibly high regenerative ability.”
Even a slight delay in attack caused the creature’s wounds to instantly regenerate. Its tough hide would probably be impervious to most attacks.
“Moreover…”
Duke Norua paused briefly and let out a short sigh.
“In Duke Schwaiss’ territory, two of those creatures appeared at the same time.”
“…Two?”
Two S-rank monsters? Emperor Debrika instinctively opened his mouth in shock. That was almost catastrophic!
“Th-the Black Forest…”
Could it have been completely wiped out again? No… if that were the case, there wouldn’t have been anyone left to report the appearance of two S-rank monsters.
“Duke Schwaiss personally entered that one.”
“Ah…”
Emperor Debrika’s tense expression relaxed slightly at Norua Duke’s faint smile.
“Many were injured, but there weren’t that many casualties.”
“That’s at least a relief.”
Even with two S-rank monsters appearing, few deaths meant Duke Schwaiss’ efforts had been tremendous.
“However…”
“However?”
Duke Norua lightly clicked his tongue.
“Some were injured.”
“Injured? Who… no way!”
Repeating Duke Norua’s words, Emperor Debrika’s expression stiffened again. Could it be that Duke Schwaiss himself had been injured…?
‘No, surely it’s more than “some”?’
Recalling the last image of Duke Schwaiss seen through the communication orb, Norua Duke slowly shook his head.
“…And Uncle?”
“Well… not seriously.”
Seeing Celes’ expression harden slightly, Duke Norua scratched his cheek.
“How badly were you hurt?”
“Hmm… just a little? Haha, nothing for Celes to worry about.”
“……”
“Really…”
Norua Duke’s faint smile met the increasingly sharp gaze of Celes, who couldn’t hide her concern, and he eventually avoided her eyes.
‘Just how badly was he hurt?’
Celes, seeing Duke Norua returned from the southern region for the first time in a while, initially felt joy, but her expression soon stiffened at the mention of Duke Schwaiss.
He had apparently been injured slightly while clearing the Black Forest…
‘No wonder he hadn’t been showing his face lately.’
After returning to each region, the three always communicated at least once a day, using video communication orbs, not just ordinary ones.
‘He always made sure to be seen, even like this.’
But lately, no video communication had come from Duke Schwaiss, only ordinary audio communication, which Celes hadn’t considered serious…
‘Could it be…’
…he avoided showing he was injured? Is that why no video communications had been sent?
“How badly are you hurt?”
“Well…”
“Uncle.”
“…Berber said absolutely not to tell anyone.”
Celes’ persistent questioning forced Duke Norua to reveal the truth despite Berber’s instructions.
“The wounds aren’t large.”
He exhaled silently.
“I was poisoned pretty badly.”
“Poisoned?”
“The last Black Forest boss we defeated had poison.”
Recently, some Black Forests had Chimera bosses. Each forest’s Chimera varied slightly in appearance and abilities, and in this case, two appeared simultaneously, both wielding very strong poison.
“We defeated both, but Berber was poisoned as well.”
“What about an antidote?”
Finding the precise antidote for the specific poison was the top priority.
“Well…”
A short sigh escaped Duke Norua.
“The antidote hasn’t worked properly.”
They had sent the best healers and all kinds of antidotes from the Schwaiss household across the western, southern, and eastern regions, but news of a successful cure had yet to arrive.
Of course, the empire’s top medical family, Count Elresia’s house, had also sent someone, but even they hadn’t found the exact antidote.
Duke Norua planned to send his regards to Celes and head straight to the western region.
‘Are you okay?’
………
‘Hey, hey, Berber! Don’t lose focus!’
…Cut it out.
‘How can you even communicate with Celes in this state? You can barely speak. Are you really okay?’
…I won’t… say anything to Celes…
‘Hey, hey. Pull yourself together!’
Recalling the last conversation with him before coming to Celes, Duke Norua shook his head.
Clearly, he was barely alive, yet somehow managed to maintain daily contact with Celes.
Bang.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
Lost in thought, Duke Norua stopped abruptly as Celes suddenly stood.
Suddenly going somewhere?
“To see Uncle.”
“…Huh?”
“Right now.”
“…Huh?”
“Hmm… this isn’t having much effect either.”
Herion, head of the Elresia Count family, had visited the Schwaiss household in the western region a few days ago under Emperor Debrika’s orders.
Upon seeing Duke Schwaiss lying in bed, Herion could hardly speak for a while.
[Isn’t he a corpse, a corpse!]
Then, as if to speak for her thoughts, the fire spirit king Jubelios made noise, helping her regain her composure.
The wounds weren’t deep.
‘The problem is the poison.’
It was as if all the poisons in the world had been combined into one.
Yet she couldn’t simply mix all antidotes either—doing so could fatally harm the Duke.
Sigh.
Blocked again.
She was analyzing symptoms and applying antidotes one by one, but even when slight improvement occurred, new symptoms would appear and the poison would spread again.
“I want to try this herb…”
Herion picked up a dried herb with a groan. It would be a perfect antidote for Duke Schwaiss’ current condition…
“The problem is this herb contains poisonous elements as well.”
While it could act as an antidote for present symptoms, if it combined with other residual poisons in the body, it could worsen the condition.
“Ugh! Celes-sama!”
