Chapter: 22
The moment he heard that song with its incomprehensible, eerie lyrics, his strength drained away and sleep came rushing over him.
The knees of the elite unit he had brought with him buckled one after another, and they began to collapse.
Alpheus, too, was just about to slip into sleep without realizing it—
You use this when you’re so sleepy you can’t stay awake. Always keep it on you.
Brisa’s voice suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Forcing strength into his head, which felt as heavy as cotton, he rummaged through the inner pocket of his shirt.
Just as Brisa had given it to him, his fingers touched the thoroughly dried awakening herb.
With trembling hands, he picked it up and swallowed it. His eyes snapped wide open. At the same time, he saw the shape of a monster singing out there in the distant sea.
‘…Huh?’
Alpheus sent successive slashes of sword aura toward the vague figure.
‘It is a monster… right?’
What glittered—was it scales, or silver hair like that of a human…?
“There was even a very unusual monster that appeared, they say.”
As the attendant had reported, it truly was a very unusual monster.
As he narrowed his eyes, the monster—grazed by his sword aura—vanished into the sea. At the same time, the song that had dulled everyone’s minds came to a stop.
“Come on, come on.”
He hurriedly tried to wake the sleeping knights and the Second Prince.
“Wake up. Everyone, wake up.”
They didn’t wake easily, so after administering a bit of physical shock—
The knights and the Second Prince finally rose, rubbing their bodies now bluish with bruises.
“Ah… what happened?”
“The moment we heard that strange song, we fell asleep… and after that, I don’t remember anything.”
“I suppose this happened in the meantime. My goodness, we really almost died. Isn’t that right, Sir Alpheus?”
At the imperial knight’s question, Alpheus nodded.
“That’s not wrong.”
Then he quickly turned to the Second Prince and said,
“We failed to kill the monster in question. I have no more awakening herbs from my younger sister, so we need to leave this island immediately.”
Having come here, it seemed that rather than a massive monster wave, a single monster with peculiar abilities had drastically lowered the survival rate of those who came this way.
“Right. Let’s head back at once.”
The Second Prince agreed, looking around.
Then, before Alpheus could even speak, he added,
“Let us all go to the Imperial Palace together. If you don’t need a barony, I’ll tell His Majesty the Emperor that you should at least be generously rewarded with war compensation.”
Glancing at Alpheus’s clothes, he added with a slightly choked voice,
“And you came all this way out of friendship and even saved my life, didn’t you? My mother will surely reward you privately as well. If so, you must never refuse.”
Alpheus thought it was fortunate that he didn’t need to say, I came not out of friendship, but because I was begging.
When they all left the island and finally set foot on the continent—
“Huh?”
The warp gate had stopped working.
“The Mage Tower has suspended all warp operations. They say it won’t be reactivated until midsummer.”
The imperial knight who had looked into the situation spoke in a dark voice.
The Second Prince let out a deep sigh.
“Then we’ll have to stay here for the time being.”
Narrowing his eyes, he muttered,
“Where around here is there a noble estate large enough to accommodate a knight order of this size…?”
Alpheus shook his head cheerfully.
“Ah, I’ll go on horseback.”
“…What?”
“If the warp is down, I’ll just ride.”
The Second Prince stared blankly at his face and asked,
“Are you out of your mind?”
And understandably so—crossing that vast land on horseback was no easy task.
Moreover, the Empire was enormous.
“Ah, of course, only my knights and I will move. I’m not saying we should all ride to the Imperial Palace together.”
Alpheus hurriedly explained.
“There’s only one very young younger sister left in my territory. I can’t wait until midsummer.”
That only made the Second Prince even more alarmed.
“Even so, my reaction doesn’t change. Are you really out of your mind?”
He kindly explained, as if wondering whether the bruises on his body had gone to Alpheus’s head instead.
“From the eastern regions to the central regions—by horseback? Do you know how long that takes? And on top of that, monsters are appearing along the borders of every territory right now.”
“Even so, our Bribri is waiting for me.”
The Second Prince blinked and asked back,
“Bribri? Are you raising some short-tempered pet or something?”
“No! It’s the name of my newly found younger sister—the one who gave me the awakening herb as a token!”
In truth, Alpheus had saved his life thanks to Brisa, but more than that, he could never forget the moment she gave him the awakening herb.
“Do you know this? Back when I was fighting day after day in the north, risking my life…”
He murmured with sorrowful eyes.
“Every night, everyone would look at something. A photo of their mother, a keepsake from their father, letters from siblings—things like that. What their beloved families left behind for them, what they wanted to see one last time before a life-or-death battle, traces of the people they had to return to no matter what…”
Alpheus’s voice gradually sank.
“I didn’t have anything like that. So I just read youthful hero novels instead.”
If Brisa had heard this, she would surely have said, So that’s the cause of your ‘hero syndrome.’
Suppressing his emotion, Alpheus continued,
“But now, I finally have something too—a family token given to me by Bribri. I have a place to return to. That’s why I need to hurry back to her.”
The first family ever gained by a righteous young man who had grown up lonely as a commoner orphan.
Alpheus wanted to be unconditionally good to that child.
“I grew up too quickly at a very young age, because I had to take responsibility for myself. I know how sad that is… so I don’t want to raise my younger sister that way. Never.”
At this point, the Second Prince could no longer stop him.
In the end, the Second Prince searched his clothes and pulled out the jewels he carried for emergencies.
“Here. Take these, at least.”
“No, really, this is too much—”
“With the warp down, distribution will be halted, so food prices won’t be cheap. You’ll need to eat along the way, won’t you?”
After carefully removing even his own brooches and handing them over, the Second Prince smiled warmly.
With all his ornaments gone, the brown-haired, green-eyed man looked almost like a plain knight.
“My elder brother sent me here, but thanks to you, Alpheus, I survived once again. I will never forget this debt. Let’s meet at the Imperial Palace as soon as the warp is restored.”
Alpheus laughed.
“To be precise, Your Highness’s life was saved by our Bribri. Thanks to the awakening herb she gave me, I was able to come to my senses. We almost all perished.”
“That child… hmm.”
The Second Prince started to say something, then closed his mouth.
Alpheus tilted his head.
“What about our Bribri? Have you perhaps met her before?”
“…I have.”
The Second Prince rolled his eyes as he spoke.
“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager favored the child greatly and summoned her to the Imperial Palace several times when she was attending the Capital Academy. I saw her in passing a few times.”
“I see! As expected, even Her Majesty the Empress Dowager recognized how cute our Bribri is!”
“Personally, I think it wasn’t her cuteness she recognized… but her usefulness.”
The Second Prince’s expression darkened slightly. But he soon smiled again, patting Alpheus on the shoulder.
“You always longed for family.”
With gentle eyes, he wished his comrade good fortune.
“I sincerely hope that child becomes a good family to you.”
“Of course.”
Alpheus replied brightly.
“But first, I have to be a good family to her myself. She’s just a child, after all.”
