Chapter : 92
In the Kadol Empire, there is no concept of heroic chivalry, so it couldn’t be called martial arts fiction.
And it’s not just martial arts—there’s no romantic fantasy element either.
No delicate first love blossoming during the first dance while being escorted…☆ None of that romance existed.
There’s no gender hierarchy in dark magic, so what kind of escorting are we even talking about?
There might be after-parties, but after fighting brutally in duels, who would be in the mood to dance?
Instead of first love, a strong hatred toward rivals might even sprout.
The past me, foolishly hoping that maybe this world had romantic fantasy elements, is dead.
So all I could do was watch Emil and Ruska, thinking, “May anyone win,” and enjoy the show.
For reference, in the original story, Ruska awakens to Dark Core Stage 5 and wins Walpurgis Night.
But I had twisted the original story a bit, and knowing how hard Emil had been working, I couldn’t be sure of the outcome.
Recalling both the original story and Emil made me uneasy.
“Emil is supposed to die before his coming-of-age ceremony…”
There was no sign of that happening yet.
Perhaps he was just meticulous about self-management and hadn’t revealed his inner thoughts, so I kept observing.
Anyway, not just with Emil, I always kept future problematic information in mind.
There were tasks to be handled even during this Walpurgis Night.
“Uncle, I’m excited—it’s my first time going to the Deldomosans estate!”
“There’s not much to see… but if Mia likes it, then Dad does too…”
The Deldomosans.
One of the four noble families supporting the Kadol Empire, alongside Harloren in the east and Roton in the south, they governed the west.
Walpurgis Night was hosted in rotation by each noble family, and this time it was Deldomosans’ turn.
The event itself would be held in a month, but we were planning to depart for Deldomosans in two weeks.
There was sightseeing, and we needed to take care of some tasks in advance.
“I need to prevent a dungeon burst from occurring during Walpurgis Night.”
A dungeon burst is the sudden formation of a dungeon.
It’s similar to the Gate in the Gwanpanso.
Normally, such portals to otherworldly realms filled with monsters shouldn’t open—so their appearance is disastrous.
The direct cause of the rise of the Dark Faction, a group of madmen seeking power, was precisely this dungeon burst.
It was the responsibility of dark mages to quickly form a task force and close the portal immediately so that ordinary citizens wouldn’t be harmed by monsters.
I understood that the Holy Forces also formed their own paladin groups to manage dungeon bursts in their way.
There were two main causes of a dungeon burst:
One was irregular, like a natural disaster.
Just as humans cannot stop a typhoon, this phenomenon couldn’t be prevented.
The other was the result of a failed summoning spell.
Normally, the mage would summon only the undead they wanted and immediately close the portal, but if something went wrong in the spell’s formula, the dungeon would open uncontrollably.
Usually, such artificial dungeon bursts weren’t a big threat.
They were minor incidents, manageable by the mage alone, with a resigned “Ugh, what a hassle.”
“But… a dungeon burst at Deldomosans is different.”
This large-scale dungeon burst was a thoroughly planned act of terrorism.
The burst was deliberately triggered during the festival when many people would gather for Walpurgis Night.
In the original story, Ruska raised her own power to face this disaster, but still, there were many casualties.
This left a lasting scar on Ruska.
So I decided to preemptively take down the insane terrorist group to prevent such a horrifying event.
As I organized my plan in my mind, there was a knock at the door.
“Uncle, it’s Emil. I came to return the book I borrowed earlier! Can I come in?”
“Come in…”
Emil swung the door wide open and greeted me with a lively smile.
“Good afternoon! Ah, Kalmia, you’re here too. You’ve been busy studying lately, huh?”
“Today, I finished for now.”
“Then shall we have dinner together? Is that okay with you, Uncle?”
“Yes… that’s fine.”
His skilled sociability still led the atmosphere.
Now fifteen, on the verge of young adulthood, his appearance was finally catching up.
“There are so many cold men around here; seeing the warm-hearted Emil is comforting.”
Despite his growth, his big, cute eyes and naturally reassuring aura remained charming.
“Weren’t you busy recently, Emil?”
“Oh, my research was stuck, but I found a clue!”
“Wow, that’s great!”
“Before continuing, I thought I’d take a break and come see you.”
Emil smiled sweetly and rubbed my cheek, but I wasn’t fooled.
“He came to see Dad, and just happened to stop by me…”
“Tch! Isn’t this the moment to call me ‘brother’ because you’re impressed?”
“Give me 55 gold.”
“That went up in the meantime?”
“It’s just inflation.”
Emil laughed heartily at my silly joke.
“Were you talking about anything fun with Uncle?”
“Ah, nothing really fun. I was just saying I’m looking forward to going to Deldomosans for the first time.”
“Deldomosans, huh…”
Sitting down across from me, Emil rested his chin on his hand.
“We met once because of a dungeon raid, but their family feels weirdly off, you know?”
“Really?”
“Yeah… how should I put it… they’re either clueless or dull…”
Dad, who was shelving the book Emil had returned, responded to that comment.
“That can’t be helped… Roton is filled with malicious stupidity… Deldomosans are just stupid without malice…”
“……”
Emil had phrased it delicately, but as a true Harloren person, Dad said it bluntly.
Encouraged, Emil began to openly grumble.
“To be honest, I’m not happy with what Deldomosans have been doing lately.”
“Lately…?”
“You know, the granddaughter the head of the Deldomosans lost and then found.”
The granddaughter Emil mentioned was Neme Deldomosans.
She went missing as a baby while traveling with her parents, then was later found after struggling in an orphanage. Since then, she had been treated like a princess.
I remembered reading about it in the papers—it was also a character appearing in the original story.
“So what about that granddaughter?”
“The recent press coverage seems subtly aimed at you, Kalmia, and it makes me feel bad!”
“Eh…?”
Blinking at the unexpected statement, I saw Dad nod expressionlessly.
“You mean all those articles giving her attention…”
“Yes!”
Emil exclaimed passionately.
Neme was the same age as Emil, fifteen, and as a descendant of a noble family, her dark magic skills were quite impressive.
In the original story, she even rose to become a family head.
Having been missing and then found, she was already adored, and now her exceptional magical skills caused quite a stir.
“Not long ago, they ran a huge feature because she awakened Dark Core Stage 4!”
“Hmmm.”
“Plus, she supposedly had a friendly duel with Johnson Roton and won! It really feels like they’re targeting Kalmia’s reputation.”
Johnson had now become nothing more than a measuring tool for combat power.
Of course, I had subtly guided Kaizen to embarrass Johnson in that friendly duel, but still…
“Come to think of it, I’ll also be meeting Kaizen at Deldomosans. It’s been a while since we met—he must’ve grown a lot.”
As I lazily reached for my teacup, Emil continued, nearly choking me with what he said next.
“Even today’s feature article was titled ‘Fairy of the Social World, Neme Deldomosans’! Can you believe it? The only fairy is our Kalmia!”
