Chapter 104

Though Arenheit had shown kindness by assigning his servant to Amelia, Amelia was not feeling well at all.

A servant from the Arnold barony had an accident on his way back with an escort knight?

Any fool in the world would know this wasn't a simple accident.

Amelia thought this was a warning from Hartmann.

Blinding her father with gold,

Summoning her, who had connections to Hartmann's downfall, to the castle,

To blame all past humiliations and tribulations on her.

Fine, do your worst!

Ever since Dederik had turned his back on her, Amelia had felt as if she were not among the living,

So whatever shame she might suffer would just be that.

It wouldn't be more than simple pain to her, so it didn't matter.

So Amelia pretended not to understand the Duke of Hartmann's intentions and accepted the servant.

Surely he would commit some evil deed when her own servants let down their guard.

Poisoning her drink, strangling her in the night, or framing her.

That's certainly what she thought would happen, but.

"What kind of tea would you like? 'Anything' is not an option."

"Keeping the sunlight out with curtains during the day? This is the room with the best lighting. Staying in darkness like this won't help your illness improve."

"Please change your clothes on time. What's this all about when you have perfectly capable maids?"

"Here's your meal. Even if you don't have an appetite, please eat a little. I believe a well-mannered baronial lady like yourself wouldn't disregard the sincerity of the person who prepared the food."

...Arndt was far from being a cunning servant plotting evil schemes.

If anything, he was closer to a nanny.

It was impressive enough that he consistently, politely, and patiently told her to eat properly, wash, change clothes, ventilate the room, and not just lie down but move around a bit.

Not only that, but he also thoroughly adjusted all activities to Amelia's schedule.

From the time of waking up to the time of going to bed,

As if he had been Amelia's servant from the beginning.

"C-could it be that y-you've been o-observing me from the b-beginning..."

"Me?"

"I-if not, h-how can you s-serve me as if you k-know my daily r-routine so well?"

"You might think it's impertinent of me to say this, but I was able to grasp it quickly because the daily routine you observe is simpler than expected."

Was that so?

Amelia reflected on what she had done during the day for the first time.

Sleeping, waking up, drinking tea served by someone, having a headache and feeling dizzy, lying down and thinking for a while, sleeping again, waking up again, taking medicine, eating dinner, and sleeping again.

Recalling a routine that was no different from an animal's, Amelia's bone-dry, pale face turned slightly red.

"T-that's."

"I apologize if I spoke out of turn."

"...F-fine."

As Arndt steeped tea leaves in hot water, a fragrant aroma spread throughout the room.

Amelia was looking at the sunlight coming through the window, which had not been covered since Arndt's arrival.

The scenery of the Dikenter Mountains was certainly magnificent.

Unlike the garden landscape of the Arnold barony that had been much touched by human hands, it had a wild charm.

Moist green leaves, a sky that spread endlessly as far as one could see, and a layer of white clouds thick enough to be visibly substantial.

Arndt encouraged her as he poured the tea.

"How about going for a walk? The central courtyard is not yet fully refurbished, so you'll have to go outside, but that will be a special experience too."

"N-no. I've s-seen enough w-when I came h-here."

"The scenery viewed from a carriage and the scenery seen while walking are certainly different."

"S-still, no."

Amelia disliked meeting people.

It seemed that since she had started shutting herself in her room at the barony, she had found it uncomfortable to meet people.

From then on, both her lethargy and her occasional seizures had become more frequent.

Amelia was afraid that she might have an outburst in front of people unexpectedly.

She couldn't show such a state within the ducal family, even if it might be acceptable in her own mansion.

Fortunately, she had never revealed such an appearance until now.

As Amelia shrank back, Arndt calmly said.

"The Dikenter Mountains are beautiful at this time of year. As you may already know, the path down to the manor where the territory residents lived will feel particularly mystical to you."

"I-is that p-path still t-there?"

"Since it hasn't collapsed. Of course, all the territory residents have fled elsewhere, so the manor must be empty."

"I s-see."

An empty manor.

Amelia was taken aback by a situation she had never considered.

But Arndt spoke as if already familiar with it and slightly opened the window.

"Now, with no people around, would be the best time for a walk. If you go now, I'll guide you."

Fresh, cool air entered the room, tickling Amelia's dry cheeks.

She suddenly longed for the walking paths she had strolled along a very long time ago.

Perhaps, just once would be fine.

Amelia nodded as if enchanted by the mountain's magic.

* * *

"Good, good. It's going well. Trusting Arndt was indeed the right answer."

A smile automatically surfaced as he watched the two, Arndt and Amelia, leaving the castle together.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Amelia fell head over heels for Arndt.

Leandros saw him lewdly observing the two with his face pressed against the window in the bedroom and dragged him to sit on the bed.

"I'll receive a report on the progress from Arndt later. Right now, you said you had something to tell me."

"Ah, right."

Even after leaving Amelia in Arndt's care, he had much to do.

From finding books in the secret room hidden in the former Duchess's study,

To checking if the horn was functioning properly.

Moreover, since he had to act with Leandros as the protagonist of the story from now on, he also needed to reconfirm his plans.

Was it just his feeling that he hadn't had a day to rest comfortably since coming here?

"Before I forget the revelation I had, I wrote it down and reviewed it. The result doesn't change, but I was able to find a few clues."

"What kind of clues do you mean?"

"The journey until defeating the Crown Prince. And what can be gained during that journey."

Summarizing the settings he had obtained so far,

Yurik's biological father was a divine entity.

That entity had existed on Earth since ancient times, but at some point, it had hidden itself.

To summon his father, Yurik had prepared for the end and dug a total of four pits within this kingdom.

One pit in each of the four cardinal directions contained a god,

And that god had the power to annihilate enough people in the respective region.

And when Yurik desired, they would all awaken simultaneously and spread not only throughout the kingdom but also outward, leading to the planet's destruction... that's about how it could be summarized.

Looking at this setting alone, it was enough to generate a sense of despair.

Not one, but four divine entities.

And with each one in the east, west, south, and north, plus the setting that seeing them would cause madness or death.

But there was one hopeful fact.

What he had learned in his previous life after taking down the Winter Butterfly and the Giant Wandering Through Blizzards.

In this world, immortality did not exist.

Beings with physical forms could die.

Immortal beings could be silenced forever.

No one had escaped from this law.

Even those so-called gods were no exception.

They seemed immortal because no one had tried to kill them before.

That one fact alone gave them sufficient odds of winning.

"From now on, I'm going to raise you."

"Surely you don't mean to become my adoptive father?"

What was he talking about now?

"Get your head straight."

"I apologize."

"From now on, I'm going to guide you. I'm the one who knows the revelation, and as the legitimate heir of the Hartmann family, I'm also the one who must take responsibility for that revelation."

Leandros pondered for a moment, then added.

"It would be more than perfect if Your Grace could show the way with the revelation. But hearing you say this to me suggests that you don't simply want me to follow you."

"That's right. You also need to make an effort on your own. To become stronger than you are now."

For the ending, Leandros needed to become stronger than he was now.

However, it was also true that there were extremely few people in this kingdom who could match Leandros at present.

After all, he was receiving the protagonist's buff, wasn't he?

Most swordsmen wouldn't even be able to present their business cards.

But who was he?

The regression returner starting his fourth regression,

The only possessor who remembered the entire original novel,

The madman who had memorized the northern demonic beast attack strategies, using his ability to revive after death as a weapon.

That was him, Yu Yesung, inhabiting the body of Arenheit Hartmann.

"So before that, let's make one promise."

"...If it's a promise, similar to what Arndt did...?"

"No, not that. There's just one thing you need to keep from now until the end. And that is."

But no matter how much he devised Zhuge Liang-level strategies, he couldn't even start a war without a general.

He pulled on his wrist.

Clear surprise showed on his face.

"You need to believe in me. Even if everyone else leaves, you must not leave me."

In this life, he must not leave him.

So that such a thought wouldn't even occur to him, so that he couldn't even consider the option of turning away.

"Even if the whole world says I'm wrong, you need to believe in me and follow me. Leandros, you are the last legacy left by your mother who was killed by Yurik. Along with Arndt, you are the last person I own."

Stimulating sympathy, injecting guilt, talking about an old promise that he hadn't even made.

He knew he shouldn't be doing this kind of thing.

Morally and humanely, it was wrong.

But all of this was for the ending of all of them.

So, Leandros. At least you.

"At least until you kill Yurik."

Until he saw the conclusion of this story and brought an ending to all of them.

They stared into each other's eyes for a long time.

There was nothing reflected in his pitch-black eyes except him.

Finally, Leandros slowly nodded.

"As per the former Duchess's orders, I swear to Your Grace, my new master."

"Good. Then I can tell you right away. From now on, we're going to hunt demonic beasts."

"For demonic beasts, wouldn't we need to go deep into the mountains?"

"What are you talking about? We have a closed hunting ground."

"Your Grace. With our current personnel, it's insufficient to enter the Land of Demonic Beasts for hunting. Moreover, if they come to the castle, the baronial lady would."

"No. I said hunting, but I didn't say we were going to do it."

As he smiled, Leandros looked at him in confusion.

"Are you saying there's a way to eliminate demonic beasts without even touching them?"

"There are two options."

He let go of his hand and instead held up two fingers in front of him.

"Money, or fire."

"What?"

Leandros was perplexed by the suddenly introduced words.

"Choose one of the two. For reference, fire refers to the method used by the Hartmann ancestors who cleaned out the demonic beast species by setting fire to their habitats."

"Your Grace, it's too dangerous. That's absolutely out of the question."

"Yes, it's absolutely impossible, right? Since it's connected to the forest area, it could spread into a large fire, right? Then we have no choice but to use money. Right? Good choice."

"If fire means burning the forest, then what is money?"

He stood up, dusted off his clothes, and smirked.

"What else could it be? It's the method of using materialists blinded by money. Isn't the Aisling Merchant Group currently investing heavily in the east?"

It was fortunate that he hadn't been able to finish his business in the previous iteration, as he had been feeling uneasy about it.

Aiden, be grateful.

Don't forget to bring lots of gifts when you come to see me.