Chapter 11
“Well, that’s settled.”
Laila covered the crystal orb that revealed the tops of Enya and Helios’ heads. As she withdrew her hand like a gentle caress, the surface of the orb, which had just shown the two of them, turned black.
Gray and Mari, who had regained their senses long ago, let out sighs of relief. Laila asked awkwardly:
“Are you feeling okay? I’m so sorry about this.”
“Ah… oh! No, I’m fine. Haha, ha.”
“No, it’s all our fault for being inadequate.”
Gray and Mari replied in turn. Laila in front of them was so stunningly beautiful that it was almost dizzying, but her appearance had an entirely different hue and tone from her master, Enya Valencia.
While Enya was extreme in black and white, this mage had a delicate, rich pink like a flower blooming in spring. Laila smiled softly and said:
“Inadequate? Not at all. Truly, you are excellent, befitting knights who faced the Demon King. Normally, those caught in Enya’s illusions lose consciousness and remain ill for several days.”
Moreover, her words were so gentle that Gray’s plan to tease her at the tower completely vanished.
“W-what? Heh.”
While Gray chuckled nervously, Mari’s eyes calmly scanned the surroundings.
The Morgenda Tower.
Despite the rough waves on its exterior, Laila’s room was warm and tidy, like a well-kept parlor.
The tower moves and changes shape according to its master’s will and power. Maintaining the grand height of the tower and sculpting the details of the rooms requires immense magic and skill. For a tower of this size, it was efficient to have multiple mages assigned to different sections.
“Are the other mages away?”
Mari asked, curious. Tower masters often commanded dozens, or even hundreds of mages, yet only Laila was visible.
“No, there’s also someone named Hasan. He’s the second-ranking mage of Morgenda Tower.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Don’t misunderstand me—are you two really the only ones?”
“Yes.”
Laila answered with a smile, but her expression clearly allowed no further questions. Perhaps due to her striking red eyes, she had the air of a poisonous flower.
Mari, trying to change the topic, noticed a book on the table. Her eyebrows lifted at the familiar title.
“Oh? This is…”
Laila followed Mari’s gaze and spoke with delight:
“Do you know this novel?”
“Yes. The Wilderness. It’s incredibly famous; hard to miss.”
“I didn’t think it had even reached the West.”
“I have people around me who really like it.”
Mari refrained from saying that person was the commander. The book itself was nothing to be ashamed of, and she didn’t want to embarrass her commander by revealing that she read it.
Mari picked up the book.
“This is actually my first time reading it since coming to the capital. I heard it was inspired by Crown Prince Ogatai—it’s really interesting.”
The short story The Wilderness was said to mix fact and fiction from one of the wars Ogatai participated in. Mari suspected that Helios’ trust in Ogatai partly stemmed from this book; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so close to a sister separated for ten years.
‘The commander really is eccentric.’
As Mari casually flipped through the cover, someone gently tapped her shoulder.
It was Laila, with a questioning expression.
“Lady Mari, who said The Wilderness was inspired by Crown Prince Ogatai?”
There was an unmistakable hint of displeasure. Flustered, Mari stammered:
“…Most people say that. I also saw it in a critique… Since it’s about the southern rebellion, some thought it served as a warning to the remaining rebels.”
“No, no.”
Laila shook her hand decisively.
“This book was actually inspired by our Lady Enya.”
Her proud words froze both Mari and Gray like ice.
“Laila, the rumor says it’s about Crown Prince Ogatai. The publisher hasn’t exactly denied it…”
“The publisher may not have denied it, but they didn’t say it themselves, right? Probably left it that way because claiming it was the prince would sell better.”
Despite the knights’ cold expressions, Laila remained firm.
“I may be out of touch with public rumors, but the protagonist of The Wilderness is not the prince. It is our master, Enya Valencia.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Gray weakly questioned, and Laila shrugged.
“Well, Hasan wrote it. The author’s name is a pseudonym.”
Hasan was another mage in the tower. As the immense truth about The Wilderness sank in, a quiet tension filled the room. Laila broke it:
“Is there a problem?”
“Laila, please… refrain from talking about The Wilderness in front of our commander.”
Mari, still pale, bowed her waist in urgent request. Laila did not avert her gaze and asked:
“Excuse me? Why?”
“…Well…”
Mari hesitated, and Gray tried to help:
“Our commander dislikes it so much that just looking at the book can make her faint.”
“Oh dear. Just from reading a book? That’s surprisingly delicate.”
“She is indeed.”
Gray, trying to insult under the guise of protecting his superior, bragged loudly. Mari hastily nudged his chin to manage the situation.
“No, it’s not that extreme. She just doesn’t like novels. They disrupt her discipline.”
“What does novels have to do with discipline?”
“Well…”
Gray interjected with enthusiasm again:
“You see, she was poorly educated! Although she’s a princess, she spent much time away from home. When young, she secretly read scandalous novels, so she thought novels meant only that.”
“I heard Helios lived in a temple as a child.”
“They strictly forbade such novels in the temple, which made her more curious in her youth.”
Gray felt pleased with how plausible his lie sounded.
“Now she keeps her distance because she knows better.”
“Ah… I see.”
Laila made a vaguely incomprehensible, regretful expression, and Mari’s brow crumpled in frustration. Meanwhile, the damn Gray, triumphant, looked like a dog fetching a disc, thinking, All done?
‘It’s ruined.’
It was unfortunate that Mari failed to protect the commander’s honor. But if Helios learned that the protagonist of the novels they carried to the battlefield was Enya, not Ogatai, he would probably gnaw his tongue to death. Recently, he had been unusually uncharacteristic, so Mari thought this was the best outcome.
“Please, don’t say anything about it. I beg you.”
“Understood for now. Such a well-written book, it’s a shame.”
Laila seemed somewhat satisfied, and relief and guilt spread through Mari. But that calm was short-lived; suddenly, Laila’s door slammed open.
“It’s too noisy!”
A tall, handsome man with long silver hair appeared, looking exhausted. At a glance, he seemed aristocratic, yet in his gray robe, he exuded the essence of a mage.
Laila stood and greeted him with a bright smile.
“Hasan!”
“It’s noisy, I said it’s noisy.”
“Introduce yourself. These are knights from the West.”
“Oh, yes. Hello.”
He nodded briefly and adjusted his hair. Laila tilted her head to meet his gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
“I said it’s too noisy.”
“Us?”
“No, upstairs. Enya and that… guy, Alio or something.”
Surely Alio couldn’t be Helios? Everyone thought the same, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“They’re fighting again. It’s too noisy.”
The mental-type demon, the Dream Demon, is known to be Rank 6, but it’s closer to a mutation rank. Depending on the absorbed energy, it can evolve from Rank 6 to Rank 1, even to special rank.
So a standard Dream Demon might seem trivial, but one that has absorbed Ogatai’s vital energy sixteen times is a different matter.
Ogatai is so strong that rumors say only Helios could have defeated the Demon King. A Dream Demon fed on such a person’s vital energy would produce hallucinations of far greater density than an ordinary Dream Demon.
Such cases are extremely rare, so strategic planning was necessary. Enya had prepared accordingly.
She intended to explain calmly and discuss strategies in case something went wrong, but:
“We need as many people as possible!”
Unable to finish a full sentence, her voice rose. Enya stood abruptly, brushing her hair back irritably and glaring at the towering Helios.
“While I track the Dream Demon, you must control your energy to hide your presence. Otherwise, you’ll fall prey to its illusions. In such cases, it’s better to increase numbers to disperse the Dream Demon’s power.”
“What about those who get caught in the hallucinations?”
Helios’ expression was equally grim.
“They might suffer aftereffects. They could lose their sanity for life.”
“Exactly. That’s why we need as many as possible.”
Enya waved her hand.
“The more people we bring, the more the Dream Demon’s power disperses. Even if someone falls into hallucination, there won’t be any aftereffects.”
“What makes you so sure there won’t be? Again, it’s too risky. We don’t even know what rank the Dream Demon has transformed into. I won’t send my knights to certain death.”
Their opinions clashed sharply. Enya wanted to bring many to dilute the Dream Demon’s power; Helios preferred minimal numbers to reduce potential harm.
The tower side of the expedition consisted only of Enya and Chief Mage Laila, while the rest of the personnel were Helios’ responsibility, making his concern understandable.
However, bringing ten people and losing all ten is far worse than bringing a hundred and returning safely.
