Episode 573: The truth covered in a cloth (3)
Lederbelk was now in an emergency situation.
It is true that the Dream Sand has disappeared and the current situation has ended, but the damage remains.
Many people who had fallen asleep woke up, but there were also many who did not wake up.
At first, the joy of living was preceded by the sadness of losing a precious person, and the city settled down heavily.
“This is it. “It’s a pain in the ass.”
1st Princess Eileen entered the mayor’s office of Lederbelk and stuck her tongue out at the endless pile of documents.
Not even a day had passed since the incident ended, and already the number of reports coming in was filling one side of the large room.
This was proof that this incident was serious.
‘For now, we are distributing as many relief supplies as possible.’
The city was in complete turmoil, perhaps because something so terrible had happened.
There were people who woke up from a dream but were unable to realize reality.
There have been hundreds of incidents in which people went on a rampage, muttering that they were still dreaming and that they should wake up quickly.
Violence and looting occurred everywhere, and citizens cowered in extreme fear.
Outside, guards, police, and knights stepped in to maintain security, but there was a lack of manpower.
It was realistically impossible to completely deal with everything that happened sporadically throughout the city.
How amazing is it that even the mayor, who has a heavy hip, is leading the people and working hard to reassure citizens from the outside.
Of course, the reason the mayor came forward was because he felt uncomfortable being in this situation with 1st Princess Eileen.
‘At least there is a surprisingly quiet area.’
Eileen thought so as she looked at Lederbelk’s map that filled one wall of the mayor’s office.
The map was filled with red pins, all indicating recent violence in the city.
Maybe that pin only marked particularly serious issues, but if all the details were added together, the entire map would have been dyed red.
However, there was one area of the map where there were fewer red pins.
‘It’s the street I went to that day.’
Royal Street.
In the past, it was an abandoned area where poor people lived together, but it was changed when an unknown person invested money.
Due to redevelopment, the insecure and dirty areas were completely gone, and what took their place was the richest street in Lederbelk city.
“Now that I think about it, I wonder what that man is doing now.”
Since he is Seorn’s teacher, he must have a lot of things to deal with.
Eileen, who was thinking so, cast her gaze toward the door of the mayor’s office.
“Come in.”
With a natural command, the door opened and a person came in.
“The princess’s sword, Fascius. “I have returned after completing my orders.”
“Why are you trying to save face when you don’t even have eyes to see? “Do it as usual.”
“haha. Yes? As expected, I find this comfortable as well. However, there may be ears listening, so there is no harm in being careful.”
“A listening ear…”
Eileen’s eyes became sharp.
“What happened?”
“It moved from the Holy Kingdom of Bretus. A contingent will be arriving in this city soon.”
“What is the scale?”
“This is the largest ever. I heard that the leader among them crossed the border first. “I think it will arrive soon.”
“okay. It has to be that way. “It’s been so long since an incident involving the devil happened again, so how could they miss an opportunity like this?”
Eileen continued to scan the documents with her hands as she spoke.
Fascius smiled bitterly as he saw that.
‘Even if you don’t do it yourself, your subordinates will take care of it.’
The royal family is like that.
Just lift a finger and people will take care of the work.
That’s what power is.
But Eileen was different. Whether we should call it stubbornness or belief, she tried to take care of everything with her own hands.
‘Probably because I felt helpless once.’
When there were no people, she was in crisis due to a military coup.
If it hadn’t been for Ludger that day, the Exilion Empire would have had a different name.
For Eileen, the shock of that day was still deeply engraved in her bones.
The feeling of helplessness when you have excellent eyes and brains, but do not have the hands and feet to match them.
Perhaps because of that memory, Eileen was reluctant to remain still no matter what happened.
I’m still organizing documents, but just a little while ago, I was inspecting the surroundings and giving instructions to officials.
But that didn’t mean Eileen handled everything.
‘Because your skill in manipulating people is amazing.’
Eileen has a great eye.
I was able to figure out just by looking at the person’s level of skill and ability to perform the task.
It was common to ask people to do less work than their abilities or to ask them to do more work than their given abilities.
However, Eileen made the other person work to the maximum of their capabilities.
I couldn’t complain that it was impossible or feel burdened.
Eileen’s judgments were mostly accurate.
In fact, Pacius had never seen 1st Princess Eileen fail in such a way before.
At least that’s what he knew.
Eileen was the one who could squeeze every last drop of ink out of dried squid.
Isn’t that why he, as a guard knight, is going through all kinds of hardships right now?
‘But even though I knew he was that kind of person, I decided to follow him.’
Pacius shook his head, saying there was nothing he could do.
“There are already many witnesses to this incident, so I don’t think we can stop the rumor from spreading.”
“The dream demon. Everyone who saw it said it in unison, and if the number exceeds thousands, it is bound to be true. There is a clear reason for the Holy Kingdom of Bretus to move. “What about the guys from Lederbelk Parish?”
“We were already keeping a close eye on their movements, but for now, we are staying still.”
“Stay still?”
Eileen rubbed her chin suspiciously.
“It’s a little suspicious. Isn’t even the priest of Lemria in this city now? “Considering her position in the Holy Kingdom, she would have moved right away.”
“Maybe they think they are at a disadvantage and are waiting for reinforcements. “Aren’t Director Luthers and Grand Wizard Clinton in this city now?”
“okay. Maybe so. “But I really feel uncomfortable.”
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
When Eileen gave permission to come in, one of the guards came in with a helpless look on his face.
The guard immediately prostrated himself in front of Eileen and bowed his head.
“What’s going on?”
“That thing.”
“Say it right away without hesitation.”
“Priest Le Lemria… came to see the princess.”
“A priest?”
It was Pacius who was taken aback by those words.
At least as far as he could tell, the Lederbelk branch of the Lumensis Church had not made any movement.
Because they were also caught up in this incident, quite a few victims emerged and they were busy trying to sort things out.
But the priest of Lemria moved?
“How many people came?”
The guard answered Fascius’ question with a trembling voice, as if he himself could not believe it.
“He came alone.”
“what? “A person like a priest came alone with no one around?”
Priests held a high position within the Holy Kingdom of Bretus.
Of course, no matter where I went, shadows followed me.
The shadow was not just a few users, but a single force made up of high-ranking priests and paladins.
Eileen’s head was spinning too.
‘what. Did he sneak out? Or even bite someone to lower their guard here?’
Whatever it was, thinking about it here didn’t yield an answer, so Eileen spoke to the guard.
“Bring it. “Because we can’t leave our precious guests waiting.”
“yes!”
After a while, the priest of Lemria, guided by the guard, entered the mayor’s office.
“Oh my goodness.”
With a tiara on her eyes, she was still smiling brightly and brightly, like a princess from a fairy tale who had no idea about the world.
Eileen didn’t like Lemria’s smile like that.
Because I couldn’t tell if it was intentional or if he was truly acting like that.
At the very least, it was clear that he was in the complete opposite position to the cool-headed and intelligent Eileen.
“nice to meet you. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“The situation is the situation, so stop talking trivially and start by telling me what your business is.”
Eileen’s strong momentum put pressure on Lemria.
But there was no crack in Lemria’s smile.
“I’m here to give you a good offer.”
“It’s a good offer. “It seems like what you’re saying is trying to evangelize.”
“Hehe. I have a really good offer for you. As you know, something big happened in the city recently, right?”
“so?”
“We will soon be sending people from our home country. If that happens, won’t the princess feel uncomfortable? So, let me help you.”
“It’s very suspicious that you suddenly offer help.”
“Don’t be like that. Of course, I say this because I also have something I want. Anyway, what would you do? “I can’t keep stopping you, but I think I can at least buy you some time.”
Eileen tapped her fingers on the table.
I wondered why Lemria was doing this, but it was important to calculate what would happen if I received her help.
“First of all, I promise you this. We, the Lumensis Church, will not infringe on the rights of the Empire. “This situation has become so big that we cannot just leave it alone, but we have no intention of forcing it.”
“Can you do it?”
At Eileen’s provocation, Lemria just smiled.
“So what do you want?”
“Only one. “There is someone in the city who needs to care.”
“Someone worth worrying about?”
“yes. The entity our church has been chasing for a very long time is hiding in this city. “All you have to do is leave him alone so we can contact him.”
* * *
Similar view.
President Elisa Willow was troubled by the atmosphere inside Seorn.
“ha. “It’s fortunate that the situation ended safely, but the entire academic schedule has gone by the wayside.”
The fact that it ended safely also means that there were no casualties, just the students.
The Lederbelk outside of Seorn truly had the atmosphere of a mourning house.
The students were equally embarrassed by the sudden incident.
It hasn’t been that long since something major happened in the capital, but I never thought something like this would happen again.
Moreover, this time it was a dangerous situation in which everyone could die if they made even the slightest mistake.
Fortunately, the students have not yet fallen into panic due to the dreamlike atmosphere of the dream world and the difficult reality.
‘What will happen the moment you become aware of reality?’
Even teachers who were supposed to reassure their students, some were showing symptoms of PTSD.
It’s natural.
Aren’t the majority of people who usually fight and build walls and only study theory?
Such people have finished fighting for their lives.
Even if I survived, I couldn’t help the shivers running down my spine.
‘At least some people are fine.’
In particular, the changes in Selina and Brino were surprising.
The two teachers, who were usually quiet and had low self-esteem, achieved rapid mental growth after the Dreamland incident, as if they had changed as people.
This was seen not only by the two people but also by some teachers.
‘That’s the same for me too.’
The Dreamland incident didn’t just have a negative impact,
but there was another reason that made Elisa distraught.
‘Mr. Ludger is missing. And that too with a child named Line.’
Line was a student that Elisa had always kept an eye on.
Although she was a commoner, she was memorable because she had outstanding beauty and an unknown charm.
In particular, Elisa’s curiosity was stimulated because the nature of magical power was not revealed.
Then Line disappeared along with Ludger.
And that too, leaving behind a huge wave of magical power.
‘When I came to my senses and went to the entrance of the forest,
all that was left was a crater that looked as if it had been sharply dug out by something.
At that time, someone came to the president’s office with a sound.
“Who are you?”
“This is Freuden Ulburg.”
When I asked who came to visit, it turned out to be a quite unexpected person.
“Come on in.”
When permission was given, Freuden entered the president’s office.
His expression was no different from usual, but Elisa had the feeling that he had made a strong determination right now.
“Freuden student. So what brought you to see me?”
“I would like to tell you something about the disappearance of Dr. Ludger Cellisi and Line.”
“…Did you really see it? “Where did you two go?”
Freuden nodded.
Elisa realized that something unusual had happened and rested her chin on her hands.
Her golden eyes shone sharply.
“Tell me, what happened?”
