North, first line of defense.
From the top of the huge castle wall, Irene looked out at the vast snowy field.
Overflow of monsters occurs periodically.
Generally, there is one big wave per month.
In addition to large waves, small intrusions occur, but only a few monsters can defend themselves with the walls.
So Irene tends to go to see the big wave about once a month.
Thinking that she would have a boring week ahead, Irene was already bored.
“Captain.”
At that time, Vice-Captain Charlotte bowed down next to Irene.
Irene just turned her head with her back to me.
“What’s happen?”
“that is.”
Charlotte said with a stern face.
“I’m hungry.”
“….”
It was said as a joke, but the situation was serious.
“We have been starving for three days.”
“If you are a knight of Windsor, please be patient for at least two weeks.”
Charlotte realized that she couldn’t even make ends meet.
I lowered my shoulders and answered softly.
“yes.”
The sight of him turning back was so pitiful.
Irene took something out of her pocket and threw it away.
“Charles.”
Charlotte lightly jumped and grabbed the key that was taller than her.
“Corrosion Warehouse Key. And, if you’re hungry, tell me a long time ago…”
“Waaah!”
Charlotte was happy like a child and stuck her head out as if she would fall down the castle wall on the other side.
“You did it, kids!”
-Oooooh!
The knights who were hiding in the square of the castle wall came out and were enthusiastic.
Irene pointed her finger at Charlotte with mischievous eyes.
Charlotte was startled and slowly approached.
Irene was still smiling. However, Charlotte, who has seen Irene for a long time, knows.
The corners of her mouth are slightly lower than usual.
That was the expression Irene made when she was angry.
“Why didn’t you tell me? “I’m hungry.”
“Well, that is.”
Charlotte clinked her index fingers together, looked at Irene’s eyes, and then gathered her courage and spoke.
“Because the leader isn’t eating anything. … We can’t eat it. “Just eat the strange grass.”
“huh?”
Irene tilted her head.
“ah.”
She took out her pocket and showed it to me.
“You mean this?”
“…You must have been so shocked by the last trip to the islands that you only eat that kind of food. “Everyone is worried.”
Charlotte was full of worry.
“This is not just grass.”
“yes?”
“This is food made by my younger brother.”
“…Master Ruid?”
“huh. “Do you want to try it?”
Irene lifted a very small amount of grass from her pocket and handed it to me.
It was a very wasteful expression.
Charlotte took the grass with a curious expression and ate it.
“…!”
Charlotte’s stomach, which had nothing in it, suddenly felt full.
“Magic…?”
“They gave me something to eat on the way. Is there any food that is more efficient than this? As expected, Ruid is special.”
Charlotte’s face changed every moment.
Irene mumbled and looked at Charlotte with curious eyes.
“Uggyaaaaaaa! “Then what about our loyalty?”
Irene smiled brightly.
“It turned out to be nonsense.”
“The decoration is too much! And if you’re human, eat meat! “I’m going to binge eat from now on!”
Irene thought as she watched Charlotte jumping down the castle wall, scattering tears in the air.
As expected, he is a fun kid.
And, he is a sharp kid.
‘Was I too focused on my younger siblings? ‘You don’t even notice that the kids right in front of you are starving.’
Charlotte is right.
After returning from the island, Irene had been in a bit of a daze.
I was worried.
It may be surprising, but those kids are perfect for being taken advantage of.
Ruid is a baby, and Amelia has been a bit snobby since a long time ago.
An honest personality is an advantage when it comes to catching monsters, but it becomes a fatal disadvantage when it gets tangled up in politics.
In my heart, I wanted to stay in the system until I graduated.
However, he had a duty to protect the first line of defense.
Irene cannot escape from this place.
Although there is time allowed.
The more you do it, the more painful it becomes.
“I said it would be vacation soon. “I guess I’ll have to hold on somehow until then.”
At that time, Irene’s eyebrows twitched.
Sreung.
She half-drawn her sword and turned around to stare at the sky.
“There’s no way a flying-type magic beast would be on the first line of defense.”
But this is the unmistakable presence of a monster.
Also, it’s a pretty big guy.
“leader!”
The 1st Knights of Windsor came up on the castle wall.
They were all new except Charles.
The Windsor Knights have a tradition of making their debut in the first line of defense.
It was to help me gain some experience.
“Everyone, except Charles, go down. “I need to eat.”
“B-but.”
Irene coldly looked at the article that raised a counterargument.
Charlotte broke into a cold sweat and tapped herself with her elbow.
“sorry.”
The knights went down inside the castle walls in perfect order.
“White Wyvern, is it? “It’s a pain in the ass.”
Charlotte spoke in dialect and drew her sword.
“no.”
Irene said calmly.
“There is a high probability that it is an invasive species.”
Exotic species refer to those who deviate from the standard specifications of normal monsters.
Charlotte swallowed her saliva.
“I can only trust the leader.”
Irene raised the corners of her mouth.
“…Born and raised in the North, where on earth did you learn the imperial dialect?”
“Ah, ahaha. “When did I use dialect?”
The sight came closer and closer.
Unfortunately, because the weather was thickly clouded, it was not visible to the naked eye.
About ten minutes passed in silence. Irene spoke softly while holding her sword.
“come.”
“I will start!”
Charlotte chanted quickly.
A halo of pink light slowly gathered around her sword.
“Ren—suck.”
At that time, Irene covered Charlotte’s mouth and forced her to stop chanting.
He put away his slightly drawn sword and smiled deeply.
“Louis.”
“Do you, master?”
The moment Irene spoke, an object was seen coming through the clouds in this direction.
That was a white fox.
It is too large to be simply called a fox, and has nine tails.
On the fox’s back was a boy with flowing blonde hair.
It was Luid.
**
‘oh my god.’
Ruid was back to being a child.
Oh my, a flying fox.
He said, burying his face in Miho’s soft fur.
“Are you more useful than you look?”
[…I think the master sometimes forgets that I am a Great Spirit.]
Miho landed gracefully on the wall of the first defense line.
Ruid got off Miho’s back.
The reason I came here was because I agreed to Damon’s plan.
‘Your Majesty wouldn’t be able to do that if Irene was in the system.’
More than anything, Ruid wanted to be with his family as much as possible.
“sister.”
“Louis.”
Irene hurriedly approached and squatted down in front of Ruid.
I patted her head and caressed her cheek once, then hugged her tightly.
“It’s not an illusion.”
A familiar face appeared over Irene’s shoulder.
Charlotte.
1st place in the order of knights excluding Irene.
His characteristic features are that he has pink hair, and that he is a comedic character with no seriousness at all.
“Hello, Master!”
“Hello Charles.”
And he got along very well with Ruid.
If we look at the memories of ‘Lazy Ruid’, he is remembered as the person who plays best.
“You look cute as always. no no. “You’ve become twice as cuter in the time I haven’t seen you.”
Charlotte stroked Lloyd roughly.
Irene smiled and let go of his embrace.
“You’re finally back. Welcome. “The matriarch will be very happy.”
“It’s not vacation yet.”
Ruid placed his hand on Miho’s body.
Miho immediately shrunk and entered Ruid’s arms.
Ruid, who was holding the fox, looked at Irene and Charlotte alternately.
Irene noticed right away and spoke to me.
“That’s a cool fox. “You get along well with Louis.”
“I didn’t know this feature existed. “Isn’t it amazing?”
“Yep. amazing.”
Charlotte looked at Lloyd happily.
‘I don’t have to starve anymore.’
Since neither the matriarch nor Irene had Ruid, it was ten times colder than it originally was.
As expected, the youngest was the only one who could melt the ice at Windsor Castle.
But-
Ruid had not yet returned to the North.
“I’ll tell you in advance that you might be mistaken, but I just stopped by for a moment.”
Irene spoke kindly.
“Louis.”
“huh.”
“You can come as you please, but not when you leave. “This sister has no intention of letting you go again.”
The back of Luid’s neck was wet.
This was sincere no matter where you looked.
I could see a glimpse of a future where I would be imprisoned if I decided to go back.
“Just calm down and listen to me.”
“I’ll listen.”
“Sister, the first line of defense is boring, isn’t it?”
Irene smiled and was at eye level with Luid.
“It’s boring.”
“Prince Damon suggested it first. “Let’s hand over the first line of defense to the empire.”
Irene nodded.
“huh.”
“…I understand?”
“I understand.”
‘Why is the reaction so slow?’
This reaction was something that came out when something wasn’t very interesting.
Ruid decided to use his special move.
“To do that, we need to raise the skills of the academy students so that the empire itself can deal with monsters.”
“huh.”
“That means we need someone to guide the students.”
“…huh?”
“Sister Irene is the right person. That’s right, if my sister comes to the system, she can protect the empire and teach students. More than anything.”
Ruid’s eyes brightened and he held Irene’s hand tightly.
And even the angle of looking up and the fine wrinkles on the face were manipulated.
They used every means possible to look cute.
This is Ruid’s special move.
“…Being able to be with my sister.”
It was cute.
“….”
Irene stood up with a smile.
He said looking at Charlotte.
“Prepare to withdraw.”
‘I decided too quickly this time!’
Irene had no middle ground.
“No, don’t withdraw yet. “I came here to inform you that I plan to do so.”
“Seeing that you came in person, you must have been quite desperate.”
Ruid looked away and nodded slightly.
‘Because I don’t like fighting.’
In theory, no matter what the emperor does, he cannot change the succession structure of the House of Windsor.
However, an unknown sense of anxiety kept rising.
Could it be that one day, Irene and Amelia will cross the river of no return? Those thoughts.
The only way to definitely prevent this was to bring Irene into the system.
Honestly, from Ruid’s perspective, it was none of his business whether the empire was weak or strong.
But the cause was important. After all, Windsor is a loyal family. No matter how much it is her request, Irene will not move without any justification.
In that respect, Damon’s plan was a very good cause.
With this, you can gently attract them.
“When can my sister go?”
“I wish my sister would come to the system on her own. “The goal is to give academy kids basic education and then send them to the defense line.”
Ruid said while looking at Irene.
“…Will you allow it?”
If it had been Amelia, the answer would have been something like, ‘First, ask the head of the family…’
Irene had the authority to decide the affairs of the Duke of Windsor through her own judgment.
“Hmm…”
Irene put her index finger on her lips and looked worried.
Ruid was secretly nervous.
“oh.”
Charlotte was startled and looked beyond the castle wall.
Kugugugugu-.
A vibration was heard that felt like the ground was shaking.
“Captain, it looks like it’s starting to get underway. Let’s take care of that first.”
Beyond the ridge, I saw many monsters with white fur coming.
It was a monster wave.
‘No, not at this important moment.’
Ruid looked at the approaching monsters with fierce eyes.
I stretched out my hand towards it.
Blue light flickered in Luid’s eyes.
“Great, great, great, evacuation-! “Kids, evacuate!”
Charlotte shouted to the knights who had formed a line beneath the castle walls.
However, the knights were already running into the castle walls without a moment of hesitation.
When the last knight entered and the castle gate was locked.
“Judgement.”
A very thin light twinkled a little away from Luid’s hand.
And when Ruid clenched his fist- —
—!
The ground where the monsters were running towards was turned upside down.
High-frequency waves that exceeded the limit of what the human ear can hear spread across the earth.
At that moment, a huge light that seemed to swallow everything fell from the sky.
Wow!
The light that fell from the center grew uncontrollably and engulfed the monster.
There was nothing left on the land where the light had disappeared.
The monster’s corpse and the snow covered in pure white.
As if nothing had ever existed from the beginning.
“Ugh, Master, how do you achieve such power with different magic every time?”
Charlotte wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Irene.
Irene was looking at the bruised snow field with her eyes sparkling.
“Everything, leader?”
The appearance of something that seems overwhelming is like a child who has returned to childhood.
It was my first time seeing this expression.
Irene said as she held Ruid’s hand.
“Let’s go to the islands, Louis.”