Stab! Duchess Cecil Blanquer stabbed her staff in between the gravel and tree roots.

After that…

– Paaaaat!

A bright light lit up the forest again. This was the power of a mage whose specialty was light.

Cédric closed his eyes as if he was familiar with this and hid his body behind a tree.

They had done this many times until now.

Growl, raaaaaaaawr! The demonic beasts that came out of the dungeon could not handle the pure white light and cried in pain.

The air roared and the leaves trembled.

One, two, three. The crown prince accurately opened his eyes as the light settled.

The moment he got rid of the covering…

– Slash!

He sliced his sword horizontally. Red flames shot out like a herd of animals from his black blade.

– Craaaackle!

– Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!

– Growl! – Groooooooooooowl!

Demonic beasts resembling lions sharply roared as their bodies burned from the holy fire.

He had seen this over ten times already.

Some of the ones with thicker hides ran toward the crown prince as if they were resisting death.

The young man did not dodge. Drops of blood-like flames dripped from the tip of his sword.

“I won’t let you!”

– Tatap!

Slash! Élisabeth suddenly appeared and swung her rapier.

She couldn’t cleanly slice the neck off because the demonic beast’s muscles were tough, but, –

– Grr, grr, whimper……!

The main-gauche in the young Countess’s left hand successfully ended the beast’s breathing.

Boom! Cédric confirmed that the demonic beast was dead before observing around him.

He saw a pair of brightly sparkling blue-gray eyes.

– Stab!

“Next!”

Christelle shouted in a rough voice. Her pink hair splashed like a strong wave.

She pulled over water from the nearby streams to form numerous short ice spears and was stabbing them into the heads of demonic beasts without getting any rest.

It was clear that she was running wild as the Blessing of the Blue Sea guided her as there was no need to control her strength here.

‘Squeeeeeeeeeeeeal!’ A raccoon-like demonic beast started running away from her ice and-

“Get back here!”

– Flick!

Christelle swung her whip while shouting in a scary voice.

Swooosh, ding! The leather strap became tight after wrapping around a tree trunk.

The demonic beast that was running away without thinking about anything else could not stop even though it saw her trap.

– Trip!

Its two front legs got caught on the rope and…

– Squeeeeal!

It noisily rolled on the dirt and rocks.

Christelle ran over almost as if she was flying and crack! She stabbed a sharp icicle into the demonic beast’s neck.

It could not make any more noises.

‘Ha! Huuuuuu!’ She blew back the hair in her face before standing up and making eye contact with the crown prince.

Both of them were tense right now, making each other’s ethers feel even more uncomfortable.

However, they could deal with this.

Their partner did not like unnecessary bickering between the two of them.

“……”

“……”

This was how Cédric, Élisabeth, Christelle, and Duchess Blanquer were taking care of the large and dangerous demonic beasts.

The Imperial Guard and the Blanquer Knights Brigade took care of the weaker ones escaping to the sides or the rear.

The weaker and smaller ones were still fearsome existences to regular people.

This repeated without stopping.

Unlike the Great Clearance where high-grade and higher difficult to handle demonic beasts sporadically appeared, this was a continuous onslaught of low to mid-grade demonic beasts.

Cédric put his Sword of Wisdom back and headed toward where the priests were waiting.

He needed to efficiently use this short period of rest before the next attack happened.

“Y, your Royal Highness. Please accept this ether.”

The priest that came with them from the Lord’s Castle bowed with his circle open.

Cédric was used to people bowing toward him like this, but for someone giving him ether…… It felt uncomfortable seeing them like this.

He must have gotten used to a certain someone who never lowered his gaze.

He had expected it, but the ether of the priests were subpar.

However, he did not show any complaints this time. He was a quick learner.

His Godmother, his instructor that he didn’t like very much, and his partner nagged him so much about actions you should not do toward a priest.

At some point, even Sand had stopped avoiding him or crying.

“It would have been great if Marquis Duhem stayed behind, your Royal Highness.”

Christelle, who was seated on the other side receiving ether from another priest, suddenly commented.

Élisabeth, who was standing next to them, chuckled and nodded her head.

His close friend seemed to think that Christelle was talking about the fire power that man would have added, but Cédric understood the hidden meaning behind Christelle’s words.

She wanted Marquis Duhem to bring Prince Jesse here. She wanted him here right now.

“There was no way to keep that man here.”

The crown prince responded.

François Duhem was a Pair de Riester, and without clear evidence, Pair de Riester were not immediately imprisoned or interrogated for anything other than murder.

This was an extreme privilege that has been a custom for a long time.

Christelle blinked as if his response was unexpected before chuckling and leaning her cheek against her shoulder.

She seemed fine despite demonic beast corpses being all around them.

“I wonder what he is doing.”

She did not specify who she was talking about, but Cédric understood her once again.

Élisabeth had stepped off to the side to receive a report from the Imperial Guard.

The crown prince focused on the warmth around his heart as he responded.

“He’s probably eating snacks.”

“Please let me touch your necklace one time, your Royal Highness.”

“That is not even funny.”

“You’re so cheap, your Royal Highness.”

The look on Christelle’s face was not bad despite saying those words.

She clearly joked knowing that she would be rejected.

Cédric kept the holy stone necklace as he received it.

He had not used the smallest amount of ether inside it.

Christelle looked at the Duchess who was talking to the Knight Captain and rambled on again.

“He is probably angry. We left him behind.”

“……”

“But we had no choice. Well, his highness will probably not understand why we did it.”

Cédric slightly frowned.

He was the heir of the Empire and did not need the prince’s understanding, but it made him feel uncomfortable.

Why could that guy not accept a life where he was being protected?

The partner of the future Emperor would normally never get to leave the area around the Imperial Palace for their own safety.

Furthermore, he had his life endangered twice already……

“Your Royal Highness, I want to be cautious but I would like to share some good news.”

Duchess Blanquer’s emotionless voice cut off his thoughts. The crown prince looked at her.

“It looks like Dungeon 1 is now sealed. It does not seem to show any more mana reactions and the Magic Tower has reported the same.”

“Oh Almighty God, thank you very much.”

The Duchess’s soldiers who were staggering all around them sighed in relief.

The crown prince calmed his plate that was not even a quarter recovered and walked out of the Holy Domain.

The priest became shocked and looked at him.

“Go heal the soldiers.”

“Excuse me? Yes, Your Royal Highness.”

It was impossible for him to be satisfied with ether from anybody but the prince.

He had never experienced something like that in his life.

Élisabeth motioned with her chin and a portion of the Imperial Guard left on a final round of patrol.

The whole situation would probably end in about one or two hours.

“Will you head back right away, your Royal Highness?”

The young Countess asked the crown prince respectfully. The moment he opened his mouth, -baaaaaaaang!

They heard a loud noise that tortured their ears from the other side of the mountain range.

A couple soldiers fainted, unable to handle the fatigue and shock. As that happened, – bang! Ruuuumble!

A rumbling that could not compare to anything they felt until now shook the whole area.

It felt as if there were thunderbolts underground.

It was so strong that you might cut off your tongue or your chin would break if you closed your mouth the wrong way.

The crown prince used his scabbard to maintain his position while Élisabeth threw herself on top of Christelle, who had fallen over.

Her grey eyes looked up as she shouted.

“Dungeon 2! It is coming from that direction, your Royal Highness! Ugh!”

She groaned after a stone hit her head.

Duchess Blanquer, who was covered in dirt, cast a large defensive magic formation to protect the group.

Her lip was ripped and bleeding. The crown prince clenched his teeth and looked around.

He had an ominous feeling.

– Rip! Crunch! crack!

He could hear the terrible noise of old trees continuing to break somewhere in this dense jungle.

Clang! Cédric pulled out the Sword of Wisdom and remained standing. His instincts were whispering to him.

‘This is not a proper flow of events.’

However, as the son of Frédérique Riester, he did not understand the concept of withdrawing or running away.

That is why……

– Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

“……”

No matter what came at him, no matter what trials came his way, he would face it head on.

The ether in his body was significantly lacking, but he had the flame of the Sword of Wisdom.

It would prevent his appearance from changing and keep him from fainting.

– Boom! Boom!

Flutter! Caw! Birds in the distance flew up to escape. The young man’s instincts were telling him something.

These were footsteps.

Something heavy was stepping through, destroying, and conquering the mountain range as it approached them.

Christelle staggered and stood up to stand on his right.

Élisabeth stationed herself to his left while Duchess Blanquer held a long staff as red mana flowed out of her entire body.

She had not gotten any rest since last night but she looked unwavering, fitting for the person in charge of protecting this border.

– Crack! Boom!

Rocks were breaking and the ground was splitting nearby.

The forest then quickly became dark as if dark clouds had rolled in.

Christelle was the first to look up at the sky. She blanked out and mumbled.

“Holy shit, what is that……”

– Boom! Boom!

‘That’ was not even a demonic beast.

The thing that seemed to be a head did not have any eyes, nose, or mouth.

A doll made by putting large boulders together with mud.

That seemed to be the best way to describe this monster. She had chills from her head to her toes.

It squeaked as if it was being controlled by someone and destroying anything and everything it touched and stepped on.

Duchess Blanquer’s voice cracked for the first time.

“……Golem.”

“Excuse me?”

“That is a golem. Jacques!”

“Yes, my liege!”

The Knight Captain, who was bleeding from his head, immediately answered.

The Duchess’s brown eyes were sparkling.

“Immediately send a message to her Majesty, hurry! You need to personally go!”

“As you command!”

The Captain wiped his blood on the armor before quickly leaving the defensive magic formation.

The golem immediately swung its moss-filled arm.

– Ooooooong!

A dull rock attacked the Captain.

Shhh! Christelle flicked her whip to pull him back in. Unfortunately, she was too late.

The voices of the Holy Knight and the soldiers cracked with grief.

“No!”

“Captain, Captain!”

It was at that moment.

[Stop!]

– Shaaaaa!

A holy gold light burst out of the air. It felt as if the entire mountain range was being dyed gold.
*

I urgently inspected the patient as soon as I landed. ‘Look! Another mess because the main characters went off on their own!’

“Are you okay, sir? Did it hit you?”

“No, it did not, your highness…… Prince Jesse, why are you here……”

The Blanquer Knight Captain was breathing heavily as he looked at me with a chaotic look on his face.

I was scared because of the bleeding, but thankfully, he did not seem to have been hit by that stupid pile of rocks.

I wanted to open a healing circle to take a look but I couldn’t deactivate my Holy Land right now.

‘Oh right, clean cloth. I packed some clean cloths.’

“Please wait a minute, I have something in my backpack to help stop the bleeding. “

“Prince Jesse!”

Christelle ran over to me as quickly as she could muster. She seemed quite shocked based on her teary eyes.

I should be angry at her since I’ve been angry at them for ditching me, but it was hard to do so.

I handed the cloth to the Captain and pouted.

“Oh my. How did you end up here, your highness?”

“It was all thanks to him.”

I looked up toward the sky. Sir Johann, who was floating in the air, waved at Christelle.

The crown prince scowled.

“You went against your orders, Teach.”

“Did you not expect it, your Royal Highness? How would I be able to stop his highness?”

He smiled. He then glanced at the stiffly frozen rock giant with a cold gaze.
I was so relieved that the Divine Oracle worked at the right time.

Of course, the first lucky thing was that Sir Johann changed his mind.

He had been holding Eva with one arm while saying the following with a firm gaze.

‘This should be enough of a lesson as it relates to Holy Knights. I can escort you there now, your highness.”

‘……Excuse me?’

‘Please let me down! This is fun but I will still not forgive you. You glutton! You white fox!’

‘It was a lesson on priests for my dear students. Even if they want to keep their partner away from the battlefield, at this point, they are probably thinking that they shouldn’t have done so. Should I have them write letters of apology?’

Basically, the reason he sent the two of them and also the reason he stopped me was to teach us something.
This was a different way of teaching than my teacher.

“If that happens to be a golem…… Her Majesty will need to know. I will notify her.”

“Could you please protect the Lord’s Castle as well?”

Duchess Cecil Blanquer struggled to get her words out.

It was probably painful for her to leave the Castle to a Holy Knight from the Holy Kingdom, but it was a swift and wise decision.

Sir Johann nodded his head and instantly disappeared to the other side of the sky.

Christelle clacked her beautiful white teeth.

“I’m sorry, your highness. I will write you a letter of apology when we get back.”

‘Would you look at this punk.’

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

“Leaving you behind. But it was because I was worried We can’t have you getting hurt, your highness. You are our treasure.”

She tried to explain herself.

‘Is that short for backup battery?’ (TL: Treasure is bobae in Korean. Backup battery is bojo battery. Just a pun that works in Korean but not in English)

—
Translator’s Comments

Backup battery yoooooooo

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