CH 88

“We need to set a date for the engagement as soon as possible. We should also meet our parents, right?”

“We have plenty of time, let’s take it slow.”

“No. I can’t wait to marry you.”

At the end of the refreshment break, Becky clung to Lucas and whined.

“Oh, it’s already this time. You have to work, don’t you? I’m going to get going.”

“Really? Then with the carriage…….”

“That’s enough. You have a lot of work to do. Well, Princess.”

Laughing and declining Lucas’ favor, Becky called out to Arista.

Arista looked at her with an expressionless face.

“Do you think you could show me around? I have something I’d like to say.”

“…… Yes, let’s do that.”

Obediently, Arista nodded, and Lucas felt himself panic.

“Wait, I’ll just walk you there. Arista has work to do and…….”

“No, big brother, I’ll take care of the digestion. Besides, I had something I wanted to say to her.”

Becky smirked conspiratorially as her eyes locked with the cool violet ones.

Soon the two women were gone, and Lucas stared after them in disbelief.

“When the hell did those two get so close, and when have they ever met before?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“Why are you so grouchy? You should be happy that you’re finally getting engaged, but you’re just a little off today.”

“Maybe…….”

“Do you not want to get engaged to Becky?”

“No, not really, I’m just a little nervous about something.”

Lucas muttered to himself at Ares’ question. Lucas’ gaze fell on the blonde woman next to her, more than on Becky.

Meanwhile, the two, who were walking in the hallway without saying anything, opened their mouths as if they had waited after a long time away from the office.

“Engaged, that’s a word that comes out of your mouth so easily when you’ve had feelings for another man.”

“Wasn’t it the princess who knew that and stayed quiet?”

Arista stopped walking.

“What the hell are you thinking, are you seriously going to get engaged?”

“Why not, Lucas is the next earl, he’s not going to cheat on me, and he’s a nice guy, so why shouldn’t we get engaged?”

Arista frowned mercilessly at the brazen reply.

“No worries about cheating, doesn’t that sound like something someone who’s already been with more than one guy would say?”

“Are you even worried about Lucas?”

“It’s weird not to worry about getting engaged to a clueless woman like you.”

“Clueless… whatever you want to call it.” 

Becky snorted, the corners of her mouth turning up in a pout as she took a step toward Arista.

“Regardless, the fact remains that I’m engaged to Lucas, and you’re never going to have him.”

“……….”

“You don’t even dare to tell Lucas the truth, do you?”

Becky turned away, confident of her victory, even as Arista clenched her fists in frustration.

“Well, I’ll see you later, Princess, and the next time will be at our engagement.”

Becky smiled and slowly walked away. Left alone, Arista stared into the distance as Becky disappeared, then loosened her clenched fists.

Her nail marks were clear on her palm.

“I don’t even dare to tell him?”

Arista smiled slowly. Her face transformed from defeated to victorious.

“I wonder how that arrogant face will crumble.”

She hadn’t kept still until now because she was afraid to speak her mind. She’s just watching the timing and making sure Becky doesn’t get away with it.

As soon as all the pieces are in place, she’ll tell Lucas the truth.

Lucas was too good for her to stay engaged as it was. If Becky were a normal girl, she might have stood by and watched them get engaged.

Of course, she doesn’t want to end up with an unrequited love without any effort.

“There’s nothing to be gained by staying put.”

Arista turned around, echoing her own words. There was no more hesitation in her steps.

* * *

A village on the outskirts of the capital.

Herwin, who had started the monster investigation with the Imperial Knights, scanned the surroundings with a serious expression.

“This is more serious than I thought…….”

“It’s out of the expected area, so we were caught off guard.”

Herwin was currently in a village located in the northwestern part of the capital’s outer perimeter. It was close to the Imperial Palace.

Investigations so far indicate that the monster’s primary habitat is the forests to the west of the capital. 

The only thing that had been damaged in the village was the crops, so it was assumed that the monster lived mainly in the forest, but this time, they were firmly caught off guard.

“They must be moving their territory.”

“They’re not expanding?”

“I wouldn’t call it expanding, but we haven’t seen any signs of monsters in the west lately, and I’m sure if we survey the area, we’ll find them.”

He didn’t know why the area had been moved, but the survey data showed that there were significantly fewer monster tracks in the western forest.

Herwin looked up from his reading.

The houses in the village were shattered like a typhoon, especially the one he was standing in, which was the village’s common warehouse and the one that had been damaged by the monsters.

It was also where the village’s food was stored, and he had heard reports that the villagers were running out of food right now.

Herwin entered the abandoned warehouse. There was no point in entering through the door, the walls were cracked open and sunlight streamed into the warehouse.

He looked around and saw that little was missing except for food. 

“What about the damage to the village?”

“No casualties, thankfully. Residents say they heard a loud bang around 3 a.m.”

“So it didn’t target any other houses…….”

“Yes, there was no sign of the monster attacking other than this warehouse, which is a good thing.”

“Well, do you think that’s true?”

“What?”

Herwin’s muttering made the knight next to him cock his head. 

‘Yeah, we’re lucky there were no casualties.’

But the lack of casualties was unnerving. 

Since they only took food, they must have been hungry, or they must have done it to stockpile food. 

In that case, it would make more sense for the monster to break into other houses and kidnap or eat people.

However, this monster had pinpointed the location of the town’s food storage, and it certainly accomplished its goal without attacking anyone else.

‘He’s got more brains than I thought.’

If he approached it thinking it was a normal monster, he’d be in trouble.

Rumbling.

As the commotion outside grew louder, Herwin peered through the hole in the wall. Villagers were milling about and talking.

It was then that Herwin realized that the atmosphere here was different from the rest of the village.

“There are more strong men here than I thought.”

“What?”

“I mean, the villagers over there. Normally, people who live on the outskirts like this would be older, and there wouldn’t be a high percentage of young people, but this place seems to be different.”

“Oh, you mean there are a lot of young people? That’s probably because there’s an imperial palace right around the corner.”

He looked at the knight, wondering what the connection was between the palace and the age of the town, and he continued.

“There’s a wall around the palace, but beyond that is the forest, which is owned by the imperial family. Most of the people who live here probably work for the imperial family, or more accurately, are imperial foresters.”

“Imperial…….”

“Just a guess, but that guy over there has an imperial mark on his chest.”

He looks to where the knight is pointing and see a sturdy man wearing a badge with an imperial mark on it.

If the knight was right, the monster had purposely avoided human contact, knowing that there were many strong men there. 

Even a monster would not be able to deal with a large group of strong men easily.

To get more information, Herwin approached the man. The chattering townspeople stiffened as he stopped in front of them.

“Greetings to Master Phoenaeus.”

Herwin held up a hand to help them to their feet.

“I would like to ask you something about this monster situation, will you cooperate?”

“Yes, I would be happy to cooperate, as long as we can catch the monsters.”

The man with the imperial badge stepped forward.

“By the looks of that badge, I assume you’re with the Imperial Guard, am I right?”

“Yes, that’s right, my name is Adam, and I work as a forester for the Imperial Forest.”

“I’ve heard that the Imperial Forest is in this neighborhood. But why are you living outside the capital, when someone who works for the imperial family would normally live in the city?”

“There are a few people who live in the city, but due to the nature of their work, more people live outside the city, like me, and there are a few in my village.”

“What is your daily routine?”

“I usually work three shifts. I leave for work at 4 pm and get back around midnight.”

“What do you usually do?”

“Well, everyone has different duties, but it’s mostly general forest management and controlling the population of the animals and plants that live in the forest. And with the summer festival coming up soon, we’re attracting more animals from the outside forest.”

“Like deer, foxes?”

“Yes. The Summer Festival is only about ten days away, and with it comes the hunting season, so we’re trying to make sure we live up to the nobles’ expectations.”

“Then the beasts will be replenished from the neighboring forests.”

“Yes, we have recently captured some beasts from the west and east.”

He could see why the monsters had moved their territory. Suddenly there were fewer beasts, and they were running out of food. 

‘And the Imperial Forest is to the north….…’

If things continued as they were, there was a chance that the monsters would smell the beasts and enter the Imperial Forest. 

“Well, Master Phoenaeus, is it serious? Fortunately, the monsters haven’t attacked people yet, but if they do, we’ll have to be prepared…….”

Herwin, who had been lost in thought, snapped out of it when he heard his fearful words.

“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to the imperial court about it, but for the time being, make sure you have at least two people with an axe or some other weapon to protect yourself when you go to and from work, just in case a monster attacks.”

“Aye, I’ll make sure to remind everyone.”

The man returned to the villagers and told them what Herwin had told him. 

“Master Phoenaeus, we have found traces of monsters in the forest.”

Just then, the knights who had been exploring the village reported back to Herwin.

As soon as he heard it, he headed straight for the place where the monster’s tracks had been found.

He found the carcass of a deer quite a distance from the village. As usual, the deer had been skewered on a long wooden skewer.

The knights were stunned by the sight.

“I can’t get used to this no matter how much I look at it.”

“Is it really necessary to kill the beast in this way?”

“Master Phoenaeus, how many monsters hunt like this?”

One of the knights asked Herwin as they talked about this and that about the deer’s carcass.

“Quite a few, but mostly humanoid monsters take their prey this way. Examples include ogre, goblin, troll, and orc. But it won’t be Goblin.”

“Why?”

“Because goblins are pack animals. And they’re small. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s one monster, and it’s bigger than a human.”

“Well, Master Phoenaeus, what is this?”

A knight from a short distance away pointed to the floor. Upon seeing it, Herwin frowned.

“Those are …… footprints.”

“They’re human-like in size, but no one walks around barefoot.”

The tracks were unfamiliar and had never been found before. Herwin hurriedly bent down to examine the footprints, which were imprinted on the ground. Not far away were tracks that he assumed belonged to another monster.

It was similar in shape to the original but slightly smaller.

“No way…….”

Herwin’s face darkened as he realized something. 

“Return to the palace immediately!”

Herwin suddenly gathered his knights and began to ride toward the palace. The reins of the horses slowly became soaked with sweat.

‘It must be the footprints of a cub.’

Now he understood why the monster hadn’t attacked the humans and was acting overly cautious. 

It had babies.

Monsters with young are more cautious than beasts, and if their young are threatened, they become more ferocious than ever.

Perhaps there are others besides the cubs. 

They must hasten to destroy them before their numbers multiply further before they harm humans.

“Giddy up!”

Seeing the palace slowly approaching, Herwin spurred on.