Chapter 65

“Lute Celine! How did you do that?”

“What? I totally failed…”

Celine stuttered her words in embarrassment.

“Failed…? Can’t you see? This is the border area!”

“But, but the preparation…!”

“Who are we?”

Bart smiled broadly.

“We need to be prepared for this so that we will not tarnish the name of the Carpathia.”

As he said so, the members stood up, shaking the leaves and took their stance one by one. Meanwhile, Celine looked around.

Commander Bart was right.

The lush forests and grasses of the border area were nothing special, but those sheer ocher-colored cliffs existed only here.

“….?”

In an instant, it felt like her heart had stopped.

…Leonhard was nowhere to be seen.

Celine swallowed a gulp and looked around her two or three times. However, Leonhard was still nowhere to be seen. All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind.

Something wrong may have happened to him. No, obviously, something did go wrong. She should not attempt to do such a large-scale movement in the first place. Trying three or five people might have been the right answer…

‘But Leonhardt was the closest to me!’

As she grabbed her dizzying head and tried to calm herself down, Bart asked cautiously.

“Lute? Are you okay?”

“…It’s okay. Are all the members there?”

Bart went silent for a moment. That brief time felt too long for her.

“Yes. But, the Lord…”

Celine closed her eyes tightly. Her hands were trembling.

“He is not here.”

* * *

Leonhard stood up on the muddy ground. He immediately grasped the situation.

‘It’s definitely not the Imperial Capital.’

The expansive swampy area in front of him was not something of the Imperial Capital.

‘Celine… not here.’

Apparently, the magic to move him, Celine, and the Paradiso Knights to the entrance of the dormitory had largely failed.

Leonhard frowned.

It didn’t matter that there were no other knights because they were the knights belonging to the Imperial Family. Besides, considering the skills they showed in Carpathia, wherever they were, they would do well.

However, Celine was different.

‘If she died while I’m not there…’

What was more, the magic failed and she would be in despair.

‘She wouldn’t even think of using the movement magic again.’

Leonhard was deep in thought.

Even if the movement magic had failed, there was no way that the flow of magic that had raged right next to him would have thrown only him to the wrong place. He did not know about the members of the Paradiso Knights, but at least, Celine would be in a place not far from him.

‘The swamp… should I go there?’

Clearly, Celine wanted to find the swamp. However, these swamps would not be visible from a short distance away.

Leonhardt looked around him slowly.

“….!”

A sheer ocher-colored cliff caught his eye, and he blinked his eyes a few times. An enlightenment came quickly.

…This was near the border area.

And wherever Celine was, there was a good chance she was looking at that cliff.

‘If I went up there, I could see clearly below.’

Leonhard hastily moved his steps.

Celine barely opened her eyes. She had to e to her senses. Currently, the strongest person here was her.

Bart looked at her worriedly.

“…Are you really okay?”

“A little, I’m not feeling that well.”

“You must have been surprised.”

Bart nodded his head.

“Don’t worry. Isn’t he Lord Leonhard? Wherever he is, he will get through it.”

“…It would be.”

Celine barely calmed her heart, which was still beating wildly. Bart was right. Even if Leonhard fell into a pit of fire, he would e out alive. Right now, she had no choice but to protect herself and these knights who arrived at the border out of nowhere.

“I need to find Leonhard first.”

Bart raised an eyebrow, seemingly startled by the friendly title though he didn’t say anything.

“It would be better. Anyway, we’re here to wipe out all the boss monsters…”

There were three boss monsters left in the border area. The result of that day was also largely due to the passive response of the monsters, frightened by the size of the imperial knights who had gathered at once.

Now, their number was at most twenty. Without Leonhard, there was a high possibility that they would lose their life if they rushed to clear the boss monster.

Celine pointed to the cliff.

“I will go alone.”

“Are you okay?”

“I am confident in my attack magic.”

As she got up slowly, Celine stared at the ocher-colored cliffs. It was a pity that she couldn’t use her movement magic arbitrarily.

‘…Even if it were easy, I wouldn’t have used it.’

Right after Celine failed, she was not reckless enough to try the same spell again. She started running hastily towards the cliff.

‘I’m glad Celine isn’t here.’

Leonhard thought blankly. The swamp area was harder to walk than he thought, and the cliff was farther than it looked. If Celine were here, she would be exhausted very quickly.

‘I wanted to let her rest.’

After what happened at the volcano, he thought she should rest for a while, but the situation took a turn for the worse. Sudden summons to the imperial capital, hunting contest, and even Commander Bart’s request… His apologetic feeling only increased because it was all done regardless of Celine’s will.

‘…I hope she doesn’t blame herself.’

Still, Celine would blame herself and somehow would try to find him.

Leonhard’s pace quickened.

Celine lightly skipped the twigs and lush thorn bushes lying on the grass. ‘Hermes’ Shoes’ was really great. She knew how easily she glided. If it weren’t for the shoes, she would have stumbled and died sooner.

‘Is the true ending route removing the causes of death one by one?’

In the normal ending, the main character escaped to a safe place forever, avoiding the enemies pursuing her. She heard that the main character in the true ending route was utterly free from the curse, but in fact, it may be where all causes of death were eliminated.

After a long while, she reached the end of the ascent as she climbed the cliff out of breath.

“—ne!”

“….!”

In an instant, Celine’s body swung back. It had been a while since she had fallen. She heard clearly the voice of the man she had longed to see. Leonhard, with his hair wet with sweat, was running towards her.

Luckily, she got her balance just before she fell.

“You have to be careful.”

A voice mixed with laughter came upon her.

Celine did not answer.

‘Leonhard is safe. He fell because of me… It’s okay, though. Still, what about the mud? Has he been in a dangerous situation? Still, it’s Leonhard…’

All kinds of thoughts ran into each other in her head, and she couldn’t get the right words out. Leonhard knelt down to make eye contact with her, who was almost hunched over.

“You have nothing to worry about. Are the Paradiso members scattered?”

Celine barely came to her senses.

Leonhard gave her priorities with one simple question… She, Leonhard, and members of the Paradiso Knights all arrived safely at the border.

“No, no. All with me…”

“With you?”

Leonhard’s eyebrows twitched.

As Celine was climbing the cliff alone, she thought, of course, the members of the Paradiso Knights had also been scattered.

“Did they tell you to go alone? A place full of monsters?”

“Ah, I said I would e here alone!”

Celine hurriedly waved her hand.

“I can deal with monsters well on my own, but it’s difficult for knights to disperse…”

“….”

Leonhardt wiped the words that were bubbling inside him and looked at Celine with a smile. How could she deal with monsters well on her own?

This wasn’t just a place where little monsters flocked. This was the border area where the boss monsters who had been neglected for a long time and had increased intelligence were hiding in the dark.

Even if Celine was right, it was different when traveling alone than with a knight who was capable of destroying monsters.

“…Couldn’t you all e together?”

“Ah.”

Celine blinked her eyes. Come to think of it, she hadn’t thought of that at all. She could have climbed this cliff together with the knights and asked to figure out the situation…

“I didn’t think of that. With you, they’re safe… we should all e together.”

Leonhard sighed.

Celine missed the point that she would be safe, too, but he didn’t want to scold her.

“Celine.”

“….?”

The blue-grey eyes widened.

“I… I can’t always be by your side.”

“I know. You’ve been away for a long time.”

Celine responded quickly. She had no idea what Leonhard was trying to say.

‘Do I look like I can’t do anything without Leonhard… No, right?’

As she thought so, Celine bit her lip. Until now, she had tried not to depend on him as much as she could, and Leonhard knew that well.

“No.”

Leonhard shook his head.

“So suddenly, when you don’t expect… When you need me, I may not be with you.”

Celine took her breath.

“Then, ask for help from others. You didn’t e here alone because you didn’t believe in the Paradiso Knights.”

There was silence.

Leonhard looked anxiously at Celine’s unreadable face as her face changed every minute. Very slowly, her mouth eventually moved.

“…What about Leonhard?”

“….?”

Leonhard went silent for a moment.

“I…”

The words did not flow properly. Obviously, there was plenty of room to answer.

He himself was much stronger than Celine. No, he had no one to follow him in the Empire… If he asked someone for help, he would be ridiculed. However, what made him shut his mouth was that he, in fact, had asked for Celine’s help.

One day he couldn’t sleep without her presence.

“…I’ll do the same.”

“Really?”

“….”

“If it were Leonhard, you would have e here alone. Am I wrong?”

He could not object.

Celine glanced at his expression and hesitated.

“Don’t make that face, because I didn’t mean to mess you… It’s just that I find it difficult to ask for help, too.”

She did not give an exact reason. How would she say here that she always felt like a stranger? Fortunately, Leonhard seemed to have roughly understood what she was saying.

“I got it. Then… Try not to get away from me as much as possible.”

Celine smiled instead of answering.

It was a sufficient answer for Leonhard.