What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 378

#378

Red-spotted Cat (1)

After that commotion, we returned to the military camp.

‘Hurry! Move quickly!’

‘We must attend to His Highness the Crown Prince without delay!’

‘What should we do with this one?’

‘First, set up a perimeter and take turns standing guard! The mage division will be here soon….’

Of course, half of the Imperial Army remained at the scene.

They had to search the collapsed rock castle to figure out what had happened there and rescue any survivors.

Just in case, manpower was also needed to monitor the remains of the Golem.

However, with the Crown Prince unconscious, we, as his party, needed to return quickly.

Francois and Karme had also overexerted themselves.

Marguerite Diop barely opened her eyes on the way back, and it seemed the moon halo grass energy hadn’t completely worn off yet.

I couldn’t tell if she recognized the lightning rascal or not.

The ether-filled cat(?) divine beast seemed to have finally fallen into a deep sleep.

And decisively….

“Emperor Frederick Liester is here!”

We had a superior to report to. Ugh!

-Flutter!

The Crown Prince’s mother had advanced all the way here in the meantime!

I screamed inwardly and bowed respectfully.

We were already in the heart of the Liester military camp, inside a very large tent.

I was so out of it that I didn’t even know if I was tired or not.

-Thud, thud, thud….

The solemn footsteps of a middle-aged person cut through the silence of the tent.

Emperor Frederick paused to look around at us, then sighed deeply and ascended to the highest seat.

Her red cloak fluttered like a living thing.

Baroness Caroline Mutte and Duke Cecil Blancar flanked her on either side, attending to their superior.

“Look. Didn’t we raise our children well?”

“Don’t say anything.”

The Baroness tilted her chin, and the Emperor replied briefly and took her seat.

The great nobles and knights, lined up on the left and right, lowered their heads with the clanging of armor.

The Imperial Army camp, overlooking the Statia Plains, had grown significantly in size while we were away.

Most of the main force in the desert seemed to have moved here.

What I glimpsed while entering was all I saw, but the number of tents and warhorses had increased dramatically.

The population itself also looked distinctly different.

It was astonishing how this could have happened in such a short time.

Those who bowed to us all had haunted expressions.

‘Your Highness! Crown Prince!’ ‘Princess, oh my! Princess!’ Hundreds of people were crying.

The reaction was more intense than I had expected. It was no wonder, since the Crown Prince had been carried in on a stretcher.

Anyway, all the patients were moved to the infirmary.

“…Marquis Serenite.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly answered.

The Emperor’s husky voice somehow lacked composure.

“Are you aware that you have been missing for over a month?”

“……Pardon?!”

I was horrified and raised my head sharply. Christel’s jaw dropped on the left.

Lady Elisabeth on the right also had a shocked expression, and even Lord Johann looked unusually bewildered.

He had been writing a letter to Herrit right before entering the wardrobe.

He must have been heartbroken at the thought of his son.

The nobles, seeing my reaction, were equally astonished and covered their mouths.

Bakari, standing next to the Baroness, finally took off his glasses.

The Emperor pressed her forehead as if she knew it all along. Another sigh escaped.

What kind of development is this?

“Today is October 26th.”

Eh!?

“No, that’s….”

“In the meantime, the Venetian Princess and Grand Duke have also disappeared, and the two countries have entered into a temporary agreement.”

I stammered, gaping.

I was well aware that this incident was different from the King of Hanan Lumayan case.

But a month? That’s a bit much.

No wonder it was so cold when I came back!

“At that time, um. I heard that the Crown Prince had disappeared, so there was a temporary truce. I saw soldiers searching the plains myself. But….”

“It was agreed in writing that the battle would not resume until the successor’s body was secured. Suddenly, two countries were in danger of losing their futures, so how could they continue fighting?”

“Gasp.”

A body, she said. I couldn’t say anything and looked up at the adult.

The cherry-colored eyes, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, didn’t show any signs of fatigue.

But that must have been a mask. There was no way she wouldn’t be exhausted.

With her son and friends missing at the same time, she must have considered all sorts of scenarios, and in the meantime, she had personally led the troops all the way here.

On the one hand, she must have made every effort to quell the empire’s chaos and anxiety.

Ruling, she said, was something you could never rest from.

My teacher and friends in the capital must have been shocked to hear the news….

“I never really thought you were in trouble.”

She opened her eyes sharply. I quickly nodded my head.

“The Crown Prince and the Waterdrop Kid are not so weak, and the Deputy Commander is Caroline’s daughter. What more can I say about the Grand Master and Francois? Besides, Juliette, who received the Holy Favor, was with you, so I thought it would be easily resolved.”

“……”

“But I, as Emperor, had to assume the worst-case scenario.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Whether it’s your fault remains to be seen. Is there a reason why it took so long?”

‘It seems so.’ The Emperor clicked her tongue and scanned my appearance.

My bright cardigan was stained with dried blood, and so was my formal dress.

Not to mention the grimy red pandas.

The kitten, covered in all sorts of drugs, was sleeping as if dead in my arms.

All my friends had just come from a fight.

Duke Fabrice Berang was safe, but it was clear to anyone that he was suffering from considerable accumulated fatigue.

It couldn’t have looked peaceful.

“It’s a very long story. It started….”

I barely opened my mouth and looked around. I was at a loss.

First of all, I couldn’t believe that more than a month had passed.

Besides, the others here had no idea that I came from another world.

They would also know little about the Ark of the Divine Beast Biryeom.

I didn’t think they would easily accept the concept of a false space—

-Grumble

Damn it.

-Grumble

“No, no. I’m sorry. I’m not hungry. Just….”

I shook my head, my face flushed red.

How could my stomach clock ring in this situation? I was so ashamed and embarrassed that I couldn’t live.

The lightning rascal standing behind me sneered a lot.

I was annoyed and irritated, but I couldn’t say anything because it was my stomach that made the sound.

The nobles began to stir greatly as they observed me. Damn it!

“How unfortunate! She must have been starving for a week.”

“She’s so skinny, that’s right. Is it just a week?”

“Judging by how she can’t speak properly, she must have been held captive for a long time.”

“Is it the work of the Shin Guk bastards?”

“No, don’t you know how much the Princess eats? I don’t mean to speak ill of a precious person, but if she had been starving for so long, she wouldn’t be able to stand there. According to the rumors I’ve heard—”

“Marquis. Are you very hungry?”

Fabrice finally looked at me and asked worriedly. Please….

“Ha.”

The Emperor in the seat above let out a hollow breath. I flinched and wiped my hot neck.

I could hear Christel and Lady Elisabeth giggling too clearly.

The voices of the troublemakers teasing me were also too clear. How embarrassing.

“….I was careless. I was too hasty with those who worked hard to return for so long.”

The middle-aged woman readily admitted her impatience. We bowed our heads deeply.

“Thank you.”

“Go and rest. Wash, eat, and sleep until the sun is high in the sky. I’ll hear the details after that. I need to go see my son too.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

That’s how the short audience ended.

The Emperor gestured for us to leave quickly, and the escort knights who guarded her led us out with precision.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. There was so much to sort out.

My vision was dizzy.

“Hoo….”

I need to organize my thoughts first, so I can explain it to others.

It was time for a notebook.

*

That’s how the autumn night deepened.

-Hoo, hoo….

Faint bird cries could be heard from the direction of the canyon.

The night air at the end of October was freezing, but all the Imperial Army tents were enchanted with warmth-preserving magic.

In particular, the tent I was assigned to was said to have been personally imbued with mana by Commander Modest Bakari.

The central fireplace crackled, adding constant light and warmth.

My friends had gone to their respective spaces to rest.

They had a simple checkup and filled their bellies.

I was wearing clean pajamas, a towel over my wet hair, and scribbling in a notebook.

-Snore….

-Coo….

-Krr….

“Hahaha.”

Then I laughed and turned around.

The red pandas, washed squeaky clean, were stuck to the wide bed like honeycomb candy, fast asleep.

They must have been very tired, as they were all snoring.

The divine beast didn’t originally need a bath, but today was an exception.

The sadness over the dying cat divine beast was so great that they even forgot to clean themselves and cried in droplets.

In the end, we bathed together in the same wooden tub.

I put the cat on my palm and showed it to the troublemakers.

‘It’s okay. It looks comfortable now. It’s much better than before. Right?’

-Squeak

‘Yes. It’ll wake up soon because you’re worried.’

-Squeak

I gently poured warm water over them to wash their bodies and wiped them with the softest towel I could find on the battlefield.

The fluffy fur, clumped together like a hedgehog, was very cute. And definitely….

‘Now that I’ve washed it, I don’t think it’s a cat.’

-Squeak?

‘You guys are red pandas, and red pandas don’t exist in the Toegye Gong worldview. Tete is also the only half-seal here. So this one probably isn’t an animal that exists here either. I’ve seen cats often in the capital. So… a leopard cat?’

-Squeak?

‘Leopard? No, it didn’t have this pattern.’

-Squeak?

‘….I don’t know.’

It was difficult. But it definitely looked like a cub.

The feline (this is good) divine beast was small enough to fit in both hands.

I laid towels and cotton cloths in layers in a basket I got from a soldier, laid the little one down, and covered it with a handkerchief.

It had eaten enough ether and didn’t absorb any more. Now all that was left was to wake up.

When will it be?

…It might not want to open its eyes, but I can protect it well until it chooses the path it wants.

“I’ll wait. Sleep well.”

I spoke to the basket on the side table. No answer came back.

I chuckled and turned my gaze to the notebook. Let’s see, first….

· Moon Halo Grass

– A plant that forms a pair with Sun Halo Grass.

– Powerful narcotic ingredient. Valuable painkiller.

– Has the property of mimicking pure ether [magical energy]. Can disrupt the perception of holy knights when clustered.

– Blooms in the tomb of holy knights.

* I heard that other substances also come from the remains of holy knights, but I haven’t heard the details yet.

· False Space

– One of the divine arts of the Divine Beast ‘Ark of Biryeom.’

– Dduk-sim seems to use it freely. Is it more stable now that it has an owner? There was no time distortion when I got out of there.

– But the false space created by others can cause a serious temporal gap with the outside world (like this time).

– There is a huge cursor on the outside. I don’t know if it’s being used in real time.

– Honestly, I don’t know what kind of space it is.

· Why the dead Yuliter was able to create a false space

– There were many holy knights buried there. An environment where space-time distortion is likely to occur due to ether that has been stagnant for a long time.

– I damaged the World Tree. ‘I disturbed the world.’ The World Tree is the source of life and the only being that protects the world line.

– Is there a possibility that another false space will be created…? Maybe if the World Tree never recovers?

What else is there? Ah, that’s right. I moved the pen as quickly as my wrist throbbed.

I had to hurry because I could forget what I had in my head if I hesitated.

The sudden appearance of the Golem. The secret experiment of the fallen Statia Lord’s castle. The background and purpose of those guys.

Yuliter’s warning about the Venetian royal family’s desires. And the Sneider family.

Elise and the Grand Duke, who are still missing….

“Ugh, my head hurts.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and rubbed my forehead.

Should I just go to bed early today and think about it tomorrow? But shouldn’t I hurry because it’s wartime?

If I think about my goal of ending the war and giving my friends a safe world, isn’t every minute and second precious?

Your Majesty told me to rest, but….

“There are too many plot devices. I can’t be lazy.”

-Nyab

“I agree. This incident was so spectacular.”

-Nyaa

“It doesn’t end in one place and continues to move to another place. My vision is spinning. I’m hungry.”

-Nyaaa

……Huh?!

-Thud!

The feline divine beast woke up!

I stood up from my seat in an unsightly manner, with my mouth wide open.

I grabbed the chair that was falling backwards, tangled my legs and staggered, and twisted my back while trying to regain my balance. Ouch!

“Ouch!”

The little one, startled by my clumsiness, coughed softly in the basket.

Its round eyes were unbearably cute.

I was stiff, afraid it would be scared because of me—

-Ket, ket!

-Whoosh!

A candy-sized flame burst from its small mouth.

Wow, seriously!