I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 297

“The Cold Wave… It’s been a while since I’ve heard that nickname.”

Serenade gave a bitter smile.

“There was a time. When the relationship between him and me froze over, I also became cold.”

Just thinking about that time sent a chill down her spine.

Serenade’s fingers dug into her own arm.

“But now, Your Highness… treats me warmly. I no longer need to pretend to be a cold person.”

Frost melts when spring comes.

When Ash became warm, the Cold Wave subsided. That’s all there is to it.

“…It’s been a while since I’ve heard that too. ‘Mad Dog’….”

A brief moment of regret flickered in Lukas’s hardened eyes.

“There was a time like that.”

A time when he bit at anything like a mad dog, as his master commanded.

And… even when he sank his fangs into his master’s neck.

“…I’m just a mad dog when my lord uses me as one, and a knight when he uses me as a knight.”

After all, he was just a sword.

He was wielded differently depending on how the master who held him swung him. That’s all there is to it.

“In the end.”

Serenade took a breath.

“It’s because he changed that we were able to change too.”

“…”

Lukas silently agreed.

Indeed. The changes in Serenade and Lukas were laughable compared to Ash’s.

The Third Prince, who was so eager to destroy himself, always pushing himself to the edge of a cliff… had changed so much.

He had turned into a person as warm as the spring sun.

Lukas asked cautiously.

“Aren’t you afraid of his change?”

Lukas had been forewarned about Ash’s change.

– Hey, bodyguard. From tomorrow, I’m going to act like a completely different person.

– But even if that happens, no matter what I look like or how I act, I’m still me. I’m definitely the Ash you’ve served your whole life.

– Don’t doubt me and continue to assist me as you have been. I’m asking you.

The day after he said those words, Ash’s personality changed as if he were a different person.

Even though he had been forewarned, Lukas still felt a chill down his spine sometimes.

He wondered if the thoughtful lord in front of him, who cared for his subordinates, was really the same person he had sworn his loyalty to.

“What is there to be afraid of?”

But Serenade spoke with conviction.

“His essence hasn’t changed.”

From when they were young.

The image of that shining boy was still there, without a doubt.

“Even if his actions change, his manner of speaking changes, and even his ideology changes – I can tell. The Ash I loved is still there.”

“How can you be so sure?”

When Lukas asked in bewilderment, Serenade smiled mischievously, unlike her usual self. Like a playful girl from her childhood.

“It’s a feeling. A lover’s feeling.”

Immediately after, Serenade mumbled and twisted the ends of her hair.

“Well, we’re engaged now…”

Lukas, who had been staring blankly at her, burst into a hearty laugh.

“I feel relieved somehow… that I can share these concerns with you, Miss Serenade.”

“Huh?”

“I will also trust in your feelings, Miss Serenade.”

Lukas smiled gently. Serenade stared at him with wide eyes.

He was definitely not a man who would smile like that.

“…You’ve really changed a lot, Sir Lukas.”

“We’ve become adults. All of us.”

Serenade and Lukas looked at each other for a moment.

They could have been friends who had spent their childhood together, but they ended up remaining in an awkward relationship.

And… Ash, who had always been with them in their childhood, was between them.

“I just want him to be happy, Sir Lukas.”

As Serenade murmured softly, Lukas nodded.

“I feel the same way, Miss Serenade.”

“Let’s support him from our respective positions.”

“Of course.”

Lukas bowed and stepped aside. Serenade gave a slight nod and entered the lord’s mansion first.

And when the two of them entered Ash’s bedroom on the third floor-

“Snore…”

Ash was fast asleep.

He had scattered a pile of papers filled with writing on the bed, leaning against the headboard. With the lights still brightly lit.

Lukas and Serenade, with bitter smiles, tidied up Ash’s sleeping area.

Lukas organized Ash’s writing utensils and notes, while Serenade laid Ash down on the bed and pulled up the blanket.

Reading the traces of the boy from his childhood in the sleeping young man’s lowered eyelashes.

“Have a good dream, Your Highness.”

Serenade whispered softly and stepped back. Lukas turned off the light next to the bed.

Click-

After quietly gazing at Ash’s peacefully sleeping face in the darkened bedroom, Serenade and Lukas quietly left the room.

***

…Several days passed.

My condition didn’t improve easily. It seemed I had a cold on top of overwork.

My fever wouldn’t go down easily, and I was groaning with a cold towel on my forehead. What a sorry state I was in.

“It’s autumn. As the weather gets colder, it’s especially important to be careful during these seasonal changes.”

Damian said as he visited me morning and evening to infuse me with divine power.

It seemed that recovery magic couldn’t cure a simple cold or poor condition.

Recovery magic only showed visible effects on more serious wounds or injuries…

Still, receiving this much divine power was said to be good for my health. Ugh.

Anyway, because of this situation, I was lying in bed, receiving simple reports, and repeating only broad instructions.

At first, I was a little worried, but Crossroads was running quite well even without me on the scene.

Of course, it wasn’t as efficient as when I was directly involved, but it was moving quite decently.

‘Maybe this is how a normal lord, a normal commander works.’

Not visiting the site, but delivering instructions and receiving reports only through written documents and messages…

“…Hmm.”

No matter what, this wasn’t my style.

“I want to jump out of bed and see the site soon!”

“Yeah, yeah. Just get better first.”

Evangeline, who had come to have me review the autonomous exploration plan, scolded me. I grumbled and looked at the autonomous exploration plan that Evangeline had drawn up.

It was a plan to patrol the 6th district dungeon that had already been cleared. They wouldn’t go to unexplored areas because the Nightmare Legion Commanders could appear…

‘I need to reach level 50 too.’

My current level is 49. I want to reach level 50 quickly like the other main party members and learn my ultimate skill. But with my condition like this.

“We’ll take care of it ourselves~ So, please relax and think about getting better, senior!”

And then, they really did well.

In my absence, they borrowed help from the Holy Grail Exploration Team waiting at the base camp, or organized teams with Jackal or Lily (!) to review the 6th district dungeons one by one.

Other sub-parties were leveling up in the early areas.

Watching my party members level up and get stronger every day without me made me feel a little complicated. Ugh.

It wasn’t just dungeon exploration. The internal affairs were also running smoothly.

Especially after appointing Serenade as the internal affairs advisor, she honestly managed things much better than I did.

Not only did she repair the forward base and plan the tourist city,

“Here is the report on the sale of magic stones, Your Highness. Please check it at your leisure.”

She greatly increased the city’s finances by sharing the transparent profits from the sale of magic stones.

She safely presented the magic stones to the Imperial Family, and among the remaining magic stones, she didn’t touch the shares of the existing Crossroads merchants.

She only took charge of distributing the remaining magic stones and sold them all over the continent.

“The quality of the magic stones is exceptionally good. We have started distributing them to the royal families of allied nations first. We are already receiving a flood of follow-up orders.”

While listening to Serenade’s report and skimming through the report, I honestly muttered.

“I honestly thought the Winter Silver Merchant Guild would devour all the other small merchant guilds in the south.”

She kept the existing magic stone sales routes alive and shared the magic stone quantities fairly with the existing merchant guilds.

The Winter Silver Merchant Guild only handled the amount that was left over and not processed in the south.

With the financial power of the Winter Silver Merchant Guild, and with her close relationship with me, she could have easily pushed everyone aside and taken everything for herself.

“Hehe. I told you before. Our guild’s goal is coexistence.”

Serenade smiled as she handed me a report that the Crossroads city treasury was filled with gold.

“It’s easy to gain profits by overwhelming with scale, but that’s too short-sighted of a business method. We’re just choosing a path that will benefit us more in the long term.”

“You’re really cool…”

I should learn her business philosophy later. It seems like it would be helpful.

So, in this way. Everyone was doing their jobs perfectly, and the city was running safely and well.

“15 reserve party heroes, 3 parties. Ready for deployment.”

Several more sub-parties became ready for combat through continuous autonomous exploration.

“Huh… Did I grow somehow?!”

Lily exceeded level 35 and completed her second job advancement. She unlocked her second skill, [Fire Wall].

Hey, weren’t you supposed to quit field work? You keep going out with your boyfriend, so your level is going up!

“…Why am I growing even though I’m not exploring?”

Margherita muttered sullenly.

Margherita was leveling up little by little even though she wasn’t going out on expeditions. She seemed bewildered by it.

Well… healers always gain experience just by healing. You’re leveling up because you keep working at the temple even if you’re not deployed in the field.

Anyway, the heroes were growing steadily like this,

“I report that the training of two new companies of soldiers has been completed!”

The regular soldiers were also reinforced,

“The first repair of the forward base’s walls is complete, Your Highness!”

The repair of the forward base was more than 50% complete, and it was now functioning as a makeshift fortress.

At this point, when the stockpiling of food and firewood for the winter was also progressing smoothly-

[STAGE 12]

– Time until start: 3 days

The next defense battle was quickly approaching.

***

The monsters for this season were the Scorpion Legion.

In other words, scorpions.

They crawled low to the ground with their bellies, and their shells were hard.

They had a high resistance to ranged weapons like arrows. Their poisonous tails were quite threatening with their piercing power. The pincers on their arms also had high cutting power.

They were sturdy and tough, strong warriors. It was not easy to fight them head-on.

“These are tough friends, but their weaknesses are also clear.”

At the forward base.

Sitting in the wheelchair that Evangeline was pushing (she borrowed Lily’s spare wheelchair), I said while standing on the newly repaired wall, wrapped in a thick blanket.

“Their bellies that touch the ground have no shell. If we can somehow hit that belly area, we can easily defeat them.”

“Then there are two ways. Either flip them over and defeat them…”

Evangeline grinned. I grinned back.

“…Or just attack their bellies from the ground.”

In other words.

If we lay mines all over the place, we can easily defeat them.

So, the plains south of the forward base were now filled with mines.

In addition, all the artifacts that were installed were the type that were laid on the ground.

‘There are many other weaknesses besides this.’

The Scorpion Legion had low magic resistance, and while they had high poison resistance, they were very vulnerable to other status ailments.

If we had those means, we could easily defeat them again.

But mines alone were enough. We could have a fun bonfire.

“They’re coming-!”

A scout who was watching the south from the forward base’s turret shouted. Then, Lukas, who was standing at the edge of the wall, raised his hand and shouted.

“All troops, prepare for battle-!”

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The heroes and soldiers grabbed their weapons and aimed their equipment in perfect unison.

I entrusted the command of this defense battle to Lukas from the beginning. I was just going to watch from behind. I was a patient for now…

Thud thud thud!

It wasn’t long before the dust clouds raised by the monsters could be seen in the distance to the south.

A swarm of scorpions with black shells, moving their many legs in a chaotic manner, rushed in.

It was a bit disgusting, and also a scary sight because of the sheer number of them.

‘Our kids, they prepared hard without me.’

It was like watching a younger sibling running to the supermarket with a crumpled bill, saying they could run errands without their older sibling.

With that kind of feeling, I was going to watch comfortably to see how well our kids would do in the defense battle without me.

“Huh?”