I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 382

The next day, those who had come as reinforcements began to leave Crossroads one by one.

“All the city-states wish to be of help to Crossroads and His Highness the Prince.”

Valen, the leader of the Southern City-State Alliance, stroked his magnificent beard and winked at me.

“I hope we can maintain a constructive relationship in the future.”

“I look forward to working with you as well, Lord Valen.”

We shook hands firmly. Valen led his volunteer army out of the city.

“……If the monsters act up again, please do not hesitate to ask for support.”

The chieftain of the nomadic tribe ‘Mirage’ from the west said, pressing down on his turban.

“All the people of the west were born to kill monsters. Even if they are not Greenskins [a common term for goblins and orcs], killing them is our joy.”

“I will contact you again soon, Chieftain.”

He placed his hand on his left chest and bowed slightly.

It was a western greeting, and I followed suit.

The other leaders also came out one by one, exchanged greetings, and then led their soldiers away.

I saw them off with polite courtesy, one by one.

Of the reinforcements, three forces remained.

The Dragon Blood Knights from the Bringer Principality, the Elven Scouts led directly by the Elf Queen, and the warriors of Princess Yoon’s Arian Kingdom.

“I cannot thank the Grand Duchess enough.”

I glanced at Dusk Bringer, who was standing next to me.

She had summoned all 500 of her soldiers, who had regrouped in her homeland, to Crossroads, and they had been a great help as reinforcements.

Dusk Bringer shrugged at my gratitude.

“Is that all you’re going to do, just be grateful? There are 500 of my soldiers and thousands of my refugees in your territory right now. Are you going to let me eat you up?”

Dusk Bringer bared her sharp teeth and joked. I smiled wryly.

“I believe that the Grand Duchess is not that kind of person.”

“Hmph, you spineless fellow……”

Dusk Bringer grumbled, then rolled her round eyes at me and suddenly patted me on the back.

“There is a saying, ‘Victory and defeat are common in military affairs.’ It means that victory and defeat are always experienced by those who handle troops.”

“Yes?”

“There is no need to be elated by victory, nor to be depressed by defeat. A commander must always prepare for the next thing.”

“……”

I thought I was maintaining a poker face, but this dragon lady seemed to see right through my wounded heart.

I smiled wryly.

“Thank you for the advice, Grand Duchess.”

“Hmph, I didn’t say it to be thanked. I just couldn’t stand seeing a young one struggling so hard.”

Dusk Bringer snorted and walked towards her knights.

“I will go north to bring back the people who fled. See you later.”

Dusk Bringer mounted her horse and trotted away towards her subordinates.

Next to approach me was an elf woman, calmly walking with a large deer by her side.

The Elf Queen, Skuld.

She smiled demurely and bowed her head to me. The four teardrop-shaped marks under her left eye were truly striking. I also bowed in return.

“Finally, we can have a calm conversation, Prince Ash.”

“I have been waiting for this as well, Queen… Your Majesty.”

For a moment, I hesitated on how to address her.

She was a being who represented a race, and was much older than me.

However, after the race war 100 years ago, the elves had fallen to the status of human slaves, and it would be ridiculous for me, a prince, to address her too highly……

As I hesitated, Skuld covered her mouth and laughed.

“Hehe. I am merely one who represents the elves remaining in the autonomous region. You may speak informally to me.”

“No, I cannot do that…… Would it be alright if I addressed you as ‘Your Majesty’?”

“Of course. Please call me whatever you are comfortable with.”

Skuld, having dropped her benevolent smile, opened her mouth with a serious face.

“The reason I came to talk to you this time is about the future of the world……”

I was listening seriously, but Skuld suddenly stopped talking. She was looking behind me with wide eyes.

“……Oh my. Wait, just a moment.”

“Yes?”

“I think I saw something strange……”

I also looked in the direction Skuld was looking.

“……”

There, hiding behind the alley wall, was… Verdandi, peeking at us……

“Eek!”

Belatedly noticing our gaze, Verdandi hurriedly hid in the alley, but.

No, we had already seen her.

Skuld’s jaw dropped, and she shouted in a shrill voice.

“Verdandi, sister?!”

“Eek!”

Terrified, Verdandi jumped out of the alley and ran away.

No, what is it! Why are you running away!

“Sister?! It’s Verdandi, right! By the World Tree! Stop there, sister! Sister!”

Skuld hurriedly ran after Verdandi. The 50 elven scouts followed her in a rush.

“……”

What is it? What is it all about? What was the conversation you were going to have with me?

Watching the elves’ chase, I chuckled and looked ahead.

The last leader of the reinforcements – Princess Yoon was smiling brightly in front of me.

“I’ve been waiting a long time, Your Highness. Is it my turn now?”

“Princess Yoon. I wanted to say thank you and be careful on your way back, but……”

Yoon Arian was out of her armor and dressed in comfortable clothes.

No, not just comfortable, she was wearing pajamas and slippers.

A soft-looking fur gown and fur slippers.

I looked at her attire and asked, sweating.

“It seems you want to stay here a little longer?”

“Rather than returning home empty-handed, I thought I’d take the opportunity to see more of the world.”

“There are many good tourist spots, there’s no need to stay in this rough place……”

“It’s a rough place, so there must be something to learn. And being next to you, the third prince, it will be easier to understand how the empire is doing.”

I smiled awkwardly.

Well, if 100 strong warriors from the Arian Kingdom were to stay as guests, it would be something I would welcome with open arms.

“Don’t worry. I won’t be a burden. Then, I’ll take your permission to stay as a yes……”

Yoon narrowed her yellow eyes and smiled, then suddenly trailed off.

She was looking behind me with wide eyes.

Oh, come on. Why do people keep finding something behind me when they talk to me?

I turned around, displeased.

In the alley behind me, the members of the Punishment Unit, including Quillan, were walking and talking loudly.

They seemed to have been mobilized to clean up the goblin corpses all night, and they were all covered in green blood.

They were probably going to the public bath to wash their bodies, as they were shirtless and carrying only towels.

“Who… who are those men?”

I explained to Yoon, who was staring at them as if possessed.

“They are my subordinates, the beastmen friends called the Maple Lang tribe.”

“Good heavens, look at those muscles……”

Yoon now had her mouth wide open and even swallowed her saliva.

Ah, come to think of it, this woman’s ideal type was a muscular, large-framed man. That was the standard of beauty in the northern countries……

“And that red fur……! It looks so fluffy and warm just by looking at it……!”

“……”

The Punishment Unit members were currently in a mode somewhere between beast and human, with red fur slightly covering their bodies.

Seeing that, Yoon’s eyes widened even more.

No, you have a suspicious furry fetish, don’t you?

“I need to talk to those wonderful fur-muscled… no, warriors! Then, Your Highness! See you later!”

Yoon left me and ran towards the Punishment Unit.

I saw Yoon suddenly jump on Quillan’s back, who was walking without knowing what was going on.

Quillan, suddenly attacked, screamed in terror. Yoon didn’t care and was rubbing her cheek against his fur……

“……”

Quillan was also courted by the Troll King(female) in the past, he was surprisingly popular.

I turned my head away. I hope you overcome it well, Quillan……

Right next to where I had seen off the leaders of the reinforcements, Serenade’s airship was landed, and the adventurers of the base camp were gathered.

I went over there.

“Geronimo! Oh, Geronimo! You’re alive, you’re alive!”

For some reason, Kellybay was roaring.

Kellybay was almost sobbing in front of the airship, hugging the body of the airship and making a fuss.

I asked those around me, sweating.

“Why is he like that?”

Kellybay’s assistant, Hannibal, answered with an awkward smile.

“This airship seems to be something that Master Kellybay designed.”

“Ah, so that’s why……”

“Yes. It seems that he is emotionally overwhelmed because the ship, which was thought to have been completely destroyed and sunk, has returned.”

No, even so, crawling into the thruster seems a bit dangerous……

Anyway, I left Kellybay to wail and thanked the other adventurers one by one.

I had tried to build rapport with them, but most of the adventurers treated me like a stranger.

They had all left the base camp and rushed to save Crossroads.

“There’s no need to thank us.”

One adventurer gestured with his chin towards the other side.

“We were just dragged here by the threat of an unknown guy.”

“Yes? Unknown?”

“He said that if we didn’t help save Crossroads, we shouldn’t expect his help when exploring the Lake Kingdom in the future…… What can we do? He’s the only rule under that lake.”

Hearing that, I turned my head and looked around, and Unknown was standing over there.

And Serenade was standing in front of Unknown.

I approached the two people who were talking to each other. Both Unknown and Serenade were delighted to see me.

“Ash.”

“Your Highness!”

“Unknown. Serenade. You’ve all worked hard.”

I smiled wryly in front of the two of them.

“I’m always in your debt.”

“Debt? Don’t say that. We did it because we wanted to.”

“As Unknown said, it is my pleasure to be of help to Your Highness. Please don’t say such a sad word as debt.”

The two smiled brightly. Ugh, it’s dazzling……! I rubbed my eyes, even shedding a tear.

“By the way, what were you two talking about?”

The two of them didn’t seem to have anything in common. What could they have in common?

“We are both merchants. When we talked, we found that we had something in common.”

“We were exchanging information that we needed.”

“Ah, come to think of it, you’re both merchants.”

One is the only merchant inside the Lake Kingdom dungeon, and the other is the head of the largest merchant group in the world.

I never thought they would have this in common.

“Anyway, we’re going to go back under the lake soon…… and Kellybay is in that state.”

Kellybay seemed to have rolled into the engine, riding the thruster of the airship.

There was a loud banging sound from inside the airship…… what is he doing.

Unknown, smiling wryly, gestured with his chin.

“I’ll leave Kellybay for now, so please send him back later.”

“I will.”

I thanked Unknown again.

“Thank you, Unknown. For helping me. For saving Lilly……”

I was about to list the things I was grateful for, but Unknown raised his hand to stop me.

“Our Lake Kingdom is responsible for the monster invasion of the human world. It’s as if you in the human world are covering up the original sin committed by our Lake Kingdom. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“……”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t stop the monsters properly.”

Unknown then smiled faintly.

“And, thank you.”

“What?”

“For surviving. For not collapsing, for holding on.”

“……”

Not collapsed, huh.

Held on, huh……

I paused for a moment and looked around at the ruined city.

Has Crossroads really not collapsed? Has it really held on?

Am I, still… okay?

“You will continue to win. I believe it.”

Unknown squeezed my shoulder once and turned around.

“Then, see you again. Ash.”

Unknown fluttered his robe and led the way, followed by the adventurers of the base camp.

After the adventurers had disappeared, I slowly turned to Serenade.

“Serenade.”

“Your Highness.”

“Thank you so much. Always.”

From the airship, to the lobbying for the dispatch of reinforcements, and countless other things……

How can this person be so devoted to me?

There were many words overflowing inside me, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them.

I silently took Serenade’s hand. Serenade smiled shyly and was about to say something to me, but,

“Ugh!”

She suddenly trembled and swallowed a scream.

“Serenade? What’s wrong?”

Surprised, I hurriedly checked her condition and then noticed it.

The bandages on Serenade’s shoulder and waist under her shirt.

Serenade waved her hands in a hurry.

“It’s, it’s nothing to worry about! While fighting on the airship, I was just grazed by a few goblin arrows……”

“……”

“It’s really okay! It was just a graze. Eliza was being dramatic, so I just overdid the bandages……”

On the white arms and slender waist of Serenade, who was saying that, the bandages were stained with clear red blood.

Serenade kept smiling and saying she was okay, but I couldn’t hear her voice properly.

Inside me, I heard something collapsing.