I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 411

412. [Side Story] Return (2)

Fortunately, while I was gone, there were quite a few minor injuries, but almost no deaths. No one had deserted from the existing forces either.

So, I went around to show my face to the other subordinates besides the main party. I had returned after half a year, so I needed to make my survival known far and wide.

Everyone was preparing for defense in their respective areas. When I appeared nonchalantly, they all looked like they had seen a ghost.

“Ash……?!”

North of the city.

Dusk Bringer, who was inspecting her knights and hundreds of soldiers of the Duchy, stood with her mouth agape. I waved my hand and approached her.

“Grand Duchess! How have you been?”

“Y-y-you, after appearing after half a year, that’s all you have to say……?!”

“Haha. I’m planning to explain the details all at once later when everyone is gathered.”

It’s not like I can explain where I was and what I was doing every time I meet someone.

I was planning to gather everyone for dinner tonight and tell them all at once. While also having a meeting about the future.

“Is that really you, Ash……?”

Dusk Bringer approached me as if possessed, reaching out to pinch my cheek and poke me here and there. Hey, that hurts.

“It’s not like some other guy disguised or transformed, it’s really you…….”

“Of course, it’s really me. How have you been?”

“Why are you so brazen? Do you even know how worried everyone was?!”

Dusk Bringer started pinching my whole body with her small hands. No, it really hurts, stop it!

When the pinching punishment (?) was over, I smiled wryly and winked at her.

“I was worried you might swallow Crossroads while I was gone.”

“I could have if I had a mind to. But.”

This dragon lady, with the blood of a dark dragon flowing through her, gave a wicked smile.

“Wouldn’t the joy be greater if you take it when the owner is present?”

“Your ideology is terrifying…….”

“Stealing when the owner is absent makes you a petty thief, but taking it by fighting makes you a conqueror. Now that you’re back, I shall once again keep a close eye on this place.”

We were having this kind of conversation, but I actually knew.

That she and her army had fought harder than anyone else to defend Crossroads for the past six months.

“Everyone believed you would return and waited.”

Dusk Bringer, who had been quietly looking at my face, smiled faintly.

“It seems that you have resolved some of the inner turmoil you were carrying.”

“…….”

“I don’t know the details… but welcome back, Ash.”

I looked back at her and smiled.

“……Yes. I’m back, Grand Duchess.”

Even though I had been away for a long time, they welcomed me warmly.

I was just grateful.

***

The Punishment Unit and the forces of the Northern Arian Kingdom were reinforcing the kill zone and barricades in the southern plains.

So, I came to say hello, but.

“…….”

“…….”

Here, where muscular soldiers were sweating profusely while working hard on reinforcements.

Kuilun was shirtless, revealing his magnificent muscular body… with a dog collar around his neck… and Princess Yoon on his back, standing with a miserable face…….

An ivory-skinned girl on the back of a red-furred wolf beastman. The picture is nice, but what on earth is going on?!

Kuilun and I were frozen for a moment as our eyes met. I barely opened my trembling mouth.

“Wh, what……?”

“Oh, Prince Ash? You’re back!”

Only then did Princess Yoon, who had discovered me, wave her hand cheerfully while holding Kuilun’s leash.

“You womanizing prince! I knew you had wanderlust, but where have you been wandering for half a year?”

“That’s something I’ll explain tonight, but… what are you two doing……?”

“In exchange for our forces cooperating in the defense of Crossroads, I agreed with Commander Lucas’s deputy to ‘borrow’ this lovely, fluffy muscle mass.”

Lucas……? It’s true that manpower is important, but so he sold Kuilun off……?

“For the past six months, our two units have moved as one, and now… we have achieved excellent muscle coordination.”

I have no idea what muscle coordination means, but in reality, the beastmen of the Punishment Unit and the warriors of the Arian Kingdom were working together without hesitation.

The northern warriors of the Arian Kingdom are a powerful human resource.

Certainly, if I could get them by throwing Kuilun, it would be a good deal…….

After calculating a few times in my head, I came to the same conclusion as Lucas. So.

“Have a happy time in the future, Kuilun.”

“What are you talking about, Captain?! Can you say that after seeing this?!”

Finally, Kuilun let out a cry of resentment.

“Please save me! I’ve been treated like a pet dog ever since you disappeared!”

“If, if you’re happy, then it’s okay…….”

“I’m not happy! I’m not happy!”

Then Yoon lightly pulled Kuilun’s leash back.

“Oh, our puppy, you weren’t happy being with me?”

“Cough, th, that’s not… not it, Princess……!”

“Hmph, fine. I’ll let you go today, so go now.”

Princess Yoon, who had removed the dog collar from Kuilun’s neck, lightly stepped down to the ground.

Kuilun glanced at me and Yoon, then quickly ran away.

Looking at Kuilun’s back as he ran away, Yoon smacked her lips as if she was disappointed.

“Haa, he’s more of a hard case than I thought, that man. Even though I’m courting him like this, he doesn’t budge…….”

“……Is that courting?”

“Of course. If a woman puts a leash on a man’s neck and clings to him, it obviously means ‘Hey, let’s live together,’ right?”

I really can’t understand the thought process of the northern people.

I quietly advised Yoon, who was staring at me with her bright yellow eyes.

“Kuilun is a beastman, that is, a different race, and has been treated as a slave of humanity for a long time… he might be uncomfortable with being treated as property.”

“Ah.”

Yoon looked down at the dog collar in her hand and clicked her tongue.

“Oh dear, since our bear beastmen are equal citizens and not slaves, I’m not sensitive to these issues… and this collar is just my preference.”

That’s quite a preference…….

I coughed! I cleared my throat.

“If you pay attention to these points in the future, you will be able to build a better relationship with Kuilun.”

I don’t know how sincere this tomboy princess is towards Kuilun, but.

“……I was a bit selfish. Haa, it’s a bit much for me to say this myself, but because I’ve lived as royalty, my perspective is sometimes narrow.”

Yoon, who had muttered, threw the dog collar she was holding on the floor and turned to me.

“Well, finding a husband is important, but there’s a more important topic right now. Prince Ash.”

“What is this more important topic?”

“In the past six months since you disappeared, the world’s situation has changed greatly again.”

I narrowed my brow.

“What happened?”

“Did you really go outside the world for half a year? How can you not know?”

Yoon raised her hand and pointed north.

“The civil war between the First Prince Larc and the Second Prince Fernandes over the imperial capital New Terra—the so-called battle for the throne.”

“……!”

“The conclusion was reached a while ago.”

I swallowed hard.

Half a year had passed while I was wandering in the dungeon under that lake and the other side of the afterlife, and half a year was enough time to end the war between the two princes.

I asked in a trembling voice.

“The winner……?”

Somehow, I had a hunch about the result.

And as I guessed, Princess Yoon calmly spat out the result.

“The Second Prince Fernandes.”

“…….”

“The news that Fernandes and his army had achieved a decisive victory a few days ago is spreading rapidly across the continent.”

I clenched my teeth. Yoon continued.

“The First Prince Larc and the First Imperial Army he led were annihilated. Their current whereabouts are unknown. There are only rumors. That his limbs were cut off, that he was executed…….”

“…….”

I recalled the face of my kind older brother. Could he really be dead?

Yoon shrugged.

“Anyway, the master of the empire, no… the master of the world has been decided.”

“Then Princess Yoon, shouldn’t you also go to join Prince Fernandes?”

At my gesture, Yoon smiled bitterly.

“The fools who had been watching the situation are now rushing to swear allegiance to Fernandes, but I and the people of our kingdom have decided to wait a little longer…….”

“Why is that?”

“Northerners have a good sense.”

Yoon’s expression hardened slightly.

“……Ominous rumors are coming out of the imperial capital.”

“Ominous rumors?”

“New Terra has been sealed off for a long time. Not even an ant can get in or out by land, but stories still leak out.”

Does the Arian Kingdom also have an intelligence line inside New Terra?

Yoon glanced left and right to make sure no one was listening, then whispered to me.

“They say a huge, unidentified magic circle is being installed throughout the imperial capital.”

“……Magic circle?”

“And despite winning the war, Fernandes is still strictly controlling the citizens inside the imperial capital. Now, they say that not only is it impossible to enter or leave the city, but they can’t even go outside their homes.”

“…….”

“Something is about to happen, Prince Ash. Northerners are very sensitive to these things. I have a very big and ominous feeling…….”

I recalled Fernandes’s goal that I had learned in the depths of the dungeon this time.

And the face of the Emperor I had met in the Spirit Realm.

“This southern front is already a difficult place just dealing with the monsters.”

Yoon glanced at me.

“But still, Prince Ash, if you are one of the kings of this world… you should start preparing. A great upheaval is stirring in the center of the world.”

I listened to the story quietly and slowly nodded.

“Thank you for the advice, Yoon. And for cooperating in protecting Crossroads all this time.”

“Just because the world’s crisis is happening in the south, it doesn’t mean that northerners can just stand by and do nothing. We wouldn’t be able to save face later, right? It’s just that our interests aligned.”

Yoon waved her hand and then smacked her lips, looking in the direction Kuilun had run away.

“By the way, how should I change my courting method… Sigh, dating is quite difficult…….”

“…….”

“Don’t you have any advice for me, playboy?”

Yoon asked me. I broke out in a cold sweat.

No, the playboy is Ash, and I’m a virgin, so I can’t give any helpful advice…….

‘Ah, that’s right.’

No, I’m ‘Kim Ash,’ right? I don’t have any memories of my playboy days, but.

After thinking for a moment, I just told her what I thought was right.

“Just be honest. Clearly convey the fact that you have feelings for him. Whether it’s through words, actions, or gestures, be clear.”

“Clearly?”

“Sometimes, I think it might be more helpful to clearly express your intentions…….”

“Hmm…….”

Yoon, who had been looking at me quietly, chuckled.

“Come to think of it, Prince Ash, your dating advice is not very useful.”

“Huh? Why not?”

I was trying to be serious! Am I showing my inexperience?!

“Well, your face is the reason. If you whispered sweet nothings with that face, nine out of ten would have fallen for you, right?”

“…….”

I awkwardly touched my face. I’ve never actually used this handsome mask for anything useful…….

Yoon, who had been looking at me quietly, waved her hand.

“Okay, that’s enough about other people’s dating problems. Go take care of your lover.”

“Huh? My lover?”

“Why are you acting like this? You have a ‘former fiancée’ who has been waiting for you for half a year, crying every night.”

“……!”

Only then did I realize.

That there was another place I should have gone to first as soon as I returned.

That there was a place more urgent than going around to greet my comrades.

I gaped and muttered.

“Oh my god.”

That’s why I was a virgin, Go Deok! Oh my!

I turned around and ran towards the city in a hurry. Behind me, I heard Yoon’s laughter as she shouted.

“They say the worst kind of bad boy is the one who doesn’t realize he’s bad, and that’s you!”

No, that’s not what I meant to do……!

“I hope you clearly express your intentions to that lady this time, Your Highness!”

Ignoring Yoon’s teasing, which was returning my own advice, I gritted my teeth and ran.

To the center of Crossroads.

To the Winter Silver Merchant Guild branch.

To where Serenade is.