The Damn Family Is Back Again - Chapter 379



379. Yggdrasil Project (19)

“Hoo.”

Harnier sighed, looking far from comfortable.

It had already been several days since she’d been connected to Claire through Marquis Magnuel, and thus, had come to stay in Bagrand.

Even within the supposedly safest place, the Duke of Vagrand’s estate, a moment of ease should be within reach, yet my heart cannot find rest.

No matter the reasons, the thought of him running around, enduring hardship, piles worries upon worries.

While I’m here, having a warm and comfortable bed in this mansion, Carsein is out there, braving the wind, barely finding an inn to lay his head.

While luxurious meals are delivered within the estate, Carsein will be worrying about money, scrambling to get a meager meal.

While I, Harnier, am wearing the soft and warm clothes provided by Vagrand, Carsein is likely out there still, in this biting winter, feeling the chill pierce his skin.

While I am comfortably protected here, Carsein is still being chased, each day a struggle against pursuers.

So I find myself constantly thinking,

Did I really do the right thing, leaving him like that?

Is it right for me to live comfortably while he toils alone?

What if something bad happens to Carsein while he’s alone?

It’s like sitting on pins and needles.

There is no chance of real rest.

And so, Harnier sighs again.

“Why are you sighing like that?”

“Kyaaa?!”

Harnier, startled by the voice in her ear, jumps back.

She turns her head to find Claire right next to her, propping her chin on her hand, watching her.

“Y-you surprised me…”

“Ahaha. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Claire sits on the sofa opposite her. Then, with a mischievous look, as if she understands, she asks.

“So, what’s got Lady Harnié so lost in thought that she doesn’t even notice someone’s approached? Is your stay at our manor that uncomfortable?”

“Uncomfortable? No, it’s not that.”

“But you were sighing heavily. As our most honored guest, if you’re reacting like that, we can’t help but take it a bit personally. If you let us know, we can see what we can do about it.”

“I, truly, there’s nothing uncomfortable!”

“Really? Then why the… I called your name multiple times, and you didn’t respond at all.”

A sudden *gasp* of embarrassment flickered across Harnié’s face.

“M-multiple times?”

“Yes. Roughly five times?”

“Five times…”

Harnié fidgeted, clearly flustered as if she couldn’t believe it had really happened.

Claire chuckled, a soft sound, as if enjoying Harnié’s reaction.

In truth, she hadn’t called out five times.

She’d merely come to check if everything was alright, and having heard a sigh, she had approached her discreetly.

So, this was all a lie, purely to revel in Harnié’s response.

‘Still, should I stop teasing her here?’

Harnié, too, possesses a mind as sharp as Karsein’s.

If someone like her is this easily flustered, there can only be one explanation.

Claire had a rough idea of what she was thinking.

Yes. Of course, Harnié’s sigh was directly linked to Karsein.

It’s understandable that you’d sigh, not knowing how he’s doing right now.

Claire spoke, all traces of playfulness gone.

“Don’t worry too much. Carsein is definitely going to be alright.”

“…Lady Claire.”

“You know better than anyone how strong he is, strong enough that you don’t need to worry so much, right?”

There was really nothing else to say.

Because the person who’s been by Carsein’s side longer than anyone, is her, after all.

“Yes. That’s right. There must be a reason for it all.”

Harnier’s expression slowly brightens, as if she’s shaken off some of her worries.

“So, Lady Claire, what brought you to me?”

“Ah. That’s right. I just wanted to see if Lady Harnier was alright.”

“Alright?”

“Well… uh, how should I explain this. I just have this unease, you see? Lately, strange things have been spreading. Suddenly screaming or crying out to be saved—”

-Knock knock.

Just then. Someone knocked twice on the door to the room.

“What is it?”

“Urgent news. I came in haste as I heard Princess Claire was here.”

“Urgent news?”

Claire turned around and Harnier nodded, as if to say it was alright.

With permission, the soldier stepped into the room.

“What is it?”

“There’s been a problem regarding the Karsein wanted order. Some of the families who’d agreed with the Bagrand Duchy have begun to protest, and if I were to deliver statements from each family—”

It’s all so natural.

Claire, the family head’s proxy, receiving urgent news from a soldier and making a swift decision.

‘It seems some families still want Karsein gone, and they’re just dragging their feet. This group protest is what’s causing the delay.’

Grasping the general gist of the conversation isn’t difficult.

But. While Claire is receiving the news from the soldier, Harnia senses something strange.

‘The warding charm…’

It’s warning her.

And with ferocious intensity, at that.

‘Could it be.’

Harnia’s gaze immediately shifts.

It’s not Claire.

Which means.

“Understood. Then report that and have it delivered to each location—”

“Wait a moment.”

Interrupting the soldier who was about to leave, Harnia stopped him.

“Lady Harnia?”

“I apologize, but it seems we need to slightly adjust Lady Claire’s instructions. You said earlier it wasn’t all the families’ statements, right? So there’s more?”

“Well, yes, but…”

Clare stares, a bewildered look asking *why*?.

From noble mtl dot com

Harnier, unfazed, continues.

“You can’t miss it at a time like this. It’s best to see everything.”

“E-Everything, you mean?”

“Yes. Bring them directly here—no, that might be open to tampering. I’ll go and see them myself. You stay here.”

Harnier, to the soldier stopped in his tracks to deliver the urgent report, gives a command excessive enough to make you wonder if it was really necessary.

Ordinarily, as it’s a matter concerning the family, Clare should stop her…

“It’s not strange to check everything. You wait here.”

But she doesn’t. Just like Carsein, she figures there must be a reason for this behavior.

“Understood. Then…”

The soldier, seemingly aware he’s under suspicion, obediently waits.

Harnier rises from her seat naturally. She’s reached the door. Open the handle and she can leave this place.

But she doesn’t.

‘My lady? Wha, what is…?!’

Clare can’t hide her shock as Harnier slowly turns back, extending one arm forward.

A magic circle unfolds in an instant, aimed away from the soldier.

There’s no way Clare wouldn’t recognize it.

It was definitely a magic spell meant to attack.

-Thud!

“Guh?!”

Three mana-infused spears slammed into the soldier’s back.

The three magical spears, planted in lethal spots, targeted only vital points with precision.

As a spell intended for killing, the soldier naturally collapsed immediately.

But.

-A gurgling sound.

Something began to squirm inside the soldier’s body.

It was the same repulsive seed that Claire had already witnessed.

“Lady Claire! Finish it!”

“Damn it, so that’s what it meant!”

All that remained was a burst of dazzling flames turning the soldier, or rather, what had taken the form of a soldier, to ash.

In its place lay a chunk of wood, something the two had seen before.

But the existence of this wooden chunk.

This thing that had been posing as a soldier.

It drove home the severity of the situation for them both.

“…This… we’ve seen this before. It’s not human, is it?”

“No. It’s a magical beast in human form. The ward reacted when the soldier entered the room.”

“Ha. Back then we couldn’t handle it alone, but at least it didn’t try to act human. Now it’s disguising itself completely as one. That means…”

From the moment it disguised itself as a human, you can’t tell who is who.

If you can’t tell whether the person right beside you is human or a magical beast, identification of friend or foe is difficult, and if their numbers increase,

If things like this are roaming the Empire, it would be a catastrophe.

Clare asked, her voice trembling,

“How many… how many are there at the Duke’s estate?”

Harnier uses the charm, expanding its range to sense the encroaching entities.

“I’ve expanded the charm’s range, and thankfully, it doesn’t seem there are any entities that have infiltrated the Bagrand Duchy.”

“…That’s a relief. So it’s still a clean zone here.”

But that, too, was only a matter of time.

“…The source of that strange rumor was getting closer and closer to Bagrand. I don’t know why, but it seems like the target was Bagrand.”

The future where all the people of the Duke’s family are turned into treants by the Yggdrasil Project wasn’t far off.

And those humans, they’d become enemies, uniformly raising their weapons and marching towards Bagrand.

Reporting this fact to the Imperial Family was impossible.

At this point, the chance of any messenger we sent reaching them was virtually zero, and who knows what situation awaits them on their end.

If that happens…

Bagrand would have been miserably destroyed.

If, we hadn’t noticed this, that is.

-Click.

“Miss Clare? Is that perhaps a Relif engravestone?”

“Yes, that’s right. You’re familiar with it?”

“I’ve heard of them. Engravestones engraved with magic that detects demonic beasts are particularly famous.”

“I’ll distribute these within the Bagrand Duchy and our division so that we can detect demonic beasts. That way, at least, Bagrand won’t fall.”

“But, all of them… They’re very expensive and there aren’t many for sale…”

“Price isn’t a problem. Since you don’t have to pay.”

Harnier’s lips parted at the words that payment wasn’t necessary.

“…Don’t tell me, you made this…”

Claire wore a confident smile.

“Did you forget? I’m a Vagrand.”

*

At the same time.

A bloody battle was raging at the front lines.

But that battle, somehow, was unfolding in an odd direction.

*Whack!*

*Thud.*

“Tsk!”

Watching yet another one fall, Crown Prince Albert clicked his tongue.

The Crown Prince’s body, having rolled through battlefields, was honed like a sharp blade.

He wasn’t weak enough to break down with just this much.

He was used to war.

Only…

“I wondered why the hell they were pointing their swords at our own allies, and it was for this reason.”

This situation itself was far from familiar.

The sounds echoing through the battlefield should have been the shrieks of demonic beasts.

The corpses of fallen monsters should have filled this place.

But this battlefield was not so.

There are those who raise their swords against allies.

Something wearing the guise of our own holds a blade to our throats.

Resembling a civil war, only adding to the chaos.

“Unbelievable. So the sudden screams and cries for help… that was all this?”

I mutter in exasperation, but…

I’ve no idea how to resolve this situation.

“You, you’re a monster!”

“No! I’m not!”

“Wait a minute! I… Ugh!”

“Shut up! You tried to kill me!”

Without a way to discern who is an ally and who is a monster in human disguise, there was nothing we could do.

With each repeating defeat, the front lines crumbled, day by day.

“─────!!”

A sudden, resounding roar draws everyone’s gaze.

“What. What’s that sound?”

“The westerners…?”

Not long after the roar, a man shouts.

“Pollux!”

“Got it!”

The Westerners drew their weapons without hesitation.

And they slaughtered the soldiers on the front lines, indiscriminately, mercilessly, as many as they could.

“Guh…!”

“aaargh!”

“What?! What the hell is going on?!”

“The, the Western b*stards…! It’s a rebellion! A rebellion!”

At their center stood Carsein, who had just spoken the name Pollux.

He charged ahead of everyone, straight into the Crown Prince’s soldiers, and he was still relentlessly slicing at their throats.

It was a horrific sight.

The word “rebellion” suited it perfectly.

But the Crown Prince, a faint smile playing on his lips, actually welcomed it.

The real monsters scattered on the ground proved it.

This wasn’t a rebellion.

“Ha, haha. Westerners, huh? So that’s what it was. We’ve got ourselves some specialists, then.”

Albert inhaled sharply and issued orders to the entire army.

“Everyone. Do not raise your weapons against the Westerners. Stand down!”

“Y-Your Highness!”

“If you can’t trust them and you raise a weapon, I will personally slice your throat. If you wish to die at my hand, be my guest!”