Chapter 894

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to say you were worried about me?”

“Who? Me?! Worried?! About you?! Don’t be ridiculous! Just because people call you a hero now, you must think your ego’s big enough to pierce the sky!”

Why would I worry about someone like you?! Kiole freaked out and shouted. No matter how it sounded, that’s exactly what it seemed like—if it wasn’t, well, then that was a relief.

“Yeah. If not, good.”

Yuder replied dryly, and Kiole finally shut his mouth. But the way his face scrunched up was filled with irritation and dissatisfaction. Whatever he was annoyed about, he was one frustrating guy.

Yuder looked at the slightly sulky fool and clicked his tongue quietly.

“If you’re scared to go back outside on your own, I’ll show you the way. Just follow me.”

“...I didn’t say that, though?”

Kiole mumbled, avoiding eye contact. But seeing how quickly he grabbed his hat and scarf and rushed to follow behind, it was clear he was too scared to go back alone.

When they stepped outside, the area was much quieter than earlier. Of course—it was lunchtime.

‘Perfect. I’ll just send him out through the back gate.’

“Hey... that thing you said earlier, about this place getting more dangerous. Were you serious?”

Kiole, now following behind far more confidently than when he entered, suddenly spoke up. Yuder answered flatly without even turning his head.

“Even if I was, what would you do? I told you—just stop caring and go back to the capital.”

“No! I just don’t get it! All the monsters from the hailstorm day were taken care of, so what could possibly be more dangerous than that?!”

Kiole snapped, his voice rising.

“I’m a member of the Imperial Guard that protects the capital! I’m the Crown Prince’s escort knight! I’m someone who can speak directly with Duke Diarca, my father, at any time! If something really is happening in the South, then—then it’s only right to report it for the public good!”

“......”

Maybe the world was ending. That idiot had so many impressive titles and privileges stacked on his head.

Yuder stopped walking and turned his head. Kiole flinched, but didn’t look away. His expression was unusually serious, so Yuder decided to actually give him a proper answer instead of brushing him off.

“Well, yeah. Technically, you’re not wrong. If danger is approaching the South, then anyone with a duty to protect the Empire should be informed and asked for help.”

“Then?”

“Do you really think the Imperial Guard, the Crown Prince, and your father would all jump in to help just because they heard the South might be in danger?”

Kiole’s brow twitched.

“W-Well, if there’s enough proof and... if I’m the one who tells them... they’ll believe me.”

“Proof, huh... After the hailstorm, there have been repeated sightings of strange rifts—just like the ones that appeared back then—all across the South.”

“I haven’t heard anything about monsters showing up again.”

“Exactly. That’s the point. These rifts are appearing, but no monsters are coming out of them.”

Kiole looked baffled, like he couldn’t understand why rifts without monsters were dangerous.

“Where are those rifts? Must be a mistake. Even if they’re not, if there are no monsters, that’s... a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Knew you’d say that.”

Yuder had expected nothing else. He couldn’t count how many people had said exactly the same thing in his previous life. Even Yudrain Aile hadn’t taken those rifts seriously until the massive Southern earthquake struck.

Kishiar was the exception—he had taken Yuder’s word at face value and acted immediately.

“So what are you saying?! Why is that a sign of danger?! How the hell am I supposed to believe you or pass it along without knowing something?!”

Kiole’s voice rose again, almost petulantly, and Yuder’s mind came to a halt for a second at the unexpected interruption.

He stared silently at Kiole, who was glaring back at him with clenched teeth.

‘That’s unexpected.’

Most people, when they didn’t believe something, just dismissed it as nonsense. But Kiole... was actually asking for more information. In his previous life, barely anyone had even reacted this far.

Come to think of it, when the disasters and calamities began, Kiole da Diarca hadn’t even been alive anymore. And like it or not, he was someone who had sworn an oath to help Yuder.

‘Like it or not...’

A faint light returned to Yuder’s once-vacant eyes.

“You ever heard how animals can sense danger before a big earthquake and flee ahead of time?”

“What?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The sudden question made Kiole wrinkle his nose in confusion.

“I’m a knight. I don’t know stuff like that!”

“Is being ignorant something to brag about? Try learning. Or asking someone.”

Kiole clenched his fists and trembled. But since he knew Yuder had a point, he didn’t dare throw out some “How dare you speak to a Diarca” nonsense.

“Anyway, I can’t give you too many details. But the Commander and I believe that what happened on the day of the hailstorm and the rifts appearing since are warning signs of an even bigger disaster coming. If we’re right, those strange rifts will only keep multiplying.”

“An even bigger disaster? Like... an earthquake?”

“Yeah. Something like that. You might not know °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° what kind of disaster that is, but an earthquake is not something you respond to after it happens. By then, it’s too late—especially here in the South.”

“Why?”

“Because the South has tons of cities and towns right on the coast. If an earthquake hits, it doesn’t just shake the land—it hits under the ocean too. And if that happens, what do you think follows?”

“...I told you, I’m a knight!”

“And even when using a sword, you’re supposed to think—not just swing wildly.”

“......”

“Anyway, if the seabed quakes, the entire ocean shifts. That means waves—huge ones.”

Waves so massive, no one in the Empire had ever seen anything like them.

Those who hadn’t seen it couldn’t even imagine. Yuder hadn’t seen them firsthand either—but he remembered very clearly what the South had looked like after those waves struck.

Everything broken, swept away, rotting under the water.

The silence that followed, like the end of the world.

“I don’t get all of it, but... you’re saying if a huge wave hits because of an earthquake, the southern cities right by the sea are in danger. So those... signs like the animals escaping—that’s the rifts...? Ugh! Anyway, you’re saying there’s something going on, and you guys want to respond to it, right?”

“Yeah. We don’t want to respond—we already are. That’s all the proof and information you’re gonna get. Even so, can you go back and report it? When the info came from the Cavalry—the group you don’t even get along with?”

“......”

Yuder expected Kiole to scoff and back off, of course.

‘Well, the oath is in place. If something serious happens and we need to shut Diarca up, I can use Kiole to do it. That much is enough.’

“...You think I won’t do it.”

But the response that came was the last thing Yuder expected. Kiole clenched his fist tightly and glared at him.

“If I said I wouldn’t, you’d just threaten me with that damned oath again and make me do it anyway! So why the hell are you acting like this is some kind of test?!”

Completely unexpected. Yuder blinked, caught off guard.

Kiole snorted loudly.

“Just wait! I’ll go back to the capital, and I, Kiole da Diarca, will look into all of this and get back to you!”

“...What exactly are you planning to look into?”

“Why do you need to know?!”

“No, seriously, you should take that back. I don’t want you doing something stupid and making more work for us over here.”

“Too bad! You arrogant—!”

Kiole looked like he was about to say something cutting, but bit his lip instead and held it in. His eyes drifted toward a group of Cavalry members in the distance. Among them were the ones who had protected him during the hailstorm.

Kiole looked at them, then slowly spoke.

“...I’m a knight, too. A knight of the Imperial Guard is someone who swears to protect the Empire. That’s always been something I was proud of.”

“......”

“I’m going.”

Before Yuder could reply, Kiole yanked his scarf up over his face and bolted.

Yuder stood in place, quietly watching the direction he’d run off in.

‘...That’s the opposite direction of the exit. He’s gonna get lost and come back soon.’

Ridiculous. But somehow, Yuder felt a little strange.

He looked up at the clear sky. A faint, helpless laugh escaped him.

‘Kiole, seriously... what the hell.’