I Captured the Enemy Who Tried to Kill Me - Chapter 45
“It’s fatigue from overwork.”
“……”
“Today, you must absolutely, thoroughly, rest without doing anything.”
After crying for a long time and getting up, my body wouldn’t move.
I thought Hillaria’s body was made of iron, but apparently not.
Or perhaps my soul’s settlement in this body had reduced its durability!
Anyway, the important thing was that I couldn’t go to the palace despite the Emperor’s summons.
The magicians who rushed over at the blue dawn were surprised by my condition.
And my disciple, Luias, standing there sniffling, preciously nestled among those magicians.
Ah. My head hurts.
“Our To-Tower Master……”
“How could the Family Head…”
“The Duke s-suffering from fatigue!”
Everyone was either a titled noble, a magician, or a magician who was also my family member, so their forms of address varied widely, but the look in their teary eyes was the same.
Our Family Head! What shall we do!
“Noisy.”
Ah, everyone is burdensome. Go away.
But the magicians became even more fired up at my irritated, cracked voice.
This doesn’t bode well.
“The Emperor made our Family Head ill!”
“That’s right! It’s because of what happened yesterday!”
No, it’s not like that.
Of course, I can’t say it’s completely unrelated, but it’s not what you think!
I just got sick from rolling around after being dragged into the Gate and back!
Hillaria isn’t such a fragile character who would take to her bed because her pride was hurt from fighting with the Emperor!
However, unlike usual, the magicians understood what they wanted to understand regardless of how clearly I explained.
“We have been disloyal. Not knowing that our Family Head was suffering so much mentally…”
“Just trust us! We will attend today’s meeting at the palace in your place!”
“Those Awakened Ones, how dare they!”
Please stop fighting.
Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that I would be able to get up normally tomorrow?
I glanced at the status window glittering in the air.
[Congratulations!
Your body and soul fatigue has increased, causing an abnormal status.
Time remaining until release: 12:03:35]
Yes, that phrase is the problem.
Congratulations? Congratulating an abnormal status?
Have you finally gone crazy?
‘Give me my reward right now!’
When I glared with eyes full of suspicion and distrust, the letters on the status window flickered, shining brightly as though insisting it had done no harm.
[The choice at the branching point has been completed.
We support your brilliant choice.
In exchange for saving a life, you have obtained a piece of ????.
Your influence has greatly increased.
The bond between body and soul has slightly increased.
As the harmony between soul and body progresses, using magic becomes easier.
Side effects are reduced.]
It seemed like a lot had happened, but from a quick glance, there didn’t seem to be anything bad.
Since the body wasn’t originally mine, it seems the soul didn’t fit well.
Was that why using magic was difficult?
But that’s that. And what else?
Is there no immediate reward? After all I went through? How shocked and distressed I was when the status window wouldn’t appear in the Gate?
‘It would be right to give me more!’
When I glared with narrowed eyes, the status window blinked as though checking my reaction.
[You have achieved an amazing feat!
Calculating the reward for guiding points and accumulated quest completion.
You can immediately unlock 1 type of magic.
Please select the magic to unlock.]
See that.
Why does it feel like it’s just throwing things at me to appease me, hmm?
I was about to voice my discontent, but soon relaxed my fist.
Well, anyway, unlocking even one more magic would be good for me.
‘For attack magic, there’s the useless catastrophe, Spear of Fire. Movement magic, check. What I can select with points now are defensive magic and attack magic, right?’
When considering it this way, defensive magic was obviously the choice. Since I needed to duel.
It was right then.
“Our Fa-Family Head like this.”
“Don’t worry about palace matters, we will definitely…”
Hmm?
“What?”
While I was glaring at the status window, the magicians, who had been sniffling and shouting, muttered something and then rushed out together.
“…What?”
But Luias, who was leaving with them, came back with small steps and met my eyes, which were filled with tears.
“Luias?”
No, why you too.
The child, with trembling lips, silently called me “Master” once, then tightly held my hands with both of his, wiped away his tears, and ran out.
No, what is this? What’s going on!
I was just thinking for a moment, but in that time, what happened…
“Ah, whatever.”
Honestly, everything was annoying.
“I’ll sleep.”
My body was constantly throbbing, and my skin hurt all over as though being pricked.
The medicine I took must have had sleep-inducing components, as my eyelids were growing heavy.
‘Selecting defensive magic unlock…’
Just before passing out, I barely managed to press defensive magic and closed my eyes.
I don’t care. Let’s just sleep. Just as they say, a ghost who died after eating has a good complexion, a ghost who died after sleeping will surely look good too.
‘Let’s think after waking up…’
Surely nothing will happen in just one day?
***
“I ordered the Duke to enter the palace. Where is the head of the magic tower, and why have only you all come in a group?”
At the arrogant Emperor’s words, the magicians raised their hackles.
Seeing this disrespectful behavior, the Awakened Ones habitually tried to get angry, but remembering what happened yesterday, they kept their mouths shut.
The Emperor’s calm gaze swept over the magicians.
Normally, the magicians would have grumbled, “Are we avoiding dung because we’re scared or because it’s dirty!” but still surreptitiously avoided his gaze. Today, they were remarkably brave.
“The Family Head is unwell.”
“Yes, after suffering such an unjust incident, it’s understandable!”
“Unable to take even a single step, we will deliver opinions on behalf of our Family Head today!”
The Awakened Ones murmured among themselves.
Could it be that the Duke was dissatisfied with yesterday’s events and refused the Emperor’s orders?
No one present believed that Duke Ariel was truly sick and absent.
They simply dismissed it as dissatisfaction, rebellion, or protest against the Emperor.
That’s why the Awakened Ones expected the Emperor to become greatly angered.
The reason their lord had called Duke Ariel today was a kind of reconciliation signal, to move past the unfortunate incident and have a conversation.
The Emperor does not apologize.
That is the dignity of a monarch.
However, he had set aside his intentions and called for the Duke again.
It was essentially a gesture of reconciliation.
The Duke must have understood this intention.
Yet she refused, which was tantamount to making the Emperor lose face.
‘Troublesome matters will arise.’
Perhaps yesterday’s incident would cause a major rift between the Emperor and the Duke.
Unlike the majority present who were angry and simultaneously worried, a few people smiled meaningfully.
‘Perhaps. Our intentions have been understood?’
Smiles containing meanings quite different from others, like troublemaking loaches.
And after a long silence, the Emperor opened his mouth.
“Let us proceed with the meeting.”
“…!”
Sighs flowed.
Some expressed puzzlement at the Emperor for simply moving on, some felt relief, and others clicked their tongues in frustration.
While everyone in the meeting room was absorbed in their own thoughts, Kaisis alone was serious.
The Duke was sick.
Duke Ariel, of all times, now.
‘What happened yesterday afternoon? The idea that the Duke is sick due to emotional wounds is nonsensical. There must be another reason.’
The question was what that other reason might be.
While the magicians and Awakened Ones exchanged opinions noisily as usual, Kaisis’s eyes darkened.
He was focused on only one thought.
Like his nape was being held, he simply couldn’t remove that scene from his mind.
‘If only I remembered everything perfectly, it wouldn’t matter.’
That’s why he couldn’t trust his own memory.
What happened in his unconscious, and the fragment of memory he brought back from there.
Why there.
Why on earth?
‘Duke Ariel. Hillaria.’
Was that woman there?
No. Was someone who looked strikingly similar to that woman there!
It made no sense whether he had seen wrong in his unconscious or seen correctly.
He scoffed at it, dismissing it as an impossible thing, thinking he had seen an illusion.
He thought he could confirm it when he saw the Duke.
But now the Duke was sick.
That woman who wouldn’t shed a drop of blood even if pricked with a needle.
That Duke Ariel, who came to work with a perfectly fine face when a severe cold was going around a few years ago, why now of all times?
He felt uneasy.
‘Unless a magician entered the Gate and their body collapsed.’
If not that, then what reason would that woman have to be sick…?
