***
Edrick quickly crossed through the busy soldiers moving back and forth.
Less than an hour had passed since the battle ended, yet the campsite, which had been no different from a scene of chaos, was being cleared in an instant.
While the soldiers recovered weapons from the wyverns’ carcasses and cleared away the ruined tents, the workers loaded crates and bundles of luggage onto carts, and the maids gathered the bodies in one place before beginning the work of wrapping them in silk.
As Edrick moved through the campsite with quick steps, he roughly estimated the number of corpses by eye.
Seventeen in total.
If those swallowed by the wyverns were added, it seemed roughly twenty-five to thirty people had been sacrificed.
Considering the injured as well, the scale of the damage was hardly minor.
He clenched his fist.
‘For a flock of wyverns to appear in the Season of Fire.......’
Usually, wyverns awoke from hibernation near the end of the Season of Rest and only began forming flocks once the Season of Water arrived.
And after the breeding season passed, they scattered in pairs, so it was an extremely rare phenomenon for more than a dozen wyverns to appear all at once during the Season of Fire.
Moreover, this region was not an environment suitable for large monsters like wyverns to inhabit.
‘Something feels off to end this by saying we were simply disgustingly unlucky.’
Edrick, who had been looking around with narrowed eyes at the wyvern carcasses scattered across the hills, soon pushed aside the questions that had risen in his mind.
Now was not the time for such useless thoughts.
He moved his long legs without hesitation and headed toward the place where the knights had gathered.
“Commander!”
Varkas, who had been giving some order to the knights, turned his head toward him.
Edrick flinched without realizing it and stopped walking.
His superior’s face, revealed beneath the wavering firelight, was stained with dark red blood.
His own appearance was probably not very different, but the sight of Varkas, his cool face like a marble sculpture covered in blood as his eyes gleamed coldly, gave off an oddly eerie feeling.
“Did you find her?”
Sir Siarkan asked in his characteristic flat voice.
Coming sharply back to his senses, Edrick hurriedly gave his report.
“We found traces of a wyvern crashing to the north. It seems to have fallen below the gorge.”
Varkas turned his head and looked north.
The torches held in the knights’ hands dimly illuminated the shadows of the gloomy forest.
There was no telling what other violent monsters might be lurking in there.
Edrick opened his mouth anxiously.
“We must form a search party at once. There is no time to delay.......”
“What search!”
At the fierce voice that abruptly cut in, Edrick whipped his head around.
The Crown Prince, his thick black hair disheveled like a lion’s mane, was approaching them with his attendants in tow.
Edrick hurriedly bent his body and offered his respects.
The Crown Prince did not even seem to see him and approached Varkas.
“She’s obviously dead anyway! Stop wasting time on useless nonsense and prepare to depart at once! What are you going to do if we dawdle and get attacked by another horde of monsters!”
At those utterly heartless words, Edrick’s face hardened.
Perhaps because he had been quite shocked by the sudden disaster, the Crown Prince’s face was paler than usual.
For someone who had never faced even a single ogre in his entire life, let alone a wyvern, it was not unreasonable for him to be frightened after going through such chaos.
But Edrick could not feel the slightest sympathy for the Crown Prince, who looked so on edge it was almost pitiful.
Edrick, who had been glaring at the Crown Prince with eyes filled with antipathy, rolled his eyes and checked Varkas’s reaction.
He was strangely silent.
Surely he isn’t going to follow the Crown Prince’s will?
Even if she had been born as an illegitimate child, Thalia Roem Ghirta was the Emperor’s daughter.
Moreover, was she not the eldest daughter of the current Empress?
They could not leave an Imperial Princess of the Empire to become a monster’s prey because of the Crown Prince’s personal grudge.
This was also a matter of honor as knights.
Edrick opened his mouth urgently.
“If you will form a search party, I will personally search for Her Highness the Second Princess. So......”
“You insolent bastard, how dare you step forward in front of me!”
The Crown Prince burst into violent anger and grabbed him by the collar.
Edrick looked up at him with calm eyes.
He had long since grown used to the Crown Prince’s violent behavior.
Edrick spoke as politely as possible.
“My apologies. But we cannot leave Her Highness the Princess like this.......”
“Princess?”
Ha, the Crown Prince let out a dry laugh, then emphasized each word in Edrick’s face.
“Listen carefully, you brat. There is only one Princess in this Empire, and that is Ayla Roem Ghirta. That bitch Thalia was an existence who should never have been born into this world in the first place. Becoming a monster’s prey like this is a fitting end for that bastard.......”
“Enough.”
At the low voice, Edrick flinched and looked at his superior.
Varkas had always treated Gareth with proper formality, no matter how arrogantly Gareth behaved.
For that man not only to cut off the Crown Prince’s words, but to speak down to him as well, left Edrick dumbfounded for a moment.
It seemed he was not the only one surprised, for the Crown Prince also turned to him with eyes wide open.
But Varkas himself had a calm face.
“Your Highness had best return to your quarters and rest now.”
After speaking flatly, Varkas gestured with his chin to the knights waiting behind the Crown Prince.
“Bring me a mage at once. I will select around ten people with nimble movements and form a search party.”
The knights immediately scattered according to his order.
The Crown Prince, who had been staring at the sight with a dazed face, released Edrick’s collar as if throwing it away and approached Varkas.
“Right now.... are you saying you will defy me because of that wench?”
“I was ordered by His Majesty the Emperor to guard all three of you.”
Varkas’s dry voice flowed from his lips.
“Surely Your Highness the Crown Prince’s instructions cannot stand above His Majesty the Emperor’s command.”
“Don’t make excuses!”
The Crown Prince blocked Varkas’s path.
“Do you think I didn’t notice that you’ve been strangely shielding that wench Thalia since before? Tell me honestly. You, that wench.....!”
“Gareth!”
At that moment, a sharp, high, beautiful voice cut through the tense air.
Edrick, who had been watching the two of them with anxious eyes, quickly turned his head.
The First Princess, accompanied by two attendants, was walking gracefully through the knights.
She was the Princess who, immediately after all the wyverns had been eliminated, had personally directed the ladies-in-waiting and taken care of all the injured.
The Princess, her body still carrying a deep fatigue she had not yet been able to wash away, approached her younger brother and looked at him firmly.
“Sir Siarkan is right. We cannot leave Thalia behind like this. Whatever the case, that child is our blood relative.”
“Are you saying that while in your right mind?”
The Crown Prince glared at his sister with eyes filled with betrayal.
“Because of that bitch, do you know what humiliation our mother went through, yet you say something like that!”
“Please, act rationally.”
The Princess cut off her younger brother’s words in a dignified voice.
Though they had come into the world only a few minutes apart, she looked far more mature than the Crown Prince.
She looked straight up at her younger brother and continued speaking calmly.
“If we return to the Imperial Palace after leaving Thalia behind like this, not only Sir Siarkan but even you will become the subject of unnecessary gossip. Why would we need to take such a risk?”
At the cold words that came from the mouth of the First Princess, who was widely known for her benevolent nature, Edrick was momentarily speechless.
She gently added, as if soothing her huffing younger brother.
“At the very least, let us properly recover that child’s body and hold a funeral for her.”
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