I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess - Chapter 222



222 – Doubts That Are One Step Too Late

At the same time, Shepard, who had been dispatched as reinforcements to suppress bandits, clearly expressed his discomfort as the time dragged on.

It was strange just thinking about cancer. Even though the organization of the bandits wandering around the area close to the capital of Amman is relatively strong, does it make sense that they are wandering around without a clue?

In the end, Shepard visited the head of the Lukeville family, the commander of his unit, and expressed his frustration.

If his master had n’t given him a strict order to finish the work so that he wouldn’t complain while helping, he would have given up on this work a long time ago.

“Lord Lucville, are you there yet?”

“This is shameless. It appears that they move in a very organized manner, making it difficult to find any traces other than faint footsteps. Wizards were also mobilized…”

“Are you saying that the thieves even have a way to escape the wizard’s pursuit? What is that…”

Shepard, who had never cut off the other person before, showed his anger for the first time.

In the first place, he pretended to have no emotions, but in reality, he was only suppressing his emotions by manipulating his body.

“Could you give us a little more time?”

“How many days do you need it?”

“I think it would be difficult for us to give a definite answer. But I’ll look for it in at least two days. If you can’t do that, you can defeat the reinforcements.”

He was trying to be very polite, but in the end, he meant that they should go back because they didn’t want to take any more time and didn’t want to hear more harsh words from others.

Shepard had to grind his teeth to see him change his attitude in an instant, whenever he even sent a letter and begged him to come.

‘Should I go back?’

I don’t know how big the bandits were, but at least in Shepard’s opinion, the Lukeville family’s private soldiers alone didn’t seem like they would be a match for them.

When I first encountered this unit, my first thought was, ‘Do we really need reinforcements?’

But the problem is that we don’t know what his master, Albrich, will think.

More than 90% of Shepherd’s basis for judgment focuses on his opinion

If he tells him to stay here until the bandits are successfully defeated, he must comply.

‘I guess I have no choice but to ask the owner first.’

Shepard turned to face Derpain, who was facing him with an expression that did not show any regret.

If there is going to be a further delay here, it would be better to contact Albrich, even if it is rude.

With that thought, it was the moment when I tried to activate the ring-shaped communication device.

Paat.

The light coming from the small gem engraved in the center of the ring faded and communication was lost.

He was embarrassed by this and tried restarting it several times, but the reaction was the same.

It seemed as if it had been intentionally blocked by something.

“Why are you doing this? Even if there is some problem… ?”

“… “No.”

When Der Payne looked at him with a puzzled look on his face and asked, Shepard responded sharply.

If it is in a place with strong magic waves around it, it sometimes doesn’t work as intended, but since it is a precious item, it is immune to any influence.

‘Could it be this man’s doing?’

I wondered if the Lukeville family was up to something, but I quickly gave up on that thought.

Why would they do something like that in the first place? Anger should not cloud your judgment.

‘Good, I guess it turned out as he expected.’

Meanwhile, Derpaine, who had been watching this scene with a puzzled expression, was internally delighted.

If too much time was wasted, the other party could contact the head of the family, so the Robeheim family provided a means to block contact in advance, which was installed throughout the mountain under the pretense of tracking thieves.

With this, there are two choices given to him.

Either send a messenger and wait for a reply to arrive a day later, or give up on contact and stay here longer.

From Derpaine’s point of view, the worst case scenario would be for them to leave immediately, but for some reason, Edgar had assured that that possibility was low.

“… First, I will contact the head of the household and stay one more day until I receive a reply. “If you catch any traces of them before then, please let me know.”

Shepard wanted to step forward, but he couldn’t.

The scope in which he can use magic must be within the range permitted by the owner.

Because the identity he is disguising is that of a man who was a subject of the Bertus family.

Since he wasn’t even a wizard, he had to act like an ordinary person in public.

It is a body with many hassles in many ways.

“We will try our best to find it as soon as possible.”

“Please do so.”

In response to Derpaine’s rant, Shepard looked at him from top to bottom with sharp eyes, then quietly turned and left the military camp.

For some reason, a strange feeling of anxiety welled up deep in my heart.

*

Whisk.

“Who are you?”

Upon hearing the sound of something falling on the other side, a soldier walked through the forest pointed the spear in his hand toward the bush and shouted.

Nevertheless, when there was no reaction, the man gave a glance to his colleague who was waiting next to him with his bow in hand and slowly approached him.

Soon, with a rustling sound, two men wearing the uniform of the Bertus family appeared from the bushes.

One person was being supported with bleeding around his legs and arms, and the person being supported did not look healthy either.

“The mark of the Bertus family… ! Are you an ally!? “What happened to that injury?”

“Sorry. “I was attacked by an enemy.”

The two soldiers, who were each aiming their spears and bows at the unexpected news, looked at each other and looked surprised.

I was still suspicious because I couldn’t contact the soldiers guarding the entrance, but I never thought an enemy soldier would have appeared.

“It’s an enemy attack… ! First, bring the wounded soldiers here. Call for reinforcements right away…”

Just as the man was about to ask another soldier to relay the message, the man who was supporting the wounded soldier stopped him.

“Gwae, it’ll be okay. Fortunately, the number was not so large that it was possible to deal with it only with the soldiers guarding the scene. Even just the bodies of my colleagues…”

“I see. Then, let’s report it to the higher-ups as soon as we resolve it. “You come here and get treatment.”

“There are some people following behind, so we will go together.”

Were there still wounded soldiers left?

Thinking that a fairly intense battle had taken place, the soldier’s face hardened and he put down the spear he was holding.

Then, after a month, he walked up to the wounded soldier, picked up his free shoulder, and supported him.

‘Now is the time!’

At that moment, Leonel, the man who was supporting the wounded soldier, pretended to look at the wounded soldiers following him from behind and signaled with his eyes to Edgar in the main unit.

With this, the surrounding security forces will focus their attention towards the entrance for the time being and at the same time, people will naturally flock there.

If you take advantage of this gap, it will be quite possible to reach the enemy’s base.

Above all, since I reported it as if I had killed an enemy soldier, the higher-ups would not care about reinforcements.

‘Thanks. ‘Leonel.’

Expressing his gratitude for the signal sent by Leonel, Edgar moved with the rest of his soldiers toward the east, hiding among the thick forests.

If it’s written on the topographic map, there isn’t much left.

You may have a few small battles along the way, but against a small number of troops, you can handle them as quietly as possible.

If you reach the castle like this, you are halfway to success.

With just that thought, Edgar moved his steps busily.

Although he was worried about his remaining friends in the midst of enemies, he believed that he would somehow get through it. Because he promised so.

*

As soon as Albrich returned after being away from the castle for a while, he checked to see if anything had happened.

Lately, I’ve been feeling anxious in many ways, so I’ve been going to and from the imperial palace a lot more often, and perhaps because of that, I’ve been somewhat neglectful of what’s happening in the main palace.＜ Br＞

There was nothing particularly unusual about the report.

At best, the army from the Robeheim family scattered to various places in the northern region and clashed with the foreigners, and Yulken stepped into the scene where the battle was most intense.

‘It’s more surprising than that. ‘It’s not the current head of the family, but Yulken himself.’

Is it because she is a woman and has no battlefield experience yet?

As Albrich knew, past owners of the Robeheim family had grown up experiencing various battlefields since childhood, so it was an unexpected, if somewhat unexpected, choice.

But on the other hand, I thought that she might have been given this consideration because she was the first female head of the household.

Before being the head of the previous family, Yulken was also the father of a daughter, so he may not have wanted to make her go through a difficult battlefield at a young age.

Whatever the reason, it was welcome news from his perspective

At a time when the Robeheim family could not keep this side in check, they had to come up with a plan to somehow recapture the symbol of domination. In order to do that, Shepard must return first.

‘Anyway, the crown prince is away. He was always a man who liked to shoot around.’

From noble mtl dot come

He stopped by the imperial palace again today and was a bit surprised by the news he received, but he soon came to terms with it.

The crown prince, who naturally had a bad relationship with Bartheus because he stayed away from his relatives, had been taking his younger sister with him on a trip, sometimes going somewhere far away and returning alone.

However, the news that a woman brought soon after was enough to make him frown.

Outsiders say that some intruders were discovered on the way to the castle called Mana Forest.

Fortunately, it was reported that all enemy soldiers had been eliminated, but for some reason, the anxiety did not easily subside.

‘At best, he can’t possibly be a petty thief.’

No petty thief would raid the marquis’ home base to steal valuable items without going crazy.

In that case, it would have to be seen as an enemy that attacked more suddenly, so on the surface there weren’t many groups that could be hostile to the Bertus family.

At the moment, the one with the greatest possibility is the Robeheim family.

However, their main forces are currently scattered throughout the northern part of the country, and above all, they have no justification to put forward.

Even if they found out that the royal family, including Bartheus, had been persecuted, what evidence would they point their sword at? The most important emperor would not be able to stand on their side with his family and his held hostage.

‘No, something is strange.’

Albrich, whose thoughts had reached that point, soon opened his eyes and organized the reports he had heard so far, one by one.

If you think about it, isn’t the timing really appropriate?

Immediately after Bartheus and Beatria had a private conversation, he became suspicious and visited the imperial palace, but nothing happened.

Immediately afterwards, Kelag, the leader of the Karbita tribe, escaped from the castle of Robeheim, joined his compatriots, and resurrected the tribe.

Immediately after that, the Robeheim family went on a campaign to subdue, and in the meantime, a significant number of the Bertus family’s main troops escaped due to the reinforcements requested by the Lukeville family.

If you look at each separately, there is nothing surprising, but if you fit this into the purpose of a preliminary operation to attack the Bertus family, the story is different.

What if the secret conversation between the Hellvenir couple was a process of requesting aid from the Robeheim family?

The Robeheim family responded, and before embarking on a large-scale campaign, they sent Kelagh out as a blinder and made it look like the barbarians had risen up.

However, since the troops are exhausted for this purpose, what if the Lucville family was asked to divert the attention of the main forces of the Bertus family in order to balance their strength?

Moreover, as a result, unknown intruders are currently breaking in and causing trouble outside the castle.

It has been reported that all major forces have been disposed of, but it is currently unknown how much of this is true.

Even in this situation, can we dismiss the entire process as just a coincidence?

‘I need to discuss it with Shepard.’

Albrich immediately infused magical energy into a ring-shaped communication device and contacted Shepard, who was heading to Gosan.

However, for some reason, the light that was emitting quickly faded and the ring did not respond at all.

Something is going wrong.

Albrich finally realized that.

It was already much too late by then.