Magic Gems Gourmet

Chapter 212

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ED: LonelyMatter

Chapter 212 – The Man Waiting in the Audience Chamber

“Hey, hey, Dill!”

Lloyd reached Dill, who had collapsed.

The smell of flowing blood was the same on every battlefield.

But right now, that smell was wafting around Dill.

It was something that would make Lloyd, his father, want to rip his nose off.

“Kahh… hahh…”

Dill’s head moved to Lloyd’s lap.

With a painful-looking breath, bright red fresh blood poured from his mouth.

“What’s going on?”

Then it happened.

Varra, who had heard the commotion, called from a short distance away.

When she noticed Lloyd kneeling in the middle of the area surrounded by the knights, she approached at a fast pace, her white robe fluttering in the wind.

“L-Lloyd-sama? What exactly is going on…? G-Guard Dill…!”

Varra rolled up the sleeves of her white robe and checked the injured area of the unconscious Dill.

She took off his armor and clothes, and when she saw the wound caused by Grint, she looked at Lloyd with a grave expression.

“Lloyd-sama.”

“Va-Varra. Is he all right? Di-Dill, can he be saved…?”

“Please wait. The vital point―yes, it was avoided… but he’s lost too much blood… no, but…”

Varra frantically checked Dill’s body, reacting only to Lloyd’s words.

The surrounding knights look on as well, all waiting for Varra’s diagnosis.

“Suh… hah… please, work…!”

――Healing Magic.

It was a special skill that was also valuable to the great nation of Ishtalika and a special power that Varra possessed.

As she pressed her hand to Dill’s injured area, she channeled magic into it, causing large beads of sweat to form on her forehead.

Gradually, Varra’s breathing also became more erratic, and Lloyd and the others realized the desperation of her situation.

…Varra’s treatment continued for several tens of seconds.

To Lloyd, however, those tens of seconds felt like several hours of agony.

“I’m sorry. This is the best I can do…”

Varra let her hands fall to the ground and took several deep breaths.

As she breathed, a few drops of sweat fell to the ground, forming a small puddle.

“Dill…? What about Dill…!”

“Hah… hah… hah… hah…!”

Still breathing erratically, Varra stood up, holding her chest.

Then, with a look of horror on her face, she replied to Lloyd.

“A-all I can do is stop the bleeding and heal a little…! So from now on he needs to be treated in a place with the right facilities…! Even then, I can’t say for sure that he can be saved…!”

Varra must have reached her limit.

Without hiding her exhaustion, she spoke honestly and said that she could do no more.

On the other hand, Lloyd felt a sense of relief that Dill had survived and a sense of crisis that he could not leave him here.

“Varra! I thank you! You saved my child’s life!”

The situation was still dangerous.

But Lloyd was grateful that Dill’s life had continued.

“Lloyd-sama! We have prepared a carriage for you!”

“C-Carriage?”

The Royal Knight’s words left Lloyd stunned.

“Hurry and escort Guard Officer Dill to the port city and take him to the Leviathan!”

“B-but to do such a thing for the sake of a single child…”

“This is also for His Highness! If Guard Officer Dill is gone, His Highness will be terribly sad! That’s why this is also for His Highness! Besides, we can also take the other seriously injured people to Leviathan with him!”

Maybe those words were half serious and half a lie.

However, it was also true that the Royal Knight was desperately trying to save Dill’s life and that they were using Ain as an excuse―only the Royal Knight would know that.

“Hurry up!”

“…I’m sorry!”

Lloyd thanked them with tears in his eyes, and then he and the Royal Knight worked together to get the seriously injured people and Dill onto the carriage.

Then, they hurriedly sent the carriage on its way, with some guards accompanying it.

The carriage left in a hurry, heading for the port city of Roundheart.

“Lloyd-sama, I have a question…”

Lloyd watched as the carriage disappeared.

He prayed for Dill’s safety and wondered if he should follow Ain… Just then…

Suddenly, a knight called out to him, looking reluctant to say what he wanted to say.

“…Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Actually, I told Guard Officer Dill as well, but it seems that Krone-sama’s family is under house arrest at the mansion of Grand Duke Augusto.”

“I see. That’s good information, but… what’s going on?”

Even for Ain and Lloyd, the members of the Augusto family were a cause for concern.

When Lloyd heard this, he also became interested and asked.

“Well, we went to rescue them on the orders of Guard Officer Dill, but there were so many enemy soldiers that it was troublesome…”

“I see. That’s what happened.”

In truth, Lloyd thought that he should follow Ain and go to the castle, but he thought about his physical condition.

“…Well then, I’ll go to Grand Duke Augusto’s mansion first. Let’s hurry and solve this and go to Ain-sama’s side.”

“Ha!”

＊＊＊

When Lloyd made the decision to go to the residence of Grand Duke Augusto.

Meanwhile, Ain entered Heim Castle with Majolica and several of the royal knights.

“Hahhhhhh!”

“Phew! Is it done?”

When the Royal Knight killed the Heim soldier,

“Nuooraaaaaaa―Yes! We’re done here too!”

Nearby, Majolica also showed his bravery.

After surviving the attack for the umpteenth time, everyone turned to Ain.

“Yes, we’re fine here too.”

Ain replied with a calm expression.

The soldiers fell right next to the Royal Knights and Majolica.

Ain, who had defeated twice as many on his own, showed no signs of fatigue.

“…Your Highness, what is wrong with your body?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’ve gotten really strong, haven’t you?”

Majolica put his hands on his hips and praised Ain, who then smiled wryly and addressed everyone.

“Being a weak crown prince is also uncool, you know. Now, everyone… we’re almost at the audience chamber.”

“I don’t think there are many crown princes who are stronger than the Marshal. But, Your Highness? Why do you think they’re in the audience chamber?”

“…Well, I just thought it would be more appropriate to be in the audience chamber than to wait in their own room.”

“Oh, so you’re saying it’s a matter of intuition?”

“I can’t deny it.”

Seeing Ain’s embarrassed expression, Majolica and the royal knights burst out laughing.

True, it was unwise to do such a thing in the enemy’s stronghold, but in their own way, they could relax.

Everyone took a moment to breathe deeply and stretch to avoid being crushed by the tension.

“But you saved us!”

“Hmm? What?”

“Because you knew the castle, Your Highness. Because if we didn’t, we’d get lost, right? This is a castle, even if it’s a rotten one.”

He was probably just saying that it’s still a castle, even if it’s Heim’s castle.

Or maybe he’s making fun of Heim being taken advantage of by the Red Fox…

“…Eh?”

“…Huh? What is it?”

Ain showed another embarrassed face at Majolica’s words.

“No, I’ve never been to this castle either, you know?”

“What? Th-then… why are you walking around with such a confident air?”

“N-no, because I thought that if I kept walking like this, I would find the audience chamber.”

Everyone was stunned again.

Then they laughed even louder than before.

“Hahaha! Did you hear that, Majolica-dono!”

“Hahaha―just as I thought, our Crown Prince is truly a man of great character.”

When several people raised their voices like that, Majolica burst out laughing with tears in his eyes.

“Hey, Your Highness! That means you just went along without a plan, didn’t you?”

“I-I know it’s wrong! But you see, no one really knows about the castle, and only someone like Lili would… right?”

“Huh, that’s strange. It’s strange that the Crown Prince would come to a place like this, but your behavior was even more of a comedy, wasn’t it?”

Ain didn’t react to Majolica’s answer and put his hand to his mouth as he thought.

Then, after what seemed like a few seconds, he raised his hand and began to walk away in high spirits.

“The blood of the Ishtalika royal family tells me that the final enemy lies ahead of us.”

He spoke with a very serious attitude.

He also spoke in a serious tone, but Majolica interrupted with a sharp comment.

“If you put it another way, is it okay to call it a hunch?”

“…Yes.”

Thus, the group led by Ain advanced through the castle, surrounded by a cheerful atmosphere.

However, the construction of the castle… All of them somehow give off a similar feeling.

＊＊＊

Within a few minutes of walking, the group stood in front of a huge door.

Not only did it look solid, but it also showed off its carvings and luxurious decorations.

In other words, it was not hard to imagine that this was the group’s destination.

While everyone looked a little nervous, two of the royal knights stepped forward and placed their hands on the double doors.

Then, several other knights stood in front of Ain.

“Your Highness.”

The royal knights, with their hands on the door, opened their mouths.

We are ready at any time. The royal knights were implicitly telling him that.

When Majolica put his hand on Ain’s shoulder and gave him a signal, Ain took a deep breath and then replied to the royal knights.

“Yes―open the door.”

He gave the order with the bearing of a crown prince.

Hearing his voice, the huge doors opened to the left and right, revealing the interior.

The knight standing in front of Ain moved slowly forward, on high alert for what was inside.

Stepping on the soft carpet, Ain and Majolica, who were standing behind Ain, also stepped forward.

“It smells…”

Majolica suddenly murmured quietly.

“Smell?”

“Yes. It’s a smell I often smelled when I was an adventurer.”

“Could it be…”

Ain guessed.

It was easy to guess, considering the example of the First Prince, Layfon, a few days ago.

“Everyone, step back behind me.”

When he ordered the royal knights, they also understood from listening to their conversation.

With a frustrated look on their faces, they obediently moved behind Ain.

Then Ain looked at the person sitting at the back of the audience chamber and called out happily.

“Your complexion looks bad. Is something wrong? …King Ralph.”

It’s an exaggeration to say he looked bad, but Ralph had a purple complexion, and his eyes darted around restlessly.

He stood up with a distracted look on his face and pointed at Ain with a half-smile.

“Oh… I don’t remember inviting you…?”

His speech was more fluent than Layfon’s.

However, it was not only his imagination that made him feel like he was going crazy.

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