Only I Know the War Hero’s Secret Chapter 15

The four elite members who further enhanced the Black Knights’ reputation each had distinct personalities and outstanding looks.

As a result, whenever word spread that they would be attending a social event, the ballrooms of high society were always packed to capacity.

“Pfft. Ah, excuse me.”

The man who had just burst into laughter was Louis Othello, known as the ‘Knight of Crimson Flames’ because of his fiery red hair.

Louis covered his mouth with his fist. A geometric tattoo was visible on the back of his hand, and his ears were cluttered with black piercings.

His appearance made it clear that he was a knight of mercenary origins, but that very carefree nature was what made him so attractive to the young ladies of high society.

“Esteemed scholar of the Department of Monster Studies.”

Louis’s amused gaze turned toward Mona.

“?”

“Since you’re such a rare scholar, someone who’s so hard to find, I suppose I’ll have to make sure to keep an eye out for you and protect you from now on.”

He gave her a wink and spoke in a playful, nonchalant tone.

“Don’t act recklessly, Louis.”

Hugo frowned at Louis’s utterly frivolous attitude.

“Maybe it’s because the deputy commander only ever says the right things, but somehow, it’s harder to find a sense of humor in him than in our esteemed scholar……”

“Now, now. Let’s leave it at that.”

While Dominic stepped in to mediate between the two, Richard walked toward the front of the conference room with a cold expression.

Tap.

At the slightest flick of his hand, the pin holding the rolled-up scroll suddenly fell to the floor.

Rustle—

The tightly rolled map unfurled in an instant, cascading downward to reveal a vast, densely detailed map of the empire drawn across thick parchment.

With a simple, restrained movement, Richard effortlessly drew everyone’s scattered attention toward himself.

‘……How does that man manage to seem even more terrifying every time I see him?’

Once again overwhelmed by Richard’s presence, Mona reflexively flinched as though she were a thief caught red-handed when he picked up his scabbard.

Thud.

The spot he struck with his pitch-black scabbard was the Kirki Mountains, stretching across the Land of Chaos on the map.

It was also the place Richard had marked with a pin on the empire map on the wall during their previous meeting.

“This is our destination.”

Like a commander about to embark on an urgent military operation, Richard got straight to the point without delay.

“Our investigation will focus primarily on the Kirki Mountains, located deep within the Land of Chaos.”

The moment he finished speaking, Mona couldn’t help but wonder why.

‘……Does the Imperial Family believe the cause of the monsters’ rampage lies in the Kirki Mountains?’

What was the basis for that conclusion?

Just then, Richard gazed somewhere into the distance beyond the window.

“Monsters are generally territorial creatures.”

He began explaining the ecological characteristics of monsters.

It was one thing that hearing the most popular man in the empire discuss the fundamentals of the least popular academic field felt somewhat strange……

But why was he suddenly bringing this up?

“And the Black Dragon Baelmos went berserk because its territory, the Kirki Mountains, had been trespassed upon.”

“……!”

Mona’s pupils widened.

‘How did Richard figure out both the cause of the dragon’s rampage and the territory it controlled?’

As she pondered this, Noel Lotus asked the very question that had been on her mind.

“May I ask how you came to know that, Commander?”

Richard answered without hesitation.

“While subjugating Baelmos, the dragon’s screams rang out several times alongside waves of demonic energy. I heard them, and so did the four knights here.”

The conference room stirred with excitement at this firsthand account of the war, told by the war hero himself.

Wasn’t this the kind of sensational material that could easily make the front page of a newspaper?

Even if their tongues itched to spread the story, the confidentiality agreement meant they couldn’t say a word about it outside.

“……”

After a brief silence, Richard slowly turned his gaze away from the window. With eyes as deep and still as the ocean, he began to recite in a low voice.

“Sanctum meu Kyrki violare ausus es. (How dare you defile my sanctuary, Kirki.)”

At the forgotten language flowing from his lips, Mona’s mouth fell slightly open.

‘It’s an ancient language……’

Having grown accustomed to seeing it in her grandmother’s study, which had been filled with old books, Mona knew how to read and write ancient languages.

But she had never realized that if someone pronounced an ancient language with complex intonations as perfectly as Richard did, it could sound like a recitation of poetry.

With his impossibly beautiful appearance, it even felt like watching a scene from an opera.

“……In aeternum, mea ira non quiescet. (I shall lay an eternal curse upon you. My wrath shall never sleep.)”

His intonation might have been gentle, but the words themselves were filled with curses and rage.

Perhaps that was why.

Mona felt a chill of fear creep into one corner of her heart.

At the same time, a scene from that night, one she’d desperately tried to bury, flashed through her mind.

Those blood-red predator’s eyes, glistening with intense fury……

It was then.

“……Based on these words spoken in the dragon tongue, I concluded that we might be able to discover the cause of the rampage in the Kirki Mountains.”

Richard’s tone had once again turned as cold as that of a military commander, snapping Mona back to her senses as though someone had doused her with cold water.

“Now that you understand why I designated the Kirki Mountains as our investigation site, I’ll explain the schedule from here on.”

Tap.

The tip of Richard’s scabbard pointed to the map once more.

This time, it indicated the western border, where the empire met the Land of Chaos.

“One week from now, our investigation team will assemble here.”

“……”

So we’re finally heading to the westernmost edge of the empire.

The long-awaited expedition into the Land of Chaos was suddenly drawing near. Mona’s heart gave a sudden leap, and she clutched her research notebook tightly.

 

***

 

Because the departure date had been set earlier than expected, the second project meeting ended in a tense atmosphere.

Mona was the only one excited at the thought of the Land of Chaos.

‘Let’s hurry.’

Arriving at her dormitory in a slightly exhilarated mood, Mona immediately began preparing to go out.

There wasn’t much time.

In one week, she would have to leave the capital and travel to the westernmost part of the empire.

So she planned to make all the preparations she could during the time she had left.

‘First, hair dye.’

If anyone discovered she was the white-haired woman, then the investigation and everything else would be the least of her worries. Her life would be over.

For that reason, Mona bought the finest gray hair dye available, which took less than a minute to work, and divided it into a small spray bottle.

‘After testing it with the special solution I made myself, I confirmed that spraying it on with a mister could dye my hair in just thirty seconds.’

Of course, she also made sure to bring several hats and pairs of thick glasses in case of emergencies.

After making thorough preparations to conceal her identity, she stopped by an alchemy workshop and the black market.

Having purchased all kinds of ingredients with the generous research funds provided by the Imperial Family, Mona headed to the abandoned monastery near the academy for the first time in a while.

It was the very place where she’d secretly continued her private research all this time.

But this time, she wasn’t making ‘Monster-Friendship Perfume.’ Instead, she intended to prepare reagents that might come in handy during the expedition.

As she stepped into the monastery, a chill enveloped her entire body.

 

***

 

‘This place is still creepy.’

The old monastery of the former church, which had long since fallen into decline after being overshadowed by the new religion, had a gloomy atmosphere that made it seem as though a ghost could pop out at any moment.

Thick layers of dust had accumulated on the neglected statues, and cobwebs hung in various corners of the chapel.

However, the confessional booth that Mona had secretly been using as her laboratory was at least relatively clean.

Creeeak—

From beneath the seat where a monk would once have sat, inside the wooden partition, Mona pulled out a large box.

Inside were flasks, a miniature furnace, a mortar, and all sorts of other tools needed for alchemy, packed tightly together.

Wearing an apron, Mona lined up the ingredients on the prayer kneeler.

Before long, her hands began moving busily, following the various recipes stored in her head.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to get my hands dirty like this.’

Having spent her childhood watching and helping her grandmother, who had been a monster scholar herself, with her research, Mona had considerable knowledge of ancient alchemy.

More than anything, making something like ‘Monster-Repellent Perfume’ was child’s play compared to making ‘Monster-Friendship Perfume.’

As Mona swiftly combined the ingredients by hand, she turned over the shocking information she’d heard from Richard in her mind.

‘……I never imagined the Kirki Mountains were the Black Dragon’s territory.’

She knew that the higher the rank of a monster, the larger the territory it controlled. But for a single monster to claim an entire mountain range……

What on earth could possibly dare to trespass upon the territory of such a transcendent being?

Even humans, who were practically obsessed with acquiring land, feared dragons above all else. That was why no one had entered the Land of Chaos for such a long time……

‘Could a new dragon have appeared?’

However, dragons were a rare species with very few individuals, and they had difficulty reproducing. It was instinctive for them not to trespass upon one another’s territory in order to preserve their species.

“……Hmm.”

Even Mona, who had a profound interest in monsters, found it difficult to come up with a convincing hypothesis.

But there was one thing she knew for certain.

Soon, she would be entering a mountain range where a dragon had once resided.

If it was a place where a dragon had slept, there would undoubtedly be a vast amount of highly concentrated demonic energy flowing through it.

And places with dense concentrations of demonic energy were home to many special plant-type monsters.

‘Perhaps…… I might be able to obtain the ingredients I need to finally succeed in my long-standing experiment.’

Mona clenched her fist, unable to contain her excitement.