Wasn’t This Supposed To Be a Strategy Game? Chapter 96

【Your Highness, I have received a new oracle and must depart to fulfill it. Unfortunately, you were away from the capital, so I could not deliver the oracle to you in person—please forgive me. But I will surely return safely, so do not worry about me. Instead, please devote yourself fully to finding Silverstone.】

…What?

Asmun’s breath caught, and the knights fidgeted nervously, biting their lips. The memory of his murderous rage the last time Eden vanished was still vivid in their minds.

【Of course, Your Highness, you know better than anyone that I would never betray you to run away. The proof is simple: I am still alive, am I not?】

The mocking voice seemed to drip from the words themselves, and Asmun’s grip on the letter crumpled part of the page.

He knew what it meant. He and Eden were bound by the covenant of fate: if Eden betrayed him, she would die. That bond still held—and always would.

To use that very bond against him—Eden was audacious.

【You tried to lock me in a tower, not trusting me, but I will never betray you. So just this once, trust me and wait. Patience is a virtue of a ruler, after all.

May the blessing of God be with you.

—The New Saintess of Hesmore】

When Asmun finished reading, his eyes turned unbearably cold. The letter was a punishment.

No—it was punishment. The price he had to pay for presuming to control her fate at will.

“Haa…”

A chilling laugh escaped his lips, and the knights stiffened.

…

Asmun was reminded of something he’d briefly forgotten. Eden could never be easily conquered.

But how?

He had spent enormous funds and manpower to make her Saintess precisely to prevent this.

“Y-Your Highness…”

Vaint, trembling, finally managed to speak. A pair of crimson eyes swung toward him, sharp as blades.

“Priest Roman reports… the Saintess has vanished with a certain mage.”

Asmun’s gaze flashed dangerously.

Cursing his luck, Vaint screwed his eyes shut and shouted the rest.

“They say the mage’s hair was pink…!”

***

“Haa…”

Shoving aside Roman, who had tried to stop her, Eden stepped out of the temple and inhaled the long-missed scent of freedom.

At last, she had escaped the suffocating surveillance that had trapped her for days.

“Thank you, Hegenti. You’re the best.”

She turned, smiling radiantly at him. He gazed back, silent as ever, but there was a faint glimmer of pride in his eyes.

Could she even call that gaze “detached” anymore?

“I can take you anywhere.”

Even his boastful words made her laugh in delight.

Eden was in high spirits. Despite Hamyun’s sudden appearance, the new quest, and the endless road ahead—she had her freedom back.

And with the cheat-code-like Hegenti beside her, what was there to fear? Surely the temple and Asmun were in chaos by now, but so what?

This time, she had received a real oracle.

And…

“Have you remembered anything?”

At her question, Hegenti looked at her quietly. Before he could answer, Eden went on.

“You know what, Hegenti? It’s fine if you don’t remember.”

Her voice was gentle as always.

“Because I’ll fix you anyway. So it doesn’t matter, does it?”

She smiled with confidence.

Since the day Hegenti left her to “find a cure,” Eden had often thought of him.

Could he really recover his memories?

Would that lead to a cure for his mysterious illness?

If so, one of her major missions would be complete.

But then, she realized she was being cruel.

‘He spent fifty years dying alone in that castle…’

Whatever had happened, the result was fifty years of lonely suffering.

To demand he recall that past just for her sake—it was cruel. Even if recovering them led to a cure, it wouldn’t guarantee his happiness.

And besides…

「But no matter how desperately you try to remember, the past is forgotten in the end. It took me a long time to realize that. All I can do is fill the emptiness with a new life.」

「So Your Highness should do the same. Fill the emptiness with something precious.」

She had told Asmun to let go of the past and find new meaning, yet here she was urging Hegenti to dig his up. It wasn’t fair.

So Eden made up her mind.

The next time she saw Hegenti, she would tell him: forget about remembering. Let’s just find a way to cure your illness together.

And she believed without doubt that one day she would gain a skill that could heal him.

“So don’t just vanish on me again. I really get anxious when you’re gone.”

“……”

“Let’s overcome this together. I’ll be right here until the end.”

At those achingly sweet words, Hegenti’s eyes darkened. Every time she spoke like that, something small and turbulent stirred inside him.

But he had forgotten too much to know what it was.

“Understand?”

He stared at her for a long moment before nodding.

Eden smiled, her heart light at having said what she wanted. With Hegenti beside her, she felt stronger than ever.

“All right, then first we need to handle this. Hegenti, do you know a place called Mavellios? The Dark Forest.”

He nodded.

“Yes.”

“Perfect. There’s someone we need to find there. A mage.”

Eden recalled the new quest.

Find Chediak, aid his operation, and obtain new clues.

What operation? What clue? She had no idea.

Could it be about Silverstone?

Whatever it was, she had to find him.

“What does ‘Dark Forest’ mean? It’s not just that it’s shady, right?”

Hegenti, who had been watching her all along, answered quietly.

“It’s a forest formed by ancient magic.”

Eden looked at him in surprise.

“Ancient magic?”

She unfolded the map of Hesmore she had taken from Roman’s office, tracing her finger until she found Mavellios. She frowned.

“It’s near the Grand Duchy.”

Southwest, beneath the duchy’s lands. Judging by its size on the map, the forest was far from small.

But whether big or small, Eden had no choice.

‘Still, with Hegenti here… there must be a reason Hamyun told me to take him.’

Resolving herself, she let out a steadying breath and looked at him.

“All right. Let’s go find Chediak!”

Her face lit with determination, her eyes gleaming with new energy. Hegenti looked into them, shining with a strange, fresh vitality.

***

“I hear Asmun has left the capital.”

Kyris swirled the wine in his crystal goblet as Patrian spoke.

“Likely chasing Silverstone? Has he found a lead?”

“Perhaps. I suppose so.”

Kyris’s composure startled Patrian.

“Brother… have you already found it yourself?”

Kyris only sipped his wine in silence. Patrian smiled, his face brightening.

“As expected, you would outpace Asmun. Then the game is already won!”

“……”

“What a relief. I feared the throne might fall to him.”

Kyris chuckled.

“As if I’d ever let that happen.”

“Ha, of course.”

Setting his glass down, Kyris fixed Patrian with a cold gaze.

“I haven’t found Silverstone.”

Patrian’s relief crumbled into confusion.

“…What?”

“Asmun won’t find it either. No one can. It vanished over two centuries ago.”

“But brother, His Majesty—”

“But perhaps he’ll scheme something. Find a substitute, pass it off. That’s his specialty.”

His eyes grew darker, more dangerous. Patrian flinched but pressed cautiously on.

“Then… this new Saintess. She must be part of his scheme too?”

He knew well that the new Saintess was the very priestess who had always tangled with Asmun, irritating Kyris.

And now, of all times, she had become Saintess. It was almost impressive enough to make Patrian regret underestimating Asmun.

“Yes. Rumors that the Holy Stone isn’t proof of oracles have been around for ages.”

“Ha… astounding. I admit, I’m surprised. That quiet, listless man…”

“He doesn’t know his place.”

Kyris’s eyes sharpened as though glaring at Asmun’s face itself.

“But that he used magic—that was shocking. Everyone still talks of it.”

Patrian’s careless remark touched Kyris’s sorest point. Immediately, his gaze turned venomous.

“You know well enough… royalty who can wield magic are considered special. It gnaws at me.”

Still oblivious, Patrian babbled on. Kyris’s brow twitched, his glare burning into his foolish younger brother.

“So what, are you saying he should be Emperor?”

“Wha—! N-no! Of course not, you know I didn’t mean—”

Patrian stammered apologies, but Kyris’s face remained grim.

“If anyone dares prattle about ‘legitimacy by magic’ when I am Emperor, I’ll cut out their tongues.”

“Y-Yes, of course. Only sorcerers should use magic anyway. Sheer nonsense. The throne belongs to one with wit and resolve—like you, brother.”

Knowing Kyris’s ferocity, Patrian scrambled to flatter him.

Still frowning, Kyris drained his glass in one gulp.

Patrian, watching carefully, ventured another question.

“Brother… if Silverstone can’t be found, do you have another plan…?”