WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈
Chapter 62: Why Are You Fine?
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The office of the head of House Cardenos.
Having finished his paperwork, Valdemar rose from his seat.
Rubbing his stiff neck, he approached the window.
Outside, knights trained while dripping with sweat.
Valdemar’s gaze traveled beyond them, toward the vast plain where the departure ceremony had been held only a few days ago.
The place that had been filled with countless people and roaring cheers now held nothing but an empty wind.
“...”
Valdemar let out a deep sigh.
A hollow feeling settled in one corner of his heart.
He tried to push it aside, but could not.
Valdemar left his office and walked down the corridor.
He stopped in front of his eldest son Astin’s room.
Creak.
Valdemar opened the door and flinched.
There was an unexpected guest in the room that should have been empty.
A small silhouette curled up like a shrimp on the bed.
Celine was taking a peaceful nap, tightly hugging her brother’s pillow.
A bitter smile formed on Valdemar’s lips as he watched her defenseless, youthful face.
His eldest daughter Selena and her brother Astin had both left.
How lonely and anxious must Celine, left behind on her own, have been?
That was surely why she was sleeping in Astin’s room.
Keeping his footsteps quiet, Valdemar looked around the room.
Then an envelope on the desk caught his attention.
The words written on its surface identified it as Astin’s will.
It was standard military discipline for a commander to leave behind a will.
He understood that in his head, but as a father, facing his child’s will was unbearably painful.
‘Could Celine have seen it?’
Since she had been in the room, there was a good chance she already had.
Even knowing it was improper, she might have been unable to resist her curiosity.
As a father, he had a duty to see his child’s resolve.
With that thought, Valdemar carefully opened the envelope.
Whether it was unexpected or simply like Astin, there was nothing emotional in it.
It only briefly laid out what was to be done after his death.
[...I, Astin, transfer all income generated under my name, including the exclusive distribution rights to cosmetics and my secret funds, to Celine, the youngest daughter of Cardenos.]
More than half the will concerned Celine.
It felt like only yesterday that Astin had kept his distance from her for being a bastard. Had they already formed such a deep bond?
“...”
Valdemar turned his head. His gaze remained on Celine for a long while.
Hoo.
A deep sigh escaped his lips.
He erased the distracting thoughts and unease from his mind.
That would never happen. He would make sure it never could.
“...Hm?”
Something was sticking out from behind the will.
Valdemar slid the will upward with a shff, and it came into view.
Three old, crumpled banknotes folded together. It turned out to be three thousand shillings.
Pocket money left behind for Celine... except it was only three thousand shillings.
To a grand ducal house, three thousand shillings was not even small change.
“What is this supposed to be?”
In truth, Celine had slipped the banknotes inside.
It was a silent message that she had no need for Astin’s assets.
Valdemar completely failed to understand its meaning.
* * *
The second day of the expedition.
Morning in the Ashen Forest remained dreary and bleak.
After spending the night there, the expedition packed up camp and prepared to march.
“Good morning, Commander.”
Lucia approached Astin with a bright smile.
She looked oddly lighthearted.
There was no trace of fatigue from her night watch. She looked as fresh as ever.
“Yes. Did you rest well?”
“Of course. I slept very well.”
Lucia leaned toward Astin and whispered in his ear.
“What about you, Young Lord? Did you dream about me?”
Astin cleared his throat and looked away. He silently tightened the leather strap on the scabbard in his hand.
“Who has time to dream on an expedition? I was too busy sleeping.”
“Oh my. Really? It looks like the tips of your ears are red. Is that just my imagination?”
“You’re imagining it. It’s cold out.”
“Hehe.”
Lucia covered her lips with the back of her hand and laughed softly.
One was desperately trying to wear the mask of a commander, while the other was clearly enjoying poking through the cracks in it.
Meanwhile, silver eyes watched them from afar.
Selena stared silently at Astin with narrowed eyes.
“Advance!”
At the booming command, the formation began moving again.
The ground that had been muddy from last night’s rain had already hardened.
A thick mist of ash still hung in the air.
The deeper they went, the gray curtain made it impossible to see even an inch ahead.
Fortunately, it posed no major obstacle to those who had gone ahead first.
“Commander.”
Astin lifted the magical communication stone.
“To reach the center, this route is the fastest, but the concentration of demonic energy is high. It would be safer to veer farther left. Ah, and we have not found any magical beast droppings or corpses so far.”
It was the elven scouting party led by Priestess Ariel.
They could perceive subtle currents in the air that humans could not detect, as well as the density of demonic energy.
They also knew the terrain well enough to locate a safe shortcut leading to the center.
“Understood.”
The route was adjusted to follow behind the scouts.
Accordingly, the engineers also slightly shifted the direction of the palisade.
The Ashen Forest was the elves’ lost ancient homeland.
Though it had been corrupted for hundreds of years, the instincts of those who heard the forest’s voice had not dulled.
‘This is why you need specialists.’
Astin thought that taking night watch in their place had been worthwhile.
He even considered cutting them some slack, given the elves’ contributions.
The expedition avoided needless battles of attrition and advanced along a safe, swift route.
They continuously felled trees to secure their field of vision, moving the palisade forward as they established safe fortifications.
At this rate, it would not take long to break through to the center.
‘The expedition journal from my previous life covered two months.’
They had roughly half as many people then, and almost no information.
Astin calculated that this expedition could be concluded within a week at the earliest, or two weeks at the latest.
Of course, clearing out the magical beasts and purifying the entire forest would take longer than that.
‘We only need to establish ourselves at the center.’
The expedition’s goal was to seize the center of the Ashen Forest.
They would quickly dispose of the Demon King’s remains hidden there and begin purification to prevent more corrupted magical beasts from being born.
After that, all that remained was to wipe out the surviving magical beast hordes.
Once that was done, extracting the buried mana stones would be easy.
“I was looking forward to the Ashen Forest! Isn’t it too quiet?”
During the smooth march, a dissatisfied shout rose from the vanguard.
“Buraltak’s axe is going to rust!”
“Endure it, Buraltak! My brother! The glory of battle calls to us!”
Bellutak pounded his chest thump, thump, beside him in agreement.
They were berserkers growing restless because no magical beasts had appeared.
At their fuss, Jenkinson, walking behind them, deeply furrowed his brow and spat.
“Shut your mouths, you idiots. It’s better if they don’t show up. Are you that desperate to die?”
“What a coward!”
“...This bastard.”
Before their bickering could grow louder, a heavy voice cut between them.
“Shut up.”
Bagot exhaled dully from behind his helmet as he watched the gray mist.
“The fact that the monster realm is this quiet is not a good sign. Don’t waste your strength and behave yourselves.”
The barbarian brothers and Jenkinson clicked their tongues with a tsk and fell silent.
Selena’s eyes, glaring at them from the front, were cold.
Back-alley riffraff, barely rational barbarians, and a wandering knight of unknown origin.
By the standards of the Empire’s regular army, it would not have been strange for this force to fall apart immediately.
But...
‘The formation has not broken.’
They bickered and seemed to do as they pleased, yet not one of them stepped outside the vanguard’s formation.
Their footsteps remained steady, and their watchful gazes thoroughly covered every blind spot.
Their silly jokes were merely their own way of easing the extreme tension.
At their very front, Astin walked on in silence.
He did not even need to look back.
Simply by walking forward, the soldiers behind him matched his pace.
“...”
Hiding her complicated feelings, Selena tightly gripped the hilt of her sword.
Halt.
Lucia, walking close beside Astin, stopped.
She reached into the air and rubbed the drifting ash between her fingertips.
“The ash is getting thicker.”
Astin nodded at her words.
Ordinary fog and ash should scatter in the wind.
But the ash clinging to their clothes felt different, strangely sticky.
It grew worse the farther they passed beyond the entrance and into the forest.
Before long, more than half the vanguard had put on gas masks.
Astin looked up at the sky.
Dead gray trees twisted together grotesquely, their branches densely blocking the heavens.
“Visibility is getting worse too. The ash and branches are blocking out the sunlight.”
“I’m starting to get a bad feeling...”
Astin’s brows twitched.
Fine particles sparkled like snowflakes amid the ash.
It was not ordinary ash. It was something else imitating ash.
“Vanguard, halt.”
Astin stopped and raised one hand. The entire vanguard came to a stop.
“What is it, Commander?”
Bagot gripped the hilt of his greatsword and spoke in a low voice.
Astin took the magical communication stone from his waist. It was already giving off a bluish glow.
Bzzzzt, screech!
“C-Commander! Some of the troops are showing symptoms of hallucinations... Hey! Get a hold of yourself!”
Screams and static mixed together from the communication stone. Astin’s eyes turned cold.
“Handle it as instructed.”
“Yes, y-yes! Underst...”
Astin put away the communication stone and turned around.
The contents of the expedition journal Lucia had written in his previous life flashed through his mind.
- The thing falling mixed in with the ash was the cause. It was like a hallucinogen. Our allies mistook one another for monsters and raised their swords, and the formation quickly fell into a pit of self-destruction.
Even if you knew about a magical beast’s Fear or hallucinations, they were difficult to deal with.
But the depth of your knowledge changed how you could respond.
“Vanguard! Everyone, take out the impact stimulants!”
The moment the order fell, the soldiers moved in perfect coordination.
They pulled flasks of blue liquid from their belts.
They had been drilled on it until their ears rang.
“Ghhh...”
“Argh! Mother!”
Throughout the formation, soldiers were already beginning to show symptoms.
Some foamed at the mouth and looked around with bloodshot eyes.
Others tried to swing their weapons at enemies that did not exist.
Fortunately, there were not that many of them.
“If anyone looks even slightly strange, smash a bottle over their head!”
A highly permeable medicine refined through Kyle’s alchemy.
Its principle was simple and brutal.
First came the physical blow to the head.
Then, when the bottle shattered, the medicine vaporized and was inhaled through the nose and mouth.
Crash! Clang!
The bright sound of glass bottles shattering rang out everywhere.
“Argh! M-My nose burns!”
“Gah! Damn it! I thought we were being attacked!”
Those who had been about to lash out with their weapons were forced back to their senses, tears streaming from their eyes.
Astin looked around amid the chaos.
‘Ashen Forest cordyceps.’
They had to find and kill the source that scattered the hallucinatory powder.
“Commander. You’re all right, aren’t you?”
Lucia carefully examined Astin’s condition, a flask bottle in her hand.
Astin gave a firm nod.
“You do not need to worry about me. I was tempered by an inner demon.”
“...Ah.”
Hallucinations seeped through gaps in a weak mind.
Astin had endured not only an inner demon, but every hardship imaginable.
He had gone beyond resistance and achieved immunity.
Lucia’s brow remained faintly creased.
She was not completely immune, but her vast mana gave her considerable resistance.
“Go around and keep an eye on the soldiers’ condition.”
“Yes, understood!”
Lucia immediately headed toward the soldiers.
Crash! Clang!
The sounds of breaking glass and screams erupted from every direction.
Amid the commotion, Astin slowly closed his eyes. He began extending his sharply honed energy sense farther outward.
If he made a careless move to catch it, it might sense his presence and hide.
Determining its precise location first was the priority.
Between the densely tangled dead branches, he saw grotesquely writhing things.
A swarm of moths larger than humans hung from the branches, camouflaged to blend in with the bark.
Dozens of pairs of red eyes stared down at them all at once.
But they were not the cause of the hallucinations either. They were merely an infected colony being controlled.
Crash!
A dull burst struck his ears. At the same time, a sharp impact hit the back of his head.
“...!”
Astin’s head lurched forward. He immediately widened his eyes and spun around.
A familiar face stood behind him. Selena.
Holding the shattered remains of a flask, she stared at Astin with wide eyes.
“Why are you fine?”
Astin stared back at her with an equally dumbfounded expression.
Crash.
The flask in Selena’s hand fell to the ground.
Her trembling silver eyes darted away as if fleeing into empty space.
“...Just in case.”
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