***
Albrecht Imperial Palace's political meeting room.
Where the emperor was absent, representatives of each family, including Armin Meyer, the emperor's aide, gathered for a regular meeting.
Shortly after Theodore's accession to the throne, the two families called Albrecht's two great families, Ferdinand and Leobrante, weakened in power.
Ferdinand's young bird who lost both his mother Empress Margaret and his uncle Rudolph at the same time, was not particularly interested in power, and Leobrante had already left politics long before that.
However, after the monsters flooded 4 years ago, the power of the two major families has grown again.
The world needed two families that protected people from monsters in the past.
And with them, another family that protected people from monsters in the past, the issue of the reinstatement of Chernicia has surfaced in recent months.
The starting point was Celine, the head of Leobrante.
[Leobrante requests that the name of Chernicia, erased from the world many years ago, be recorded in the history book again.]
At a regular meeting last month, Celine demanded the reinstatement of Chernicia at a gathering of aristocrats.
[We need a revival of Chernicia in times like these. Although the two great families are blocking the demons, isn't it originally Chernicia's job to repel the demons of the land?]
[But since Chernicia has already fallen, the clan cannot be found?]
[Brian Chernicia is alive.]
Celine announced in her ferocious voice that a survivor of Chernicia was alive.
[At the time of the fall of Chernicia a long time ago, we, Leobrante, took him in and protected him.]
[Wait, are you talking about protecting the offspring of rebels in Leobrante?]
[How can you do such a terrific thing on your own!]
A fierce protest ensued, but Celine continued to speak unwaveringly.
[It is said that His Majesty Theodore's conquest of the western continent is coming to an end. The judgment after that is left to His Majesty.]
The young Celine Leobrante, who again led her family to glory after the flood of demons, was also Theodore's maternal cousin.
After she became an adult, her power developed, and she was engaged to Brian when they were in their parents' wombs.
'Brian Chernicia.... It was said that he disappeared during a riot, but he hid there.'
Brian's survival was not very pleasing news to Benjamin.
Benjamin frowned as he pondered the name of the man who was also Yvonne's youngest brother. (*Here guys, it's proof that Benjamin knew who Yves was, but Yves didn't know he knew her real identity.)
'Yves must not know.'
If she found out that her family was alive, Yves would surely come to see him.
And she would become a member of the reinstated Chernicia family and live there.
And she might meet Emperor Theodore again. Benjamin did not want to bring her back to Theodore.
For the past four years, Yves had not shown any sign of missing Theodore.
Rather, she frowned at the occasional mention of Theodore.
Now she was acting like she didn't care for him anymore...
After all, Theodore was the father of her children.
Also, wasn't she the one who talked about a male guardian for her children a while ago?
'I can't lose Yves to the emperor again.'
Benjamin thought, clenching his fists tightly. It was enough for five years to be deprived of her, which she had been hiding for a long time. Benjamin thought for a moment of the last meeting with her, a week before.
[Be careful, Yves. The power of the demons is getting stronger.]
[Yeah, well... I'll be careful.]
She seemed to listen to his advice through one ear.
Maybe she thought that she could use her power to defeat the demons.
However, it wasn't the demons that Benjamin was really worried about.
Yvonne Chernicia. As a young sword of Chernicia, there was no way that she could not deal with a few monsters.
But what he was worried about was....
'If Emperor Theodore and Yves meet again....'
Benjamin's expression darkened.
The kingdom of Kerbel, which the emperor now said to have conquered, bordered on the kingdom of Caligor where Yvonne was staying.
The Caligor Kingdom was a small country that was hard to find on the map, and among them, Arbela was the most secluded country estate.
'So, it's unlikely that the two of them will ever meet....'
'If she uses her power to deal with monsters, and rumors spread, she might get in trouble.'
Of course, Yves was on the ignorant side, but that didn't mean she was a fool, so she wouldn't use her power without thinking.
Unless the stupid demons touch her children....
Benjamin looked at the emperor's aide, who was in full swing, trying to ignore the uneasy, anxious mind.
It was at this time.
Suddenly, the door to the conference room opened and everyone's eyes focused on it.
"There is a message from His Majesty!"
At the words of the man who had come with the news of the emperor, Armin asked with a smile.
"Oh, is he coming back soon?"
"No, that's..."
The man stuttered for a moment, then answered.
"His Majesty is heading to the Kingdom of Caligor!"
"What?"
"He's already crossed the border and is on the verge of taking Caligor's capital!"
He thought he would return if he conquered Kerbel, but Armin had a headache at the news that he was heading to another country.
"Caligor? Where is it?"
"Isn't that the little country next to Kerbel?"
"He must have conquered Kerbel a while ago...... ."
The sound of people screaming filled the hall.
Meanwhile, Benjamin's face turned very pale.
He had an even worse complexion than Armin, who had to endure the absence of the emperor.
***
I managed to calm the children down and put them to sleep.
The children, who had been sobbing, were quickly exhausted and fell asleep.
Contrary to the original plan of going back to seeing the performance of <Squirrel Warrior> at the theater in the city, I ended up staying at an inn for one night.
"It could have been a disaster."
I looked down at the faces of the sleeping children and murmured.
When I remembered the scene I saw in the square a while ago, my heart still thumped heavily. While talking with the knight, a demon appeared and attacked the square.
It was the first time I had actually seen a monster.
The moment I saw the monster that was aiming for Erwin and Odelia, my body moved before my head.
I pulled out the sword from the waist of the knight who was with me at the same time, and hurriedly headed towards the square and destroyed the monster.
Fortunately, I was able to protect my children in time.
'But it was definitely power...'
I glanced at the squirrel doll and the toy dagger on the side table.
Erwin and Odelia sniffed, not forgetting to grab the squirrel doll and the toy dagger.
[Jelriko.... !]
Odelia rolled on the floor and hugged the dirty squirrel doll, saying, [Jelriko protects Er and Lia!]
[Maja! Jelriko defeats the monstrous dog!]
[Jelriko is the best in the world!]
Erwin and Odelia seemed to believe that the squirrel warrior really protected them.
However...
My eyes narrowed as I stared at the twisted squirrel doll and the dagger.
'It was definitely magic power.'
No one was able to properly witness it during the riot.
I also didn't see it with my own two eyes.
However, I could feel the power intuitively.
'Is Er developing power?'
I was three years old when I developed my power, so it was exactly the same age as Erwin's now.
As the child displayed the blessings of the ancient apostles, it was something to be overjoyed about.
Unlike me in my childhood, who was brought up under the protection of Chernicia, I had a poor fence to protect my child.
The power of the ancient apostles will be enormous in this world overflowing with demons.
However, Erwin was still young enough to bear that great power.
Someone will try to take advantage of it, and I would have more difficulty to face.
I will be by his side as a fence until the child grows up, but I don't know how things will change.
The fact that there were no permanent fences, I realized in the past the fall of Chernicia and the change of Theodore.
I, and the small lake mansion in the Arbela estate were too small to protect Erwin's power.
'First of all, I'll have to go back to the mansion and check again if it's true that Er has manifested his power.'
I checked the children's beds once more.
As I was about to cover the duvet properly, Odelia's shriveled knee caught my eye.
I was upset to see the wounds on her clean knee.
'I wish there would be no scar.'
Scars. I suddenly remembered Theodore, who once healed the scar on my hand.
When I unintentionally looked at my wrist, the newly formed scars remained white since then.
It was a wound that Katarina left, and at the same time, a wound that Theodore had condoned. The man who had erased my wounds left me with new scars that hurt more.
"Bad bastard..."
It was the moment when I was about to feel bad about the memory of that time.
"Ah, I'm sorry, Master."
"No, it's not Laura's fault."
I turned to Laura and waved my hand.
"But I just........."
Laura wept in a voice she couldn't help but cry.
Only then did I realize that she had heard me just muttering to myself and thought I was angry with her. I answered with embarrassment.
"I didn't say that to Laura. And you must have been terrified too, so you should take a rest today."