Ch.312312. Sirah Relocation War (6)

Sleep.

A state of vulnerability where one’s eyes are closed, most conscious activities are suspended, and one is unable to do anything.

Precisely because it is a vulnerable state, if someone were to attack during this time, any animal would have its breath cut off unless it could awaken from sleep.

This includes all animals, with no exceptions for magical beasts or humans.

However, compared to magical beasts who live in a world of survival of the fittest while constantly facing death, humans lie down on the ground to sleep. This means they have felt less crisis about the act of sleeping itself.

Therefore, on the battlefield, sleep was nothing less than another enemy for humans. Though it’s said to be a battle with oneself, the only way to resolve it is to sleep, and one must endure solely through mental strength.

For these reasons, Junon had chosen to take short naps.

To remain in a state where he could wake up at any moment. To open his eyes before the sleeping soldiers should magical beasts attack. To prevent clouded judgment in situations where he might have to fight without fully regaining his senses.

He had trained to reduce his sleep pattern to the extreme so that his body would automatically respond and make correct judgments even in sudden combat situations.

That was certainly the case before.

Whether he had let go of his tension or his body had dulled, he had intended to take a short nap in the chair but ended up sleeping for several hours straight.

The cause was probably this silver-haired girl who was hugging his face tightly with a satisfied smile.

However.

While it might be pleasant that Junon was sleeping well, a small problem had arisen.

“Huff…”

As she held his face close, the gentle breaths from his nose kept tickling Renias’s skin.

Unfortunately, since his head was pulled toward her chest, his breath repeatedly brushed against her more exposed skin than usual.

At first, she hadn’t noticed this sensation.

Renias simply thought it was just a person’s breath and didn’t pay much attention to it.

But as she watched and continued watching, the more she observed her sleeping man, as a girl of an age where her heart would flutter, this nasal breath brought an increasingly strange sensation as time passed.

The places where his breath touched were between her cloth-covered cleavage and the slightly exposed collarbone line above it.

These weren’t particularly ticklish spots. Yet now she couldn’t deny that the inside of her chest kept pounding, tickled by that breath.

And another decisive piece of evidence was the burning sensation. Her chest, where Junon’s face rested, began to heat up as if on fire.

The silver-haired girl had to endure all these feelings with her lips tightly sealed.

“Hic.”

Just now, there was a very small movement. Junon slightly turned his neck as if his head position was uncomfortable, and her chest interior was rubbed.

‘I-I shouldn’t move right now…’

Her body was already heated enough. She was already trying hard to endure the ticklish sensations. At that tiny movement, Renias let out a small “hic” and trembled.

Even the slightest movement here feels different.

What his face touched were two full, swollen breasts. Since she had pulled Junon into her embrace, even the smallest movements changed the sensation.

Moreover, inside was her heart, which had been pounding since earlier as she looked at Junon.

If this strange tickling intensified in a place that already felt like it was on fire, it would become dangerous in some way, and she might let go of his face that she had been cradling.

‘I must endure…!’

So Renias closed her eyes tightly and tried to endure, not wanting to disturb Junon’s sweet sleep time.

Then.

“Renias.”

Junon’s voice, which had been restless for a while, echoed in the room. Very, very softly.

So he had woken up after all. He couldn’t bear the discomfort from his slight movements. No matter how much she endured, it seemed inevitable that small movements would cause discomfort.

Renias was about to apologize for waking him, but Junon continued speaking in an urgent voice as he unwrapped her arms.

“Get down!”

Clang!

Junon instantly reacted and deflected the throwing knife that flew toward the back of his head.

In that moment of confusion at the sudden situation, as she was about to sit down in bewilderment—

Bang!

“Ugh!”

Junon subdued the assassin who had thrown the knife by simply grabbing the back of their neck and slamming them to the floor.

“…Damn. They’ve already committed suicide.”

Just when he felt the urge to crush the assassin. He released his grip on the assassin’s neck and stood up.

“May I ask what just happened?”

Renias still didn’t understand. She couldn’t comprehend what had just unfolded before her eyes.

But he had moved as if he knew this would happen, as if it were natural.

***

After the commotion, the assassin was quietly disposed of without anyone knowing.

Judging by the intensity in Renias’s eyes, explaining where and how would have been quite a concern, but contrary to expectations, the worry didn’t last long.

In the past, she might have rushed out upon hearing this, but now an explanation of the circumstances would be sufficient. Junon carefully began the story.

“This has happened before.”

“When you say before…”

Undoubtedly, he meant in the past.

“But I don’t understand. Does it make sense to send an assassin after the most important commander during wartime?”

“It’s natural that my choices as commander would appear abnormal in the eyes of the officials. But among those types, there are particularly malicious ones.”

“How could they…”

“Besides, it’s happened more than once or twice, so I’m aware of it now.”

Such an indifferent reaction. And since he said it had happened before, it seemed Junon had already experienced threats from assassins several times in the past.

‘People like that…’

It was obvious what kind of people would be vile enough to send assassins.

In fact, it was a covert power struggle that had occurred several times between the imperial faction and the noble faction.

“It’s the nobles, isn’t it?”

“…”

Junon silently nodded in affirmation.

When speaking of malicious nobles, one might think only of those from the noble faction, specifically Mirpark’s side, but the essential nature of most nobles is similar.

Unless they were those who came from the Empire with the same intentions as the Grand Duke, they were people who desired to grasp power they couldn’t hold in the Empire, coming with such greed.

“Renias. Since you didn’t attend the meeting hall, you wouldn’t know, but the strategy I revealed there was to relocate the capital to Sirah. I suppose these were people who anticipated that abandoning Levrant as the capital would cause losses for the imperial faction as well.”

“Then can’t we just identify and eliminate those people? I could help…!”

“No. Forcing officials into submission through power is the worst move, Renias. If I suppress them with authority, they’ll obviously question the commander’s qualifications. And even if we brought in that assassin, they’d all claim they knew nothing about it.”

“But…!”

“Of course, I’m not saying I’ll let myself be attacked like this every time. I’ve made my own preparations.”

Junon pulled out some documents with a flourish.

“What are these…?”

“Materials for the next meeting.”

One might ask how mere documents could drive out officials, but he says there’s no more certain method.

“We can’t use assassins who commit suicide by poison as evidence. But these will be enough to pressure the officials.”

He had been prepared all along.

He wasn’t guarding against assassins, but against the officials.

To filter them out more certainly and accurately.

“Ahem. So from now on, don’t hold my head so tightly.”

“Ah, n-no, that’s…!”

Her face flushes hot again.

“W-was it very disturbing? I just wanted you to sleep comfortably…”

“…I wouldn’t say it was disturbing. In fact, I slept well…”

“Th-then it’s fine! Since they might send more assassins, I can stay by your side to help…”

Junon couldn’t bring himself to say that the soft sensation against his face was the problem.

***

“Ahem! AHEM!”

Shuffle, shuffle.

A man slowly reveals himself at the two fake coughs from an official.

Seeing the official’s hands trembling, he smirks and speaks in a slick voice.

“Ah, today as well?”

“Shut up and hand over the goods.”

“Yes, yes. Here you go.”

The noble frowned at the swaggering rogue-like man, but he had no choice.

“This looks different from what I usually see. What’s going on?”

“The effect will be certain. Originally, nobles dislike using it because they have a negative perception of Mount Sirah, but it’s essentially the same thing.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Come on, why would I lie? If you want, would you like to try it right here?”

“No thanks!”

The noble official snatched the item from his hand and fled the scene as if running away, fearing someone might discover them.

And a little later.

“Lady Aris, Lady Aris!”

The man cautiously called Aris’s name while glancing around.

Soon after, a pink-haired woman in a robe appeared as if responding to the call.

“Sigh… And they call such a person an official.”

Though her temperament made her want to chase after him and overturn him with a lotus flower, Aris no longer acted so rashly due to repeated mistakes.

“Still, you controlled yourself well. In the past, you would have rushed out immediately.”

“Will you be quiet?”

“Hahaha. Lady Aris really hasn’t changed.”

Her hot-blooded personality had diminished, but these aspects remained the same. Of course, this could be seen as charming, just as it was when they met at Sirah Road School.

“Here. Just deliver this to Lady Senia and you’re done.”

“…Are you okay with this? Your father’s drug smuggling business will be exposed.”

“I don’t think what he’s doing is right either. Medicine should be used as medicine, not as drugs, right?”

Her former student says she changed her thinking based on Aris’s advice that “magic should be used as magic, not to oppress and trample people.”

Aris hugged her student tightly and expressed her gratitude.

“Thank you. I’ll treat you to something delicious next time.”

“Oh! Can I order something really expensive and delicious?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Once this war is over, I’ll gather all the kids and feed them until they’re stuffed!”

Until then, she would prioritize helping Junon as per Senia’s instructions.