Ch.7372. Omen (1)

# 72. Signs (1)

Her thunderous announcement created a peculiar tension in the once-peaceful imperial palace.

“Boyfriend… you say?”

“Yes, boyfriend.”

The Empress, who had been watching with an intrigued expression, asked her.

And with a face that clearly showed she was dying of curiosity.

“Since when have you been dating?”

“Not long.”

“Wow~ Our Ellie has grown up, even having a romance. He did seem quite decent.”

When the Empress praised Albert, the Emperor, who had been listening attentively, expressed his doubt.

“He’s decent? In what… way?”

“His looks, his skills that are good enough to be treated the same as Ellie’s, and he’s got quite some nerve. Besides, didn’t you praise him last time, saying he seemed promising…”

“Did I…?”

He seemed to have at least some conscience, as he couldn’t deny that fact.

“Yes, you did. You said he seemed like someone who would achieve great things.”

“Father, is that true?”

“Yes, it was during the evening of the title conferment ceremony. You said it would be good if he joined the Special Forces.”

After hearing the Empress’s words, she smiled brightly and said to the Emperor.

“That’s wonderful, he said he’s going to join the Special Forces.”

“…”

The Emperor simply continued his breakfast in silence, and she looked at her father and said:

“Father, I’m sure you’ll like him too.”

Hearing this, the Emperor asked in a much different tone from before—heavy and serious:

“Are you saying he could earn my approval?”

“Yes, I believe he’s more than capable of that. He’s the one and only man who has captured my heart.”

Her words revealed both her confidence and her affection for him.

The Empress and Riel were absolutely delighted, while Leo gave a hollow laugh.

And the Emperor gazed at her with a solemn expression.

“After hearing such words, I can’t help but look forward to meeting him. Bring him over sometime.”

“Thank you, Father.”

***

Carrying the expectations of the imperial family, he was once again conquering a dungeon with his party members today.

Of course, he was completely unaware of what was happening at the imperial palace.

Rachel pointed at the dungeon boss charging toward her—a hideous creature resembling a spider—and shouted:

“Reina! That thing! Do something about that thing!”

“I know!”

Reina pointed her sword at the boss that was rushing toward Rachel.

Then, for the first time against a monster, she used her unique skill.

-Crackle!-

The strange sword strike, which even created sparks around it, struck the giant spider.

The massive spider was stunned by that quick and powerful blow—it had taken a significant hit.

But that was all.

“This is bad.”

Despite taking that powerful attack, the monster didn’t fall, and Rachel and Reina, having used all their available attacks, were cornered.

They looked at me in the distance with pitiful eyes.

‘I have no choice…’

I had promised to help if things got dangerous, instead of them tackling the dungeon by themselves.

So I had no choice but to help.

And that situation was genuinely dangerous.

-Woong!-

I instantly activated two of my unique skills.

My intimidating presence spread throughout the dungeon, and the spider, noticing my existence, stared at me with its enormous eyes.

‘Disgusting…’

I threw my massive greatsword at the spider with all my might.

Thanks to [Mortal’s End] and [Sword of the Distant Abyss] in greatsword form, my strength stat had increased to nearly 150.

With such monstrous strength, the greatsword flew like a bullet and lodged precisely in the spider’s head.

-Keeeeek!!!-

The monster collapsed helplessly to the floor with the huge sword stuck in its head, and Reina was repeatedly stabbing the fallen spider with her sword.

“What are you doing?”

“Well…”

Reina looked at the dead spider with disbelief and continued:

“Is this even possible? We tried everything and couldn’t kill it… but you took it down with one hit?”

“It was easy because you two had already weakened it.”

Of course, that was just a polite remark.

As a boss of a B-lowest grade dungeon, it was quite weak.

I could have taken it down with that one hit even if they hadn’t weakened it.

“If either [Two Suns] or [Lightning Flash] had been just a bit higher rank, we could have killed it.”

“That’s too bad…”

Indeed, it was unfortunate, as Rachel said.

After being hit by [Lightning Flash], it was probably already near death.

“And if you hadn’t panicked, you could have killed it. When your skills are on cooldown, don’t give up—keep attacking even if it doesn’t die.”

“Got it…”

“So it was almost dead?”

“Yeah, probably?”

I couldn’t be certain it was on the brink of death, but it was clear that the boss’s health was low.

Rachel was a mage who used fire magic, which was like a natural enemy to insect-type monsters.

Realizing this, I said to the disappointed girls:

“Let’s call it a day. We’ve been at it since morning.”

It was already 7 PM.

The three of us had been training since 5 AM until 7 PM, even skipping meals.

Of course, we didn’t skip meals because we wanted to.

“It’s 7 already? Didn’t we start at 5 AM?”

“Yeah, that’s when we began.”

“We’ve been at it for so long…”

“Let’s go now.”

So we left the dungeon and returned to the dormitory.

Since the girls’ dormitory was closer to the dungeon conquest room, we arrived there first, and I said goodbye before they entered the building.

“See you, catch you tomorrow.”

“Come to the training ground when you wake up tomorrow, got it?”

“Got it.”

“You two seem to be getting along better now.”

“We always got along, I told you.”

They went back to their dormitory building, chatting about various things, and I headed toward the boys’ dormitory.

As I was walking toward the dormitory, enjoying the cool evening air, I suddenly felt someone’s gaze.

It was a very ordinary gaze, but it was quite disturbing and unpleasant.

So I looked in the direction where I felt the gaze.

‘Who is it…?’

In the direction I looked, there was an unknown person just standing still, staring at me.

Someone wearing a black robe and a strange-looking mask was just watching me without moving.

‘Why are they doing that?’

I was curious about who this person was and why they were behaving like that.

So I walked toward them.

-Swoosh…-

But as I approached, they suddenly disappeared.

I don’t know what skill they used to vanish, but it didn’t seem like they used magical power.

‘Then an item?’

Recalling the item I often used, I approached where they had been.

I thoroughly examined the spot where they had disappeared, but there was definitely no trace of magical power.

‘What was that?’

It didn’t feel like a demon race with their characteristic enormous magical power.

Various items can hide it to some extent, but completely eliminating the sense of magical power like that person did was impossible.

So at least they weren’t from the demon race.

‘Beast-folk? Insect-folk? Fish-folk?’

Since no magical power was sensed, they probably weren’t human, elf, or dragon-folk.

That left beast-folk, insect-folk, and fish-folk as possibilities, though fish-folk seemed unlikely.

Most fish-folk, like elves, don’t leave their territories. So only beast-folk and insect-folk remained.

And both of those races were from countries allied with the Babylon Kingdom.

‘Have they already infiltrated this far…?’

It might not be the case, but after witnessing such a scene, I couldn’t help but think that way.

As I was heading back to the dormitory with such concerns, an unexpected person appeared before me.

It was her, who had disappeared somewhere last night, now approaching while activating some kind of item.

As soon as she spotted me, she waved from a distance and ran toward me. When she reached me, I asked:

“Hello? Didn’t you say you’d come on Monday?”

“That was the plan, but something came up. It’s a long story. The reason I left early yesterday was…”

“You don’t need to explain that. Rachel told me this morning.”

Hearing this, she tilted her head and asked me:

“Rachel did?”

“Yes, about a demon being discovered inside the palace.”

“That’s right. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was going to call you right away, but…”

“It’s okay. Just make sure to let me know immediately next time.”

“I will…!”

I looked at the item she was holding—commonly known as a magic detector—and said:

“Are you here because you detected that demon’s magic?”

“Yes, you’re as perceptive as ever. But I can’t detect anything here.”

“I saw someone here earlier.”

She seemed surprised that I had seen someone.

“Really?”

“Yes, wearing a black robe and a strange-looking mask.”

“A mask!?”

“Yes.”

Upon hearing this, she took out her phone and showed me a picture of a mask stored on it.

“Was it a mask that looked like this?”

It was a mask engraved with a grotesque pattern that looked like numerous snakes clustered together.

Surprisingly, it was a mask I already knew, and seeing it gave me an idea of who that person might be.

Looking at the picture of the mask, I said:

“Yes, that’s right. It was a mask that looked like this.”