episode_0041

The Duke’s residence was bustling when it arrived.

The entrance to the mansion was full of people and there were several suitcases worth of luggage.

In the middle of it all, Agnes and the Duke of Levadein were standing, greeting the Deltans.

“Why are there so many?”

“It’s the first trip of my life.”

As Agnes smiled, Duke Levadeine said:

As he said that, he held Deltan’s hand tightly.

“Count, please take care of your daughter.”

For some reason, there was both an expression of emotion and a look of satisfaction on the duke’s face.

Deltan laughed awkwardly, thinking that of all the words he had heard from Duke Levadein recently, ‘Take care of your daughter’ was probably the most important one.

“… I will definitely come back safely.”

Agnes was laughing as if she was happy to see Deltans like this.

Deltan’s expression was a little crumpled.

“… Let’s quickly load up and leave.”

“Yes.”

The workers loaded the luggage into the trunk of the sedan.

When looking at the size alone, the trunk seemed to be quite insufficient, but there was no unfortunate situation where all the luggage could not fit.

The sedan of none other than Delta Hebron.

It was strange that space magic wasn’t used.

As Agnes headed toward the sedan, there were two maids following her.

“Guys? The maid they said they were taking with them this time.”

“Leah and Jerry.”

At first glance, he appears to be in his 40s.

These were the people who took Agnes, who could not even change her clothes, on her own.

For a moment, Deltan thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to be a maid of the same age?’, but quickly erased it and nodded.

“Ta. Because we have prepared separate seats for you.”

It wasn’t just the trunk that was subject to space expansion.

All of the back seats, except the driver’s seat, were expanded to comfortably accommodate ten people.

They even divided the car into two compartments so that the maids could rest while they were in the car.

Immediately afterwards, Deltan naturally took Agnes’ hand and placed her in another compartment of the car.

“Have a nice trip. If there is anything uncomfortable, be sure to report it to the count.”

“Yes, I will come back.”

Duke Levadeine was waving his hand while dabbing the corner of his eyes with his handkerchief.

The prime minister of the country is so talented.

Questions about whether the Empire was really okay slowly crept into the mind of the Deltans.

“… Then, see you in two months.”

Crash.

The sedan’s door closed and it took off.

*

The driver was Gerhart.

As it was a long-term journey, they brought him along to make the process more convenient.

“What about other hunting dogs?”

“Waiting at the North Gate.”

“Are you going separately instead of getting in the car?”

“uh.”

The conversation took place the moment we arrived at the North Gate.

Immediately after, Agnes opened her eyes wide and made an ‘oh’ sound at what she saw outside the window.

This is because the hunting dogs were riding on a strange vehicle with two wheels.

It was a bike made by Deltain.

“It looks very strange. Is that a car too?”

“Bike.”

“Huh?”

“They will continue to patrol the area while we move. Because it would be difficult if the devil approaches.”

This was the Deltans’ strategy.

Although the Saint’s Hall was hung on the sedan itself, it was kept informally for efficiency, so hunting dogs were released on the road to keep any evil spirits in check.

“You will most likely never get out of the car.”

“It’s frustrating.”

“So you made it wider on purpose.”

“Where is the bathroom?”

It’s in “. If you go over to the back seat, you will see a side door. Just open that and go in.”

“Wow, you are so thorough.”

The Deltan snorted and gestured to Gerhart.

Then Gerhart honked the horn.

Vroom!

The hounds’ bike rushed forward, and the sedan started moving behind it.

It was the beginning of a journey.

*

Not long after leaving the north gate, Deltan felt hungry and took out the sandwich he had packed.

And he handed Agnes a sandwich with ‘pickle’ written on the outside.

“Eat. You didn’t eat.”

“Huh?”

Agnes looked at the sandwich Deltan brought, then smiled mischievously and said to him:

“Did you take care of me because you were thinking of me?”

“Don’t be funny.”

“In addition to saying that, you really understand my tastes. It says pickle in big letters on the outside.”

“It was all prepared by Gerhart. I didn’t even know there were two sandwiches, and the reason I gave them one was because I don’t like pickles.”

Gerhart kept his mouth shut.

His personality of not saying unnecessary things was one of the reasons Deltans cherished him.

Agnes snorted ‘Hmph’ and took the sandwich.

And then he said to Gerhart.

“Thank you. Deacon. I was already really hungry, so I’m touched that you took such good care of me.”

Deltan’s body trembled.

“… Did I know you would even say thank you?”

“Then you should do it. It’s natural courtesy.”

“Someone who knew that behaved like that to me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The Deltan’s teeth chattered.

I didn’t particularly want to say thank you, but I still felt bad about saying thank you to Gerhart now, which I had never properly done before.

Even though I was the one who prepared it.

Of course, it was unfair to Gerhart.

But I couldn’t tell the truth.

“… Are you a guest?”

Anyway, if I tell the truth like this, isn’t it obvious that Deltans will get angry?

For a Deltan subordinate, he was truly quick-witted.

“… That’s it, let’s eat.”

Deltan roughly removed the wrapper from the sandwich and took a big bite.

Then Agnes carefully unwrapped the sandwich and bit into it.

“It’s delicious.”

“It’s so delicious. How on earth do you eat something with pickles in it?”

“Picky eater.”

“Not a picky eater. Because pickles are not food in the first place.”

“It’s definitely food.”

“If everything that goes into your mouth is food, even rocks are food.”

Agnes giggled and continued speaking at the Deltan’s nervous reaction.

“Sour, crunchy and delicious. I don’t know why I hate this.”

“It has such a strong presence. The characteristics of other materials are buried.”

“That’s a good thing. Isn’t it very attractive to have an unrivaled presence?”

“Not knowing harmony and coexistence is detrimental to the group.”

Sharp conversations took place even during the meal.

thought Gerhart, who had to hear their entire conversation since he was in the driver’s seat right in front of him.

‘It’s because even the smallest details aren’t right.’

There will be a lot of things that will irritate your ears during your journey.

*

Three days since the journey began.

The sedan was smoothly driving down the road and leaving the island.

Just two more days were enough to reach the empire’s border and enter the northern part of the country.

“The empire is already over? But why does it take two weeks to arrive?”

“Because the roads outside the empire are not paved. The Empire is the only country that has properly supplied vehicles in the first place, so what can we expect from other countries?”

It has been only two years since the vehicle was developed and put into full-scale use.

Ishmark was so quick at calculating that he laid roads throughout the empire from the moment he saw a vehicle, but other countries couldn’t do that.

Humans are more conservative animals than we think to accept the sudden emergence of civilizations that have surpassed their growth threshold.

As a Delta person, it was a dissatisfying experience.

“Assholes who can’t eat even if given to them.”

“About yourself?”

“What?”

“An idiot who can’t eat even if given to him. That’s exactly what you said.”

Deltan’s eyes were dark.

So 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.

Only after three seconds had passed did Deltan realize that it had a sexual meaning and his eyes widened.

“… Crazy bitch.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As Agnes laughed mischievously, Deltan’s face turned red.

It was obvious what would happen next.

Just as he had been doing for the past three days, Deltan will once again lash out at Agnes and then become disgusted with her incoherent attitude and close his mouth.

If only the sedan hadn’t stopped.

“Count, we have arrived at the campsite.”

At Gerhart’s words, the Deltan’s head lifted up.

He looked out the car window with a sullen expression and then spoke to Agnes.

“Hey, get down. Because I’m going to sleep outside today.”

“Huh?”

“I need to replenish mana in the car. In the meantime, it’s a space expansion magic and everything is turned off, so if you stay inside, you’ll be crushed.”

This was an inevitable compromise.

Even if it is a Deltan, it cannot produce infinite power, so there is a consumption of resources that must be endured in proportion to the functions incorporated into the vehicle.

There was one reason why I came to this campsite after three days of moving.

This is because the military has been on guard ever since the day departure was scheduled.

In other words, this was a place where the possibility of a devil being present was significantly low.

Agnes said with great joy.

“Wow, am I going to go camping too?”

“It won’t be good to sleep. Sleeping on the floor is more painful than you think.”

“You brought a mattress.”

“It can’t stop all the laughter.”

“I can just cuddle and sleep with you.”

“Turn off.”

After saying that, Deltan got out of the car and looked around the campsite.

Blue lenses blinked over his eyes.

The goal was to look for any traces of the devil.

‘What I see right now is… .’

does not exist.

As he was about to finish his judgment, a ‘beep’ noise rang in Deltan’s ears.

And a faint red light bloomed on the lens.

At that moment, Deltan’s eyes sharpened.

‘There was no sign of it?’

How did they even hide their presence and approach me?

The tense Deltan gushed out mana, but it was in vain.

This is because what was discovered was not a devil.

The direction the lens is pointing is the thick bushes at the edge of the campsite.

The Delta man who made his way through there cursed without realizing it.

“… Oh, fuck.”

What was reflected on the retina was a tail made of human flesh.

It was a piece barely the size of a human head, so even the knights on guard didn’t seem to notice it.

The reason was that it was difficult to find traces of the devil in the first place unless there was a ‘Chase’ spell.

Anyway, the reason Deltan swore was no different.

This was a curse that the ‘Devil of Retrograde’ was spreading around like shit.

In other words, this piece of tail itself is the devil’s temptation.

Deltan’s head turned.

please. please. please.

He kept repeating this to himself, but as always, God was not on his side.

“What’s wrong?”

Agnes was there, tilting her head and asking.

Looks noticeably younger than before.

Height decreased by about 10 centimeters. The breasts on the face rose a little more, and the eyes also became a little rounder.

The hem of her skirt, which used to reach her calf, reached her ankles.

If I were to be specific, he looked to be around twelve or thirteen.

Agnes belatedly felt a sense of discomfort at the slightly younger voice, and lowered her head to look at her body.

And then I stopped.

The devil of retrograde.

It was a demon that returned human bodies to the past and destroyed their very existence.

Deltan put his hands over his eyes.

It was only for a moment that she appeared in the space where the tail piece was, but it made me feel sick to see her being tempted.

Deltan admitted, feeling devastated.

‘It’s really at the level of a bug.’

A miserable temptation immunity with a mental defense of 0.1.

The fact that I underestimated it too much.