The banquet hall of Gray Castle.
For the first time in quite a while, it was bustling with people.
—Murmur, murmur.
They were all knights of the North.
The reason a place had been prepared in the banquet hall today was to celebrate those who had ventured outside before spring to investigate the movements of the monsters and carry out a subjugation campaign.
Although the hall was not as lavish as it had been during the Northmedi presentation, cries of admiration kept rising from the knights as they huddled together around the warmth of the fire.
“Y-Your Grace. Is this real?”
“At this time of year...there’s meat on the table?”
The source of their amazement was none other than the food laid out before them.
There was meat on the table, of all things.
Normally, no one would have found it strange if the table held nothing but Kolheim Tea, Kolheim soup, and Kolheim salad day after day. Yet there was meat.
The knights stared at the meat on the table, each doubting his own eyes.
There was even enough for everyone to have a bite with plenty left over.
Strange. This couldn’t be happening.
The knights muttered under their breath and furrowed their brows.
After all, they knew better than anyone how poor the North was.
And yet, if meat had appeared at this time of year, that could only mean one thing.
“......Did we finally sell Gray Castle?”
“It certainly looks that way.”
“So this is our last supper, right?”
The knights exchanged remarks one after another, whispering with grave expressions.
Right. The day had finally come.
Honestly, we’d held out for quite a long time.
“Your Grace, it has been a pleasure.”
“I knew this day would come eventually. We must accept it with humility.”
“Yes, that’s right. Besides, this must be harder on you than anyone, Your Grace. We understand.”
The knights did their best to conceal their gloomy expressions as they offered me words of consolation.
Some of them even clutched their brows and wiped away tears.
The sight was just like the lyrics of some song.
Tears well up, so I raise my head.
I smile even wider so they won’t fall.
Why are you doing this to me? What are you saying?
All the words spoken today, up into that sky.
Words I never once said, words I never knew I’d say while crying.
You see, I like you, Your Grace.
“Aaah! The Grand Duke’s grace is as vast as the sky!”
“The more we look up, the higher it rises!”
Several knights pounded their chests and cried out in booming voices.
I watched them and let out a dry chuckle.
Guys. Can’t you just fucking eat in peace?
I had long known that every bastard who survived in the North had at least one screw loose, but these bastards seemed to have gone even further off the rails since I’d last seen them.
Young bastards shouldn’t already be like this.
At the same time, a corner of my heart ached.
How little had these guys eaten for them to react like this?
Sorry I’m such a useless Grand Duke.
“That’s not what happened, so relax and eat.”
I smirked and gestured toward the meat on the table.
I made some money this time.
So I bought all of this for you bastards to eat.
“......Really?”
“You didn’t sell the castle?”
“That can’t be right.”
They kept looking between the meat and me with suspicion in their eyes.
Left with no choice, I stabbed my knife deep into a piece of meat in front of me and lifted it.
“If you don’t eat it, I’ll eat it all.”
“......!”
Their eyes shook violently.
These were men who had returned to the North after spending several months subjugating monsters.
They had dug holes to sleep in just to survive the cold that felt as though it would freeze them to death.
They had endured by chewing grass roots in a desperate attempt to stay alive.
And now, after several months, they had finally encountered something indoors that could be called actual food.
A suffocating silence spread through the banquet hall.
“.......”
Before long.
With a tremendous clatter, they set their fighting spirits ablaze and began butchering the meat before them.
The scene was, quite literally, a battlefield meal.
—CRUNCH! MUNCH, MUNCH! CLATTER...CRASH!
They had to live.
They had to eat to survive.
Protein.
More protein!
Without so much as blinking, they displayed tremendous concentration and shoveled the meat into their mouths.
“Yeah, that’s much better.”
I grinned at the sight and set down my knife.
Whatever else happened, I had wanted to treat the bastards returning from the monster subjugation to at least one lavish meal.
It had been a long-cherished wish of mine, and a promise I had never managed to keep before my regression.
“Tell me if it isn’t enough. I’ll give you more.”
“R-Really?”
Yes. Really.
Another pang shot through my chest when I saw the knights’ eyes sparkle as they spoke with their mouths stuffed full of meat.
Good grief. Just how badly had they starved?
Being penniless really was a sin.
I answered while doing my best to sound unconcerned.
“So don’t mind anyone else. Eat as much as you want.”
There was no use leaving any behind anyway.
“Yes!”
They answered thunderously and mercilessly slaughtered the meat.
Maybe I hadn’t needed to worry about leftovers.
“Then again, these bastards would chew raw meat if they had to......”
The smile never left my lips.
I felt full just watching them eat.
As expected, earning plenty of money came first.
Then I looked at Lenin, who was seated beside me.
“......So why aren’t you eating?”
At that rate, it looked as though everything would be taken if she did not start soon.
Lenin answered firmly without the slightest change in her expression.
“You haven’t eaten yet, Your Grace.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just eat.”
I sliced the meat on my plate and held it directly to Lenin’s mouth.
Her eyes widened as she looked at me, visibly flustered.
But only for a moment.
“......It’s good, isn’t it?”
Lenin nodded awkwardly and chewed.
So stop worrying about me and eat first.
Lenin reluctantly picked up her knife and began her meal as well.
—Rustle.
Only then did I look at the elderly knight Von, who sat across from me.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“I merely did what had to be done.”
Von smiled gently and bowed his head.
Von Bayern.
He was a knight who had served House Levior since my father’s time, and he was now the Knight Commander of the North, already past sixty years of age.
“In any case, I was surprised. I never imagined the North would have changed so much while I was away.”
Unlike the other knights, who were still waging war against the meat, Von calmly cut his portion with a clink of his utensils as he spoke.
It was not only the fact that meat had appeared on the table.
The atmosphere of the village, the castle, and even the Magic Tower had changed.
Everything was vastly different from the North he remembered.
And the wave of change had undoubtedly been brought about by the master of the North sitting before him—the Grand Duke.
Von smiled faintly and looked at me.
“Lord David would have been very pleased to see this.”
“I’m sure he would have.”
David Levior.
He was the former head of the house, and my father.
I smiled bitterly and ran my fingers along the wineglass.
—I’m sorry, Walter. It seems I’m leaving you with far too many burdens.
—No, Father. Please don’t say that.
—That childhood habit of yours still hasn’t changed.
The habit of clenching my right hand whenever I pretended everything was fine and tried to hide my feelings.
David said it with a faint smile.
—You’ve always tried to carry too many burdens by yourself. That is precisely why I want you to remember this.
You are not alone.
There are always people beside you whom you can rely on.
So you do not need to shoulder everything by yourself.
—I will remember.
David slowly removed the ring from his finger and placed it in Walter’s hand.
It was a ring engraved with a golden emblem.
It was the token signifying the head of House Levior.
—Yes. From now on, Walter, you are the head of House Levior.
—Take good care of the North.
On a night deep in winter.
Those were the final words my father, David Levior, left me before he succumbed to illness (death from disease).
—CREAK....
I clenched my right hand without saying a word.
And on that very hand rested the ring bearing the golden emblem.
Von noticed and naturally changed the subject.
“Do you have any questions about this expedition?”
“Ah.”
I relaxed the hand I had unconsciously tensed.
Then I asked him as calmly as usual.
“Right. Compared to last year, how were the monsters’ movements?”
The monsters’ movements.
This information was essential if we were to stop them from descending toward the villages in spring.
And if the knights determined that their movements posed a threat to the villages after observing them—
It was the order’s role to reduce their numbers.
Gathering that information took no small amount of time, which was why their return had taken several months.
“The monsters of the northern plains and the northwestern snowy mountains showed no major differences in either strength or movement compared to last year.”
“That’s a relief.”
“However, the southern cliff region is troubling.”
I furrowed my brow at Von’s words.
The southern cliff region.
It had once been the route connecting the North to the royal capital, and it was the wyverns’ primary habitat.
“......Could you tell me more about that?”
“Of course.”
Von calmly continued.
“We believe the wyverns of the southern cliff region have split into factions. There appears to have been a change in leadership, but judging by the fact that several groups are moving independently and have not properly united—”
“The change in regime didn’t go smoothly?”
“Yes, precisely.”
Von nodded.
Wyvern groups normally revered and followed only a leader whose strength they acknowledged.
Yet their failure to fully unite suggested that the succession had not gone properly.
“Was the former leader driven out?”
“That is our assumption. However, as some groups still follow it, the former leader appears to be hiding elsewhere and waiting for its chance.”
“Then what is the disposition of the new wyvern group?”
I asked Von.
He answered.
“Judging by its appearance, the new leader is quite young. It does not avoid contests of strength with the other monsters nearby. We even observed it attacking first.”
“Then what are the chances that the new group will leave its primary habitat and approach the villages?”
“......Quite high.”
“Hmm.”
I rubbed my chin and sank into thought.
If I had to describe the original wyvern group’s disposition, it was closer to a conservative faction.
They did not pose any particular threat to the villages, and they rarely left the cliffs where they lived.
But the new group was different.
It seemed a rather radical bastard had emerged as its leader.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Did you say you planned to retire after this expedition?”
“I regret to say so, but yes.”
Given his age, it was only natural.
Von laughed softly and swept back his white hair.
Before long.
“Sir Von Bayern.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to put your retirement on hold for a while.”
I set down my wineglass as I answered.
“It seems you have one final task to carry out.”
For this, his experience was indispensable.
Von tilted his head at my words.
“Pardon? What do you mean, a task for me......?”
“Nothing much.”
I grinned.
“Let’s teach those new wyvern bastards some discipline.”
The southern cliff region.
Long ago, it had been the trade route connecting the royal capital and the North, but it was now occupied by wyverns.
The North Road.
It was time to take it back.