After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

But even so, since the fate of the entire human race is at stake, Tafia's defense cannot be taken lightly.

That's why Aize left Chris behind to guard the house while he went to the royal capital.

Chris, whose full name is Christina Karside, is the daughter of the Marquis of Karside and the top graduate of the Imperial Noble Military Academy.

Unlike Constantine, who is a mercenary and good at solo or small-scale operations, Chris, who comes from an academic background, is a very standard commander-type character.

In terms of the specific details of the use of troops, he may even be stronger than Aze, who changed his career halfway, and is fully capable of standing on his own.

As it turned out, Aize's decision was very correct.

During the 27 days that he was away, not only was the city defense work completed perfectly, but even the more complex tasks of training new recruits and building the army progressed exceptionally smoothly.

This is all thanks to Chris.

After a routine patrol on the city wall, catching two guards who were lax on duty and giving them a lecture, Chris returned to her room in the base.

Almost the moment he entered the door, his serious expression disappeared without a trace, and a strong sense of dissatisfaction and even resentment directly occupied his face.

"When will Master come back?!"

The blue-haired girl wailed without any scruples, or rather, without any restraint.

He even fell to the ground with a thud, holding his head and rolling around wildly at a speed so fast that it was almost invisible, making the floor crackle.

"27 days, it's already 27 days! He's not coming back! He's not coming back! I should have just followed him! I'm dying... I'm dying ah ah ah ah!"

Ever since she met Aize, became his subordinate, and swore allegiance to him, Chris had never been separated from Aize for such a long time.

As a result, the fanatical worship, which was already close to belief, became more and more radical over time.

Originally, this was still under control.

By shifting her attention to the task assigned to her by Aize, and occasionally imagining the possible praise Aize would receive after his return, Chris maintained a pretty good sanity value.

The mental state is not too abstract.

Until a few days ago.

A few days ago, a letter from the royal capital was suddenly delivered to Tafia.

The letter was written the day after George was pressed back into the coffin, and it came from Eize himself.

The content was very simple. It was nothing more than reporting that the incident in the royal capital had been resolved, but that it would take a few days for him to return, so the companions who stayed behind should not worry.

It was originally well-intentioned.

But Chris, who was already a little impatient, only saw the words "the incident has been settled" and began to arbitrarily conclude that Aize would be back in two days.

The psychological balance that was originally maintained was broken by the irrepressible sense of expectation.

The result... is well known.

The subsequent reconstruction and finalization took even longer than the Azebi incident itself.

And Chris's mental state began to free fall as time passed.

As a result, it became like this.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh…Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh——”

"Ms. Christina, what are you doing?"

"……well?"

The sudden deep voice petrified Chris, who was going crazy and screaming like a ghost.

I suddenly sat up from the ground and found a tall figure standing at the open door of the room.

Orc-human hybrid, or half-orc, Groot.

After the previous Tafia incident ended, he also stayed under Aize and continued to serve.

During the days that Aize was away, he had been helping Chris.

In addition to miscellaneous tasks, he also uses his experience of serving in the Orc army to play the role of an imaginary enemy to help the recruits improve their strength faster.

Although his brain wasn't enough, he still helped a lot, and Chris was very grateful to him - if only he hadn't appeared here at the wrong time.

Chris, who was furious, jumped up suddenly:

"Groot, what are you doing?!? Why don't you knock on the door?!"

The tall orc scratched his bald head:

"Knock? But I thought you didn't close the door."

"...Tsk."

Chris curled her lips.

Because Xien had just mentioned Aize, her already bad mood was further aggravated, and she even made such a low-level mistake.

What a shame.

Fortunately, he arrived early.

If she were to be seen again when things progressed to the next step - such as what she did last night - Chris would probably die of shame.

What? What's next, you ask?

Of course - after bathing and changing clothes, kneel on your knees, put your hands together and chant Aize's quotations aloud.

...What else?

In short, at this moment, the simple half-orc Glot cannot understand the meaning of Chris's abstract behavior.

Out of the most sincere concern for his colleagues and companions, he scratched his head again and said:

"Well? I don't quite understand. Do you have a stomachache?"

"Um... uh, yes that's right, it's a stomachache!"

Chris, who was thinking of an excuse, found the other party so considerate and quickly gave in.

Besides, it's not a complete lie.

I do have a stomachache right now.

"Is it serious? Do you want me to take you to the doctor? Or call the doctor over?"

"No, no, no, it's nothing serious. I just... ate something unclean. It will be better soon."

Not wanting to argue any further, and not wanting to waste time getting mad, Chris walked forward and grabbed the door handle.

"I have to go to practice tomorrow, I have to hurry up... uh, rest, yes, go to bed and rest! So it's okay, you can leave quickly~"

Having said that, he closed the door without saying anything.

"Uh, it's okay. Why were you screaming so loudly just now? Last time I ate raw, rotten monster meat and nearly died of poisoning, but I didn't scream like this. Weird."

Groot didn't say much. He just grinned in confusion and left.

After confirming this through the crack in the door, Chris finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This is too careless.

But... what can we do about it? Isn't it because Master never comes back?

If this continues, Chris has no idea what will become of her.

After sighing, she slumped down on the floor along the door frame of the room.

Then he reached into his pocket, took out a flower he had just picked up from the lord's mansion, and brought it close to his face.

Then--

"I'll come back tomorrow, I won't come back tomorrow, I'll come back tomorrow, I won't come back tomorrow..."

While muttering to himself, he began to tear off the petals one by one.

Purely deceiving yourself, meaningless neurotic behavior +1.

She knew that this was meaningless, but... there had to be hope, right?

Just think of it as a pie in the sky, deceiving yourself.

Then--

"If you don't come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow, tomorrow..."

Boom boom boom! ! !

"Ugh-"

There was a sudden heavy knock on the door, which startled Chris, who was leaning against the door frame. She jumped up from the ground subconsciously as if she had been electrocuted.

The flower, which was already in tatters, completely fell apart after this blow.

Did you come back or not just now?

No! Why are you still thinking about this now?

Chris, who was extremely embarrassed, shouted angrily at the door:

“Who is it!?”

"Uh...it's still me."

Groot's voice came again.

"I've completely forgotten about that interruption. I came here to deliver a letter."

Exhausted by her own efforts, Chris frowned and asked with a strong subjective inclination:

"A letter? Is it from Master... No, is it from Lord Aize?"

"No, no, I can't read, but the signature seems to be that of a nobleman."

"noble?"

Chris was instantly deflated and even more listless than before.

"Just tell the lord about the nobles' affairs. Why are you transferring them to me?"

"I just gave it to the Lord, but he said that this letter was specifically for you."

"I?"

"Yes, take a look!"

Before Chris's doubts could grow, an envelope was stuffed under the door.

"This is……?"

Printed on it is the family crest of Chris's family.

Chapter 129 Travel Invitation

During the Royal Capital Incident, the Duke of Auchinleck, who was the most ardent for the throne, died. Most of his troops participated in the subsequent cleanup operations and were then sent back to their territories. The Duke's Alliance collapsed from that moment on.

The Bertram and Trenchard families, who still had some strength, observed the situation for a while and then led their troops away on the third day after the coronation ceremony.

Including the vampires like Charlotte who had left earlier, and Uriel who came to support but found nothing, the major forces intertwined in the royal capital gradually dispersed.

On the fourth day after the coronation ceremony, after completing the follow-up plan, Aize led his team out of the city.

Prepare to leave and return to Tafea.

Heidi, who is now the queen, leads all the remaining royal knights, the royal guards, and the royal guards to the outside of the city to see off Aize and others.

"Although the armies of the two dukes have retreated, that's only because a new balance has been reached. As long as there's an opportunity, they will surely take action again."

Aize said this as he looked at the mess left behind by the Duke's army camp outside the city.

"But two families are not as stable as three. It's best to use their power to contain each other."

"Yeah, but if we do that, it will be the same as before, so that's not possible."

Heidi's face was solemn, and she shook her head without hesitation.

"The royal family's duties must be carried out, and this rotten system must be changed. Otherwise... what's the point of me sitting in this position?"

The corruption of the kingdom's aristocracy began from the moment of its founding and has lasted for hundreds of years, and has exploded with the collapse of royal authority.

In the past few years, Heidi's strategy of winning over some nobles and suppressing others in order to maintain her family's status has made the checks and balances mechanism even more unbalanced, making the situation difficult to reverse.