[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 284

At this point, despite having come from a developed capital city, it felt more like a rural noble arriving in a grand metropolis.

How is this place even being maintained?

Those magic stone lamps—while the stones themselves might be cheap, the maintenance system is costly, making them uncommon even in most territories.

Yet, this territory had them installed along the roadside at regular intervals, appearing as though they'd brightly illuminate the area.

It was still daytime, so it wasn’t obvious—but once night fell?

Even the viscount, who wasn’t particularly fond of anything flashy, found himself curious.

As he stepped down from the carriage, he chuckled in disbelief at the estate that looked as if it belonged to another world.

A towering clocktower stood at the center of the territory.

In the plaza, there was even a statue of Duchess Melissa Cascadia.

This was definitely the Cascadia territory, yet—

"Welcome, Viscount. The head of the house has been expecting you."

“Ahem… Right. I’ll be in your care.”

“This way for the carriage.”

As one of the attendants guided the way, the coachman followed with a dazed look on his face.

“We’ve prepared an underground parking area for the carriage to reduce damage from exposure and wear.”

“Incredible. Carving out such a large underground space isn’t easy by any means…”

“That was the young master’s doing.”

The attendant smiled faintly, and the viscount entered the mansion in a daze.

The Cascadia mansion itself felt like it had changed in many ways.

Of course, its inherent elegance hadn’t needed changing in the first place.

“Welcome, Viscount Katrov.”

“Have you been well, Your Grace?”

“Oh, always. Things were busy for a while, but I’ve finally gotten a bit of breathing room.”

At her signal, the attendant swiftly brought out tea and refreshments.

“It’s been two years since I was last here. The Cascadia duchy has developed to a truly unrecognizable extent.”

“Has it?”

“Yes. Even my child was amazed. Last time we came, they were so fussy... Ha ha.”

“Oh? So that was your child.”

Melissa let out a small chuckle, leaving him tilting his head in confusion.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, nothing. It turned out well in the end, so let’s leave it at that.”

“Though… I realize I may sound foolish asking this—but how in the world do you manage to maintain all these things? The automatic stairways, and the countless magic stone lamps installed underground?”

As a former mage, this was what intrigued him the most.

“Technologically possible or not, the energy efficiency is notoriously poor, which is why such systems haven’t become widespread...”

“Well, I’m not well-versed in magic myself. But my older brother whipped up some solar concentrator or something, and ever since then, energy issues have basically disappeared.”

“Solar… solar, huh. I suppose that makes sense. Mana flows with sunlight, after all. But to concentrate it—now that’s something entirely different… Yes, it seems the rumors about Young Master Leon were true. He really is something else. I’ve traveled to many kingdoms, and I’ve never seen this kind of technology anywhere.”

Which was only natural.

To borrow Leon’s metaphor, it was like someone plopping down a quantum computer in front of people who were just figuring out how to make early vacuum-tube models.

“I hear it’s due to the special properties of Fairywood. Mana photosynthesis, or something like that? I don’t really know the details, but since it’s producing results, it’s hard to deny. As annoying as that is.”

Melissa smiled gracefully as she pulled out some documents.

“Well then, shall we move on to business?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll be staying here for a few days anyway, so I look forward to seeing all these fascinating developments.”

“The night view is absolutely breathtaking.”

Despite calling it annoying, her voice was full of pride.

* * *

“…Melissa hasn’t made much progress over the last two years.”

Construction had been the main focus, but that didn’t mean she had been slacking in her training.

Still, a few unexpected variables had arisen over the past two years.

The first was the Red Moon.

That damn eye from the outer dimension hadn’t shown itself even once since the old castle raid.

You might think, After coming and going so frequently, now it just disappears?—but this was a fairly serious issue.

[There are a few possible inferences. It may have paid an enormous cost during the summoning of Cthugha, or perhaps the previous state was abnormal to begin with.]

“That’s an optimistic theory. But we still have the worst-case scenario, right?”

The Librarian fell silent at my words.

The third possibility: that bastard is preparing something big.

Whatever it is, if it’s been silent for two years, it’s probably ready to unleash something far beyond what we’ve seen.

[Even gods from outer dimensions aren’t omnipotent.]

“Same goes for our gods here.”

They’re neither all-powerful nor all-knowing.

Perfection is an ideal to strive for, not a goal one can ever truly reach.

That made this the most troublesome scenario.

[There’s nothing we can confirm for sure at this point. But there’s one more theory.]

“What is it?”

[During the rampage of the archangel Remiel, the interference of other archangels began for the first time.]

Ah.

Only then did I understand what he meant.

Archangels move according to divine revelations and rules.

The fact that they hadn’t moved before but did after Remiel’s rampage meant that some kind of intervention had begun.

“But that’s probably not it.”

[Why do you think so?]

“Because they only moved after Remiel went berserk.”

They ignored the outer god, but responded immediately to a fellow archangel’s rampage?

What a joke.

The archangel I met during Remiel’s rampage gave me a spear of light.

Originally, it was a weapon meant to pierce and destroy Remiel—but now, that purpose was obsolete.

Because Remiel is now living comfortably in the Holy Kingdom.

If they had the power to hand me something like that, they might have done something themselves, too.

“Then I should’ve gotten stronger by now. Right?”

I had been using ‘adaptation’ as a means to wield multiple powers.

But over the past two years, not only had the Red Moon stopped interfering, I hadn’t recovered a single memory of Labyrinthos in all that time.

Could that really be just a coincidence?

Even the Librarian—who should be the one providing answers—could only say they couldn’t make sense of the current situation.

The voice that spoke to me in the Labyrinthos and the librarian beside me now—they're different.

More precisely, this Librarian was just a fragment of that original being.

Just a part.

No matter how much I overthink it, nothing changes.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

I could come up with countless theories, but there’s not a single way to prove any of them.

Outside the window, white snow is falling.

It’s not the first snowfall, but seeing the pure white snow always brings a vague sense of bitterness.

Almost two years have passed.

And yet, both I and everything around me remain the same.

It’s a strange feeling.

“The Demon Realm must be having a hard time clearing snow.”

“Exactly. The knights and soldiers who just returned sighed about it.”

I let out a small chuckle at the maid’s comment.

“It’s annoying when you clear it all, turn around, and it’s white again.”

The problem was, the snowfall in the Demon Realm and here in the territory were vastly different in scale.

Crunch crunch.

“Oh, right. Young master, did you hear? The knights said they saw a green veil fluttering in the sky at the border of the Demon Realm.”

A green veil?

“Ah… an aurora?”

“Aurora? I’ve never seen one, so I wouldn’t know.”

“It’s something you can occasionally see in the polar regions. It’s a natural phenomenon caused when solar wind collides with the atmosphere.”

The maid’s eyes sparkled.

Crunch crunch.

“I didn’t know such things existed.”

“You wouldn’t usually see it in the Bata Kingdom. Unless someone travels up to the polar regions, they might never see it in their lifetime.”

But does the Demon Realm even have the right conditions for auroras?

Auroras usually occur when solar winds clash with the atmosphere.

In simpler terms, it’s the mark of a battle between the sun’s wind and the planet’s air.

But this place isn’t exactly in the polar regions, so realistically, seeing an aurora here shouldn’t be possible.

“All done, young master.”

“Yeah. Good job.”

I smiled at the reflection of my well-styled hair in the mirror.

“You’re good at this. Thanks, as always. I was worried after my personal stylist retired…”

“It’s just a small skill. I’m glad it’s to your liking.”

Unlike the many changes in the territory over the past two years, the people of House Cascadia remained largely the same.

This should have been a time of growth for everyone, but Melissa hadn’t changed much. Neither had the guest siblings Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong, or even Isna.

“Hm… if anything’s changed, I guess Melissa is nearing the end of her prime marrying age.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. What era do you think this is? Just because I’m nearing my twenties doesn’t mean I’m past my prime.”

“What’s the standard nowadays?”

She scoffed as she entered with a stack of documents and an attendant at her side.

“These days, mid-twenties is still considered prime. After that, it starts to get a bit tight. But more importantly, you should be getting ready yourself.”

“Ah… yeah. True.”

I wasn’t exactly in a position to talk.

“Is everything going well? Luna seems to be working hard on something.”

Her question made me laugh softly.

Then, I looked at her with confidence.

Of course I’m preparing.

This is a big deal.

“HELP!!!!!!!”

“Ah! You scared me!!”

“HELP!!!!”

She came flying at me with a dropkick, but even as I took the hit, I didn’t budge an inch and just screamed in panic.

Not even in the Labyrinthos did I feel such urgent desperation!

Some truth I had been avoiding was now driving me to the edge of crisis.

Realizing I couldn’t delay it any longer, I glared at Melissa.

“What… what?”

“Why didn’t you get married?”

“Did you seriously just ask that?”

Useless.

Right now, what matters is proposing to Luna.

Proposals may seem like something you can just gloss over, but not for me—not with her.

To Luna, who finds everything in the world fascinating and new, I wanted to give a memorable experience.

That was my selfish wish.

It’s not about suddenly dropping to one knee and blurting, ‘Please marry me.’

On the continent of Lazarus, especially in the Bata Kingdom, there’s a traditional way of proposing.

And I wanted to do it my way, in a way that reflects that tradition.

Just throwing money at it won’t cut it.

As I was agonizing over how to do it—

Knock knock.

“Leon, Ashuria came to—what are you doing?”

She, who now spoke to me informally, appeared with Ashuria dangling from one hand and looked confused at the sight of me rolling on the floor.

“Professor? Are you sick?”

“…Isna, you’re not married, right?”

“Nope.”

“Ugh.”

I let out a deep sigh, and she tilted her head, puzzled, then came over and kicked me.

“What the heck? Weren’t you the one who messed up someone else’s marriage path by rejecting them?”

“Oh, right.”

“Now I’m just getting annoyed.”

Her kicks grew stronger.

Melissa, who would’ve normally stopped her, just shook her head in exasperation.

“You really are the kind of guy who’d make even Satan cry.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]