"Depression?"
The Queen asked back.
Though her words remained elegant and dignified as always, the minister who had reported the facts couldn't straighten his back as if he had committed a crime.
"Yes, it is said that all those participating in the eastern military training are showing identical symptoms."
"What did the military physician of the eastern training say? He must have presented a medical opinion."
"That is..."
The minister squeezed his eyes shut.
"E-even the military physician is suffering from severe loss of motivation... and is practically unable to... properly perform his role, Your Majesty the Queen."
No, if anything, he had minimized it to avoid criticism.
The minister recalled the report he had received.
It was densely filled with writing that had been penned with great difficulty, even with tear stains smudged across the letters.
It stated that all members of the banner participating in eastern military training had fallen into the same state,
And that they all shared identical cynical, pessimistic, and despairing sentiments.
These symptoms didn't appear only in common infantry or spearmen,
But even the Banneret Knight who commanded one banner wouldn't come out of his tent.
At the end, detailed explanations of the anxiety and depression the writer was currently feeling were added,
Which sounded like the words of a seriously insane person even to the minister.
[...Although I know this report will be sent to the royal castle, I record this because it is the only means of communication from this cursed place cut off from the outside world.
Everything is meaningless. They say humans have seeds of infinite possibility, but that is nothing but falsehood to fill humanity's arrogance.
Everything is useless. We only run toward death after birth, so what meaning does birth predicated on disappearance have? What meaning does challenge premised on failure hold?
We assert: Life is not joy, and pain alone awaits in the future. Everyone awakens to gloomy days that begin with headaches.
We cannot stand up, laugh, or escape from here. We are individuals symbolizing failure. A massive failure regarding our grim fate.]
The minister couldn't understand even a tenth of what was written in that report.
Why on earth would someone write personal sentiments in an official document?
No, setting that aside, what was this incoherently scrawled writing for?
Moreover, how would he, who had to immediately deliver reports about military alliances, package this matter well?
The minister only rolled his eyes slightly to inconspicuously observe the Queen's complexion.
The Queen, who had taken over the office of the King fighting illness, sat in a chair slightly too large for her body, leaning her upper body slightly forward.
The office, made entirely of red velvet, satin, and gold, was solemn and dignified.
The gleaming red chair with intricate patterns made the white and gentle-looking Queen sitting on it appear even more pure.
The Queen had no thick cloak, no heavy crown resting on her head.
However, the minister thought that since the King had been bedridden, the office had found a new master in the Queen.
She often said humbly that she was merely His Majesty the King's representative,
And that she had only taken on this heavy duty because she was the eldest remaining member of the current royal family.
Yet no one staying in the royal castle thought that way.
The King, who couldn't step a foot outside his bedroom and met no one outside the palace for absolute rest.
Conversely, the Queen, who handled domestic and foreign affairs and practically influenced political situations.
If someone asked who the master of this castle was,
In the past perhaps, but now...
"How suspicious."
"Y-yes?"
The minister hurriedly recalled his wandering thoughts.
The Queen looked at him intently and spoke once more.
"I said it's suspicious."
"Due to my lack of insight, I failed to understand Your Majesty the Queen's words."
"Everything doesn't fit together perfectly. With the prophecy of that red-haired mage character."
"Ah, yes. Now that you mention it, indeed it is so."
"Is he really an ancient mage? As I understand it, prophecy is hard to find in current magical studies."
"You mean prophecy?"
"I summoned those in Aquilonia's Mage Tower and questioned them. Whether mages could prophesy the future. Whether it was common."
The Queen rested her chin. Between her fingers, a quill pen with undried ink protruded.
"At least they seemed to have heard nothing about prophecy."
"If, if Your Majesty says so, then that person truly spoke falsely...?"
"But in ancient Acheron, in the era when Eibon lived, there might have been such magic. Of course, some magic transmitted until now would have been lost."
"This subject cannot follow what Your Majesty the Queen is concerned about."
Sweat began to form on the minister's forehead.
The Queen chuckled softly. It was a benevolent laugh.
"I understand that the person the 3rd Prince trusts is that red-haired mage character. I also understand well that what's happening in the east is ominous beyond measure. I know it's not your responsibility either."
"I-I am deeply sorry."
"The one attached to my son's side does seem to be truly 'something.' Though I don't know if he's really a mage."
The Queen defined the red-haired mage as 'one wearing the shell of a mage.'
Even if his essence wasn't a con artist, there was a high possibility he wasn't an ordinary person either.
Then would that mage become the Queen's enemy?
While the minister was desperately racking his brains, the Queen commanded.
"Withdraw the army currently participating in eastern military training. Instead, have the eastern lords conscript soldiers to form banners and deploy them in the wasteland. Order temporary evacuation for the eastern kingdom's citizens. According to the mage's prophecy, demons will soon pour out from the Leng Plateau."
"I will carry out your orders!"
The minister hurriedly withdrew from the office.
The door closed, and the Queen, left alone in the room, fell into thought.
What had the red-haired mage said?
-Only the humans you've neglected, my humans whom you've persecuted, and the 3rd Prince here will be able to prevent the disaster that befalls Aquilonia.
In the end, the mage had first thrown up the topic of destruction to drive the Queen and others present into fear,
Then mentioned the 3rd Prince as a savior, making everyone's attention turn to him.
Moreover, if the red-haired mage who flaunted his friendship with the 3rd Prince had granted the 3rd Prince qualification to become the axis of prophecy,
The mage would be determined to make the 3rd Prince Aquilonia's savior by any means necessary.
To the Queen's eyes, whether Aquilonia's destruction was artificial or truly a fated event didn't matter.
She was only concerned with who would gain what from it.
The Queen wanted to avoid a situation where the 3rd Prince would receive support from some nobles currently on his side behind the scenes,
The eastern kingdom's citizens, and perhaps the majority of Aquilonia's citizens.
She wanted to sever all of the 3rd Prince's hands and feet if possible.
Those who would help him, those who believed in him, she wanted to cut them all down one by one like trimming flower branches in a garden,
So that later she could see him, left with only his torso, collapse at her feet and beg.
She hadn't wanted to go this far either.
But hadn't Yurik first rejected the hand she had extended?
If even delicious meat couldn't persuade him, she had no choice but to use the whip.
The method of taming a beautiful beast would be somewhat cruel,
But in the end, she would embrace the wounded him with her generous and broad compassion.
And they would become a perfect unity and be together for a long time.
-Crack.
The quill pen broke in the Queen's lowered hand.
* * *
Eastern Aquilonia. The place where the ominous star was.
After the soldiers who had arrived for military training withdrew,
Increasingly ominous rumors began to circulate in villages adjacent to the wasteland.
That strange sounds could be heard from the wasteland every night after the army left.
At first, they thought it was simply auditory hallucinations created by fear,
But as each day passed, their bodies felt heavy upon waking, headaches worsened, and they often found themselves absent-minded even while working.
Even those who used to promise a diligent day while looking at the morning sun,
Recently sat quietly like ghosts, drained of energy and spacing out.
They cited various rational reasons like feeling they had nightmares, couldn't sleep, or felt physically ill,
But no matter how much they chewed herbs or slept, they couldn't find ways to alleviate the symptoms.
Conversation disappeared. Songs and laughter vanished too, and only hollow emptiness wandered the streets.
Bulletins recommending evacuation were posted, and those in fancy dress visited to announce 'in the name of some lord' that they 'must leave here quickly,' but no one paid attention.
Then one quiet night.
On a night when everyone should have been asleep, someone opened their eyes.
An elderly woman tossed and turned in bed, then quietly left her house without even changing clothes.
She stood barefoot in the street.
Her face, gaunt from dark circles under her eyes and decreased appetite due to excessive depression, looked up at the sky.
A sound came from far away.
[...Come...here...together...]
She moved her feet without hesitation.
Behind her staggering walk, doors of several houses quietly opened.
Those who emerged also began walking barefoot and blankly as if their minds had gone, just like the woman.
The bizarre procession continued.
When rocks blocked their way, they desperately climbed over them,
When they saw streams, they staggered across without knowing their clothes were getting wet.
The place they arrived at was the wasteland, open in all directions.
Someone was calling from beyond.
"Wait, what are you people doing there? Don't you know you can't approach here?"
Two guard soldiers on night patrol shouted at them. They were conscripts deployed to the east.
However, the villagers walked their path as if they couldn't hear the warning.
One guard threatened them with a spear, but it was impossible to stop those who moved forward even when their chest clothes were torn by the spear tip.
Eventually, they held their spears horizontally and blocked those advancing recklessly.
"Stop! Can't you hear! I said stop! Go back!"
"You can't go beyond here!"
However, it was too much for just two people to block eight to nearly ten people.
One of the guards, who was barely pushing back those desperately trying to invade the wasteland, shouted.
"There should be other guard units nearby, call them at least! Have all these people gone mad-"
Before he could continue saying "why are they acting like this."
They suddenly felt a chilling sensation. Minute vibrations were occurring underfoot.
The vibrations grew larger. As if something underground was running toward them.
Loud scratching sounds annoyingly clung to their ears.
And when they instinctively realized something had stopped right below.
-Burst!
"Aaahhh!"
They were black bugs. No, that was the only way to think of them.
Their sizes varied from those as small as an adult man's torso to those as thick as several logs combined.
Dirt fell from their pitch-black bodies, obscuring people's vision. One of the guards screamed.
"Wh-what, what is it!"
It had no legs, but transparent small antennae protruded from its back.
The creature, waving its antennae, bit the head of the nearest guard and raised its head.
Seeing his comrade being sucked into the bug's body as if sliding, the remaining guard screamed madly, threw his spear, and began fleeing toward the camp.
Other bugs followed behind him.
The bugs crawling noisily while raising dust clouds seemed somehow very energetic.
Inside the belly of the bug remaining at that spot, a human writhed and convulsed.
But this didn't last long either, and the bug spat out its fully consumed prey from its rear end.
-Gulp, gulp. Brrrup.
The guard who popped out wrapped in transparent white mucus was in a fainted state with his eyes open.
The bug that finished excreting the waste began chasing after its group heading toward the utopia overflowing with fresh prey.
That dawn,
News was delivered to the royal palace that 'bugs from the wasteland' had attacked and neutralized the 1st Banner.
In addition, reports were also delivered about 'beings beyond the veil' that were absolutely unreachable, and terrible hybrids mixing insects, crustaceans, and humans.
Though soldiers were desperately blocking demons pouring out from somewhere in the wasteland,
It was a problem that could only be solved by closing the fundamental issue - the seal of Acheron's founding Emperor, the Leng Plateau.
Rumors about the ominous star and Leng Plateau spread to eastern lords with territories there, kingdom citizens attempting evacuation, and even people from other regions.
Accordingly, the 3rd Prince requested to personally sacrifice himself for Aquilonia and close the Leng Plateau, just as the 'teacher of the great Grand Mage Eibon' had prophesied.
The royal family had no choice but to approve the 3rd Prince's tearful petition.
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