To My Beloved, I Present My Exquisite Nightmare - Chapter 35

The one who called Eustar was a man named Galen Tot.

He was short but had a sturdy build, and was in charge of overseeing the members when problems arose near the capital while Eustar was absent. In other words, he was something like Eustar’s adjutant.

“What’s the matter, Galen?”

“There’s something you need to confirm. It was transmitted from Adiak.”

Eustar slightly furrowed his brow as if pondering something.

“Is it urgent?”

“It seems so.”

A sigh escaped him unconsciously. His feet, which were about to head to Laila’s room just moments ago, suddenly felt as heavy as if weights were attached to them.

He would have to see her either way, but it would have been better if they could have dinner together…

Lost in thoughts uncharacteristic of him, Eustar suddenly raised his head. His expression was bewildered, as if someone had snapped a taut rubber band against his back.

“Lord Eustar?”

Galen looked at him with a questioning gaze. He had known Eustar for a long time, but this was the first time he had seen him look so dumbfounded.

Eustar shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing. Things seem to be off to a rocky start from the beginning.”

“What… do you mean by ‘rocky start’?”

“I mean not being able to have dinner together.”

It was an increasingly incomprehensible soliloquy for Galen. Eustar clapped both palms against his cheeks and said to Galen,

“Go and bring Lady Laila Kristrad. She needs to come along. She’ll be in Amberdew.”

Amberdew was the name of the place where Laila was staying, with rooms and bedrooms decorated with amber. As Galen nodded, Eustar immediately headed towards the annex where the Sercita headquarters was located.

“I’ll go ahead and check things out, so bring her right away.”

“Understood.”

Galen hurried off in the direction of Amberdew.

Eustar crossed the causeway and entered the annex used as the Sercita headquarters, barely acknowledging the greetings from the members as he powered up the machine used for inter-branch communication.

As power was supplied, the lower part of the machine made a humming sound and trembled faintly. Then, with a heavy sound like the sea suddenly boiling over, an ash-colored hexahedron appeared in what seemed to be an empty space.

A voice flowed out from its edges along with a faint light. It was a kind and gentle voice, tinged with a hint of melancholy.

—Your Royal Highness, I hope you are well. This is Marnak. I cannot express how relieved I was to hear that you have returned safely. May the goddess Sercita bless Your Royal Highness’s steps. The reason for transmitting this voice message is due to a sink that has appeared here. Its grade is 1 or 2, which is ordinary, but it seems to have a very strong influence regardless of its size. I would like you to come and examine it personally.

There was a sound like a thread snapping. At the same time, the light of the hexahedron floating in the air disappeared, and soon the hexahedron itself turned to dust and vanished without a trace.

This machine, like other machines used in Tentinella, was a kind of magical device based on magic.

‘Although magicians call it a ‘pile of scrap metal’.’

Eustar inwardly chuckled as he cut off the power to the machine.

“What’s the matter?”

Laila’s voice was heard. Eustar turned his head, gave her a faint smile, and then gestured with his chin towards a small room that members used as a sort of lounge.

“Go change your clothes and come back, Laila. I’ve prepared something that will fit you perfectly.”

Laila did as Eustar instructed without saying much. She had become somewhat accustomed to matters related to Tentinella by now.

Once she had grasped the rules and methods of movement, it didn’t feel so unfamiliar. It was an adaptation so quick that even Laila herself was surprised.

‘That’s at least fortunate. At least I’ve gotten used to this job.’

Laila thought.

Opening the door and entering, a spacious table and somewhat cluttered interior greeted her. Perhaps because it was a space used by multiple people, it felt more lived-in than any other place she had seen in the palace so far.

Swallowing a sudden, vague sense of longing, Laila looked around for the clothes Eustar had mentioned. She spotted a neatly folded uniform on a clean chair.

She completely removed the dress she was wearing and put on the shirt and trousers in order. Although it had been so awkward at first, whether due to her previous experience of wearing it or due to tension, it didn’t feel strange at all now.

She fumbled a bit with the buckles and buttons, but it wasn’t too difficult to tighten the trouser hems just right and attach various pouches to the leather belt.

Thanks to her experience of occasionally roaming the mountains wearing a similar self-made belt during seasons when mushrooms or berries were plentiful while living in Rigicus.

After putting on the jacket and adjusting the chain decorations on the buttons, she gazed at her reflection in the mirror.

From the shirt and trousers to the gloves, not a single item didn’t fit her perfectly. It felt as if the clothes were made solely for Laila—which, unbeknownst to her, was actually the case.

When Eustar saw her come out, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He felt a sense of contentment similar to when first presenting something he had painstakingly prepared to people. He only thought it to himself, fearing Laila might be displeased if he said it out loud, but that was exactly how he felt—neither more nor less.

Feeling Eustar’s gaze, Laila absently fiddled with her nape. She asked,

“Do we have to go somewhere again?”

“That’s right. A voice message was transmitted from Adiak, the 4th branch near the Alsic region.”

The only parts of his statement that Laila properly understood were “That’s right” and “Adiak.”

She had never heard of a region called Alsic, and the talk of a voice message being transmitted was even more incomprehensible. However, Eustar didn’t add any further explanation and continued speaking.

“Although the scale of the sink is said to be not large, I think it would be good for Laila and me to go together and take a look.”

Laila blinked for a moment, then nodded calmly and asked,

“Alright. I understand what’s going on… But where is Alsic?”

“It’s one of the cities in the western part of the kingdom. It’s the largest in that area. It’s a bit far from the capital, but fortunately, we don’t need stepping stones for inter-branch movement. We can move there in one go.”

Stepping stones. Laila repeated the word inwardly.

When Eustar first took her to use a portal, they had to first move to the portal at the 1st branch to come to the palace. It seemed that changing portals once in the middle like that was called a ‘stepping stone’.

Laila asked again. Her tone was like that of a diligent student.

“When you say stepping stones aren’t needed for inter-branch movement, does that mean we can’t move long distances at once when using temporary portals set up externally?”

“That’s correct.”

“Why is that?”

Eustar answered simply.

“It’s due to the difference in condensed magical power. To explain it simply, each branch of Tentinella is installed centered around a place where a considerable amount of magical power is gathered. Magical powers have an attractive force among themselves. Sometimes they repel each other if their natures are completely different… Anyway, these buildings were constructed after all such experiments were completed. Therefore, the portals in the branches can consume a large amount of energy at once. They experience less overload that way.”

Laila nodded. It was, so to speak, a difference in given power from the start.

Eustar’s explanation continued.

“But as you said, the portals installed externally had to artificially accumulate magical power to install the portal in reverse. So if too much energy is used, they get overloaded and break down, explode, or in the worst case, injure the person using the portal. Is this explanation sufficient?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Laila replied in a calmer tone. The anxious, trembling figure sitting on the bed was gone, replaced by an expression of firm resolution.

“Let’s hurry. Galen?”

“I’ll set the coordinates.”

At Galen’s gesture, a member with short, spiky hair prepared to activate the portal.

Laila stood close to Eustar’s side, briefly worrying about motion sickness. More than motion sickness, she really wanted to decline taking another ‘orange’ pill.

“By the way, Eustar.”

Laila looked up at him and said.

“Is it… another case of magical beasts appearing like last time?”

Eustar closed his eyes as if the humming noise was music and calmly shook his head.

“No, Laila. It seems this time it’s your field.”

Laila, immediately understanding his words, tilted her head with a subtle expression.

“Ghosts aren’t exactly… my field though.”

“That’s just a manner of speaking. You handle ghosts, I handle magical beasts and et cetera. I think we make a good pair this way, don’t you?”

Laila didn’t respond to Eustar’s words. But if you looked closely, you could see that her cheekbones were slightly flushed.

The humming noise grew louder. Laila now felt as if the sound was penetrating her skin rather than her ears.

It felt as if invisible walls were closing in from all directions, concentrating the sound more and more towards the center, to a single point…

“It will probably take about three days to resolve the issue in Alsic.”

Strangely, Eustar’s voice was clearly audible. Laila snapped back her consciousness that had been drifting away in a daze.

“It takes that long?”

“Actually, three days is the minimum estimate. We need to investigate the sink from the beginning. And we need to understand what kind of incident it is.”

“But last time in Rigicus, it didn’t…”

Laila’s words were briefly cut off. The humming noise was too loud. She couldn’t even tell if her voice was reaching Eustar.

“…take that long!”

She shouted. The sound! The sound was too loud. The humming sound… No, the humming sound had disappeared at some point. This, this was like a chorus.

It was like a strange chorus of about three hundred people making the same long sound at once… It was terrible. It was a chorus of terribly bad singers. Covering her ears was of no use. It was a sound that penetrated the skin.

“Eustar! Do something about this sound!”

Laila cried out, unable to bear it any longer. But before her words were even finished, she realized that the noise that had seemed like it would never end had stopped as if it were a lie.

Laila’s clear voice echoed as if bouncing off something. At that moment, Laila retched, clutching her stomach.