Chapter 8

Meanwhile, at the Ardeena Duke’s residence.

On the third day after Rosana left with the expedition, the Duke of Ardeena returned to the estate. During those three days, he had surrounded himself only with people who suited him, spending his time intoxicated by drugs and indulging in pleasure.

The head butler bowed his head before the Duke of Ardeena, who had returned looking exhausted.

“Your Grace, welcome back.”

The door to the Duke’s study opened for the first time in three days. As the butler watched the Duke’s back, he nervously bit his lip, unable to hide his anxiety.

“What is this?!”

The Duke’s roar echoed throughout the entire estate.

It had been three days since the safe in his study had been brutally broken into. The Ardeena household had tried to cover it up and pretend nothing had happened, but now the hammer of the Duke’s fury was about to come down.

“Head Butler! Where are you?! Gather every damn person in this house! Find out who did this right now!!”

The head butler squeezed his eyes shut.

It wasn’t only the safe in the study that had been robbed. The Duke’s reason had also completely collapsed under the influence of the drugs.

His face was flushed red, his pupils were unnaturally dilated, and the smell of drugs clung heavily to his disheveled hair.

“Head Butler!”

The butler, who had been grabbed by the collar, bowed his head.

“It was you, wasn’t it?! How dare you touch my safe!”

The Duke demanded, his eyes burning with rage.

Only the Duke and the head butler knew the combination to the safe in the study. Seeing the safe crushed open and its entire contents exposed, the Duke completely lost control.

“I-I swear it wasn’t me! Your Grace, I’ve served you loyally for thirty years! Please believe me! How could I ever dare to do such a thing?!”

The butler fell to his knees.

“Call the captain of the guards! Seal off the estate and investigate every single person!”

The head butler, who had been sprawled on the floor, scrambled to his feet and rushed out.

His desperate voice calling for the captain of the household guards echoed through the estate.

The Duke glared around and began checking every room himself.

His bedroom, the reception room, even the dressing room.

The jewelry that was supposed to be in the dressing room was all gone as well.

“AAARGH!”

Those were things the Duke had treasured throughout his entire life.

The Duke of Ardeena believed that only extravagant luxuries could display the dignity and status of the ducal family.

Now everything he had taken pride in was gone.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been stripped naked.

“Rosana! Where is that damn girl?!”

The Duke shouted in a fit of rage.

The Duke of Ardeena believed that every misfortune that happened to him had originated from Rosana.

He believed that his wife had died because of Rosana, and that darkness had descended upon the Ardeena ducal family ever since.

“L-Lady Rosana has already left, Your Grace. She joined the expedition…”

“Hah!”

The Duke ground his teeth.

He could feel every muscle in his body tensing.

There was no one to vent his anger on.

Rosana, who had always endured his anger and violence, had already left on the expedition.

The Duke asked in a sinister voice.

“Gather everyone. Don’t leave out even a single ant.”

The Duke’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

His orders spread throughout the entire estate.

Before long, the spacious lobby was filled with people.

The Duke of Ardeena coldly looked them over.

Every single one of them had terrified expressions.

“Who did it? Who dared to touch Ardeena’s property?”

Everyone held their breath.

But no one stepped forward.

“Fine. Search everything! Tear apart every room! I don’t care whose room it is! Whoever gets caught will not escape death! I’ll cut off the head of whoever dared to disgrace House Ardeena and display it for everyone to see!”

A massive search began.

They searched the servants’ rooms, the stables, the storage rooms, and even dug up the soil in the garden.

Of course, despite all that, they found no culprit.

Not a single one of the stolen treasures was recovered.

The Duke of Ardeena even sent people into the markets.

But it was another week before he discovered where the jewelry he desperately wanted to find had gone.

It had entered the market through the black market.

Anyone who tried to trace its origins all the way to the source tended to meet an unpleasant end.

And so, the Duke of Ardeena lost all hope of ever recovering his treasures.

For some time, the Duke of Ardeena’s screams practically took over the capital.

Of course, none of those screams reached Rosana’s ears as she traveled north.

Meanwhile, at that very moment.

We were steadily traveling north toward our first destination, Greystone.

Every day, we marched from early morning until sunset, set up camp, and then departed again at dawn the next day.

And now, according to our assigned groups, we were taking turns standing watch at night.

Even the young ladies and children who had complained at the beginning about how difficult it was to walk and begged to be sent home had gradually become quieter.

Their tears had dried up, and they had closed their mouths as though they were finally accepting reality.

The combat personnel and non-combat personnel were clearly divided.

The combat personnel repeatedly trained and prepared themselves for the struggle to survive, while the non-combat personnel were basically left alone.

To be honest, I understood Kael’s decision.

There was a limit to how many soldiers he could train with limited time, limited manpower, and limited resources.

To fight monsters, he needed people with exceptional abilities.

It made more sense to concentrate their resources on those people to increase their chances of winning.

I couldn’t help sighing.

“Tsk, tsk.”

I could understand how Kael felt, too…

How was he supposed to fight monsters while dragging people like these around?

Honestly, I was impressed that he hadn’t abandoned them yet.

There was only one reason Kael couldn’t leave them behind.

They had come here as representatives of their respective families.

They were obligated to stay with the expedition until it ended, or until the moment they died, and to prove and leave a record that they had accompanied it on behalf of their families.

If they were removed from the expedition without fulfilling that duty, their families would be branded as traitors.

That was something none of those families wanted.

Most of the people here had probably been paid to take the place of someone else.

If they were abandoned or gave up, their precious family members or loved ones might be killed, or they might have to pay an even greater price.

Kael knew that as well, which was why he was trying to somehow lead them all forward.

It had been such an unbearably frustrating part of the novel.

And it was just as frustrating to see it in person.

And I was also one of those “useless non-combat personnel.”

I had been doing small amounts of training throughout the journey to gradually recover my combat instincts, but I didn’t think they’d fully return until I actually experienced real combat.

At least there was one thing to be thankful for.

My physical strength wasn’t as terrible as it had been when I first possessed Rosana’s body.

Lately, I had found myself a training partner to accompany me.

“Vanessa! Get up! We need to exercise before we leave!”

Vanessa groaned from inside her sleeping bag.

“Ugh… Rosana… Can’t I rest just for today…?”

“You said that yesterday, too.”

“…I couldn’t rest yesterday either. You wouldn’t let me, Rosana.”

Vanessa raised her head with tears in her eyes.

This young lady, who had been crying constantly since the beginning of the expedition, had one fatal problem.

She couldn’t run.

Just like most noble ladies.

They considered walking for thirty minutes a day to be plenty of exercise.

Their only real form of exercise was taking tiny steps in small, uncomfortable shoes.

For people like that, an expedition requiring them to march dozens of kilometers was unbearable.

It was no different from the condition Rosana’s body had been in when I first possessed it.

So of course these marches felt like torture.

There had been many times when I had practically dragged Vanessa along because she could barely shuffle forward.

“I really… feel like I’m going to die just from walking all day… My feet are covered in blisters…”

“That’s exactly why you need to exercise more. Do you want to get torn apart by a monster’s teeth? You need to at least know how to run away, Vanessa.”

I gently pulled on her sleeping bag, and Vanessa got up, trembling.

“I’m more afraid of Rosana than I am of monster teeth now…”

That was only because she hadn’t encountered a monster yet.

Thanks to the fact that we still hadn’t met any monsters, some of the expedition members had even started believing that monsters were nothing more than a fantasy.

Just another form of escaping reality, I guess.