/
Episode 80: Letters and Headlines
「I am writing this letter from the northern border of El Dorado.
I haven’t been able to tell you.
I had to go on a short trip to fulfill the mission of the Beast Subjugation Team under the orders of the Imperial Family.」
‘Ah, you weren’t in Bayonaire.’
Contrary to what I expected, Larva had returned to being El Dorado’s excellent protective shield, the Beast Subjugation Team, and had left this place.
―That was in the far northern part.
I had heard of the northern border before.
It was said that the mountains were rugged and infested with life-threatening beasts.
Even if one used teleport, going to the monster zone in the north itself was a burden.
‘
I’m worried.’
There was no emotion in the print, so I didn’t know how Kyle felt when he had to go there.
Kyle, as usual, put the contents of his message in a friendly and clean cursive style.
He politely requested for me to keep quiet about everything related to ‘Larva’ and ‘The Beast Subjugation Team’.
‘Of course, it’s a secret that has been passed down from generation to generation.’
Trust me, Kyle.
「Thank you for the party invitation.
Thanks to that, the members are all smiling even though subjugating beasts is hard work.
It’s the first time they’ve been invited to such a party, and they all look as excited as puppies on a snowy day.
After quickly subjugating the beasts, we will definitely participate.
Since all of Larva’s actions are kept secret, we will participate in the party as Winston’s ‘Beast Subjugation Team’.
I wish the villagers to know that too.」
I put a hand on my forehead and sighed.
‘
The party, I should do it.’
It’s my first party invitation. Canceling that was the devil’s work.
Besides, I didn’t want to disappoint everyone, who were described to be excited like puppies in the snow.
‘Damn it, I’m going to have to throw a party for everyone but me.’
‘Okay Annette, let’s make a new cake.’
Since this letter was a whopping two pages, I instinctively turned to the next page.
There was something a little different.
「Annette.
It snows here in the north.
It is a cruel land where hordes of beasts haunt, and the crops do not grow due to the cold.
Only the night scenery is beautiful.
There are countless stars in the sky,
A blizzard blows like flowers in the vast snowfield.
I think of you here.
Whenever the night sky is beautiful, the wind blows by, and the white snowfield has no end, I hear the howling of a snow wolf in the distance—
I think of you.
You are everything these days.
I miss you.
Sincerely, in the north,
Kyle Winston.」
The last page was read in his voice.
I thought I couldn’t see emotions through print.
That wasn’t true.
Truly, I could feel how carefully he used the word ‘I miss you’.
I imagined him setting up a camp tent in the white snow and relying on the light of the bonfires to write this letter.
The letter smelled of a blizzard.
I smiled naturally.
‘Hmm, a letter from a poetically handsome man with sincerity.’
“Not bad.”
As I said that, I eventually laughed.
I put the letter down and picked up the eggs and cookware.
Somehow, I gained the strength to make a cake again.
“Okay, let’s make something very tasty.”
He must be going through a lot right now.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
The northern monster zone.
Snow falling in piles on the sheer mountain range.
Among the monsters, only very powerful ones would come out here.
Kyle and the Beast Subjugation Team searched this area all night long.
The target was the beast ‘Griffin’.
In some countries, griffins were considered mythical or sacred animals, but not in El Dorado.
The griffins here could not fight their hunger and would eat people.
Poof, poof.
The snow fell to the knees.
The sunlight, on the other hand, was bright and reflected off the snow field, making the eyes quite tired.
It was a forced march in many ways. Since yesterday.
“F*ck, at this point, at least a griffin’s tail should show up.”
“
Surely now is the time for it to look at us, nodding its chicken head.”
“#19 is going to freeze.”
The other members of the Beast Subjugation Team, including #19, were stunned.
They couldn’t believe they hadn’t seen a single one all night.
Kyle said.
“—Pause for a moment.”
He took off the helmet he was wearing. His brown hair, like a field of wheat, flowed down softly.
The other members also followed the ‘leader’.
‘Larva’ and ‘Kine’ were not here.
Unlike Larva, who always wore masks and cloaks and gave fear to everyone, the Beast Subjugation Team exposed their faces freely and wore the official battle uniforms bestowed by the imperial family.
They were officially called <Winston’s Shield>.
Although it was a warrior group with both nobles and mercenaries, they all rolled together on the battlefield and worked together in the dark guild.
For example, while wearing this mature and stylish ‘combat suit’

“I need to get rid of the griffin quickly and prepare for the party~ I have to attend Miss Annette’s party! If you notice, come out, you bastard!”

And when they were making a fuss.
One of the ghastly faces behaved like Cinderella who couldn’t make it to the party and was furious (his face was more like the pumpkin carriage).
The one-eyed man who was at the forefront with Kyle asked,
“Master, isn’t something strange?”
“

.”
Kyle looked in the direction of the wind. His hair was fluttering in waves, and his field of vision was wide.
He stared at the quiet end of the snowy field for a moment.
Soon, he broke his silence, opening his mouth.
“It’s certainly strange. We will stop our search here and return.”
“

!”
It was a bomb-like declaration.
Everyone widened their eyes.
“Still, it’s an order from the imperial family, shouldn’t we have to catch something?”
It was then.
Kyle pulled out the sword of the one-eyed subordinate standing next to him and thrust it down strongly in the middle of the snowy field.
Gwyaaaaak!
At the same time, what they thought was a ‘snowy field’ stood up screaming.
Red jaws opened wide towards them.
“

!!!”
At the roaring cry, the sky and the earth shook as if there was a landslide.
Without blinking and with lightning-like reflexes, Kyle pulled out his shotgun and fired exactly one shot.
His one shot never missed.
Thud!
The beast, whose head was punctured by the shot, fell to the floor without making a sound.
The snowfield was stained with crimson blood.
Wiping the remains of death from his cheek, Kyle ordered,
“Report this to the imperial family. And tell them that there are no traces of griffins here.”
“Yes, Master.”
One-eyed reply quickly and neatly explained to the puzzled members.
“Did you see the ‘Balax’ that the Master just caught? As you know, they are prey for griffins. The fact that they’re still here means this is not the griffin’s habitat in the first place.”
The Beast Subjugation Team of <Winston’s Shield> led by Kyle were veterans who had mastered the pursuit of magical beasts.
There was a greater probability that the beast was not here than the probability that they could not find any traces.
The chubby man who was listening seriously asked,
“Then did something go wrong in the imperial household, Master?”
“Go wrong
”
Kyle’s eyes darkened.
Well, an out-of-pattern ‘mistake’ needed to be noticed.
It’s never been like this before.
Kyle withdrew from the north and gave orders to One-eye.
“Find out who in the imperial household ordered this dispatch.”
“Yes.”
Dark green eyes sank as deep as a swamp.
“Which bastard is joking around.”
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Deep into the night.
I was filling the cake with cream and putting strawberries on for decoration.
‘Is it a little small?’
The cake I made the second time was a little smaller than the cake I made the first time.
It was because the energy I had when I made the first didn’t come out.
‘
Like this, if you make it a third time, won’t it be only as big as a booger?’
Well, that’s not going to happen.
Anyway, the main thing was not the cake, so it was okay even if it was a little small.
On that day, not only would all the breads and desserts of <Little Bakery> come out, but Miss Anais from the butcher would take care of the meat, and Mr. Jake from the greengrocery market decided to prepare fruits.
Of course, there would be plenty of alcohol.
‘Whoa, it’s going to be a bountiful party.’
Even though it was a party to celebrate my ruin, I was excited while preparing.
“Mhm, potatoes should be kept in a suitable place so they don’t sprout.”
I would make potato soup for the soup of the day. I thought for a way to keep it as fresh as possible lest there might be any sprouts.
‘Newspapers are perfect for storing potatoes!’
I brought the <World Daily>.
‘
Last time I saw this, I was very surprised.’
I glared at the headlines.
Then I tore off the ‘Sislin’ article that surprised me without hesitation and wrapped the potatoes with it(a little bit of personal emotion was mixed in).
‘Not enough.’
And was when I was about to tear off the next page.
Another crazy headline was brazenly set on it.
「Grand Duke Heinrich, the next Tower Lord, put a bounty of 5.8 trillion gold for the sister he lost when he was young.」
What? Burning 5.8 trillion gold at once to look for me? Who did such a crazy thing?!
—It was Heinrich.