Chapter 486: A Debriefing on Events in the Raven Kingdom

After confirming that the pillar of light had vanished, our party set off for the Heine Margraviate. When I fully activated my “Search” skill to check, it seemed the Bone Dragon had been defeated successfully.

With that, the Raven Kingdom should finally be able to breathe a little easier. From now on, they would probably focus on rebuilding the country.

I’d like to tell Sister-in-law Daniela about that, but I’m scared she’ll press me with, “How do you even know that?” So I’ll keep quiet. I feel a little guilty about it.

“Julius, what’s beyond the Gate to Paradise?”

“I don’t think there’s anything there. It’s probably just a white void where even your soul gets dismantled and that’s the end.”

“Even the soul… That’s a terrifying place. I wonder why it’s called the Gate to Paradise?”

“Maybe because it’s a quiet world, free of hatred and fear? Of course, there’s probably no joy or fun either.”

When you die, all consciousness and everything else disappears. That’s likely the same for humans and monsters. Unless you reincarnate with your memories intact. Normally, I think even the memories would be dismantled and vanish.

As I was thinking that, it seemed Alex-niisan understood and nodded with his arms crossed.

“I see. In that case, it might really be a paradise.”

“But humans can’t enter the Gate to Paradise.”

Only the dead can pass through the Gate to Paradise. The living can’t enter at all. Whether that’s a form of salvation or something else—I don’t know either.

A few days later, the carriage arrived safely in the Heine Margraviate. We had ended up spending longer in the Raven Kingdom than I expected. I had sent letters, but everyone was probably still worried.

We arrived at the House Heine estate, where the entire family was waiting in front of the mansion.

“Father, Mother, I’ve returned home.”

“Good work. I’ll hear the full story later. You must be tired from the long journey, right?”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

Following Alex-niisan’s lead, Sister-in-law Daniela and I greeted them as well. Unfortunately, Cain-niisan and Sister-in-law Meeka had already left for the royal capital. I had really wanted to see them properly before they returned to the Royal Academy.

“Rosalia, Mira, were you good while I was gone?”

“We were good! We were good, but you came back too late!”

“Kyu, kyu!”

Saying that, the two of them pressed their heads against me. It seemed they were super mad. I did write in my letter that I would be late, but apparently, that wasn’t enough for them.

I took the two of them and headed to the salon.

“Nero, you must be tired too, right? Leave this to the others and go get some rest. Lelie must have been worried as well.”

“Thank you. I’ll do just that.”

After bowing, Nero left the room. The visit to the Raven Kingdom this time had involved the minimum number of people. So the burden on the servants, including Nero, must have been quite heavy. I need to make sure they rest properly. That includes Lionel as well.

While drinking tea in the salon, I listened to what had happened at House Heine while we were away. Apparently, nothing noteworthy had occurred. The only problem came when it became clear that I would not return as scheduled—Sister-in-law Meeka became terribly dejected, and everyone had quite a time cheering her up.

Fabienne had been told when I would return to the House Heine estate, so she had stayed home today out of consideration. She probably assumed there were matters I could not discuss with her, though she did not need to worry.

“Well then, let’s hear Alex’s report next. Most of it was written in the letter, but surely there were things you couldn’t include?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

As Alex-niisan glanced around meaningfully, the servants bowed and exited the salon. He probably didn’t intend to share everything that had happened in the Raven Kingdom, but he seemed ready to share a fair bit of information.

Rosalia isn’t a child forever, after all. It seems they’ve decided it’s time to start treating her as a proper member of the nobility. Perhaps sensing that something serious was starting, Rosalia’s expression turned stiff.

Thus, Alex-niisan’s report began.

“…And that is the current situation in the Raven Kingdom. How much of this has reached you here?”

“Hmm. We received a report that a Bone Dragon appeared and is currently being dealt with. So we immediately sent knights and soldiers to the border. But it seems that was unnecessary.”

“I’m glad it turned out to be unnecessary. When we first heard from the capital, I was seriously thinking about calling you all back immediately.”

“I’m sorry for causing you worry.”

I was sure House Heine had received more detailed reports than the kingdom at large. The Crown had taken action too, but apparently no one had noticed our involvement. That made sense—we had acted independently, after all.

“Princess Daniela, it might be best for you to report to His Majesty as well.”

“You’re right. I suppose I should. But… I’m not sure how much I ought to tell him…”

“There’s no need to worry about that. I’ll take full responsibility and report to His Majesty myself. That way, there won’t be any suspicions.”

She was probably right. The Holy Sword, the Legendary Armour and the full recovery potion were all highly classified matters. We might even be summoned to the royal capital. I doubted even Sister-in-law Daniela had expected things to turn out this way.

…And I was the cause of all those “things,” by the way. There was no “maybe” about it—it was definitely my fault. Looking only at the result, we had contained the situation before it became a major crisis, but when I examined what I had actually done, it was all rather outrageous.

If Sister-in-law Daniela was going to reward me, I would like her to pretend none of this had ever happened. Though… that was probably too much to hope for.