Leathervelk was in a state of ergency.
It was true that the dream sand had disappeared and the current situation had ended, but the damage remained intact.
Many people who had fallen asleep had awakened, but the number of those who hadn't woken up was also significant.
At first, there was joy at being alive, but soon the city beca heavy with the sorrow of losing loved ones.
"Well, this is quite troubleso."
First Princess Eileen, who had entered the mayor's office of Leathervelk, clicked her tongue at the endless pile of docunts stacking up.
Less than a day had passed since the end of the crisis, yet the number of reports coming in already filled one corner of the large room.
This was evidence of how serious the incident had been.
'We're releasing as much relief supplies as possible, but...'
Perhaps because sothing so terrible had happened, the city was in utter chaos.
Even though people had awakened from the dream, many failed to recognize reality.
There were over hundreds of incidents where people had caused disturbances, muttering that they were still in a dream and needed to wake up.
Violence and looting broke out everywhere, and citizens cowered in extre fear.
Outside, the garrison, police, and knights were trying to maintain public order, but manpower was insufficient.
It was realistically impossible to completely handle everything happening sporadically throughout the city.
Even the usually sedentary mayor had gone outside with his people to reassure citizens—that's how bad things were.
Of course, part of the reason the mayor had gone out was also because he felt uncomfortable being in this place with First Princess Eileen.
'There's a surprisingly quiet district, though.'
Eileen thought this as she looked at the map of Leathervelk that filled one wall of the mayor's office.
The map was covered with red pins, all marking incidents of violence that had recently occurred in the city.
Perhaps only the most serious cases were marked with those pins; if all minor incidents were included, the entire map would have been dyed red and then so.
However, there was one area of the map where fewer red pins were stuck.
'That's the street we went to that day.'
Royal Street used to be an abandoned district where poor people lived, but it had changed after an unidentified wealthy person invested money in it.
The redevelopnt had eliminated the district's poor security and filth, replacing it with the wealthiest street in Leathervelk City.
"Co to think of it, I wonder what that man is doing now."
Since he's a teacher at Theon, he must have his own set of things to deal with.
As she was thinking this, Eileen cast her gaze toward the door of the mayor's office.
"Enter."
With a natural command, the door opened and soone ca in.
"The Princess's sword, Pasius, has returned after completing your orders."
"There are no eyes watching, so why stand on ceremony? Act as usual."
"Haha. Right? I find this more comfortable too. However, it doesn't hurt to be careful in case there might be listening ears."
"Listening ears..."
Eileen's eyes sharpened.
"How did it go?"
"Bretus Holy Nation has made its move. Soon, a delegation will enter this city."
"What's the scale?"
"The largest ever. I received news that the vanguard has already crossed the border. I expect they'll arrive soon."
"Yes. It had to be. How long has it been since the last demon-related incident occurred, and now this happens again? Those bastards couldn't miss such an opportunity."
While speaking, Eileen continued to scan through docunts without pause.
Pasius watched her and gave a bitter smile.
'She doesn't have to handle this personally; subordinates could take care of everything.'
That's how royalty operates.
Just a flick of a finger, and people take care of everything.
That's what power is.
But Eileen was different. Whether it was stubbornness or conviction, she tried to handle everything with her own hands.
'Probably because she once felt powerless.'
When there was no one around, she had been in danger due to a military coup.
If it hadn't been for Rudger that day, the Exilion Empire would have been renad by now.
The shock of that day was still deeply engraved in Eileen's bones.
The feeling of powerlessness when, despite having excellent eyes and intellect, she lacked suitable hands and feet to match.
Perhaps because of that mory, Eileen detested staying idle, no matter what.
Even now she was organizing docunts, but until just a mont ago, she had been inspecting the surroundings and giving instructions to officials.
But that didn't an Eileen handled everything herself.
'Her skill at directing people is remarkable.'
Eileen has an excellent eye for talent.
She could tell roughly how skilled a person was and how capable they were of performing tasks just by looking at them.
It was common to assign less work than soone's ability or to give work beyond their given capability.
But Eileen assigned tasks precisely matching the maximum capacity of the person.
There was no room to complain that a task was impossible or to find it burdenso.
Eileen's judgnt was almost always accurate.
In fact, Pasius had never seen First Princess Eileen fail in that regard.
At least not that he knew of.
Eileen could squeeze the last drop of ink from a dried squid.
That's why even he was going through all sorts of hardships now as a guard knight.
'But I knew what kind of person she was and still chose to follow her.'
Pasius shook his head as if to say it couldn't be helped.
"By the way, there are many witnesses to this incident, so it seems impossible to prevent rumors from spreading."
"You an the dream demon. When thousands of people all say the sa thing, it must be true. It's certainly grounds for Bretus Holy Nation to take action. What about the Leathervelk parish people?"
"I've been closely monitoring their movents, but they're staying put for now."
"Staying put?"
Eileen stroked her chin suspiciously.
"That's a bit strange. High Priestess Lamia is in this city right now. Considering her position in the Holy Nation, I would have expected her to take action imdiately."
"Perhaps they think they're at a disadvantage and are waiting for reinforcents. After all, Commander Luther and Grand Magician Clinton are also in this city right now."
"Yes. That might be it. But it still feels fishy."
At that mont, there was a knock on the door.
When Eileen gave permission to enter, one of the guards ca in with a puzzled expression.
The guard imdiately prostrated himself before Eileen and lowered his head.
"What is it?"
"Th-that is..."
"Don't beat around the bush. Speak directly."
"H-High Priestess Lamia... has co to see Your Highness."
"The High Priestess?"
Pasius was surprised by those words.
At least until just a mont ago, as far as he knew, the Lunsis Order's Leathervelk branch hadn't shown any movent.
They had also been caught up in this incident and suffered no small number of casualties, so they were busy recovering from that.
And now High Priestess Lamia was making a move?
"How many ca?"
To Pasius' question, the guard answered in a trembling voice as if he couldn't believe it himself.
"S-she ca alone."
"What? A person of High Priestess rank ca alone, without anyone accompanying her?"
The High Priestess held a high position within the Bretus Holy Nation.
Naturally, shadows would follow her wherever she went.
And those shadows weren't just a few servants, but a force composed of high priests and holy knights.
Eileen's mind also raced with thoughts.
'What is this? Did she sneak out? Or did she dismiss her people to lower our guard?'
Whatever the case, there was no point in pondering here, so Eileen said to the guard:
"Bring her in. We cannot keep an esteed guest waiting."
"Yes!"
A mont later, High Priest Lamia entered the mayor's office, guided by the guard.
"Oh my."
Wearing a tiara over her eyes, she was still smiling brightly and innocently like a princess from a fairy tale who knew nothing of the world.
Eileen did not like Lamia's smile.
She couldn't tell whether it was intentional or if she genuinely behaved that way.
At least, it was clear that she stood at the opposite end of the spectrum from the cold, intellectual Eileen.
"It's nice to see you again."
"Given the circumstances, let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to your business."
Eileen pressured Lamia by exuding an intense aura.
However, Lamia's smile didn't crack in the slightest.
"I ca to make you a good proposal."
"A good proposal. You sound like you're trying to evangelize."
"Huhu. I really an to make a good proposal. As you know, a major incident occurred in the city recently, right?"
"And?"
"Soon, people will be sent from our ho country, and won't that be uncomfortable for Your Highness? So I want to help you."
"It's quite suspicious that you're suddenly offering help."
"Don't be like that. Of course, I'm saying this because I have sothing I want too. Anyway, what will you do? I can't keep blocking them forever, but I think I can buy you so ti at least."
Eileen tapped the table with her finger.
She wondered why Lamia was doing this, but what mattered was calculating what would happen if she accepted her help.
"First, I promise you this. Our Lunsis Order will not violate the rights of the Empire. The situation has grown too large to leave alone, but we don't intend to be coercive."
"But you could be?"
To Eileen's provocation, Lamia simply smiled.
"So what do you want?"
"Just one thing. There's an existence in the city that we're concerned about."
"An existence you're concerned about?"
"Yes. Soone our order has been chasing for a very long ti is hiding in this city. All you need to do is leave us alone to contact that person."
Around the sa ti President Elisa Willow was troubled by the atmosphere inside Theon.
"Haah. It's fortunate that the situation ended safely, but at this rate, the academic schedule has completely gone out the window."
Even saying it ended safely was only referring to the fact that there were no casualties among Theon students.
Right now, outside Theon, Leathervelk was in a funeral-like atmosphere.
The students were also equally shocked by the sudden incident.
It hadn't been that long since a major incident in the capital, and now this happened again.
Moreover, this ti it was an extrely dangerous situation where everyone could have died if sothing had gone slightly wrong.
For now, the students hadn't fallen into panic, partly due to the dreamlike atmosphere of the dream world and the lack of tangible reality.
'Once they realize the reality, what will happen?'
Even so of the teachers, who should have been reassuring the students, were showing symptoms of PTSD.
It was understandable.
Most of them were people who had stayed away from fighting and only studied theory.
These people had just gone through life-or-death battles.
Even though they survived, they couldn't help the chills running down their spines.
'At least so people are holding up well.'
In particular, the changes in Selina and Bruno were remarkable.
The two teachers, who were usually quiet and had low self-esteem, had grown ntally in a way that made them seem like different people after the Dreamland incident.
Not just them, but so other teachers showed similar changes.
'The sa goes for .'
The Dreamland incident hadn't only had negative effects.
But what troubled Elisa was sothing else.
'Teacher Rudger is missing. And with that child Rene.'
Rene was a student that Elisa had been keeping an eye on.
Despite being a commoner, she was morable due to her outstanding beauty and an indescribable charm.
Especially since her magical attribute hadn't been revealed, which also stimulated Elisa's curiosity.
This Rene had disappeared with Rudger.
And they'd left behind a massive magical fluctuation.
'By the ti I regained my senses and went to the forest entrance, all that remained was...'
Just a crater that looked as if sothing had sharply dug it out.
At that mont, there was a knock, and soone ca to the president's office.
"Who is it?"
"Freuden Ulburg."
It was quite an unexpected visitor.
"Co in."
With permission granted, Freuden entered the president's office.
His expression was no different from usual, but Elisa had a feeling that he had made so strong resolution.
"Student Freuden. So why have you co to see ?"
"I have sothing to tell you about the disappearance of Teacher Rudger Chelici and Rene."
"...Don't tell , did you see where the two of them went?"
Freuden nodded.
Elisa realized that sothing extraordinary had happened and clasped her hands together, resting her chin on them.
Her golden eyes glead sharply.
"Tell . What exactly happened?"
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