■ a few moments later □
A week later.
Every day, I reported to the construction site and mechanically extracted bricks, and finally, we had prepared enough to rebuild the castle wall.
In truth, there was a limit to the number of bricks Dorothea and I could make alone, so from halfway through, we received help from the soldiers.
We would create large amounts of clay, then the soldiers would mix in straw and shape them, and we’d dry them all at once for mass production.
Anyway, with a large quantity of bricks prepared, it took no time at all to build a new castle wall on the south side of the fortress.
This was because we had three thousand free laborers at our disposal.
Just as when Two Stars coughs and mountains move, when Dorothea—the commander-in-chief, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the unit’s mascot—gave her orders, a castle wall appeared overnight where none had been before.
Perhaps because they were from the Demon Tribe and tougher than humans, they worked tirelessly day and night without sleeping, which was truly impressive.
As I inspected the newly completed castle walls alongside Dorothea, I muttered under my breath in admiration of their sturdy craftsmanship.
“With this, is everything done?”
At that, Dorothea reprimanded me from beside me.
“We haven’t imbued it with magic yet.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
I almost forgot.
“Just roughly applying Fixation Magic, enhancing defense, and adding elemental resistances should be enough, right?”
Dorothea nodded and brushed the castle wall with her hand.
“If you and I imbue it, even just that much will make it resistant to most magic.”
Though there was no need to put in an excessive amount of effort, neither was it something to rush through.
The end result of shoddy work is never good, as I had seen many times in the news during my past life.
Once the inspection of the castle walls was over, and I returned to Eva who was waiting below, she bowed slightly and reported to Dorothea.
“I have prepared rooster blood and a large quantity of magic stones as you commanded.”
“Good.”
Dorothea, satisfied, nodded and glanced sideways at me.
“Caldlasth, how much do you know about witches’ rituals?”
“I know what others know. I understand why you’re asking, but I’m completely unfamiliar with that field.”
“Hmm? Even the great wizard doesn’t know everything, it seems.”
“I’ve always said I don’t like reading books.”
With that mutter, Dorothea smiled contentedly and instructed us to step back a moment.
When Eva and I made eye contact, we reflexively raised our hands in greeting.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“So have you, Eva.”
By the way, Eva only learned a few days ago that I am the mage of the Hero Party, Caldlasth.
It probably should have remained a secret, but since Dorothea said she was trustworthy, we decided to reveal it.
“Where did Camilla go?”
“She briefly went back to her quarters. She mentioned she left something behind.”
“Is that so?”
While keeping my eyes fixed on Dorothea as she drew a magic circle, I idly chatted with Eva, who had some spare time.
Finally, Dorothea turned around proudly, chest puffed out.
“Behold! This is a magic circle containing the essence of ancient location crafting!”
What Dorothea had drawn on the castle wall with rooster blood was a massive hexagram magic circle.
Seeing the four elements—Earth (Terra), Water (Aqua), Wind (Ventus), and Fire (Ignis)—written in ancient language at the four corners of the circle, it was clear this was a rather old technique.
The concept itself has existed for a very long time, so it wasn’t strange that witches might have adapted it for their own magic.
Anyway, since there was nothing particularly wrong with the magic circle itself, I applauded her work.
“Hmph! That goes without saying!”
Then, an even more smug Dorothea placed a magic stone at each point of the hexagram drawn within the magic circle.
Magic stones are commonly used as mana batteries, but their properties can also store spells.
In this case, they intended to use them for the latter purpose.
The previously transparent crystals instantly turned red, resembling her hair, as Dorothea’s magical power was absorbed into the magic stones.
Watching this scene, I asked,
“About half-and-half between you and me should be fine, right?”
Dorothea nodded and pointed to three of the points below.
“Fire fuels wind.”
According to the theory of the four elements, just as water and fire oppose each other, fire becomes stronger when combined with wind.
After each of us contributed an appropriate amount of magical power to three points each, placing the magic stones at the points of the hexagram would complete all preparations.
As I stepped back a few steps to observe the situation, the engraved magic circle began to emit a soft glow.
Soon, I could feel the mana, equally mixed with mine and Dorothea’s magical power, spreading widely across the entire castle wall.
With that, the completion of the castle wall was entirely finished.
Wiping her hands, Dorothea approached me and asked Eva, who stood beside me,
“Eva, what’s left on today’s schedule?”
Eva then pulled out a notebook from her bosom and carefully checked the list.
“Thanks to your efforts earlier, there’s nothing else scheduled for the afternoon.”
“Is that so?”
Dorothea, oddly cheerful, glanced at me and said,
“Now that the castle wall is complete, how about celebrating with a drink tonight?”
“You’re suggesting drinking again?”
I knew Dorothea was a lover of alcohol, but the frequency was quite high.
It was already the third time this week.
Actually, drinking itself wasn’t an issue; the problem was that getting drunk seemed to trigger some sort of heat switch in Dorothea, causing her to become overly aggressive.
If I let my guard down, the entire day would end up being wasted.
It was hard to believe that Dorothea, who was still a virgin just a week ago, had become such a promiscuous woman.
…So, do you dislike lewd women?
No, I actually find them quite appealing.
“What’s on the menu tonight?”
“Hehe. Yesterday, Toto brought back a huge deer from the forest.”
“In that case, there’s no way I’m missing it.”
I walked towards the office with Dorothea, chatting casually.[[#]]”…Looks like we ended up doing it again today.”
After every bout of rolling around in bed, a sense of lethargy always follows.
This feeling of exhaustion differs from mana depletion but shares a similarity in the disappearance of all motivation.
After taking a quick glance around the messy bed, I reluctantly got up, gathered my clothes, and dressed to tidy things up a bit.
I separated the empty and unopened bottles of alcohol to either side, and covered the leftover meat with a tray.
Since the area around the bed would inevitably get dirty again, I decided to leave it as is.
Anyway, while making a full round of the office cleaning, my eyes caught the map of the entire eastern front hanging on the wall.
Since this place was originally used as the Male Lord of Hamburg’s bedroom, the cartographic method was fairly precise.
“Hmm.”
Factually, although we had captured the strategically most important Hamburg Fortress, this single victory did not mean we controlled the entire eastern front.
Humans were still thinly spread out, fighting against the Demon Tribe army, and the accumulated damage would be significant.
Even if it seemed like we were winning immediately, the tide could turn at any moment.
Considering this, it seemed best to keep all options open.
‘The best method would be to assassinate the Male Lord of Hamburg and incite an internal conflict over succession…’
Rachel von Hamburg, designated by the Male Lord as his heir, is currently in an uncertain state of life or death.
She is technically imprisoned in the Demon King’s Castle dungeons, but there’s no way they know that over there.
For those secretly coveting the head of the family position, the absence of the heir and the sudden death of the Male Lord would present an unparalleled opportunity.
All we need to do is sit back and watch the Hamburg family fight among themselves, then simply jump in when the time is right.
Thinking about it this way, it seemed like a worthwhile plan.
‘Then the problem becomes how to assassinate the Male Lord…’
During the last battle, there were too many guards to interfere, but with proper planning, it might be possible this time.
I pulled out a letter I carried with me daily.
This was a letter personally written by Rachel von Hamburg during our last visit to the underground dungeon.
Although it annoyed me that she had hidden a secret code in the letter, at that point, the original purpose had already been achieved.
Because what I truly wanted wasn’t Rachel’s letter but her handwriting.
「To Father, who resides in our hometown.
(Excerpt)
Your loving daughter, Rachel von Hamburg.」
Right now, I possess a letter that removes the cipher from the one she wrote last time and reproduces it exactly, without a single error.
Depending on how it’s used, this could be an ace up my sleeve.
Since it could potentially overturn the stalemate of the war if the Male Lord falls for the letter’s deception.
I don’t know what decision Dorothea will make in the future.
But if the moment comes when this letter is needed, I intend to use it without hesitation.
Thinking this, I covered the sleeping Dorothea, who was sprawled out on her back snoring softly, with a blanket and gave her forehead a light kiss.
Looking at her cute sleeping face now, compared to how I once thought of her as merely a bratty kid, makes me realize how scary infatuation can be.
“Sleep well.”
I murmured these words and turned off the bedroom light before leaving.[[#]
“……”
Dorothea, who opened her eyes stealthily in the dark, blushed furiously and squirmed in embarrassment.
