Chapter 65: Crisis in Luanna

"This year’s Hunting Competition will be held in the northern forest of the palace again," Ephraim announced as Zachary and Lydia ordered something to eat on the fifth floor of Coronet.

The Duke and Sylvain had departed for the Sun Palace early that morning.

Since Lydia was already engaged to the Crown Prince, Ephraim had decided that she didn’t need to accompany them. He would escort her to the palace himself later.

"Just how many Rift monsters are you planning to release into the hunting grounds this year, Ephraim?" Zachary protested around a bite of his sandwich. "Even my father has had a hard time keeping up with Emperor Regulus’s demands."

"The Hunting Competition is an imperial tradition. We can’t simply cancel it because House Ludenberg was having a hard time meeting the quota demand."

"A little trouble?" Zachary raised an eyebrow. "If you want more monsters, perhaps you should command your men at Imperial Elite Sentinels to capture more rift monsters."

"That’s an interesting suggestion. I’ll be sure to consider it."

Their talk reminded Lydia of the discussion between her father and Sylvain this morning.

"Father and Brother Sylvain mentioned unusually high miasma levels in the northern forest. I hope everything is going smoothly."

Meanwhile, Ephraim noticed Zachary’s hand slowly snaking its way toward Lydia’s beneath the table.

Zachary didn’t even bother to hide what he was doing. In fact, he even flashed a knowing smirk at Ephraim.

He did that on purpose!

The Crown Prince’s jaw tightened, but he decided to keep quiet. For now.

"There’s something that I want to show you. Guess that’s why I asked you two to meet me here."

Zachary reached for his bracelet and took out a small, bird-shaped crystal device. He tapped its head, and a large holographic projection appeared on the wall with a soft chime.

The footage showed rows of containment chambers filled with Rift monsters. Some paced restlessly behind their barriers, while others snarled and slammed their bodies against the reinforced walls.

Beyond them stood more chambers than Lydia could count.

"This is a recording from House Ludenberg’s monster captivity facilities," Zachary explained. "As usual, the Emperor tasked us to supply these rift monsters for the Hunting Competition. But most of them were taken from Luanna."

Lydia leaned forward to examine the footage. She had seen similar facilities before, but something about the sheer number of chambers made her uneasy.

"Is this year’s supply larger than usual?" she asked.

"Considerably."

Zachary flicked his finger, bringing up another section of the recording.

The footage shifted to show additional containment areas, each packed with monsters of different sizes and ranks.

Some of them even had to be taken to a special lab to be purified, especially the high-ranking Rift monsters that were heavily polluted with miasma.

Lydia frowned. "The Hunting Competition is supposed to help control the Rift monsters’ population, isn’t it? Why are there so many this year?"

Unlike previous years, the number of monsters was almost twice the usual amount.

Most of the monsters were D- to A-Rank, but Lydia spotted several familiar S-Rank creatures among them.

Her fingers tightened around her fork as she recognized monsters she had encountered in her previous life.

She remembered how dangerous they were. Even high ranked Sentinels had struggled against some of them.

Ephraim let out a quiet sigh. "To think that all of these monsters came from Luanna. I only hope we’ll still make it in time."

"What do you mean, Ephraim?" she asked. "What does Luanna have to do with this?"

"Your brother, Lord Vincent, was recently sent to Luanna for military deployment," Ephraim explained. "However, it would be more accurate to call it a relief mission."

Lydia turned toward him.

Luanna.

The name stirred an unpleasant memory. In her previous life, she had barely heard anything about the neighboring continent.

But she still remembered what had happened to it. Countless Dimensional Rifts had appeared across its territory, overwhelming its defenses until the kingdom was eventually wiped out.

At the time, Lydia had been tasked there to help with some relief mission. But that continent was known for its high ranking Dimensional Rifts.

And that was why it was almost suicidal for someone as weak as Lydia, who was an F-Rank Guide in her previous life.

"Actually, Luanna’s condition was much more serious than we thought. Especially with so many heavily polluted areas and Dimensional Rifts."

"Wait. Don’t tell me they’re about to fall down soon?"

Zachary stabbed a piece of lamb steak with his fork. After exchanging a brief glance with Ephraim, he nodded.

"House Valendorf has been tasked with bringing refugees back from the neighboring kingdom. We can’t just leave their people to die because of the Rift monsters."

Vincent was already in Luanna. Would he make it safely?

Sure, that jerk was annoying, but Lydia didn’t want him to die out there.

After the recording had ended, I was now looking at Zachary.

"Senior, have you found more leads about ’that’ matter? Any progress?"

"Yeah. It seems the rumors were correct. He’s in our country." Zachary leaned back in his chair, his expression turning thoughtful. "Unfortunately, even my men haven’t been able to pinpoint his exact location."

Before Ephraim could ask anything else, a pink figure suddenly popped out of Lydia’s bracelet.

"Maron?"

The little cat immediately trotted toward Zachary and nudged his hand with its head. Its pink tail swished lazily as it was begging for attention.

"Well, hello there, little troublemaker."

He scratched Maron’s head before reaching into his storage space.

Lydia expected him to take out Magic Crystals or Mana Stones, the usual treats that Maron seemed to enjoy. Instead, several floating blue stones appeared above his palm.

Zachary casually tossed them toward the eager cat.

"Wait! Aren’t those Energy Cores, Zachary?!"

"Mm-hm."

"You just gave them to Maron! Aren’t they really expensive?"

"A good girl deserves a treat."

"But, those are Energy Cores!" Lydia repeated, looking between the stones and the cat. "That amount alone would be enough to supply electricity and energy to House Valendorf for an entire year!"

Maron was already happily munched on the floating stones around.

"You’re turning her into a powerhouse, Zachary." Lydia leaned and stroked its fluffy tail.

"Anything for you, my deerling," Zachary replied as he smiled warmly at Lydia.

Even after Ephraim coughed and called him out.

"I knew it. You’ve even called Senior by his name, Lydia."

Zachary gave Ephraim a Cheshire cat’s grin knowingly.

"Don’t get jealous, Golden Boy. You know how special our Guide is." Zachary slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled Lydia closer to his side.

Ephraim immediately reached over and placed a hand on her waist, preventing Zachary from drawing Lydia away.

The two men exchanged a glare over Lydia’s head.

Oh, no.

Not again.

Lydia glanced from one handsome face to the other, then down at the arm around her shoulders and the hand resting on her waist.

"Hello?" Lydia called out, raising her voice until both men finally looked at her. "Are you two aware that I’m the one getting squashed between you?"

Lydia sighed as her patience finally ran out.

"Can I just go home already?"