Chapter 2. Why Are You the One Standing There?
With Rihart’s abrupt appearance, her heart plummeted as if dropping off a sheer cliff.
Was this a nightmare?
Or had she actually been caught?
Was she about to rot away in prison for the rest of her life on charges of possessing illicit incense?
Stunned out of her wits, irrational thoughts swirled frantically through her head.
While Mona stood frozen, unable even to breathe, the man across the room pressed her in a cold voice.
When Mona asked blankly in return, Rihart spoke again.
Under his dry gaze, devoid of any personal sentiment, Mona swallowed hard.
That indifferent look—like an ox gazing idly at a chicken—did not belong to a man who had relentlessly torn through the Luna District searching for the woman in the white mask.
‘…It seems he doesn’t recognize me, does he?’
Then again.
If he had realized she was the woman in the white mask, her head would have flown off already, and she would no longer be among the living…
Pull yourself together.
‘If I tremble like a frightened animal, it will only make me look suspicious.’
Clinging to the bare frayed edge of her reason, Mona forced out her voice.
Carefully, Mona lifted her index finger.
“…”
A brief flicker of interest passed through Rihart’s blue eyes.
Since no map detailed the terrain within the Land of Chaos, he had marked the mountain range's location only after combing through ancient texts, yet this bespectacled woman had pinpointed it at a glance.
Responding tersely, he faintly curved the corners of his lips.
“…?”
Right then.
The uniformed man who had guided Mona into the conference room stepped forward to deliver the news to Rihart.
He cast a brief glance toward his pocket watch.
Clack, clack.
With the measured stride of military boots, Rihart walked slowly toward the head of the table.
The moment the man stepped forward—a war hero coursing with noble imperial blood—a heavy tension settled over the room.
Rihart opened in a dry tone.
Though she doubted anyone in the Empire did not know the Dragon Slayer, the man introduced himself with courteous brevity.
Most of the participants showed little agitation.
Through palace contacts, they had already quietly caught wind that an illustrious figure was taking charge of this endeavor.
Only Mona, devoid of any palace connections, stared at the man with her mouth open as if struck by lightning.
Overseeing?
Not merely observing, but overseeing? What on earth was this…?
Did it make any sense for the commander of the most elite knight order to suddenly head an academic project team…?
Weren't public officials drawing state stipends barred from holding secondary posts?
Confronted with an absurd reality, every impulse urged her to bolt from the room right this second.
Yet having already signed a nondisclosure agreement before coming here, Mona could not move an inch.
Worse yet, the imperial scribe was actively transcribing the proceedings in real time.
There was no possible way to back out.
‘I really think I just dug my own grave and laid down in it…’
Mona bit anxiously at her parched lips.
‘How on earth did things turn out like this?’
Before the shock roiling in her chest could subside, Rihart swept a detached gaze across the room and spoke.
He gestured lightly with his chin.
At Rihart's call, the man who had escorted Mona into the room entered carrying a stack of documents.
Hugo handled the thick dossiers as if they were light as a feather, setting them down on the table.
Before long, the files were distributed among the attendees, and only the rustle of turning pages drifted through the office.
<Class 1 Classified Document>
The file was chilling from the very first page.
Hesitating to touch it, she looked around in a daze, only to lock eyes with Rihart for an instant.
‘Eek.’
Like a guilty thief reacting to the slightest scare, Mona snapped her eyes back down to the papers.
And then she understood.
Why the Imperial Palace had kept this project strictly confidential.
‘I'm screwed.’
Having laid eyes on state secrets, she was truly trapped with no escape.
Having denied reality in a whirl of shock and horror, Mona finally slid into quiet resignation and turned the pages without strength.
Imperial Calendar, October 7, Year 664.
An airborne monster with no prior recorded sightings appeared at the western border in a state of violent frenzy.
Reading the report's contents, Mona fretted over her dry lips.
She kept track of every newspaper article concerning monsters, yet she had never once read of this incident.
‘To think the palace concealed a recent monster rampage.’
…Well, it made sense to hide it.
Since ancient times, people viewed the frenzy of monsters as an omen of calamity.
A frenzied monster scattered warped, aberrant demonic energy that withered crops throughout the surrounding lands.
Even when the black dragon had appeared raging at the western frontier, not a few had raised a commotion, crying that the Empire was doomed.
Yet when a hero stepped forward and felled the pinnacle of monsters, the black dragon, public sentiment had swiftly regained its composure.
With the war barely ended and the atmosphere only just turned around,
another rampage had erupted, leaving them no choice but to keep the matter quiet.
‘Monster rampages rarely happen so often. This is strange…’
To illustrate how rare it was, prior to the Black Dragon Baelmos, the last documented rampage had occurred seventy-one years ago.
Yet so soon after subjugating Baelmos,
consecutive rampages within the past month alone were recorded in the classified dossier.
…The aforementioned aerial monster flew from the Land of Chaos to the western perimeter rampart, inflicting casualties among guard personnel.
Observed to be in a frenzied state upon initial emergence.
Accordingly, the Black Knights were dispatched on an emergency sortie, and the specimen was neutralized by Knight Commander Rihart Cronel.
Imperial Calendar, October 13, Year 664.
An unprecedented spore-type monster broke out across the western forest region.
The specimen multiplied exponentially overnight, and under the effects of this abnormal proliferation, old-growth trees withered, spreading damage.
Surrounding area quarantined.
‘Both occurred in the western sector.’
The Land of Chaos was a monster habitat bordering the Empire’s western frontier.
This meant that both recent incidents were accidents sparked by monsters emerging from the Land of Chaos.
Moreover, the subjugated black dragon had practically been the master of that land.
‘Starting with Baelmos, why are back-to-back monster rampages breaking out in the Land of Chaos after it had stayed so quiet all this time…?’
While Mona was immersed in suspicion,
At Rihart's low, steady voice, the restless murmuring of the room instantly died away.
Looking over the attendees with cool, detached eyes, he continued.
Mona held her breath involuntarily.
To think the day would come when she listened to an imperial decree with her own ears.
…Where on earth was her life heading?
Rihart laid out the destination she would be heading toward with impeccable timing.
Venturing into the Land of Chaos, the very den of monsters…
It was definitely what she had wanted, yet Mona felt infinitely troubled.
For a group assignment, the team leader was far too dangerous.
Dangerous enough to threaten her very life.
