Leathervelk was in a state of emergency.
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 became heavy with the sorrow of losing loved ones.
"Well, this is quite troublesome."
First Princess Eileen, who had entered the mayor's office of Leathervelk, clicked her tongue at the endless pile of documents 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 something 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 extreme 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 some.
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 redevelopment had eliminated the district's poor security and filth, replacing it with the wealthiest street in Leathervelk City.
"Come 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 someone came 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 documents 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 renamed 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 memory, Eileen detested staying idle, no matter what.
Even now she was organizing documents, but until just a moment ago, she had been inspecting the surroundings and giving instructions to officials.
But that didn't mean 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 someone'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 burdensome.
Eileen's judgment was almost always accurate.
In fact, Pasius had never seen First Princess Eileen fail in that regard.
"H-High Priestess Lamia... has come to see Your Highness."
"The High Priestess?"
Pasius was surprised by those words.
At least until just a moment ago, as far as he knew, the Lumensis Order's Leathervelk branch hadn't shown any movement.
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 came?"
To Pasius' question, the guard answered in a trembling voice as if he couldn't believe it himself.
"S-she came alone."
"What? A person of High Priestess rank came 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 esteemed guest waiting."
"Yes!"
A moment 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 came to make you a good proposal."
"A good proposal. You sound like you're trying to evangelize."
"Huhu. I really mean 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 home 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 something I want too. Anyway, what will you do? I can't keep blocking them forever, but I think I can buy you some time 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 Lumensis 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. Someone our order has been chasing for a very long time is hiding in this city. All you need to do is leave us alone to contact that person."
Around the same time 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 time it was an extremely dangerous situation where everyone could have died if something 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 some 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 some 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 mentally in a way that made them seem like different people after the Dreamland incident.
Not just them, but some other teachers showed similar changes.
'The same goes for me.'
The Dreamland incident hadn't only had negative effects.
But what troubled Elisa was something 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 memorable 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 time I regained my senses and went to the forest entrance, all that remained was...'
Just a crater that looked as if something had sharply dug it out.
At that moment, there was a knock, and someone came to the president's office.
"Who is it?"
"Freuden Ulburg."
It was quite an unexpected visitor.
"Come 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 some strong resolution.
"Student Freuden. So why have you come to see me?"
"I have something to tell you about the disappearance of Teacher Rudger Chelici and Rene."
"...Don't tell me, did you see where the two of them went?"
Freuden nodded.
Elisa realized that something extraordinary had happened and clasped her hands together, resting her chin on them.
Her golden eyes gleamed sharply.
"Tell me. What exactly happened?"