Chapter 37 : Prelude (2)

Han Sol’s reason for coming wasn’t to dig for information.
She just dropped by to say hello.

So she didn’t say much else and just left.
Like most people, few pay close attention to precursor symptoms.

However…

I was someone who should have noticed such precursors beforehand.
A ruler, by nature, must see further than anyone else.

Furthermore, I knew the person who created the precursor symptoms.
Thus, resolving the curiosity was also easy.

.
.
.

Two days later.
Caspar, having returned home after wandering around various places alone, asked me.

“Agathe. Honestly, you weren’t curious, were you? If you were really curious, you would have gone yourself.”

At Caspar’s words, I nodded uncertainly.

“…Well. Right.”

He was right.
I had no thoughts about it.
Rather, Caspar was itching to investigate.
Originally, men are kids even when grown up, and kids like uncovering anything suspicious.

No. I just thought such trivial matters weren’t important.

Didn’t I just say a ruler needs to know the precursors?

That’s just ignorant talk.
I was never someone with any vision for the future.
Isn’t that why the kingdom got ruined when I became ruler?

…Not boasting, though.

“It’s all thanks to my dear husband. Who knows what got into you, but you went to see the Association President, met that strange woman claiming to be a magic girl despite her age, and gathered information.”

Caspar chuckled and pinched my cheek.

“So, are you jealous?”

“Oot. Um. That’s. Not it, but… Hey. Hmph. Can’t even say anything.”

Jealousy. Jealousy…

I don’t know.

It’s certain I feel jealousy.
A wife naturally feels jealous about women aiming for her husband.
I even had a dark history from not admitting jealousy before.

However, I questioned my right to be jealous.

There’s the old saying “Heroes love beauties,” and even in the Land of Prosperity where Caspar grew up, having three wives and four concubines was relatively common.

Accepting another woman.
Was something truly worse than death, but…

Caspar’s wishes were naturally far more important than my life.
So if Caspar truly wanted concubines, I was willing to accept.

Though I really think that won’t happen.
Unless it’s Enhen, maybe I’d have to yield the first position.

‘…That. I really hate.’

I just couldn’t bring myself to ask directly; most of my worries lately were like that.
Caspar seemed to have no thoughts about other women, but… you never know people’s hearts, right?

Still, I probably won’t ask directly.
For now, keeping other women in check seems within the scope Caspar permitted, so I should focus on fending off the women around.

Whether knowing my anxious heart or not, Caspar continued nonchalantly.

“While investigating this time, honestly, I reflected a bit. This place isn’t easy either. It only avoids collapse because there are so many talented people; it was a much harsher place than our homeland.”

Saying so, Caspar looked at me with an expression of admiration.
As if amazed that I survived in such a demonic realm.

‘…No. In my past life, it was a relatively normal place.’

I don’t know how Earth became such an inhuman demonic realm.
Ah, of course, it’s because of the Gates…

“Caspar. So, did you satisfy your curiosity?”

“Yes. I told you earlier. It’s groundwork for raiding Hell, where Enhen is supposed to be.”

I shook my head.
“No. Not the superficial reason. You had a real objective, didn’t you? Finding out ‘why’ and ‘how’ they plan to raid Hell.”

Caspar looked as if struck to the core.

“…Quite perceptive, aren’t you? Seeing you just giggle foolishly all the time, I thought you’d given up on that side.”

That’s quite dismissive of me.
I pouted.

“Hmph. Supporting from behind is originally the wife’s role. Being your breeding vessel who only bears and raises children would be nice too, but then I’d just be a burdensome wife to you.”

That won’t do.
I must constantly show my usefulness and excellence so Caspar will regard me as an equal partner and his only one.

Click.

I unfolded the cube Caspar brought.
With a clattering metallic sound, the cube transformed into a sphere.

Then, a 3D hologram representing Earth was overlaid onto the sphere.
It looked like something out of a movie, with red dots densely covering the Earth.

“Amazing. Are these red dots the Gates?”

Caspar’s voice, filled with admiration, reached my ears.
Even though Caspar brought it, I felt strangely proud.

Ah. This is Earth’s civilization.
Something you don’t know.

This looked like a globe, but it wasn’t that simple.

It was a precise mechanical device that received real-time data from the database at the Association headquarters via embedded devices, showing the locations of Gates and my own position.

Hearing my explanation, Caspar summarized the cube simply.

“Hmm. So… Is it a smartphone map app?”

Tch. Busted.

Adapts quickly, anyway.
Well, that’s why he was the protagonist.

“Well… GPS is quite a culmination of innovation, you know. Until recently, there weren’t many satellites.”

Gates naturally open even on space stations.

After Gaecheon (Opening of Heaven Day/Gate Emergence), most satellites turned into space debris or dust, and thanks to that, all services using satellites reportedly became useless.

That was until recently.

“America finally cleaned up all of Earth’s skies. I helped a bit, but still, it was an incredibly great feat.”

Back then, before reuniting with Caspar, I was out of my mind and didn’t know much, but the circumstances I heard later were like that.

Thanks to that, I could use map apps too, which saved trouble when going on dates with Caspar.
See, it was good to be helpful and live generously.

Caspar smiled at my words and raised his index finger.
His finger overlapped with a large red dot.

“Alright. Agathe, take a guess. Quiz time. Why does the groundwork for the Hell raid involve Gate subjugation? You just said. They subjugated all the Gates, even the ones in the sky.”

“…Asking me when you found out by asking someone else.”

His smug expression was extremely annoying, but I racked my poorly functioning brain and thought hard.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s to focus solely on the war? You can’t have the rear threatened during a war with Hell.”

A two-front war being taboo is common sense.
Furthermore, Gates aren’t just a ‘front’ line; they are portals opening directly into the main base.
The danger is literally on a different dimension.

Whether my answer was correct, Caspar nodded slightly, looking a bit disappointed.

“Well, correct. Though there was a more detailed truth I heard from the Association President, that was impossible to guess anyway, so it must be excluded.”

“Hmph. I was originally smart too, you know. No, actually, I’m still smart now.”

It’s true.
Although the only time I use my brain is when pondering how to look sexier to Caspar, I was originally smarter than Caspar.

“Right. Good girl, Agathe.”

Pat pat.

“Oo, Hnngh…”

Well. Feeble reason melting away at a single touch…

Can’t be helped.

It feels good. What can I do?

“Something felt off, my intuition signaled. Actually, even without poking around like this, it was information we would have found out later anyway.”

“Mmmhmm. Right.”

I struggled to understand his words and nodded.
It was hard to maintain focus while still entrusting my head to Caspar’s touch.

“R-Right. That’s true. Besides, we said we’d participate in the Hell raid. There’s no reason for Saradoryeong to hide information from us.”

Ah. Right, that’s probably why he told him.

Caspar is outstanding, but objectively speaking, not enough to breach the Association’s security.
Of course, using the analog security bypass method proven throughout long history, torture, might be different, but that wasn’t the case this time either.

“So. It’s simply because he judged it wasn’t necessary to tell us yet. If it’s due to security issues, I understand. However… We had a reason to know beforehand, but they didn’t know.”

…Enhen.

Right. There was Enhen.

My eyes regained some clarity as I looked at Caspar.

“Enhen is an Archduke of Hell. And that’s a fact the Association doesn’t know yet.”

The Association probably thinks Enhen is just a poor soul dragged into Hell.

Therefore…

If they plan to annihilate Hell, Enhen would surely be included among the targets.

“Right. That’s probably why my intuition warned me. We need to know beforehand to prevent friendly fire.”

“…Instead of ‘friendly fire’, please use ‘misunderstanding’ or ‘mistake’.”

That sounds a bit… like my business.

“Ahaha. Alright, Agathe.”

Caspar laughed sheepishly, then casually changed position to hug me from behind.
It seemed trivial, but he was probably comforting me.

Even though he was the one who died from that friendly fire.

“…”

No. Enough now.

Let’s stop the self-blame.
With that time, I should become a more helpful and useful woman for Caspar.

“Mmmhmm. Besides that. But there was one more thing, right? Why the Association and powers worldwide are desperately subjugating Gates.”

At my question, Caspar spoke softly.

“Right. I was about to tell you that. Honestly, it was such a shocking fact that I stalled for a bit.”

Then he hesitated slightly.
As if… the truth was too heavy, making it difficult to utter.

That was a very surprising reaction.
Information shocking enough to jolt us, who had been through thick and thin, was rare.

However.
The information Caspar told me was something that even I could naturally nod my head to.

.
.
.

Indeed.

S-rank Gate, Hell Gate, was markedly different from previous Gates.