Can You Save Me Duke? - 31

The rattling carriage ride was more horrible than she had imagined. Lina’s whole body screamed as she secretly rode in the carriage of the people who were to be mobilized for the construction.

The dirt road became as muddy as mud due to the constant rain, and her body bounced intermittently whenever the carriage rattled due to the potholes here and there.

“I’ll die before we even get there… … .”

She asked the maid in charge to stay alone for a while and not come into the room, but she would soon notice that she was not there.

‘I should go back to the mansion before that.’

There were many carriages going back and forth between the capital and the river due to the supply of supplies and mobilization of manpower, so her plan was to return to the mansion before the duke when the time was right.

“I don’t know if it will work.”

She followed along somewhat without a plan, but for now, this was the best method. Only a minimal number of people were left in the mansion, and everyone had followed her here.

Because of that, it would take quite a while to realize that Lina, who was in a corner of the room, was gone.

‘If only I hadn’t remembered the faces of the villagers from long ago… … .’

The memories of that time kept coming back to me, so I couldn’t just sit in the room. It was when Lina let out a short sigh and laid down in the carriage.

The carriage stopped as if it had reached its destination with the sound of horses neighing.

“Come on, everyone, get out quickly. There’s no time to rest!”

A man patted the carriage and urged the people. Lina hurriedly got out of the carriage, straightened her crumpled clothes, and looked around. Then she took a deep breath.

‘They said the damage was serious.’

The flood damage site that I had only heard about was even more horrific than I had thought.

Where the crops should have been with green leaves, the damp ground was empty and meaningless.

Here and there, trees had been uprooted by the flooded river, and nearby houses had lost their entire form, leaving only the site of their houses.

A man approached Lina, who was looking around with sunken eyes, and asked.

“Hey. I’m seeing you for the first time. Who are you?”

Judging from the way he was checking the list while holding a bundle of papers, he seemed to be the manager of this place.

“Oh, I… … .”

The moment she opened her mouth to come up with a suitable excuse for the man’s question, she heard another voice behind her.

“How many people have applied now?”

A voice she had heard somewhere before. An unknown sense of anxiety stabbed the back of her head.

‘Where did this voice come from… … .’

She took a deep breath as she saw the face of the man who had passed by her in an instant and approached the manager.

‘Damn.’

He had dark blue hair and a face that looked tired and irritated. She had only met him once or twice, but he was a man she knew well.

Lawrence, I think. He was one of the vassals who came with the duke when he returned from the battlefield.

‘There’s no way I didn’t know.’

Because whenever he was next to the duke, he would look at her with a look of displeasure.

Lina quickly lowered her head, wondering if the man would recognize her.

If she was caught, she would be treated as the duke’s reckless mistress without even being able to use magic once, and would be kicked out of the mansion again.

“When the rain stops for a moment, I need to make more progress, so pick five adult men and send them to me.”

“Yes. I understand.”

However, contrary to her worries, he left right away without even giving Lina a glance.

‘I didn’t get caught?’

Well. He probably wouldn’t have imagined that the duke’s mistress would be here.

“Huh-.”

Lina let out the breath she had been holding in at the sound of footsteps moving away. Then, the male manager seemed to be too lazy to even check Lina’s identity. He pointed to a makeshift restaurant.

“See where the people are gathered? You go over there and help make food.”

She glanced at the place he pointed to with his finger. Warm steam was constantly rising from under the makeshift tent.

“Yes. I understand.”

As Lina approached the place, women were handing out soup and bread to the people.

Judging from the people eating, they seemed to be the laborers mobilized for the repair work and the villagers who had lost their homes.

“I’ll help you.”

“Who… …?”

She smiled at the woman who was wary of the young girl who suddenly appeared.

“I’ve come to help from Count Harren’s mansion. If you have any orders, feel free to ask.”

Then the woman’s face relaxed and she started ordering her around.

“Oh, that’s good timing. Then, could you clear the table over there?”

“Yes!”

Although she had arrived safely, she needed to know where and what kind of magic was needed in order to help.

But it was not possible to just grab a passerby and ask them what kind of magic they needed. That’s why Lina decided to help with the small tasks and watch the situation unfold.

As Lina rolled up her sleeves and cleaned up the empty seats where people had eaten, she heard the voices of the people sitting next to her eating.

“What do you want me to do next? What!”

The man who had been gulping down the water like alcohol put down his glass with a thud. He kept grumbling with a face full of discontent.

The person next to him tried to comfort him.

“But since the Duke is here, it’ll work out somehow.”

“What if the Duke comes? A wizard needs to come!”

‘Wizard?’

She was about to let it go, thinking it was just people’s lamentations. Lina’s ears perked up at the word wizard.

“Isn’t that tree the reason construction isn’t progressing right now! That’s not something we can do!”

Lina could tell right away what tree the man was talking about without having to listen any further.

Even here, a little away from the Curpit River, a fallen tree was visible on the riverside. Judging by its size, it must have been hundreds of years old.

But such a huge tree was strangely bent and fell over the river.

Not only did the river water become stronger because of the tree that encroached on it, but the overflow water continued to overflow.

Not only that. The riverbank had to be built, but it was blocked by the tree, so people were worried.

‘But if many people had chopped it down, they could have cleared the tree. What’s the problem?’

The tree was big, but that didn’t mean there was no way out. Lina, who had been puzzled for a moment, understood the whole situation after the man’s words continued.

“If that tree had been a normal tree, then it would have been fine. It’s Hyperion. In this situation, not sending a wizard is no different from saying that the imperial family is abandoning this place?!”

Ah.

Only then did I realize why people couldn’t get rid of that tree.

The tree called Hyperion had magic flowing inside it, and it was mainly used as a raw material for magic tools.

‘In order to cut down a tree, you have to remove the magic flowing inside it.’

Hyperion wasn’t a tree that ordinary people could cut down with an axe because of the magic inside it. Only magicians could remove it.

If you tried to cut down a tree without removing the magic inside it, you could get thrown back or get seriously injured by the magic flowing inside it.

Furthermore, the older the tree, the stronger the magic power inside it became, and removing it was very difficult.

Fortunately, however, since Lina had experience removing Hyperion’s magic in the past, it wasn’t that difficult for her.

“If only that tree had disappeared, the construction would have been finished a long time ago!”

‘If we just remove the tree, there’s no problem in making a dam, right?’

Lina’s lips curled up as she listened intently to the men’s conversation while pretending to mop.

‘I can get back to the mansion earlier than I thought.’

It was a bit of a hassle to remove the tree’s magic while avoiding other people’s eyes, but it wouldn’t take too long.

‘Let’s start work tonight, when everyone is asleep.’

Lina’s hands became lighter as she mopped, as if she had solved one of her worries.

And from that night on, Lina began to remove the tree’s magic every day.

* * *

Lina, who was wearing her hood over her head in a place filled with the sound of insects, was sneaking up on the Hyperion tree as usual.

It had already been three days since she had sneaked out every night to remove the tree’s magic.

Since she did menial tasks like laundry and preparing meals during the day and used magic at night, her stamina was already starting to show its limit.

Moreover, sleeping on the cold floor with only a mat was quite difficult.

‘These days, I’ve only slept on soft beds, so going camping is really killing me.’

I used to sleep out regularly in the past, but my body has become so weak after a few days of comfortable sleep.

I’ll be leaving the mansion soon, so I’ll be sleeping out a lot. I was already worried.

‘I have to finish up tonight and definitely leave this place tomorrow.’

Hyperion was much larger than she had thought. Maybe it was because it was a tree that had lived for hundreds of years, but its roots were so spread out.

She had no choice but to wander around the river to remove the magic from the roots while feeling the magical energy.

Fortunately, it hadn’t rained for the past few days, so the water had receded somewhat, so she was able to work without much difficulty.

However, since the magic removal took longer than she had expected, it seemed like she would be able to return to the mansion a little later.

The castle might already know that she was gone. Perhaps the Duke was informed of this.

“Hoo-.”

She was dizzy at the Duke’s next warning, but what could she do since it was already spilled milk? Lina shook her head and read the flow of magic power, thinking that this was the end.

Red light leaked out little by little from her fingertips. As the light began to be absorbed by the tree, thin thread-like magic power was visualized throughout Hyperion.

The complicatedly tangled flow, like a tangled thread, seemed to prove that the tree had lived for a long time.

Lina took a short deep breath and began to untangle the tangled magic power one by one. She had to concentrate a lot because she was worried that if she untangled it wrong, it would get even more tangled.

It was necessary.

How long had it been like that? Lina, who had been putting all her effort into removing the magic for a long time, wiped the sweat dripping down her forehead and got up.

“Is this enough?”

When she took her hands off the tree, the green leaves of the tree dried up and the lively tree trunk became brittle.

Lina, who was smiling with satisfaction as she watched Hyperion gradually change, began to carefully examine if there was any remaining magic.

If she removed the magic carelessly, it could bounce off the tree during the cutting process and hurt someone, so she couldn’t leave even a small amount of magic behind.

“Now, if we just finish here… … .”

It was the moment when Lina was trying to concentrate on removing the remaining magic.

“Who is that?”

Lina raised her head at the sound of a familiar voice.

“duke… … ?”