Episode 43
âWe must disband the knights and reorganize them!â
Rozen rubbed his temple as he looked at the pro-emperor nobles raising their voices.
As if the Ron matter wasnât headache enough, now the imperial knights had gone and caused yet another mess.
Theyâre just begging me to go to hell, arenât they.
If he wanted to bring Mishi over, the knights needed to still function as an organization and be absorbed into his own factionâbut these people were doing an excellent job of sabotaging that plan.
It was enough to make him wonder if the knights were secretly working for the emperorâs side.
âIf you disband the knights, what will you do if a foreign power invades?â
âThen are you saying we should leave them as they are? Do you think the knights are running properly right now? These are the Imperial Knights! The commander is lying in bed after being stabbed by his subordinate, and juniors are stabbing their seniors. What kind of knights are these? Theyâre like street thugs!â
âStreet thugs?! How dare youâ!â
Before the pitch of their voices could climb any higher, Rozen slammed his palm down on the table.
The dull thud echoed through the chamber. At first, the nobles looked around as if to ask, âWhat was that? Who did that?â Then, spotting the crown prince at the end of their gaze, they fell silent.
His cold golden eyes seemed to say, Go ahead, say one more word. Iâll kill you all. And the split wood under his palm made it very clear that raising their voices further could end very badly.
Once the room had quieted, Rozen swept his gaze around at the gathered nobles.
Once I become emperor, the first thing Iâll do is get rid of this round table. Iâll raise the emperorâs seatâhigher, as high as possibleâso at least my ears get some protection.
âCount Rev.â
The count flinched at the low, drawn-out voice that called his name. He had been one of the loudest, barking like a pig about dissolving the knights.
âWhat do you think is the problem with the knights right now?â
âAh⊠w-well, first and foremost, itâs a matter of Commander Metailer Marquessâs competence. If he can be attacked by a mere trainee knight, then as a commander leading the othersââ
âYouâve forgotten what Sir Ron did during the continental war ten years ago?â
âT-that was⊠well, that was ten years ago.â
Ronâs achievements in the war were immeasurable. No one here could deny them, so Count Rev tried to stress that things were different now.
Or at least, he would haveâhad Rozen not spoken faster.
âSo what youâre saying is that only someone who can dodge a vital-point attack from a trusted junior, without wearing any armor, inside a cramped carriage with only the two of them presentâonly such a person can be commander?â
âPardon? Ah, no, thatâs notââ
âIf you can find someone like that, Iâll gladly give them Ronâs position. Go ahead and recommend a candidate. Iâll personally test themâunder the same conditions as Ron.â
A test where you never knew when or where an assassination might happen. No noble would be foolish enough to throw their son into something like that.
Count Rev thought of his son, gifted with swordsmanship, and quietly sat back down. If the crown prince was speaking like this, there was no helping it. No ambition was worth getting his son killed.
With one mouth shut, Rozenâs gaze turned to another noble.
âWhat was it you said earlier? Oh, that a junior stabbed a senior? You said that was the problem, right?â
The pro-emperor nobles who supported disbanding the knights (which was most of them) all avoided his eyes.
They couldnât even meet his gaze, yet theyâd dared to shout so much? Rozen let out a mirthless laugh.
âSir Reinolf will be punished according to military law without any special treatment. However, Sir Pynanceâwho made a disgusting⊠no, inappropriate remark to a palace staff memberâwill also be punished according to military law.â
âYour Highness! Sir Pynance only said that because of administrative businessââ
ââI heard sheâs gotten quite pretty. Makes you curious, doesnât it? A maid would feel different.ââ
ââŠâŠâ
âThatâs exactly what Sir Pynance said. The witnesses are plentifulâthe other knights present at the timeâso donât think of denying it.â
âBut over something so trivialâ!â
âTrivial?â
Rozen barely held back a curse. He scanned the faces of the nobles who always sided with the emperor and opposed him at every turn.
You. You. You.
The first thing on his list as emperor: purge the rotten nobles. (Getting rid of the round table would be second.)
âArticle 5 of the military code clearly states that a knight must watch their words and actions and set an example for others. Trivial?â
âBut, Your Highnessââ
âShut your mouth before I sew it shut. Canât you see how much Iâm holding back right now? Huh? Do you lack even that much sense? And since the subjectâs come upââdifferent from a maidâ? That means heâs touched maids as well. Marquess Orion!â
Finally, Rozen snapped. As the nobles who had been about to argue shrank back, Marquess Orion slowly raised his hand.
âConduct a full investigation into whether any maids have been harassed or molested by that Pynance bastard. Letâs see whether Sir Reinolf attacked him out of chivalry or if he was just an insolent junior who didnât fear his senior.â
ââŠâŠâ
âCome to think of it, ten years ago that same Pynance bastard saved his own skin by using a junior as a shield, didnât he? How was he punished for that?â
âHe was docked two monthsâ pay.â
âI see. Marquess, investigate everyone who handled that trial as well. To let a knight who betrayed chivalry off with only a two-month pay cutâthereâs a high chance corruption was involved.â
âUnderstood.â
With every word Rozen spoke, the pro-emperor noblesâ faces grew paler. Theyâd thought theyâd found an opportunity to attack, but who could have guessed theyâd end up stabbing themselves in the foot?
And now Marquess Orionârecently returned to politicsâwas clearly siding with the crown prince.
The nobles racked their brains and decided to remain silent for now. It would be better to meet later and discuss countermeasures than to speak carelessly now.
That was why none of them even dared to point out that the crown prince had referred to Pynance as a âbastardâ and told a count to âshut up.â
Later, when I learned that Reinolf had attacked Pynance because of me, I went straight to see him in his quarters, where he was under house arrest, the moment I returned to work.
Reinolf refused to open the door at first, but after I pounded on it hard enough to nearly break it, he finally surrendered and let me in.
He looked roughâworn out, like heâd been through a lot.
You know, if you donât take care of yourself starting at twenty, youâll age in no time.
âItâs been a while, Sir Reinolf.â
âIâm ashamed.â
âAshamed? For stabbing Sir Pynance, who harassed me?â
At my blunt words, Reinolf bowed his head deeply.
Why was he so apologetic over something like that? I actually felt refreshed about it. Sure, pulling a sword without thinking about the consequences was reckless, but judging by the crown princeâs reaction, this was going to end well enough.
âLetâs sit. My legs hurt from walking here.â
He gave me his only chair and even brought me a drink. I accepted without hesitation and downed the juice he handed me. While I drank, he fetched a bandage. When I asked what it was for, he handed it to me carefully and said, âIt seems you hurt your hand knocking on the door earlier.â
Only then did I notice my reddened, scraped knuckles. I quickly took the bandage and stuck it on.
âI came here for two reasons. One was to scold you for your rash behavior. But now that I think about it, Iâm sure plenty of other people have already done that, so letâs skip it.â
I spread my fingers as I spoke, and Reinolf kept his head bowed, listening like a guilty man. Feeling a bit sorry for him, I tapped his thigh lightly with my fist. That finally made him look up and meet my eyes.
âThereâs another reason?â
âYes. Your younger brotherâRayââ
âReynald.â
âRight, Reynald. You said heâs been working at Carrieâs Bar for a long time, right?â
âSince the day it opened. Ten years.â
âThatâs a long time. Iâd like to meet himâbecause of the prince of Aint.â
Prince of Aint? Reinolf tilted his head, eyes wide.
Very few people knew that secret talks were going on between the Kingdom of Aint and the Empire. Reinolf was one of those few, but no matter how he thought about it, he saw no connection between his brother and the missing prince.
I let out a small sigh and told him everything that had happened since I returned.
Even if the commander of the imperial knights was incapacitated, the vice-commander, Sean, could handle the corpsâ duties. But the search for Aintâs prince was a job only Ron could be trusted with. If the crown prince went himself, it would give the pro-emperor nobles ammunition; if the knights handled it, Sean was busy, Heppy was away on assignment, and Reinolf was under house arrest.
Marquess Orion was gathering information through the intelligence bureau, but ever since the crown prince had spoken up at the noblesâ meeting, Orion had been focusing more on investigating the maids than on finding the prince.
Whether he became emperor or gained authority equal to the throne, until the crown prince could conduct an open investigation, someone needed to keep searching in secret. The crown prince had finally called me in.
âIâll share all the information Orion brings. Iâd like you to personally track down the princeâs trail.â
If he was asking me for help, he must have been desperate. Besides, no matter what agreements the crown prince and Aintâs king had made, the fact remained that I had left Mishi alone in enemy territory. I felt bad about that.
Anyway, as I went through the reports Orion had given me, the name Iâd grown sick of seeing popped up yet againâCarrieâs Bar.