Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The List
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“Our deal seemed quite satisfactory for both sides. Was I mistaken?”
Jamal Rudiger shook his head at my words.
His shameless attitude made my stomach turn.
“Then why! Why are you keeping me from doing anything!”
Classes had resumed.
But I couldn't attend them.
It was all because of the man in front of me.
As if following me around all day wasn't enough, the moment classes started again, Jamal Rudiger used the Empress's orders as a pretext to detain me all day.
“To be precise, I didn't keep you from doing *anything*. I let you attend your supervising professor's class.”
Aside from the independent study period with Professor Navian, I had to spend the entire day facing Jamal Rudiger in a separate room provided by the Cradle.
“That's only because you were scared of Professor Navian!”
Jamal Rudiger didn’t even bat an eye at my words.
He just leaned back against the sofa and whistled leisurely.
“Just tell me why you're really doing this. Don't play dumb. You're doing this because you want something, aren't you?”
He, who had been feigning indifference the whole time, got up from the sofa as if he had been waiting for that and pulled out a chair opposite me to sit.
“You're not asking because you truly don't know.”
I sighed at his words.
“Hah. This is driving me crazy.”
To be honest, it wasn't that I had no idea why Jamal Rudiger was doing this to me.
“Are you really planning to switch flags?”
“That's a bit of an exaggeration. Switching flags? Anyone who heard that would think I was a traitor.”
Instead of denying my words, he corrected me with a feignedly solemn face.
“To be precise, I have never stood under anyone's flag, so your words are incorrect.”
Didn't he mention the Empress several times just a short while ago when he was trying to win me over?
When I pointed that out, his reply was a masterpiece of absurdity.
“I have not sworn a secular oath to Her Majesty the Empress. To be precise, I have not been able to yet.”
Had I completed my mission at the Cradle, the opportunity would have come.
He looked at me with a bitter expression.
“Win over the Cradle's cadets and recruit the new cadet favored by His Highness the Crown Prince. I failed to complete a single one of my given orders, so I'm in deep trouble. Now, I'm bound to fall out of favor with Her Majesty the Empress.”
“…Whoa. You've suddenly become very honest. You're an Imperial Inspector. Shouldn't finding traitors be your priority?”
“It was a two-for-one deal. But Her Majesty the Empress desired the first two tasks more than rooting out traitors.”
He said there was no place for him to return to, having failed to properly carry out the Empress's orders.
“I'm not talking about my paltry position in the Imperial Palace. Her Majesty the Empress is a harsh woman who never lets those who have fallen from her grace be.”
He said he was a dead man if he went back anyway.
That he had to do whatever it took to survive.
In other words, he was also looking for a way to save his own skin.
“Is that so? Good for you. Then keep on looking. And please, let me go.”
“That would be difficult. You're my last lifeline.”
“Me?”
“From what I saw that day, if nothing else, you seem to be quite tightly connected with the Gaznae family.”
“…”
As the saying goes, ‘Save a man from drowning, and he'll ask for your luggage.’
“Since you've already saved me, you might as well save me properly to make it worthwhile. Try a little harder.”
This was exactly that kind of situation.
I was so dumbfounded that only a dry laugh escaped me.
Perhaps shamelessness, when it reaches a certain level, makes one serene.
Jamal Rudiger's attitude, as he asked me to arrange a meeting to clear up the misunderstanding with Professor Navian, was nothing short of audacious.
“Who was it that told me to be careful, saying the Empress's backing was no less than Gaznae's?”
“Good of you to bring that up. You have the Crown Prince's deep favor, don't you? While you're at it, you should put in some effort so I can have an audience with His Highness as well.”
Seeing him repeatedly ask me, saying that Gaznae alone wasn't enough to put him at ease, I suddenly grew curious.
I couldn't hold back, so I asked.
“How is your star?”
And your oath, is it unharmed?
It was a question of whether his patron constellation would continue to watch over him even after he showed such a prideless demeanor.
Though I put it mildly, the point was to mock his current spineless and servile behavior.
“My star is perfectly fine, and my oath is also unharmed.”
“…”
It was a rude question that would have made any ordinary knight draw their sword in insult, yet Jamal Rudiger didn't even bat an eye.
“Professor Navian isn't the type of person to listen to a few words from a kid like me.”
In the end, I threw up my hands in surrender.
“She seemed that way at a glance.”
Jamal Rudiger chimed in.
He seemed to think Professor Navian was a woman of rather noble character.
*No. That's not it.*
“That's not what I meant.”
I mean she literally doesn't listen to people. She's someone you can't even have a conversation with.
“Anyway, I don't even know why she looks out for me in the first place. I don't know what she's thinking. And I have no idea how to persuade her.”
Perhaps taking my words as a refusal, Jamal Rudiger's expression darkened.
But that was only for a moment.
“However, I can arrange a meeting with His Highness the Crown Prince.”
At my following words, his expression brightened as if it had never been dark.
“Of course, whether to accept you or not, Sir Jamal, will depend on His Highness the Crown Prince's intentions.”
“He will never cast me aside.”
Even with the added condition, Jamal Rudiger didn't seem too worried.
“Because I intend to offer him quite a large gift.”
“Yes, yes. You do that.”
“You're curious about the gift.”
“No? I'm not curious.”
“Right. How could I be so petty to you, the one who secured my survival?”
He lightly ignored my words and suddenly spoke.
It seemed he was itching to boast.
“There is a list.”
I, who had been sitting listlessly, unknowingly straightened my posture at the word ‘list.’
“The knights and families of the Empire, who belongs to Her Majesty the Empress—not all, but at least seventy percent of them are written there.”
Not just those who follow the Empress, but a list of those bound by the secular oath.
“…”
This time, even I was genuinely surprised.
He was a truly strange fellow.
I thought he was an arrogant opportunist, yet he showed a side that valued fairness even in a deal with a mere squire.
I thought he was a naive carpet knight who'd never been near an important post, but he was surprisingly well-informed.
“What do you think? With a gift like this, I'm sure His Highness the Crown Prince will treat me quite well.”
Just looking at him strutting with his chin held high, he seemed so shallow again.
“I assure you. Besides the list, I have many other things that will pique His Highness the Crown Prince's interest.”
But it no longer sounded like a bluff.
“Perhaps he might even keep me by his side and give me an important position. Hahahaha.”
Now, even that naive appearance seemed like a kind of ‘disguise.’
I once again revised my assessment of Jamal Rudiger in my head.
“Arrange a meeting with that professor from Gaznae as well. I'll take care of everything, so don't you worry about the aftermath.”
This man, if nothing else, was the type to find a way to survive no matter the situation.
But there was one person against whom such great social skills were useless.
“You're an eyesore.”
“If you'll just listen to me—”
“Should I cut you down?”
“Please, don't be like that, just a moment of your time—”
“Yes, I should cut you down.”
He, who had confidently faced Professor Navian, fled the scene as if escaping after failing to say more than a few words.
*Black Knight, what in the world are you…*
“If you ever meet those whose tongues are sharper than their swords.”
As I stared at her with a face full of admiration for her consistent extremism, she advised me with a gentle expression.
“Shove a sword into their mouths first.”
That way, they won't be able to wag that clever tongue of theirs.
To her brutal advice, I could only reply that I would take it to heart, again and again.
* * *
Even after that, I couldn't return to class.
It was because that damn Jamal Rudiger still wouldn't let me go.
“Why the hell not?”
“I have to buy time.”
He was shameless to the very end.
He said there was no point in loitering around outside now that he couldn't win over the Cradle's cadets.
“At least while I'm holding onto you, Her Majesty the Empress will think I'm diligently carrying out my orders.”
His reasoning, that he needed to pretend he was putting effort into winning over the child favored (?) by the Crown Prince, seemed plausible at a glance.
I had already heard from him about the existence of professors working for the Empress.
There was no guarantee they wouldn't report Jamal Rudiger's every move to their master.
“The diligent Jamal isn't carrying out his orders and is just killing time? That's a perfect picture to arouse Her Majesty's suspicion.”
His reasoning was sound, so I didn't say anything more to him.
I couldn't exactly push a man struggling to survive into the jaws of death.
And it wasn't like he would let me go just because I asked.
“But aren't you curious?”
“…About what now?”
“The names on the list. Perhaps there's a name you might know.”
Seeing Jamal Rudiger subtly prodding me, as if his mouth was itching to tell, I shook my head.
“No. I'm not curious. I don't want to know a single thing.”
“…Why not?”
“I don't want to get any more deeply involved in the affairs of the Imperial Family.”
There was nothing to gain for a lowly cadet like me by getting deeply involved in the events of the royals.
I'd just get swept up in some incident I couldn't handle and end up bleeding for it.
Of course, it was a bit late to be thinking that, considering how deeply I was already involved.
“I'm not going to listen. Don't tell me.”
But it seemed Jamal Rudiger wouldn't be satisfied until he had placed me on a knife's edge.
“This one is a list of just the Cradle personnel.”
Placing a scroll on the table, he grinned.
“Haaam. I'm so sleepy all of a sudden. I think I'll take a nap.”
Then he flopped onto the sofa and closed his eyes.
*Snore, snore.*
The sound of snoring that soon followed suggested he wasn't just pretending; he seemed to have really fallen asleep.
Watching him, I snorted.
As if I'd fall for such a cheap trick.
…Contrary to my thoughts, all my attention was drawn to the scroll on the table.
“…”
Against my will, my head kept turning.
*Smack.*
“No. Get a grip. Are you crazy?”
I grabbed both my cheeks with my hands, holding my head still to keep it from turning.
*Drrr.*
No matter how hard I tried to resist, my eyes drifted to one side.
My whole body trembled as I held back again and again.
It was all in vain.
“…Ah?”
When I came to my senses, I was already unrolling the scroll.
On the scroll, titles and names were written side by side.
“Mostly senior cadets and their supervising professors, and some laborers…”
Most of them were people I didn't know.
I was about to close the list after skimming it, but I flinched and opened the scroll again.
Because an unexpected person was written right there at the bottom.