Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Reunion (3)
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Ever since that day, I was summoned by the crown prince almost daily.
Sometimes with Anton, sometimes with Grita. Other times, with both Anton and Grita.
It wasn't for any particularly important business.
He'd have me read from a copy of the report to confirm the facts, or ask trivial questions completely unrelated to the incident.
Most of it was pointless.
Aside from examining the chimera's corpse stored at the guild, the investigation team's duties were effectively over.
“Lucas, you go and check it.”
“…Your Highness has no intention of seeing it yourself?”
“What’s the point in looking at some hideous corpse? It’ll just give me nightmares.”
However, the crown prince passed off the most crucial task, the confirmation of the chimera, to Lucas.
“The real investigation will take place in the capital anyway, so there’s no need to make a fuss.”
The prince’s expression was utterly indifferent as he said such things, claiming it was more appropriate to leave this to the experts and questioning what he could possibly learn from looking at it himself.
“Still, His Majesty may ask for the full account of the matter, so wouldn’t it be better to confirm it once while you’re here…?”
“Isn’t it all written in the report? His Majesty will be convinced just by reading it as is.”
The crown prince’s reply left my jaw hanging.
Not just for one day, but for five.
Five days I’d been summoned by the prince, answering his trivial questions to verify the report.
And now he was saying he would just report it as written.
That was as good as saying everything we had done until now had been a complete waste of time.
If that was the case, he shouldn't have been ordering me around in the first place.
“Knight Gunther. Please lead the way.”
“Gladly.”
As I started to rise from my seat to follow Lucas and Gunther, the crown prince gestured with his hand.
“You stay.”
“…?”
“I was born of noble blood and have never been alone.”
“…?”
“Meaning, I need someone to attend to me until Lucas returns.”
Gunther gave me a small nod.
Having half-risen in an awkward posture, I had no choice but to sit back down.
Soon, Lucas and Gunther disappeared, leaving only the crown prince and me.
“…”
The crown prince silently sipped his tea.
It was uncomfortable.
The silence was unsettling, and his unusually fixed gaze on me was also unsettling.
What was most unsettling was the crown prince’s expression.
It was the face of someone observing a rare spectacle.
Slowly setting down his teacup, he asked me, “Where did you learn the etiquette of the Imperial Court?”
I answered as if it were nothing.
“I merely imitated what I remembered from a book I happened to see. I can’t say I truly know etiquette.”
“They say most commoners can’t even write their own names. It’s remarkable you learned to read at your age.”
“…I only picked it up crudely over someone’s shoulder.”
“So you mean to say you learned it on your own, without a teacher.”
“…”
No matter what I said, he came to his own conclusions.
So I decided it was better to say less.
“How old are you?”
“Fourteen.”
“And how long have you been a squire?”
“It has not yet been a full year.”
The crown prince hummed, stroking his chin.
His eyes were still on me.
“Astonishing.”
He said after a brief pause.
“At your age, with your experience, you killed a magician and played a significant role in repelling a sorcerer? It’s hard to believe.”
“It’s merely an exaggeration by those who looked kindly upon a young squire’s efforts. In truth, I didn’t play that great a role.”
The crown prince nodded at my words.
“Indeed, that’s true.”
His reaction to my humility was quite disconcerting.
But what was truly disconcerting came next.
“Compared to manipulating adults from the shadows and playing the mastermind at your age, killing a magician and helping repel a sorcerer is certainly not so great a feat.”
I flinched and looked at the crown prince.
“Yes. Have you enjoyed your little game enough?”
His appearance as he asked this was a world away from when I first saw him.
The deep set of his eyes, the dignified tone of his voice.
The hooligan who had playfully poked the lord’s belly was no longer there.
I unconsciously straightened my posture.
“…I don’t understand what you mean.”
For the time being, I played dumb.
“Even the performance of a renowned clown gets tiresome if you watch it for days on end.”
In other words, he had seen enough of my act of playing innocent from behind the scenes and was telling me to come clean.
I thought for a moment.
But it wasn't something that required much thought in the first place.
“…I only offered a few words of advice from the side. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it playing the mastermind.”
The crown prince’s expression was full of conviction.
To continue playing innocent in the face of such a look would be foolish.
“It was also your idea, I presume, for the Freelance Knight Guild and the knightly houses, who are reluctant to accept Imperial intervention, to make an unprecedented request for help.”
It was the right decision.
The crown prince had figured out more than I thought.
“What on earth was your reason for going to such lengths?”
His question brought back memories of my past life.
The mages of the Blue Tower, who roamed the world with their chimeras in tow.
It was something that would not have happened if the Empire had been intact.
“…Because only the Empire can stop the Blue Tower’s rise.”
The freelance knights were scattered.
Gathering them, each chasing different goals across the world, was no easy task, even for the guild.
Even if they were successfully gathered in one place, by then the Blue Tower would have already moved its base to a more clandestine location.
But the Empire was different.
Knightly orders and elite troops directly under the Imperial family would march on the Blue Tower as soon as the order was given.
Among them was the ‘Anti-Mage Corps,’ which had fought the Black Tower’s mages for a long time.
In my past life, they were all disbanded when the Empire fell.
They faded away in disarray without a chance to properly display their immense experience and power.
If they had been there, the mages of the Blue Tower and their chimeras would not have been able to run so rampant.
If only they had been intact, that horrific war would not have dragged on for so long.
“That’s excessive.”
The crown prince’s words snapped me out of my thoughts.
“It’s not the Black Tower, nor the Red Tower. To mobilize the Empire’s elite troops against the Blue Tower, a gathering of insignificant third-rate mages, is no different from using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.”
It was the same in my past life.
Under a relatively lax watch compared to the Black and Red Towers, the Blue Tower had bought the time it needed to grow its power in secret.
“That is what anyone else in my position would have said.”
As I was sighing inwardly, I heard the crown prince’s voice again.
“I will move my shadows. They may not be as skilled as His Majesty’s direct shadows, but they too have a knack for investigation and tracking.”
The Empire would only move after they revealed that the Blue Tower was a threat on par with the Black and Red Towers.
“For now, that is enough.”
At the crown prince’s promise, I bowed my head in thanks.
It was a purely formal gesture of gratitude.
Of course, if the crown prince stepped in and was able to stop the Blue Tower’s rise early, it would be an incredibly good thing, but frankly, it wasn't something I needed to be thankful for.
If anything, the Empire should be thanking me.
“If you are so grateful, you should pay a fitting price.”
But the crown prince did not let my formal thanks slide.
“You.”
He said abruptly.
“Become my knight.”
An unexpected demand.
“But I’m a squire, not a knight.”
I blurted out a dumbfounded reply without thinking.
“Knight or squire, it matters not in the slightest.”
The crown prince shook his head.
“If you wish, I can make you a knight right here and now.”
As if he could make me a Starseeker on the spot.
“No, that’s not right. My mistake. This would be no different from haggling over the station of a knight.”
He did not wait for my answer.
“I will make you a knight first. You can become my man after that.”
He rose from his seat and gestured to me.
I reflexively knelt before him.
“Look into my eyes.”
I quietly did as the crown prince commanded.
Kneeling, I looked up into his eyes.
*Clap.*
A hand rested on my shoulder.
“In the name of Galadrian Gesendina, I make you a knight. Be brave, be courteous, and be loyal.”
The crown prince declared with a solemn face.
It was a phrase I knew.
The secular investiture of a knight, or something like that.
In the distant past, monarchs bestowed the rank of knight in this way.
Of course, that was merely a formality from an era before the concept of Ascension and Guardian Constellations existed.
“…?”
Having no idea what he was trying to do, I studied the crown prince’s expression.
Surely he wasn’t trying to imitate the monarchs and knights of old.
But the crown prince’s face was more solemn than ever before.
He seemed to firmly believe that his declaration could make me a knight.
“…?”
“…?”
A look of question appeared on his face as he looked at me.
“I make you a knight, be brave, be courteous, and be loyal.”
Frowning, he once again recited the declaration of secular knighthood.
I just stared blankly at him.
A look of confusion appeared on his face.
“I make you a knight!”
He shouted, his voice much more forceful than before.
Again, and again.
The Constellation, 「Curious Idler」, sent a message.
Then, letters materialized in the empty air.
[Curious Idler] Check our channel~~~
The channel of the stars, which I had forgotten about for a while as I wasn't used to it.
I immediately opened the channel.
A huge number of messages had piled up.
Most were complaints about me entering the channel but never looking at it.
[Curious Idler] It's a power held by the Descendants of Dragons, a vow of the Dragon Tongue, but for it to work on Sir Perpetual Squire, you'd need not just a Descendant of Dragons, but a Dragonkin, no, a Dragon Emperor~~~
[The Emperor Who Abandoned a Nation] My blessing is effective, isn't it? From now on, you are immune to all forms of intimidation. You should thank me.
[The Elegant Southpaw] Yeah, no. It wouldn't have worked anyway. Even though he stopped climbing, he still reached the threshold of the stratosphere. He would've shrugged that off even without Your Majesty's blessing.
At the very bottom was the message I was looking for.
[Curious Idler] Anyway, if that had worked, he would've become a Dragon Knight~~ What a shame~~~
[The Emperor Who Abandoned a Nation] Seeing the state of the Imperial family now, it probably wouldn't have amounted to much even if he did become a Dragon Knight with that.
[The Elegant Southpaw] Oh, so Your Majesty is curious enough to peek? I thought you said you weren't interested.
[Curious Idler] But saying it wouldn't amount to much~~ That has a double meaning~~~
Only then did I understand what the crown prince was trying to do.
「Dragon Knight」
They weren’t the tremendous beings from the Empire's founding myth who rode dragons.
Still, they were undeniably powerful beings.
Looking at the Empire’s history, the Empire prospered when there were many Dragon Knights, and it stagnated when their numbers were few.
It was said that the number of Dragon Knights was a measure of imperial power.
And the current Empire had barely twenty Dragon Knights.
A number not even a tenth of what it was during the Empire's golden age.
It meant the Empire hadn't fallen in my past life for no reason.
And I had just come close to becoming one of those Dragon Knights.
“Ah.”
I had mixed feelings.
I couldn't say I was entirely disappointed, since the Empire's fall was not far off, but at the same time, a lifelong dream had been on the verge of coming true.
It was all very bewildering.
“I make you a knight?”
“A knight?”
“Kni…?”
Watching the crown prince shout until he was hoarse, I let out a sigh.
***
Komlat Castle was quickly returning to its former state.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before it regained the vitality it had when I first visited.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't be there to see it.
“Well then, let’s go.”
“Yes, Master.”
Today was the day Gunther and I were departing for the central region.
We quietly headed to the meeting point.
“Knight Gunther.”
“Esquire Yan.”
The soldiers of the escort unit, who had been waiting for us since early in the morning, greeted us warmly.
Ten mercenaries from the guild, including the Forsaken Dogs, and one Yuhyeolmogi knight representing the Giftrang family.
“Hey, little squire.”
“Knight Johanna.”
Among them was Johanna, whose face I had come to recognize from the departure ceremony and the subjugation mission.
“Let's be off, then.”
We departed from the castle immediately.
Given the nature of the mission, there was no farewell.
No, that wasn’t entirely true.
[We will meet again soon.]
Just before leaving the castle, I heard Grita's voice and looked back.
I could see a green shadow looking our way from atop the castle wall.
It was Grita.
[The reward I have deferred will also be paid then.]
Instead of replying, I simply gave a deep bow toward the castle wall.
From my perspective, I had already received my reward, having gained the blessings of the stars thanks to the Gaecheondan.
But Grita, completely unaware of this fact, seemed to feel that accounts were not yet settled, which left her with a lingering sense of unease.
I didn't bother to correct her misunderstanding.
Leaving the castle, we immediately headed east.
After walking diligently, we saw a splendid carriage and a troop of cavalry waiting for us in the distance.
“How rude. Making royalty wait.”
It was the crown prince’s party, which had left Komlat with a grand send-off the day before.
“We have a long way to go. Let us hurry.”
At the crown prince’s urging, we immediately began to move.
Far away, beyond the mountains.
Toward the heart of the Empire.
Toward Gesentium, where the Cradle of Stars was located.