Chapter 64: Found (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 64: Found (5)
Calian, who had been quietly staring out the window, suddenly spoke.
“It’s nice and quiet now.”
After Gray’s departure, the soldiers and servants of Redington Castle had moved with purpose. It didn’t take long to erase all traces of the Margrave and restore the castle to its original, peaceful state.
Calian, too, had returned to his usual self. He was sipping warm milk tea, handed to him by Tessid’s butler, with a serene expression. Tessid, sitting across from him, looked somber.
“Margrave Brissen was furious. Aren’t you worried about how he might react?”
“Well, is there really anything to worry about?”
“He is a Sword Master. After provoking his wrath to such an extent, I fear something might happen before you return to Kairisis.”
“It will be fine.”
Calian let the brief reply stand in for a fuller explanation. The details were difficult to share with Tessid, and his reasons for being so unconcerned were not something he could easily tell anyone.
The moment Calian had faced Gray in this very reception room, he had sensed a powerful aura radiating from him. That was precisely why he had felt comfortable trampling all over the man’s pride. Sensing Gray’s aura meant that, at the very least, Gray was either on par with him or weaker.
Furthermore, Alan and the mage corps he was assembling were back in the capital. Calian knew what decision Alan and Lemain would make once they learned of this incident.
They’ll speed up the founding of Valkan.
No matter how new they were, they were a group of highly capable mages. Their enemies wouldn’t dare make a rash move against them. So, whether it was a personal duel or a clash between factions, there was no need to worry for the time being.
“I merely crossed paths with someone I was bound to clash with eventually. You don’t need to worry.”
As Calian spoke, meeting Tessid’s gaze, not a trace of anxiety could be found on his face. Tessid found his composure rather remarkable.
Soon, Calian turned to look out the window again, his gaze falling on something much closer this time. In that direction was someone who had been catching Tessid’s eye for a while, causing him nearly as much concern as Gray had.
Tessid’s expression turned slightly pitying.
“But… are you going to leave that servant as he is?”
‘That servant’ referred to Kyrie, who was currently running his dozens of laps around the castle’s training ground. Watching him, the corners of Calian’s mouth curled up slightly.
“There is something I must teach him, even if it takes this.”
Kyrie, who had endured a beating from the knights for Calian’s sake, had been ordered to start running immediately, without even being allowed to receive treatment from Hina. Of course, Tessid knew the reason well.
It was a punishment for failing to trust Calian.
In contrast, Arsen had trusted Calian’s status, his ability to handle the situation, and his financial power. Thus, he had reduced an incredibly expensive carriage to a pile of firewood—enough for a season’s use—and vented his anger under the guise of a warning. In the process, he had lured Calian out with the sound of the explosion, then subtly provoked the knights to ensure Calian would punish them.
As a reward for forcing Calian to shed blood and further draining his already depleted treasury, Arsen was currently enjoying a sweet, peaceful rest.
“He and I have different burdens to bear. It’s time he understood that.”
Calian hadn’t told Kyrie what he had done wrong. He had simply ordered him to run until he figured it out on his own, and to come find him once he understood.
“It’s just that he seems to be pushing himself too hard, Your Highness. He’s been at it for a long time.”
The sun had set, and a bright moon was now rising in the sky.
Enough time had passed for even Tessid to grow concerned, but Calian merely watched in silence. Soon, he looked away from the window and spoke.
“Would I entrust my back to someone who can’t even endure that much?”
His expression was relaxed, and his voice carried a boundless sense of trust. At this, Tessid chuckled softly and nodded.
“It seems that wasn’t a matter for me to question.”
“Instead, I have a question for you, Viscount.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please, ask.”
Calian picked up his teaspoon and stirred his milk tea a few times as if to clear the air.
“Is your family in Kairisis, Viscount?”
“Yes, they are. I travel back and forth occasionally.”
Calian’s gaze shifted toward the lake, which was growing dim in the twilight. Recalling the peaceful scene he had witnessed that morning, he spoke again.
“A quiet place like this wouldn’t be difficult to maintain even without your direct supervision. Is there a particular reason you choose to remain in this castle?”
Tessid looked toward the same spot as Calian before replying.
“There is no better place than this to read books, so it is not easy to bring myself to leave.”
“Books… I see. In a place like this, I can understand why one would covet a life spent reading.”
Calian nodded as he replied. However, he felt it would be a waste to leave such a man to do nothing but read. He brought up the question he had been pondering for some time.
“Your carriage, Viscount. Was the axle truly broken?” he asked, recalling the nonchalant look on Tessid’s face when he had told Gray that his carriage was unusable.
Remembering the look on Gray’s face upon hearing those words, Tessid let out a brief chuckle.
“If the lord of such a small territory carelessly lends out his carriage,” Tessid replied, “he might find himself with nowhere left to go.”
It was an excuse to refuse, then.
A satisfied expression appeared on Calian’s face—not from confirming the refusal, but from the fact that Tessid had shared his true feelings with him. It was a tacit admission that he found it difficult to rashly take a side.
Calian quite liked this thoughtful, serious viscount, who knew when to step forward and when to hold back based on his own convictions, regardless of who he was dealing with. He felt the man would get along splendidly with the quick-witted and calculating Melfir Polun.
If a suitable talent didn’t come to mind from his past memories, he could simply find and employ one. Besides, it was said that when you spot talent, you should scoop it up without hesitation.
Calian gazed deeply at Tessid and asked, “Do you have many books left to read?”
Tessid stared at his teacup, then out the window, remaining silent for a long moment. Finally, instead of answering directly, he asked in a calm voice, “May I ask what prompts this question?”
“Come with me. To Kairisis,” Calian replied without hesitation.
He could see Tessid’s grip tighten on his teacup.
“By the time Your Highness’s horses are fully recovered, the repairs on my carriage axle should also be finished.”
“The timing is perfect. I’m glad.”
Calian nodded with a silent smile.
I’ve found someone to help Baron Polun.
And with that, he answered the request Alan had sent a month ago.
*
While Calian sat in a relaxed posture, dedicating himself to scouting talent, someone else was moving busily to look after the talent already scouted. That someone was Yan, for whom twenty-four hours a day was never enough to assist a prince prone to endless incidents and accidents.
After Gray left, Yan first estimated the cost of the destroyed carriage and wrote it down to report to Calian.
He then went to find Arsen, delivering the message that Calian would compensate for the carriage and that he should rest well today without worrying about his ‘homework.’ Yan wisely kept his own stress—courtesy of Arsen’s wild stunt—to himself.
Afterward, he picked up the ice cream he had requested from the castle’s chef and headed to Hina’s room. He wanted to comfort her and explain why Kyrie had to run laps without receiving treatment first. However, Hina’s reaction was quite unexpected.
—I’m okay now. I’m sorry for crying.
It was no empty statement; she was truly fine.
Had it not been for her swollen eyes, one would never have believed she had cried so hard earlier. Hina, who said she already knew Kyrie was safe, listened to Yan’s explanation of the punishment and replied calmly.
—That’s right. My brother… needs to be scolded.
While the bear-like Kyrie was running around the training ground with a battered body, not even knowing why, his sister was nodding and happily eating her ice cream. Yan, momentarily at a loss for words, spoke cautiously.
“Please don’t take today’s events too much to heart.”
Hina replied with a smile.
—It’s okay. The Prince… paid them back for everything.
Although Yan didn’t know, when Calian first brought the siblings along, he had promised to make those responsible pay for Hina’s severed ear and her inability to speak. Hina understood exactly why Calian had handed down such a punishment to the knights.
Though he had explained his reasons differently to others, the real reason Calian had drawn their blood was not for harassing Hina, but for mocking her muteness. Stripping them of their knighthood was the punishment for the harassment itself.
In other words, Calian had not punished the knights for beating Kyrie. In fact, wasn’t he currently punishing Kyrie, who was not a knight?
—Since he paid them back for everything, there is no reason… to be upset anymore.
Yan, unaware of the inner workings of their promise, simply thought it was a massive relief that Hina was doing so well.
*
“It seems Your Majesty’s son has broken someone else’s carriage this time. Looks like more money will be spent.”
In truth, Arsen had done it, not Calian, but Alan phrased it that way regardless.
At the news, delivered in a tone suggesting his troublemaker son had caused another accident, Lemain wore a slightly surprised expression. He then asked a rather obvious question.
“Surely you don’t mean Calian did that?”
“Surely Prince Randel or Prince Franz wouldn’t do something so outrageous.”
Randel was out of the question, and even Franz had never gone so far as to harm others outside the palace. Although Franz had once thrown a dinner knife at Yan, Yan hadn’t been hurt, so there was no risk of elephants stampeding through the capital over it.
As Alan began to seriously contemplate when he should mention that incident to Suleiman, the voice of Lemain—who had absolutely no idea whose son Yan actually was—reached him.
“Calian must have had a reason.”
Having given a reply filled with absolute trust, Lemain pulled a checkbook from his drawer. He brought his pen to the amount line and looked up at Alan, intending to cover the cost of the carriage himself since Calian’s treasury had already been drained.
At this, Alan smirked. Lemain furrowed his brows, staring at the man’s mouth. It looked as though Alan was about to deliver another one of his sharp remarks.
“Are you planning to offer up your youngest son’s neck in exchange for the price of a broken carriage?”
He was being scolded yet again.
“If Your Majesty pays for the carriage, wouldn’t that be tantamount to announcing to its owner that you condone the Prince’s actions?”
In other words, Lemain himself would be proving that Calian had the King’s backing.
“Your Majesty only needs to be curious about whose carriage it was.”
Under normal circumstances, Lemain would have first asked who Calian had clashed with, not immediately pulled out a checkbook. Alan was delivering a sharp reminder of that fact.
“Whose carriage was it, then?”
“I am told it belonged to Margrave Gray Brissen.”
Following Alan’s subsequent explanation, Lemain’s face seemed to age ten years in an instant. Upon hearing that Calian had stripped four of the ten knights Gray brought of their titles and rendered them permanently mute, he fell silent for a long while.
“He applied the harshest punishment possible within the laws of Kairis. I understand, but it seems the child has developed quite a ruthless hand.”
“It simply shows how much he cherishes his people. He knows when to endure and when not to. You need not worry too much.”
Weighing the repercussions of Calian’s fierce protectiveness, Lemain spoke in a low voice.
“Has the roster of mages for Valkan been finalized?”
“Yes. Though the number is smaller than expected, it is enough to ensure the Prince will not be intimidated by the two Royal Knight Orders.” Alan replied, thinking of the thirty mages he had painstakingly selected. “In truth, I intended to allow another two or three months before founding Valkan. We don’t even have a dedicated building yet. However, the situation has changed. We must hasten our steps as well.”
The situation was indeed changing.
What was needed now was not the magnanimity to pay for a broken carriage, but real power that could not be suppressed by the influence of Brissen.
Lemain looked up into the empty air for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“If there is no building, we can use an existing one. Station Valkan in the building and grounds that Knight Order Pavel used within the royal palace.”
Speeding up the founding of Valkan.
And moving the Valkan Mage Corps into the territory of Pavel, which had served as Silike’s weapon.
“Stationing Valkan in Pavel’s building… Are you planning to declare war on Brissen?”
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Hearing Lemain’s words, Alan burst into a hearty laugh. Then, looking at the king with sharp eyes, he replied.
“Congratulations. Before long, your neck will truly be hanging by a thread.”
Lemain, whose neck would indeed soon be hanging by a thread, laughed along with him.