Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Eastern Knight Order (8)
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The Torman clan, immigrants from the North.
And their leader, the Red Bear Orn.
He stared at the hat-wearing girl gazing rigidly up at him.
Lifeless red eyes.
Normally, girls who faced him would tremble in fear.
Her lack of even a hint of fright puzzled him.
Because of that, he began treating Lydia as some naive girl oblivious to the world.
“Eastern miss, maybe money buys anything back home, but not here.”
Orn placed his massive hand on our table.
He picked up a slice of pizza from the plate and said,
“In the North... there’s something stronger than money called ‘power.’”
Orn’s huge teeth tore into the pizza.
Lydia watched the revolting sight and asked,
“What is that?”
“Who knows—ask your daddy when you get home, and he’ll tell you.”
His lame joke drew hearty laughs from his accompanying underlings.
The capital’s Eastern District.
A newly developed area, so there were hardly any high-ranking nobles.
That was why some nobles looked down on Easterners.
Everyone they’d met so far was at best a foreign noble immigrant.
But they didn’t know.
The girl before them was among the capital East’s upper crust...
“That won’t be possible...”
One of the tiny elite at the very top.
“We already handed the deed to the owner.”
Lydia brushed her black hair behind her ear, pretending nonchalance.
“I made a legitimate purchase, and I have no intention of reselling the building I just bought.”
Then she looked up at Orn arrogantly and made a proposal.
“But if you offer a reasonable sum, I’ll consider it.”
A figure at least two heads shorter than him.
Yet she acted like the superior one, and Orn’s eye twitched.
“You dare negotiate with me...?”
Soon, the leader’s menacing eyes flashed.
However, fighting a child would be unbecoming, so he forcibly regained his composure.
“Fine... let’s hear the price. How about 1000 gold?”
Lydia tilted her head.
Then yawned as if bored.
“With that money, you couldn’t even buy one of the diamonds in my necklace—”
Arrogant princess’s reaction.
It made the brute’s burly shoulder muscles twitch.
“2000 gold... that’s my limit. Don’t test my patience further.”
The thug was poised to threaten Lydia right then.
He’d offered 700 gold when pressuring the owner to sell.
After it went to Lydia, it had jumped to nearly triple at 2000 gold.
This was his final courtesy to what seemed like a young lady.
Any more, and noble or not, he’d smash everything.
“Pfft.”
But all that came back from Lydia was a sour sneer.
“Puhaha... ‘Don’t test my patience,’ you say, and the best you offer is a measly 2000 gold?”
Lydia laughed loudly enough to flash her sharp canines.
She rubbed her reddened eyes and muttered,
“Ha... so ugly. You look down on the East as some backwater, but you’re the ones shaking over a pathetic 2000 gold?”
The Torman men’s faces twisted in unison.
Especially their leader, Orn.
Humiliated in front of his men, he flew into extreme rage.
Veins throbbed at his temples.
However, the princess’s provocation wasn’t over.
Her red eyes gleamed as she issued a chilling warning to them.
“Get lost, you northern beggar scum.”
A mix of polite and rude speech from the princess.
That one line pierced Orn’s ears.
That instant.
“You insolent brat—!!”
Orn reached to flip the table.
But he froze mid-motion.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
My fork, smeared with pizza sauce, pressed firmly into his side.
Yet he showed no fear even as it dug into his clothes.
Instead, he glared at me murderously and asked,
“Hey, think being an imperial knight makes you untouchable?”
Eyes like he had some backing.
He smirked condescendingly and said,
“I already know all about you. You’re just a lowly newbie in the Defense Knight Order.”
Orn grabbed my fork.
He yanked it away effortlessly and tossed it to the floor.
“I’m buddies with your senior—we eat together, ride horses together. Don’t interfere if you value your career.”
That explained why he’d been so bold facing me.
‘A connection in the Defense Corps.’
I briefly wondered which of my seniors he was tied to.
Then I recalled Orn’s words.
‘Ride horses together.’
Horses...?
Come to think of it, hadn’t Ruper gone riding at his family estate?
Orn soon ignored me and turned back to Lydia.
He leaned in close, snarling at her with beastly eyes.
“What now? No knight to protect you.”
“...”
A massive shadow fell over Lydia’s face.
“I’d rather not touch a little girl, but keep ruining my business, and I’ll have no choice.”
He gripped the thick table.
Just as he was about to flip it to scare her.
He stopped all movement.
Because I’d grabbed his arm while shielding Lydia’s head.
“Grrgh...! You bastard!”
Orn glanced around, about to call his underlings.
But his eyes locked in shock.
Noston Square, quiet until now.
The empty streets.
Now, unfamiliar men filled the streets.
And they all wore imperial uniforms with red cloaks.
Hulking brutes matching his own size.
Sun-burnt skin making their black eyes gleam even more.
Those eyes all stared chillingly at Orn alone.
“Oh my, so many knights patrolling Noston today?”
Lydia clasped her hands together.
“You’re fine, right? You said you had power stronger than money, after all.”
She spoke in a cute, frail-girl voice.
But I knew.
“Plus, the capital East is so new that even your fancy patron outranks them, no?”
She’d clasped her hands to hide her trembling.
To cover for her, I pressed closer, blocking Orn.
“What the hell are these guys...?”
Orn lowered his arm.
Then he began backing away.
As a leader, he had some instincts.
He quickly scanned around, trying to retreat into the shop.
But his underlings hadn’t caught on.
They asked the hesitant Orn,
“Boss, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“Get inside first. Something’s off.”
Orn backed away calmly.
Leaving the lady and knight who’d shamed him, he slipped into the shop.
“Why are you chickening out?”
“Yeah, we’ve worked so hard to take over this place!”
The restless Torman clan.
Frustrated at losing their fight, they wore dissatisfied expressions.
“Those are Eastern Knight Order elites.”
The knights who’d just appeared were all elite.
At those words, they clamped their mouths shut.
“That girl’s definitely some Eastern noble expanding into the North.”
Orn chewed his lip.
The Torman clan grew uneasy too.
“Clashing directly with them would hurt us status-wise.”
“Th-then what do we do?”
His fidgeting underlings.
Orn soothed them in a calm voice.
“It’s fine. We bribed the Defense Corps for times like this.”
He recalled a noble he’d ridden horses with days ago, calling each other brothers.
A decent house in the North.
He figured even they could handle an Eastern noble with knights.
“No matter how upper-crust Eastern, this isn’t their turf. The Defense Corps has more pull here.”
Relieved by their boss’s relaxed tone, the underlings eased up.
They grinned wickedly again and laughed boisterously.
“We wait safely here, then renegotiate from strength when elites arrive.”
I slipped into their laughter.
And said with a generous expression,
“Pretty clever head on the boss, huh?”
The Torman clan’s eyes focused on me.
Slightly less burly than the Eastern knights I’d seen outside.
Maybe because Orn called me a Defense Corps newbie.
They shot me threatening, murderous glares.
“You the Defense knight from before?”
“Yeah, I wanted to hear about the senior you mentioned.”
I asked them with a peaceful smile.
“Was that senior a real shorty dwarf with a body like a bloated pig?”
Orn frowned, suspicious of my smile.
His listening underlings looked uneasy too.
“Well, yeah... he was kinda short and chubby.”
My growing certainty made his lips quiver.
I told them with a satisfied face.
“Rode horses with that senior and his father, the family head, a few days ago?”
“Yeah, but... how do you know that?”
Orn grimaced at my precise knowledge of his past.
“Hmm—yep, that’s the one.”
The dim restaurant.
A thick shadow fell over my face.
Like some sinister villain.
“Who’d have thought my senior’s gift was hiding here.”
I closed the shop door.
“Worth coming to market.”
Then leisurely approached them.
“So, what did our great Senior Ruper promise you? Skip inspections in your turf?”
Orn scoffed at my relaxed newbie attitude.
“You don’t need to know. That’s high-up business.”
The leader crossed his arms, half-closing his eyes.
But soon his eyes flashed open.
“Really? I’m kinda curious too.”
Because I’d casually thrown my arm around his shoulder.
“Who the hell do you think you’re touching? I’m buddies with your senior, what...”
“Call him.”
I cut off his words firmly.
Stunned, Orn gawked at me.
Eyes devoid of spirit.
Seeing them, he realized.
“Call him. My senior.”
I had my own reliable backing.
“Ha, you acting tough banking on those Eastern knights outside?”
Orn scoffed at my confident demeanor.
Tired of being shamed before his men, he declared boldly,
“Fine, let’s settle this.”
The leader summoned his fastest runner from the clan.
And ordered arrogantly,
“Luca! Go to the Defense Corps now!”
“Yes, boss!”
Emboldened by their relaxed boss, the underling strode out confidently.
Lydia, seated on the terrace.
As the Eastern knights gestured to grab him, she shook her head.
“Let him go. Veil must have a plan.”
After he left.
Lydia glanced inside the shop.
Confirming I was focused on Orn, she turned away.
Soon the princess raised her arm solemnly.
Then shaded her head experimentally.
The massive fist about to strike her.
The strong arm that had blocked it.
“...”
Recalling that arm, Lydia pulled her hat low.
Then she pressed her lips tight, waiting for Veil to emerge.