Resignation
Amber Hyde had been in a state of utter turmoil since the crack of dawn.
Normally, she would have washed her face the moment she opened her eyes and meticulously preened herself. Today, however, vanity was the furthest thing from her mind. She merely sat perched on the edge of her bed, staring blankly into space with a hollow expression.
Her morning routine was typically quite simple: dress as impeccably as possible, then spend her hours lingering in the upscale salons frequented by high nobility. Her greatest pleasure in life was ordering a single cup of tea, delicately turning the pages of a book for two or three hours, and observing the ways of "real" aristocrats socializing around her.
Naturally, she could never truly become one of them. She was, after all, merely the daughter of a titleless noble bureaucrat. Watching the nobility mingle from a polite distance was simply her way of venting her stifled ambitions.
Yet today, there was no time to play spectator to high society. It was all because of the rumors she had caught wind of—or rather, eavesdropped on—at the salon yesterday.
"Did you say he dumped a hundred and eight all at once?"
"That much volume hitting the market at once is a first since the exchange opened. Even when the Second Prince bought seventy last month, the market was in an uproar for days."
"Then the price must have crashed, surely?"
Whenever that much volume hit the market all at once, prices had no choice but to plunge. Under normal circumstances, individual Kodana investors traded two or three coins at most. Whenever some wealthy tycoon from a province without an exchange placed a massive buy order of thirty or forty coins, a buy wall would form, halting market fluctuations in their tracks.
"I heard the quote was revised three times in a single hour. At one point, it plummeted all the way down to three hundred and forty million. People were terrified that Eric's dump would trigger a crash."
"Well, of course! That was utter madness... Wait, didn't I just see it trading back at three hundred and eighty million?"
"There's a reason for that. When it dipped, House Arcknight started sweeping the floor. Apparently, the Duke ordered it personally."
"Ah, that explains it."
"After that, retail investors piled back in, and it shot up to three hundred and ninety million."
House Arcknight—a powerhouse second only to the Emperor in wealth and authority. Their directly governed territories boasted a population nearing a million, and their vast iron and rock salt mines endowed them with staggering financial might. It was because such a titan had absorbed more than thirty coins of the supply that Eric had been able to liquidate his entire stash in just a few hours.
"House Arcknight wouldn't buy in without a reason. The rumors about the Hero returning to the capital must be true."
"He wouldn't be coming back just to take a break. An expedition ceremony for the Demon King's Castle, surely?"
"Most likely."
Amber had listened wide-eyed to the whispering nobles. At some point, she had stopped pretending to mind her own business and was openly craning her neck in their direction. It was shockingly ill-mannered, but the young nobles, completely engrossed in their Kodana chatter, paid no mind to whether Amber was eavesdropping on them or not.
Naturally, Amber herself was completely oblivious to how undignified she looked. The news they were sharing was simply too earth-shattering.
That many coins... dumped all at once?
She could hardly fathom it.
It had been only a few days since she pestered her father to teach Eric a lesson. Her father, a reasonably competent prosecutor, had dug through Eric's record, managed to unearth a flaw, and used it to recommend disciplinary action to the Imperial Guard. The outcome had not yet reached her ears.
I was a bit harsh, I admit.
Still, she had believed it was necessary to prove that she was not from some humble, powerless lineage—that she was not a woman a commoner knight could afford to look down upon. Once he realized that, he would never dare disregard her again.
I was planning to meet him soon and make amends...
Reality, however, had no intention of playing into her hands.
Eric, whom she assumed would come to his senses and bow his head, had instead triggered a massive catastrophe by dumping 108 Kodana coins at once—without uttering a single word to her.
Things were never supposed to unfold like this. She needed to understand how such an absurd situation had come to pass.
Of course, she possessed no intelligence network of her own. Her only source of information was straining her ears in salons to pick up whatever gossip other people let slip. In the end, she had accosted her father as he prepared to leave for work.
"Father."
"...Amber."
Something was off. Her father's face looked noticeably gaunt. Amber barely swallowed down the knot of anxiety rising in her throat.
"Father, I think Eric acted rashly and caused a major incident. He might get swept up in a huge scandal, so could you please meet him and—"
"With what face could I possibly look that young man in the eye? Speak some sense, will you?"
"What face? Ah, because of the disciplinary recommendation? But that was only meant as a warning!"
Sure, Eric would feel slighted, but this was no time to dwell on petty grudges. She had to see Eric as soon as possible, ask why he had pulled such a stunt, and figure out a way to weather the fallout together. Every single citizen in the capital was watching the lucky bastard who had just pocketed a staggering fortune of nearly forty billion liras.
Yet her father merely let out a heavy sigh, indifferent to her urgency.
"Whew... Amber. You truly have no grasp of the gravity of this situation."
Only then did Amber realize that her father hadn't even shaved. This was a man who had always insisted on immaculate grooming, preaching that a prosecutor must maintain strict decorum.
"Father...?"
"Amber, I don't know the exact political factions inside the knights' order, but Eric's standing seems terribly precarious. I merely recommended a verbal reprimand, but the order handed down severe disciplinary action. I hear he was dismissed."
"Severe disciplinary action? If you recommended a verbal reprimand, they should have given him a verbal reprimand!"
"Even if I am a senior prosecutor, the knights' order has no obligation to heed my words. Even if they impose a punishment far harsher than what I recommended, I have no legal means to intervene."
"..."
"It seems the Imperial Guard simply needed an excuse to torment him. My recommendation must have given them the pretext they were looking for. Though I doubt they actually want him to leave the order..."
With those words, her father stared into the empty air and let out a long, weary groan.
Only then did Amber understand the source of his sudden despondence. Though unintentional, he had played a direct part in cornering the man who was supposed to become his son-in-law. Even if he hadn't put his own name on the document and had pawned the task off on a junior prosecutor under his command, there was no denying he had stabbed Eric in the back.
"...Dis—dismissal?"
"Yes."
Amber turned ghostly pale, her teeth sinking nervously into her lower lip.
"Why are you only telling me this now?!"
"Do you think the Imperial Guard reports to me when they discipline their members? You don't seem to realize this, but they are practically outside the reach of common law. They are not an organization a prosecutor can order about."
"..."
Her father looked at his daughter, a faint hint of resentment flickering in his eyes. Amber tried to argue back, but the words died in her throat. She realized that the look in his eyes was not born merely from fear for his own career. Rather, he seemed to pity his foolish daughter, who had ruined her own fortune with her own two hands.
"I should never have listened to you in the first place... I was a fool."
"...Don't say that."
"And just so we're clear, don't even dream of going to see Eric. Doing so will only humiliate you further."
"Misunderstandings can be cleared up if we just talk! ...If Father comes with me—"
He gently pried away her clinging hands from his lapel. Then, with heavy, dragging steps, he walked out the door, muttering a self-deprecating remark about how even a prosecutor who had wrecked a promising knight's career still had to fulfill his daily duties.
Amber stared blankly at her father's receding back.
His career was ended...?
Why would he say something so terrifying? Eric hadn't actually quit being a knight yet. Even if he received a dismissal notice, Father said they didn't truly expect him to step down. If Eric presented his defense well and quietly endured the pressure, he would eventually return to active duty.
Yet even as she clung to denial, a chilling question crept into her heart. If a man truly intended to grit his teeth and endure, would he commit such an eccentric stunt as dumping 108 Kodana coins at once to draw the entire empire's eyes upon him?
This wasn't what I wanted...
Amber stared into the void with hollow eyes.
The interior of the modest single-story house where she and her family had lived for ten years entered her vision: furniture that was neat and high quality but visibly aged; a wine rack with noticeable gaps; a small magical refrigerator they had splurged on a decade ago and used ever since. This was the reality of a titleless noble family's lifestyle. Even this much was only possible because her father was considered a successful prosecutor.
Eric, on the other hand, possessed the wealth to effortlessly buy a sprawling estate with detached villas and manicured gardens right in the heart of the Imperial Capital. No, it wasn't just about a house—he could live a life of lavish abundance that even imperial royalty might envy.
The thought flashed through her mind that she had to reconcile with him and restore their relationship before it was too late, but—it was an impossible fantasy.
For Amber had never, in truth, had a good relationship with Eric to begin with.
Early in the morning, I made my way toward the Imperial Guard barracks.
My attire, however, was entirely different from usual. I wasn't wearing the light armor that served as our everyday duty uniform, nor was I dressed in the dress uniform reserved for formal banquets. While a sword hung at my hip, it was not the standard issue provided by the order.
The news has probably reached the order by now.
Considering that more than half the knights were obsessed with Kodana, there was no way they hadn't heard about yesterday's circus at the exchange. Right about now, they were probably huddled together, spewing curses upon my name. Fortunately, I wouldn't have to endure their petty scowls for much longer. In just a little while, they and I would no longer be anything resembling "comrades."
"It's Eric."
I stepped straight into the commander's office.
Several knights, including Celine, were already in the middle of a grave discussion with the commander.
Perfect timing.
To execute the scenario my friend and administrative clerk, Bingo, and I had put together last night, I needed an audience of knights. I gave the knights a slight nod of acknowledgment, then addressed the commander in a deferential tone.
"Commander, I am here to accept the disciplinary action."
"What...?"
"I waive my right to an appeal. I will resign from the order effective immediately."
Commander Wainwright gaped at me with a completely stunned expression, while the knights' faces twisted into looks of sheer shock and disbelief. One of them, seemingly forgetting that the commander was standing right beside him, even took an enraged stride toward me before being held back.
Crazy bastards.
Without sparing them so much as a glance, I kept my eyes fixed squarely on the commander. He was the linchpin of my entire plan.