Chapter 93
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Tattling and the Shell Game (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Once upon a time, in the distant past.
There lived a slow-moving private second class.
The private was always getting joints from his superiors.
So one day, the private made a wish.
'Star, star, please help me get along with my superiors.'
And lo and behold, a star came down to the unit!
'...And before the wrath of the two-star general, the mean-spirited superiors were sent straight to the brig. Ah, happy ending. Happy ending.'
Lloyd curled up one side of his lips.
Military days suddenly came to mind.
There was a guy.
The guy had a good personality, but he wasn't cut out for the military.
He was on the slow side.
He was also slow on the uptake.
And his luck was the worst.
There were a few nasty superiors.
He was called out by them almost every day and got joints. No, he suffered even worse things frequently.
After a few months of that, when the guy was half-crying and saying he might just go AWOL, Lloyd gave him advice.
Why go AWOL?
Instead, file a formal complaint about the superiors' unfair treatment.
And two weeks later, the unit turned upside down.
The division commander came to the unit, and the superiors who had been lynching his buddy were all dragged to the brig.
It was the power of the formal complaint his buddy had filed.
And so, his buddy became happy.
It was a happy ending in its own way.
'Whew. Today felt just like that.'
Lloyd took off his cumbersome formal outerwear.
He flung his loosened tie over the back of a chair in the lodging.
He threw his tired body onto the sofa.
With a pleasant squish, a wave of languid comfort washed over him.
Memories of the day's events flooded in as well.
'Good thing everything went according to plan.'
The suspension bridge finally completed.
The completion ceremony celebrating it.
He received the title of Master Craftsman from the Queen.
He got all the promised privileges and rewards.
And as a bonus at the end, he did some tattling.
He still couldn't forget it.
Queen Alicia's expression as she listened to his tattling was truly terrifying.
'...Unjust? Irrational?'
The Queen's voice had flowed out chillingly.
Queen Alicia was a possessor of a just and fair personality. She particularly despised acts that bullied the weak with unjust power.
That fact was mentioned several times in the novel Iron-Blooded Knight.
At least, until she lost an arm in the attempted assassination of the Queen.
That was why.
Judging by the Queen's personality, he thought the tattling would work.
And conveniently, the Queen trusted him completely.
This was his chance.
You have to seize opportunities when they come.
Missing it would make him a fool.
Convinced, he had nodded vigorously.
"It is so, Your Majesty."
From here on would be crucial.
Choose words carefully.
Arrange vocabulary strategically.
"Boldly, what I witnessed at the academy was far too distant from its founding purpose."
"Distant?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Tell me in detail."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
As expected, the plan was working.
He put more strength into his voice.
"Students who should be devoted to learning cling to factions. Instead of competing with their knowledge and wisdom, they flaunt their family's rank and authority. Children of marquess and count families band together to oppress viscount sons, and viscount sons, pushed by the tide, trample barons' children. And everyone stays silent. In time for scholarship, they indulge in the sweetness of power; in time for ambitions about the world, they despair before the irrational wall of class."
Thoughts he had kept bottled up in his chest for this day.
He sharpened them keenly and let them flow without hesitation.
"Even the academy's attitude toward leading such students was no different. Dorm supervisors who should point out injustices pocket illicit money. Professors who should warn against the world's irrationalities fear only offending noble families. And the dean, who should eradicate this lamentable reality, only eradicates the pleas for help from students of weaker noble houses."
It was true.
It started from the day he took Julien out of the academy.
Even amid the busy suspension bridge construction, he had made time to investigate discreetly.
He met cleaners and kitchen staff working at the academy.
He even visited low-ranking nobles who had graduated from the academy.
Through them, he heard numerous testimonies and reports.
All sorts of sordid corruption.
Dorm supervisors and deans turning a blind eye to injustices for kickbacks.
Higher noble heirs acting like they owned the place, believing in that.
Before he knew it, irrationalities embedded like bad habits, inertia, rotten roots.
He gathered as many related testimonies as possible.
He collected evidence meticulously.
He pulled out that evidence from his bosom.
It was a rolled-up bundle of paper.
"This is a list I personally investigated and compiled of when and where academy staff received private payments. Next to each item, I have attached lists of those involved and witnesses."
"Spread it out and let me see."
At the Queen's command, he unrolled it.
He handed it over carefully.
What followed was smooth sailing.
The documents had evidence and witnesses laid out clearly.
The moment she checked them, the Queen's eyes changed.
And she became possessed by the wrathful division commander descending (?) upon the military unit with the formal complaint.
"In other words, from now on, all those involved will be summoned and grilled."
Lloyd snapped out of his reverie and chuckled.
He looked back toward the lodging entrance.
Julien was there.
He was a bit more tanned than when he first saw him a few months ago.
His scrawny build had also firmed up a little compared to before.
But his characteristically round, youthful impression remained the same.
Such a guy was looking this way, hesitating.
"If you have something to say, say it."
Pat pat.
He patted the sofa seat next to him with his palm.
Julien shuffled over hesitantly.
Instead of sitting on the sofa seat, the guy scrunched his nose while standing.
"Um, so, what happens now?"
"What happens? With what?"
"Those guys."
"The academy guys?"
"Yeah."
"You worried?"
"Not really. Just curious."
Well, of course he'd be curious.
They were the ones who tormented him for so long.
There were plenty who turned a blind eye to that torment.
And today, all those people were about to face the Queen's iron fist.
Lloyd chuckled.
"I don't know."
"Huh?"
"What happens to them? Why would I care if they live or die."
"...They could die?"
"Well, they won't be punished that harshly. But—"
"But?"
"They'll get a pretty stinging punishment. Some will go to prison for bribery, and some high-and-mighty noble young master will get a severe lashing, then be confined to his mansion for years without stepping out."
"...."
"Anyone even slightly connected will have their noble lives seriously messed up from now on. Because they've been properly marked by the highest person in the kingdom."
"You predicted all this from the start?"
"More or less."
It's true.
From the time he took Julien out of the academy.
No, from the time he set his sights on Diego.
He had designed how to poke, prod, provoke, and smash those guys.
"It wasn't that complicated. I happened to win a project from the Queen. And the royal family really needed that project. Succeeding with it would score points, and gaining trust that way would make the tattling stick."
"...."
Lloyd shrugged as if it were no big deal.
At that sight, Julien unwittingly swallowed dryly.
Something was amazing.
He wasn't like this before.
He used to just throw tantrums on impulse.
Not anymore.
Julien had watched him since the day he was forcibly given a leave and dragged out of the academy, but Lloyd Frontera no longer felt like the scumbag wastrel he knew.
He didn't drink.
He became astonishingly diligent.
Especially kind to him!
'He hasn't yelled at me once in months.'
Lloyd Frontera being kind and gentle.
Thinking back, it was unimaginable.
He even wondered if it was the same person sometimes.
'And getting used to his kindness... it wasn't bad after a while.'
Even making him shovel dirt was like that.
It was his first time shoveling in his life.
Of course it was hard.
The first few days, he suffered from muscle pain.
Blisters formed on his palms, even peeled.
But that stinging pain, the muscle ache, felt like nothing.
Compared to the daily torment at the academy, it was truly nothing.
'No, it was actually refreshing.'
Shoveling all day, sweating.
Every time he shoveled, something changed.
A pile of dirt moved. Bangul ate it. Then wire was made. Podong gathered and twisted the wire into cable.
That cable supported the suspension bridge in the capital.
He felt proud.
His shoveling was at the start of that whole process.
His shoveling was propping up that suspension bridge.
Thinking that way, his chest swelled naturally these days.
Confidence grew on its own.
As much as his stamina toughened from months of shoveling, as much as the results built from his sweat, he came to trust himself more.
'Maybe hyung made me shovel to feel this.'
Julien's gaze turned to Lloyd.
His brother, chuckling with his attire a bit disheveled.
The brother he always hated, found burdensome, embarrassing.
For the first time, that brother looked a little different.
Perhaps that's why.
Julien uttered words he never thought he'd say to Lloyd, without realizing.
"Thanks."
"Huh?"
"Thanks."
"You eat something bad or what?"
Lloyd fiddled with his ear.
Realizing his slip(?), Julien's face scrunched up.
"Yeah. Feels like it. Gonna puke."
"Me too, actually. Puke coming out my earhole."
"Don't make me laugh. I got goosebumps?"
"Goosebumps only? I got tongue barbs."
Lloyd stuck out his tongue.
Julien let out an awkward laugh.
"But hyung."
"Yeah, what."
"When we going home?"
"Dunno. Tomorrow maybe?"
"Tomorrow? That soon?"
"Yeah."
Lloyd nodded.
No need to stay in the capital anymore.
"Project's done. Got everything from the Queen. Time to head back to the territory. There's a ton piled up there too."
It was true.
Bitumen mine, Marez Reclaimed Land, aqueduct.
Places to manage weren't just one or two.
"Plus, now I have enough to pay off the debt. If I dawdle here? Miss the interest date? I'd have to pay extra interest I don't even owe. So gotta go back before interest day and clear the debt completely."
"Yeah, makes sense. But...."
Julien scratched his cheek.
"I didn't know about that, actually."
"Know what?"
"Our family debt you just mentioned."
"Ah, that?"
"Yeah. Really didn't know. I was just studying here. Dad and Mom sent letters every month, but never mentioned it. Never dreamed. Didn't know everyone was struggling that hard."
Julien's head drooped.
Honestly, a bit embarrassing.
Until now, he thought he was the one suffering the most.
Struggling far from home.
Busy studying hard, enduring bullying on top.
He even thought himself admirable for bearing it without telling family.
But the reality he learned late was a bit different.
He heard from Haviel.
How his father got scammed.
How deep in debt the family was.
In that situation, how Lloyd started changing.
"Honestly, at first I didn't believe it. How could I easily believe you changed like that. But Sir Asrahan said. You were really cool. Sometimes sly, but really trying hard. If not for you, our family would've collapsed already."
He can't say how shocked he was hearing that.
How much he clenched and unclenched his fists unwittingly.
How many sighs thinking of family's hardships.
How much he blamed himself realizing the truth.
'Turns out I had it the easiest.'
But he didn't know.
Assumed it was the old Lloyd.
Didn't trust his brother, just grumbled.
Acted like a total kid.
"So, sorry."
"Sorry?"
"Yeah."
Julien nodded.
Too embarrassed to meet Lloyd's eyes.
But he mustered courage.
Had to be today.
Brother's going back to territory tomorrow.
So, say it now.
Thus, Julien carefully brought out the sincere feelings he'd harbored in his heart for months but too embarrassed to voice.
"I won't hate you anymore, hyung."
That moment.
Ding dong.
[Julien Frontera is conveying his sincere feelings to you.]
[The knot of emotions in Julien Frontera's heart is untying.]
[Julien Frontera has acknowledged you as his brother.]
[Julien Frontera's favorability toward you has increased by +65.]
[Current relationship with Julien Frontera: +6]
[Breakthrough improvement in relationship with a key figure: Acquired 910 RP.]
[Current RP possessed: 3,929]
[Intimacy level with Julien Frontera has risen 3 stages from <Hatred> through <Awkwardness>, <Indifference> to [Daily Interest].]
[Bonus 100 RP acquired for intimacy level increase.]
[Current RP possessed: 4,029]
An unexpected, heartwarming, proud emotion gently knocked on his chest.