episode_0178

Leopold willingly allowed me and Friede to meet alone.

He even guided us to the garden of the First Prince’s Palace, which was colored red by the sunset, and to a resting pavilion located in one corner.

Since there are no wandering eyes and ears, it is said to be better for private conversation than indoors.

Tea and refreshments were placed on the table shown.

Leopold remained in his office.

Did you say that it is rude to intervene in a conversation between women?

Thanks to this, Persval had to start work two hours early, but he didn’t seem to care.

Actually, it doesn’t change anything if he cares.

Leopold tells me to do it, so what can I do?

—-

“So, how did you get this letter?”

“You know the Order of the Rosary Cross? There was an incident last time, and the movements of the prisoners were very suspicious, so they wanted to come to the north just in case. ‘For the well-being of the empire’… ? Anyway, one of them came to see me on that occasion. With this letter. He asked me to tell it to you.”

It must be Leonor’s doing.

If things continue like this, the Order of Knights will be over anyway, and even if Leopold overthrows Isabella and ascends to the throne, Leonor won’t be able to trust him, so is it better to go under Palune?

It was a wise decision for something that came out of her head.

Palun is always hungry for knight power, so if they welcome their conversion, they will welcome it and will not reject it.

The imperial family also has no justification for forcibly transporting the knights who are going to protect the empire on the front line in the harsh cold.

You might not know it from the Imperial Knights, but the Rosicrucian Knights are actually a group of Leonor’s private soldiers independent of the imperial military.

Since the chain of command itself was different, even if he converted to Palun, others would not have the authority to intervene.

With this, the safety of the knights was secured, even if Leonor herself did not know it.

Considering Leonor’s intelligence, it doesn’t seem like it was her plan, and was there a smart person among her subordinates?

Anyway, if it was necessary to send a letter like that, it would mean that Leonor has something important to do with me.

I never thought they would contact me before I even looked for it. That’s fortunate.

“Do you know what it is?”

“That can’t be possible. Secretly opening other people’s letters, there’s no way I would do something so undignified, right?”

Friede shrugged her shoulders.

… Isn’t it already too late to question dignity? He often rolls around in my bed.

Are you going to bring your own pillow in later?

“Now I have to find dignity… . Anyway, thank you.”

After expressing my gratitude, I opened the envelope.

As expected, it was a letter from Leonor.

– I’d like you to help me, is it okay if I ask you a favor?

As expected of Ernst’s younger brother, it was a very short phrase.

Because only the date and place were written in the main text, which ended in one sentence.

The time is midnight today.

The location was near the church of the Astraea Church.

… Was it still hidden within the system?

I could go out under the pretext of taking Friede to her home.

—-

After that, it was just regular chat.

Nigel is helping them train as I requested, Damian’s skills have improved to a surprising degree, things like that.

“By the way, I don’t know if I’m doing a good job as an escort. With your personality, it won’t be easy to work under someone else.”

“There wasn’t really anything to do. Because all I do is move around during the day.”

You have to have an attacker to escort you.

Now, I was actually a walking folding screen.

To put it nicely, you could say that it was thanks to me that the attackers didn’t show up.

“He is a thief of the treasury. No, should we call them looters of the treasury?”

Friede chuckled and elegantly brought the teacup in her hand to her mouth.

To be honest, I can’t get used to it every time he does this. I’ve already shown everything I can’t see, so I have to be polite… .

anyway. The accusation of being a treasury looter was somewhat unfair.

“I don’t get a single penny, so how can I be a looter?”

All I got here was a room for Leopold’s sister and imperial-level meals.

“What? No, that’s not it. It’s not like we’re doing some kind of charity project. Even though we’re from the same faction, they’re using someone as capable as you personally, so you should at least pay them a salary higher than that of the Royal Guard! In the first place, even if you didn’t bring up the topic of compensation, Prince Leopold should have said it first. The prince pretends not to be like that, but he seems to have a dark side… !”

The teacup that was put down roughly hit the saucer and made a clanging sound.

Friede’s expression clearly revealed a slight anger.

What. Is this something to be so angry about?

It wasn’t something I did for money in the first place, and I agreed to the escort service because I, too, would be in trouble if Leopold were assassinated.

“First of all, since our interests are aligned-”

“I like coincidence of interests.”

Friede cut off the sentence like a knife.

“Then, the other knights have conflicting interests, so they constantly receive bonuses and manors?”

uh? Is that so?

After listening to it, I don’t think it’s wrong… ?

Perhaps it was because of Friede’s firm tone of voice, but I also felt like I was being persuaded by her logic.

“First of all, I am receiving various things, but what is it, an imperial dinner or something…? .”

“How much does that dinner cost? In the first place, if you give food and pamper yourself, is that a slave or a knight?”

Once again, I thought about it carefully.

Is Friede right?

… … .

That’s right.

huh. I think that’s right.

Right. Was I being exploited…? !

“Uh… After listening to it, I think you’re right. I’ll have to check this out.”

Considering Leopold’s personality, it seems like he would just calmly make an excuse and move on.

“Of course it should be so. If it seems lame to point it out now, why not ask me to do it? Before I go back, I will say something on your behalf.”

“Well, thank you, but it seems like you’re angrier than me… ?”

I feel a little uncomfortable because my compensation was stolen, but seeing Friede, who was not even a party to the party, rather enraged… To be honest, I felt dazed.

“Of course. How much money does Palun spend to maintain its masters? How can I resist the twist in my stomach that they are using it without spending a single penny?”

Oh, I see… ?

What should I say, I was speechless because it was a more realistic reason than I thought.

“Then what is it… If I serve in the North after graduation, will my salary still be paid regularly? According to what you said, it seems like a pretty big amount.”

“Huh? Uh, well that’s it. I understand that it is a contract written as a condition of admission. Then, wouldn’t that be the end of it… ?”

Hey dude.

—-

After finishing Saddam, he returned to the First Prince’s palace and reported to Leopold about the letter.

Friede was preparing to head back to the carriage first.

“Are you saying that Leonor contacted you first? That’s fortunate.”

“Yes. Thank goodness. So, I think I will be moving outside the imperial palace from tonight until dawn.”

After seeing Friede off, meeting Leonor, and taking care of business, I come back around 3 a.m. at the earliest.

My identity itself is already guaranteed, so I won’t be blocked at the main gate of the imperial palace.

“No matter how you look at Sir Persval, he doesn’t seem like a spy, so my personal safety shouldn’t be a problem… Princess, please be careful. It wouldn’t matter if the letter really belonged to Leonor, but there’s also a chance that it was a trap for the Empress.”

“If you arrive nearby, you can roughly distinguish it by its presence, so if it is a trap, you can just run away.”

Even if there are about ten bug knights waiting, what can I do if they jump out before I can meet them?

If we had filmed a chase in the middle of the archipelago, we would have been surrounded by the emergency dispatched Imperial Knights, and everyone would have been subjugated except me, whose identity I was certain of.

“More than that, what you promised before has not changed, right? An oath to ensure her safety in the future on the condition that Princess Leonor and her descendants permanently give up their right to succession.”

Just go back and change your words later.

Right now, the stability of the empire is the top priority, so we can’t touch it, but if one day the world becomes peaceful… There is no reason to endure it at that time.

“Don’t worry. Do I really have to break the oath I made in Elfinel’s name? And that too in the face of none other than ‘God’s punishment.’”

It was a jaw-dropping statement.

So much so that I dropped the letter I was holding without even realizing it.

“No, where did that nickname come from…? .”

I was relieved because no one called me that… !

“Lady Palun taught me.”

Friede… ! Is this your doing again? !

Her smiling face was beautiful before my eyes.

“I knew you were nicknamed the Beast Predator or the Knight of the Goddess, but it was God’s punishment… Hehehe, isn’t that a cool nickname? Even Sir Richard, the Paladin Master of the Elfinel Church, has never received such a grand nickname.”

The corner of Leopold’s mouth twitched. As if he was holding back the laughter that was about to burst out.

… If you want to laugh, just laugh openly.

The conversation with Leopold was not very long.

Since Friede was waiting outside, I didn’t plan on talking for too long.

I also mentioned my salary, and Leopold explained it naturally without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

I didn’t mention it because I didn’t know how long the escort work would last, and I was thinking of paying them as soon as the work was done.

Since the attitude was that it was a natural thing, there was no room to ask any further questions.

This bastard. No matter how you look at it, I think it would have been overlooked if I hadn’t pointed it out… .

—-

As soon as I got on the carriage, I complained to Friede.

“Why on earth did you give Prince Leopold such a nickname?”

Despite my intense anger, Friede just smiled calmly.

“A nickname like that? You have earned such a great title for your work with me. Isn’t it my mission to spread it so that everyone knows about it?”

It sounds like a mission.

“Your mission is to increase the number of friends to more than 65. Isn’t this a long-cherished wish worth a lifetime?”

“Well, wouldn’t ‘God’s punishment’ be enough for 50 ordinary friends? Not long left until 65 people.”

As usual, I quarreled with Friede and escorted her to the entrance of the academy.

It was midnight when we arrived at the academy.

Most people were sleeping, so the inside of the academy was mostly dark, with only a few glass windows shining and shining.

“Then, try hard. Be careful not to die. Once I graduate, I will have to serve hard in Palun.”

As I was getting off the carriage with my hood over my head, she joked with concern.

That must be a pity, Friede. I will enjoy military service at the level of a prince in Landenburg.

“Ha… For the time being, you should always be alert to your surroundings. Even though you are only nominally here to see me, the Empress will not be pleased with your visit to the First Prince’s Palace. Perhaps they will try to use you as a hostage to lure Prince Palune into action. If possible, stick with Nigel.”

If I were in Isabella’s position, it’s something I would do. I’m not sure how much Grand Duke Palun cherishes his daughter.

Friede, who had an expression of surprise, looked into my eyes and smiled.

“You take care of all my worries, so you’ve become a human?”

“This is what I will say. Anyway, I’m going to leave now, take care of Lana and the other kids.”

It was a good thing I brought a hood.

Because the hem of the cloth covering my face covered my red cheeks.

—-

It was thirty minutes later that we arrived at the place Leonor mentioned.