‘I… I like my subordinates.’
There were days when I used to grumble, almost self-deprecatingly, calling it the ragtag Order of Knights, or sometimes complaining about Sir Sein or Billy.
However, I never really hated them.
“What, are you touched by our sincerity, Clara? Are your eyes tearing up now?”
While I was drowning in the moment, Lionel, as always, slapped me in the face with his unnecessary comments and snickered seeing my expression. Thanks to that, my tears disappeared instantly.
I put my arms around Lionel’s neck in a familiar manner and gave him my special massage, almost cracking his joints. He screamed, it wasn’t my fault that he was miserable. With this, justice was served.
“Okay, since you all came early, are you okay with me starting to work right away?”
“Yes, we can only proceed if the Captain takes care of the pending payments! In fact, I’ve been waiting!”
I sat down with a smile on Lan’s honest remark. I thought I would feel a bit disoriented after being away for two days and seeing all the work piled up. But surprisingly, I felt energized.
That still doesn’t mean I like paperwork, however. Don’t misunderstand.
As I began checking the documents after sitting down, I realized most of them were completed almost and just needed to be signed.
While coming on the way here, I was worried that I might have to stay up all-nighter to finish the two days of unattended work. However, it seemed the members had done their utmost and most of the paperwork was halfway done. I couldn’t be more grateful for their help.
Confirming the few things that needed to be confirmed, I took care of the rest of the work.
‘I didn’t need to worry about our knights… As expected, the thing that seems most conspicuous is the appearance of the demonic creature at the gathering.’
I had heard a rough explanation from Ludger on the way here.
According to the investigation conducted by the Knights Templar and the Security Forces in charge, the demonic creature seemed to have escaped through the underground waterways.
A massive explosion was seen in the area leading from the waterways to the surface. And since the venue of the gathering was near the underground waterways, it had been badly damaged.
‘Which means the rumors about seeing demonic creatures before were true…..’
The knights in charge and the Security Forces were probably being pressured one way or another. They only accepted their negligence in failing to prevent this situation, even though there had already been eyewitness accounts.
‘Too bad… Thank goodness that our knight order isn’t in charge….’
I briefly sympathized with the misfortune of the people working under the same division and wrote a report on the extermination of the demonic creature. They would be asking to submit a report later anyway, it would be convenient to write a draft in advance.
After finishing the morning work and buying lunch for the members, in the afternoon,
An unexpected guest arrived at our knights’ office.
“Hello. My name is Oscar Deemvyer.”
It was a middle-aged man, most probably in his mid-30s, with a dignified appearance and wearing a monocle. However, my body froze as soon as I heard his name.
‘The Second Prince’s aide…!’
Why did the original male protagonist’s aide come to our knights? Hiding my trembling hands, I greeted him roughly.
“… Greetings to you as well. I’m Clara Weyburn.”
“I have come to deliver a letter on behalf of the Second Prince.”
He quickly got to the point.
“His Highness the Second Prince had sent this letter to Captain Clara Weyburn. Please, have a look through it.”
“…Yes.”
I accepted the extravagant envelope he handed me as if I was receiving poison.
‘I wish he had just sent me a letter of gratitude for saving him at the last gathering or something….’
Of course, that was my hope circuit, which was brutally cut.
Usually, sending a letter by messenger was done in order to receive an immediate response.
That means there was something I needed to answer inside the envelope.
I opened the letter with bleary eyes.
The letter, written in rather wild handwriting, held some similar formalities such as the prosperity of the Empire and the Royal Family. Below it, the main reason for sending the letter was listed.
To summarize, it was about inviting Clara Weyburn to a tea party at the Second Prince’s Palace this weekend, in order to congratulate her for her efforts in eliminating the demonic creature in the incident at the gathering.
‘Wow… Did he confirm the date knowing it was my weekend just to make me work?’
From the perspective of the higher-ups, it must have felt like they were being generous for inviting a knight to have tea and chat.
However, my humble request to them would be that they would just let me sleep in on the weekend without going to the hassle of congratulating me.
But who would dare to refuse the Second Prince’s invitation?
I answered with an extremely happy and grateful expression, which I was far from.
“I am ecstatic to receive the generous invitation of His Highness the Second Prince. I will gladly attend.”
“Yes. I will personally relay Captain Weyburn’s answer. The detailed time and schedule would be informed separately later.”
“Please.”
Oscar greeted me with the same expressionless face as when he arrived and left the knights’ office.
I swallowed a sigh and returned to my seat.
Among the members who were watching the situation, Lionel was the first to speak.
“What, what? Did His Highness the Second Prince invite you?”
“Uh… He wants me to go to a tea party this weekend….”
“Oh….”
Lionel sent me a look of sympathy. Yes, I knew he would understand my sorrow.
Billy, who was far from knowing the truth, looked at me with sparkling eyes and spoke without a clue.
“That’s amazing! As expected, the higher-ups have recognized our Captain’s efforts!”
“Well… That’s a bit… not true….”
“But didn’t His Highness the Second Prince invite you personally? Didn’t he invite you because you almost sacrificed your life to save him?”
“…Sir Billy. The tea party is not an official event.”
When Billy made a bewildered face at my sad expression, an unexpected person explained from behind. It was Sir Sein, who looked tired as usual.
“So because it’s not an official event, it’s a problem…?”
“Rather than a problem… As you should know, Sir Billy, this incident was quietly buried. It was just a short article in the newspaper.”
“Yes.”
I nodded inwardly as I listened to the two’s explanations. This was also just as Ludger had mentioned in advance.
This incident was shocking enough for a demonic creature to have suddenly appeared in the middle of the city. If the news was exaggerated even a bit, it could have caused anxiety and fear among the citizens.
Most of the people who attended the gathering were also people who had gathered for ‘business purposes’.
In other words, they were individuals who were waiting for the upcoming festival, the ‘Lunar New Year’s Festival,’ which was scheduled to be held soon to welcome Spring.
The festival must be held in a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, where people would open their wallets and spend extravagantly. However, if the news appeared before the citizens, wouldn’t it shroud people with fear, causing a negative impact on the festival?
As a result, the higher-ups coincided, and they decided to bury the incident as it was.
No one was seriously injured except me. Therefore, they agreed to let it go quietly.
“If the Captain’s contribution was published as they were, they would have been covered in the newspapers, which means the higher-ups would need to hold a separate official event to award her a medal…. However, they decided to bury the incident. It was as if they thought they were being generous enough to just praise her verbally at a private tea party and end it….”
“I thought it was strange that there was nothing much in the newspaper! This is too much!”
Billy, who understood the situation thanks to Sir Sein’s kind explanation, belatedly burst into anger.
Come to think of it, Sir Sein also looked secretly angry. Is he angry because of me? I appreciate it, really.
Of course, as usual, Lionel couldn’t miss such an opportunity. He teased Sir Sein as if he had been waiting for it.
“Sir Sein… As expected, you care a lot about our Clara. I saw you looking displeased even when you saw that there was no mention of her in the newspaper article….”
I thought Sir Sein would frown and sink into the paperwork like before after being teased, but he surprisingly, answered calmly.
“Well, the Captain deserves to be rewarded for all her hard work.”
“….”
“Doesn’t the Administrator think the same way? I thought you were the most angry when you saw the newspaper article….”
“Ahhhh! Well, that’s right! Let’s all assume that Clara was the cause of your worries! Let’s get to work!”
For being hit by an unexpected counterattack, Lionel tried to change the topic and raised his voice for no reason.
‘I can see your ears are turning red, you punk.’
I chuckled to myself. We were kind of friends who would bicker with each other, sending hateful words as if trying to stump the other party. Even so, I was grateful that he cared about me no matter what.
On the other hand, if Lionel had been in a similar situation, I would have been quite upset too.
However, this time, even though I was the person involved, I wasn’t that upset.
I continued to think about the conversation I had with Ludger in the carriage earlier.
“By the time I received the news, they had already agreed to quietly bury the incident of the appearance of the demonic creature and put an end to the situation. To be honest, I couldn’t agree with that…. But it was too late to turn things around.”
“I see.”
“Of course, if Sir wants, I could put pressure on them to honor Clara Weyburn for her contribution and get her recognition. I was going to ask you for your opinion….”
“No! Really! This is enough!”
From the bottom of my heart, all I really wanted was to avoid getting involved in the political strife of the higher-ups.
‘If this incident had gone as planned, the Second Prince could have made an issue of the fact that someone dared to attack at the gathering that he and Elisa attended.’
There was a strong possibility that some kind of political calculation was behind the decision to keep it quiet and let it pass.
