I open the door and proceed inside. In a nutshell, it felt like an office, as you’d expect.
It is spacious enough to not feel cramped, and the walls are unified in white like the reception room and corridor, giving a sense of calmness. What makes it different from the reception room is that several furniture items seem to be of good quality, and there is a large bookshelf next to the office desk where Alexia sits.
The Rebelio Knights are an order with a long history. There should be a lot of documents just by looking at the activity records so far, and there are probably other books lined up. She is also quite greedy when it comes to her thirst for knowledge.
The dignified appearance of Alexia, sitting at her office desk by the window and running her pen, makes you feel a certain kind of sacredness. I haven’t seen her doing anything at her desk much, but it really suits her.
“Master. I apologize for the trouble,” Alexia said, standing up as soon as she saw me.
“No, no, it’s no problem. Don’t worry about it,” I said.
I’m not going to talk about who’s superior, the Commander of the Knights or the special instructor, but I think it would be nice if she wasn’t so reserved around me.
Of course, from her point of view, there must be some kind of indebtedness from pulling out the old man who had secluded himself in the countryside. I can’t deny it. On top of that, she even prepared the King’s Royal Seal, and she may have felt that I didn’t appreciate the tremendous pressure it bore on me.
But even if there was a king’s order, in the end, it’s because I accepted it that we have the relationship we have now.
And yes, it was sudden, but now I’m grateful. I’m sure this wouldn’t have happened if I stayed in Bidden Village all the time. Well, if you say that this is only a result of theorizing that guarantees, that’s right.
“Please, take a seat,” Alexia said, pointing to what looked like a reception set slightly closer to the wall.
“Ah, yeah,” I said.
Even though it’s an office, there are times when guests come to greet you. Besides, there must be some kind of conversation that can’t be done in the reception room. It never occurred to me that I would end up here.
“However, the sight of you at a desk is refreshing. I think it suits you, Alexia,” I said.
“Thank you very much,” Alexia said. “But, I always feel there’s a lot of work to do.”
“Haha, you’re still a hard worker, aren’t you?” I said.
I said those words with sincerity, but it seems that Alexia took it as flattery. It’s not. Whether she’s swinging her sword or penning away at her desk, she looks the same.
I have no way of knowing what her actual work competency is, but it can’t be low. If they were, she wouldn’t be sitting in that chair right now.
“So… what’s going on this time?” I asked.
“Yes, let me get straight to the point,” Alexia said.
Even after I came to Baltrain, the number of opportunities for me and Alexia to sit down and have a chat has not increased unexpectedly. I basically train at the training grounds, and she focuses on running the Knight Order.
Although we sometimes stand in the training ground together, there are few opportunities to talk alone. In fact, even now, she had interrupted training to come to this place, and she has also stopped her work. Since I don’t think it would be a good idea to waste her time talking too much, I decided to have her get down to business.
“The other day, this arrived at headquarters,” Alexia said, putting an envelope on the reception table.
“Fumu,” I said.
I think it’s probably some kind of letter or order, but I didn’t recognize the pattern on the sealed wax as it was broken open. This is not from the royal family.
“This is an invitation from Margrave Frumwelk,” Alexia said. “The content is an invitation to an evening party hosted by him.”
“Fumu……?”
Huh. Who is Margrave Frumwelk? I don’t know the name.
Since he’s called a Margrave, I think he’s a noble who borders on the territory of either Supheniardvania or the Salua’zalc Empire, probably near the very edge of this country’s borders. So I think, but I don’t have any idea about the person who is a frontier noble. I don’t know anything, frankly.
And even if I proceed as if it’s still possible that the invitation will reach the knights, I still don’t understand the connection between that coming here and my being called her.
“Umm, uh…? In other words, the Rebelio Knights are being invited to an evening party hosted by the Margrave?” I asked.
“It’s as you said,” Alexia said.
After confirming it for the time being, it seems that there is no mistake in my understanding.
I’ve never been involved in an event like that, but I’m sure someone like Alexia would get that kind of invitation. Come to think of it, when I was in Bidden Village, I remember that in the letters she sent me, she talked about her social contacts increasing.
But I still don’t know why she’s telling me, specifically, separately from the others.
Since Alexia is going to Frumwelk territory, I wonder if she’s asking me to train the knights during that time. But in that case, I don’t think it’s necessary to bother calling me, and since Henblitz is there as the Deputy Commander in the first place, I feel it must be something different.
Ah, maybe Henblitz will go with her, too. No, but that would confuse the chain of command. If there is an emergency, it would be a problem if all of the top management is absent.
“I understand the circumstances, but…why did you call me?” I said.
I’ve thought about it a lot, but I can’t come to a conclusion. So I decided to ask. The fact that she called me out purposefully means that Alexia should be telling me the reason, too.
“I would like you to attend this evening party, too, Master,” Alexia said.
“Why?”
Why indeed?
My doubts were almost reflexive but were drowned out by Alexia’s soft smile. No, really, why?
“This was indeed sent to the Rebelio Knights, but to be more precise, it was addressed to you and me, Master,” Alexia said.
“…… Why?”
I tried to digest her words again in my mind, but what came out, as a result, was still a simple questioning voice.
I know that Alexia will be invited. She is the leader of the highest-ranked knight order of this country, and the top of an organization with one of the best fighting powers as well. It is not hard to imagine that it would be important to have connections with all persons of note within the kingdom, not just the capital city of Baltrain.
However, if I was told that I was also one of those invited, it would be a little difficult to react.
It’s been a while since I was given the title of Special Instructor, so I can still agree that I’ve gained some recognition within Baltrain.
Some time ago, there was an attempted assassination of the royal family, and before and after that my face became known outside the Knights. If there is a growing momentum among the nobles to keep at least one of them connected to me, it is still within the realm of understanding.
However, this time the other party is a margrave. I’ve never been there and I don’t even know where it is. I couldn’t see the reason why I, who wasn’t even an official knight, would be taken out of my way to a party there.
“There are several reasons… Master, do you know anything about Frumwelk territory?”
“No, I don’t,” I said.
“…… Ah, I see.”
Hm? For some reason, Alexia’s reaction is a little strange.
Could it be that she was moving on the premise that I knew about the Frumwelk territory and its lord? That would not have fit the flow of talk.
However, Alexia should be familiar with my normal life. And yet, it doesn’t make sense to assume that I knew about a margrave.
It’s a very rude possibility, but I wonder if I’ve known Margrave Frumwelk somewhere in the past, and even completely forgot about him.
No, but I don’t think I’ll forget it if I happen to meet a noble. As far as I know, no nobles should have visited Bidden Village, and if such an event had occurred, I’m confident that I would remember it.
Actually, I don’t know if they came incognito, but there’s no reason for nobles to come to such a remote countryside, and there’s even less reason for them to come incognito.
“…Then, let’s start with the other reason first,” Alexia said.
“Un,” I said.
It seems that one of her presuppositions has collapsed, and I’m kind of sorry for her. But I really don’t know.
For the time being, the only other possibility I can think of is a connection with Pops. Before I was born, or rather before he came back to Bidden Village with my mother, he seemed to be doing a lot of ridiculous things in various places.
And when I think about Pops’s personality, even if a high-ranking person with whom I have a friend visits Bidden Village, he probably wouldn’t introduce him as a nobleman. Even if there was a relationship, the possibility of visiting such a place is almost non-existent.
“Frumwelk territory is located along the border with Supheniardvania,” Alexia said.
“…… Fumu.”
Although I was trying my best to think about the relationship between a margrave and myself, Alexia continued to explain while I still had no clue.
And when I learned that the Frumwelk territory bordered not the Empire, but the Supheniardvania, my level of caution rose a little.
To be honest, I’ve never been to either the Empire or Supheniardvania, but I don’t have a very good impression of the latter because I know some of the circumstances. In layman’s terms, it smells like trouble.
If that happens, I can understand a little more about why you called me instead of Sir Henblitz. After the attempted assassination of the royal family, Alexia and I were the ones invited to the royal dinner party.
“Does that have something to do with the recent incident?” I asked.
""
Once curiosity is piqued, you have no choice but to ask. Luckily, there’s only me and Alexia here, so if I don’t do something stupid like yelling too loudly, it won’t leak to the outside.
“Indeed,” Alexia said. “Just to be safe, I’d like to ask you not to say anything to anyone.”
“Of course,” I said.
“Thank you,” Alexia said.
Almost certainly, this is a case involving the royal family. If that’s the case, it also explains why she bothered to call me. I don’t want to die to start causing sparks of conflict in a place like that. No amount of lives and hearts is enough for me to survive it.
“The talk of Princess Salacia’s marriage is now in full swing,” Alexia said.
“Fumu.”
In other words, it was now officially decided that she would marry Prince Glenn. As long as Alexia has been told about it, the general outline between Rebelis Kingdom and Supheniardvania should have already been settled. After that, it will be centered on fine adjustments such as when to do it.
“Confirmation of the movement route in advance, and meeting with the lords on the route, this is the main focus,” Alexia said.
“I see……”
Certainly, this is important. It makes sense to move the Knights, and I also understand that Alexia will move directly.
But is it okay to tell me this? I don’t know the details of the current situation in Supheniardvania, but not much time has passed since the incident with Rose. It’s a bit hard to imagine that the internal conflict subsided at super speed during that time.
“In that case, it’s not like you and me are going on a trip together, is it, Alexia?”
“Yes,” Alexia said. “Currently, in addition to you and me, Master, several knights are scheduled to accompany us, and a platoon from the kingdom’s garrison will serve as escorts along the way.”
“… That’s quite a lot.”
It’s such a large deployment.
Even if I can still understand the knight’s accompaniment, one platoon from the kingdom’s garrison as an escort on the way is a considerable scale. Thinking about it calmly, I think it’s strange that a knight is accompanied by dozens of escorts to a noble’s evening party.
The reason why not only Rebelio Knights but also the Kingdom Garrison accompanies them is probably because the Garrison is also responsible for the escort during the actual transfer during the ceremony. In other words, it is close to a rehearsal.
Most likely, most of those members will be members of the Royal Guard that His Majesty Gladio mentioned some time back. If you think about it that way, it makes a lot of sense.
And, as a matter of course, if Rebelio’s Knights and the Kingdom Garrison were gathered near the border, it would cause unnecessary tensions with neighboring countries. Especially for those who belong to the Pope’s Faction, the Kingdom should not want to provoke them too much.
“That’s what the invitation is for, isn’t it?” I asked.
“That’s right. Nominally, it’s a form of consolation and gratitude to the knights who stopped the diplomatic crisis with the neighboring country from going past the brink,” Alexia said.
“Nominally, huh…?”
In short, these words confirmed that it was not a straightforward invitation.
Just a little bit, really a little bit, I was optimistic that I might just be able to enjoy the trip, but that’s just not going to happen, isn’t it? After all, it’s trouble, isn’t it? Goddamnit.
“Just in case, I’m going to ask you, Henblitz is no good for this, is he?” I asked.
“Yes. Just in case, we need to keep a commander and the combined forces in Baltrain,” Alexia said.
“I figured as much,” I said.
Not limited to the possibility that Supheniardvania will take advantage of this opportunity to make a mess again, it is very clumsy to let the maximum force of this city where the royal family lives completely absent. If nothing happened, that would be the best, but if something happened, they couldn’t deal with it.
Then, it will be impossible to move both Alexia and Henblitz at once. No matter how you look at it, the absence of superiors is useless in the event of an emergency, so this can’t be helped.
“But… Leaving you aside, Alexia, I don’t think my participation is absolutely necessary,” I said.
“It’s not absolute, but… well, I think you’ll understand the first reason once you get there,” Alexia said.
“Fumu……”
The first reason is about the Frumwelk territory. Does it mean that I can remember when we arrive? I have no idea at the moment, but I feel really sorry if I just forgot about it.
In that case, I think you should tell me now, but well, if I really forgot, then I’m the one to blame, so I can’t say that too strongly.
“The rest is my personal wishes,” Alexia said.
“Ah, I see…”
This girl comes to me with the same tone as usual. I wonder if it’s a hope that falls within the scope of the Knight Commander’s authority.
“……Leaving that aside, your name is quite clearly written on this invitation,” Alexia said. “It seems you’ve also got a recommendation from Her Highness Salacia.”
“A recommendation, huh…?”
I instinctively look up at the ceiling of the office.
Is this that, in other words, the usual pattern?
The outer moat was completely filled before I even heard about it, and it was a practical order that could be brought up in the form of a consultation. Isn’t there a lot of this type of scenario since I came to Baltrain? I don’t think I’m crazy.
Moreover, this time it came with a nomination from Her Highness Salacia. I have no right to refuse. Even if it’s not an order from His Majesty like when I was asked to be a special instructor, it’s impossible for me as a citizen to refuse a recommendation from the royal family.
“… Hmm. Wait a minute.”
“Yes, what is it?”
After giving up halfway through thinking about it, a question popped up.
“Since I’ve also been recommended Princess Salacia, does Margrave Frumwelk also know about me?”
“Of course.”
She’s serious. It’s highly possible that I’ve forgotten him but he hasn’t forgotten me.
I’m really sorry. Please forgive me.
T/N: Some of the Japanese commenters are saying, “Oh no, you have to get Kuruni or Thyssel here so Alexia won’t be riding in a carriage alone with Beryl.”
