Chapter 25: Drawing Spring (3)
Isoel naturally stood in front of Oleciren.
Although she was confident that Ethelred’s knights would not harm her, it was a typical action for an escort knight.
Abel also tried to do the same to Cain.
Swish.
However, Cain waved his hand.
Then he pointed to where Ethelred’s knights stood proudly.
“You should go over there. You’re the Deputy-Commander.”
“That’s true……”
Abel walked with an expression that clearly indicated he was unhappy.
It was Cain who started the reckless behavior, but now that he was a real Deputy-Commander, Abel’s rightful place was over there.
The group exited the carriage and took their places.
Cain slicked back his black hair and called him.
“Commander Cloyd.”
“Yes, Lord Ethelred.”
Cain pointed to a knight with his head and body separated and said,
“Who is this corpse?”
“He’s a baron from the Count Lamaring family.”
The Count Lamaring family.
One of only five counts in the Airian Kingdom.
‘The family of my real mother.’
Cain gritted his teeth.
He had never expected to hear that name at this moment.
He pointed to the decapitated man and asked again.
“Are there no other party members?”
“They say he came alone to deliver a message from the Lord Count of Lamaring.”
Cloyd’s bold demeanor.
Even during wartime, it is customary not to kill the opposing envoy, but he did so cleanly.
He has progressed to the point where he no longer requires treatment.
Cain was curious about that.
“The Cloyd I know was a person who hesitated a lot and tried to move as carefully as possible……”
Cloyd nodded.
“Yes, that’s right.”
From the side, he was both honest and slow, which was frustrating.
He would be a dependable rock if he had a brave lord, but if he were alone, he would be the ideal person to bear all of the blame.
‘Very frustrating.’
Despite his original personality and age, Cain always felt sorry for Cloyd.
Because if he had changed a little, Ethelred’s fate might have been different.
However, he did not know that he would change so much, so even Cain was a little taken aback.
“What did he say?”
“I don’t know.”
Cloyd responded firmly.
Moreover, the other knights puffed out their chests as if it were a good thing and nodded their heads.
Oleciren approached Cain’s side and whispered.
“If there’s a special product among Ethelred’s territory, tell me now. I’ll cover it up somehow.”
“I wish this land was a land where such things grow.”
Cain waved his hand like he did to Abel, and Oleciren fell back with a smile.
Then, crouching next to the dead knight, Cain rummaged through his arms.
He inquired again while doing so.
“Tell me in detail so I don’t have to ask again.”
“The messenger dared to call Young Master ‘that Cain bastard’.”
Stop.
The hand that was searching the dead man’s arms came to a stop.
Cain slowly lifted his head to look at Cloyd.
He spoke as a typical knight, looking straight ahead.
“So you cut him?”
Cloyd nodded in agreement.
“Yes, I cut him right away.”
“Are you sure it’s not Vanderbilt who’s talking to me right now instead of Commander Cloyd?”
Vanderbilt, the elderly knight who only followed him, could do that.
To be exact, even Vanderbilt would not do this in one word, but if you give him a hundred chances, it would be possible.
Cain, on the other hand, did not believe that the indecisive Cloyd would swing his sword at a single word.
Thud.
Cloyd knelt and took a ready stance.
Thud━ thud!
At the same time, Ethelred’s knights who followed him took the same stance, and Abel followed them in a panic.
Then Cloyd opened his mouth.
“When Young Master Abel was admitted as Deputy-Commander, I realized. We have to change.”
“……That’s why I put him in.”
Thud.
Then he clenched his fist and placed it against his heart.
It was a stance taken while swearing allegiance on Airian Island.
Cloyd bowed his waist.
The knights then bowed before Cain.
“The first thing we had to decide was the object of our loyalty. A knight needs a lord above all else.”
“Is that me?”
“No. It’s ‘Ethelred’.”
“……?”
Cloyd gradually straightened his back.
His eyes flashed with an honest loyalty that could be described as madness.
“Young Master is not a Lord Count. So he is not a lord. But he is a representative of Ethelred.”
Cain blinked.
Lord Ethelred.
The owner of Ethelred’s territory.
“You’ll follow me because I’m the current Lord of Ethelred?”
A pun.
However, there was a significant conclusion between the time Cloyd and the Ethelred knights left.
“Yes, My lord. So there was no need to spare the one who called our representative ‘a bastard’.”
“Even if the result is a war with Count Lamaring?”
Cain laughed.
Cloyd addressed him with a slight smile.
“You told me that the war had already begun.”
“I did.”
Cain said nothing more.
Knights and the master.
It was a moment when there was no need to recognize each other further with words.
For the first time, they moved for each other, and they became one Ethelred.
Whoosh━.
A sensation on his fingertips.
Cain removed a silk pouch from the dead man’s arms.
“Well, then let’s see. What is Count Lamaring, my maternal grandfather who cut off ties, trying to say?”
He opened the pouch and found a piece of paper inside.
Cain was able to summarize it in a few lines, despite its length.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone talk crap.”
Flick.