Chapter 26
"Hey, Yui! There's still so much snow on those mountains!"
"Mei, want to go take a look?!"
Seeing the Miraj Range towering to the north of Tsanadefor, the twins raised excited voices.
It was already the season when snow had long since disappeared from Rudek territory, leaving only a light dusting on the peaks of a few mountains in the former Lifrea territory.
"There's no need to rush. We'll reach the foot of the mountains."
Just as Nizuhock had said, Tsanadefor's capital, Barming, lay at the foot of the Miraj Range.
Whether or not the twins were listening to Nizuhock was unclear. But once she confirmed they weren't going to run off on their own, she left them alone for the time being.
"Honestly, those girls really never change, do they...?"
Nizuhock sighed. Seeing her like that, Sazaby spoke.
"By the way, may I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Nizuhock-sama, you're the twins' teacher, right? Were the twins from the Second Knight Order?"
"No, I'm not."
"Huh? You're not?"
"No. Boldras picked those girls up from somewhere or other... and put them in the Fourth Knight Order."
"Picked them up...? They're not stray dogs or cats..."
Although Sazaby answered that way, he secretly thought the description fit them rather well.
"Then how did you become the twins' teacher?"
"One day, they suddenly barged into the Second Knight Order and shouted, 'Teach us how to ride a horse!'"
"...And you actually accepted them after that?"
"They did have a letter of introduction from Boldras, and it seemed a little harsh to send them away, so I tested them. And then, well, the twins' abilities were just as you saw... so in the end, I took them in."
"I see... Wait, didn't the royal capital know about that...?"
"Boldras's letter said, 'Please keep this a secret.'"
"...And he didn't get in trouble for that?"
"Well, you see, Boldras got chewed out terribly over something else shortly afterward. The matter of the twins got blurred in the confusion."
"Something else?"
"Yes. Though, strictly speaking, it wasn't something else. Boldras had been inflating the budget requests for the knight order."
"What?! I've never heard anything about that! And that was going too far..."
"Of course, it was handled in the strictest secrecy. Nelfia probably knows about it. If Boldras had simply been lining his own pockets, it would have been easy enough to deal with, but..."
"He wasn't?"
Since the Fourth Knight Order was still intact even now, it was easy to imagine that, at the very least, Boldras hadn't received any major punishment.
"He had used the padded budget to procure the supplies needed to establish a Heavy Knight Order. Once he brought out the ledgers and explained that, even the king would have found it hard to object."
"Oh, I see. So that's why the Fourth Knight Order is the only one with a Heavy Knight Order?"
"That's right. At first, Boldras was trying to establish one through official channels, but it seems there was some interference from various quarters."
"Interference?"
"Mostly the nobles. Over money."
"Ah, I see."
They must have been arguing over the vested interests tied to the equipment. Well, it was certainly possible.
"But even so, inflating the budget to acquire equipment seems a little reckless, doesn't it?"
"Yes, well... I did rather thoroughly put those greedy nobles in their place, so they buried the proposal itself."
Put them in their place? What did she do?
"Anyway, he was summoned when the inflation was discovered, but when you got down to it, the nobles on the other side were entirely at fault. In the end, he convinced the king it was for the war against Golbel and built the Heavy Knight Order just as he wanted. Boldras really was something."
"I thought so at Femas, too, but is Boldras-sama really that reckless a person?"
"He's quiet and unassuming normally, but once he decides to do something, he's the type who won't change his mind."
"That is... quite something..."
"I don't know how much Boldras had planned, but in the end, the heavy cavalry unit was created, and the twins who had suddenly shown up at our door ended up leading it."
"That's the first I've heard of it..."
"Of course it is. Regardless of the reason, if it had come to light that a knight commander had inflated the budget, it would have been grounds for execution. That noble must have been exceptionally troublesome, I suppose."
Seeing Sazaby's surprise, Nizuhock continued.
"But I was surprised that those twins transferred to the Tenth Knight Order—and that Boldras allowed it, too. Well, I can understand it, in a way."
"I can sort of understand that part too."
Perhaps it was precisely because they were such an unconventional master-and-servant pair that they had been so strongly drawn to Roa.
As they chatted, Sazaby and the others hurried along the road toward the capital, Barming.