The Royal Ritual (3): The Uneasy Knight Commander

After Prince Zeland explained my exchange with Dentacrus to King Zeurasia and Raiz-sama, I was let off without reprimand.

King Zeurasia and Raiz-sama disappeared into the crowd as if nothing had happened. Lapiria-sama was the only one left behind, and she approached me and flicked me on the forehead.

"That hurts, Lapiria-sama."

When I protested, Lapiria-sama planted her feet wide and glared at me with one hand on her hip, despite wearing such a lavish banquet outfit.

"The king didn't say anything, but... you went a little too far. If Dentacrus had stabbed you in the back, you couldn't exactly have complained, you know?"

That was Lapiria-sama's point, and I had no grounds to argue. I did think I had gone a little too far. Even so...

"I can't forgive the way he treated Prince Zeland. So I don't think I went too far," I replied, putting on just a little show of bravado.

Although Lufa was his main reason for coming, Prince Zeland was also one of the friends who often came to visit my room. I couldn't allow anyone to hurt him by speaking to him like that.

"Roa-dono..." Prince Zeland gazed at me with deep admiration. He was a prince, so his status put him far above me, but I somehow found myself treating him like a younger brother I had grown fond of.

"I understand that, but... Still, Roa, how did you manage to stand up to that idiot son of the Veloza family so boldly? Even ordinary nobles would hesitate to go up against the Veloza family, you know?"

After seeing so many "real" ones, including Raiz-sama and Zackhart-sama, being intimidated by a small fry of that caliber was hardly going to faze me.

Still, I felt awkward saying that aloud, so I merely answered, "Do you think so?"

Lapiria-sama's angry expression then softened, and she smiled.

"Well, standing your ground against the Veloza family was pretty cool. I have to say, I see you in a new light."

When Lapiria-sama, dressed in her banquet attire, smiled like that, she was incredibly captivating, and I secretly felt my heart skip a beat.

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Almost everyone present had witnessed my exchange with Dentacrus. I thought that meant the Ninth Knight Order would view me as an enemy, but surprisingly, that didn't seem to be the case.

Not long after the commotion, Dentacrus left early with several dozen followers, and I felt as though the number of favorable looks directed at me had increased.

In fact, after Dentacrus left, soldiers from the Ninth Knight Order began coming up to greet me one by one. Though none of them went so far as to say it outright, they all conveyed the sentiment, "Well said." With someone like that as their unit commander, they must have accumulated a lot of pent-up frustration.

The most memorable among them was Gliese-san, who was a unit commander like Dentacrus.

Gliese-san was one of the Ninth Knight Order's few unit commanders who was not a noble. In other words, he was someone with the ability befitting a unit commander.

As a unit commander of the Ninth Knight Order, which had almost no record of notable achievements, I was sorry to say that I didn't know much about him. However, as soon as Dentacrus left, Gliese-san approached me and bowed, opening with, "I'm sorry about our idiot."

Taking Lapiria-sama's words into account, the Veloza family was an extremely prominent house. Speaking ill of its son seemed even more dangerous for Gliese-san, as a member of the same order, than for me, who belonged to another unit. Yet he didn't care at all. Nor did a single one of the remaining Ninth Knight Order soldiers rebuke him.

Could Gliese-san be the Ninth Knight Order's de facto commander for this operation?

Still, Dentacrus would naturally be the one giving orders in public. If Dentacrus and his group were plotting something, how many people knew about it?

If Gliese-san's treatment of me was an act, that was quite a performance...

And so, despite the minor disturbance, the departure banquet came to an end.

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The next morning, we set out as scheduled.

Along the way, I thought Dentacrus might say something like, "Put us in charge of the prince's escort," but he was surprisingly subdued—or rather, he kept some distance from the prince and the Tenth Knight Order and followed behind them.

Honestly, he was being so quiet that it seemed suspicious.

"Even though this is a royal ritual, the Ninth Knight Order's commander isn't coming?"

It was Nelfia who answered my simple question.

"Humett-sama is advanced in years."

That seemed questionable for a knight commander. As the rumors suggested, perhaps the order had been created as an outlet for the opposition forces of that time. If so, was its commander merely a figurehead?

Incidentally, Sazaby was also accompanying us on this expedition, along with Nelfia.

Apparently, Sazaby was participating as my subordinate, while Nelfia was there as the king's scribe. I couldn't tell what the difference was, but apparently their roles were different.

"Is Humett-sama so infirm that he can barely move?"

"No, not quite that bad, but recently he hasn't been appearing in public much or interfering in his subordinates' affairs."

"... Is that all right?"

"... I'm not sure."

Feeling uneasy about the future of the Ninth Knight Order after hearing Nelfia's words, we continued on our way in subdued silence.