97. joint investigation (1)
“Anyway, this isn’t something I’m used to.”
“You must endure, Your Highness.”
the time of the full moon. It was a long time for some, but at least the last month of the first prince, Louis Loir, could be said to have been much shorter than most people’s 15 days. The sword led by a knight named Arsene developed day by day, and talking about martial arts and life with him also broadened Louis’ knowledge and horizons.
“… I guess it’s time to stop.”
“Just hold on for thirty seconds, Your Highness.”
The training became more ruthless as the lessons progressed, but it was painful, but Louis was able to endure it. Apparently, as the time we spent together increased, the knight named Arsene also got used to himself, so he was able to make this kind of penance. I don’t know if the training that I wanted to start as a hobby has changed like this before I knew it.
“Okay.”
Thanks to that, Louis was sweating out the muscles he didn’t normally use. Right now, I was in a prone position with my body supported only by my elbows and toes. When Arsene first demonstrated, I thought it would be easy, so I wanted to hit myself again and again.
I think 30 seconds passed.
Louis raised his gaze at Maxim with such protest. My abs and back were shaking and trembling. His teeth gnashed on his own, and sweat ran down his forehead and cheeks, soaking the ground. Arsene’s expression did not change. He wasn’t standing still, he was in the same position as himself, so he couldn’t even protest.
“Five more seconds.”
“Damn it.”
Unusually harsh words came out of Lewis’s mouth. The map driver calmly counted the five seconds with his mouth and gave Louis hope.
“5, 4, 3… .”
“Five seconds is pretty slow.”
Does he feel that way, or is Arsene really counting slowly? Lewis said so in a trembling voice.
“2… .”
It was only after 3 seconds had passed, from 2 seconds to 1 second, that the word ‘1’ came out of Arsene’s mouth. Before Maxim could say that he had done a good job, Prince 1 knelt down and exhaled.
“Well, oh, you’re making me suffer.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Your Highness.”
Arsene, or Maxim, who spoke calmly, was already getting up and warming up. At the sight of people entering the courtyard, I narrowed my eyes and looked in the direction of the person walking in.
“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“You and I trained like this, well.”
“It’s hard to train with Your Highness the way we trained, Dennis.”
The people who entered while talking to each other were Maxim’s seniors, Dennis and Charlotte. When the first prince stood up, they put their hands on their chests and bowed down. It was a manner that only the knights of the 1st Guards could do, serving only the king as their lord.
“How are you, Your Highness?”
Louis humbly accepted their greeting, wondering if this really seemed strong.
“Yes, why did you guys come all the way to Ye? I’m sure he didn’t come to watch if I didn’t get tired of swordsmanship and was doing well.”
Dennis shook his head with a smile on his face.
“I’m glad he checked it out for himself, but we’re here to pick up Arsene Bern for a bit, Your Highness. Would it be all right if I borrowed Your Highness’s swordsmanship instructor for a while?”
“I’ll take you anyway. After all, aren’t you, His Majesty’s escort knights, Arsene’s source?”
“Of course, it would be good for Her Highness to listen to this story as well.”
Maxim followed Louis’ nod and approached Dennis and Charlotte. Dennis turned his head to Maxim and cut off the conversation with a serious expression he hadn’t seen before.
“It looks like the royal family has called a meeting. So that only a few big people, including Count Benning, participate. It’s not a regular meeting, but it looks like there was an item to discuss. If the information came late to our escort knights, you should think that they moved quickly from there.”
Maxim frowned, and Louis hardened his expression.
“It’s not what His Majesty wanted. Could it have been opened at the request of the servants?”
Is it Beninga’s pressure to check the king’s recent moves? Maxim asked with his eyes.
“It is very likely. But this time, His Majesty seems to have prepared something.”
We shouldn’t have to worry too much, Dennis smiled. On the other hand, Prince 1 only listened to their conversation with his face still stiff.
“… majesty?”
Somehow, Dennis asked the first prince with a hard expression in a worried voice.
“Is there no way to know what agenda was covered at the meeting?”
“… Unexpectedly, there was an approved resolution agreed upon by Count Benning and His Majesty. That’s all I knew.”
The expressions of Prince 1 and Maxim were simultaneously stained with questions. Dennis turned his head to Maxim as if making an excuse and added.
“As I said, this is all I could find out. really.
“… other than that? Since you guys came here, it seems there must be another reason besides conveying the news.”
Lewis asked cautiously. Dennis nodded lightly and confirmed the words of the first prince.
“Your Majesty wants to see Arsene Bern separately. That’s why I’m here to pick up Arsene.”
Maxim’s expression hardened with tension.
“Is that what His Majesty ordered the Knights Templar to do? If not, is it a task that is handed down to me personally?”
“Probably the latter. I haven’t heard anything else that our knights have to do.”
Denis looked at Maxim, frowning.
“He called us this time and said he had something else to order from us… .”
another command?
Maxim’s eyebrows curled. I remembered the king’s words that they would cut off their limbs.
“All right.”
Maxim turned to Louis, as if asking for permission. Lewis nodded as if to go. Charlotte looked up and down at Maxim’s dusty, dirty clothes, then sighed.
“Change into your uniform and meet me in the hallway leading to the office.”
Dennis and Charlotte left the courtyard at the last word. There was an awkward silence in the courtyard, which had a stormy atmosphere.
“Let’s stop here for today. You must hurry up and respond to His Majesty’s summons.”
Louise’s voice commanding Maxim did not have the usual mildness. Maxim bowed his head without asking more about him.
“I will take your order.”
The first prince sighed as he looked at Maxim’s back as he withdrew. There was a crack in the balance within the palace, which was at risk. It wasn’t long before the bloody winds blew in the capital. The place where the wind blows will be Daejeon, whether it will be the palace of the first princess and herself, or the palace of the second prince.
The place where Louis turned around was the place where the palace of the first princess, Michelle, was located. Can that child not get caught up in the bloody wind? Can we be kept safe without being swept away by the mighty waves of this struggle?
He did not want to resent the king for getting Michelle caught up in it. He was too distant an object to resent. Louis did not know the King too well.
so that. I had to be alone. To protect her without resentment or regret from anyone.
The wooden sword was still in Lewis’ hand. After a month of training, the unreliable hands became quite strong, and little by little, calluses began to form on the hands. Lewis closed his eyes and opened them. Then, as his teacher had instructed, he tried to take the jockey ceremony.
‘Shoulders, arms, legs.’
Without help, it was difficult to take the jockey ceremony properly. The tip of the knife trembled. Everything placed above the first prince’s gaze began to shake at the same time.
catch it all
Repeating to himself, Louis lowered his sword vertically. The crooked and sloppy swordsmanship left long traces in the air. again. With Lewis’ black sword, he drew a picture that could not be called. again. Louis clenched his teeth and swung his sword until his own sword strike in the air followed the correct path.
Michelle.
Recalling his sister and those pitiful eyes, Louis gritted his teeth.
—
“It looked pretty fun. We were running around with the soles of our feet on fire to carry out the missions or secret orders given by His Majesty.”
The first thing Maxim heard after joining the preteens was Dennis’ voice full of envy. It was now a daily occurrence for Charlotte to look at Dennis as if he was pitiful.
“I think it’s more appropriate for Arsene to be in charge of your education, rather than you.”
“Don’t be cowardly and compare yourself with your skills. This kind of thing is originally a game in time.”
“If anyone sees you, they’ll know you’re the best.”
The place where the king summoned them was not the office he usually used to summon the knights in secret, but the office in the center of the palace. Dennis and Charlotte, who had been chatting nonchalantly, were quickly silenced as they entered the hallway leading to the office.
“The atmosphere is brutal.”
Correction, Dennis still seemed to have enough time to add a word of evaluation. The soldiers guarding the entrance to the office saw the approaching red uniforms and stepped aside in amazement.
“His Majesty has given the order that if the knights of the escort arrive, they should not delay.”
The most senior-looking soldier held the door and said so. If anyone sees it, they’ll know that they’re threatening me with a knife pointing at me to open it. Dennis’ muttered voice was soon turned into a short, quiet scream as Charlotte gently stepped on his foot.
The huge door to the office opened without a sound. Maxim’s face hardened terribly at the sight of the door opening and beyond, Dennis changing the usual smile to a cold one, and Charlotte’s mouth twisting.
office table. As always, the king was sitting, and behind him was the commander of the escort knights. What they were facing was a person who was so strange to be here.
Leon Benning.
The one standing at the center of the kingdom’s chaos, no, the chaos itself, was sitting facing the king with a knight in armor beside him. I didn’t feel any murderous intent, but the atmosphere of that tension was overwhelming the entire space.
“Knights, do not delay.”
The king’s voice moved the legs of the three people who had stiffened and made them kneel and bow.
“Meet His Majesty the King.”
The voices of the three became one and rang through the office. Normally, the king would have raised them up, saying that there was no need to be polite, but now he did not reap his dignity and greeted them with the attitude of a monarch.
“Wake up.”
The king said no more. The three knights rose from their seats. Maxim could feel the sticky, inorganic gaze sticking to him. The gaze of Leon Benning. Maxim was well aware of that unpleasant gaze.
Until Maxim stood up, the Count’s eyes looked at every movement as if penetrating Maxim.
“Okay, now that we’re all together, let’s talk about this topic. Arsene Bern, Dennis Roy, and Charlotte Rabin. You will carry out one secret order this time. Earl Benning will explain the mission, so listen. count?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
To the king’s request for an explanation, Leon Benning answered calmly. Despite the momentum of the knights surrounding him to pressure him, Leon Benning seemed able to snort.
“Magic Tower.”
Maxim’s shoulders trembled at the words that came out of Count Benning’s mouth.
“Recently, there are vicious rumors going around. There are rumors that they are secretly conducting experiments, and even rumors that they are embezzling research funds and manipulating the books.”
Perhaps trying to lose weight, the Count calmly proceeded with the story. Maxim had to struggle not to distort his expression. What kind of scheming is he plotting, why did he say that he would join in this plan?
“It’s a story that came up during the senior management meeting, but I think it’s necessary to use this opportunity to conduct a large-scale inspection of the Magic Tower.”
“Wouldn’t there be a backlash if we launched a large-scale inspection based on our feelings?”
When Dennis asked, Leon Benning shook his head.
“We’ve secured only ledgers.”
“… The ledger that the Magic Tower is said to have manipulated?”
“If you push him, they won’t be able to resist too much. If you want to resist, push through with force and that’s it.”
Silence fell. Everyone seemed to be trying to figure out what Leon Benning’s intentions might be. Looking around them, it was Count Leon Benning who broke the silence first and spoke.
“The supervision of the Magic Tower has already been decided at the senior management meeting, so I don’t think there is any need to comment further. As long as you follow His Majesty’s appointments, that’s what you’ll do.
The knights furrowed their eyebrows uncomfortably at the Count’s attitude of arbitrarily proceeding with the meeting. This time, Charlotte questioned the Count’s words.
“If so, do you think the Count will not mobilize personnel for this investigation?”
“Why do you think so? Didn’t I just bring one person here?”
As Leon Benning said, he pointed at the knight standing behind him.
“A single knight would suffice as the force needed for inspection. Since it was a joint investigation, you had no choice but to mobilize.”
As if ignoring the escort knights, the knights hardened their expressions. However, Maxim was different. He was looking at the knight guarding the Count’s back with astonished eyes. Despite the momentum of the two knights heading towards Leon Benning, the knight calmly stood up.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the knight. I don’t know where the eyes hidden by the helmet are headed, but I must never let my guard down.
The hand not holding the sword, breathing, prepared posture and muscle tension, relaxation.
This time, Maxim could feel that Leon Benning’s words were by no means false.