Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Alright, I’ll be right there.”

“Yes.”

I headed straight to the drawing room to meet McCain Holster, someone I didn’t expect to come here. McCain Holster was, to summarize, a great man who would soon make a name for himself as the Empire’s hero.

‘But it was mentioned that he’d be killed in the end. Perhaps?’

Unfortunately, he lived a short life after protecting many on the battlefield. His heroic deeds on the battlefield were frequently talked about, and for a person who appeared briefly in the novel, he was given a lot of detail. And McCain Holster had a connection with Philia.

In the original story, Philia met Bleon when he became twenty-four years of age, but before this, war broke out on the continent and this caused nobles and knights to be conscripted to the war.

Philia and McCain met there for the first time because she also treated knights on the battlefield as a doctor and took care of the knights led by him. Bleon did not participate in the war because for houses with no heirs, like Bleon, the Empire made an exception.

‘But that person applied to be a knight commander here?’

McCain Holster was a free spirit. You couldn’t catch where he was going, and he had the type of personality where he just did whatever he wanted to do. Despite this, his skills were exceptional, and thanks to his character, he led the war to victory with a strategy that others could not think of. He was the idol of all the knights who knew him.

I don’t know what he was thinking when he applied for the Duchy’s chivalric order, but it was clear that it was not a suitable position for him anyway.

‘I should see him first.’

I wasn’t adamant on hiring him, but at the same time, he wasn’t a man to be recklessly sent away. I headed to the parlor to meet him. As soon as I entered the parlor, even though he was sitting, I made eye contact with a man of enormous physique. Bleon was quite large, but this man was a little bigger than Bleon.

‘What do all the men eat here to make them so big?’

The man looked at me and stood up. Then he swept up his dark hair with one hand and he greeted me with a smile.

“I am McCain Holster.”

“Astell Einer.”

I was a little worried because he was bouncing here and there in the novel, but he seemed like a polite person because he was an aristocrat.

“Please sit.”

I invited him to sit down and I took a seat across from him.

“Did you apply to be the commander of our family’s knight order?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“It sounds like an outrageous position for a son of Marquis Holster.”

Even if the position of a Marquis was one level lower than that of a Duke, it was a poor place for a Marquisate’s young lord to work. I tried to figure out why he applied for the position of commander of a Ducal family.

“Since it’s been a while since our family has rallied our knights, of course we want a decent person to lead them. But Sir, you’re overqualified.”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter if you treat me badly.”

Saying that, he grinned. Come to think of it, this man seemed to be laying it on heavy with the smiles. He constantly smiled as he talked to me.

“The pay is not that great.”

I deliberately brought up the money issue.

“Do I look like someone who needs money? If you’re in a bad financial situation, you don’t have to pay me.”

Marquisate Holster was a noble family with a fortune so great that there was an expensive jewel mine in their estate.

“So I don’t understand even more. You said you don’t need money, so why do you want to be the head of our family’s knights?”

“It’s because I’m intrigued.”

“Intrigued?”

Interestingly, I burst out laughing at that moment. Did he mean that he wanted to be a commander of a knights’ order of another noble’s family just out of interest? Him, who was also a noble?

“I’ve been interested in the Duchy of Einer, which has not had a proper knighthood for 10 years. And I am a person who likes to create something out of nothing.”

The reason to be intrigued was ridiculous. The Duchy of Einer had a high reputation among the nobles before Bleon’s parents died, so all the knights wanted to enter this place back then.

However, when Bleon was left alone and everything was taken from him, the knights also broke their oath of allegiance and abandoned Bleon, fleeing from the knighthood.

And when Astell got married and came in, the newly formed knighthood also performed well for the first two years, but after that, they were shut down from the outside, and everything got tangled up.

“I didn’t know that you were such a free-spirited person that you’d devote your time to such petty pursuits.”

“I’m usually a little free.”

‘That smiling face…!’

I felt strangely uncomfortable when he kept smiling slyly, hiding his true feelings and only jokingly speaking.

“I do not wish to entrust the family’s knights to you. I apologize, but please return.”

So I decided not to hire him. Of course I knew he wasn’t a bad person, and he’s likely not doing it with bad intentions, but I still didn’t think he was the right fit.

“Why? I’d like to know why.”

“As the Mistress of the Einer family, I have the right to choose and not to choose anyone. I am not obligated to tell you the reason.”

“Madam. If I show my skills, will you choose me?”

If it came to this, there was nothing for me to say. Because I know this man’s skills well enough. He later became a knight who defeated numerous enemies on the battlefield and saved many allies, but he was also originally an excellent swordsman far more competent than others.

“No. You don’t have to. Please go back.”

I got up because I had nothing more to say.

“I can’t go like this because I can’t understand why you don’t want me even when I can show you my skills, and you still say no to me even if I say I don’t need to get paid.”

“Then I will ask you again. Why did you apply to be the commander of our knighthood? We are not recruiting knights for the sake of reverence or interest.”

I was really desperate to create a proper knighthood for Bleon, but this man was saying he was interested in it. I found it a bit distasteful and disgusting.

“I am trying to create a knighthood of talented and outstanding knights who would work for the Duke.”

“Then I’d like to say I’m the right person.”

“I mean—”

“If I become the commander, within a year, I will create a knighthood stronger than other noble families. I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

‘A year?’

The phrase ‘a year’ instantly pricked my ears. A year is about the same deadline I had for when I would return Bleon back properly…

For some reason, I also seem to be able to leave the knights more comfortably if they do it right at the right time…

It would only hurt my mouth to talk about this man’s skills. He seemed really sure he could do it. I turned around and sat down again.

“I do not intend to treat Sir specially just because are the son of Marquis Holster. I’ll only treat you as the commander of our family’s knights. Is that okay?”

“As I said before, if it’s the Madam, it doesn’t matter if you treat me more harshly than that.”

Saying that, he smiled again.

‘Obviously there is something…’

Something about him was nagging at me, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. I looked at him with a piercing gaze. But nonetheless, I couldn’t find anything, and McCain was just watching me with a smile on his face.

‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with organizing the knights properly.’

“The Sir speaks of interest, but you must be serious when it comes to leading the knighthood in the future. If I see any half-hearted work, I will fire you immediately.”

“Of course.”

In a different sense from Bleon, this man also answered very well.

“Then I will entrust the knights to the Young Lord, so please keep the promise you made to me.”

“Your wish is my command.”

With his words, we left the parlor together.

“You will be guided by the butler to the training grounds. The recruitment of knights is not over yet, but if the Sir decides and tells us, we will fill in as many knights as needed.”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

“And now that this has come to pass, I have one more request for you.”

“What is it?”

Suddenly, with McCain Holster as the leader of the Duchy’s knights, I thought it would be okay to entrust Bleon to this man.

Although he had learned swordsmanship so far, he had not been taught so professionally and formally. So, if he learned swordsmanship from McCain, who had excellent skills, it would probably help Bleon in the future, and nothing bad would happen to him.

“Could you spare time to teach the Duke swordsmanship?”

“The Duke?”

“Yes. In fact, I heard that you are very good at it.”

“Are you finally recognizing my skills?”

“I have recognized the Sir’s skills from the beginning.”

“So, when I said I was going to show off my skills earlier, that’s why you didn’t say anything.”

McCain made fun of me as if he had understood the case, and said in a sultry voice. I was biting my lips in embarrassment and coughing in vain when I suddenly heard Bleon calling me from behind.

“Wife…?”

I turned to Bleon’s voice. Then, just coming down from the second floor, Philia was standing with Bleon.

“Duke.”

As I saw the two of them standing together, the thought that they looked good together flashed through my mind, but…

‘I think Astell really hates having Bleon with another woman.’