Chapter 26.1

As the third son of the Duke, Franz Gerhart knew no poverty nor starvation in his entire life.

Even during the war, members of the Gerhart dukedom were allowed to stay in Schleisen under the pretext of being ‘guardians of the capital.’

While some men, who’d been walking on eggshells in their respective houses, went to war in order to earn even the tiniest distinctions, that was a completely irrelevant story to Sir Franz, the knight from a family historically included as the top three families of the kingdom.

With the family’s sword handed down to him from generation to generation in hand, he stood guard to the palace. Including, in fact, the time when Bertram had stepped up to the frontlines.

Of course, it wasn’t like Franz didn’t put his life on the line as well to protect Schleisen, nor was his mind always at ease.

Now that the war was over and Bertram had returned alive, he’d begun to think that now he could rest easy…

“…but just how did I end up like this, I wonder.”

At the countryside village he’d come to under orders from the current king to find Bertram, there he was.

And this place was bringing Franz, for the first time, the strangest hardships he had ever experienced in his life.

He’d thought that it would take at most half a day or so to gather information from this quiet village, which didn’t even have a lot of people, so why was it that the four soldiers he had released to bring him information off doing useless things?

One soldier was caught chattering off with a couple villagers over beef jerky, away from Franz’s eyes.

One soldier was caught bathing with other villagers in a clear river, after being caught saying, ‘I love how clear the water here is! Mother nature sure is the best, after all!’

The soldier who was found walking around with an elderly grandmother on his back who kept muttering, ‘Please find my son for me, he’s buried around here somewhere,’ was at least being humane.

When Franz found Erich at last, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Just why in the world was that blasted kid hunched over at the laundry place, squishing clothes together with his hands?

“Care to explain what you’re doing here, Erich?”

Cautiously, Erich stood up. Underneath his rolled-up sleeves, soap bubbles and water trickled down his hardened muscles. With so many bubbles smeared onto his glasses, he looked even more dull than he usually did.

Even his excuse was flimsy.

“The, uh, gathering information, sir!”

“And pray tell me what information that piece of fabric you just squeezed has.”

“….”

Swallowing down both a sigh and a roar, Franz turned his eyes to the surroundings. At a place slightly removed, Erich’s horse and Monat were leisurely enjoying the grass.

On the other hand, seeing how a horse’s hoof mark was stamped onto clothes within the laundry basket, it was very evident how Erich had come to hold the laundry in his hands.

‘Looks like he was being dragged around by Monat and then accidentally stepped on a villager girl’s laundry.’

Well, perhaps he should think this was better than if he’d hit a villager girl with his horse.

Franz nodded his head to tell him to do as he judged best, and Erich hastily returned back to rubbing at the laundry with the horse print on it.

While he did that, Franz stood in front of the villager girl herself.

It was time for him to show his subordinate just how one effectively gathers information.

“Greetings, lady.”

The girl who’d been busy laundering, Lara, flinched at the word ‘lady.’

“Me?”

A voice he’d heard before.

This was definitely the girl who’d told them at the previous city that Bertram was vying for the flock of sheep.

Franz immediately acted friendly.

“You must be the one who told Sir Erich important information last time.”

“Have we met?”

“Unfortunately, no. But I do remember your voice, if nothing else. Though I must say that I did not imagine that you would be such a cute lady.”

Franz knelt on one knee in front of Lara. He was willing to put up with getting his knee wet.

What he needed now was to pry out any and all clues about Bertram he could get from this girl.

With a sweet voice, he spoke his first sentence.

“My name is Franz Gerhart. What shall I call you, my lady?”

“I, my name is Lara.”

“A name that suits pretty eyes like yours. Were you born in this village?”

First, he asks about things he’s not actually very interested in to make them misunderstand that ‘he’s interested in them.’ Once the woman begins to converse with him, he can ask the questions he’s actually curious about.

When Franz coaxed a lady with his handsome face and smile, most women spilled forth all that they knew in an effort to keep talking with him for even the littlest moment longer.

….However, Franz came to a speedy failure on this particular attempt.

“Wait! Sir Knight, you just tried to smile with your eyes at me, didn’t you!”

“I’m sorry?”

“The adults told me to be careful of handsome men! So this was why!”

Lara lifted up her laundry to cover the front of her eyes. Now the unnecessarily handsome man had disappeared from her sight.

Dumbstruck and still not completely grasping this newest reality, Franz managed to open his mouth.

“Um, my lady…?”

“After making me feel happy by telling me I’m pretty, you’re planning to carve me up to my bones, aren’t you? That won’t work with me! I, I really don’t know a single thing. There’s no use at all! And I’m not really pretty either!”

“I did not tell you those words with such intentions.”

“There is no way someone who tells a girl he’s just met that she’s cute has no hidden intentions behind them. Just what exactly is it that you want? There should be more beautiful ladies in the city—oh, don’t tell me, my innocence?”

“I said it’s not!”

Alas, Franz exploded.

Yanking the laundry Lara was holding, he threw the cloth behind him. Erich ran towards it.