Volume 3 - CH 6.4

In the early morning where a dense morning fog rose, without concealing a big yawn, Amaddo’s king, Jeffren Francesc, went down to the royal palace’s courtyard.

Kamunyas-kyou, who appeared to have been made to go along with it, was vigorously tilting his head to the side, thinking that this was something unprecedented.

In order to deliver the personal letter which Foreign Minister Barzari had stayed up all night and finished writing to the location of the Seal Chivalric Order that should be standing by in the vicinity of the national border, a messenger was about to depart. It was, first of all, unprecedented that the king would go out of his way to send that off.

While Barzari-kyou was letting his quill pen run fluently under the candle’s light, the king who should have been sound asleep spoke in a loud voice as if to blow away his sleepiness when he walked up to a young knight member who was kneeling motionlessly.

「Angel Saforcada!」

「Hai」

The youth, who worn a hair band that was made with plaited cords on his forehead, looked up at the king and nodded slightly.

「This is the fourth day that you’ve joined the Chivalric Order?」

「It’s the third day」

「Is that so? This is a sudden big task, huh」

「Hai」

One could see that the features of the boy, Angel, which still preserved their childishness, seemed to be stiffening a little in nervousness. According to what Kamunyas heard, this boy just became a Seal Chivalric Order’s member due to the recommendation of Gruma’s influential person, Berumdes-kou. Although he wasn’t selected from the beginning for the mission of the Dominas guards this time since the linking up was delayed, to intentionally make that newcomer deliver the personal letter was also again unprecedented. Kamunyas didn’t understand well the decision of the king who was about to intentionally make him do so.

Handing a long and narrow wooden box that stored the personal letter and a traffic certificate over to Angel, the king spoke.

「—Give this personal letter to my son, and follow my son’s instructions afterwards」

「Acknowledged」

「You must hurry, all right?」

「Yes」

Hugging the wooden box which he had raised high and held with both hands in his chest, Angel stood up.

When seeing his standing figure like this, the sword on his waist and the Chivalric Order’s mantle which seemed really new felt a little oversized for Angel. Although it was heard that he was 16, might he not be, in reality, one, two years younger?

Angel, who had straddled the white horse that was prepared, lightly scratched the tip of his nose where freckles remained and bowed very deeply towards the king and the ministers.

「This is disrespectful from atop the horse! Angel Saforcada, I’m off!」

The white horse neighed after his dignified statement, and the sound of horse’s hooves resounded in the morning of the fog.

「Ou ou, what a lively youngster. It’s to the extent that I want to make my son follow his example」

Seeing off the youth who had ran away, the king floated a smile that looked like a bitter smile.

「Your Majesty… why did you give this duty to such a young man?」

「N? Ah, there’s no meaning in particular」

The king casually answered Kamunyas’s question.

「If I have to say, I only thought of letting that youngster produce some kind of achievements」

「Is, is that so…?」

「At any rate, he’s the youngster which that man-dono had specially spoke of and recommended. As a raw material, he might be excellent. —If so, it’s better to use him continuously and let him accumulate experiences, right?」

「Yes…」

「It seems that my son is trying to reform that Chivalric Order as a combat-like group. If that’s the case, then no matter how many excellent capable people there are, he won’t be troubled」

「H, however, if we appoint the children of the low-status nobles to important positions too much, won’t the opposition from the other great nobles become strong…?」

「I don’t care about that sort of thing」

Folding his thick arms, the king snorted boldly. Waving his mantle and turning back, he took Kamunyas and the secondary retainers under him along and returned inside the royal palace.

「That Chivalric Order belongs to my son. It’s fine if my son does as he wants. Even if something like then incurring the great nobles’ opposition and suffering a setback happens, that might be a good experience. —I believe that the custom of the Crown Prince serving as the leader of the Seal Chivalric Order originally had an objective in such a matter」

「I, I see…」

Even on top of actual government affairs, the relationship between the royal family, the government and the nobles was very delicate and was something that one would be made to take into consideration. If he (the Crown Prince) could learn that in the Chivalric Order game that was similar to playing house, one could even say that it was playing a part in the bringing up of the future monarch.

However, Kamunyas’s worried look didn’t slacken even though he heard so was because the Crown Prince was trying to make the Chivalric Order into a combat unit, not an ordinary game of make-believe. Especially nowadays, he (Isaac) had been discussing with Finance Minister Kaparos-kyou and Vice-Leader Lucius repeatedly; if the Chivalric Order really didn’t become the playing place of the young nobles anymore from now on, wouldn’t that become the cause of a serious confrontation between the royal family and the great nobles; Kamunyas thought about such a thing.

「Ma, for the time being, the things which we can do are finished with this」

The king clapped the shoulder of Kamunyas, who was bending slightly forwards and walking, very friendly with a “ban ban”.

「—Everyone, thank you for your hard work! Slowly take a rest for now. Even if you don’t rest, I’ll properly go back to sleep, you know? Don’t wake me up until noon, all right, Kamunyas」

「A, acknowledged…」

Laughing loudly with a “gahhahha!”, the king went towards his own room.

When Kamunyas, who was holding down his aching shoulder and bowing, breathed a sigh of relief, he then went straight towards his office without returning to his mansion.

Although the king had said such a thing, there was no way that a person in the position of being called “the country’s elder statesman” could sleep leisurely in this situation.