Side Story 67
Three people wearing hooded robes that enshrouded their figures arrived in front of a house in Minnippi. Fortunately, they were not noticed because it wasn’t a main street.
Knock, knock.
A thin and delicate hand knocked on the front entrance. The door opened quickly.
“Come in.”
The person who opened the door was a man of great physique with a gruff voice. Following his example, the three people entered the small house.
“What happened to what was arranged?”
At the man’s words, a heavy purse was placed on the table. But he couldn’t grasp onto it.
The robed man’s sword touched his neck.
“I want to hear the details from you first.”
It was the delicate voice of a woman who was also wearing a robe and sitting across from them.
“I get it so can you remove this sword?”
The sword was soon retracted from his head and the man swept his hands around his neck to remove the chilly energy that still remained there. He knew intuitively that the robed man was stronger than himself.
“Well then, where should we start?”
“Please provide as much detail as possible from what you remember about that day. Even things from before you saw the invasion of Hanon Kingdom’s soldiers.”
The man slowly dug through his memory at her words.
“That day was the same as usual.”
The man grappled with the old memories he had buried.
Standing sentinel was always a nerve-wracking task. However, that tension would naturally fade and be relieved gradually after a long period of calm. Because it was basically the same, everyday routine for him.
It was on a day he stood guard as usual when he sensed movement nearby that he usually didn’t encounter.
“Who is it?!” The man called out.
Then the brief sensation he felt just then disappeared.
It must have been a cat. It was when he turned his head back to continue on his patrol- there was movement again.
He became all the more cautious this time. The movement was definitely suspicious.
This time, he moved towards the sound without calling out. He followed the moving figure from a distance of five paces away. He had followed the moving form smoothly and then, he saw it.
‘Wh- what are these?’
He saw a group of people who were accustomed to the dark. And he saw the clothes they were wearing.
‘Hanon Kingdom!’
All knights learn the basics about clothes, styles, and features in each of the other country’s cavalrymen. It was to help distinguish them. And so it was obvious they were wearing the clothes of Hanon soldiers.
They were gathered in groups near the border. It was an unusual sight to behold as they conversed amongst themselves.
“It’s an attack.’
The man ran straightaway. He then set a fire to signal an enemy invasion and attacked their position with arrows. However, besides hearing the striking of the arrows, not a sound was audible. Upon going back to that area, he found no one was there.
“This happened on several more occasions. There are many others besides me who have seen this as well.”
A similar, recurring situation kept the knights on edge and garnered suspicions of war. As such, rumours were abound and with many knights witnessing it, it soon became a fait accompli*.
[TL/N: An occurrence that came to pass and is a presumed, irreversible fact.]
“The knights were seeing their presence increase in numbers. They were also increasingly equipped with weapons.”
Marquis Grant recognized the seriousness of the situation and requested of the Hanon Kingdom’s imperial family several times for the truth, but the only answer that came back was that it had never occurred.
“And then, there was really an attack.”
A knight was struck down with an arrow by the Hanon Kingdom. And he died instantly on the spot. That was the starting point. Marquis Grant, who received this news, prepared the knights. Furthermore, he personally went down to lead the men.
Duke Tonz was a witness to this.
He protested that the Kingdom of Hanon had never officially assembled their knights and there were no more attacks.
“What about the arrow?”
“It vanished.”
“What?”
“The arrow disappeared like it never existed.”
The evidence was gone.
The reason why the knights were gathered was due to the existence of solid evidence that the other side had started the attack first- a single arrow and the death of a knight.
“There was nothing to use as proof.”
Those crucial things had disappeared. And as everyone knew, the Grant family collapsed after that.
The man’s voice dropped away after that. There was a little moisture gathering in his eyes.
“Do you still believe that this is the truth?”
The woman’s face was obscured by the robe she wore, but he had a feeling she was looking at him.
“Yes. I believe this to be true till the day I die.”
“By the way… Why did you quit the knightage?”
“Because I just couldn’t accept Marquis Grant’s death.”
Even during the worst situation, Marquis Grant believed in the Knights to the end.
“I will take full responsibility.”
Those were the last words he said to his knights.
The knights of the Grant family had still been under the conditional oath of maintaining Minnippi as its knights. The title of the marquis family, the territory- he returned them both. In return for the demotion and returned estate, he asked that no one be harmed.
And the price for all these conditions was the death of Marquis Grant himself.
News of Marquis Grant’s death was the last to reach Minnippi.
As soon as the news arrived, most of the knights quit. Some went on to become mercenaries, while others, like this man, lived off the beaten track*.
[TL/N: Meaning places that are remote, isolated, and seldom tread on.]
The man said no more.
“Thank you for letting me hear this.”
The robed woman rose from her seat.
“Why did you ask about this?”
He had wondered why she was interested in this story that no one bothered listening to. The woman’s walk to the door stopped at the man’s question.
“Let’s just say it’s for the same reason as you.”
And so the three left the man’s house. They climbed onto a flat carriage that was placed far away and traveled that way. One of the robed men drove while the other sat with the woman in the carriage. No one said a word the entire way.
After going through several complicated measures, they returned safely back to the fief castle.
“And keep everything you saw and heard today a secret. If this leaks out…”
“Please do not worry.”
It was obvious even without having heard those malicious rumours. She couldn’t help but be compelled to believe in this situation.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Prillance gave her thanks to Dyno and Carl, whom she had been with, before entering her room.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think of hiring mercenaries. However, she had judged that the knights would be better than having unfamiliar mercenaries. She had tried very hard to persuade the two people who were best known for being tight-lipped to be her escorts.
Prillance reflected back on what the former knight of the Grant family had said.
That man was the fourth knight she met that day.
Knights from the Hanon Kingdom. Vanishing evidence.
All of the knights she had met so far said the same thing. There may be no evidence but it was possible that things were thoroughly manipulated. And Prillance knew that the whole situation had been orchestrated from the contents of the novel.
‘How had the Hanon Kingdom soldiers crossed the border? Where did the evidence go?’
The problem was figuring out how the situation was manipulated. And there was one question that came to mind.
‘But just what in the world did father gain from toppling the Grant family?’
The more she listened to the story, the more she thought about it. There was a lack of motivation.
Marquis Grant’s requests were all granted. The family’s assets were left untouched, the estate was returned to the imperial family, and the knights remained as it was. What did change was the death of Marquis Grant and the fall of the Grant family.
‘What was the reason in the novel?’
She didn’t remember. However, even in considering the ending she did vaguely remember, Marquis Weiand gained absolutely no benefit from this. The presumed gain could only be a tangled relationship with Roman and the collapse of the council due to the increased power of the imperialists.
However, this relationship with Roman suffered losses rather than gains. Roman and Cecia got engaged after that incident.
Her mind became entangled.
But one thing seemed to be clear.
‘What is visible is not everything.’
Those words were the truth.
It was only in Minnippi did Prillance feel a sense of hope for the first time.
Meanwhile, a total of four letters were sent into the system at the same time.
The first letter reached Ben. The sender being Stephen.
He opened the letter in a hurry.
“Again, again!”
Those bastards Ver Grant and Prillance Weiand were ruining things again.
It seemed to be mocking him at this point. Obviously, Ben was on the same boat as them, trying to grab onto the higher rungs of the social ladder. Nevertheless, he had cast him away so that person would become like himself when he was still a commoner and had nothing.
Ben urgently scribbled down a letter and covertly had a person send it out.
The second letter was received by Albert, the butler of the Grant family. The sender- Ver Grant.
Albert was a competent butler who had served the Grant family since the days when it was still a marquisate. He quickly took care of what he had to do.
The third letter arrived at Jack with the sender also being Ver Grant.
Written in the letter were details about Minnippi. It was much more detailed than the information Jack had learned separately.
“Ship taxes.”
The legwork had begun as soon as the land was handed over to the imperial family. There was nothing so strange about this part alone as it was something that could be fully executed with the authority of the lord even without a formal motion. The imperial law intended to allow nobles autonomy to deal with their territory at their own discretion.
“So it was this.”
Such an outrageous person. However, it looked so clear to Jack, who even collected information that had been hidden from sight. He was also able to find out the answer to ‘why Marquis Weiand should be framed’, which Ver had not been aware of.
“What to do…”
The unpleasant feelings that had been present so far were changing and the mounting anger from deep within was becoming more powerful. But contrary to those feelings, Jack’s face was filled with a rare smile. Now, it was time to move.
And the last of the four letters sent to the Empire was delivered to the highest reaches of the Acreo Empire.
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