Turning Chapter 1098

Chapter 1098

Why was he suddenly asking such a thing? Even if Kiolle never worked a day in his life, there was no one in House Diarca who would say anything about it. After all, no one had been pleased when he had insisted on becoming a knight in the first place.

Kiolle answered glumly.

"Yes. That's right. The Imperial Knights and father should give me some word for my next position to be certain, but there hasn't been any word yet. As far as I know, I'm still on vacation for now. But why do you ask...?"

"That's good. I'd like you to go outside the Seventh Wall instead of me tomorrow."

"Pardon? Me? Why..."

"As you know, the faces of our House Diarca's private soldiers haven't changed much lately, have they?"

Kironne's words referred to the newly recruited awakener soldiers of House Diarca.

"Ah, yes. That's right."

"Perhaps because there are many new faces, I've heard news that management has become quite difficult. I had originally planned to go and inspect myself, but suddenly a meeting I must attend came up."

Kironne sighed with an expressionless face, "Hmm."

"Since it's related to dangerous individuals, it's difficult to ask other siblings. But you're the only one in our family who knows how to handle a sword, and you've seen a lot of the Cavalry, so you should know how to deal with dangerous people even if you encounter them."

"Deal with... that's..."

"I heard that you recently returned from the South, handling His Highness the Crown Prince's incident as best as you could and making choices that raised our family's name, earning father's recognition. Wasn't that the case?"

Me? Was that so? All that remained in Kiolle's mind were memories of wanting to cry because of the rampaging Crown Prince and reading his favorite books after being confined, but when his intimidating eldest brother said so, he felt somewhat embarrassed and his confidence rose.

"Ah, ah. Of course. Haha. I'm not sure about father's recognition... but I did try my best for the family in my own way."

"Father definitely recognized you. Otherwise, how could he release you from confinement so quickly and pay attention to you?"

That tone seemed no different from usual at first glance, but there was a somehow dark undertone to it. However, Kiolle didn't notice anything and was just flustered and at a loss.

"Is... is that so?"

"Yes. It must be that he looked favorably on your efforts, like when you tried to save father from dangerous individuals during your walk before, and your hard-working appearance. Even I was really surprised at that time, to be honest."

"Ah..."

"Until then, I had thought you were someone who only caused trouble without caring for the family. But not anymore. You've grown up a lot without me realizing, Kiolle. Talking with you today makes me even more certain."

"Brother..."

"You seem to care much more for Diarca than the other guys who only know how to rely on me or father even as they age, so you should start learning other family matters now. Don't you think so? Surely you're not going to refuse saying everything except swinging a sword is bothersome like before?"

Kironne casually brought up Kiolle's past behavior. Kiolle's heart stung, as he had indeed mostly ignored family matters since becoming an Imperial Knight.

'Actually, it is bothersome... but seeing brother speak like this, it seems I should go.'

How could brothers and sisters who had never properly held a sword handle rough awakener soldiers who were mostly former mercenaries? Unlike others, Kiolle knew well how quickly awakeners' abilities could be manifested and how dangerous they could be because of that. Even the well-trained and educated Cavalry was so rough-tempered, let alone those who weren't.

He gathered his courage, swallowed hard, and nodded.

"...I understand. I'll go."

"Good. Thank you."

Kironne patted Kiolle's shoulder and smiled.

"When you return, let's talk leisurely about what you did in the South.You should see your nephews' faces after a long time too."

I don't want that. Kiolle wrinkled his nose, recalling the faces of his nephews who weren't much younger than his brother's wife. They didn't openly dislike Kiolle like other siblings, but they had never given him a friendly look either.

In fact, the same was true for Kironne in front of him.

"...Yes."

Kironne chuckled seeing Kiolle dragging out his words.

"Ah, brother. Come to think of it, it was so sudden that I committed the rudeness of talking while standing. Would you like some tea...?"

"No. It's fine. I have somewhere else to go."

Kironne immediately rejected Kiolle's offer.

"Then Kiolle, I'm counting on you tomorrow. Ah, and let's keep this a secret between us. If father hears that I entrusted the task he gave me to someone else, he might not look upon me favorably. You understand, right?"

The ring on the finger gripping Kiolle's shoulder glowed faintly. That ring was a magic tool that could leave a trace on the person it touched and track their location for a certain period of time.

Kiolle, not noticing anything, just nodded.

"Yes. I understand."

"That's reassuring. I'm counting on you alone."

He told Kiolle where to go the next day and then left immediately. As if he couldn't stand to be in this space for even a moment longer.

It was truly rare for the cautious eldest son of House Diarca to come alone, without anyone accompanying him, and to his brother's room with whom he had hardly ever had a proper private conversation. However, Kiolle didn't find it particularly strange.

The next day, Kiolle headed to the place Kironne had told him about.

A small fortress outside the Seventh Wall of the capital where House Diarca's private soldiers stayed.

Since saving the imperial family from the crisis of rebellion hundreds of years ago, House Diarca had become the only family to receive the authority to station private soldiers in a specific area closest to the capital.

By now, it had become so difficult for anyone other than those with permission from the direct line of House Diarca, the Duke, or the eldest son to properly enter and leave that it was considered true that even the Emperor didn't know its exact scale.

"Has the youngest young master arrived?"

One of the managers of House Diarca's private soldiers, whose face was somewhat familiar, greeted Kiolle as soon as he saw him.

"Yes. My brother said he couldn't come today, so I came instead. I heard you were having headaches because of the new soldiers, what should I do?"

Intending to finish quickly and leave, Kiolle spoke, but the manager's expression changed very strangely for a moment.

"...Is it really you, Young Master Kiolle?"

"What?"

"Ah, it's nothing. I had heard rumors that you had become very dignified recently, but seeing you in person, I was so surprised that I spoke out of turn."

"What? Stop saying strange things and just tell me quickly."

"Hehe, alright. Indeed... Sir Kironne didn't send an unnecessary person."

Leaving behind meaningful words, the manager guided Kiolle inside.

"We need to teach loyalty to House Diarca to the new soldiers, but it's very difficult. Recently, there have been many complaints that we're making them work too much. I don't know why they're complaining so much when we're paying them several times what ordinary civilian mercenaries can earn..."

"Making them work? What kind of work does father have for them to do separately?"

"Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"No. It's nothing. Anyway, Sir Kironne was planning to meet them in person to praise their merits so far and call some who did well to give them a little pocket money. So it seems you should do that instead, Young Master Kiolle."

"I see... Alright."

But then, there was a crashing sound from outside, and someone called for the manager.

"Manager! There's another fight! Hurry, send someone!"

Irritation and fatigue were deeply etched on the manager's face.

"Damn bastards. Ha... I'll go handle it and come back, so please wait here. Or if you'd like, I'll leave one of my subordinates outside, and you can look around freely with him."

The manager rushed out. Kiolle waited for a while, but soon got bored and went out the door. A skinny, short boy hurriedly bowed to Kiolle in greeting.

"Ah, hello, young master."

"I'm bored, so I need to look around a bit. Is there anything worth seeing?"

It was a place he didn't know when he'd come to again. It seemed good to take a look around while he was here. The servant, though flustered, faithfully guided Kiolle.

The management office for House Diarca's private soldiers had facilities as good as any decent knight training center. However, the atmosphere he saw while walking around was quite different from what he remembered seeing when he came with his father in the past.

'There are constant sounds of breaking and fighting everywhere. What's going on? Is this why they even asked someone to come and look because the atmosphere is not good?'

"Do you know why the atmosphere is like this?"

To Kiolle's question, the boy hesitated before answering.

"Well... the existing soldiers really... dislike the new soldiers. So there are constant... fights."

Somehow, Kiolle couldn't help but feel a strong sense of déjà vu from those words. He frowned, recalling the memory of when he had picked a fight with the Cavalry and was thoroughly beaten by Yuder Aile.

"...They don't listen even when someone tries to stop them?"

"There are people who try to stop them, but..."

"But what?"

"Those people... the managers also dislike them... so now they're locked up in the prison within the management office... After that, the fights have gotten even worse like this..."

'What's that about?'

Even just hearing the summary made his head hurt.

'Is this something that can be solved by just picking a few people and giving them pocket money?'

Even Kiolle didn't think so. Suppressing his desire to turn around and go home right away, he said,

"Guide me."

"Pardon? Where..."

"Guide me to where those locked-up guys are!"

The inside of the prison was, of course, very dirty. The original Kiolle would never have set foot in such a place, but after nearly dying locked up in an even worse place by the henchmen of House Apeto in the East, he had become indifferent to it.

'Come to think of it, if it weren't for that incident, I wouldn't have met that monster from the Cavalry again...'

While inwardly feeling resentful, those inside the prison discovered Kiolle.

"Wh-who are you?"

"I am Kiolle da Diarca. I hear you are the ones who tried to stop the fights happening here. Is that true?"