Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-One: Getting Involved
“I thought you would be with Lord Helfried, Knight Captain.”
Why was he here?
To Karen’s unspoken question, Gottfried answered:
“Knights who were originally part of the current earl’s faction are attending Earl Ehlertt. I’m here with the knights of the former earl’s faction.”
Behind Gottfried, as he said this, were unfamiliar knights.
If the acquainted knights at the Ehlertt Earldom residence in the royal capital were the current earl’s faction, then these were the former earl’s faction—people who had been part of Horst’s faction. In other words, they were knight order members who weren’t trusted by Helfried and weren’t given roles despite being knights.
“…Do you need something from me?”
“I heard you refused Miss Ottilie’s proposal?”
“Are you acquainted with her?”
“She’s a relative of my wife.”
When Ehlertt nobles tried to find marriage partners within the territory, they inevitably ended up related.
“Should I take this as a declaration that you have no intention of listening to my request? Everyone around you is on Master Julius’s side. Are you saying you have no intention of obtaining information that would be beneficial to you in that position?”
Certainly, it was Alise who had assigned Karen guides, and Licht was also Julius’s ally. There probably wasn’t anyone who would whisper information disadvantageous to Julius into Karen’s ear.
Even so, Karen’s feelings didn’t change.
If that was why he came, how would he react when Karen refused the proposal?
Karen answered while swallowing hard:
“Regarding the transaction you proposed, Knight Captain, the premise has already broken down.”
“Broken down?”
“If it were that information, I’ve already heard it. So that transaction hasn’t been established.”
To Gottfried widening his eyes, Licht, who had approached from behind Karen, said:
“It’s true, Knight Captain. Julius introduced me to her because he revealed his secret. The reason he wouldn’t introduce me to her until now was probably that he thought I was the type to spill his secret without Julius’s permission.”
Haha, Licht gave a dry laugh.
Karen’s eyes widened.
“Master Licht!? I was being vague without saying it was Mr. Julius’s secret…!”
“Don’t worry, I’m using an eavesdropping prevention magical tool.”
Saying that, Licht showed his palm. A dome-shaped, milky-white magic stone was set on a black pedestal.
When Karen looked carefully around, a thin transparent membrane the same shape and color as the dome was spreading around them. The sound inside this apparently didn’t reach outside.
Gottfried murmured, "How surprising.”
“I never thought Master Julius would speak of such an abominable secret himself.”
“What’s abominable are the adults who drove Mr. Julius into that situation, not Mr. Julius!”
“Karen’s right about this. Julius worries too much.”
“Even if it’s not Master Julius’s fault, the facts that occurred don’t change, do they?”
Gottfried made a puzzled face.
Was he saying that was the normal way nobles thought?
To Karen, mobilizing all her reasons not to glare at him while feeling antagonism, Gottfried said:
“Just imagining what a child, not even ten years old, thrown into the tenth floor of a dungeon by his father, did to survive makes me feel abominable and nauseous—”
“Wait, wait a minute.”
“What?”
With her palm held out as if to stop Gottfried tilting his head, Karen said in dismay:
“That… is the first I’m hearing of it…”
“What!? But didn’t Julius reveal his secret to you!?”
“He did reveal his secret to me!? But I didn’t hear anything about being thrown into the tenth floor…”
Karen realized something and got goosebumps with a chill.
“Don’t tell me, Mr. Julius’s reckless fighting style…”
“It’s the fighting style an abandoned child acquired by risking his life to come out of the dungeon alive. Because such an abominable fighting style wasn’t suitable for the knight order, I was grateful for Mr. Julius’s offer, but I had no intention of having the knights learn that fighting style.”
It wasn’t unusual for orphaned children to enter dungeons and develop their own fighting styles. So when Karen saw Julius’s fighting, she just thought it was different from refined swordsmanship.
But why would Julius, who wasn’t even an orphan, acquire such a fighting style—
“Now that you’ve heard Master Julius’s secret from me, shouldn’t you accept my original request? I want your cooperation in helping the former earl’s faction members—”
“…This isn’t a secret.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gottfried tilted his head.
Karen ground her teeth, remembering her conversation with Julius.
“To Mr. Julius, this isn’t a secret… Because he said he had no secrets from me anymore… that he’d told me everything… That wasn’t a lie.”
Remembering her conversation with Julius, Karen ground her teeth.
“That man…! He didn’t tell me because he thought something like this wasn’t even worth telling me…!”
“That ‘man’… You mean Julius?”
Ignoring Licht’s words, Karen held her head and trembled.
Julius’s concern had been that Karen learn about his birth. Since it included talk of defiling a woman’s dignity, he probably thought Karen might feel disgust.
And probably, regarding the young Julius abandoned in a dungeon fighting to survive, he didn’t think Karen would reject him for that. Certainly, there was nothing in it to feel disgust about. Adventurers ate even insects when necessary. There were adventurers who, attacked and eaten by monsters too powerful, survived by eating their way out from the inside.
Even if refined nobles couldn’t accept it, for Karen, who had lived as an adventurer’s daughter and sister, it wasn’t a big deal. The problem was that Julius thought of that past as an insignificant matter. That’s why he said he had no secrets. Because to Julius, it wasn’t even something worth keeping secret. It would have been better if he had kept it secret, thinking Karen would be pained by it.
“Without even realizing how much I care…!”
Karen held her head and poured a huge amount of magical power into her earring.
Since magical conductivity apparently worsened at great distances, she poured it in with all her might.
“Hmm. If you believe the information I gave you has value, would you allow yourself to be involved?”
“Huh?”
Karen glared at the Knight Captain, a titled noble.
Whether he chose to overlook it or found her defiance decisive, Gottfried continued:
“Well, I came to involve you even without your consent. I’ll apologize later.”
“Hey—!”
The moment Licht deactivated the eavesdropping prevention magical tool, an explosion sound echoed from the shallow part of the forest by the canopy.
“Monsters! A horde of monsters appeared from the depths of the forest—!”
“A horde!? Don’t tell me it’s a stampede!?”
Karen looked up at Gottfried in shock.
“Is this your doing?”
“Absolutely not. Rather, I’m asking for your help so we won’t be made responsible for that. We’re fleeing, Miss Alchemist. All members, prepare to flee!”
Gottfried issued orders to the knights waiting on standby.
Realizing the ground tremors were approaching, Karen grabbed her valuables from the tent in three seconds.
“We’re fleeing that way!”
Following Licht’s instructions, Karen, Petra, Rosine, Urte, and Sepl also followed.
Behind them, Gottfried and the knights also followed without permission.
Coming up next to Karen while running, Gottfried said:
“Someone is trying to frame the former earl’s faction members. If we’re at the scene, we might get involved, so we must leave the scene. So, would you mind fleeing with us, as we’d like you to be a witness to our innocence?”
“That’s way too much after-the-fact consent!?”
Even so, with monsters closing in, she couldn’t exactly tell them to stay away.
“I thought if they were going to set something up, it would be at the New Year Festival.”
Next to Karen, running desperately, the Knight Captain with his trained body jogged leisurely while speaking.
The speed of this march was apparently matched to Karen’s feet, the slowest of them all. So Karen couldn’t even talk back and continued running for dear life.
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