Chapter 31

On that day, Hizen was neither negative nor positive. He did not say anything. He just led Leasis out of the library. It was the first time for Hizen to be in that mood, so even Leasis could not say anything else. She just thought that he had refused.

Leasis tapped her laundry bat on the stream and eased her heart. It was upsetting not to be able to take the test to join the Imperial Elite Knights, but she had not given up yet. It was not like there were no progress at all. In the morning, she participated in physical training with the Imperial Elite Knights, and occasionally attended Hizen’s personal training. These times would one day become her daily routine. She wanted to believe so even if it was hard.

Tack tack.

The sound of the laundry tapping was exceptionally loud. Owen, who was doing laundry nearby, raised her head. As she looked up, she saw Leasis tapping the laundry bat as if to kill it. The laundry was more energetic than usual.

“Unnie. Is something wrong?”

“No.”

Leasis denied it, but it seemed like a lie. She felt uncomfortable from the slightly lowered voice. Owen was sure something had happened.

Then, a group of maids came rushing to the pond. They made a fuss when they found a pile of laundry next to Leasis.

“Oh my. How did the laundry become so clean? It’s like new!”

“Amazing. It’s so clean without any water.”

As expected, it was Leasis. The maids admired with all their hearts. She solved everything like magic. The maids settled down next to the pile of laundry. They forgot their duty and observed Leasis doing the laundry. Laundry was a maid’s job, and it would be useful to learn from her. They carefully grasped Leasis’ hands, posture, and tapping frequency.

But they saw something strange. The laundry bat that Leasis was wielding was a little unusual in color. A maid asked with her head tilted.

“That laundry bat has a unique color. Did you use a new magic pill?”

The eyes of the maids focused on Leasis’ hands. Her laundry bat smudged a mysterious blue. It was their first time seeing it, so the maids lowered their heads a little more. They were going to watch it properly.

Leasis hurriedly hid the laundry bat behind her body. When the maids looked at her curiously, she made excuses.

“I bought some blue laundry magic pills at the market a few days ago. The color must have changed because of the water on the laundry bat!”

‘Neren, I’m sorry.’

There was a cold sweat on Leasis’ forehead, who spat out lies. Neren had advised her to hide her swordsmanship to anyone except Hizen. Because he was worried that her power would be abused.

Fortunately, the poor excuses worked on the innocent maids. Why did she buy such magic pills? They laughed. They left while looking at the clean laundry.

Relaxed, Leasis tapped her heavy shoulders. She had lost her energy somehow.

Owen glanced at her by squeezing her shoulder. Overnight, her skin had become slightly dark and rough under her eyes. She seemed to suffer more than she had thought. Owen tried to ignore it, but she could not stand it.

“What’s going on, Unnie?”

“Huh?”

“Is it because of the Count-nim again? Just tell me.”

Leasis hesitated. Owen had repeatedly stressed that she would keep her secrets.

Leasis, who was worried, made up her mind. If it was Owen, then she could believe her and trust her. She whispered slightly to Owen.

“Actually… I asked the Count-nim to formally examine my sword skills yesterday, but he refused.”

“He refused?”

“Yes.”

It was hard to hear. Owen’s expression became noticeably dark. No matter how much Leasis looked up to Hizen, she could not contain her anger.

From Owen’s point of view, Hizen was a example of a bad man. Whenever Owen ran into the two people while cleaning, she would think that.

Hizen was very vicious. When Leasis was mopping or using a broom, he was staring at her. He seemed to be monitoring whether she was doing her job properly or not. If Owen was Leasis, she would be suffocating.

It seemed he was even interfering with her meals. Rumors had it that Hizen was taking care of Leasis’ meals to the point of indigestion. He was probably giving her a lot of food to eat.

There were many other things. There were so many she could not list them one by one. Just tell her Unnie not to breathe! Owen spoke in a stuffy voice.

“That Count-nim is so mean. Unnie takes care of him a lot.”

“No. He’s a good person, and he has been nice to me lately.”

He was not nice to her. Leasis was the one too nice. Owen glanced at her.

“You think he’s being nice?”

“Well… maybe… it might be an unfair procedure… for a maid to be tested personally by the Count-nim…”

She was even angrier when Leasis spoke as if defending him. Owen grabbed the laundry bat in her hand. She was a kind woman to her, like an older daughter.

“Stop it, Unnie. If you keep getting rejected, you don’t have to do this. You can use a different method.”

“Another method?… What is it?”

Owen looked at Leasis as she seemed to not know. She spoke in an excited voice.

“The gladiator tournament!”

*

Contrary to what Leasis was thinking, Hizen did not refuse. He only needed time to deal with urgent matters and proceed with additional procedures.

Hizen knew that there was one thing with Leasis that he could not overlook. In this situation, Leasis could not join the Imperial Elite Knights, no matter how good her skills were, and even with Neren’s recommendation. If she, who was from an orphanage and was a woman, was given the privilege of taking an individual test and joined the Knights, the oppositions would overflow. All kinds of things would hold her back and bother her. Hizen knew it better than anyone else. Furthermore, the process of joining the Knights had to be corrected.

Hizen headed somewhere. He had an unusual urgent pace. There was a brown paper in his hand and Max next to him. Max’s face was a little tense.

They arrived in the center of the Imperial Palace. Hizen raised his head and saw a big building. It was an exceptionally old and shabby building that did not match the splendid Imperial Palace. It was a place that he would not even notice normally.

The two arrived at the entrance. There was an nasty smell coming from it. The hard brown door had no pattern. It just seemed to be faithful to its role as a door. Hizen reached out and knocked on it.

Knock, knock.

An old servant in a white suit came out. He was a man with no expression like a doll. The servant bowed his head.

“I see Commander-nim and Vice Commander-nim.”

Max asked, tightening his firm mouth.

“Good morning. Is he here?”

“Yes. Follow me.”

Unlike the peaceful exterior, the interior seemed to be in a war. The administrative officials in white were running around frantically. There were piles of papers in their hands. It seemed like they would collapse if they took just one step wrong.

Hizen’s expression was a little relieved. Among the thieves-like bureaucrats of the Imperial Palace, only the administrative officials paid for their meals properly. Even in Hizen’s thorough eyes, everything seemed flawless. The piles of documents and the exact division of roles were outstanding even from afar. However, Hizen did not feel very good about them. It was not because of the administrative officials, but because of the person in charge.

On their way along, they were greeted with overflowing hospitality. Those who found Hizen and Max were very pleased despite their busy schedule. They did not know, but the popularity of the two members of the Imperial Elite Knights was great.

Hizen, who roughly accepted the greeting, glanced around. The interior was a little cleaner than the shabby exterior. But it was not very satisfactory. The air was a little cheerful, and there was a little dust on the bookshelves. After being with Leasis, he unknowingly raised his standards of cleanliness.

Creak.

The servant stopped walking. He opened the door in front of the office which smelled like paper. Next, they could see a room with only furniture and no plants.

In the corner, a man with clean silver hair was sitting at his desk. He had a white uniform that only the highest-ranking officials could wear. Even in his middle age, his grace and beauty overflowed.

“I’m stepping back.”

The servant bent slightly and disappeared. Hizen and Max went into the silver-haired man’s office.

Tap, Tap.
When the two men’s shoes were heard, the silver-haired man looked up. He was Nathan Den Armada, the Minister of Justice. He stopped turning papers and looked at them. His silver pupils grew a little bigger.

“I see his Grace the Duke.”

When Hizen greeted gracefully, Max also bowed his head. Then the silver-haired man smirked.

“Hizen, long time no see. I can’t believe you came all the way here on your own two feet. Sir Max, it’s been a long time for you, too.”

Nathan Den Armada. He was the father of Neren and the head of one of the three major families, the Armada family. In addition, Nathan and Hizen’s father Calibaut were close friends. Their two sons were also close friends, so the two families had a deep relationship.

Nathan smiled bitterly. They had only exchanged correspondence related to national affairs. This was their first encounter in nearly a decade after Calibaut’s death. Of course, there had been an opportunity to meet at Neren’s funeral, but Hizen had not been able to attend due to an urgent mission.

Still, it was not unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Nathan got up from his seat with dozens of papers in his hands. He sat at the reception table on the right side of the office.

Hizen and Max also sat in front of him. Leaning on the sofa, he carefully examined his friend’s son. A young boy who only knew books had grown up. Handsome face, tall height, straight shoulders, and strong hands. He looked a lot like his younger friend.

“The future of the Empire is bright.”

“…”

Hizen was not very impressed by Nathan’s compliment. Nathan, who was looking at his expressionless face, said low.

“Tell me what you want.”

Hizen handed him the documents he had brought. After opening them, Nathan took out a piece of paper. He could see an amendment written in elegant letters.

The revision of the joining process of the Imperial Elite Knights.

Nathan’s eyes narrowed. He looked at the contents of the revision at a rapid pace. It simplified existing unnecessary procedures and removed status restrictions. Also, since the matters related to the enrollment were the authority of the Commander, if someone were to exert pressure on him, his authority should be strengthened to punish them. There were several other notable changes.

Smirking, Nathan crossed his long legs. It was quite a useful amendment. At least he did not seem to have grown up as a mockery of his name. But he could not accept it right away. Fixing the recruitment method could create noise, especially if it concerned the Imperial Elite Knights with the greatest power in the Empire. Nathan asked in a sharp voice.

“Do you think it’s worth it?”

“Yes.”

Nathan put the documents on the table and looked at Hizen. He was a good knight that could appear in a textbook. His blue eyes were holding a strong belief. While resembling his father, he looked different.

Nathan had learned Hizen’s reputation from afar. Of course, he was interested in the son of his dead friend, but he also excluded personal feelings. Hizen’s honesty was worth trusting.

“Good.”

Hizen’s and Max’s stiff shoulders slightly loosened. Nathan said with his fingers on the documents.

“There are conditions instead.”

They were not surprised because they had already expected it. Hizen waited with a calm look on his face.

After getting up from the sofa, Nathan approached the desk. He picked some documents and handed them to Hizen.

“The monsters have been acting suspicious lately. But I’m not in a position where I can simply wipe them out. Unknown magic circles are being carved throughout the Empire.”

Max got suspicious. If it was such an important matter, the Imperial Family would be the first informed. However, he had never heard of such a thing, and no Knight had ever been assigned a mission related to this. Max asked carefully.

“Your Grace the Duke. You have not told the Imperial Family about this?”

“That’s right. I have covered all the information related to this. To find out who’s behind it, we need a covert investigation.”

Max’s expression darkened with an ominous foreboding. No matter how strong he was as the head of one of the three major families, he could not carry out the work related to the safety of the Empire alone. There was no way that Nathan did not know that. Then, it must have been that he could not even trust the Imperial Family.

Unlike Max, Hizen was calm. He looked through the documents with a blank look. He knew most of them, and put the rest of the information in his head.

Nathan stared at Hizen and said.

“In particular, the Sonen territory is a problem. The place is…”

“The Sonen territory was confirmed a while ago.”

“What?”

“Your Grace is right. There was a magic circle engraved on the Island of Death.”

Nathan let out a small sigh. He had heard of the magic circle incident on the Island of Death. The appearance of a high-ranking monster and the corruption in the Imperial Palace had made the palace noisy for a while.