Chapter 115.
I smiled at her gaze.
"Well, I do know the legend that inspired the play.”
Although this wasn’t well known to the outside world, the motif of the traitorous knight in the play, "The Last Queen and the Traitorous Knight," was the Crow Tribe.
It was not simply the Crow Tribe, but specifically one of my ancestors who was the chief of the tribe at the time.
Was the name Modred?
I think there was another name, but I can’t remember.
Considering that it was a person from 500 years ago, it was amazing that people actually remembered the name Modred.
Approximately 500 years ago, when the Giant-Holy War was ongoing, the Crows had established diplomatic relations and trade with the Holy Kingdom, where the now extinct Holy Tribe of the battle races had reigned as king.
However, it was said that my ancestor, who was the motif for the traitorous knight, made some mistakes that led to the end of diplomatic relations between the Holy Kingdom and the Crow Tribe.
If the diplomatic relations were simply severed, there would have been no major problems. However, in the aftermath, the last Holy Tribe member, the Queen, died during the Giant-Holy War, resulting in the extermination of the Holy Tribe and the fall of the Holy Kingdom.
That was the reason why my ancestor was called a traitorous knight.
For your information, after the fall of the Holy Kingdom, it split into the Empire, the Republic, and the Imperial State to begin the Three Kingdoms Period.
Of the three kingdoms, the Republic became isolated due to the formation of the Demon Territory brought about by Demon King Kanglim and was declining in a progressive manner
The Imperial State had been destroyed by the former Blood Emperor’s conquest war and was absorbed and unified into the Empire.
In fact, the reason why the Republic was able to survive at the hands of the Empire and still exist today was due to the Demon Territory.
The Republic had already become an island of land due to the Demon Territory.
From the Empire’s standpoint, occupying it would only widen the border with the Demon Territory and so it was not beneficial.
Furthermore, if unified by the Empire, all the migrants from the Republic would need to be taken in. But considering the societal costs from it, no matter how you calculated, it would still end up being a big loss.
If it were not for the Demon Territory, it would have been a land flowing with milk and honey.
The Republic, a powerful nation comparable to the past Empire, had declined due to the Demon Territory. So it was ironic that its life was being extended by the same Demon Territory.
Although I went off on a little tangent, the story of the last queen and the traitorous knight of the play was not irrelevant since it was tantamount to the founding myth of the Empire.
There wouldn’t be any plays more suitable for the New Year’s Festival than the founding myth.
Alice nodded when I told her that I knew the legend that was the motif for the play.
"Really? Well, the story of the play is a little different from the legend, so it’s not a bad watch."
Then Yuria, who was looking at the pamphlet with Alphonso, asked with sparkling eyes, "What time should we go to the play?”
I smiled awkwardly at Yuria. "Let’s at least have lunch." When I rubbed my stomach, she quickly nodded.
"Oh right, Den skipped breakfast."
The clock in the living room just struck twelve.
-o-
After a quick lunch, Alice, Yuria, Alphonso, and I headed to the temporary theater.
Alphonso tilted his head as he stepped out of the house. "What about Lisbon?"
"Oppa said he had something to do and left," Alice replied.
Like a pushover, after receiving the prize money from advancing to the main draw, Lisbon immediately left to donate to an orphanage.
When I gave 10 silver coins to Lisbon to donate to the orphanage, he refused to accept it, saying it was too much money. Even if it was the prize money from reaching the round of 16, it was probably only around 5 silver coins after taxes, so it may have been a burden for him.
When I told Pushover, who didn’t want to receive the money, that it was actually money that I won by betting on him, he received the money without much trouble.
At that time, Lisbon’s expression looked like he was debating whether to be happy with my donation or be angry that I dabbled in gambling, but oh well.
It wasn’t even illegally gained money. The Empire allowed it as long as it wasn’t gambling in the black market where the flow of money couldn’t be traced.
To be honest, if it was a black market gambling house, there wouldn’t have been a 10 silver coin limit. If there was no limit, I would bet a platinum coin. What a shame!
If I could have bet a platinum coin, I would have disguised myself and entered the competition too. It wouldn’t have mattered even if they said they weren’t going to pay up. I was confident that I would be able to get my dividends somehow.
"I hope the play will be fun."
Alphonso smiled and walked along the street looking at the pamphlet in anticipation.
"Look ahead while you walk.” I nagged Alphonso while stealing the pamphlet.
Alphonso had a strong body, so getting hit by a carriage wouldn’t hurt him, but that wouldn’t be the case for the person who got hit by the parasol he was carrying.
Just from looking at it, I could tell that the parasols that the twins were using were made of monster by-products and even had magic cast on them, basically making them lethal weapons.
Yuria was capable of mana detection at a base level, so even if she walked while looking at the pamphlet, she wouldn’t bump into anyone. However, her brother was not skilled in mana detection or presence detection.
Come to think of it, did I meet Alphonso for the first time due to a quarrel with gangsters who bumped into the parasol?
A familiar voice called me as I was heading to the temporary theater and nagging Alphonso.
"If it isn’t Den!"
Turning to the familiar voice, I saw Flam waving at me while holding hands with a young girl who looked about 10 years old.
I told the group to go on ahead first, then shouted as I approached Flam.
"When did you give birth to a daughter? Where is your wife?" Saying so, I started looking around.
Flam burst out in anger. "She is not my daughter!"
From just the appearance, they looked like a daughter and a father.
"Then, no way!"
When I looked at Flam as if I was looking at dirty garbage, he responded while being half teary.
"No! She is just my younger sister!"
He was definitely a fun person to tease. I smiled and shrugged.
“But you guys don’t resemble each other at all?”
“To be exact, she is my sister in name. She is a child that my teacher raised." Flam smiled bitterly and stroked the little girl’s head.
There seemed to be a heavy story behind it.
"Oh, really? Hi. What’s your name?”
I kneeled to get an eye-to-eye level with Flam’s sister, but she just looked at me and said nothing.
"This child can’t speak. I was told she has her own circumstances. This is something that was acquired, but she can still understand, so you can just speak to her. Her name is Arwen."
There may be a heavier story than I think.
I smiled and greeted Arwen. "I see. Hi?"
At my greeting, Arwen took my hand and wrote on my palm.
“Don’t make fun of our Fool.”
By Fool, do you mean Flam?
Flam just smiled brightly oblivious to what he was being called and looked at me and Arwen.
Flam definitely was a fool.
"Haha, okay."
I smiled and stroked Arwen’s hair. Then I straightened my bent back and asked Flam, "Anyways, you had a teacher?”
I had thought this before, but Flam’s hands and muscles clearly showed evidence of martial arts training. If he had a teacher, it was probably a martial arts teacher.
Flam scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Oh, come to think of it, I never said anything about it. I was an orphan. A long time ago, my teacher took me in."
"Oh... I’m sorry."
Flam waved his hands like it was nothing. "No, it’s ok. It was a long time ago. And orphans like me are quite common. There was a war until a few years ago. In the border areas in the southern part of the empire, there are probably still quite a few war orphans.”
Even I knew that the empire had been at war with an enemy country around five years ago. At that time, Uncle Bloody returned to the hometown on the pretext of vacation and asked my father to send troops. He got massively scolded by my father and hence still lingered in my memories.
Having gone to ask for troops, if it weren’t for Elder Mirpa at that time, Uncle Bloody would have been beaten by my father to the point he would have had to lay in bed and not even be able to participate in the war. Considering that, the scale of the war was probably quite large.
Eventually, Uncle Bloody was able to take a group of 30 guards by clinging on to my big sister.
After the guards returned, they told war stories and said that the most fun part was when they fought against the Hunter Tribe of the battle races.
I still remember how I was deciding to escape when I saw that all the villagers were releasing martial aura saying that they should have gone too at the time.
"By the way, did you perhaps also come here to see the play, ‘The Last Queen and the Traitorous Knight’?"
"Yes, that’s right.
"Oh, did you get separated from your group because of me?”
Flam looked sorry, so I waved my hand.
“Ah it’s fine. The temporary theater is not far from here. Let’s go together."
"Would that be ok? I have an additional person with me."
I tilted my head at Flam. I hadn’t seen this middle-aged man hang-out with anyone else before.
"Do you have another younger sibling?"
"No, rather than a younger sibling, there’s a noonim that I know. Ah, there she is."
In the direction that Flam pointed, a beautiful woman with red hair in twin tails was walking with her hands tucked into her coat, looking annoyed.
"That person there?”
Flam nodded. "That’s right."
"Isn’t she Bloody Rosellis?”
"Oh, you recognize her. I thought you would not because I heard she’s famous among adventurers and mercenaries."
How would I not know?
Yesterday, at the arena of the martial arts competition, she was unphased by the evil aura of shadow dolls and split them in two with her axe.
It left quite an impression on me to see her completely sweep them away after Hillis’s domain proclamation erased the evil aura.
"Uh, what’s this?" Rosellis pointed at me and asked Flam.
"My friend."
Rosellis clicked her tongue and said to me, "Tsk tsk, you should be selective about making friends. Why did you become friends with such an old fool?"
That’s almost what a biological sister would say.
"Haha, I know. My name is Den." I smiled and introduced myself.
Rosellis made a blank face. "You are a civil servant?”
"Yes."
I nodded. But how did you know that I’m a civil servant?
Did Flam really only have civil service trainees for friends? Or maybe she remembered me as the one who gave out the number tickets during the martial arts competition preliminaries.
"Ah jeez, I didn’t expect to see a new recruit already."
From what she said, it didn’t seem like she remembered our encounter in the preliminary round.
"What?"
"You’ll know when you get there later."
Despite my question, Rosellis said something incomprehensible and hugged Arwen with an affectionate look.
"You missed Unni, didn’t you?"
With an annoyed face, Arwen struggled to escape from Rosellis’s embrace.
"Yes, I know everything even if you don’t tell me."
I think she was openly showing her dislike. I asked Flam, "So how do you know each other?”
Flam responded with a perplexed face.
"Haha, it’s quite complicated to explain. I think the play is going to start soon so we should get going quickly."
Saying so, he took the lead towards the direction of the temporary theater.
Hmm, maybe it’s something I don’t necessarily need to know? I followed Flam to the temporary theater.
The play in the temporary theater was more fun than I thought due to the enthusiastic performance of the actors.
Alice, who looked bored at first, became absorbed in the play in no time.
It was a peaceful day of vacation.
-o-
After the cabinet meeting, Arcanta invited Glont to the reception room. Pouring him an aromatic high-class black tea, he asked, "Do you really want him?"
Glont laughed leisurely as he drank the black tea.
"Hoho, if I do?"
"We have a lot of other talents, you know? What about the guy that the Railroad Association Chief is supposed to take? In terms of physique and comprehensive weaponry grades, don’t you think this guy will be good to deal with the tough adventures of the Adventurers’ Guild?"
The Railroad Chief would have freaked out and clung on to his pants had he heard, but Arcanta said it as if it was nothing and carefully observed Glont’s face.
"Mmm, he certainly is tempting. I think I would have chosen him if it were the previous years."
Arcanta’s face brightened.
Having seen Pelgrant’s assessment, Den was a coveted talent for Arcanta. An affable personality, and the ability to immediately correct himself at any criticism.
Above all, he had the ability to complete the year-end accounts, which would otherwise take several days, within a single day. That kind of calculating ability was needed more than anything else at the treasury office.
On top of that, just looking at his test taken at the training center, there were traces of him deliberately manipulating his grades so that others wouldn’t get jealous.
He didn’t know if Den made a mistake while controlling his grades and did not rank in the top 5 percent, but the evaluation standard for cabinet ministers was the top 10 percent anyway.
The reason why the institute was ordered to say 5 percent was to encourage the trainees to make greater efforts.
“Then."
"But!"
But Glont cut off Arcanta.
"I have my own circumstances, too."
Arcanta became serious.
"What is your circumstance?”
"There were two kids I said I’d take, right? This kid named Den is his friend."
Glont’s answer drew Arcanta’s attention to the personal information document of "Flam Dainter."
"Is it simply that reason?"
When Arcanta spoke like it was absurd, Glont glared at Arcanta while releasing a sharp aura.
"Simply...?"
At Glont’s aura, Arcanta’s face flushed.
The knights waiting outside the reception room were also suddenly surprised and entered it.
"What’s the matter!?"
Glott spoke in a low voice to the knights who opened the door hard and came in.
"It’s nothing. Get out."
The knights flinched, but they could not leave Arcanta beside Glont, who was still releasing aura.
This was because Glont was retired and no longer their superior, and the knights’ mission was to protect Arcanta.
"As the Guild Director says. Get, get out."
In a cold sweat, Arcanta barely managed to open his mouth and ordered them.
The knights faltered but left the reception room.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister. No, Arcanta. No one can say ‘simply’ about this matter. Especially you."
Glont picked up the two personal information documents and got up.
"I’ll take it that they will be transferred to the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters."
Arcanta could not stop Glont from leaving the reception room. He knew that the reason the other reacted like that was related to a mistake Arcanta made a decade ago.
Because of the mistake, Glont tried to kill Arcanta 10 years ago and consequently forced him to withdraw from the position of the head of the government. And so, Arcanta could not do anything but just watch Glont leave the reception room.
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