81. Beggar Siblings – A Gold Coin
Leo quickly stood up and raised his sword again, but Katrina, now uninterested, sheathed her sword.
She looked Leo up and down and clicked her tongue. “Tsk tsk. I thought you were just a skinny kid, but it seems there's more to it. Are you sick or sothing? A man's strength should be...”
- Growl
At that mont, Leo's stomach growled loudly.
“...”
“Oh, co on. Really?”
Leo's face turned even redder. His plan had been to impress Katrina with his sword skills, make an acquaintance, and then use her affection from the achievent to get closer. But this was embarrassing.
He had approached confidently, asking her to watch his swordsmanship, only to make a fool of himself.
Leo hadn't eaten much today, giving most of the chicken to his sister. He had spent the whole day loitering near the castle where the knights resided, unsure when Katrina might co out, without eating.
‘I should've eaten first.’
Regret ca too late. Even if he had eaten, the Leo in the early stages of the beggar sibling scenario didn't have much muscle, so he wouldn't have won the sparring matChapter But at least he wouldn't have shown such a humiliating scene.
“Hey. Follow .”
Katrina, looking at Leo with a mixture of exasperation and amusent, motioned for him to follow her.
She led him to a modest eatery.
“What kind of person walks around with that kind of skill without eating properly? Is there sothing you like?”
“Uh, I'm fine, really...”
“I'll buy, so just eat. What's your na? I'm Katrina.”
“I'm Leo. Thank you. I'll eat well.”
“Alright then.”
Leo ate the generously served bread hungrily while keeping an eye on Katrina.
The situation was embarrassing, but it was what he wanted. He needed Katrina's help.
‘This Katrina’ had not yet been to the battlefield. Also, she was the Katrina who would ‘not et’ Leo Dexter in the war that would break out next year.
He had seen it in the last ending.
[ The ending of the beggar sibling scenario has been changed. ]
Leo, born in the royal castle, had an unfortunate childhood... (omitted) ...Leo, who was being pursued after his identity was discovered, was killed by Irenne, a knight of Marquis Benar Tatian, in Orville.
The key point to note was the phrase ‘killed by Irenne.’ Before the change, Katrina, who had returned from the war, helped Leo escape Irenne's pursuit.
But that changed. In the last engagent scenario, by capturing Noguhwa and avoiding the {war} event, the previous engagent scenario where he t Katrina in the war and sent her back alive had been erased.
It confird that each scenario was overwritten by the new scenario that started. The previous beggar sibling scenario was probably overwritten too.
Or rather, it was being overwritten now, as the current scenario was in progress. Either way, the important thing wasn't that.
The important thing was the system.
While the previous beggar sibling scenario was overwritten, the {Tracking} skill remained intact. It was a skill he had earned from desperately searching for Lena.
In other words, once obtained, achievents and rewards remained even if the previous ending was changed.
This might seem obvious, but it raised the question, ‘Could intervening in a failed scenario to make it successful still result in unchanged rewards? Could the scenario be cleared?’
It was still unknown, so Leo had to leave this question among the many unanswered ones.
As he chewed on the bread, Katrina, looking at him with interest, asked.
“You've got quite the skill. There's no way you failed the knight order's entrance exam... Did you run out of money because you got the dates wrong?”
She liked the boy from the start. Maybe because of his handso looks, but if it were just his appearance, she wouldn't have brought him here to feed him.
Unable to wait for his answer, she quickly revealed her intentions.
“Do you want to join our knight order? I'll recomnd you. You might have to train your body a bit more, but you've got good instincts.”
Deros, that frustrating recruit, would be much better replaced by this kid.
Katrina had recently been displeased with the new recruit assigned to her. She hoped to recomnd this kid and replace Deros.
“Thank you for the offer. But there's sothing I need to tell you first.”
Leo started to lie.
By now, lying about his situation felt almost natural.
Katrina frowned slightly and asked again.
“You ca on a trip from the Conrad Kingdom and got robbed? Lost your ID too?”
“Yes... I got distracted for a mont...”
He intended to challenge the {Bloodline} event this ti.
In this Bellita Kingdom, making Lena a princess was difficult because of Count Peter. He recognized us as the runaway prince and princess at a glance and whispered that our presence was a threat to ‘our’ Conrad Kingdom.
How a noble above the rank of count could do that, he didn't know, but he was definitely like a spy.
“Oh boy, I knew you were clumsy the mont you fell backward. Clumsy indeed...”
Katrina's eyes narrowed in disappointnt.
There was no law against soone from another kingdom joining the knight order, but from the way he spoke, it seed like this guy wanted to return to his holand.
She asked bluntly.
“Then why did you co to ? If that's the case, you should go to the authorities. I'm a knight, not soone who solves civil complaints.”
“I'm sorry. But the authorities don't usually handle complaints from foreigners, especially those whose identities can't be verified. So I thought...”
Leo hurriedly continued before she could say, “Stop eating and get lost.”
He didn't think she would say that, given the great affection achievent, but the Katrina he knew was very impatient and capricious.
So much so that even helping him last ti seed more natural to attribute to her anger at Irenne chasing him than to repaying a favor.
“It's been my long dream to join the Velita Kingdom's knight order, known to be the strongest on the continent. That's why I ca here on a trip.”
“Then you should just join. What's the problem?”
“The thing is... I have a younger sister with . I need to send her back sohow, but I don't know how.”
“After you join the knight order, you can entrust her to a rchant group to send her back.”
“My sister is quite pretty.”
“Oh. A younger sister? How old is she?”
Leo told her his sister's age. She would be an adult in two years.
Katrina, not seeing much concern, replied casually.
“What? You've grown up. Hey, I ca to Orville alone at your age. On the way here, so bandits attacked , so I beat them up. It was the first ti I ever killed soone... Wow, that feels like a long ti ago now. Was it seven years ago?”
Leo looked at Katrina, who was reminiscing about the past with a 'it wasn't so bad' expression, with a stunned face.
As expected, this woman isn't entirely normal either.
“Sorry, but my sister has never learned self-defense. So, could you take her back to our hotown after I join the knights? That way, her identity will be clear, and we can cover travel expenses with my salary...”
“No. Once you join the knights, you won't have ti to travel to another country. It would take at least half a year to visit your hotown, right? Wait a minute. Did you travel here with your sister?”
Oops, my lie might get caught.
“We were visiting relatives in the northern Toddler region and were on our way back.”
The Toddler region was a place in the north of Orville, said to be the birthplace of Toddler Achiunen, who founded the Achaia Kingdom, the first human kingdom that later developed into an empire.
“It’s not practical to go back there and return again... I was just trying to save up so money here.”
Leo covered his lie with another lie. Anyway, there was no way to prove it. He planned to leave for the Conrad Kingdom as soon as he had enough money.
In truth, his desire to join the knights was just a lie to gain Katrina's favor. If he actually beca a knight, it might cause problems when he tried to leave for the Conrad Kingdom.
What he needed was an ID to cross the border.
He couldn't cross the border illegally with his sister. So, he planned to get a certificate issued by a royal knight, just like the retired knight's token he had received from Katrina before.
“Really? You've co a long way. You're not a noble, but your family seems well-off?”
Katrina, perhaps due to her good feelings towards him, believed his lie without question. She tapped her cheek lightly to organize her thoughts before speaking.
“Hmm... So, you want to beco a knight but also need to take your sister back ho sohow, right?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately, knights cannot travel to another country for personal reasons. They probably won’t grant permission. They wouldn’t give such a long leave either.”
“That's probably true, right? In that case, there's no helping it. I'll have to go back myself. Sorry, I ca to see if there was a way.”
Leo took a step back.
This was enough for today. He still needed ti to earn the money to leave, and he didn’t plan to ask Katrina for the certificate right away after eting her today.
Katrina clicked her tongue in disappointnt.
“Well, I’d like to lend you money if I could, but honestly, I'm not well-off enough to give money to soone I just t.”
“No, thank you. Your words alone are enough. I can earn money sohow. More than that... can I visit you occasionally?”
“Why?”
“Just because. I’ll co back later to take the knight’s exam, so it would be nice to know soone. Besides, you seem like a good person.”
“Oh? You cheeky. Don’t flirt with . I have a boyfriend.”
Last ti they t, Katrina had talked a lot about her lover, Ellen, so Leo knew but pretended not to.
“Oh? You have a boyfriend?”
“Yes. I live with him. Are you trying to hit on with that face of yours? Do you want to die?”
“Haha. No, please spare . As expected, a beauty like you...”
“Hmm- Look at you? Well, it's not unpleasant to hear, so go on.”
They chatted casually for a while before parting ways.
Leo, having been fed, offered to walk her back, but she refused.
“What do you take for? From the looks of it, I should be the one escorting you. Haha. Did I tell you where I live? It’s on Roselyn Avenue. The house with the blue roof in the second alley. If you co during the day, I probably won’t be there, so co in the evening.”
Katrina, cutting him off sharply, walked away briskly.
Leo watched her back for a mont before turning around and letting out a sigh.
‘Is this all settled now...?’
Now, all he had to do was get close to her over ti and request the certificate before leaving.
Since she had a good impression of him, the straightforward Katrina would probably agree.
Then all that was left was the money for the journey to the Conrad Kingdom.
‘No, there’s one more thing to do.’
Leo unconsciously fiddled with his sword’s scabbard. Gilbert Forte. He had to kill that bastard before leaving.
It was because of the childhood friend scenario.
He planned to send his childhood friend, Lena, to the capital church through the {Priest} event, but if Gilbert Forte was around, Lena would be expelled from the capital church.
In that scenario, the only way to make her a princess was to beco the ‘king’.
He didn’t want Lena to et the prince anymore, and Lena was too perceptive to travel with.
‘This is better. Lena wanted to be a priest.’
Moreover, the childhood friend scenario was the only one where there were no issues even if he wandered alone after sending Lena away.
Leo planned to challenge the throne before Lena’s ‘occupation’ was determined as a priest.
If he succeeded, he would install her as a princess and clear the scenario; if he failed, Lena would still be happy.
Strictly speaking, leaving her to be expelled would avoid a ti limit, but he didn’t want to do that.
Anyone who had seen Lena’s devastated face after being expelled would make this decision.
Also, he reflected and vowed after the previous engagent scenario.
He would aim to clear the scenario while making Lena as happy as possible. If the two goals conflicted, he would leave it to her choice...
It was already hard enough to handle, but raising the difficulty himself was inevitable.
Leo walked the now familiar dark streets of Orville, recalling his plans.
After saving up the travel expenses, he would kill Gilbert Forte and leave for the Conrad Kingdom.
He had so ideas for making money.
In two months, the prince of the Astin Kingdom would arrive here. The prince would suffer a humiliating insult, not recorded in history, when Princess Tatalia kissed Gilbert Forte in front of him.
After that, Orville would be engulfed in the war atmosphere, and weapon prices would soar, causing the two major families of Orville, Corolla and Berza, to clash.
This had always happened without fail.
Using this knowledge, he had a way to make money.
‘Should I approach the Rauno family and tell them to stockpile weapons? I could get a reward for providing the information? The Rauno family also deals in information, so it might work...’
Leo’s thoughts continued to flow.
‘I’ll kill Gilbert Forte after the prince is driven away.’
If he killed him early, the {War} might not happen, making it harder to make money.
Preventing the war was once a serious consideration. But since capturing the Noguhwa in the engagent scenario allowed him to avoid the war, it wasn’t necessary to stop it now. He felt sorry for those involved in the war, but he had his own problems.
However, Leo had never t Gilbert Forte and had no information about him in the {Noble Society}, so he couldn’t use {Tracking}.
‘This is just a minor issue.’
He had ti to find him. The notorious scoundrel would be easy to locate.
Leo returned to Cassia’s shoe store, filled with thoughts of money and murder. Cassia was struggling to make shoes, and Lena was helping her.
Everything was going well.
Leo greeted Cassia, who looked at him eagerly, and went back to his room, collapsing onto the bed.
Lena followed him in.
‘It seems like the plan is set. I just need to follow through. I don’t know what will happen in the Conrad Kingdom, but I’ve considered everything I can here.’
Feeling satisfied with handling the complex tasks in order, he listened to his now much brighter sister chatter. He was pleased.
But his plan changed unexpectedly in ten days due to an unforeseen variable.
That variable was sothing Cassia handed him.
“Um... Leo, could you accept this?”
It wasn’t a pair of shoes.
In her hand was a gold coin.
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