Chapter 59
“I would like you to distinguish clearly. Does rging an equal conditions, or does it an being subordinated?”
Rodwell maintained a stoic expression.
He had to hear the process through which this proposal was being made.
“I know very well what an amazing person you are. That you run a Knight Order and are a first-class warrior who reached the rank of General. However, survival is difficult with skill alone.”
“Then what is needed?”
“I believe it is bloodline. The destiny one is born with! Sir Kundel took the castle with that power, and isn't he in a higher position than anyone else because of it?”
“Wasn't he just lucky?”
“Luck also finds humans who possess it more often and more strongly.”
To Joshua, who was listening quietly from the side, it sounded like a stuffy, old-fashioned story.
However, in this ga, there was no pretext as convenient as bloodline.
Just by being born with a silver spoon.
It was true that it was more advantageous for survival than others.
He had actually experienced it as well.
When he played as Tania.
How much profit did he rake in by selling out the Rainwood family na?
He could not deny the fact that bloodline was a good source to use.
“Do not think of it as coming under us, but think of it as sharing a future. I am confident that it will definitely be a better place to live than here.”
Rodwell just stared at Osmond blankly.
His words sounded as if he were mocking him for having lived his whole life as a minor noble.
Anger welled up.
He regretted not bringing his sword.
If he had it, he would have split the desk between them in half.
“Those words sound like you are telling us to disband the Knight Order and join, is that correct?”
Joshua, who had been silent until then, opened his mouth.
Osmond glared at him sharply.
“I am sorry, but I don't think this is your place to cut in.”
“I don't intend to be a scarecrow. Is that not allowed?”
“I allow it. While I keep my mouth shut, Joshua is my representative.”
Osmond almost let his surprised inner thoughts pop out.
It ant he was entrusting the major affairs of the group to such a young child.
Did that make sense?
To a boy who was in his mid-teens at most.
While flustered, Osmond did not neglect his observation of the opponent.
The expression was undisturbed.
He looked like a person who was used to such settings.
The clothing was nothing special, but the staff on his back was concerning.
“...What is that staff on your back?”
“Do not worry. I am not holding it with the intention of threatening you.”
“It is not that, I am asking where you obtained it. Because the gem on that staff is a kind I have seen for the first ti.”
Joshua raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
This staff served as a dium to assist his mana.
But more important than that was the symbolism.
Osmond had a good eye.
He already had a face that realized what the materials of the staff were.
“It was made by tearing out and harvesting the heart of a variant.”
The two people beside Osmond, as well as Osmond himself, inhaled sharply.
Above a walking monster, there was a flying monster.
If they were those who had confird the existence of a variant, they would know its terror well.
“Did Sir Rodwell catch it for you?”
“? Why would I catch it for a bastard like him.”
Rodwell protested in a voice filled with sincerity.
“If that is the case....”
“I caught it and made it myself.”
“That is a lie!”
Osmond flared up.
He stroked his lips with his hand, perhaps flustered by what he had blurted out himself.
“If you cannot believe it even after seeing it, I have nothing to say.”
Joshua shrugged his shoulders.
He knew the reason why he was so worked up.
He had encountered a variant on the way here and ran away in a hurry.
But a problem child had solved a task that even he had failed?
It was hard to accept.
[Cool] pointed out that the opponent lacked dignity.
It was certainly funny.
“I am sorry, but since we are still in the middle of a negotiation, let's postpone questions about until later.”
“Hmm.”
“I was listening quietly, but according to your demands, it sounds like you are telling us to disband the Knight Order, is that right?”
“No, I did not go that far.”
“Can you say flatly that it is really not the case?”
Osmond broke into a cold sweat.
A promise was impossible.
Just as the boy said, the ultimate goal was to disband the Knight Order and integrate it into the royal guards.
He looked back and forth at the expressions of Joshua and Rodwell.
They were not people who could be bypassed with a clumsy lie.
“It is correct then. Disbanding the Knight Order.”
“I hope there is no misunderstanding on this part, Sir Rodwell! If you yield, we will place you in a position that is not disappointing.”
“I doubt whether the Glover family, who like bloodlines so much, will give Sir Rodwell a good position. Although he has the title of Knight Captain, he is soone at the bottom in terms of noble rank.”
Rodwell turned his head and looked at Joshua.
A bloodlust that felt as if he would truly kill him was felt.
Joshua continued speaking while ignoring that bloodlust.
“Ahem, besides, how many groups did you contact before coming here? We wouldn't be the first.”
“What kind of slander is that! Do you think we spread this proposal here and there?”
“Is it not? In my opinion, it seems you would have dropped by the Sunlight Knights as well.”
Osmond’s face turned pale.
It was the bull's-eye.
I knew it.
The distance between Saint Stalia and the Line Tower was 200 kiloters.
The distance from Gwangju to Busan would be about that much.
Crossing the plains swarming with zombies and coming all this way without a word.
Just to et Sir Rodwell?
It was highly likely to be a lie.
[Clever] seed to feel joy at the sight of the opponent shrinking back.
It pestered him to keep pressing.
“What did Sir Carius say?”
“I am telling you, we did not go anywhere near that place!”
“Can you be certain that it is really not the case? Even if I have a way to check?”
“W-What!”
“You must have heard information that the three Knight Orders had a eting recently, right? I attended then too. I have planted connections in each Knight Order.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I am saying I will ask through communication magic. Whether you visited the Sunlight Knights or not.”
The eyes of the squires beside Osmond shook greatly.
And more than that, Osmond himself wore a miserable expression.
In terms of common sense, it did not make sense.
The distance between the two hideouts was quite far.
He had never heard of an instance where communication magic succeeded at this distance.
But the boy in front of him said he hunted a variant.
That was also sothing that went beyond his common sense.
If it had already gone beyond it, it was not strange for it to happen again.
“It has been decided then.”
Osmond jerked his head up.
Rodwell looked at him with a face full of laughter.
“Your expression. It looks exactly like the face of a person about to hold up a white flag and surrender.”
Osmond bit his teeth.
He could read the wavering in Rodwell’s expression.
He had seen through the fact that the tower's situation was difficult.
He had thought that if he coaxed him just a little more, he would co over just as other groups had.
But a single person ruined everything.
It was the boy nad Joshua beside him.
Once the fact that he contacted other Knight Orders was caught.
Rodwell would never accept this proposal.
The sense of competition between Knight Orders exceeded imagination.
‘If only I could have taken him to the castle, I could have persuaded him sohow!’
Now he was in a position where he had to worry about his own life.
* * *
For now, the eting ended successfully.
Rodwell did not leave.
Osmond and his party ended up being confined.
They would not be able to co out for a while.
Now was the ti to beco busy.
The knights already started to harbor doubts about confining the diplomatic mission.
“Despicable bastards. Did he really intend to tie Carius and in one bundle and take us? I will never let that happen. Even if it ans I die.”
Rodwell ran wild in his office.
He did not seem to be satisfied even after smashing a few pieces of furniture.
“By the way, you. Was that communication magic you ntioned earlier real? Does it reach all the way to the Sunlight Knights from here?”
“It does not. From here to the Sunlight Knights' hideout, it must be about 78 kiloters. To reach that far, even a General-rank magician couldn't do it.”
“So it was a bluff!”
“Did you believe it too, Rodwell?”
“Of course I believed it. How many tis has it been that you succeeded in doing sothing impossible?”
“I did not intend to deceive Rodwell as well, but it seems one more person got hooked.”
“Damn it, has my insight weakened. I have too many thoughts these days.”
Rodwell sat in his chair while calming his excitent.
“Joshua, this matter is not over yet. You know that, right?”
“Yes, all the knights were inflated with the thought of moving their ho from the tower to the city, but since that is collapsing. Dissatisfaction will burst out, won't it?”
“And a counterasure for that would be?”
“Huh, they are not even my subordinates, so do I have to quench even those people's dissatisfaction?”
“You bastard! You also cooperated in confining the diplomatic mission.”
“I only did the part of exposing their sches. Confining the mission was entirely Rodwell’s judgnt.”
“You are going to wash your hands of it now?”
“I am just speaking the facts.”
Rodwell bowed his head and tore at his hair.
The gentleman who usually maintained his dignity was pitiful beyond words.
But the harder it was for him, the more advantageous it was for .
[Cool] and [Clever] goaded him to pester him a bit more.
He wondered if it was too much, regardless.
“Help .”
“Pardon?”
To think this man would say such weak words.
It seed his stress had been severe in the three weeks they had not seen each other.
“Wouldn't there be a solution if it were you?”
“Hmm, do you rember the talk we had right before entering the conference room?”
“What was it?”
“It was a talk about a reward.”
Rodwell let out a sigh as if the ground were sinking.
A reason to cooperate only arises when there is sothing going back and forth.
And I had not decided on that yet.
“What is it that you want?”
“Open the Knight Order's warehouse for .”
“No, wait a minute. What do you want to open?”
I knew that each Knight Order had a warehouse.
Inside were not just food.
Wealth and treasures collected from before the zombie incident were stored there.
“Do not misunderstand. I don't intend to take everything, I will only take a part. Oh, I will also make an exception for the food. Since you must be tightening your belts as it is, I would be a person with no conscience if I touched that.”
“No, even if I were to do that, opening the warehouse seems like crossing the line. There are plate armors there, and famous swords made by craftsn! If there is sothing you need, I will choose it for you myself.”
“I would like to see and decide for myself.”
“Uaaaaaaaah!”
Rodwell suddenly let out a scream.
He struck the wall with his clenched fist.
The wall broke and debris fell down.
“You truly are a guy who hates to lose!”
“This is not a competition. It is a struggle for survival.”
“Fine, what are you going to do?”
“First, filtering is the priority. Let the people whose hearts have left go.”
“If I tell the people who want to go to leave as they please, everyone will leave, won't they?”
“We stimulate fear. From here to Saint Stalia is 200 kiloters. Where is the guarantee that they will return safely? I guarantee at least a few will die.”
It was fortunate that it was winter now.
It was a period when zombie activity beca loose.
They could cross the cliff with minimum damage.
If the weather had ward up, nine out of ten would have been annihilated.
Since Osmond would not have known that when he moved, he should be seen as very lucky.
“Even if we weed them out like that, how much can the remaining humans grow fond of this place?”
“It seems you are having a very hard ti.”
“If I really, really save the food, it is about a month. If that is cut off, there is no way other than exploration. The problem is that we have to go on an expedition like the ti we visited the dormitory.”
“How many survivors are left?”
“About 37.”
“There must be tenant farrs who have cultivated fields before, right?”
“Probably.”
“That is good. It seems we can use them.”
“What are you going to use tenant farrs for? Even if there is land to lend, there are no crops to grow.”
“I have them.”
“Haha, you have them? You really have everything... wait what...? Are you for real?”
Currently, my group consisted of four people excluding .
Talleon, Gavinu, Leonard, Tania.
Could a site that others would look up to be built with these four?
It was definitely impossible.
In the first place, excluding , the four were still students.
They possessed the quality and dignity as nobles, but those etiquettes did not put food in their mouths.
As a rule, a farm must be left to a farr.
It was natural logic.
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