Chapter 322
EP.322
The Little Duke and the Girl Knight listened to me and made a questioning look, not knowing what I was talking about.
“……”
This is a phenomenon that occurred because I cut out all the context, so I should explain it in more detail.
“I don’t know what your Majesty the Duke may think, but Her Majesty the Empress of the Reich Empire is truly worried about you. They are concerned that it must be lonely and difficult for you because you lost both your parents at a young age and are alone. But wouldn’t you be happy and less anxious if you knew that such a trustworthy guard was by your side?”
Of course, everything I find out will be reported to both His Majesty and the Empress.
His Majesty will use this to think about how to gain real power over the Duchy of Philolence and take the lead in the Farosian Federation.
I don’t know if the Empress will care, but what the young duke needs right now is someone he can rely on emotionally, who will embrace him in his big arms and say, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
So, if I succeed in showing him that I will accept him as he is and protect him, rather than his uncle, the regent, who is trying to take charge as if he were just leading him around, the duke will feel more favorable towards the Reich Empire.
No, if I approach the duke, who has been suffering from loneliness because he has no one to rely on due to lack of affection, with a one-sided favor, he will fall in love with me like a son trusting and relying on his father.
If you’re going to make them dependent on the empire, it makes sense to give them a lot.
“Could the driver behind there come here for a moment?”
After hearing those words, the girl asked the duke for silent permission, and the duke nodded.
Then the girl standing behind me came in front of me.
There is only one diamond symbolizing the second lieutenant on his shoulder, so even if he is a knight from another country, there will be no problem in speaking informally to him without hesitation.
The young duke did not yet know the love of the opposite sex, but since she was a girl who would become Duke Philolence’s favorite in the future, he decided to treat her as politely as possible.
“Looking at her gait, I could tell that she came to the castle at a young age as a maid. I could already tell when I looked at her posture from afar, but even in her daily movements, she still had the maid-like movements. On the other hand, looking at the posture in which he wore the sword and the muscles connected to his hands and wrists, I could see that he had accumulated great training over several years and had developed his skills to the level of a full-fledged knight. “It is truly wonderful.”
Those two people looked surprised at how I guessed the girl’s past, and to answer their questions, I unwrapped one of the medals I was wearing on my uniform and showed them to them.
The duke looked like he didn’t know what that was, but the girl who had been trained as a knight for several years seemed to realize what this meant.
He couldn’t hide his expression and showed a look of surprise.
“Are you a sword master? And this is not a medal of honor that generals in the military or nobles can buy with money, but rather a medal of honor that proves one’s skills and qualifications to run as an official guild master.”
The Honorary Swordmaster Medal is something that even people like my father-in-law, Count Patton, can buy by paying a huge amount of money for honor when they become lieutenant generals.
An official medal is a token of true skill that cannot be bought even if His Majesty the Reich Empire tried to buy it.
As a result, the only people who have earned this medal through skill are crazy people who have been swinging a sword for at least 30 years.
So, even if you were a former serf, if you wore that medal, you could go to any country on the Europa continent and if you requested a commission, you would be granted a knighthood that could only be used in that era.
“After fighting in Switzerland before, I received an official medal from the swordsmanship guild called Blood Brothers. As a result, I was able to tell how much training the driver had accumulated just by looking at his steps and appearance. “At your current level, you will be able to fight on equal footing with formally trained knights.”
The girl who was the guard knight was also happy, but the Duke behind her asked with an expression of more joy than his own work.
“Is that really true? “Chloe has knight-level strength?”
When an ordinary knight says something like this, it’s normal to wonder if it’s nonsense, but in the world of swordsmanship, the status of an official sword master medal is the same as that of a professor at a prestigious university.
So, if you speak carelessly without any basis or basis, you will face a protest at the guild level and you will have to pay huge compensation and an apology, so no matter how anxious you are to win the favor of the duke and the girl, you should not say such a thing as a lie.
Therefore, my assessment of the girl’s helplessness is based on extremely factual facts.
And this time, I decided to try sincere flattery.
“My wives were armed, but they would not have been armed to this degree at the age of 15. If I tell the Empress the story of the trustworthy girl knight who serves Her Majesty the Duke right next to her, I think she will be relieved and intrigued. “Can you tell me?”
Just looking at it, there is something between the two that goes beyond a simple master-slave relationship, and delving into that would be rude and could lead to hostility.
If they feel like they are close and comfortable with me, they will enjoy talking about how they met and what happened, and our relationship will deepen.
And I asked because the duke seemed eager to tell me something that would only happen between close friends.
“I think Chloe’s story will be long. “Please bring me a chair for Captain Jaeger to sit on.”
“Your Highness the Duke.”
A girl named Chloe brought me a chair, and with sparkling eyes, the Duke began to share one by one the memories he had with this girl.
The first time he met Chloe was when she was 5 years old. She was sold at the age of 9, and when she made a mistake and was about to be kicked out of the castle, he took care of her.
There were very few people around the duke who could be considered friends of similar age, so he and the girl were like friends, and they often shared snacks or delicious food with each other.
Duke Philolence would have been incredibly angry if he had done such a thing to a male servant, but it was an acknowledgment that no matter how noble the son was and the next duke, he needed ‘a being who could love with an open heart.’
From what I heard, it seems that they thought of her as a future concubine and trained her as a maid, keeping her by her side so as not to cross the line of status that needed to be maintained.
Then, her uncle, the regent, who took power after the death of Duke Philorence, thought that Chloe was interfering with his attempts to make the young boy depend only on him, so he tried to get Chloe away.
The story is that Chloe was given training as a knight to go beyond her limits, saying that there was no one other than a guard knight that could survive that, but she somehow endured, and is now able to always be by the duke’s side as a guard knight.
It was an obvious story that you often see in novels, but it was such a precious memory to the duke who was involved that he just looked happy without any pretense on his face as he told this story.
Since I had no political purpose here other than gaining this person’s favor, I was comfortable hanging out with the child, thinking I was playing with him.
“So Chloe has never learned anything about the military, but as a special privilege, she was able to stay by my side as a second lieutenant. “Isn’t it amazing?”
“My eldest son is now 11 years old, and like Sir Chloe, I hope that he will be strong enough to win a fight with a full-fledged knight by the time he is 15.”
“What is your name, Captain Jaeger’s son? “When this war is over, I will continue to reward him!”
“This is Friedrich. Friedrich von Jaeger. “The child’s mother, my wife Laura, is also here as a volunteer officer this time, so we might get to meet her sometime.”
The duke got up from his chair and patted me on the shoulder as if congratulating me.
“I would like to tell you a little more about Chloe, but Captain Jaeger is probably busy with his duties, so I’ll just go in now. “Please tell the Empress that I, Antonio von Philolence, have received great consolation.”
“I will follow your orders, Your Majesty.”
At the same time as I said that, I took a step out of the duke’s room.
**
Three days later, I had a discussion with the Regent of the Duchy of Philolence and Captain Giuseppe and decided on a general course of action on what to do.
Although there were times when opinions clashed, they were able to easily reach an agreement on regaining the territory of the Duchy of Philollens that had been conquered by the allied forces of the Veneta faction.
And when this fact was reported to the duke before the expedition, the regent standing behind the duke revealed his favoritism toward Giuseppe like last time.
“Captain Giuseppe, I’m sorry to ask you a burdensome request, but please be kind to me. Please find the lost land of our Principality of Philorence.”
“Haha, that’s obvious. Aren’t we an alliance that has lasted for hundreds of years?”
“Instead, the reward for your efforts this time will be paid immediately as soon as the principality is rebuilt.”
“Rather than that, isn’t it more important for trust and friendship to become stronger between the two countries?”
Just like that, they started making me an uninvited guest again, but the duke who had been sitting up until now stood up.
The regent, with surprise and anticipation, seemed to dream that he would now push Giuseppe to the dukedom.
“…… majesty?”
Captain Giuseppe must have drank 100 bowls of kimchi soup too, so he thought he would personally praise and encourage him, so he was having trouble controlling his expression.
I laughed inwardly when I saw that.
Since I had won a lot of personal favor with the Duke a few days ago, there was a very high probability that I would be the one that the young Duke said he would support.
And as expected, the duke pulled out the sword from his waist, handed it to me, and said:
“The Union of Milan and the Reich Empire are both equal allies of our Duchy of Philolens. Therefore, I look forward to Captain Jaeger’s performance, and as a thank you to His Imperial Majesty, I will bestow the sword I am wearing. “Will you accept it, Captain?”
I held out both hands and received the sword.
“Of course, Your Highness. “I will make sure to live up to your expectations.”
Now that he has gained the support of the duke, the head of the principality, there is no longer any diplomatic difficulty for Giuseppe, who boasts of an alliance that goes back hundreds of years.
Captain Giuseppe must have figured it out, too, with a hard look on his face and gritting his teeth next to me… Anyway, we can cooperate with each other in military matters for now.
Later on, we will fight over each other’s interests. It felt really good to get fucked by that guy.
I’m sure His Majesty will be happy if I tell him this news.
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