CH 17

Chapter17 - Knight Captain

Just as Lou and company went to work at the academy…

They arranged for another carriage to pick them up, and they returned to the mansion just before noon.

After the Vice-Principal, Kelturi, left the Chairman’s office, the meeting at the academy continued.

They worked out the details of their report to Count Calvin Ryan, Captain of the Royal Knights.

After that, they had a light lunch and then the appointed time came.

Count Calvin Ryan appeared on time at the Count of Dumer’s residence accompanied by three of his knights.

As Adelaide said, she and her daughter were old acquaintances with Calvin.

Captain Calvin also personally selected the knights for Fran’s magical training in Lodonia recently.

He thought she had brought the best of his men to accompany her.

But it turned out…

The sentinels reported that all five of his men were killed in action.

Adelaide’s daughter, Francesca, reported that an unidentified young man saved her from danger.

It was fortunate that Francesca’s life was spared.

That way, the death of his men in the line of duty wasn’t totally in vain.

Calvin was relieved to hear the news despite the painful loss of his precious subordinates…

He wanted to get a detailed report on the incident from Francesca, the victim, and also wanted to know the identity of the young man who saved her.

“Here, here, welcome, Calvin-sama!”

The Count of Dumer’s majordomo, Zeimon, welcomed him with a few servants.

Like Adelaide and Fran, Zeimon had known Calvin for a long time, so he didn’t formally refer to him as Count Ryan.

He addressed him by his name with a trace of familiarity.

Calvin was surprised to see Zeimon’s countenance.

This was because the giant known as a man of steel, who usually bore a stern expression, was now grinning broadly.

“What? Zeimon…has something bad happened. I’ve never seen you smile like this?”

“No, I’m doing my job as usual. That’s all.”

“Hahaha, really?”

That’s bullshit! You beefy bastard!　

Calvin cursed at him deep inside for playing the innocent.

Something must have happened recently that made this grumpy majordomo very happy.

Could it be because of the unidentified young man who had been reported to him?

This increasingly aroused Calvin’s interest to know more about the young man’s background.

***

Count of Dumer’s reception room…

“Welcome, Calvin. I hope everything’s okay with your deputy captain and his men.”

Adelaide greeted Calvin with a smile and they hugged him lightly.

The other three were the Deputy Captain, Schnall, and his men, Carmel and Dandrew.

Of the four, Calvin and Schnall sat on the couch, while their subordinate knights stood behind them.

“Adelaide, is Fran all right? The guards said she was looking a little worse for wear.”

Calvin muttered with a somber look.

At any rate, despite the large number of enemies, his strong, elite knights were easily defeated.

Fran alone must have had a hard time surviving.

“Yes, my deepest condolences to the five knights who died. Speaking of which, I will now call Fran and the man, who rescued her and whom I hired as a servant, report back to you.”

Whoa!

You even hired that young man as a servant?

Calvin was quite surprised.

Adelaide was not devoted only to magic, as people often gossiped.

She possessed conventional wisdom as well as a good eye for people.

…This is…How could she so easily hire a complete stranger as a servant for her precious daughter?

Calvin was more and more eager to see the man after hearing Adelaide’s report.

“Fran, Lou, come in.”

Ho!

This is…

When Fran entered the room, she looked a bit peaky, but…

She directed a gentle smile to Calvin.

What pricked Calvin’s curiosity further was that the dark shadows that had been lingering around her since she lost her fiancé, Reinhardt, vanished altogether.

“Hello, Calvin, everyone. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.”

Fran bowed her head deeply.

She conveyed her condolences for the knights who were cruelly killed.

But Calvin slowly shook his head.

“No, no. Though it was unfortunate, it’s not surprising that such a thing happened. I would have done the same. Fran, I’m sure they’ll rest peacefully, knowing that they protected you.”

The deaths of knights were not in vain…

Calvin told Fran, which made her look a bit relieved…

“I feel a bit relieved to hear you say that.”

Now…

There was a tall man diagonally behind Fran, slightly bowing and waiting.

So…he’s the guy.

Calvin observed the man quite naturally.

He was quite tall.

He was probably well over 180 cm tall.

He had slightly wavy black hair and dark eyes.

He had a deeply chiseled face and his expression…he was calm, devoid of any ruggedness.

You don’t get to see his semblance around here.

Is he from the Eastern Yamato Empire?

…Moreover, he’s a skinny guy who can’t seem to handle a weapon well enough to take on an enemy.

“Alright, Lou, introduce yourself.”

At Adelaide’s prompt…

Lou put one hand on his chest, knelt on one knee on the floor, and greeted Calvin and the others.

“Greetings, Count Ryan and the knights. I’m Lou, Lou Brandell, who has been appointed as Francesca-sama’s servant.”

Lou stared at Calvin with jet black eyes.

Calvin looked straight back into his eyes…

I feel as if my soul is being sucked straight into the Lou…

How!

W-What the hell is this?

Magic?

This puts me up to his pace.

Calvin shook his head hard, trying to regain his consciousness.

He then urged Fran to start reporting the incident.

“So, why don’t you walk us through the incident, Fran?”

In response, Fran began to speak “intermittently.”

They were attacked without warning on their way back to Valentine.

The enemies were a little over a meter tall, and looked more like kobold goblins than a human being – magic-wielding monsters. About a hundred of them attacked them.

The five knight escorts were all killed protecting Fran.

There were so many enemies that Fran ran out of magic power and was fleeing when Lou saved her with his magic.

They returned to the attack point, mourned the corpses, and recovered the knights’ swords and other mementos.

Also, Lou had given Fran a ride to the royal city of St. Helena.

Fran seemed to have recovered from the shock of the incident.

“I see. I have a pretty good idea of what happened.”

Calvin nodded in comprehension as he finished listening to Fran’s account of the incident.　

For once, he showed a fresh smile…

But then everything took a sudden turn.

“And the rest…about Lou. Please tell us as much as you can about his exploits.”

Calvin asked again suspiciously.

It was as if this was the real issue at hand.

“Calvin. Lou is a wizard and an orphan of the human race, from the Arlv Village.”

Adelaide interjected at this juncture.

It was evident that she wanted to make sure Lou’s vague identity was known.

“Oh! Is that so?”

“Yes, he’s proficient in a variety of magic, including Fire Magic, Healing Magic, and Funeral Magic. I found out later that he is the junior brother of Kelturi Eltvara, the Vice-Principal of our academy.”

“I see! That talented young lady, Arlv?”　

Calvin nodded in understanding once more.

Adelaide also nodded lightly.

It seemed that her intentions successfully got through to Calvin.

“Yeah. Quite coincidentally…she recommended him. ・・・・・In addition to hiring him as a temporary teacher at the academy, which is something we’re lacking, I also decided to make him Fran’s follower to serve as her bodyguard.”

Fran smiled awkwardly as she heard Adelaide’s words.

She desperately held back her laughter as this reminded her of Kelturi’s sour face as if she’d swallowed a bitter bug…

She absolutely couldn’t voice this out.

“I look forward to working with you.”

At this point, Lou once again bowed to Calvin and his company.

Hmm~

Everything hits home.

To top it all, the man in front of me exudes no sign of evil in him.

Although everything was exceedingly vague…

Calvin had a unique instinct that he had acquired from his years of service in the Knights.

Now that everything was decided and they were done talking…

Adelaide clapped her hands and called for Zeimon.

“Zeimon, please send our visitors off.”

“Please wait, Madam. Before they leave, let’s go to the garden and hand over the evidence and the knights’ mementos.”

As in reply to Adelaide’s command, Lou proposed.

“Fufufu, right. I totally forgot about that, Lou.”

Adelaide chuckled and instructed Zeimon.

“Adelaide. Why do we have to go to the garden to retrieve the evidence and relics?”

Calvin asked curiously.

He couldn’t figure out what Adelaide meant by “handing over” in the garden instead of in the mansion.

Lou quickly answered Calvin’s inquiry.

“Count, it still disturbs Francesca to see it, as it reminds her of the incident.”

I see…

So this servant is properly considering his master, Fran, eh?

The corners of Count Calvin’s lips rose, feeling Lou’s thoughtfulness.

However, this smile wasn’t malicious in any way.

“Come, Calvin-sama, ladies and gentlemen, let me show you the way.”

Under the majestic voice of the majordomo, Zeimon, everyone present headed for the courtyard of the Count of Dumer’s residence.