CH 1.16

CHAPTER 1: THE SUPPORTING ROLE IS ALSO QUITE DIFFICULT (XVI)

Part 017

The military district, a three-story building with an imposing appearance. It was late, but at the end of the long hallway in the far right room on the 3rd floor, the darkness leaked towards the light.

Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Capital District.

In the office where the orderlies rather slow their steps and sneak past the door, the new commander who has been appointed for a season now lights up the late night with a hard face. The red hair, which had been bowing its head on the small desk next to the door, suddenly began to bang its head on the desk.

“That’s not right. Not right, this is also not right. There’s nothing good with that!!”

“Noisy. Ethan.”

Adrian, who was sitting on a huge desk under the window and buried in a mountain of papers, looked up. Adrian’s face was also rough.

“The budget received at the beginning of the year is 20 million gold. It has only been one season, and if you accept all of these bills, you only have 10 million gold left. 2 million gold to clean up the parade ground and 1 million gold to replace old boots. 500,000 gold for the commander’s inauguration ceremony? What did you do at the inauguration ceremony?”

“You should have been there, you know.”

“They say that 500,000 gold will be lost if you do something at the inauguration ceremony that the main character did not attend? Would you spread gold dust on four parade grounds? Are you going to the prom?”

Ethan nervously tossed the papers one by one. Adrian was also in awe.

As Adrian took office as the commander of the capital, there was a major reorganization of the military. After appointing Adrian as the commander of the capital, Ortega IV placed Crown Prince Tyrelius in the position of commander-in-chief for some reason. Like the ministers of each department, the commander-in-chief was only an honorary post. However, since it was a position to have the overall command of the entire army in case of emergency, it was a Gaelic anti-community occupied by high-ranking aristocrats who had served in the military for a long time and retired or senior kings with years of service.

The position of commander-in-chief for the Crown Prince, who has barely graduated from the academy and is doing a lot of shit. There was ridicule not only from the aristocratic faction, but also from within the royalist faction, but there was no particular disturbance, as if they thought it was better than letting the other side take their place. It was the result of King Ortega IV’s ambition, who wanted Tyrellius and his cousin Adrian, who was the same age and cousin, to be a good stimulus to him.

And, as anyone would have expected, Tyrellius didn’t even appear near the military residence. In addition, a large number of aristocratic aristocrats who had withdrawn from the front line took up a seat in the military. The Marquis Talus, who had been crushing them for a long time in the Supply Department, was also a well-known nobleman, and the new head of the Training Department and Equipment Department was also a nobleman and aristocrat entangled in marriage with Marquis Luther. As a result, the capital army was occupied by nobles in four out of five departments under the commander. And they were putting up a fight against Adrian’s military reorganization one by one.

The most troublesome of all was the money issue. As the year changed, necessary items were purchased or major repairs and maintenance work was carried out. As the spring passed, bills for the items passed by the former commander of the previous year were raised one by one, and the amounts were very spectacular. Among them, the most absurd was the invoice related to the purchase of military boots. According to the first report, a pair of boots cost 12 gold. 12 gold was similar to the half-season earnings of commoners. Buying shoes with the money you earned in 50 days? He rejected it, thinking it must be a mistake, and next time he would buy a million boots worth 1 gold. Ethan, who was looking at these documents, couldn’t stand it and screamed. Even if you add the reserve forces, it’s a single force that might be 20,000 people, but 1 million boots.

“A total of 4 battalions, 12 companies, 60 units of the Capital Army, 15 commanders, 150 knights, and 3,600 archers…”

“No, lord. I know how many men there are in total. What I really don’t know is, why am I here looking at this!”

Adrian, who approached each letter one step at a time and looked at Ethan with his big eyes in front of his desk, clicked his tongue.

“Because the butler of my house seems to be idle after leaving his duties to the chamberlain.”

“That butler was struggling day and night for the Duke, piled up in a pile of reports sent from the ‘Moon’, but I can’t see that…”

Ethan pulled his back and pressed his face into Adrian’s face. Adrian let out a low sigh as he gritted his teeth and avoided Ethan’s questioning face.

“Everything about this and that is amazing, but the exchange of boots is the most absurd.”

“Are you ignoring me?”

Ethan was heartbroken when he saw the dark circles that have landed on Adrian’s face as he whines or not. Eventually he pulled a chair and sat across from Adrian.

“Didn’t I come all the way here because you didn’t come home for two days? A report on the back pocket of Marquis Talus, head of the supply department, will be uploaded tomorrow. Come in today.”

“If you’re going to tip that off and rob it, you’ll have to review these documents by today.”

“What is the review, how do you review documents that are sinful nonsense, number by number, item by item?”

“First of all, we need to find out the actual price of the supply boots. While researching, make sure to find out the exact price of the cloak and food ingredients. Also, find out why the jewels are embedded in this scabbard.”

“I wonder if there’s a reason for the nonsense that guys whose heads are full of stones.”

While pouting his mouth, Ethan picked up the documents he had thrown away and collected them.

Turning around, he saw Cale, Adrian’s lieutenant, the original owner of Ethan’s desk, sitting on the sofa next to the paper-covered table, pulling out his hair. With tears in his eyes, Ethan accepted that he was destined to spend the night at the military residence along with his lord.

“Oh, it seems that Prince Dozern prepared the residence for Lady Nodoban.”

“Is the investigation over?”

“Yes. It’s called Viscount Dominas, and I confirmed that she is living in a viscount’s house, a distant relative of the Luther family. It’s a small territory where the previous Viscount Dominas ruined the family and the population is small, but it’s only an overnight distance to Midok. I could see the prince Dozern coming and going.”

“I see. If you can figure it out, I’ll find it in ‘The King’s’ soon.”

“No, lord. Are you ignoring our people right now? They’ll take another two seasons. How secretly Docern works, and if there’s another guy like George who can follow you, it’s just as scary. But why did you ask me to find out where Lady Nodoban lives?”

“The world already knows that she has run away, but the Nodoban and the royal family are still looking for her frantically. Isn’t it strange?”

“That’s right. If it’s for the union of the Nodoban and the royal family, there’s a second daughter. Even if she came, I wouldn’t be able to place the two princes and the young lady whose scandal has spread like this as crown princess.”

“It seems that His Majesty intends to proceed with the marriage once they find her.”

“Yes? No, it’s just getting weirder. Someone trying to make a crown prince a king somehow chooses a controversial crown princess?”

“I can’t catch any other movements between the Duke of Nodovan and the royal family, but His Majesty’s obsession with the young lady makes no sense. Is it possible to keep her personnel attached and take them out in case of emergency?”

“George says she’s been hanging out with the 2nd prince and getting on well, but should I go that far? Even so, people are running these days. The lord stir-fries it, and the boys’ faces are all black.”

When he expressed his displeasure, Adrian also fell into trouble. The royal family’s obsession with a young lady who seemed to have no power or value politically was also suspicious, and it was strange that Dozern, who was openly aiming for the throne, wanted a woman who could interfere with his political power by using unreasonable means.

And he remembered Damian, whose face would be blurred if anything bad happened to her friend. She would be fine, he said to himself. He said it because he wanted to see her relieved face. He wanted to keep the possibility of disappointing her as low as possible. 

Was this necessary work or useless curiosity? The number of people available was limited, and in this situation where they were preparing for a full-scale power struggle with nobles, it was no wonder that the precious agent was doing well. Adrian tapped the desk with his index finger and pondered a little more, then let out a short sigh and opened his mouth.

“Secure the location to infiltrate and replace with the knights. The top priority is the safety of the young lady. Regardless of her status, she will leave, but watch as quietly as possible and respond only in case of emergency.”

“Yes, lord. Oh, and isn’t today the day?”

Ethan, who was lowering his head with his serious face, asked sneakily, wearing a smirk.

As soon as he heard the question, he realized what he was talking about, but Adrian pretended not to know and lowered his head again. When there was no response from Adrian Cale, who was spread out on the sofa asked.

“Day? What day?”

“Today was the day the lady took the administrative officer exam.”

“Huh? Ah, ah, that one?”

Cale’s mouth was also disturbed as he straightened his limp body. He glances at Adrian, who had two subordinates, but Adrian was only pretending to look at the papers.

“Cale, isn’t it like that? If you take the administrative officer exam, you have to receive education from each department.”

“Yes? There is no such thing as a military commander. Come to think of it, it seems that there were some administrators who disappeared for a moment while walking around. Then she will also come to the military to be educated? Can she be commissioned into the military?”

Cale and Ethan exchanged questions while looking at Adrian.

The pen, which had been moving as if nothing had happened, stopped at the moment. It started moving again right away, but Cale and Ethan, who had good eyes, clearly saw it. Since the military itself is a huge organization, it needs professional administrators to take on other tasks. So, among the administrators who passed the administrative officer exam, some were appointed to the military department, but there were few applicants because promotion was limited and a small number of people had to handle vast tasks.

“The military isn’t very popular. Would she want to work in the military, which is always busy with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Finance?”

“That means she has to apply to get an appointment, right?”

“If that’s the case, no one would have come to the military department. But they say that they are assigned mainly to the departments they applied for.”

“Will she apply if you say there is no popularity? So, if she comes for training, you should be very good. Who in particular shouldn’t be very, very self-aware?”

Ending with questions rather than seeking answers, as the two subordinates were looking only at the top of Adrian’s head, Adrian, feeling their gaze, raised his head impatiently. He looked at his subordinates with the same cold face as usual, but the two subordinates still only looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

“Looks like you’re short on work?”

“No!”

“Oops, no.”

Adrian picked and laughed as he rushed to see the two of them.

It’s an executive officer training. Contact points could be created in unexpected places. They could meet again. He would barely spend the boring spring and put the face that came to mind from time to time with effort.

Adrian lowered his head again, drew a pleasant line, and the hawk was still there. It was the first day of summer, when the sun had set and the wind was still quite cool.