Chapter 94: Boom and Bust (1)
The soldiers and knights brought from Heilon were mainly stationed at the training area. While Celine managed the mansion, she couldn’t do much to oversee the soldiers and knights—that was my responsibility. However, I rarely visited the training ground because it felt a bit awkward. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com. Still, I went there occasionally. I couldn’t ignore my duties, especially with threats looming. I had to check on the training ground.
The mansion’s training ground was quite large, and the soldiers and knights were supposed to be sweating and training hard— But no, they were all sprawled out.
It wasn’t an unusual sight. In fact, it was normal.
I approached the knights and soldiers who were sprawled out like zombies. Then Isaac, the knight responsible for turning them into these exhausted messes through his brutal training, noticed me and shouted, “Everyone, get up! The young miss you all like is here!”
“Sir, Sir Isaac!”
Why did he have to say it like that? It was so embarrassing.
A second later, the zombies—no, the soldiers—jumped up and cheered.
“Waaah!”
“Miss Fiona, we missed you…!”
They clapped and shouted, causing quite a commotion. Some of them even had tears in their eyes. Good grief.
This was exactly why I didn’t like coming to the training ground. Every time I visited, it was always the same. I couldn’t feel comfortable when they acted like this. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
I waved my hand, trying to calm them down, and shouted, “Sir Isaac, training is hard enough! Please don’t make them do this!”
Isaac grinned. “What do you mean ‘make them do this,’ Miss? We’re doing it from the bottom of our hearts.”
It seemed more like a display of enthusiastic socializing to me.
The soldiers nodded in agreement. “That’s right, Miss. This is straight from the heart.”
“Everyone’s really into socializing…” I replied dryly.
The soldiers laughed, and though the knights didn’t join in the rowdiness, they were grinning from ear to ear.
“Miss, it would be nice if you could visit the training ground more often,” Isaac said.
“You all react like this every time you see me. How can I come here often? Besides, it would just get in the way.”
Isn’t it usually uncomfortable when your superiors are around? And yet they wanted me to come more often—had everyone gone crazy from too much training?
“Not at all. Miss, it’s like withdrawal symptoms. Since they only see you once in a while, everyone gets like this.”
“…”
I honestly couldn’t tell if he was joking or telling the truth. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“Anyway, what brings you here? Do you need an escort?”
“I’m here to see if there are any problems. I feel like I’ve been neglecting everyone too much lately.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
Well, I suppose I’ll have to work with the knights to address the mansion’s security issues. What if a real assassin sneaks in?
“Come see me after training is over.”
“That’s a really scary thing to say…”
“I have something to discuss with you regarding the mansion’s security. Please gather the other knights.”
Isaac lowered his voice. “Is something wrong?”
“No, not yet.”
To be honest, if I could, I’d want to hire more people the same way. But in the long run, that would just lead to a meaningless and wasteful battle—especially if I were found guilty of commissioning the death of the Crown Prince. That would be a real death sentence for me. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
‘I need a strong, decisive blow.’
At the same time, that blow should not be illegal and should hold up fine if discovered by the public.
“If you have any concerns, feel free to tell me. Or rather, give orders. Everyone in this house is on your side, Miss.”
The soldiers, perhaps overhearing Isaac, shouted in unison, “Wooow!”
It was nice to see them so energetic.
I laughed softly. “Thank you for saying that. See you later, then.”
“Aaah…”
As I was about to leave the training ground, the soldiers let out disappointed sighs. Then I heard Isaac scolding them, “What disrespect to Miss!” I couldn’t help but grin. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
***
It was good to address the problem in advance. There had been a report of an intruder last night, but they hadn’t even managed to get into the mansion because I had prepared ahead of time.
‘They did a good job tightening the security.’
“Who was injured?”
“There were none.”
That was fortunate.
“Well, did you catch him?”
“I apologize, we missed him.”
“That is rare.”
I didn’t blame them, but the soldier seemed to have misinterpreted my tone and appeared hesitant to say something. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“We went out of the mansion and chased after him… but something else happened.”
“Something else?”
The soldier nodded. “A mid-level monster appeared on the street at dawn. The guards were fighting it and seemed overwhelmed.”
“Did you help them?”
“Yes. People would have been harmed if it had stayed there.”
“Your choice was correct.”
The soldier looked pleased with my response.
An intermediate-level monster appearing in the middle of the Capital was definitely a serious issue. It was difficult for just one or two guards to handle, and if a guard had died, the next victims would likely be civilians.
‘It was fortunate that it was dawn.’
There were fewer people on the streets at that time.
“How could an intermediate-level monster appear in the middle of the Capital?”
“I’m sorry, Miss, but I don’t know either…”
The Capital was surrounded by high walls, and all the gates that allowed people to enter and exit were guarded by soldiers in rotation. During the day, they checked IDs before allowing entry, and at night, the heavy iron gates were lowered. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“Was the gate broken?”
If that were the case, there would have been much more commotion.
“No, it wasn’t.”
As expected, a single mid-level monster would not have been capable of breaking through iron gates. Still, it was strange that such an occurrence happened. There should be no known habitats for mid-level monsters in the area. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com. The Capital was protected by a barrier created by the first saint, which made it nearly impossible for Darkness or monsters to appear. Moreover, even if the barrier were breached, imperial palace mages and the saintess who appeared every generation could repair and maintain it. That was the setting.
Something was definitely wrong in the Capital. From my experience with long battles, I had learned that intuition should not be ignored.
“I want to see it. Who took the body of the monster?”
“The guards took it.”
“Okay. Call Sir Liander for me.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The soldier bowed his head and went out. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
***
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