Chapter 32 Knight
When Brian woke up, the first thing that caught his eyes was the white ceiling.
The sunlight shining through the window was somewhat bright, so he had to close his eyes a little. Then when his eyes got used to the sunlight, he opened them again, only to find the scene in front of him unchanged.
Feeling that it wasn’t a dream, he thought, I’m… still alive? He tried to move his body, but soon noticed that he could only lift his fingers a little bit. It seemed that his whole body’s strength was gone.
Then he heard someone shouting, “He woke up! Go and inform His Highness!”
His Highness? Brian felt like his brain was filled with paste and that his thought process was many times slower than usual. By the way, what happened after I fainted? I can only remember that Viper pierced my chest and that I was dying, and in my last moment I could see a ghostly woman who defeated all the enemies in an incredible way…
Soon a maid arrived to help him up so that he could sit in the bed. Then another maid came holding a basin and sat down next to him and immediately began to help him clean his face. In his whole life Brian had never experienced such comprehensive personal service, plus the maids were all young women, which made the situation really awkward for him.
Fortunately, the situation did not last long. As soon as the 4th Prince entered the room, everyone else left.
Brian could feel a surging heat within his heart. He had too much to ask, but then, when he tried to open his mouth he didn’t know from where to begin. But contrary to what he had expected, Roland nodded and said, “I already know of all your past achievements, and Brian, you are worthy of the title of a hero.”
Hearing the word “Hero”, Brian suddenly felt his eyes begin to tear up. He began to sob and his voice choked, “No… Your Highness, my friend…is the real …”
Roland patted him on his shoulder so as to comfort him.
It was exactly like Nightingale had predicted. After Fierce Scar was dragged into the torture chamber, he began to tell everything he knew before the warden even put his hands on him.
The one behind this group was not his sister or any other of his siblings, but Longsong Stronghold’s Elk family. Count Elk got in contact with his distant relative Hiller Dmitry. Afterwards, Fierce Scar gained control over most of the town patrol with the lure of a reward. In addition, he also sent an assassin to replace one of the members in the team to prevent an accident from occurring in the course of action. The purpose of this group of people was not to assassinate Roland like he had thought,, instead they intended to burn the food reserves so that he would obediently go back to the stronghold.
Their conspiracy resulted in the death of an innocent person – Greyhound. He tried to stop Fierce Scar when he heard of his criminal intent, but he was stabbed to death with a dagger by one of his own subordinates. The whereabouts of the patrol member who was replaced by Viper was unknown. When he didn’t see fire on the castle ground and noticed that Fierce Scar failed to come back, he probably realized that the plan was discovered and fled..
To help stabilize Brian’s mood, Roland promised him, “Your friend Greyhound, he’ll get a funeral fitting for his sacrifice, and his family will be properly cared for, they will no longer need to worry about food in the future.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Brian took a deep breath, “I have to know. Fierce Scar… is he dead?”
“No, he is still alive.”
Brian painfully closed his eyes. He would rather have had them not rescue Fierce Scar so that he would have been dragged to hell than both of them staying alive. But now, the chance to fulfill his wish became slim… There was no doubt that Fierce Scar was guilty, but the sins committed by nobility could always be redeemed with money. As long as his uncle was willing to protect him, it was very likely that Fierce Scar wouldn’t die. It was most probable that he wouldn’t even need to go to prison.
Roland could naturally guess his thoughts, “Hiller Dmitry, the uncle of Fierce Scar, is also a distant relative of the Elk family in Longsong Stronghold. The head of the family is Luke Dmitry, a vassal under Duke Ryan, but the fact that he is the distant uncle of Fierce Scar…” here he paused for a little moment, “will not affect the final verdict. Fierce Scar has been sentenced to death by hanging, and there are only three days left until his execution. If you can restore your body by then, you’re invited to witness it if you wish to. “
Brian became startled, “But… But Your Highness, members of the nobility can have their freedom bought, this rule you cannot offend -“
Roland waved his hand dismissively, indicating Brian shouldn’t concern himself with it, “He is a Noble? Maybe for you, he was born in a branch family of the Elk family, so the status you and he have are as much apart as heaven and earth. However, it’s a fact that he has neither a title nor a any land, so he simply cannot be considered as nobleman. In addition, even if he were a nobleman, to lead an invasion into the prince’s temporal royal residence and attempt to burn the food stocks, ignoring the fate of the two thousand people in Border Town, carried enough guilt. Adding these three sins together, he could simply not be forgiven.”
At the time when Roland ordered the death of Tyre, he felt a little hesitant within his heart, but Fierce Scar belonged to the entirely inexcusable category. If he were successful, all of Roland’s own future plans for Border Town would be destroyed, and he would never get a chance to turn his situation around. This was more hateful than a direct assassination attempt at Roland himself.
As for the possibility that his action would annoy Longsong Stronghold? Who cares! Since the other party did not want to cooperate with him, of course he would not compromise with them, they even tried choosing underhanded tactics to entrap the entire population of Border Town. At the same time this incident also taught Roland a lesson – this world’s political struggle was different than what he knew from his former world, there they would mostly concentrate themselves on competing under the table, but here they were more inclined to set the table aside and use a much bloodier method. “Rest well. You lost too much of your strength, so don’t leave the castle. I have arranged for other people to take over your patrol’s work, and at the end of the Months of the Demons, I’ll hold your canonization ceremony. “
“Your Highness,” after hearing the words ‘canonization ceremony’, Brian looked at the prince with disbelief, “You mean…”
“Yes, you will become one of my knights, Mr. Brian,” replied Roland with a smile.
*
“Prepare – stab!”
Van’er stabbed a wooden dummy with a pike, and on both sides his team members also did the same, with the same force and also from nearly the same angle.
This time, it was already his one-hundredth stab.
He only had a tingling feeling left in his arms and he already thought that he would never survive this training. Despite the fact that he began to have this thought after his fiftieth stab, he still endured. After one week of conditioning it was already his natural reflex to obey every given order. Honestly, he himself was the most surprised that he could still endure.
“All – rest!”
After Iron Axe shouted his command, Van’er could suddenly hear the sound of exhaling from everywhere around him. Van’er let also exhaled, and then he put down the pike as he sat on the ground.
Now, he finally realized that their own militia was not responsible for being the errand troop for the guards or the knights. After one week of eccentric training, the training changed more to the fighting portion. For example, now they were standing on the city wall and were thrusting out their pikes according to the captain’s orders – although these pikes were replaced with wooden poles, anyone could imagine their roles in the future.
The logistics team would never do such exercises, so this also meant that they would confront the evil beasts on the wall. Naturally thinking about this, Van’er felt fear. He had even thought of sneaking away, but he didn’t know why, seeing his teammates around himself with the thought of three meals a day and a good salary slowly changed his mind.
TN: uncle Hill was changed into uncle Hiller
