novelraw Chapter 188 : Chapter 188
Chapter 188 : Chapter 188
Chapter 188 - Fading Away(1)
Some might find it surprising, but not many words were exchanged during the meeting between Rain Enlight and Janet Maroden.
There was only a question about whether it was true that he had brought the head of the Knight Executioner, the natural and formal process of showing that head, and a simple inquiry about the course of events before and after.
This was partly because a sufficient investigation would be conducted later, given the nature of the matter, so there was no need to delve too deeply, but for Janet personally, there was a slightly different reason.
That reason was that in the short conversation they had, she had achieved her initial goal of ‘understanding what kind of person Rain Enlight is.’
And Janet's assessment of the person named Rain Enlight was.
‘A remarkable person.’
A remarkable person who would be hard to find two of in an era. That was Janet’s assessment.
Of course, since he was positioned in the current young generation, which was considered to have an unusually large number of exceptionally talented individuals, that assessment did not mean that Rain Enlight was the most outstanding person in this generation, but Janet had a hunch that it would be difficult to find someone ‘like’ the boy.
‘In a different direction from the young lady of the Stellia family, the first prince, the heir of the Sword Saint, and the prodigy of the Magic Tower⋯⋯.’
The planning felt from the course of events before and after, the decisiveness to execute that plan without a moment’s hesitation, and the ability to realize the plan.
A feeling that although he might not be able to surpass the strengths of the aforementioned prodigies, they too would not be able to replace the boy in his domain.
That was the assessment and intuition of Janet, the vice-commander of the Knight Order, who had seen numerous talented individuals for a long time.
‘Of course, since he is a person who has the princess’s favor, all of his achievements may not be purely his individual capabilities.’
However, even taking into account the princess’s expected backup, it was undeniable that the achievements the boy had accomplished were beyond imagination.
It was also possible that all the military achievements were attributed to the boy to highlight him.
However, if the Knight Executioner, whom not only the Knight Order but the entire Empire had been desperate to catch, had been caught by the princess’s power alone, that in itself was a remarkable thing.
It meant that the princess valued this boy, Rain Enlight, so highly as to give him that much credit.
In any case, it seemed clear that the boy would soon become a hero revered by all.
‘But is that really a good thing for the boy personally?’
Suddenly, such a thought crossed Janet's mind. It was certainly a path that would be beneficial to the world and would be accompanied by honor, but was it a happy path? That was the thought.
The answer to that fleeting, miscellaneous thought was ‘no.’
“⋯⋯My head hurts.”
Returning to her office and sitting down, Janet placed a hand on her right eye, which she had lost on an old battlefield, and muttered so.
As mentioned earlier, the boy Janet had faced, Rain Enlight, would soon become a hero, and if that happened, a tense atmosphere would hang over the political situation, incomparable to before.
‘In the competition for the throne, which was thought to be leaning towards the prince, if the princess’s side pulls out the card of a new era’s hero⋯⋯.’
If the social world became disordered with head-aching political strife and behind-the-scenes struggles, the knight society, which was closely related to it, was also bound to experience a storm.
“It's already chaotic enough to be called a turbulent era, even without that.”
In addition to the appearance of monsters in the north and the uprising of rebels in the south, the continent was in unprecedented chaos.
Various strange phenomena were occurring all over the continent, and it was a reality that people of unknown identity and origin were causing all sorts of unmanageable incidents.
The Knight Executioner, who had been subjugated by Rain Enlight this time, was also one of them.
Grip.
With a troubled heart about that reality, Janet clenched her fist as she looked at the document on the table.
“⋯⋯Even if they have abilities superior to adults, I wish children would remain as children.”
At the top of the document she looked at while muttering so, it was written, ‘Proposal for Partial Conscription of Cadets due to Worsening Political Situation.’
“It seems the world has no intention of allowing such soft sentiments.”
***
After my business was done, I quickly left the Knight Order. After all, I had nothing else to do.
-That guy said that? That he subjugated the Knight Executioner himself?
-Yeah, I heard him. That wastrel young lord. Do you think it makes sense?
-But it’s not just nonsense⋯⋯ Isn’t he the one favored by Her Highness the Princess?
It was partly because the environment had become somewhat noisy, as if the single sentence I had said to the receptionist earlier had already spread to the other people in the building, that I came out even faster.
Anyway, after leaving the Endinium branch of the Knight Order, I headed back to the academy.
‘Did she tell me to come and report without fail after finishing?’
Regina had made that request, and given my position, I couldn't refuse.
There was no reason to refuse in the first place.
“Come to think of it, why did she insist that I come to report?”
As I muttered on my way back, such a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Isn't this something I can just report on later? That kind of thought.
‘She must be busy anyway.’
It was a fact that was easy to forget because I saw her quite often, but Regina was by no means an idle person.
Rather, she was on the side of living a hectic life to the point where she had to divide her day's time according to a plan.
And yet, to go out of her way to make time in her busy schedule to receive a report that would be nothing special.
I couldn't help but wonder if her schedule was okay.
However.
“Well, whatever.”
That thought didn't last long. After all, I knew well what kind of person Regina was.
She was a meticulous person in terms of managing herself and others, to the point where there was no need for me to worry or be concerned.
There must be a reason. Organizing my thoughts that way, I walked towards the academy's dormitory, Aurora Hall.
Thus, I found myself sitting face to face with Regina again in just one day.
“Mmm-.”
Regina was savoring the fragrant tea with a somehow pleasant expression.
“I'm not sure if it's okay to take up your time like this when you're so busy.”
I said lightly about the things I had thought about on my way to see Regina.
“Ah- you were thinking that, young lord?”
And the answer that came back with a smile was.
“It’s alright, I need some time to breathe too. And there are also things I need to tell you about the future, so it’s a good opportunity.”
“⋯⋯Is that so?”
It seems like there's a contradiction between those two sentences.
Or is there not?
Anyway. I let it go since it wasn't a very important part.
“Then, the things you wanted to tell me are.”
“Yes. To get to the point, I wanted to tell you about the position you will be in from now on.”
“Position⋯⋯.”
I muttered Regina’s words under my breath.
Position, I had a rough idea of what that word meant.
After all, I had learned a thing or two about politics over her shoulder while following Regina around.
“You will become the hero of the alienated and abandoned. The hero of those who have never been accepted as mainstream in this society until now.”
The alienated and abandoned.
I had a good idea why Regina was saying that.
“Is that because of my status?”
“That's right. Although you are a child of the renowned Duchy of Enlight, the perception that takes precedence is that of an illegitimate son.”
“I'm not exactly famous as a child of the ducal family.”
The nickname and derogatory term for Rain Enlight, the troublemaker and flaw of the ducal family itself. One could tell just by looking at the ‘wastrel young lord.’
In the first place, I was not treated as a proper member of the Enlight family, neither within the family nor in society.
It was an undeniable fact that the identity of an illegitimate son, who was treated worse than a stranger despite being of the same blood, was stronger.
“You will become a being that makes not only illegitimate children like yourself, but all the alienated feel a sense of elation. That even though we are treated unfairly, we too can do it.”
In a way, that could sound quite sublime or noble, but the expression on Regina’s face as she said it was not particularly sublime.
She was smiling her characteristic confident and crooked smile that came out when there were no prying eyes and she was relaxed.
“In that case, Your Highness the Princess, you will form a confrontational structure against the aristocratic Crown Prince's Faction by gaining the support of the common people.”
“Oh-”
Regina let out an exclamation as if she found my subsequent inference quite interesting.
“Have you become a little more accustomed to assessing the political situation?”
“It's not a difficult inference, and I only learned it over Your Highness's shoulder.”
“Fufu, your words.”
Regina made an expression as if she was proud of something, which was a bit strange from my perspective.
To receive a proud expression from someone of the same age.
“You're going to be busy from now on. You'll naturally find out when the academy's new semester starts, but even during the semester, you'll be spending more time on the battlefield and in the field than on your studies.”
Hmm.
Normally, questions like 'is that possible' or 'will the academic affairs allow it' would have come up, but I wasn't particularly flustered.
‘Because I knew what would happen.’
If you look at the development of the original
Monsters multiply at an unusually fast rate and attack humans, and under the hand of Ad Astra, society falls into chaos. That was the story.
Yes. It wasn't much different from what was happening in my reality now.
In this background, the upper echelons of the empire, lacking the manpower to respond, came up with a desperate measure, which was the mobilization of cadets.
‘Was it a system where cadets with a certain level of performance or higher could selectively go to the battlefield accompanied by a formal knight? In return, they were guaranteed the academy's highest scores and additional points for their achievements.’
Although it was optional, as time went on, with the increasingly attractive benefits and the pressure from their peers, the top-ranking cadets were semi-forced to go.
Anyway.
“I see.”
Therefore, I could only give a calm reply.
“Hmph.”
Seeing my nonchalant reply, it seemed that Regina had also noticed that I had caught on to the background.
“As expected, discussions with you progress quickly. I like it.”
“I’m honored.”
“You say that, but you don’t mean it.”
I shrugged my shoulders at Regina’s words.
At the beginning of last semester, it would have been an unimaginable casual response, but now, it was nothing short of a daily occurrence.
Well, it meant that I had also grown a bit of a thick skin.