Chapter 303 : Knight Order...? (3)
A man with blue skin, Blue Ghost—who also served as Ryanga's right-hand man—had been sighing often these days.
"Sigh—"
Was it because he had some kind of worry?
No.
Blue Ghost wasn't the type to worry much in the first place.
Even if something did trouble him, he was the kind of guy who would simply deal with it through action.
Then was it because something difficult was happening?
That was correct.
Right now, something rather troublesome had come up for Blue Ghost.
But ironically, the cause wasn't from himself.
"Boss, can we go in now?"
"I don't know, why don't you try going in?"
"I went in last time! It's your turn!"
"No way! I don't want to get smashed to a pulp!"
Blue Ghost turned his gaze toward the commotion.
He could see some people whispering with grim expressions.
In fact, not just them—everyone who was supposed to be inside the hideout had come outside.
Seeing that only deepened his sigh.
The reason why the subordinates of Hyakki were outside.
It was because of Historia, who had visited Ryanga the previous day.
...To be more precise.
Ever since Historia had passed on a certain message to Hyakki, she had been in a foul mood all this time.
To the extent that if anyone slipped up and said the wrong thing, she would slam their head into the floor.
That's why the subordinates had all fled to avoid catching her attention.
Can't she just go see him?
Frankly, from Blue Ghost's perspective, Hyakki's reaction was completely incomprehensible.
Of course, he didn't know exactly what the relationship was between Marquis Palatio—whom the boss called "Chief"—and Hyakki.
But if you wanted to see someone's face, why not just go see them?
He couldn't understand why something so simple wasn't being done.
'Well, I did hear a rough explanation…'
Blue Ghost listened again to the voices of the subordinates chattering nearby.
"But honestly, if the boss misses him, shouldn't she just go visit?"
"Ugh, you idiot, didn't you hear yesterday? It only matters if he comes to her!"
"Wouldn't it be the same whether you go or they come?"
"It's kinda like a fairy tale princess thing, I guess?"
"Ew— our boss?"
A subordinate with horns let out a snort.
The idea clearly didn't fit their image of the boss, as he shook his head with a chuckle.
Then as if something came to mind—
"Oh yeah, I think I saw the boss muttering to herself on the cliff the other day... What was it again? 'I'm a prin—'"
He was about to finish his sentence—
BOOOOOM—!!!
—but didn't get the chance.
The two who had been chatting stared blankly in one direction.
There, a guy lay twitching, his head buried into the cliffside.
"...Well, I guess it makes sense to want that, sure, sure."
"Yeah yeah, it's understandable if it's someone precious."
Ryanga glanced at the subordinates who had quickly changed their tone to match the situation.
Hmph.
With a pouty expression, she soon vanished from sight.
Once she was completely gone.
The two subordinates heaved huge sighs of relief, then quickly covered their mouths and scanned around anxiously.
Watching them carefully avoid making any noise, Blue Ghost shook his head and thought to himself.
Just what kind of person is this Chief?
Ever since she heard that Chief had come back from the dead, Hyakki would completely lose it whenever his name was even mentioned.
And ever since Historia's visit, her hysteria had only gotten worse.
"Man, we're doomed. I can feel it coming again today..."
"Another beatdown session?"
"Ughhhhh—"
The subordinates' voices of despair rang in his ears.
"Beatdown session."
That was their term for when the boss fought the entire Hundred Ghosts group by herself in a so-called training session.
Of course, it was basically just a way for the boss to relieve stress by using her subordinates as punching bags.
"Should we just go bring him here ourselves?"
"If this keeps up for a few more days, we're seriously going to die..."
"Let's just kidnap him~"
"Are you crazy? That'll get us all killed."
Listening to their complaints, Blue Ghost eventually sighed heavily and stood up, as if he had no choice.
"Sigh~"
All the subordinates immediately turned their eyes toward him.
"Huh?"
"Where are you going?"
"Wait... you're not running away, are you?"
As ripples of concern spread among them—
"I'll go bring him."
Blue Ghost declared his decision.
"Whoa, really...!?"
"But don't tell the boss. Who knows what'll happen if she finds out I brought him."
Waving his hand lightly, he looked into the distance.
'Palatio Marquisate... that's in the Asteria Kingdom, right?'
After roughly estimating the direction of the Marquis' estate—
"Please, please bring him back."
"Please...!"
"We believe in you, Vice Boss...!"
Receiving cheers from his subordinates—who took advantage of the boss's absence to sneakily strike little victory poses—Blue Ghost quietly slipped out of the territory.
And then let out another sigh in secret.
'...Somebody's got to survive, after all.'
He gave a silent prayer for the subordinates who would serve as punching bags in his place.
Then he began heading toward Marquis Palatio's estate.
***
After the applicants' interviews ended.
Though they held a few additional tests to select knights, Alon himself no longer stayed very involved.
The reason was Deus.
Because Deus had suddenly volunteered to help with the selection exams, Alon had naturally found himself with free time.
For the past few days, he had done nothing at all and simply enjoyed some relaxation.
"The exams are over."
"Honestly, I was a bit worried, but thanks for your help."
He was chatting with Deus, who had just returned from the exams.
"It's nothing. I'm honored to contribute to your plans, Lord Marquis."
"So will you be returning to Caliban now?"
"I don't plan to return just yet. There's still something I need to do."
"...Something to do?"
When Alon asked, Deus nodded matter-of-factly.
"They'll be the foundation of your territory's knights, so of course they need thorough training. I plan to train them to a certain extent before I go."
"Territory?"
Though Alon asked with a puzzled look, he soon nodded in understanding.
After all, they were knights who would be stationed in Divine Land; the reasoning made sense.
Well, thinking about it, that's true.
"Yes, I'll make sure they're trained thoroughly—capable of easily handling a Caliban-level knight squad."
"Capable of, huh?"
It's nice to have a strong knights' order.
But do the defense forces protecting Divine Land really need to be that strong...?
That question just popped into his mind.
Still, since Deus offered to train the knights thoroughly, there was no reason to refuse.
"I'll leave it to you."
Alon nodded.
At that, Deus said,
"Yes, and I'll be ready at any time as well."
With a very confident expression, he firmly nodded, and before Alon could say anything more, he quickly left the office.
'...Ready for what...?'
Alon simply stood there with a puzzled look as he watched Deus leave.
"I'm here, my lord."
"You're here?"
As soon as Deus left, Evan came in, and Alon set aside his thoughts and answered.
"You look like you're in a good mood."
"Me?"
"Yes."
Evan thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"Well, honestly, I haven't had much to do lately, right? No matter where I was."
"That's true."
"But now that I finally have something to do again, I'm feeling pretty motivated.
I used to be a mercenary captain, after all."
"And I'm actually pretty good at managing this sort of thing," Evan added, causing Alon to nod without even realizing it.
He figured that Evan must've felt a little left out up until now.
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling good about it."
"By the way, have you been fully briefed?"
"I heard that Deus plans to train them a bit more."
"Then let me give you some additional details."
And with that, Evan began his report.
As Alon listened calmly—
"We conducted a total of three rounds of tests and selected 50 knights and about 600 soldiers."
...Huh?
Hearing that, Alon wore a bewildered expression.
"Huh?"
Seeing Alon's reaction, Evan also tilted his head.
"...Wait, how many did you say?"
"50 knights and 600 soldiers, sir."
Isn't that way too many?
"This? If anything, it's too few."
"Too few... you say...?"
"Yes, think about it. To protect Divine Land, you'd need at least this many."
"Hmm..."
On second thought, Evan's point did make sense.
But there was one part Alon wanted to argue—
I wasn't planning on defending Divine Land right away.
Since there was nothing yet in the area where they'd declared Divine Land, he had planned to start small by selecting about ten knights and see if things went as Rine had suggested.
In other words, he had intended to begin modestly with about ten knights.
But now that the selections were made, it wasn't as if he could just dismiss everyone.
"Well, that's true."
Alon nodded.
"Right? Besides, if you want to proceed with any of the plans you have in mind, you'll need at least this many."
"Plans...?"
'...Did I have any such plans?'
In truth, all he had in mind was creating a small pilot project.
But saying he had no plan at all at this point would've been embarrassing.
"Well, yes, you're right."
He answered Evan's question for now.
But—
'Still, isn't 50 knights and 600 soldiers a bit excessive?'
Hiring that many troops to protect an empty Divine Land seemed like overkill no matter who he asked.
But after thinking about it for a moment—
'Well, I'll just say we hired them early.'
With that, Alon pushed thoughts of the knights' order to the back of his mind.
"Oh, and by the way, my lord, I was going to mention—Yutia came by earlier."
"Huh? Yutia?"
Soon, Evan relayed new information to him.
Right after hearing from Evan, Alon moved immediately.
"Yutia?"
"Hello, my Lord. Have you been well?"
He met Yutia, who greeted him as usual with a faint smile on her lips.
"I've been well, but what brings you here all of a sudden?"
Though happy to see her, Alon asked about her business first.
Yutia stepped in close to him.
"I happened to be in the area, and I also wanted to discuss something with you."
Then, glancing naturally at the green badge on Alon's chest, she reached toward it.
"Oh, my Lord. You should put this back on properly."
"...Back on?"
"Yes, it looks like the clasp came loose."
Without hesitation, Yutia removed the green badge and placed it in Alon's hand.
"Huh?"
Alon looked at the badge, puzzled.
It was definitely on properly this morning.
Since the clasp was indeed missing, Alon tilted his head in confusion.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Setting aside his doubts, he tucked the badge into his pocket.
Unaware that Yutia's gaze lingered on his hand.
"By the way, where were you headed, my Lord?"
"I was about to go to the garden."
"Then why don't we talk there?"
"Let's do that."
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Yutia seemed to be in an especially good mood today.
It even felt like he could hear her humming.