Chapter 72

Calian wondered what finger he should put it on. It was big, after all. He made do with his index finger. Then, amazingly, the ring automatically reduced its size to perfectly fit Calian’s index finger.

He knew the ring had a magical ability, but still, he was unable to hold back a surprised sound. Calian looked at Allan curiously.

“If you’re ever curious about this old man’s thoughts on a matter, I can share them with you.”

“Is it a ring for communication?”

“Yes, your highness,”

Calian was truly surprised. In fact, this was the most necessary thing for Calian right now. He couldn’t hold a candid conversation with anyone but Allan who knew his circumstances the best.

“The inside of the palace is covered in Sispanian’s power, so it has no use. It’d be difficult for me to communicate with you when inside the palace. But if you call out to me whenever you’re outside, I’ll be able to answer you immediately.”

Calian’s face relaxed. Though he knew Allan spent most of his time inside the palace grounds, he felt relieved knowing he’d be able to rely on Allan from time to time.

“Thank you. That makes me relieved.” Calian smiled.

Allan watched Calian smile. He smiled in return, a little too deviously. Calian didn’t know that Euria was tearing up, saying that the academy’s treasure vault had been emptied out once again.

Allan nodded, playing the part of a wise mage like usual.

He suddenly remembered the other reason he came here. He cleared his throat, straightened his posture, and said,

“Ah, contact came from the mansion that my carriage went to last time.”

He was talking about Melfir Pollun.

Calian nodded.

“Have you met him?”

“Yes. He visited me personally yesterday. Looks like you’ve found another talented person. He had quite the head for numbers.”

Then, Allan pulled out yet another thing from his pocket. It was the documents for the selection of a location site for the magic school, its costs for construction, initial operating cost, appointment fee for the professors, and so on.

It simply meant that he needed payment for all of these.

Calian read through all the documents carefully and nodded.

“He said that he is going to rely on you for the first payments, your highness. Is that not a bit too much?” As the payment was an exorbitant amount, Allan asked with worry in his voice.

“The cost is nothing to worry about. Baron Pollun will run the magic school personally without relying on the coffers of the royal family. Only then I will be able to involve myself in it, after all. Even though it may not be as much as what you have, teacher, but I should at least have something for myself as well, don’t you think?”

Allan nodded after understanding what Calian meant by that, agreeing to what he was saying. Soon afterward, Calian stood up and brought out a bundle of checks from the safe and handed it to Allan.

“Please give it to him in my stead.”

“It’s a large amount of money. Are you sure you can just give it to the Baron like this without any monitoring?”

He was asking whether he needed to keep an eye on Baron Pollun to make sure that he uses the money for its proper use.

Calian leisurely nodded his head.

“Yes. You can leave it to him. Even though it was a large sum of money, he is used to dealing with this much. Plus, he’s not someone that would throw away trust just for that amount of money.”

“Then I will do so, your highness,”

“But because Baron Pollun is just a merchant, he doesn’t know anything about magic. I’m sure he is probably going to be repeatedly seeking advice from the union or from you directly, so please help him out while I’m gone.”

“You need not worry about that.”

Afterwards, Calian asked Allan a number of questions about magic schools rather than continuing his magic lessons. He requested for Allan to also inform Melfir about things that would help him out.

After conversing like that for a while, they heard a knock from the outside.

It was Yan.

“Your highness, I apologise but it is time for your next appointment,” It meant that Yan was asking them to finish the conversation for now.

After hearing that, Allan stood up from his seat and started to head out.

“I will come back in the afternoon,” said Allan.

It meant that he was going to come back to give him magic lessons. Calian replied to Allan after hearing that.

“The appointment is about having to greet the knights of Siegfrieds for a moment. It won’t take too long, so unless you have other appointments to attend to, why not stay here and talk with me for today?”

Calian was asking Allan to just do away with the lessons and chat all day.

As Calian was leaving to go meet Sispanian tomorrow, Allan won’t be able to see Calian again for a while. Therefore, Allan laughed and agreed to his suggestion.

—

20 knights in gleaming black armour stood, lined up outside Chermil place, waiting for Calian. These were handpicked knights chosen by Slayman, here to greet Calian before they headed off on their journey.

Kyrie, who was already at the location ahead of Calian, was staring at the knights with eagerness to prove he was better than them. As Kyrie was someone that also specialized in swords, he was feeling eager to see and judge the difference between them and himself. Of course, the knights of Siegfried also felt that way towards Kyrie as well.

As the Duke’s knights and the Prince’s bodyguard silently battled each other in their mind, Calian, Allan, and Yan came outside of the palace.

Calian and Allan walked side by side and the servant Yan followed a few steps behind quietly as a matter of course.

Seeing Yan back there, the knights all gripped their fist even harder. Yan didn’t know anything about that, of course, and simply smiled while giving them a greeting through his eyes.

As it was only the knight Yuran who led the group that met Calian back at yesterday’s luncheon, Calian was meeting the rest of the knights for the first time.

Because of that, Calian studied the faces of all the knights carefully individually.

‘Hmmm.’

Soon, a peculiar smile came onto his lips.

‘So these are the famous Siegfried Knights,’

It was enough for Calian to realise how much effort Slayman put into picking the best of the best. Whether it was their size or spirit, it made Kyrie, who stood in front of them, look like a child.

But of course, that wasn’t the only reason Calian was making that face.

‘Their gazes… are off…’

The knights that came to guard the prince were eyeing him with completely different intentions than someone who came to protect.

Putting that gaze into words, it would be more along the lines of; ‘Are you the bastard treating our young lord like a servant?’

That would be the perfect explanation.

Standing next to Calian, Allan saw their feelings as well and smiled as if he was looking at something particularly interesting. Even if nothing happened during the Roselita journey, he hoped these Knights would be able to see Calina’s sword skills.

Of course, since he couldn’t see into the future, they might possibly be able to see it during the proceedings of Roselita as well. He was curious about how their expression would change once they saw it.

Even Kiriye, who could somewhat understand the situation, looked like he was highly anticipating such a scene.

Meanwhile, Yan, who was the only one unable to understand the situation, tilted his head and asked,

“Is there something bothering you, Your Highness?”

Calian smiled broadly.

Instead of saying that he felt uncomfortable since the knights would pound him into the ground as soon as they left Kyrisis, Calian spoke to Yan while staring at them back directly into their eyes.

“Yan, go bring something to drink.”

Hearing Calian say that, he could feel the spirit that heightened among the knights. Yan returned to the Chermil Palace without realising anything.

As the people he would be travelling with would be treating him this way the whole time, he felt that he won’t have any time to worry about Franz.

Allan, who was watching this staring contest and finding much joy from it, said,

“What a shame that I am not able to accompany you for this journey.”

Calian, who was staring at each and every one of the knights and declaring war upon them all, finally opened his mouth and spoke to them.

“Well then, I hope you can all help me safely arrive there.”

Yet again, a meaningful smile, that had practically become a habit at this point, lingered on his lips. He had no idea what he was so busy with, but there were days when Randell hadn’t come down to breakfast. Even now, he was late for the dinner banquet.

At the round table reserved for the princes, there was only one unwelcome punk sat slouching against the back of the chair, one corner of his lips raised into a smirk.

Calian, who had been frowning without realising it, cleared his expression and lowered his gaze before speaking to Franz,

“It’s been a while,” he greeted him politely,

With Calian and Franz sitting at one table, the surroundings became quiet as though it had been pre-arranged. They had become the main focus of everyone here, after all, Silica who had caused the ferocious cold Calian had suffered from had been pushed back with one cold word from Franz.