Chapter 003
* * *
“I heard Lady Brisa gathered us at the training grounds, is that right?”
“That’s what I heard.”
The morning for the knights at the Marquis of Sayers’ estate was rather noisy.
“Supposedly, since the Marquis is away, she claims she holds the right of command over us.”
At those words, the knights snorted in derision.
“Ha!”
Brisa Sayers.
A young girl who felt like the quintessential ‘obnoxious noble’—haughty and arrogant. It was impossible for them to welcome orders coming from her mouth.
“That… right of command? Don’t make me laugh. How old is that lady anyway?”
“Twelve. But I heard her personality is something else.”
The knights grumbled, competing to voice their complaints.
“Did you hear? Three days ago, the Marquis went to her personally to request a talk… and she didn’t even open the door.”
“Ha, she openly insulted him. Even though our Marquis is a former mercenary who grew up among commoners!”
“Would a lady like that even see us as human beings? Good grief.”
The knights were already full of resentment.
Before leaving for the capital after the funeral, Alpheus had kicked the butler out of the estate for embezzlement. As he left, the butler had screamed:
‘How dare a lowly thing with commoner blood kick me out, I who have been loyal to Sayers for so long? Lady Brisa will not forget this!’
At that moment, the knights who had shared life and death with Alpheus realized something. The people who had been at the estate for a long time did not accept them. No, rather, they despised them.
A conversation with one of the more neutral maids had gone like this:
‘A mercenary-turned-Marquis… honestly, it’s a bit embarrassing. Sayers is a house with a long history, you know.’
‘Is that a problem? What is our Marquis lacking?’
‘Well, for example… the Marquis can’t speak any foreign languages, can he? Lady Brisa speaks five.’
‘Has that foreign language earned us a single penny? Thanks to the Marquis, the urgent debts have been paid, and we now have a knight order as competent as the Imperial Knights!’
‘But he grew up like a commoner. Lady Brisa graduated as the runner-up from the Capital Academy. The late Marchioness educated her personally since she was a child.’
The financial situation of the Sayers fief was not good. Even so, the way the existing maids held their heads high felt absurd to the knights.
‘The late Marchioness? The one who was said to have a touch of madness?’
‘Watch your mouth. She was the 5th Princess of the Liente Kingdom.’
‘Princess or not, do you have any idea how much debt she racked up with her extravagance? Our Marquis poured all his private funds into paying that off. It’s a good thing she passed away two years ago; if she were still alive, there wouldn’t be a single grain of wheat left in this estate.’
Meanwhile, Brisa had remained holed up in her room for the past three days. Consequently, the knights were convinced that the maids’ disregard and contempt were a direct reflection of Brisa’s own will.
A noble lady who had likely never done a single thing by her own strength in her life. A brat who attended an academy in the capital while draining what little wealth remained. A twelve-year-old acting stubborn without even being able to objectively assess the situation.
And yet, that Brisa had suddenly summoned them.
* * *
After everyone gathered at the training grounds, Vice-Captain Philip stepped forward, huffing with indignation.
“This is actually for the best. I’ll take this chance to protest formally and break her spirit once and for all.”
“But she is a lady of a Marquis house, Vice-Captain. Besides, the Marquis told us strictly not to cause any trouble until he returns from the capital.”
“What does a twelve-year-old know? The problem is the underlings around her! I plan to blame them, not the lady. Then even the lady won’t have anything to say.”
Philip tilted his chin up.
“Aren’t they the ones who don’t know their place and lack manners? Regardless, the master of the fief is the Marquis! Does it make sense for the servants of the fief to ignore the Marquis?”
It was then.
The door opened and Brisa appeared.
Platinum blonde hair flowing down to her waist, beautiful sky-blue eyes, and a ramrod-straight posture that suited her dress perfectly. The twelve-year-old girl walked into the training ground accompanied by a maid, at a pace that was neither fast nor slow.
“Greetings, Lady Brisa. I am Vice-Captain Philip Oris.”
Philip approached her and spoke in a stiff tone. Brisa stopped her walk and stared at him intently. He remained blocking her path as he continued.
“I was hoping to see you.”
Brisa’s maid looked at him with eyes that said, ‘How dare you!’
But Philip didn’t care. Since he was a mercenary, he didn’t know etiquette well, and the resentment that had built up from seeing his Captain Alpheus—whom he revered like the heavens—being ignored by the maids was already immense.
“It seems Lady Brisa’s surroundings are… full of those who cannot assess the situation properly and only uphold useless pride.”
Surely she would get angry and ask what he meant. Then he would respond logically, point by point…
“Correct.”
But Brisa answered calmly.
“That is why I asked to meet you all.”
Philip was momentarily speechless. Amidst the gazes of his breath-held subordinates, he barely managed to regain his senses and said the other words he had prepared.
“I—I didn’t know your hobby was listening to the nonsense of those who can’t distinguish between above and below.”
“Well… I do that often, but it’s not a hobby.”
Brisa replied nonchalantly.
“I’m doing it right now too, and it’s quite exhausting. You can’t call something you don’t like a hobby.”
At that moment, the subordinates ducked their heads. They were suppressing laughter. Only the maid standing behind Brisa glared at him with murderous eyes. Those eyes were so absurdly fierce that Philip barely managed to continue.
“Does the Marquis house perhaps not have a code for rebuking the rudeness of subordinates?”
“Not necessarily, but sometimes it can’t be helped but to let it slide when one is busy.”
Brisa said without a change in expression.
“So I’m planning to let it slide for now as well.”
In the end, Philip was forced to shut his mouth.
Brisa, having stopped the argument easily and elegantly, brushed past him and stood on the podium. The girl, who looked exactly like her brother, looked down at them quietly. There was an unexpected power in her gaze as she scanned them coldly. Amidst the tension, the postures of the knights, who had been standing half-heartedly, straightened up.
Just what on earth was she planning to say that she summoned everyone?
In the chilled atmosphere, she opened her mouth with a blank expression.
“I heard you are all former mercenaries from various parts of the Empire.”
As expected!
She was bringing up their origins from the start. It was the same context as the maids whispering about them being ‘those of unknown roots’! The knights stiffened and looked up at Brisa.
“Is it true that mercenaries will do anything as long as there is money involved?”
At that, Philip exhaled sharply and protested.
“My Lady! H—how… your choice of words is too harsh.”
To his surprise, Brisa looked satisfied.
“So you aren’t saying no. Then, I shall give an order.”
While the knights looked on with startled eyes, the girl began counting on her small fingers.
“Those who have lived for more than three years in the regions of Ayres, Kiberona, Sejeil, Liberel, or Antbenal, please raise your hands.”
Everyone looked at each other. What on earth was the commonality of these regions? Places where criminals hid? Places with bandits? Places where it was easy to forge an identity? Was she telling people who lived in those regions to leave the knight order?
Nonetheless, since it was an ‘order,’ a few people slowly raised their hands. It was quite a large number. Philip was one of them.
Brisa had them come forward. In front of the incredibly tensed men, she asked with grim determination.
“Who among you has experience farming potatoes?”
Silence fell once again. Brisa added seriously:
“The places I listed are major potato-producing regions in the Empire. Since you lived there for quite a while, surely one of you must be an experienced worker?”
