NOVEL NEXT Chapter 164
Chapter 164. Beggar Siblings – Portrait
“Congratulations.”
Katrina said with a sullen expression.
“For becoming a tedious royal guard knight.”
“…Your voice doesn’t sound congratulatory?”
“It wasn’t that hard, though, right? With your skills, it was an obvious outcome.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Leo flicked the badge he had just received from the Captain of the Royal Guard. The brass badge, bearing the emblem of the Tatalia royal family and his name, spun five times in the air.
– Noel
Katrina’s red eyebrows knitted. Leo smirked, sensing her extreme displeasure.
Katrina didn’t know. If it weren’t for her recommendation, he wouldn’t have become a royal guard knight.
The process to prove one’s identity as a royal guard knight was stringent.
It wasn’t like modern society with thorough background checks, but despite the rarity of knights, the royal family wouldn’t blindly select their protectors.
The first step was to verify the applicant’s skills, after which they had to meticulously disclose their identity. If there were any suspicious points, the Royal Guard would conduct a thorough investigation.
This was a tough situation. Leo de Yeriel, who started as a beggar, had no way to prove his identity. All he had was a single white metal necklace, a token of a prince whose identity was not to be revealed.
So, he gave all his remaining {initial funds} to Ober and asked for help. He wanted a forged identity card under the name ‘Noel.’
The Rauno family, who also dealt in information, handled such tasks.
However, a fake identity card wouldn’t completely deceive the Royal Guard. If an investigation was initiated, it would be catastrophic, so Leo needed Katrina’s recommendation.
The recommendation of a knight from the kingdom’s second knight order.
This alone allowed fairly free access to most public offices. As long as he had her recommendation, the Royal Guard wouldn’t bother to trace his identity.
“A distasteful fellow. If only he was mediocre in skill… Why do such people always gather around me?”
Grumbling, Katrina left the castle, thinking how it would have been great if her dense but diligent junior, Deros, was half like this fellow.
This fellow truly was a genius.
Noel often came to her for meals, saying he had no living expenses, and each time, they sparred.
And she realized. He was getting immensely stronger at an incredible speed.
When they first met, she still stood a chance, but only after a few weeks, he became an equal. Recently, she even felt like he was going easy on her.
A monstrous brat.
It hurt her pride, but Katrina was the type to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged.
In fact, helping out a prodigy who might become a Sword Master could be the greatest accomplishment of her life.
“By the way, sis, buy me a meal. I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten once today.”
Ah, but why is it so infuriating?
Katrina glared at Leo and said.
“Fine. Let’s go eat. As it happens, Ellen wants to see you. Now that you’re a royal guard, let’s eat at my place.”
Eventually, the two arrived at Roseline Avenue.
A two-story house with a blue roof.
Every time Leo came here, his mood dampened as he recalled Katrina, who fought Irene, but it wasn’t as complicated as when he met Cassia.
Katrina, once an enemy who killed Lena, later became a benefactor who saved his life, though he only indirectly experienced the entire process.
He read in the end text that Lena, who went to war alone, was killed by Katrina’s hand. He also learned from a quest message that she died fighting Irene.
Unlike with Cassia, he didn’t experience the process firsthand, so it was easier to deal with. He had already avenged once.
However…
[ Quest: Katrina’s Life – Free Katrina from her burden. ]
‘What does it mean to help her?’
For Leo, or rather Minseo, it was frustrating.
Through Cassia and the hunter father, he knew what the constraint quest was about. The goal of this quest was to fulfill what the person desired.
Cassia wished for a hug from her beloved, and once that was fulfilled, she was freed from her burden.
In the case of the hunter’s father, Dop Bizan, it was a bit perplexing but somewhat understandable.
His burden quest was resolved by killing Sir Corrin, suggesting that killing Sir Corrin was Dop Bizan’s wish. In fact, he had left his son behind after accomplishing this.
The hunter’s father despised the Crusaders and, by extension, the Crescent Church.
This was clear. From the memories of Barbatos felt by the apostle Lev, it was inferred that the Asin hated the Crescent Church, which massacred their followers.
Dop Bizan was undoubtedly a survivor from a barbarian tribe that was wiped out.
Additionally, Sir Corrin, in the third Childhood Friend scenario, refused Lev’s request to become a Crusader, saying:
– “This youth believes in a false god. In my thirty years of service in the south, I have seen that tattoo.”
A Crusader who served in the south for thirty years. If he had seen Barbatos’ tattoo, it was obvious.
Sir Corrin had participated in the massacre of the Bizan tribe, and Dop Bizan remembered him.
Anyway, since those matters were resolved, Leo turned his attention to Katrina.
‘What does this woman desire?’
This is the problem. The always confident Katrina didn’t seem to want anything. At best, she hoped I would join her as a junior instead of the frustrating Deros…
No matter how you look at it, simply fulfilling that wish wouldn’t exactly be freeing oneself from the burden. Cassia’s wish was modest, but looking back at how her life was, it at least made sense.
“Sis.”
Leo called out to Katrina as she was about to open the door.
“What’s your wish, sis? Is there something you absolutely want to achieve in your life?”
“Oh my? Trying to pay me back or something? Forget it. I don’t need it, just focus on living your own life well.”
“So, there is something, right?”
“Oh, fine. There is one.”
Katrina turned around and looked at Leo with a significant gaze.
“For you to start living earnestly. Seriously, how can you just go around always relying on me and your girlfriend for meals? If it were me, I’d be embarrassed and get a job. Being that lazy, it doesn’t matter how talented you are.”
She gave some unsolicited advice and went back inside.
Leo’s face turned red.
To be honest, it wasn’t that he couldn’t explain. This Leo was so unskilled with his hands that it was hard to find work, he secretly met with his sister and Xenia, and he spent time maintaining his body, leaving little time for work.
But the truth is, he’d been living off of women for the past few weeks, and so, feeling awkward, Leo rubbed the back of his neck.
It was embarrassing, but this beggar siblings scenario attracted more women compared to other scenarios.
Partly because of the charm achievements, but Leo’s good looks played a big part as well.
Light blonde hair with a hint of blue, thick and straight eyebrows, golden eyes, a high nose bridge, and sharp jawline. And yet, a fresh appearance like that of a young boy.
Frankly, it would be a lie to say he never used his looks to his advantage. No matter who he met, he always smiled brightly, and when he was fleeing from Marquis Tatian, he inevitably seduced naive girls in rural villages.
What became of those girls after he fled, he didn’t know. But considering he had {Bedding Art} and his chases always ended abruptly…
Leo shook his head.
That was a long time ago. It’s a past that’s gone and he wouldn’t do it again.
Feeling somewhat bitter, Leo smacked his lips and followed Katrina inside.
“Ellen! Honey! I’m back. The friend I mentioned before, Noel, is here too, so come down and say hello.”
A rattling sound was heard.
A man came down with awkward steps and extended his paint-stained hand.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Ellen.”
Leo had heard about Ellen countless times through Katrina’s stories, but this was the first time he actually met her proud lover.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Noel,” he said, shaking hands.
But the face was familiar.
At first, Leo tilted his head in confusion, but when they visited the studio on the second floor after dinner, he understood why.
A room with canvases taller than people lined up and the floor entirely covered in various hues of paint.
Amidst it all, only three portraits, neatly framed, hung on the wall.
One was of a middle-aged woman standing modestly with the backdrop of a vast plain at twilight. Her bright reddish hair fluttering like the morning sun, wearing a faded purple dress.
Another was of a young woman with burning red hair and red eyebrows like the evening glow.
In a vibrant red dress, though its hem flowed gently. It was Katrina.
The Katrina in the painting was beautiful.
Not to say the real Katrina wasn’t, but the one in the painting exuded a dual charm.
Her hands lowered firmly, gripping a long sword, and standing on a hill with green grass looking far into the sky, her eyes were both resolute and warm.
Ellen must be deeply in love. To portray such a fierce woman like this.
And the last one, a portrait of a middle-aged man and a young man standing side by side with an arm around each other’s shoulders in front of a carriage…
“A portrait of my father and brother. I haven’t seen my brother in a long time, but my father visits Orville once a year. He came by recently and left,” Ellen interjected, though there was no need for an explanation. Leo knew who this man was.
He was the head trader who had once sold Leah and Lev in Nevis.
A snicker escaped.
Thinking about how this damn game laid traps everywhere, he couldn’t help but laugh.
If he had killed the trader without knowing he was Ellen’s father, Katrina would have likely come after him for revenge.
“Well, I’ll take my leave. Since I’ve become a royal guard, once I get my salary, I’ll treat you all properly one day.”
Leo bowed and left the blue-roofed house. He never returned to it.
* * *
After that, Leo became a bit busy.
As a newly appointed royal guard, he left Katrina’s house and moved to the quarters in the palace where he had a mountain of training to undergo. Additionally, as a new recruit, he was dragged around to network with the senior guards.
Fortunately, Leo easily passed all the etiquette training required of a royal guard.
Thanks to the information on {Noble Society}.
The etiquette of nobles and knights was different, but nobles who mastered etiquette also knew the ways of the knights.
If that were not the case, the apprenticeship period would have been indefinitely extended, but Leo, who excelled in both etiquette and skill, was immediately assigned a mentor and a squire (junior knight) and began his duties.
Of course, these were not significant tasks. His assignments included occasionally patrolling the outskirts of the royal capital with the guards or escorting the elderly princess of the Tartalia royal family.
Though it was not tiresome or difficult, Leo, who was having busy days, cautiously submitted a leave request to the administrative knight in charge of him.
Strictly speaking, an administrative knight was not truly a knight.
Knights were a precious human asset, numbering barely a thousand in a kingdom. And their value lay solely in their powerful combat capability.
Thus, the main tasks assigned to knights were patrols, escort duty, repetitive training, and tactical education, with general administration within the order handled by others — specifically, by ‘administrative knights.’
Yes. There is no need to beat around the bush out of politeness. They were junior knights.
Not the kind who became squires to tend to knights and train in intervals to become knights themselves.
Administrative knights were those junior knights who had given up on becoming knights.
Whether due to lack of talent or misfortune, these junior knights, as they aged without becoming knights, sought their own livelihoods by becoming mercenaries, commanders of soldiers, or administrative knights.
Having spent a long time within the order, they knew its workings well and thus managed assorted administrative tasks on behalf of the esteemed knights.
Does this mean administrative knights had no power at all? Not quite.
Only the commander or vice-commander of the order could command them. Captains directly below the vice-commander could not treat them lightly because administrative knights managed and distributed the order’s resources.
They also allocated the knights’ duties.
Moreover, in the Guard Knight Order that Leo had joined, the power of administrative knights was even more pronounced due to the order’s unique characteristics.
Since they managed the resources generously provided by the royal family, and were closely connected to the royal chamberlains.
Therefore, Leo, being just a new recruit despite being a knight, found it difficult to urge for the approval of his leave request. Pressing for it would likely result in criticism: “Noel, if you go out, another senior would have to fill your spot, right?”
Nonetheless, thanks to all this, Leo managed to go out for the third time in almost five days.
Despite the late hour, he hurriedly dressed and left the royal capital. Cautiously checking for any tailers, he headed towards the Orange Theater.
– Knock, knock.
“Lena. Xenia. It’s me.”
“Brother!”
The door burst open. Lena sprang out and tightly embraced him.
“You’re here! Just in time. I have something to tell you.”
“It’s been a while. Yes, your brother is here. Wow—my sister, you’ve become even prettier. How have you been?”
“Yes! Brother, but I have something to say.”
Still tightly embraced, Lena lifted her head up. Her eyes sparkled as she asked,
“Can I act in a play?”