Who Stole The Empress

Tamon’s knights stood impatiently.

It was because their master had suddenly acted strangely in this peaceful time.

“Are you sure you want to do this? This is too reckless. The trade month is coming to an end, and you are forcing us to do this…”

Captain Rubent Pahar pleaded again with a serious face.

The scar that covered his left cheek from the tip of his nose was badly distorted.

He was what they called the brown bear of House Krasis because of his bushy red hair and scars, but he was also the most caring and attentive of all.

He was also the one who was the strongest in stopping Tamon from going on the ship at this dangerous time when the trading month was almost over.

Satin, who was listening, helped him with a look of righteousness.

“Rubent’s right. Master, can’t we wait a little longer and leave for the next trading month? Or tell us why we must go now.”

Tamon looked down at the map, unfazed by Satin’s pleading words.

“We can get to the port of Lesso in a day, right? If we take a fast boat from here.”

He said as he pointed precisely to the middle of Amor sea.

The commanders of each knightly order who were watching reluctantly nodded in reply.

“It’s not far from Lesso Harbor. We’ll be there in a day.”

“What about the navigator?”

“I gave him 3 times the amount he asked for.”

“Good job. I thought you would have to give about five times as much, but you got his approval sooner than I thought.”

Tamon smiled and praised the knights.

Knight Commander Lily Rex and Knight Commander Pansy Anshe were both pale and touched their foreheads. 

Just then, Jorge, who had been looking for an opportunity, interrupted them.

“Oh, Master (Tamon), who will go this time? Looking at this place, I’m sure Rex wouldn’t be averse to the idea of the sea, and I’m sure Anshe has his daughter’s wedding this month. Then the remaining men are myself and. ………… Oh, it’s me!”

Jorge, with wavy brown hair and brown eyes, wrinkled his freckled nose and laughed out loud.

As Jorge said, there were not many remaining knights.

The Tulip Knights and the Adonis Knights had been dispatched to Count Bellburn’s order, and the only remaining knights were the Platanus Knights.

All the knights named after flowers by the previous generation’s predecessor, House Krasis. 

It was not easy to rename them since they had already been with the family for over 300 years.

But Platanus, named after the tree, was the Order that Tamon had taken in four years ago.

It was an Order made up of those who had the ability but no money, no opportunity, or no basics.

It was far more belligerent and jovial than the other four knightly Orders.

Instead, it has broken procedures and order.

Anyway, Jorge, the leader of the Knights of Platanus, was almost begging Tamon to take him whenever he went, as if he needed some action.

“This time you will take me with you, won’t you? Master always takes Ronasso every time.”

“Jorge….Who’s going now is not important. Isn’t your master’s safety important to you?”

 “Our General won’t die. Don’t you know?  He can knock down 100 monsters!”

“This madman, who wouldn’t die? Stop talking nonsense and be quiet.”

Jorge fidgeted, “What, there could be someone like that, who kills people just by looking at them.”

After disturbing Jorge’s fumbling head, Anshe sighed and reviewed the map.

“It’s too close to the time of the ringleaders’ appearance. Even if we were to leave and capture the ship, the risk of hitting the monsters is very high.”

“That’s right. And we’re unprepared.”

“It’s really annoying. You can beat the ringleaders. Isn’t it the season for catching Mach’s ringleaders anyway? We can take this opportunity to pretend to do them a favor and reap the benefits later.”

Tamon brushed aside Rubent and Anshe’s words as if they were no big deal.

His minions would eventually agree with him, but the one person who was not so naive was none other than Satin.

Satin began to pull out a white handkerchief from his pocket.

“Oh, Satin.”

Tamon hated it and took away Satin’s white handkerchief.

As if he knew Tamon would do that, Satin took out another white handkerchief from his other pocket and pretended to be in tears.

“Master, how can you throw yourself into danger again, when it was only four or five years ago that I was happy that Master would not jump into the deadly place. I can’t help but worry. Master! What? I don’t know why, but I’d rather you send me or Largo. Whaaa!”

Satin squeezed his tears into a handkerchief.

Tamon, who was watching him with a pain in his head, touched his forehead.

“If you could go and solve the problem, I would send you, but it’s not possible. Are old Satin and Largo going to be able to withstand the voyage and fight monsters? If the old man is brave, he will only break bones. Don’t be harsh and take good care of the mansion.”

“But….”

“Satin.”

Tamon waved Satin aside as if to tell him to stop.

It was just about the end of Satin’s blustering.

Satin’s sullen shoulders drooped.

Every time Satin did this, Asrell would slap him on the back, but he didn’t care.

It was because there were times when the complaints of such an old man worked.

Of course, it didn’t work today.

“We have to find the child. We need to chase the stowaways, so speed and agility are of the utmost importance, and like you said, it’s the end of the trading month season, so we need to be quick and come back. And if it’s not now, it’ll be difficult to track the child on that stowaway ship.”

“If it’s a child from a stowaway ship, there’s a good chance they’re going to Nilux’s slave market.”

“What about the pirates you mentioned then?”

“I got a clue a short while ago. They said there was a ship that passed this area two days ago.”

Rex pointed to the entrance to the Amor sea.

Fortunately, the date matched exactly what Tamon thought it was.

“Then we’ll leave tomorrow morning. Let’s just say that the name of the trip is to retrieve the plundered goods of the looted family.”

It was an excuse to prepare for the pursuit of the Port Authority and the King.

However, there would be no problem since Tamon had put some money into the Administration beforehand.

“‘Great! So are you taking someone with you?”

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jorge pestered him again.

He looked like a puppy craving juicy meat. The knights didn’t have the manpower to take him anyway.

Water battles were dangerous, so it was difficult to accompany them unless they were quite competent.

No need to bring a lot of manpower for a job that has to be done quickly.

The method was rough, but the Order of Platanus was no less than the other four Orders in terms of survival and ability.

“Water battle, are you okay? I mean, are you confident that even if a monster appears, none of the members will die?”

“Of course. My boys will kill them all!”

 Jorge spat out his big words.

Again, it wasn’t as if his confident appearance was born out of superior ability. Objectively speaking, Jorge was not a great knight. No, he was not a knight in the first place, but a fighter.

But he survived many life-and-death struggles with more real-world experience and sense than most knights.

As pretentious as it sounds, Jorge was also the one who survived more desperately than anyone else when he was in danger.

Tamon liked Jorge’s way of surviving by exactly those means and methods. After all, he had a strange personality.

Even though he had such a strong attachment to life, seeing as how he fought in ‘death-defying’ battles, it seemed like he enjoyed the danger.

Tamon chuckled and replied with a rough wave of his hand at an earnest-looking Jorge.

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow, so make sure you’re ready.”

“Oh yeah!” 

Jorge danced his way out of the room.

After that, Rubent, the training captain, stopped him several times, but to no avail.

Eventually, he slipped out of the office, deciding that it was better to help him prepare than to stop Tamon.

“…Why aren’t you leaving, Satin?” 

Tamon asked, wondering why Satin was still there. Satin opened his mouth cautiously.

“You seem to have forgotten the date of the upcoming visit of Lord Cassion to the capital. This time he will arrive a little earlier than expected.”

Tamon’s face twisted strangely at the name Cassion.

Tap. Tap.

His dry fingers tapped the top of the bookshelf.

“When…?

“That’s…..”

Satin sighed briefly as he reluctantly spoke.

“He’ll be here in a week.”