Taeyon was a little surprised that this lazy, undisciplined-looking cat beastkin had the same thoughts as him. He’d thought he was a cat who enjoyed catnip during work hours.
Sensing that gaze, Oderic scratched his head.
“It’s nothing special. If you know the lord normally, it’s a natural thought to have. I think the butler actually knows too. It’s just that if he’s not in the cave, it would mean he’s deceased, so she doesn’t want to accept it.”
Oderic smiled bitterly.
“Anyway, so I’d like to ask you to contact Oblyad Castle.”
“You need a new lord.”
“I know you’ll think it’s too early.”
After hesitating briefly, Oderic continued.
“As you know, the lord who governed our Centanid ruled by circulating through four cities. That means at least three people will step forward saying they’ll be temporary lord. It will definitely become chaotic.”
“You want to avoid chaos?”
“Of course! I absolutely hate noisy things. My dream is just to live in a quiet, uneventful place occasionally—very occasionally—drinking catnip tea.”
Taeyon fell into thought for a moment.
“…Captain, you don’t seem to have much attachment to this city. Or to the lord either.”
“I’m not without attachment. If I seem cold, that’s just my personality.”
“You really did write an excellent kidnapping victim investigation report.”
“Work is work.”
“Hmm….”
The lord of the four cities including Centanid had to govern all four places fairly without favoring any one. Moreover, since he governed as many as four cities, he needed to have excellent document processing abilities.
Also, he needed to know the culture and regulations of the region well. It wouldn’t make sense for a lord not to fit with his domain. For that, it would be better to be a beastkin born in this region.
Taeyon looked Oderic up and down.
“……”
There was just one regrettable point.
Taeyon suddenly kicked Oderic’s shin. Oderic, who quickly flew backward to dodge, landed nimbly with a flustered expression.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Draw your sword.”
“What? Suddenly what… What? Really? Really?”
“Really.”
Taeyon, who had drawn his sword, charged quickly toward Oderic.
Taeyon, who launched his body as if pushing off the ground, swung his sword aiming for Oderic’s shoulder. Only then realizing this situation wasn’t a joke, Oderic raised his sword to block.
Clang! The roughly clashing blades slid with a scraping sound. Oderic, who dodged the blade stabbing toward his throat, swung his sword at Taeyon’s chest.
Taeyon’s sword was extended straight. Naturally his chest was wide open. However, the next moment, Taeyon lowered his body at an invisible speed to avoid the sword and kicked Oderic’s ankle.
Oderic tumbled straight to the ground. He tried to get up with the quick movements characteristic of cats, but faster than that, Taeyon stepped firmly on his chest.
“Ugh….”
“Is this all you’ve got?”
One corner of Taeyon’s mouth tilted crookedly.
Actually, Oderic had intended to end it at that level. Though he didn’t know why Taeyon was suddenly picking a fight, he’d thought there was nothing much to gain from fighting him.
However, facing the black wolf’s incredibly arrogant face, heat rose to his head.
“As if!”
Oderic rolled to the side to escape from Taeyon, then got up again. He threw off his cumbersome outer coat and drew another sword he’d hidden at his waist.
It seemed he used dual sword techniques with a longsword and shortsword. It was a sword style that suited the fast and agile movements of a cat well.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I’m not some pushover cat.”
“Judging by your catnip tea addiction, you look pretty easy to me.”
“Th-that’s only occasionally!”
His face flushed, Oderic shouted and rushed in. Oderic’s body, now serious, was surprisingly fast. He lowered his body and blocked Taeyon’s sword with his longsword, then stabbed at his thigh with the shortsword.
The thigh was a place where you could die from blood loss if stabbed wrong. Taeyon lightly dodged the shortsword aiming exquisitely for a vital point.
“No matter how fast you are, it’s meaningless if you can’t hit.”
“How about you try receiving a meaningful strike?!”
Dual swords might look cool, but actually wielding two swords without them clashing with each other was more difficult than it seemed.
Oderic was doing it splendidly well.
The technique of approaching as if attacking with the longsword then aiming for openings with the shortsword, or deflecting attacks with the shortsword while thrusting in the longsword, was quite excellent even in Taeyon’s view as a knight.
After repeating offense and defense several times, Taeyon felt he’d seen everything worth seeing. Kaniel’s expression watching from far away was also gradually becoming anxious.
“Light, fast attacks alone can’t deal damage to a knight.”
Taeyon, speaking in a low voice, swung his sword at the charging Oderic. Oderic, who had been trying to deflect the attack with his longsword, found himself forced into a contest of strength when the technique of shifting the sword’s center of gravity caught him off guard, unlike before.
“I’m just a guard captain!”
“So?”
“How am I supposed to beat a knight?!”
Even while protesting vehemently, Oderic turned his body to the side, forcibly deflecting the sword and aiming at Taeyon’s shoulder with his shortsword. Taeyon didn’t dodge but swung his fist, striking the flat of the shortsword.
Clang!! A rather pathetic sound rang out as cracks spread through the shortsword.
Taeyon kicked the dazed Oderic in the stomach. Oderic, who rolled away, grumbled while lying down. He seemed to be muttering some kind of curse.
‘Quite excellent.’
Taeyon was surprised that Oderic’s martial prowess was better than expected. Well, if his skills weren’t outstanding, he couldn’t have become guard captain.
He approached Oderic and extended his hand.
Oderic glared at Taeyon with a rebellious gaze but obediently grasped his hand. As he pulled him to his feet, Taeyon said.
“You’ll need to become able to win now.”
“…What?”
Before Taeyon could even finish sheathing his sword, Kaniel approached. He pulled Kaniel, who was checking his body for injuries, to his side and continued speaking to Oderic in formal speech again.
“I will recommend you as temporary lord in my name. In case of problems with the castle lord’s personal affairs, a temporary lord handles matters and follows his traces for half a year, so become a knight during that time.”
“…Whaat?”
“Once you become a knight, you can become a lord, so you can become the official lord then. That way you can resolve the situation without chaos.”
“…I’m very confused right now…. It’s not like you can easily become a knight just because you want to….”
“A knight will come from the castle to train you.”
“You think I can become a knight?”
Taeyon nodded.
“Without a doubt.”
Of course, rather harsh training would be necessary. The lazy cat might want to run away. But if the knight Taeyon was thinking of came for training, he would overcome both desertion and laziness to become a knight.
“I-I didn’t want this kind of solution….”
Oderic muttered in bewilderment.
However, his opinion was no longer important.
Leaving Oderic sitting on the ground, Taeyon returned to his room and wrote a letter, handing it to Arkan. It recommended Oderic as lord and requested a knight be sent to provide sword training for him, who wasn’t yet a knight.
“Deliver this to the castle.”
“What about a letter asking how they are?”
When Taeyon fell silent, Arkan turned his head sharply away.
“If you don’t write a letter asking how they are, I won’t deliver it.”
“Arkan!”
“I won’t deliver it.”
Taeyon grabbed his head as if it ached. Kaniel sat on the sofa, watching the scene in bewilderment.
“A letter asking how they are—who are you sending it to?”
“Your parents, of course. Who else would it be?”
“A letter asking how your parents are…. You should just write it, Taeyon.”
Could it be that he doesn’t get along with his parents? Kaniel belatedly thought he might have made a mistake and jumped up from the sofa.
“Ah, sorry, this isn’t something I should interfere with….”
“No. You can interfere.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
“So… do you not get along?”
Kaniel, who had sat back down on the sofa, asked carefully.
“…Not exactly.”
“Then shouldn’t you… write the letter asking how they are…?”
When Kaniel asked hesitantly, not understanding why he’d be uncomfortable writing a letter when their relationship wasn’t bad, Arkan clasped both hands together and nodded several times.
“That’s what I’m saying! If you left like that, you should at least write a letter! They’re very worried.”
“What do you mean by ‘like that’?”
Just when Arkan was about to answer Kaniel’s curious question.
“I’ll write it now, so wait.”
“Yes! Understood!”
As Taeyon wrote the letter and Arkan approached that way to peek at the letter, the conversation was cut off. Kaniel narrowed his eyes and looked at the backs of the two.
Surely he didn’t run away from home or anything?
