SML Ch 31

Chapter 31

The way that king expresses goodwill is by giving what he personally believes to be good things—without really asking what the other person wants. It’s fortunate, at least, that he doesn’t take offense and retaliate when the other party declines, but the real problem is that he doesn’t particularly listen to others even after being rejected several times.

He is a truly stagnant man. It made Serna wonder if ascending the throne inevitably turns a person into such a self-centered being.

The most prominent victim of this selfish nature was Sir Reynald. The king, thinking he was bestowing a great honor, appointed him as the commander of the knights, but Sir Reynald detests paperwork. The king, thinking to compensate him adequately, poured large sums of money at him—but Sir Reynald, who has no desire for wealth, always redirected those funds to the subjugation forces or to villages that had suffered damage. On top of that, the amount of work given to him was absurdly heavy, to the point that it became a near-daily occurrence for Sir Reynald to dump his duties on then-deputy commander Sir Bestrot and go into hiding.

“Anyway! No matter how angry he is, the fact that he hasn’t contacted us at all—it’s only natural to worry, isn’t it? For all I know, he could be in grave trouble in the domain and desperately waiting for my help!”

It just seemed like a silent protest, as if he were pleading, “Please, just let me retire already.” Serna, who had overheard Reynald’s grumblings ever since he was toddling about as a child, was convinced of it.

But since the king believed that he and Reynald were sworn comrades who had walked through thick and thin together, it was meaningless to argue. Of course, Sir Reynald might well harbor some degree of affection toward the king, but affection and a desire to retire belonged to entirely separate dimensions.

“So, is it enough just to go to the domain and check on Sir Reynald’s condition?”

“What are you talking about? You can’t just check on him—you must bring him back, of course.”

“He might not want to return.”

“That’s nonsense. He wouldn’t not want to return—what an utterly ridiculous idea.”

As expected, Father never learns a thing from these experiences. Thinking so, Serna glanced sidelong at his second brother—only to see him nodding with an expression identical to the king’s. With that, Serna gave up on rebutting altogether.

Being the youngest and thus the one with the least authority was one thing, but from the start, there was no way he could win a verbal match against two fools.

“…Then I’ll take a few royal knights with me. If they’re with us, perhaps it’ll be easier to persuade Sir Reynald.”

“I don’t know why he needs persuading in the first place, but of course you should take knights to protect yourselves. I’ll leave those arrangements to you.”

At the very least, if they brought knights who understood Reynald’s perspective, they might be able to have a real conversation. Serna kept those thoughts to himself as he rose from his seat.

They couldn’t possibly send some inconsequential figure to fetch Reynald, a former commander of the knights and the king’s close friend. But the crown prince, as the heir to the kingdom, couldn’t be sent into a dangerous place. Thus, it fell to the second prince, Arun, and the third prince, Serna, to travel to the secluded domain where Reynald had taken refuge.

Once out of the drawing room, Serna glanced at his second brother, who had remained silent throughout. Others might have been on edge, trying to interpret the meaning behind Arun’s silence, but Serna, having known him for a long time, wasn’t particularly bothered.

His second brother Arun was often called a “quiet and intimidating man” by those around him, but in reality, he was simply quiet—not all that scary. He had just developed a habit of keeping his mouth shut when he had nothing to say. And besides…

“Then I’ll stop by the Royal Knights and bring some knights with me, Brother.”

“Do so. I’ll go prepare for departure. By the way.”

“Yes?”

“I do hope nothing serious has happened to Sir Reynald. It worries me. Let’s hurry as much as we can.”

“You too, Brother…”

In some ways, he was the most easily swayed by the king’s silver tongue. Resigned, Serna turned quietly toward the Royal Knights’ quarters.

“Is Prince Serna going to see the Commander? I wonder if our commander is doing well! If it’s not too much trouble, please give him my regards!”

“Strictly speaking, I’m going to check on his condition. His Majesty is quite worried that the domain might be in some sort of danger.”

“In danger? Surely the Commander wouldn’t be causing chaos in the domain, would he? Even if he’s upset about being assigned to such a backwater, I can’t imagine he’d go that far…”

Serna smiled, thinking that he could at least have a sensible conversation with this one. Bestrot, who had succeeded Reynald as commander of the knights, had a more realistic understanding of Reynald’s character.

Had Arun been present, he probably would have been taken aback by Bestrot’s calm reaction, but in truth, this was the far more normal response. The idea that Reynald would lose contact because he was endangered in some rural domain was, quite frankly, hard to believe.

“Well, if we must be precise, His Majesty seems to be worried that Sir Reynald might be in some sort of danger.”

“There are far more important things in the world to worry about—do we really have to concern ourselves with such a remote possibility?”

“Don’t be so heartless. You never know what might happen in this world. There’s value in being prepared for the unexpected.”

“True enough.”

In any case, good luck—Bestrot smiled as he said this. Not everyone in the Royal Knights adored Reynald, but they all held firm confidence in his abilities. Even though he was a knight commander of common birth, his skills were so exceptional that no other knight could easily match him.

Some knights might grumble, saying things like, “I wish that insufferable commoner commander would just disappear somewhere,” but the idea that he could actually die in some nameless rural domain was not even remotely considered among the Royal Knights. It might not be the right word to call it trust, but that was the general sentiment they held toward Reynald.

“So, did His Majesty specify any terms of negotiation?”

“Would he ever? He’s not the type to even realize that such terms are necessary in the first place.”

“That’s true, but then Reynald won’t come back.”

“Of course not. Come to think of it, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask. What’s the story with the domain Sir Reynald received? Why is it spoken of so poorly?”

“Well… truthfully, we don’t know all the details either. It’s such a remote area that there’s almost no information about it. What we do know is that it hasn’t paid taxes in decades.”

“His Majesty really went too far. Giving away such a place…”

“Anyone would be angry in Sir Reynald’s position.”

A domain that hasn’t paid taxes for decades and that the kingdom has knowingly refrained from pressuring—put simply, it’s a domain in extreme poverty. Putting aside the dangers of the domain, it’s natural for any loyal retainer to be furious when saddled with such a miserable land.

That said, whether the domain is so dangerous that even the king should be worried for Reynald’s safety—that part was unclear. From what Serna had heard, although the population was small, the domain itself was functioning more or less. It wasn’t inhabited by dragons, nor was there a hydra. The domain had creatures like ratmen, wyverns, swines, and werewolves—but would someone like Sir Reynald, who had slain a dragon, really fear such monsters?

At worst, there might be a few dozen ratmen living in packs. If there were a hundred swines or so, that might be more of a problem. Serna tilted his head, recalling what he knew from other villages he had seen. Bestrot, who also lacked firsthand knowledge of the domain, continued speaking with an unconcerned expression.

“They seem to be surviving by things like dismantling monster corpses and farming on a small scale. I highly doubt the commander’s starving out there.”

“Hmm.”

“Since it’s so isolated, there might be criminals from elsewhere who’ve wandered in among the locals—but we haven’t been able to verify that. Even if there are criminals, they’re probably just petty ones who fled from other domains for not paying taxes. I doubt any of them could pose a threat to our commander.”

Still, the more Serna listened to Bestrot, the more he could imagine just how angry Reynald must have been. What kind of persuasion would it take to bring him back to the capital? Given how he’s refused to respond at all, it didn’t seem like any ordinary offer would be effective.

While Serna frowned in thought, Bestrot gave a bitter smile and offered reassurance.

“This may be stating the obvious… but don’t worry too much, Prince Serna. Do you know who our commander is? I’m sure he’s doing perfectly fine out there.”

“Well, I suppose.”

“For all we know, he might be entertaining himself by organizing subjugation squads. He’s a man of strong responsibility, and with monsters running rampant in that domain, he may well have decided to restore it to some livable state. For all we know, he’s already cleared them out.”

Serna gave a wry smile and nodded silently. It was entirely possible for Reynald to pull off such an absurd feat. He might already have rallied the local guards and eradicated the monsters. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t returned or sent word.

Serna, lacking knowledge of the domain’s current state, vaguely imagined such a scenario. If Reynald—who had only just barely repelled some unnameable, tentacled horrors—were to hear that, he’d probably let out a stunned, hollow laugh. But of course, there was no way Serna could know the truth.

“Then I’ll select the knights who will escort you two. No matter how skilled you are in combat, the fact remains that this is a monster-infested domain—if anything were to happen to the princes, it would be a disaster.”

Having finished his conversation with Bestrot, Serna left the commander’s office. Now that the escort knights were secured, all that remained was some simple travel preparation before departure. However, as he recalled the conversation he just had with Bestrot, a rather unsettling possibility crossed his mind.

“…What if Sir Reynald actually likes that domain?”

If that were true, it would be wonderful news for Reynald—but for Serna, who had to pull him out of that domain and bring him back to the capital, it was a rather terrifying thought. Shaking his head vigorously as if to dispel the fear, Serna hurried his steps.

Footnotes:

• Sir / Commander: Titles such as “단장님” (danjang-nim) are translated as “Commander” and “경” (gyeong) as “Sir” to reflect the formal military or chivalric tone.
• Second Brother / Little Brother: In Korean, ordinal terms like “작은형님” (literally “little elder brother”) refer to the second oldest brother. “형” means older brother (used by a male speaker), and these are localized to fit English familial reference norms.
• Sworn Comrade / 맹우: “맹우” refers to a friend bound by oath, implying a deep and solemn bond like sworn brothers-in-arms.
• Swine, Ratmen, Wyverns, Werewolves: These are fantasy creatures known from genre context; “Swine” here is used to denote humanoid boar-like monsters, a common creature type in some Eastern fantasy works.