Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 57: The Disobedient Apprentice Knight

It was a time in the middle of the afternoon when the sun was shining in the west of the Imperial capital. The always bustling center of the Imperial city was slowly becoming quiet as the evening approached.There were only two customers in the quiet restaurant.

The restaurant owner, Lawrence, watched the young men chatting with a pleased look in his eyes.

Although they were polar opposites, the way they put their heads together and chatted away made them look like brothers with a large age gap.

Moreover, both of them were so handsome that they naturally caught everyone’s attention, and anyone who saw them would inevitably smile warmly.

But the inside story wasn’t very beautiful. Despite his peaceful appearance, Cantares was seething inside.

“Do you sometimes seem to forget who I am?”

“Huh? How could that be?”

Arendt responded, holding the cookie in his left hand and flipping through the documents with his right.

It was quite a sight to see him not even raising his head when the Crown Prince spoke to him.

“If I had forgotten that, I wouldn’t have bothered to come here. Can you imagine how I feel, Khan, spending my hard-earned vacation with my superior?”

“…Even if you say you’re on vacation, you’ll just be stuck in the training ground swinging your sword.”

Besides, the document that Jereon personally wrote and Cantares delivered was what Arendt had requested. Since it was still a confidential matter, Cantares had deliberately taken the time to avoid people’s eyes and come all the way here.

‘If I get angry, I lose.’

So, bear with it, bear with it.

There was nothing to be gained by getting annoyed at a guy who still had a few band-aids stuck to his face, and he wasn’t confident he could win an argument against Arendt in the first place.

“I’ve almost finished taking care of the auction house. I had a hard time because of you running wild.”

“What happened?”

“Once the enemy invaded, you and the captains worked together to deal with them.”

This is what was officially announced.

“That’s good enough. How did people react?”

“What do you think?”

“When I came out today, some people were glaring at me as if they wanted to kill me. If I wasn’t in the Imperial palace, they would have spit on me, but some other people were just looking at me with expressions like they were going to die from excitement.”

A sigh escaped Cantares’s lips as Arendt responded, still not taking his eyes off the documents.

“I don’t think it needs to explained any further.”

“It’s a cliche development.”

“Don’t say that so easily. It looks like it could explode if it was hit.”

“If left alone, it won’t explode?”

“…”

This son of a bitch has a knack for saying the right thing in a really annoying way.

Cantares, who was being torn between the two forces and was on the verge of death, couldn’t help but feel a tingle in his stomach at that light tone.

Although it was somewhat sealed, the truth of this incident was spread to some extent by word of mouth. Some of the sharp-witted nobles would have already vaguely noticed the presence of the enemy due to the past few incidents.

It was natural for them to be on edge in a situation that might develop into a civil war.

In such a situation, it was only natural that some people would become displeased that a mere apprentice knight made a mess out of things.

A groan escaped Cantares’ mouth.

“We have to approach the situation carefully, but I’ve heard quite a few people say that you’re provoking the enemy for no reason and causing the rebels to begin to be wary.”

“Your Highness Khan is not a nobody. He is someone who, as soon as he entered politics, controlled the nobles and stabilized the Empire.”

“Ha, you’re saying this now? That’s ridiculous.”

Arendt’s teasing remark was met with an irritated retort.

“I tried to gather them together by coaxing, cajoling, and even threatening them, but how many of them were truly obedient?”

“Aha, so those guys who used to laugh in front and spit behind the scenes are starting to crawl back again?”

“That’s correct.”

“And this person is the biggest problem right now?”hey use?”

“That’s… I guess so. Even with the same swordsmanship, it can be different depending on which knight uses it.”

“Unexpected things can happen. One day, an actor who is assigned an important role suddenly has a problem and can’t come on stage, or he messes up his lines on stage, or someone who is supposed to appear doesn’t appear… things like that.”

Arendt stopped rambling nonchalantly and looked straight at Cantares.

“Even in such a situation, a play must bring about a predetermined conclusion.”

“…There is no set end in reality?”

“To be exact, you have to create the ending you want. Otherwise, you’ll be the one who suffers.”

If it were his original place of residence, he would have been cursed at and kicked out of the theater, but here, his life is at stake.

“What on earth are you trying to say?”

“If we make good use of such unexpected situations, we can turn the story around completely.”

Arendt smiled faintly after saying that.

“The main character might say something that only the most rotten person in the world should say, and a traitor who was originally on the side of the bad guys might join the good guys for his own gain.”

Like himself now, for example.

Arendt, with his arms crossed, raised the corners of his lips.

“The best defense is offense. He who strikes first wins. If the strengths are equal, the one who moves faster will land at least one more blow.”

The first thing that the enemies who took up war against the Empire did was to make their presence known.

Those who left a strong impression on people’s minds infiltrated the political world and increased their influence.

‘There’s no reason why we can’t do it.’

What we had to do now was to prevent those who would not be able to easily decide on a side and waver in the situation that would unfold later from going over to the other side.

“Is that something a knight would say?”

“Isn’t it because I’m this kind of guy that I can sit across from Mr. Khan right now?”

Cantares, who had been quietly listening to those words, burst into laughter.

“You cheeky brat. How dare you try to teach me a lesson.”

“I was originally an arrogant guy. I’m glad you learned from my lesson.”

Cantares groaned as he glanced at the knight.

“You’ve been rambling on, but to summarize, you’re saying that we should shake things up by making the most of what we have at hand?”

“Exactly. That way, we can break the flow and make the situation go the way we want.”

There was quite a bit available: the situation itself, loyal followers, and political rivals…

‘No.’

That’s not what Arendt was talking about.

Cantares slowly shook his head and burst into laughter again.

“There is one apprentice knight who is really disobedient.”

“And the identity of Khan, who can shake up the Empire with a single word, is also a very helpful tool.”

Arendt shrugged.

“Still, it’s probably hard for you to do it alone, so if you gently push me in front of you, I’ll do my best. Of course, it’s not free.”

“…Looking at your appearance, I guess another interesting idea came to mind.”

Cantares, who had been silent for a moment, raised the corners of his lips.

“Should I call this a fun idea? Of course, it’s not for free.”

“I knew it, you little brat. What do you want?”

“Well, what do I need now?”

Arendt, who was resting his chin on his hand leisurely, rolled his eyes and met Cantares’ gaze.

“I’ll think about it later and bill you then.”

“You seem like a bad guy.”

At this moment, it didn’t really matter who was the Crown Prince and who was the apprentice knight.

There were only two pranksters with mischievous expectations of making a fool of the hated guy.