How to Live as a Wandering Knight - Chapter 263: 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 (3)

In retrospect, it was only natural to run away.

The lord who came from the emperor’s side (of course, this was a mistake) had just beheaded the mercenary captain with a single stroke, so there was no reason to stay.

Of course, Fern could have survived, but he wasn’t stupid enough to be so foolish in a matter of life and death.

“This b*stard dares!”

“No. Don’t hurt him. Bring him back. He’s a friend of mine.”

The angry soldiers immediately calmed down at Johan’s words.

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s right. I’m counting on you.”

The soldiers quickly rode their horses and followed the trail. It was difficult to hide the tracks if you weren’t properly trained hunter or guide when running away.

On the other hand, the pursuers were experts in pursuit.

“Come back! We’ll forgive you if you come back now!”

“We’re not going to hurt you! Monk!”

“Aaargh!”

The soldiers’ words were not very convincing. The centaurs cried out in a voice full of discontent.

“Why doesn’t that guy believe our words? What’s wrong with monks!”

The soldier riding next to him thought it was probably because of the centaurs’ reputation, but he didn’t say anything out loud. He had a friendship with the centaurs.

“This b*stard!”

“Don’t move. We can’t break your legs. . . or your arms. Just come along quietly. We don’t want to hurt you either.”

It was more difficult than they thought to bring him without hurting him. The centaurs held Fern in awkward positions as they brought him. Fern was shaking as he was dragged away.

“It’s been a long time.”

“. . .???!”

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When the captured monk sat down next to him, the castellan was quite surprised. He thought he would be beheaded like the mercenary captain.

Although he was a bit dissatisfied that a monk would be seated next to him, a nobleman, the castellan kept his mouth shut and waited. It was better to sit together than to be beheaded.

“Fern-nim. I think you will be shocked. It turns out that the count has been traveling and acting in the Empire and other lands during this time.”

The priest kindly explained to Fern. Of course, that didn’t get through to Fern’s ears.

“. . .Will you execute me?”

Fern said in a trembling voice. The castellan was surprised at the sight.

If the monk followed the mercenary captain and had his head cut off, the castellan’s chances of dying would increase as well.

“Why would I kill you?”

“Well, that is. . . I took the food and dirty the clothes. . .”

Johan, who was listening, burst out laughing. Valberga priest also seemed to find it hard to hold back his laughter, and a smile spread across his face. Of course, Fern was still in a daze.

“What’s wrong with that? And I’m sure you’ve been beaten more than that.”

“. . . . . .”

Fern frowned involuntarily as he remembered being beaten by Johan. He had been beaten regularly.

“Anyway, I’m glad to see you alive. I thought you might be dead. Don’t worry about it. I’ve spared people who deserve to die more than you, so why would I kill you?”

“T-Thank you.”

Fern bowed his head to his half-brother, whom he had not seen in a long time. For a moment, tears welled up in his eyes. He was ashamed that he didn’t know why he was doing this.

“Now that the person in charge of the town is gone, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Fern take over.”

Johan said to the castellan. The castellan, who was tense and rigid, nodded quickly.

“I will do so.”

“Actually, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have him take over the position of castellan.”

“. . .Yes?? W-What, that, Your Excellency. Please think it over again. . . Of course, I am lacking in many ways, but with the blessing, I am legitimate. . .”

“I was joking.”

“T-Thank you.”

With every word Johan spoke, the castellan’s heart pounded like it was going to burst. He felt like he was going to collapse and die if this meeting didn’t end soon.

‘𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦.’

Johan’s hometown, but objectively, this surrounding fiefdom was not large enough to be ruled directly by him. However, Fern’s abilities were too lacking to be made a castellan.

Johan knew that even if he gave the castellan a vague instruction, he would take care of Fern well. After all, the castellan would not want to lose his own head.

“Take good care of the town. If you hear any news of your other brothers, feel free to come to me. I will not treat you poorly.”

“Thank you!”

Fern burst into tears. He was so grateful for the thoughtfulness of his half-brother, who had grown up to be so much bigger than him.

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Johan gave his men a break and sent someone to buy a lot of alcohol. The brewers and monks in the castle, who were being exploited at a low price, were very happy to see the silver pouch being handed out and took out the barrels of alcohol.

In addition to slaughtering dozens of well-grown pigs, Johan’s men, who were fast, went into the forest and caught deer and wild boars.

It was a virtue to give to the lower people when holding such a feast. True to Johan’s character, who cannot be left out when talking about virtue, he invited the villagers and shared them with alcohol and food.

The people who had not received such things from the lord for a while took them with gratitude.

Originally, this was something that the lord should have done. If you squeeze it harshly every time, there will be resentment. It is not for nothing that priests preach the virtue of giving to the nobles.

For nobles, it was also an opportunity to raise their own honor and indulge in compassion, and at the same time, it was an opportunity to govern their subordinates.

“Your Excellency Count, who has just arrived, is a really kind person! I can’t believe you’re being so generous in a place that’s not even your fiefdom!”

“That’s right. I heard that the atmosphere is very grim in the place where my relative lives.”

Serfs were not stupid. They were aware of what was going on, to some extent, through rumors. Even the village chief could roughly guess what was happening at the top.

Of course, the fighting above was not very important to them. To them, the count was their lord who would protect them from being plundered. And it was even better if the lord was merciful.

“I don’t think the count will stay here for long, do you? He’s better than ten of the previous lords.”

“He’ll be leaving soon, I think. He must have a lot to do. Why would he stay here for long?”

“No. He’s going to stay for a few more days, I heard. I heard it while carrying the barrels of wine just now.”

“Is that true? That’s great!”

The servants were delighted to hear that the count would be staying for a little longer. There was no one better to serve than a noble who was generous and kind.

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“It seems to be around here. . .”

━𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥

“You don’t even remember what you ate?”

Johan’s rebuke made Karamaf look down dejectedly.

They had come to the hometown to see it once since they had some free time, but there was another reason at the same time.

They wanted to find the armor of Sir Karamaf, which had been buried in the nearby forest.

In the past, he had refrained from taking out the armor and carrying it around because he would have to face all the Empire’s pursuit teams if they did, but now that he was wielding Sir Karamaf’s sword, no one dared to speak in Johan’s presence.

While the subordinates were eating and drinking with the townspeople, Johan quietly left the forest with only Iselia.

━𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥

“Ah. I think it was around here.”

Johan found the mark he had made. The ground was hard, but a hole was quickly made when Johan used his strength.

Iselia was sweating as she was digging with a shovel, and she suddenly wondered and asked.

“By the way, dear. I have a question. Is it okay to bury the armor like this, even though it should be well-kept?”

“Anything.”

“If it’s an armor, it should be kept well, but is it okay to bury it in the ground like this?”

“. . .”

Johan was momentarily taken aback.

Is that right?

Thinking about it, other armors originally required quite a bit of tedious procedures to store. Why would knights carry pages or servants with them when they traveled? Someone had to do the work of oiling the armor and putting it in a sand container to remove rust.

“This armor is a bit special.”

“Is that so?”

Iselia swung the shovel again with a face that said, ’𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘰.’

But Johan began to feel uneasy.

‘𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥.’

Contrary to Iselia’s worries, the appearance of the ancient Empire armor that came out from under the ground was very intact. Of course, it was only that the rust did not rust, but the shape of the armor was in a state of complete destruction.

“Did the knight who wore this armor fight a giant? No. . . I don’t think even a giant could hurt it like this. It looks like it was bitten by a dragon.”

In response to Iselia’s words, Johan said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“I cut it and ruined it.”

“. . .Did you hit it on the armor itself instead of through the gaps in the armor?”

Iselia looked shocked that Johan had done such a foolish thing. Johan felt the urge to make excuses even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Still, I thought a knight of your caliber could do that.”

“. . .There’s no need to give me empty comfort.”

Johan noticed Iselia’s expression and gave her an unusual comfort. They had become quite sensitive to each other’s emotions after living together.

“This is an ancient Empire armor, Iselia. It may look a bit strange, but. . . I’m sure a talented blacksmith will be able to repair it.”

“My dear. Are you planning to go hunting dragons wearing that?”

Iselia asked with a worried look.

Iselia was born into a knightly family and trained as a knight. She knew what knightly honor was, and she respected it.

However, even so, she couldn’t just let Johan go up against a dragon. She wanted to stop him, even if it meant being disgraced as a knight.

“. . .What terrible things are you saying?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“No, it wasn’t. Don’t say strange things. Iselia. For a moment, I thought you were Angoldolph.”

Iselia took Johan’s hand with a relieved expression. She was relieved to hear that he wasn’t going to go after the dragon.

‘𝘐𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯.’

He thought that it wasn’t the elf king who was strange, but that most of the western lords were probably misunderstanding Johan.

‘𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘴, 𝘴𝘰. . .’

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After retrieving his armor, Johan did not leave immediately. He set out to personally assess the situation in the surrounding area.

The situation in the south was not good, not only in the town where the mercenary captain, who did not know the first thing about governing, was sitting as the lord.

When war breaks out and plundering occurs, the resulting chaos inevitably spreads.

Johan captured a few bands of bandits, personally handled trials that had been postponed because they were difficult to judge, restored unclear fiefdom records, and sorted out taxes.

The wizards, who thought they had come down to rest, grumbled, but Johan remained undeterred.

“You’ve all worked hard. It seems that things have been sorted out to some extent thanks to your efforts.”

“You are truly amazing, Count. To solve problems that have been accumulating for so long in one go!”

The castellan bowed his head at a more acute angle than when he first met Johan. His eyes were filled with fear, but more so with respect.

He had been a scribe in the city, but he had never seen anyone who could handle things like Johan. His administrative ability was truly formidable.

Even knights who hunt monsters on horseback might look down on such work, which involves ink, quills, and paper, but the scribes knew very well how amazing Johan’s ability was. It was a situation that could not help but elicit admiration.

“Your Excellency Count!”

Johan was puzzled by the appearance of a soldier who had rushed in from outside while he was soothing Caenerna, who had collapsed and said she could no longer do it. He was clearly in a state of shock.

“What is it?”

“The emperor. . . the emperor is dead!”

“Hmm. He was old, so it was time for him to die.”

The soldier was slightly taken aback by Johan’s very calm reaction.

Was it really the case that knights like counts did not even surprise at such news?

“Is that all?”

“And. . . a rebellion has broken out.”

“!”