The Biography of Albrecht - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Translator: Nezu

Editor: Daed

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“Sir Albrecht. This is Sigmund von Heldenburg, the Great Lord of Heifen.”

Albrecht could tell at a glance that the Great Lord Sigmund was a person not to be underestimated. Though he was short in stature, he exuded an incredible aura.

Like Albrecht, he had short hair, but it was red. His beard was well-groomed and his eyes looked somewhat sharp and strong.

He was fully armed. On his surcoat was a yellow lion against a red background, looking towards the left, its mouth open in a roar. The edges of his surcoat were beautifully embroidered with gold thread. Albrecht had never seen a surcoat decorated like so.

“Kaltern’s heir apparent and a knight, Albrecht von Hoenkaltern.”

Albrecht introduced himself instead of letting Adelmar do it since the other person’s position was higher than him. The expressionless Sigmund smiled at his introduction and spoke.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. On behalf of the army, I would like to express our gratitude to you for coming all the way here to participate in the war.”

Sigmund seemed to be the commander-in-chief of the army. After the two men finished exchanging their greetings, Adelmar spoke.

“I’ll bring Sir Albrecht to the command post first.”

However, Sigmund took the lead. Albrecht, Otto, Adelmar and the other lords who followed behind them all looked like his vassals.

Soldiers and other people inside the base gathered like clouds and watched Albrecht with awe.

That man will help us. It’s worth fighting now. Their eyes seemed to carry those thoughts.

When Sigmund got off his horse and entered the large command post located in the center of the garrison, Albrecht also got off his horse and handed the reins to Randolph.

Otto asked his adjutant to guide Randolph and the soldiers of Wittenheim around. Randolph looked at Albrecht, who nodded at him in response.

Albrecht, Otto, Adelmar and the other lords also entered the command post that was now packed with people.

Sigmund sat at the top while Albrecht stood a little farther from him as if he was having an audience with a king. The rest of the lords were scattered around, standing on his sides.

Albrecht found the situation a bit absurd. Why were there so many of them?

What the heck, do they normally hold a meeting with this many people?

Adelmar looked at Albrecht and smiled.

“Today’s a special day. Everyone came so that they could greet you, Sir Albrecht.”

Albrecht was shocked. Was he supposed to greet all these people one by one? It was torture to do that.

Nonetheless, under Adelmar’s guidance, it became a reality and he ended up greeting the lords one by one.

‘I’ve heard of your reputation’, ‘I’ve heard of you’, ‘It’s an honor to meet you’—he heard all kinds of greetings and praises, and ended up answering them all.

Albrecht may be good at fighting, but this kind of interaction with other people made him feel weak. Now he had to think if being famous was a good thing or not.

When the terrible greetings finally ended, an hour or two had already passed. Albrecht was now mentally exhausted and dizzy.

The Great Lord Sigmund watched Albrecht greet all the lords from beginning to end. Once they were done, he spoke.

“Today is considered a good day since Sir Albrecht had decided to join us. Let’s throw a party for him. Bring out the special drinks to enjoy.”

They usually refrained from drinking because they were still in the middle of a war, but they couldn’t help but cheer and be happy when they heard the commander-in-chief’s words.

“I do like parties but I want to see the king first. I have something to ask him.” Despite the excitement and glee of the people around him, Albrecht didn’t forget his purpose for coming here.

“If you’re going to ask for a favor then you can tell me instead.”

Albrecht looked him straight in the eye and said, “I said, I have something to ask the King.”

The smile on Sigmund’s face instantly disappeared. He closed his mouth and merely stared at Albrecht, yet his figure was still able to ooze a distinctive charisma. Their surroundings instantly became quiet.

The two men stared at each other without a word, making the other lords panic. A murmur ran around the crowded command post. Adelmar hurriedly stepped forward to speak to Sigmund.

“Let’s have him pay his respects to the king first since he’s going to fight for him.”

Albrecht found the deferential Adelmar strange. It wasn’t he was talking to the monarch he served yet he acted like someone who was.

Sigmund gave no answer to him and only nodded.

Adelmar then turned his head towards Albrecht.

“Sir Albrecht. Let me take you to the king. Please follow me.”

Albrecht and Adelmar walked out of the command post, where Randolph was waiting. Randolph followed Albrecht as he headed towards the tent where the king was.

“Why did you act like that? Don’t you already have a king you serve?”

Adelmar answered with a rueful smile, “Indeed I do. But if it wasn’t for Sigmund, we would have already surrendered long ago. He risked everything he had when he decided to join the war with us.”

Albrecht seemed to finally understand him once he saw the king.

As he followed Adelmar furthur inside the garrison, he saw a tent located in a relatively quiet place. It was larger than the normal tent merchants and soldiers used but it was a bit small to be considered as the tent of the king.

“Please wait outside for a moment. I’ll notify the king of your arrival first.”

Albrecht and Randolph waited in silence outside the king’s tent. They heard a voice inside—a shrill female voice—probably the voice of the king’s mother.

“Didn’t the king say that he wasn’t in the mood to see anyone?”

“But Auntie, the man waiting outside is Sir Albrecht, the famous Knight King. You should let him meet the king. He’s more important than anyone else in our army.”

“Back off.”

This time, a childish voice was heard.

“Knight King? I think I’ve heard of the story about Knight King too. Mother, I want to see the Knight King.”

Once the little king spoke, the shrill, angry voice instantly became so soft that it gave people goosebumps.

“Is that so? Then if our king wants to see him, then he should,” the king’s mother said to Adelmar.

“Let him in.”

Soon, Adelmar emerged from the tent. He looked terribly embarrassed. He dared not look Albrecht in the eye and could only look at the ground.

“Come on in, Sir Albrecht.”

As Albrecht entered the tent, he saw a bed and the king in his pajamas cuddled in his mother’s arms. He had heard before that the little king had just turned 10 years old. 10 years old on modern Earth was considered a young age. However, in this world, it was an age where one was supposed to be mature already.

Albrecht stood for a moment, looking at the pair of mother and child. The king’s mother was beautiful while the king, who had droopy eyes, a big nose, and thin lips looked quite average if it weren’t for his cute childish appearance.

“Ooh! Look at the scars on his face. It must have hurt a lot,” The king said in a somewhat childish manner.

Albrecht calmly stepped forward a little and got down on his right knee.

“Kaltern’s heir apparent and a knight, Albrecht von Hoenkaltern. It’s an honor to meet you, King Conrad.”

The little king didn’t care about his greetings and didn’t return them. The child only asked what he wanted to ask.

“Well, hmm, did you really kill a man by cutting him in half vertically?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Who was that person you killed?”

“I remember his name was Ernst, a knight from Halkenburg.”

“Oooh! So what happened after you split him in half? Did something come pouring out of his body?”

The king’s mother interjected saying that the story wouldn’t be good for a child to hear.

“Thank you for joining our army in the war, Sir Albrecht. Please fight bravely for our King.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Adelmar looked up and said, “Kuhum, hum. Sir Albrecht has a favor to ask of the king.”

The king answered in a flippant tone, “Huh? Favor? What favor?”

Albrecht answered calmly again without looking at the king, his eyes on the edge of the bed.

“There’s this village called Wittenheim. It hasn’t been recognized as an official village yet, but for the compensation of my contribution, I hope that you officially recognize it as a village if we win.”

Adelmar seemed bewildered at Albrecht’s request. He didn’t ask for a piece of land; instead, he only requested for a village to be officially recognized. However, Adelmar was surprised once again when he heard his Aunt’s answer.

“We’ll decide after we see your results.”

Adelmar felt so embarrassed that he couldn’t stop himself from speaking informally.

“Auntie, why can’t you just agree!”

The king’s mother admonished, glaring at Adelmar, “How dare you speak like that to me!”

The foolish little king couldn’t stand the noise and burst into tears. Adelmar felt dizzy. The meeting between the king and the hero was so terrible. How did it end up like this?

“Then I’ll be taking my leave for now,” Albrecht said and stood up without the king’s permission to leave the tent. Adelmar almost stumbled to follow Albrecht.

“Sir Albrecht!”

Adelmar almost choked up as he followed Albrecht, who was walking towards Randolph.

“L-later, why don’t you request an audience with the king later when he’s ready?”

Albrecht smiled at Adelmar, “I said that I would fight for the king, so I will. You don’t have to worry.”

Albrecht gave a simple salute to Adelmar and walked past him with Randolph. Adelmar’s legs gave way and he slowly crumpled backwards into a seated position.

Albrecht thought to himself as he walked back to his tent, ‘Adelmar, you had it rough.’

He was stuck in an awkward position. Perhaps he was the only man devoted to his king in this garrison but even such a man like him would want to rely on Sigmund.

Albrecht also felt disappointed after seeing the king. No matter how stupid he was, he was the king and held power; yet his actions were so disappointing.

Albrecht could somehow see through Sigmund’s intentions, too. There was no need for him to seize a kingdom with such a foolish king. Being the hero who would overcome the kingdom’s crisis instead of the king was almost the same as taking over the kingdom. The more time he spent inside the garrison, the more loyal the vassals of the kingdom will be to him.

However, that didn’t mean that Sigmund was only raking in benefits. It wouldn’t have been an easy decision to fight against King Leopold but he mobilized an army for the little king anyway.

He must have had the ability to do it. He was able to mobilize an army for the king, gathering all his vassals and asking them to join the army with a mere lord’s summon. Such a feat would be impossible to achieve if he didn’t have the ability to do so.

He remembered that Otto and Adelmar were close relatives of the little king. Adelmar seemed to have a good impression of Sigmund but he couldn’t tell if Otto felt the same.

Albrecht mulled over these complicated thoughts as he went back to his tent. He thought his only goal was to fight hard and win. He didn’t think that he would encounter a problem that was much more complicated.