How to Live as a Knight After the Ending - Chapter 72
Only Noblemtl
Episode 72. The Beast Called the City (2)
“You don’t have to worry?”
Frenfitz, even though it is your own fault that this happened, I don’t think there is any way to officially deal with the Marquis de Dubuie.
Ronan smiled suspiciously as usual, as if he had read Ossian’s thoughts through his eyes.
“Yes. By tomorrow morning, he will meet his end in such a miserable state that he will not even make the back page of the newspaper.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“Because that’s it.”
Ronan put the pendant he was holding into his chest pocket.
“Because this is a city called Tirna.”
*
The Marquis de Dubuie quickly boarded the airship.
Those who followed him watched the Marquis de Dubuie nervously.
The Marquis de Dubuie, who would normally have been so annoyed by such behavior that he would have even yelled at her, was now completely quiet.
That means the matter is serious.
The airship that had been anchored rose and flew over Tirna.
The Marquis de Dubuie looked out the window at the scenery.
Tall spires and clock towers, a polluted river running through the city, countless people, and trains and steam cars moving without rest.
Even the smoke spewing out from the factory chimneys made the city itself feel alive.
A city full of life.
A city that is constantly developing.
He was now running away from this desirable city.
I thought it would not be long before the Kingdom of Charles I took possession of that city.
This incident completely ruined everything.
‘Damn it. Why did I have to fail at something this important? More importantly, that Orlea’s attitude has changed.’
The Marquis de Dubuie recalled Orleas’ cold gaze upon him.
Although the sprouts were visible originally, they were thoroughly trampled down to prevent them from growing.
But, using this incident as an excuse, she ended up achieving remarkable growth.
The flower of talent that blooms in a life-threatening crisis is bigger and more beautiful than anything else.
Orlea was no longer the person he usually looked down on and ignored.
‘I can’t leave it like this. I have to kill that woman. First, I have to return to my home country, and then somehow persuade my superiors to at least prevent me from falling from power.’
I’ll lose a lot if the assassination fails, but it’s okay for now.
As long as you survive, you can find a way out.
The Marquis de Dubuie, who had been imagining the most positive future possible in his head, suddenly realized something was wrong.
‘what?’
The flowing scenery outside has stopped.
“What is it? What’s going on!”
“That, that airship suddenly stopped!”
“What the hell is that, the airship suddenly stops!”
As someone who needed to return home as soon as possible, I was very upset when I heard that the airship had stopped.
The Marquis de Dubuie rose from his seat and headed toward the captain’s cabin with a stomping step.
“Hey! What are you doing! You can’t go!”
I knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
“Ha. These kids, are these the ones who say things like I’ve been quiet lately?”
The Marquis de Dubuie gestured to his subordinate.
As if they had been waiting, the men came out and forcibly opened the door to the captain’s cabin.
The Marquis de Dubuie went into the captain’s cabin to see what kind of man he was.
But the moment he saw the empty interior, Marquis Dubuie could not help but feel bewildered.
“What? Where did they all go?”
There’s no one to pilot the airship? Then how on earth did it get here?
Something is strange.
The Marquis de Dubuie felt an indescribable anxiety.
It felt like a giant snake was already wrapping its arms around his body and about to sink its fangs into the back of his neck.
“Oh, really… … .”
Chiik. Chijik.
As if it had been waiting, the communication device inside the airship rang.
The Marquis de Dubuie picked up the receiver with trembling hands.
[Ah. It’s nice to meet you. Marquis de Dubuie Alonge Romelesio.]
“Who are you?”
[Me? I’m just an old lady who takes care of various things in Tirna. All I do is stamp a few seals on the documents that come up.]
The old man on the other end of the phone spoke with humility.
The Marquis de Dubuie swallowed hard.
“What do you want from me? If you try to do something to me like this, you’ll have problems with diplomacy with the Kingdom of Charles.”
[Hahaha. Diplomatic issues? That’s an interesting topic.]
The old man’s voice, which had been smiling kindly, became cold.
[Weren’t you the one who started it first?]
“… … !”
The Marquis de Dubuie shivered at the chill that seemed to drop the surrounding temperature by several degrees just from the sound of his voice on the other end of the receiver.
[Did you think I wouldn’t know? You’ve been conspiring with the military to pull off some ridiculous trick. If you’re going to do it, why don’t you at least succeed?]
“that…….”
[If the assassination was successful, I would have been willing to join in as well. The profits that war brings are enormous. It hurts to give the military a little more weight, but whatever.]
But, the voice on the other end of the phone continued.
[Of course, that’s if you succeed. You failed. You made a mess of a part of the city. Well, you did get something out of it. We found out that Princess Orleia is more talented and determined than we thought.]
“… … Even so, when she comes back to Korea, she’ll be like a doll with her strings cut off.”
[Is that really so? It seems to me that the string was cut off, allowing the wings to spread and fly.]
“Put that nonsense aside! So why did you stop this airship! What do you want from me?!”
[What could it be? Did you think you could get away with something like this in Tirna?]
“If you touch me… … !”
[Ah. You don’t have to worry about that.]
“what?”
[Because the story with the Kingdom of Karleang is already over.]
The Marquis de Dubuie bit his teeth at the shocking truth.
“Don’t be ridiculous! The kingdom has abandoned me? How much have I sacrificed for my country!”
[It seems like they also want to create a scapegoat for the failure of this project. They have a scapegoat who was given a lot of authority but failed to do his job properly, so what better opportunity than this?]
Even though he was saying something that was suffocating to someone, the old man’s voice sounded as if it were so obvious, like someone talking about the sun rising in the morning.
[So, I will take my leave now, Marquis de Dubuie. This was our last conversation, but it wasn’t very interesting.]
The moment when the Marquis de Dubuie puts down the receiver and tries to escape from the airship.
Kwaaaaang!
The airship exploded, and red flames quickly engulfed its interior.
The airship, engulfed in flames, crashed into the wilderness of the border region.
There were no survivors.
*
“her.”
The morning after the assassination of Princess Orlea.
Ossian checked the newspaper article and laughed in vain.
‘This was an incident that almost caused a real war, but they covered it up like this?’
The assassination of Princess Orlean.
The fact that she almost died as an ambassador from the Kingdom of Charles, which was a rival kingdom, was a dangerous thing that could have triggered a war.
‘What the 202nd Airborne Division did turned into the work of traditional terrorists trying to overthrow the city.’
The military’s military dictatorship was not even mentioned.
Even if the 202nd Airborne Division took the lead in the incident, can we really say that they are the only suspects?
Even higher ups, there may be those who know this and either turn a blind eye to it or instigate it from behind the scenes.
In a broad sense, it is essentially the military itself that deliberately attempted to start a war.
But there wasn’t a single word about that in the newspaper article.
As if deliberately avoiding the word military, the article talked only about the actions of terrorists.
In exchange for the information being concealed, the military probably had to give up several interests it held in the city.
The newspaper carried a large photograph of Alberto shaking hands with Orlea.
‘Mayor Alberto. I already knew that he was very capable, but I never thought he would be this skilled.’
Alberto Lorenzo, Mayor of Ward 33.
He left Orlea in the ward office under the pretext of protecting her, and conducted the interview in her stead.
– I deeply regret this incident and plan to increase the budget for the guards compared to the previous year to strengthen security in District 33.
In the first place, the guards, who were public servants of Tirna, were under Alberto’s command, so it was essentially the same as saying that he was expanding his own power.
The public reaction was explosive.
A righteous politician who prevents terrorism and does not tolerate it.
It was no wonder that people were excited when he said he would fight for the citizens.
Economists predicted that this incident would be the starting point for the budget for District 33 this year, increasing by at least 30% compared to last year.
‘As for the matter of the Marquis de Dubuie, that is all that is written in brief detail at the back.’
All that was said was that one of the airships had malfunctioned and crashed outside Tirna.
‘There’s no mention of who was inside or how many died.’
Seeing as the Kingdom of Charles remained silent about this incident, it seemed that they had placed all the blame for the failure on the Marquis de Dubuie.
‘Is this what Ronan meant by the city of Tirna?’
Tirna.
It was certainly a great and scary place.
‘But, well, it has nothing to do with me.’
Ossian folded the newspaper he had finished reading neatly and placed it on the table.
Just then the door opened with a creaking sound.
Lorraine and Anna were coming in carrying a basket full of groceries.
“Mr. Ossian, congratulations. And I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Oh! Rookie! I heard the story! I heard you solved it well this time too?”
Anna said with a smile, and Lorraine approached Ossian and spoke to him in a friendly manner.
“But don’t be too disappointed. The compensation will be the same as when you were hired, considering the work you’ve done, but this experience will be helpful later on.”
ah.
Ossian realized belatedly why Lorraine was speaking that way.
The contract that Ossian had made in advance was to escort Princess Orlea.
Since it was an escort service in name only, the fee stated in the contract was not high.
Of course, even if Princess Orlea had been saved, there was no reward to be expected.
Orlea could offer an example of its own gratitude.
She must be very busy thinking about the path she has to take in the future.
Lorraine also knew that fact, so she comforted Ossian.
“Don’t worry too much! When you work as a problem solver, you may not only not receive the salary you expected, but you may also have to pay a penalty!”
“In Mr. Lorraine’s case, wasn’t it because he caused an unplanned explosion that upset the pre-planned plan? Didn’t he blow up an ammunition depot full of gunpowder?”
It was Ronan who happened to come down from the second floor and said this.
Lorraine pouted.
“I couldn’t help it then. One of the rookies was caught by the gang and was on the verge of being torn apart by the beehive. I shot him to get some attention. Anyway, thanks to that, the request was a success!”
“Yes, it was successful. It left a lot of property damage in the surrounding area.”
“Do you know how much trouble I had to pay back the penalty back then? And the important thing is that Ossian didn’t get his fair share of compensation. So come and comfort him!”
“Oh. You don’t have to worry about that either. Mr. Ossian’s salary is coming soon.”
“huh?”
Lorraine’s eyes widened as if she had never heard such a story before.
“What does that mean?”
“It seems that Princess Orlea has made a private request to Mayor Alberto. She wants the troubleshooter who saved her life to be given a proper reward.”
“uh…….”
“Mayor Alberto also sympathized with that part and readily agreed.”
Ronan said so and thrust a piece of paper in front of Ossian.
What the heck, what the heck. Lorraine sat next to Ossian and read the words written on the paper.
“What is this? Additional compensation? Even if it’s just to make up for it, the amount is one, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million… .”
As she counted the number of units written on the back, Lorraine’s voice became quieter and quieter.
“Huh, huh?”
Lorraine’s eyes fluttered at the thought of the huge sum that even a mid-level troubleshooter, let alone a rookie, could never touch in their entire lives.
“……why?”
Although he couldn’t speak properly, his eyes were asking, ‘I couldn’t do it, so why can’t you?’