An Obvious Trick

‘My goodness, the commander actually apologized to someone else.’

‘Did you see that? I saw it!’

‘Could he be out of his mind?!’

‘It certainly seems so!’

‘Our knight order isn’t going to be disbanded, right?’

‘Well, it’s not like he ever operated with a fully sane mind anyway.

‘True. At least we won’t lose our jobs!

It was practically unbelievable that the commander, who always maintained a blunt and freezing cold expression to the point where his inner thoughts were unreadable, was the very same person standing before them.

Even though he said he understood, his face looked exactly like a puppy abandoned by its master. A fundamental question arose as to whether the man they were looking at was truly the commander they had known all this time, Calix Loffstern.

Could he be a doppelgänger?!

They were pushed to the point of harboring such thoughts. They really couldn’t help it, given how completely different this was from the commander they had witnessed up until now.

‘Dear me…….’

Lien was also taken aback as he watched the flustered knights and Calix wearing a sorrowful expression.

Though the nature of his shock was slightly different from theirs.

‘It’s not my fault.’

People can make mistakes. I hope you find the person you are searching for quickly.

Since he had nothing left to say, Lien turned his back on Calix.

The eyes of the boy who used to gaze at him beneath the pouring rain surfaced in his mind, but that was merely a passing memory.

‘This is the right way.’

He could absolutely never live his life being swept around here and there like before. It was enough to have the memory of that time, when those he once loved shattered his entire life with a cold betrayal.

[Even if ordered, I have no intention of forcefully continuing an unwanted married life.]

[Then the contract ends right there.]

As the past conversation he had accidentally overheard rushed back, Lien bit his bottom lip. He would no longer do something like secretly fleeing the place like an idiot. Since he already knew the man’s true intentions, there was no longer any need to be emotionally shaken.

As Lien began his work with a nonchalant air, Alfon finally seemed to set his mind at ease. Thinking that the problem had been settled well enough, he began gathering ingredients. He seemed fully intent on displaying the absolute best of his culinary skills to these special guests who were paying a generous lodging fee for their stay.

Though it wasn’t the massive crowd he had initially anticipated, each person ate three to four servings of food, and the menu was left entirely up to him, so it was natural for Alfon, who loved cooking, to be thrilled.

“Ah, dear me.”

Muttering as if in a tight spot, Alfon spoke while they were cleaning the kitchen together and sharing small talk. Lien checked over his shoulder and confirmed that several seasonings were empty.

Around this time of year, they needed to replenish them anyway, but of all times, they had run out of seasonings right now when they had to cook a massive amount of food.

“I’ll go ask Ramie when the merchant is scheduled to arrive.”

“Will they make it in time?”

“She might have some items set aside separately at the general store. Though I didn’t ask specifically last time.”

“It would have saved us the hassle if we had known all at once.”

“Her side was also throwing a fit because business has been slow anyway. If we have a lot of goods to buy, she’ll actually be thrilled.”

Lien spoke as he recalled her joyful face from last time when she was carrying a full load of candles. Since the knights had left a substantial amount of money as an advance payment this time, there was no issue with the payment either.

As if his worries were lessened, Alfon began to voice good-natured thoughts.

“If only we had customers who ate like that frequently, we would have made a fortune.”

“Our father has truly become a complete businessman now.”

“It’s been several years already. I am a veteran now too.”

Alfon spoke pleasantly. He was a simple, innocent man whose mood could be lifted instantly by a single word. These days, he didn’t even seem to recall the hardships he faced wandering from job to job when he first descended from the mountain to settle in the village.

“Still, if it weren’t for you, we would have gone bankrupt and been thrown out on the streets long ago.”

Swindlers looking to stab the backs of good-natured people trying desperately to settle down in a village with their life savings were bound to overflow anywhere.

It was precisely around the time Lien, who had been worried someone might recognize him after coming to the village, began to directly grab those swindlers by the collar.

It was all thanks to realizing that his parents could become pushovers not just to him, but to complete strangers as well. I grew up rather desirably. Smiling with a proud grin, Lien picked up the wallet.

“Well, speaking of which, I’ll head out and handle it.”

“Right. I’ll leave it to you.”

Due to the news that monsters had appeared at the mine, the small village of Rumisen had become uncharacteristically gloomy. In the first place, the laborers from the mine in the western mountains had all relocated, making business quite slow, and recently, the roads had even been blocked midway due to the frequent rain.

Though their arrival was a bit late, the knights would soon finish their investigation, and once that was done, there would be a large-scale monster subjugation. After that, Rumisen would regain its previous vitality just like before.

By the way, I wonder how many people will come with the subjugation force?

Before he knew it, Lien was calculating how long they would stay here, and he ended up laughing at how ridiculous he was being. Not just Alfon, but he himself had become a complete businessman. Pulling down his rolled-up sleeves to neaten himself, Lien pulled the cart and walked outside.

However, it seemed the uninvited guest who had suddenly stepped into his new life with muddy feet had no intention of backing off easily.

“What is the matter?”

Lien, who had come out of the general store with a satisfied expression after finishing his bargaining, saw Calix waiting for him right in front of the door. He was staring at Lien’s cart with an entirely unreadable expression. The pleasant mood from buying the seasonings at a cheap price sank instantly.

“I happened to be passing by coincidentally. It looks heavy, so may I assist you?”

“It’s fine……, I said it’s fine!”

Though his mouth was asking for his intent, Calix’s body was already moving. Lien hurriedly chased after Calix, who was already striding toward the inn while pulling the cart. How can he be so shameless?

Lien was utterly bewildered.

You said I was a stranger!

“This is exactly that, right?”

“It is that.”

Returning after finishing their inquiries, the knights felt entirely certain after witnessing their commander’s behavior over the past few days.

“He is playing a clumsy trick on Lien.”

At Petrick’s words, the three men nodded their heads. Without a shadow of a doubt, their commander was playing a clumsy trick on Lien.

They had first perceived that fact a few days ago.

The commander hadn’t stepped out of his room for a while, but then one day, he unexpectedly appeared in front of the inn while pulling a cart. Petrick was startled and tried to take the cart from him, but instead, he had to endure an immense amount of murderous intent radiating from his leader.

Only after realizing later that Lien was standing slightly hidden behind him did he fully grasp the situation. Wearing an exhausted expression, Lien spotted Petrick and spoke to him.

“Petrick, you’ve returned. I’ll prepare dinner shortly.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“Thank you for bringing it here. I’ll organize this myself now.”

Finishing his conversation with Petrick, Lien practically snatched the cart out of the man’s hand and headed inside. Petrick couldn’t utter a single word, purely because the moment Lien called his name, the commander was glaring at him with fierce eyes. But that lasted only a moment; Calix stared blankly at his own empty hand that had lost the cart, before letting out a sigh and heading inside.

Watching that spectacle, Petrick rubbed his eyes to check if his vision was failing him, before turning back to his colleagues. Every single one of them reacted as though they had witnessed an absolute illusion.

Having observed him for several days since then, the knights concluded that their commander had no intention of giving up on Lien from the very start. He seemed to have given up after stating that Lien merely resembled the person he knew, but that was far from the end of it.

Even after that, the commander would stare intently at Lien from positions where Lien couldn’t see him, and if Lien so much as stepped outside the inn, he would secretly shadow him from behind. They had witnessed this sight multiple times. Whether it was a misfortune or a blessing, Lien was merely an ordinary person, so he didn’t seem to notice the stalking of the commander who had completely erased his presence.

As a knight commander, Calix was an excellent leader, but right now, he couldn’t be called wise even as a flat-out lie.

Had he truly gone mad after searching for his missing wife over the past five years?

“Or perhaps he has fallen into a new love……”

They couldn’t even bring themselves to deny Derek’s words as he muttered with a serious expression. Perhaps Calix had already accepted the fact that his wife was dead. Yet, because lingering attachments remained, he kept searching for her… and upon seeing someone immensely similar, he might have started playing a trick to approach him?

“That’s a bit……”

“Like a total piece of trash.”

Bent completed the remaining words that Bayrus couldn’t bring himself to connect. However, they couldn’t help but think that if the commander could finally forget that tragic princess, this might not be such a bad thing for him after all. Though it felt a bit apologetic toward Lien.

It was said that the third princess of Estin, who had been Calix’s wife, had possessed a weak constitution ever since she was born. Her personality was also introverted, so not many people had ever seen her, leaving next to nothing known about her.

It was merely common knowledge that the commander’s maternal aunt had worked as the princess’s nanny, and through that connection, they ended up married when he was a mere fifteen and the princess was seventeen. And that it also became their tragic final moment together.

The princess was ambushed and went missing on her way to the Grand Duchy of Marcen after the wedding. At the time, absolutely no one survived the scene, and a blood-stained piece of the princess’s clothing was even discovered nearby, so no one believed she could possibly be alive. The Grand Duchy took issue with this, and because it wasn’t mediated properly, it escalated into a feud between nations, ultimately leading all the way to war.

Now that the war was over and even the very name of the Kingdom of Estin had vanished, the only person genuinely searching for her was their commander. The expressions of the knights, who had witnessed this by his side for five years, turned profoundly complex. Even so, moving on like this is a bit… As expected, he really is trash.