“…You, didn’t you find the wrong job?”

The next day, in Cantares’ office.

Those were the first words Cantares spoke after hearing a series of reports.

Arendt asked perversely.

“Why?”

“Well, I think you’d be better suited to being a conman than a knight.”

Cantares had a serious expression on his face, without a trace of playfulness. Laius, who was standing next to him, held his hand between his eyebrows and lowered his head, not moving for a long time.

After discovering that everything that had been troubling Laius recently was a conspiracy between the Crown Prince and the apprentice knight, he was overcome with a sense of betrayal.

“Anyway, well… I’m glad the results turned out well. So what did Count Stadler decide to do?”

“I won’t do it. Even if I wanted to do it in the first place, you wouldn’t stay still.”

“Yes.”

Arendt responded shamelessly.

That annoying little brat, Cantares glared at him.

“Yes, it’s a big harvest anyway. I never would have imagined Count Stadler would do that. He’s usually a quiet person, so I didn’t even know he had such thoughts.”

“It is scarier to have a desire that was originally suppressed and then exploded all at once.”

“You speak as if you know everything?”

“I would know better than Your Highness.”

“What a cheapskate.”

The insults came back immediately, but Arendt, of course, paid no attention.

It wasn’t exactly a lie, because he was the one who foolishly hung onto a play that didn’t make any money, ended up living in poverty, and ended up like this.

“Anyway, the Count is free to do whatever he wants. If you don’t neglect him, he probably won’t betray you.”

“You’re saying we need to feed him? Okay.”

Cantares, who had sunk deep into his chair, crossed his arms.

“By the way… you’re saying that it’s a fusion of different types of magical power? Is that possible?”

“It may sound far-fetched, but I don’t think it’s impossible. I’ve seen similar things in old documents.”

Jereon, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth.

Naturally, the three people’s eyes focused on him.

“I have seen similar content before when I was searching through old documents on Your Highness’s orders. I just passed it them then.”

Jereon tilted his head as if trying to recall his memories.

“It was one of the steps in making a ghoul.”

“Ghoul? Isn’t that something that only happens in legends?”

“I also thought it was nonsense, so I just skipped over it… but I found something like that in the content I skimmed through. It seemed like it might be one of the forbidden spells.”

Jereon gave a simple answer to Cantares’s curious question.

“Usually, they are artificial monsters made using the corpses of humans, or other animals, or monsters. They are said to be made by combining the corpses of various creatures and then breathing life into them.”

Jereon paused for a moment there and frowned slightly.

“What was called vitality in that era was similar to magic. Since it was a body made up of various corpses, the vitality that resided in that body had to be completely fused together… that was the content.”

“Aha, so that’s what it means to combine magic powers.”

Cantares nodded in understanding.

“Even hearing this, it seems absurd. How can you make something that was dead move again?”

“Isn’t that why it’s just being treated as an old tale?”

“But wasn’t that first step already successful?”

Suddenly, Laius opened his mouth. The Knight Commander continued speaking slowly with a stern face.

“We can’t jump to conclusions. They wouldn’t have tried something like that just by following a legend without any basis. Maybe we should prepare for it.”

“Prepare?”

“That’s right.”

Laius nodded seriously. Cantares, who had asked the question half-absurdly, was speechless and only opened his mouth a few times.

Laius spoke forcefully, “If it weren’t for Arendt, we might not even have known the existence of the enemy. I think that in the current situation, we should not overlook even the most absurd cases.”

As expected, the protagonist’s intuition was right.

It was a good thing for Arendt, because he no longer had to warn of the dangers of ghouls himself.

‘We can talk lightly now, though.’

If Count Stadler crossed over to the rebel’s side, they had to be prepared for several cities to go up in flames.

Arendt naturally changed the subject.

“Oh, right. What happened to Marquis Grieg? I heard that Aide Jereon was chasing him.”

“Yes, he chatted briefly with the nobles who came with them, then they each got into their carriages and left the palace.”

Jereon nodded and answered.

“I just saw Marquis Grieg send a messenger as soon as he arrived at his house.”

“Was it a pigeon?”

When Arendt asked with a slight frown, Jereon continued.

“Judging by the direction, it seemed to be flying outside the Capital. It was too dark to track it though.”

“If it’s a pigeon, then it shouldn’t have traveled too far.”

It seemed reasonable to assume that the fact that he had sent a messenger at such a late hour was an intention to report the situation urgently to someone. The recipient would probably be someone related to the ‘garden’.

Cantares also seemed to be thinking the same thing, muttering while rubbing his chin.

“Was the recipient Count Stadler? Or perhaps it was a third party who wasn’t present in the hall.”

“That’s right. If we watch for a while, wouldn’t we be able to figure it out? Marquis Grieg didn’t even seem to realize that he was being surveilled.”

When Arendt countered, Cantares gave him a look of disgust.

“That’s good. I don’t think surveillance will be difficult.”

“Why?”

“Thanks to you, the Marquis won’t be able to step foot into society for a while.”

Jereon smiled awkwardly.

“Still, yesterday was a close call. If it had really escalated into violence, it would have been a headache.”

“Wasn’t that your intention from the beginning? Were you willing to take a few hits?”

“It’s too bad. If we had done well, we could have completely buried him in social circles.”

Arendt’s shrugging face was so annoying that anyone would want to punch him.

Cantares snickered and laughed in vain.

“I wondered why Manager Neumann brought you here. It was to provoke the Marquis and have you act as his shield.”

“It worked pretty well, didn’t it? Well, it’s not like I spread false rumors.”

Arendt answered shamelessly, puffing out his chest.

While Arendt was busy prodding the Marquis, Manager Neumann faithfully carried out his role in his position.

The results were amazing.

As expectations for Manager Neumann’s business grew, Arendt’s stock price, which had been hitting rock bottom, also soared.

It was only natural. Neumann, who was at the center of the story, talked about the favors he received from Arendt until his mouth was dry.

Hiring an assassin for personal grudge was controversial enough. No one complained because of Marquis Grieg’s wealth and power, but that alone had already damaged the Marquis’ trustworthiness.

What if he had even beaten the knight in front of everyone? And what if the knight who had been beaten was Arendt von Eckhart, who had saved the East Safe?

Marquis Grieg must have been unable to avoid people’s pointing fingers for a while. His business must have taken a considerable hit as well.

Cantares twisted the corners of his lips.

“Congratulations. You have successfully transitioned from traitor to hero, became the one who saved the East Safe, and was the first investor in Neumann’s upper echelon.”

“It’s a disguise. It’s just a temporary mask. Don’t worry, I’ll soon be back to being the troublemaker, traitor, suspect, and arrogant brat of the Third Imperial Knights.”

Arendt waved his hand and looked straight at the Crown Prince.

“Anyway, I think I’ve done what you asked me to do. Wasn’t this great? I even caught an unexpected big fish.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know it would turn out like this.”

This time too, the results were certain. That one fact could not be denied.

They succeeded in filtering out the Marquis’ followers, and as a bonus, they also got their hands on Count Stadler. Furthermore, they confirmed that the Sword of the Broken Heart was behind everything.

Cantares groaned.

“Anyway… I guess the Sword of the Broken Heart, those guys have already infiltrated the Imperial Palace. Finding someone trustworthy won’t be easy.”

If they weren’t careful, it could end up collapsing from the inside.

Laius lowered his eyes, trying to suppress his complicated emotions.

A heavy silence fell over the office as everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

It was Arendt’s calm voice that broke it.

“First, we need to start with the people here.”

“What?”

“It’s about finding trustworthy people. You can gradually expand the scope and select them. Then, in the end, His Highness the Crown Prince’s power, which we can completely trust, will be complete.”

As he said this, Arendt glanced at Laius.

Although the person he was talking to now was the Crown Prince, it seemed as though Laius was the one who really needed to listen.

Laius’ expression became calm.

“That’s right.”

“What that means is… right now, you guys are the best people I can trust and use as my servants.”

As Cantares sighed, clenching his jaw in annoyance, Arendt added:

“I think we can trust those who belong to the Knights Templar. We still need to be somewhat cautious.”

From Arendt’s perspective, if he had to name the two people he could trust the most right now, they would be Laius and Cantares.

Laius was the protagonist of the novel.

Cantares was the master of Laius and the one who fought against enemies while swinging the Imperial Knights as a sword.

‘And, Arthur Norbert.’

Arthur was supposed to be dead, so it was clear that the ‘Sword of the Broken Heart’ had not touched him yet.

And there was another one, store manager Neumann.

Arendt’s intervention might change the story.

“First, we need to send more spies to the garden that is under construction. We should also assign more watchdogs to Marquis Grieg. As for Count Stadler… he’s not very appealing, to be honest, but I think we should talk about it.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? It’s not very likely, but it could be a trap in itself.”

Cantares pursed his lips at Laius’ worried words.

“Since Lord Arendt said it was okay, it probably won’t be a problem. That guy’s temper is beyond help, but at this point, we have to acknowledge his ability.”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult. Could you please make things clear?”

Arendt’s gruff voice followed.

“And Your Highness, just in case, you haven’t forgotten your promise, have you?”

“Promise? Ah…”

Cantares, who had been thinking about his words for a moment, nodded.

“The preparations are already complete. If you need it tonight, I’ll give it to you right away.”

“That’s good to hear. Isn’t it, Captain?”

“Uh?”

Laius, who was suddenly mentioned, asked curiously.

Instead of answering in detail, Arendt simply smiled his characteristically meaningful, if sinister, smile.

Of course, Laius had no way of knowing.

What did Cantares give Arendt in return for causing trouble at the banquet?