The next morning, the restaurant where the knights had gathered was in chaos.

Bam!

Arthur slammed the table fiercely.

“Isn’t this crazy? Are you out of your mind? You sent them a warning?”

“That’s right. It’s a pretty old-fashioned way of doing things.”

On the other hand, Arendt simply responded indifferently as usual. Richt, sitting across from Arthur, also had an extremely serious expression on his face.

“The police are trying to track down the sender, but they say their identity is unknown.”

“You even hid your handwriting? You’re so meticulous. Isn’t that too much work for a joke?”

Arendt ate his breakfast while listening to the knights’ murmuring. Then he got up before anyone else.

“What? Where are you going?”

“The captain gave me an errand. I’ll go first.”

Arendt gave a short answer and immediately left the restaurant.

‘The reaction is much more interesting than I expected.’

He covered the corners of his lips that kept raising with his hand. If the knights were screaming like this, it seemed like the reactions of the other side would be quite something to see.

They probably already figured out who the culprit was, and Arendt’s expectations were not misplaced.

The expressions on the faces of the three knight captains that appeared the moment he opened the conference room door were very colorful.

Kendrick was desperately trying to suppress his laughter that threatened to burst out at any moment, while Diana was pressing her temples with an expression of indescribable complexity and distress.

Laius, who was sighing deeply with a face ten times more depressed than usual, began to rummage through his pockets as soon as he saw Arendt coming in.

“What are you looking for?”

“Stomach medicine.”

“…”

‘It’s still fun.’

Arendt felt a sense of pride he had never felt before as he watched Laius take the bottle of medicine out of his pocket and pour it into his mouth.

“Why did you call me?”

“A threatening letter was sent to Lord Neumann, heh. It’s said to have arrived… Hehehe.”

Kendrick continued speaking, his face flushed as he tried to hold back laughter, the corners of his mouth twisting up.

“You’re personally acquainted with Lord Neumann… Heh heh. If there’s something that you know, I’d like to know more details, heh heh. So.”

But all those efforts were in vain, as Kendrick eventually burst into uncontrollable laughter and banged his head on the table.

“Puhahahahaha! I’ve been a knight for quite some time, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. Keuhahahahaha!”

“Sir Kendrick, this is no laughing matter.”

Diana gave him a quick warning, but Kendrick couldn’t stop laughing. After laughing for a while, even shedding tears, Kendrick finally caught his breath and wiped his face.

“Oh, it’s been a while since I laughed like this. So, what on earth were you thinking? Are you planning to change from being a knight to a thief?”

“No way. If I did that, my neck would fall off right away, but things are getting interesting. Did you say that there was someone who threatened to steal the jewels?”

As Arendt shrugged his shoulders naturally, Kendrick lowered his head again and began to chuckle.

“Of course, it is impolite to make a fuss over a prank, but I can’t just ignore it. Even His Highness the Crown Prince got into quite a bit of trouble starting with a small note.”

“That was the purpose.”

Laius groaned as if he was dying from a headache.

Diana also roughly understood the context from those words and made a tired face.

“What a disgusting guy.”

“So what? I’m young, so I can do things like this.”

Kendrick said, still smiling, wiping away a tear that was running down his face.

“I don’t know who sent it, but it seems like they want to somehow involve the Knights in this. They’re very ingenious.”

“Really? Maybe he just really wants to steal the jewels. Or maybe he’s just playing a prank.”

Arendt smiled, placing his hands deep in his pockets.

“But still, we need to be careful, right? It’s a well-known fact that the Neumann Group and the Imperial Family are on good terms, so if we just sit back and do nothing, we’ll only be called cold-hearted.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Solving this situation is of utmost importance. Ha, I laughed so hard for the first time in a while.”

Kendrick barely managed to stop laughing and took a deep breath.

Arendt asked slyly.

“What about His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“I heard that he had a similar reaction to Kendrick. Advisor Jereon must have had a hard time too.”

After Diana rested her chin on her hand and responded irritably, Laius opened his mouth.

“His Highness the Crown Prince said the same thing. It’s not something to be excited about, but it can’t just be overlooked.”

It meant, “I won’t interfere, so you guys figure it out yourselves.”

Cantares was banging on the desk and rolling around as if he had thrown away all respect as the Crown Prince, and Jereon was just laughing awkwardly next to him. It was no wonder that Laius immediately looked for stomach medicine when he saw these two people.

The Crown Prince and the apprentice knight sometimes got along just a little too well.

Laius pressed his temples as a headache arose again.

“Anyway, we decided to increase security. Judging by the mood, it seems impossible to cancel the auction.”

“It’s too bad for Baron Cromwell. He did all of this because of the curse and traveled all this way to find a new master for it, and now this happened. What a real shame.”

“This is no time for jokes. In the end, the entire Order will be at the mercy of this insolent apprentice knight.”

Diana rolled her eyes as Kendrick chuckled and exclaimed in admiration.

“Anyway, now that things have come to this… you must have come up with a plan, right, Sir Arendt?”

“Why would I come up with a plan? And I don’t know anything about it, but here’s something good.”

Arendt took three envelopes out of his pocket and handed them to the captains.

Neumann’s seal was clearly visible.

“I got some invitations because he said there were a few left. Only one person can accompany an individual per invitation. Of course, I have one for myself.”

Arendt took out his invitation, waved it around, and smiled broadly.

“If you have time, would you like to come with me? Surely you’d like to take a look around, and also reassure Lord Neumann and Baron Cromwell, who are probably worried.”

“Ah…”

In the end, Diana also burst into a light laugh and accepted the invitation.

“Oh my. What kind of farce is happening because of a childish apprentice knight?”

“Really… I’m having all kinds of experiences.”

Kendrick also burst out laughing and took an invitation.

“Are you not going to take one, Captain?”

“Ha.”

At Arendt’s subtle question, Laius let out a short sigh and accepted the invitation.

“I must apologize to Lord Neumann.”

“Why apologize? Unlike the Captain, Lord Neumann is quite flexible. Look, he took action quickly.”

Of course, the situation felt indeed a bit absurd at first.

Neumann, who knew exactly what he had to do, reported it to the police first, and then contacted the attendees separately.

He said that they had circulated a message asking people to reconsider attending because a dangerous situation might arise, but from what he heard, it seemed like there were just a few people who backed out.

However, those who did not care were willing to take risks and go on adventures, so Neumann could avoid responsibility if something happened later.

Moreover, since the rumor had spread throughout the palace, the Imperial Knights had a reason to intervene, even if only unofficially.

It was exactly what Arendt intended.

“I guess I’ll have to go,” Kendrick said playfully, looking back at the invitation.

“Since it’s not official work and I’m participating in the auction ‘voluntarily,’ I guess I’ll have to apply for a separate vacation.”

“If you tell His Highness the Crown Prince, he will probably give you a paid leave.”

“Hmm, right now, the three knight commanders alone are a force that cannot be ignored.”

If each of them brought just one knight, there would be eight people ready to go into battle.

Diana rolled her eyes at Arendt, her chin still resting on her hand.

“Does that mean we should consider our opponent to be formidable?”

“Originally, a tiger would do its best even when catching a rabbit. There’s one more thing.”

Arendt took something out of his pocket and placed it on the table where the leaders were sitting.

Dalgrak.

There was a clear sound, like pebbles hitting each other.

The captains tilted their heads and looked at what he had just taken out. There were five magic stones that emitted a brilliant light.

Kendrick arched an eyebrow.

“They’re magic stones. What are they for?”

“Take one each. Director Diana, Director Kendrick. Give the other two to the person accompanying you. You don’t have to give them back, but it would be best to keep them with you on the day of the auction.”

“I won’t decline since it has come to this, but… I’m curious as to why.”

Kendrick asked curiously, rolling the magic stone around on his palm.

“You’re just giving this to me? Isn’t that a bit too much of a burden for an apprentice knight?”

“If it’s too much of a burden, you can use it well and return it, including the interest. Anyway, you’ll know why it’s necessary when you go. Even if I explain it to you now, you won’t understand.”

“Ah, you’re acting presumptuous again.”

A hollow smile appeared on Diana’s lips.

It was an incredible situation.

Three knight commanders who enjoyed the Emperor’s full trust were being swept away by this young apprentice knight’s arrangements.

‘And yet…’

What was more surprising was that they had no intention of rejecting it.

Because they all, even the Crown Prince, were listening to that little brat’s words.

Diana, who had been rolling the magic stone around in her hand, asked a question to Laius, who had been silent the whole time.

“By the way, Sir Laius, you don’t look so well. Is there something wrong? Don’t worry, I won’t be angry at your subordinate’s misconduct.”

“…No, that’s not it.”

Laius, who had been staring at the last magic stone left on the table, barely managed to tear his eyes off it.

“Arendt, if what you say is true, then the magic stones are absolutely necessary for this case.”

“Maybe they aren’t, but it would be better to have one for each knight.”

“The people who will accompany you to the auction house together will probably be Richt and Arthur. Is that right?”

“Yes?”

Arendt nodded dryly. Diana and Kendrick, unaware of the situation, looked back and forth between the two of them in puzzlement.

Laius continued, trying to remain calm.

“…Weren’t you already going to hand over the magic stones? But then you took two months’ salary from Arthur and Richt?”

“Oh, that? I was going to just give it to my seniors if they kept declining, but since they were willing to pay a lot of money, I had no reason not to take their money.”

There was no real fraud being done.

Arendt shrugged his shoulders as the leaders looked on in disbelief.

“I didn’t really need the money, but it was fun.”

“…I guess I’ll have to keep this a secret forever.”

That was for Arthur and Richt, who had two months’ of their salary ripped off.

Kendrick muttered uneasily. Diana nodded in agreement.

An apprentice knight committing fraud against his seniors was certainly unprecedented.

As Kendrick watched Laius clutching his forehead and wiping his pale face, he had a gut feeling that the demand for stomach medicine from the Third Knights would soon skyrocket.