It was a time in the middle of the afternoon when the sun was shining in the west of the Imperial capital. The always bustling center of the Imperial city was slowly becoming quiet as the evening approached.

There were only two customers in the quiet restaurant.

The restaurant owner, Lawrence, watched the young men chatting with a pleased look in his eyes.

Although they were polar opposites, the way they put their heads together and chatted away made them look like brothers with a large age gap.

Moreover, both of them were so handsome that they naturally caught everyone’s attention, and anyone who saw them would inevitably smile warmly.

But the inside story wasn’t very beautiful. Despite his peaceful appearance, Cantares was seething inside.

“Do you sometimes seem to forget who I am?”

“Huh? How could that be?”

Arendt responded, holding the cookie in his left hand and flipping through the documents with his right.

“If I had forgotten that, I wouldn’t have bothered to come here. Can you imagine how I feel, Khan, spending my hard-earned vacation with my superior?”

“…Even if you say you’re on vacation, you’ll just be stuck in the training ground swinging your sword.”

Besides, the document that Jereon personally wrote and Cantares delivered was what Arendt had requested. Since it was still a confidential matter, Cantares had deliberately taken the time to avoid people’s eyes and come all the way here.

‘If I get angry, I lose.’

So, bear with it, bear with it.

There was nothing to be gained by getting annoyed at a guy who still had a few band-aids stuck to his face, and he wasn’t confident he could win an argument against Arendt in the first place.

“I’ve almost finished taking care of the auction house. I had a hard time because of you running wild.”

“What happened?”

“Once the enemy invaded, you and the captains worked together to deal with them.”

The villain, who was desperately trying to take hostages while suffering a fatal wound, lost his life from the final blow of the apprentice knight.

The accessory given by the Neumann Merchant group was a prototype of a souvenir made from the mine, but it was destroyed as it could not withstand the magical power fluctuating in the scene where the knights were rampaging.

This is what was officially announced.

“That’s good enough. How did people react?”

“What do you think?”

“When I came out today, some people were glaring at me as if they wanted to kill me. If I wasn’t in the Imperial palace, they would have spit on me, but some other people were just looking at me with expressions like they were going to die from excitement.”

A sigh escaped Cantares’s lips as Arendt responded, still not taking his eyes off the documents.

“I don’t think it needs to explained any further.”

“It’s a cliche development.”

“Don’t say that so easily. It looks like it could explode if it was hit.”

“If left alone, it won’t explode?”

“…”

This son of a bitch has a knack for saying the right thing in a really annoying way.

Cantares, who was being torn between the two forces and was on the verge of death, couldn’t help but feel a tingle in his stomach at that light tone.

Although it was somewhat sealed, the truth of this incident was spread to some extent by word of mouth. Some of the sharp-witted nobles would have already vaguely noticed the presence of the enemy due to the past few incidents.

It was natural for them to be on edge in a situation that might develop into a civil war.

In such a situation, it was only natural that some people would become displeased that a mere apprentice knight made a mess out of things.

A groan escaped Cantares’ mouth.

“We have to approach the situation carefully, but I’ve heard quite a few people say that you’re provoking the enemy for no reason and causing the rebels to begin to be wary.”

“Your Highness Khan is not a nobody. He is someone who, as soon as he entered politics, controlled the nobles and stabilized the Empire.”

“Ha, you’re saying this now? That’s ridiculous.”

Arendt’s teasing remark was met with an irritated retort.

“I tried to gather them together by coaxing, cajoling, and even threatening them, but how many of them were truly obedient?”

“Aha, so those guys who used to laugh in front and spit behind the scenes are starting to crawl back again?”

“That’s correct.”

“And this person is the biggest problem right now?”

“Uh?”

Cantares, who had been unconsciously rubbing his forehead at the sudden words, turned his gaze straight ahead and saw the paper Arendt had just been reading.

It was a page listing the simple personal details and characteristics of the nobles. Arendt’s hand was pointing to one of them.

Cantares immediately let out a tired voice.

“…How did you know? You ghost-like person.”

“I just felt like it might be like that.”

Arendt responded nonchalantly, gathering up the papers again.

“So what exactly is causing the uproar?”

“There are a lot of excuses, you know.”

“Tsk,” grumbled the Crown Prince, clicking his tongue as he held the glass of juice.

“It seems that he is very dissatisfied with the mine falling into my hands. In addition, the Neumann Merchant Group has turned to us, so he thinks that a large flow of capital has come under our control. In fact, it is not exactly wrong.”

The money that came into Arendt’s hands was merely a byproduct of him running around here and there, but it seemed to have posed a huge threat to the aristocrats.

It looks like the next candidate for the throne has gained the financial power.

Arendt seemed to have understood and turned his attention back to the papers.

Marquis Lowell de Lanford.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar name to him either.

‘That old man was the one who gave the Crown Prince a headache until the end.’

After flipping through the paper a few more times, he came across a few more names he recognized. He also saw the names of those who had been executed later for selling weapons to the enemy.

As he read the documents containing familiar names, memories of frustration when reading the novel came flooding back.

External enemies were a problem, but internal chaos was also a problem.

At first, it seemed like they were rallying under the Emperor and the Crown Prince to defeat the evildoers, but as time passed, defectors began to appear.

‘The problem is that the Empire realized it too late.’

They were so distracted by the urgent need to put out the fire that they failed to check the guys who were sneakily plotting a way to stab them in the back of the head.

It was not clear whether they were spies who had been hiding from the beginning or if they had defected midway, but either way, their departure was a huge blow to the imperial family.

‘They are a group that’s bound to clash with the Imperial loyalists at some point.’

In that sense, it would have been welcomed if the defectors had started a fight first without the loyalists having to go out of their way to pick one.

A smile appeared on Arendt’s lips.

“What? Why are you suddenly acting like this? I feel uneasy.”

“Have you made any plans?”

“Is there any other solution? I’ll have to coax and persuade them, and sometimes threaten them. Then they will bow their heads obediently again.”

“Oh my, how is it that you are saying the right thing when you answer?”

“That’s me. I’m accepting of things like that. Can’t you tell just by looking at the fact that I’m picking up and using guys like you?”

“Where in the world can you find such a helpful person? I hope you appreciate me taking your side.”

That little punk.

Cantares’ fist tightened. What really pissed him off was that what he was spouting wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Well, anyway… I agree with what Khan said to some extent. But don’t you think shock therapy is necessary once in a while?”

“Shock therapy?”

“Yes, it looks like these people are all quite the sly ones.”

Arendt rested his chin on his hand and muttered indifferently.

“They’re the kind of people who like to slowly eat away at you rather than blatantly stab you in the back. Shouldn’t we get rid of them before they eat away at us any deeper?”

“That’s easy for you to say. If I even raise my hand to try to brush them off, there’ll be chaos. They’re just expressing a legitimate opinion, so how can I suppress it? If I do that, I’ll be treated as a tyrant.”

Arendt threw an odd question at Cantares in response to his pointed remark.

“Have you ever seen a play?”

“What? Well… I have. Sometimes, when there’s an event at the palace, they invite a theater troupe. I’ve seen them a few times for cultural reasons.”

The young knight continued speaking.

“Then did you know that even with the same content, the mood can change significantly depending on which actor acts and what tone they use?”

“That’s… I guess so. Even with the same swordsmanship, it can be different depending on which knight uses it.”

“Unexpected things can happen. One day, an actor who is assigned an important role suddenly has a problem and can’t come on stage, or he messes up his lines on stage, or someone who is supposed to appear doesn’t appear… things like that.”

Arendt stopped rambling nonchalantly and looked straight at Cantares.

“Even in such a situation, a play must bring about a predetermined conclusion.”

“…There is no set end in reality?”

“To be exact, you have to create the ending you want. Otherwise, you’ll be the one who suffers.”

If it were his original place of residence, he would have been cursed at and kicked out of the theater, but here, his life is at stake.

“What on earth are you trying to say?”

“If we make good use of such unexpected situations, we can turn the story around completely.”

Arendt smiled faintly after saying that.

“The main character might say something that only the most rotten person in the world should say, and a traitor who was originally on the side of the bad guys might join the good guys for his own gain.”

Like himself now, for example.

Arendt, with his arms crossed, raised the corners of his lips.

“The best defense is offense. He who strikes first wins. If the strengths are equal, the one who moves faster will land at least one more blow.”

The first thing that the enemies who took up war against the Empire did was to make their presence known.

A literal declaration of war.

Those who left a strong impression on people’s minds infiltrated the political world and increased their influence.

‘There’s no reason why we can’t do it.’

What we had to do now was to prevent those who would not be able to easily decide on a side and waver in the situation that would unfold later from going over to the other side.

“Is that something a knight would say?”

“Isn’t it because I’m this kind of guy that I can sit across from Mr. Khan right now?”

Cantares, who had been quietly listening to those words, burst into laughter.

“You cheeky brat. How dare you try to teach me a lesson.”

“I was originally an arrogant guy. I’m glad you learned from my lesson.”

Cantares groaned as he glanced at the knight.

“You’ve been rambling on, but to summarize, you’re saying that we should shake things up by making the most of what we have at hand?”

“Exactly. That way, we can break the flow and make the situation go the way we want.”

There was quite a bit available: the situation itself, loyal followers, and political rivals…

‘No.’

That’s not what Arendt was talking about.

Cantares slowly shook his head and burst into laughter again.

“There is one apprentice knight who is really disobedient.”

“And the identity of Khan, who can shake up the Empire with a single word, is also a very helpful tool.”

Arendt shrugged.

“Still, it’s probably hard for you to do it alone, so if you gently push me in front of you, I’ll do my best. Of course, it’s not free.”

“…Looking at your appearance, I guess another interesting idea came to mind.”

Cantares, who had been silent for a moment, raised the corners of his lips.

“Should I call this a fun idea? Of course, it’s not for free.”

“I knew it, you little brat. What do you want?”

“Well, what do I need now?”

Arendt, who was resting his chin on his hand leisurely, rolled his eyes and met Cantares’ gaze.

“I’ll think about it later and bill you then.”

“You seem like a bad guy.”

At this moment, it didn’t really matter who was the Crown Prince and who was the apprentice knight.

There were only two pranksters with mischievous expectations of making a fool of the hated guy.