Arendt came out of Laius’ office and flopped down on his bed.

He stared blankly up at the unfamiliar ceiling and fell into thought again.

‘Rebecca…’

She was the one who caused quite a bit of trouble for Cantares and Laius. What caused Laius the most trouble was not Rebecca herself, but the one mercenary she hired.

Although it was a relationship between employer and mercenary, the mercenary was strangely obsessed with Rebecca. He absolutely wanted to carry out her orders, completely ignoring the damage that would come with it.

Many civilians were killed in the fights, and several knights were killed as well. He eventually left the stage as one of the villains executed by Laius.

If he had been an ordinary mercenary, this would have been impossible, but that mercenary was a foreign race… who used strange magic.

‘The clue is found here.’

“If it’s not human… then is it something made by an elf or a dragon or something like that?”

He remembered a conversation he had with the Crown Prince a while ago.

In fact, this might be a pretty good opportunity.

If he could just find that mercenary, he might be able to prevent unnecessary damage. And if he could subdue the potential enemy named Rebecca, the enemy forces would also suffer a considerable blow.

‘They must already be within the empire by now.’

The problem is that their current location is unknown, but since Laius will begin his own investigation, news should be heard soon.

For now, the important things were Priest Declan, Priest Lumiel, and the Great Temple.

He was starting to feel sleepy, perhaps because he had spent the night at the casino, staying up all night, and moving his body around vigorously.

He didn’t bother to fight against his heavy eyelids. The apprentice knight fell asleep like that until Arthur came to wake him up the next morning.

As the Third Knights Division was about to return after completing their training, good news arrived from Kendrick of the First Knights Division.

It was said that all the people who had been taken to forced labor camps had been rescued.

Those who could not repay their debts were exploited not only in the quarry but also in other places.

After receiving information from Laius, Kendrick dispersed his knights and successfully raided all the labor camps to rescue the people.

The Third Knights also erupted in cheers when they heard that Priest Declan had been completely rescued from among them, because it felt like all their hard work up until now had been rewarded.

Since they had all been moved to the palace for investigation, it would not be long before Priest Declan and Priest Lumiel would be reunited.

This meant that the day when the deal between Priest Lumiel, Cantares, and Arendt would be concluded was drawing near.

A few days after returning to the palace, Arendt received a summons from Cantares.

It was the call he was waiting for.

As he entered the Crown Prince’s private study, he noticed the people who had arrived before him.

“You’re finally here.”

Cantares, who was sitting in his seat, raised his hand in greeting toward Arendt, who opened the door and came in. Priest Lumiel, who was sitting across from him, also smiled quietly and greeted him.

“It’s been a long time, Lord Arendt.”

Behind the priest, a priest he had never seen before stood. His clothes looked clean, as if he had just changed, but his pale face seemed to prove that he had been in a bad environment until recently.

Arendt greeted them both with a slight bow and then got straight to the point.

“Are you Priest Declan?”

No one pointed out his rude behavior of speaking his mind without proper manners. Instead of reprimanding him, Priestess Lumiel slowly nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. He is the child that Lord Arendt saved.”

“Thank you so much for your grace.”

Priest Declan bowed deeply.

Arendt shrugged.

“What grace? It just happened that way.”

“I have heard well what has happened because of my incompetence. I am so ashamed that I can hardly raise my head.”

Still, Priest Declan did not raise his head, and Priest Lumiel’s expression darkened along with it.

“Thank you for your concern. You may not be able to avoid being fired, but I’m still satisfied that I got to see you again alive.”

Having become involved in such an unpleasant matter, it would now be impossible for him to continue on the path of a priest.

Arendt asked briefly, as if speaking in passing.

“What are you going to do now?”

“For now, I’m grateful to god Luce that I’ve survived… I’ll have to think about what to do next slowly. I’ll be able to survive somehow, even with just this one body.”

Only then did Declan raise his head and force a smile onto his dark face.

Priest Lumiel continued speaking.

“I brought him here so he could express his gratitude in person. He will have to leave the palace as soon as the investigation is over, so I don’t think he will have another chance.”

“I understand how you feel, but… that person looks like he could die at any moment. Since he’s already said his thanks, how about you just send him away?”

Arendt blurted out, watching the lips tremble as he tried to smile.

It wasn’t too much of a stretch.

He was a mere priest who had suffered a terrible fate, and was barely rescued, but then ended up sitting in the same place as the Crown Prince and Priest Lumiel.

Cantares nodded.

“There are things we need to talk about between ourselves. Is that okay?”

“Of course, Your Highness . Wanting to say hello to you was just an unreasonable thing on my part, but thank you for your consideration.”

As soon as the priest finished speaking, Jereon, who had been waiting, grabbed his arm.

Declan bowed his head to Arendt one last time, then followed Jereon out, his shoulders slumped.

“He won’t be hanging around the casinos again, right?”

“We’ll never know what will happen to him, but I believe that won’t happen. I have to. This will be the last time I can help him.”

Priest Lumiel answered Arendt’s words bitterly.

“Thank you again. I think the High Priest sensed that you had intervened, but he didn’t really scold you.”

“It is the personal misconduct of a priest, and the temple is absolutely not responsible. It is possible for a hot-blooded young man to do this.”

Cantares quirked the corners of his mouth.

“And it’s not like the royal family intervened in the temple’s affairs. It was just that Sir Laius happened to be nearby on an external training trip and happened to suppress the riot that had broken out.”

Of course, the rumor that the instigator of the riot was a sassy silver-haired apprentice knight was occasionally heard from the arrested men…

In any case, officially, Arendt and the people with him were said to have been training with Laius, so the testimony was not accepted.

“In the process, they heard about the story of the missing priest Declan, and it was just an act of ‘goodwill’ that they found him among the group of victims and handed him over to Priest Lumiel.”

Cantares added, placing a strange emphasis on the word.

Of course, the High Priest was not an idiot, so he must have understood the whole situation.

His silence was a declaration of his acquiescence to the ‘good faith deal’ between Priest Lumiel and the Crown Prince.

It was also true that there was nothing more to interfere or point out.

If he added anything unnecessary to something that ended well, he would end up looking like a clown.

A gentle smile appeared on the lips of the old priest who nodded slowly.

“I can finally grant His Highness the Crown Prince’s request. I have come back many times because of the old man’s greed.”

She took out a neatly bundled stack of documents from her bag and placed them on the table.

“I thought it would be rude to delay any longer, so I received information from Aide Jereon in advance and prepared a report. If you have any questions, please let me know at any time.”

“I will gratefully accept it.”

“I will also try to sort out the conflict within the temple. I think I can convince the High Priest now.”

If that happens, the issues within the imperial palace and the temple will be resolved to some extent.

So now what’s left?

“We must finish our calculations now, Your Highness.”

Cantares covered his face as Arendt snickered.

Priest Lumiel let out an awkward laugh.

“Then I will leave now. It seems like the two of you have something to talk about…”

“Is this how it is? How cruel. Can you stop this guy?”

“Hahaha. Sometimes it’s better to quickly accept the inevitable, Your Highness.”

The priest answered kindly but firmly, then stood up with an elegant gesture and left the room.

Bam.

The door closed again, leaving only Cantares and Arendt in the study. Arendt had taken the seat where Priest Lumiel had been sitting just a moment ago, and had sprawled over his seat.

“How are you?”

“Whatever. Thanks to you, more work is pouring in.”

Cantares also grumbled, his smile disappearing from his face.

“They say work begets work… at this point, aren’t you the type of person who brings work to others?”

“I don’t really have any such hobbies. If anything, I’d rather stay in a warm bed and not move an inch.”

“A passing dog would laugh at that. Anyway, I heard from Laius that there’s another person behind it?”

Cantares laughed and changed the subject.

Arendt shrugged, leaning back in the chair.

“Considering the size of the casino, the size of the organization must be enormous. It looks like the leader is already preparing to move. All we need is for Your Highness to grant permission to investigate.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of that as soon as the documents come in.”

If they search for traces and poke around here and there, something will definitely show up, so now all that’s left is…

“It was quite acceptable this time, wasn’t it, Your Highness?”

“…”

Cantares averted his gaze.

“I bet there’s quite a bit of money gathered in the casino. Could you please give me a little bit?”

Arendt just chuckled and came out shamelessly.

Cantares sighed, wiping his face.

“This is highway robbery.”

“What highway robbery? I’m not asking for much. Do you know how much money I threw away when I infiltrated that gambling house?”

“…”

“If you add a little bit of compensation on top of that, I will accept it without hesitation.”

“You really are good at beating around the bush and telling me to just give it to you.”

Cantares soon groaned.

“Damn it, all the gambling money will be returned to the national treasury. I can’t touch the imperial funds.”

“Of course I know that. Please pay with your own money. I don’t really want to receive embezzlement either.”

“You’re such a bastard. I knew you’d say that.”

“Oh, and one more thing.”

Cantares frowned slightly as Arendt added.

“What now?”

“This isn’t really that great, but do you need any help at the palace?”

“Help?”

Even when Cantares asked in a puzzled manner, Arendt just shamelessly replied.

“It’s not a big deal to get two more servants, right?”

“…Get new servants?”

Cantares, who had been silent for a moment as if he was thinking about something, burst into laughter.

“Okay. Originally, hiring servants wasn’t my job, but I can easily tolerate that level of abuse of power. I think I know why you’re doing it. Their names were Enoch and Rosie, right?”

They were children rescued from the gambling house. The children who had nowhere to go followed the returning knights to the palace, but it became impossible for them to live with their father for the time being.

During the investigation of his father’s side, previous crimes were discovered and he ended up in prison for a while.

“I should order the chamberlain to pay attention to them. They are children that the notoriously prickly Lord Arendt is interested in. I’ll add that if he ignores them because they are commoners, he will be in big trouble.”

“That sounds good.”

It was a remark intended to be teasing, but Arendt simply shrugged his shoulders naturally. Cantares clicked his tongue at that uninteresting reaction.

“The compensation you mentioned will be given in the form of a voucher instead of a present. Jereon will bring it to you later. And this.”

Cantares’ fingers tapped the report that Priest Lumiel gave.

“I’ll make a copy of this and give it to Captain Laius, so you can check it with your captain. That’s it for now. No complaints, right?”

He had taken a considerable amount of funds from the Crown Prince, solved the problems within the temple, and even obtained the information he wanted from Priest Lumiel.

It couldn’t be more perfect.

Arendt nodded, smiling.

“It’s neat and nice.”

“Yes, yes, you must be very satisfied.”

Cantares grumbled in frustration after being robbed of all his allowance, but of course that was none of Arendt’s business.