Chapter 337: The People Alerted

Chapter 337: The People Alerted

Shien didn't know it at the time, but news of his entry into Cosmos had been passed to the captain of the Stalim family's First Knight Order right away.

"A young noble bearing the royal token?"

A handsome knight with blond hair and green eyes received his subordinate's report and frowned.

At a more careful look, that person was actually wearing the armor of the Kingdom's Royal Knights.

Naturally, it was Limgir.

This young ducal heir had hurriedly returned in order to deal with the strange incidents occurring in their territory, and he was immediately sent here to take responsibility for resolving the matter.

Likely, not even Shien could have predicted that he would appear in Cosmos at the same time as Limgir, right?

It's only natural that Limgir didn't expect it either.

However, the report about a noble holding a royal token did greatly catch Limgir's attention.

It's because, as far as he knows, there's only a single person who matches this description.

The person in question is someone he greatly disliked, so there's no way that Limgir wouldn't focus on him.

Of course, Limgir wasn't alone. There were also two middle-aged men here.

"Do you know of this person? Limgir?"

The person who spoke up was the relatively taller man among the two of them. Given the way he was dressed, he should be a knight, but he completely gives off the aura of a military officer instead. His face bears some amount of resemblance to Bali's as well as Limgir's.

This is also only natural.

This person is the younger brother of the current head of the Limgir family. In other words, he's Bali's brother and Limgir's uncle. At the same time, he's also the second in command of the Stalim family and is the one in charge of all the Stalim family's knight orders. He's the supreme commander for the knight orders of the Stalim Dukedom, Julius Stalim.

"Uncle." Limgir turned to Julius and, after a moment of hesitation, spoke, "I can't be certain if he is the person I know, but according to my knowledge, there's only one young noble bearing a royal token within the Capital."

When he got to that point, Limgir couldn't help but leak out some of his feelings though his tone.

Julius was very much sharp enough to notice it.

"What? Is there a problem between the two of you?"

Julius turned to look toward his nephew.

At this moment, the middle-aged knight next to Julius spoke up.

"Someone actually dared to offend young master Julius?" That middle-aged man had a vicious glint in his eyes and grinned cruelly as he spoke, "Shall I made some minor arrangements then?"

That vicious looking middle-aged knight is named Sunir Regisrig. He's a vassal count under the Stalim ducal family, and at the same time, he's also the captain of the Stalim Dukedom's First Knight Order and Julius's subordinate.

He was the one who brought the news of Shien's entry into Cosmos. He's also the elder brother of Julius's most adored wife and is Julius's brother in law, which is why he dared to speak so straightforwardly here.

That said, Limgir really did rather want to do that.

If this young noble with the royal token really is Shien, then he would be quite overjoyed.

In the past, Bali had attempted to trick Shien to the Stalim Dukedom in order to use Shien for his ambition. He had even set traps within the Stalim Dukedom, but in the end, Shien made all of that pointless, handing the Stalim family a secret loss.

This time, if Shien really had arrived at Limgir's home turf, then Limgir would only naturally want to make it so that Shien never left.

It also just happens that there's currently a very chaotic problem here right now, so even if he did get Shien killed here, the Stalim family would have a hundred ways to escape responsibility.

Sunir obviously only dared to speak of making arrangements thanks to that. He had no fear whatsoever of the fact that Shien had the royal token and the fact that Shien had the royal family's backing.

Julius didn't object at all either. It seems like he similarly cared nothing for the fact that Shien had the royal family behind him.

In this situation, if the situation was normal, then Limgir would definitely have nodded without hesitation.

However, as he remembered the various events around Shien, Limgir had to first ask one question.

"Did he come by himself? Or did he have other people along with him?"

Limgir showed a very serious expression as he asked that.

"He wasn't on his own." Sunir immediately replied, "According to the guard's report, he also had a maid and two very young little girls with him."

As he said that, Sunir even showed some signs of disdain on his face,

This captain of the First Knight Order did rather look down on Shien for bringing along a maid and little girls like some dandy despite coming here while fully knowing how chaotic and dangerous the situation here is.

"Does he think this is a casual vacation destination or something?"

Sunir's voice was filled with utter contempt.

Yet, who could have thought that after hearing his words, Limgir suddenly reacted with alarm.

"What do those two little girls look like?"

Limgir hurriedly questioned him in a rather urgent tone.

This made Julius react somewhat, and Sunir was also rather surprised.

"What is it? Young master Limgir?" Sunir asked with confused, "Aren't they just two little girls? There's no need for you to be so concerned, right?"

"No need to be concerned?" Limgir smiled coldly, "If you're not concerned, then you might not understand just who you ended up offending even when you're dead."

Those words gave Sunir quite a shock.

"Explain it clearly." Julius frowned, "What's the issue with those two little girls?"

Limgir just gave a difficult laugh before shifting next to Julius's ear and whispering a few words.

The next second, Julius's expressions drastically changed.

"Young master Limgir? Commander? What about those two little girls? Tell me too!"

Faced with what he's witnessing, even the dullest person would have noticed that something was wrong there. Thus, Sunir hurriedly asked about it.

Julius opened his mouth, but in the end, he chose not to say anything.

It can't be helped. This is not a matter that can be allowed to get out.

Otherwise, it is extremely likely to cause some major waves, thus collapsing the current situation here.

Thus, Julius only said a single thing about it.

"If the situation really is as Limgir described, then we really can't touch that noble."

Not only can they not touch him, they would even need to properly treat him with the utmost respect.

Otherwise, the consequences are not something that their measly Stalim family could withstand.

Limgir naturally fully understood this point as well, and he also fell silent. Even so, his eyes still showed some hints of regret.

It seems like he really did really want to make sure that Shien never left this place.

Although Sunir didn't understand just what happened, he was able to still realize that Julius and Limgir were greatly fearful of something.

However, he just couldn't understand.

"They're just two little girls. What's so scary about that..."

Sunir mentally mumbled those words to himself.

At this point, Julius and Limgir started discussing their plans among themselves.

"I really didn't expect him to suddenly run all the way here."

Limgir really did find it very unexpected.

"Could it be that he was sent by the crown?"

That was Julius's thought.

"It shouldn't be. Father had already reported this matter up. While the Kingdom is paying a lot of attention to this matter, they're also restricted from flagrantly sending people to interfere due to pressures from the Empire. They can't provoke the Empire's sensitivity and end up making them think that the Kingdom is planning to send forces here to take advantage of the situation after all. Thus, they've also handed all authority for dealing with this matter to our Stalim family."

Limgir shook his head and denied it.

"Then what is that young nobleman here for?"

Julius doesn't seem to understand.

"Unknown." Limgir naturally couldn't figure that out either. He could only let out a chuckle, "Maybe he really is here just to vacation."

Those words really were filled with sarcasm.

Seeing Limgir act that way, Julius had certain thoughts.

(This young nobleman really did seem to have quite some conflict with my nephew, huh.)

Julius had noticed this detail.

It is after all the first time he had seen Limgir act that way, after all.

His nephew is highly talented and capable. The family had placed a great deal of hope on him as well. They hoped that he'll be able to bring the Stalim family back to the Capital in the future and take back all that their ancestor had once lost.

Thus, Limgir had singlemindedly trained and disciplined himself ever since he was little. He can be considered flawless be it in personal might or character. He had never acted like this, where he showed such a sarcastic attitude to another party before.

If not for the fact that said other party very likely had a very terrifying existence with him, the Julius wouldn't have minded helping his nephew out a bit and aiding him in venting his grudge.

No matter what, Limgir is the future head of the Stalim family. Julius, as the second in command of the family, would certain try to gain some favor with Limgir whenever possible.

However, with that personage by Shien's side, there's no way Julius would dare poke his head out no matter how much guts he might have.

Rather, if that personage really has come to Cosmos and is now in their family's territory, then this matter is unquestionably extremely serious. It has to be dealt with properly.

As he thought that, Julius stood up.

"Let's go." Julius said, "We should properly greet them."

In response to that, Limgir considered it a moment before standing up as well.

Since that personage had very likely come along with Shien, then they absolutely had to properly greet them.

This isn't simply because the Stalim family couldn't afford to offend or snub the other party. It's also because if they could get the chance to forge a good relationship with her, then it would be an incomparably great boon for the Stalim family.

Only Sunir was still muttering to himself.

"Is that really necessary?"

That was what he was thinking.

From his point of view, although the other party had the royal family's authority backing him up, it's just the backings of authority. It's not like it's a personal visit from royalty after all, and as a ducal family, a royal relative, there was no need for Julius and Limgir to treat him so carefully.

It has to be said, but Julius is the second in command of the Stalim ducal family, and Limgir's the next head of the family. Both of them have high status and authority. If the situation was a personal visit from a royal, then things might be understandable, but a mere gopher of the royal family?

Someone like that has no qualification to make the two of them act so careful.

That said, Sunir will still follow his lord's family's lead.

Even if his sister is Julius's favorite wife, that's not enough to let him get away with overstepping.

He's quite mindful despite his rough act. That's how the Captain of the First Knight Order is.

Only, there was no way that he could guess just how big a deal the person he's going to visit really is.

...

At the same time, in a different corner of Cosmos, a princess had also received news of Shien's arival.

"A young noble bearing royal token?"

That princess muttered to herself.

"Who could that be?"

Could it be the representative of that woman?

"There were indeed rumors about that woman recently getting quite close to an adventurer who had just become a viscount."

That adventurer even had a major figure from the demon race backing him, and he was even able to tame a dragon to be his mount. That bit also made quite a few waves in the Ragna Empire as well.

The royalty of the Ragna Empire even had thoughts about whether or not they might be able to lure that young noble to their side.

If the person who arrived was the adventurer in those rumors, then things would become quite interesting.

"I'm going to take a look and see just what the man capable of getting that woman to act close to is like."

The princess who said that couldn't help but be reminded of various things in the past, making her grit her teeth.

"No matter what, I refuse to lose to you."

"One day, I'll definitely surpass you."

"Lucilosti Mitra."