C271 - Brother and Sister (2)
The next day, Luna and some of the flagbearers left the Garden of Swords to encourage the clans under their control.
Jin felt saddened having to bid farewell once again to his older sister, but they both had the chance to express their deep affection as siblings before wishing each other good health and the best of luck.
Petrow, the first-class butler, appeared before Jin early in the morning.
"Sir, I formally greet you once again, twelfth flagbearer. From today onwards, I have been assigned to attend to your needs, young master. I will do my best not to disappoint you."
Obviously, Luna had sent him to Jin.
The other flagbearers and their butlers would try to exclude him, so Luna wanted to make sure Jin wouldn't have difficulty finding information within the clan.
"I rely on you, Petrow. From now on, address me as young master. There's no need for formalities."
"Yes, young master."
"Oh, look at that. So, this guy is your designated butler, huh?"
Poof!
Murakan transformed into his human form. Petrow bowed his head.
"Hmm." Murakan inspected Petrow from head to toe several times.
"Lord Murakan, is there something you want to ask me?"
"From today onwards, your name will be Mono."
"Pardon, sir?"
Petrow wore a monocle.
"So, listen here, Mono. Not only do you have to listen to the kid, but you also have to fulfill my wishes. Understand?"
"Of course, Lord Murakan."
Petrow could hardly believe that the black cat he saw during Jin's cadet days turned out to be this man.
"Well, very well. Bring your ear here."
Petrow approached cautiously and lent his ear. Murakan whispered something to him. Petrow didn't believe what he heard for a second but soon nodded his head.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes, of course."
"What did you tell him?"
"That's none of your concern, brat."
"Petrow, inform me if this dark dragon makes any strange demands."
"As you wish, young master. Regarding the matter at hand, Lord Murakan instructed me to obtain the complete collection of ecchi portraits from the top experts of Mila's Artists Guild..."
"Mono!" Murakan shouted loudly, causing Gilly to let out a soft chuckle. Jin shook his head at that lost cause of a dragon but didn't necessarily tell Petrow not to fulfill the order.
After all, it was a small and precious pastime for his guardian dragon.
Of course, Murakan glared at Petrow with murderous eyes and clenched his teeth tightly.
"Petrow, investigate how those comrades who were in my faction during my cadet days are faring and report back to me," Jin said.
"Oh, I've been monitoring the younger faction even before you returned, young master. Out of the ten cadets, one has already become a guardian knight, and two are undergoing the final trials to become guardian knights. The other seven are training as advanced cadets."
"Oh? One of them has already become a guardian knight, huh. It must be Mesa Milcano."
Jin obviously thought that Mesa, the leader of the younger faction, would be the first to become a guardian knight among them.
But Petrow gave a different response.
"No, young master. Mesa Milcano is undergoing her final trials alongside Scott Rymon. It's Vellop Schmidtz. That guy started standing out from the pack at some point."
Vellop Schmidtz.
In Jin's past life, his weak character led to his expulsion from the Garden of Swords. Eventually, he joined the Hairan and became a royal guard of the Vermonts.
Vellop was used as a tool to commit assassinations and was involved in many atrocities. In the end, he took his own life and left a remorseful letter for the killings he had committed.
"Vellop! And to think it was that guy. Where is he now?"
Jin felt pleased and proud that Vellop had become a guardian knight of the Runcandel clan.
"Um, well... He's currently on a mission in the snowy mountain ranges of the southeastern region of the Mytell Kingdom. It's an indeterminate duration, and his mission is to eradicate the bandits in the area."
Jin frowned and showed his discomfort upon hearing the news.
The southern snow crests of the Mytell Kingdom barely had any citizens due to the harsh cold in the area. Since only a small tribe of less than a hundred families lived in its vast territory, there weren't even the most insignificant of thieves, let alone bandits.
Being sent there to eradicate bandits meant that Vellop was sidelined the moment he became a guardian knight, likely because he belonged to Jin's faction.
In fact, Vellop hadn't even learned of Jin's return yet due to his own mission. The rest of the younger faction had been present during Jin's return formation day.
"I see what's going on."
"Should I put Vellop's recall from the mission on the agenda for the next flagbearers' meeting?"
"No, leave it be. If we force his return, it might raise suspicion. We must wait for him to return with some achievements."
"But there are no bandits there, young master. Even if there were, eradicating bandits is not something that guardian knights should frequently do. There will be enough justification to recall him."
"May I, first-class butler Petrow?"
"Yes, young master."
Petrow bowed his head, his tone changing.
"We should always deliver results that surpass everyone's imagination. It's not enough to offer flawless results occasionally. We must show unexpected results every time we face our enemies. If we can't, we will never be accepted. That means we can't do things the way others do."
Small imperfections were critical flaws, and great achievements were mediocre feats.
That was how Jin's enemies planned to treat Jin and his people.
And Jin decided to earn the acceptance of his enemies and bring them to their knees.
"I will keep that in mind, young master!"
"Do you have a prepared list of first-class wanted criminals and above that the flagbearers can access?"
"Yes, sir."
"Bring it to me."
Petrow hurriedly fetched the document. Jin scanned through it and made a list of about five criminals.
"Firok the apostate knight of the Vankela, Jack Glow the rabid dog of the Western Vermonts, Panta the assault leader of the Crimson Tigers... They're all still active, huh?"
Jin smiled as he scanned their names and sketches.
It reminded him of the conversation he had with Dante and Beradin in Sameel back in his days as a reserve flagbearer.
Those guys were excited about the idea of joining that adventure. I know Dante has been fine all this time, but Beradin. I'm worried about him. I wonder how he's been.
He wanted to contact them immediately if he could.
But he couldn't contact the princes of hostile nations right after coming to the Garden of Swords. He shouldn't make contact until there was an opportune moment to meet them without arousing suspicion.
"Take the list of wanted criminals I made and go to the Free City of Tikan. Give it to two guys named Kuzan and Yulian and tell them to search for the traceable ones among them and discreetly lead them to the snow-covered ridges in the southeast of the Mytell Kingdom."
"Understood, sir."
"There must be no civilian casualties or damage in the process. They must also keep the criminals unharmed and ensure that they are not discovered for guiding the criminals, not even by Vellop. The achievement must be solely attributed to Vellop."
"I will instruct them word for word."
But would Vellop be able to handle such major villains? He has just become a guardian knight. If it were possible to guide those criminals to a specific area, they would have been caught centuries ago.
Petrow refrained from asking because he felt a mysterious authority in Jin.
He often felt a great power when serving the young Lady Luna, but the power he felt in young master Jin was very different. There was an indescribable energy in his words, as if they were bound to come true.
It was quite similar to the strength in Patriarch Cyron Runcandel's words.
Of course, the power in Jin was not as strong as Cyron's, but Petrow perceived that Jin shared a similar kind of authority to his father's.
"Starting today, journalists from all over Hufester will begin to spread articles about me. Make sure that all the articles circulated by the press that you can control go through a final check by Deano Jaglun, each and every one of them."
"Understood, sir. What should I instruct Deano to focus on?"
"Tell him to emphasize the fact that I am Solderet and Tess's Contractor. Make sure he uses simpler words and phrases than the rest of the bulletins. Delete anything that mentions clan traditions. It should be easy enough for children to read, but it should have a certain class."
Jin wanted to promote the fact that he was a Magic Swordsman in the simplest way possible.
"Another thing, different clans and organizations will start sending delegations to congratulate me starting next week. Make a list of all those who show me special favor. The Holy Queen will visit the clan in person, and we must receive her with the utmost courtesy."
The Holy Kingdom has been closed to any foreign diplomacy since Lani ascended as their Holy Queen. But now that the kingdom's hero, Jin, had become an official flagbearer, Lani would undoubtedly pay a visit.
"It will be the first time the current Holy Queen leaves the Holy Kingdom. It will be a historic moment. Hmm. The right thing would be to have an honor guard procession composed of high-level guardian knights, but currently, you don't have any high-level guardian knights under your control, young master."
Jin gave Petrow time to think.
"If you allow me, young master, to prevent the honor of hosting the saintly queen from falling into the hands of other flagbearers, perhaps we could gather a welcoming delegation composed of survivors from Kollon. There will likely be survivors of biological golem experiments in the procession of the Holy Queen, so it will be a beautiful scene to behold."
Jin nodded, satisfied. This was the response he wanted to hear from Petrow.
"Excellent. Please organize it."
Petrow bowed his head again.
"And lastly, my sword. Who currently has the Bradamante?"
"After recovering the Bradamante from the golden mice, it was directly sent to the armory of the second flagbearer."
Jin expected that, so he wasn't bothered by it.
Besides, the process of recovering the Bradamante was already underway.
"I wonder how long it will take."
"Do you mean the process of recovering the Bradamante, young master?" Petrow asked carefully. He had no good suggestions on how he could retrieve the sword.
"No, I meant how long it will take until Mary appears with the Bradamante in her hands."
Petrow was about to respond when furious footsteps approached quickly.
The origin of the footsteps forcefully opened the door to the room.
Jin spotted the unwanted guest, who glared at him with anger in her eyes. It was Mary, his third sister. Jin was about to burst into laughter upon seeing her.
"Jin! You brat."
She seemed to have fought a lot before arriving. Her hair was disheveled, and she had scratches all over her body.
She had two swords at her waist: her own longsword and the Bradamante.
"What can I do for you, dear sister?"
"Brat, this time you won't be able to reject me. Look at this sword. It's the Bradamante. You surely want to get it back, right? Follow me right now. I'll give it to you if you satisfy me enough, brat."
Jin would have danced with joy if he had been alone.
Tags:
SYS (Novel)