Chapter 332 – Talk Between Bastards.

*Thud*

“Were you there?”

“No… is this person really a Knight Commander?”

“He was, I’m not sure he will be commanding much anymore.”

“That’s true.”

A guard smirked while looking at the man that they shoved into a cold cell. They were standing near the iron door while listening to him grunting around. His body was covered in bruises but he didn’t seem to be in danger of losing his life.

“Can we just leave him in there? What if he gets out, this door doesn’t look that sturdy, and the bars are made from normal metal. Isn’t he supposed to be a tier 3 class holder?”

“That’s true, but see that thing around his neck.”

“Oh, is that?”

“Yeah, it is. He won’t be able to exert much strength with that thing around his neck. I heard that the ones that they make for people like him are special and won’t work unless the person is knocked out.”

“Are you sure that it works? What if he escapes, how are we supposed to stop a knight commander?”

“He’ll escape and do what? Get his ass beat again by the Head Knight again? He won’t do a thing”

The guard that was talking smirked while going into the cell. His boot then quickly landed on the stomach of the prisoner which sent him tumbling to the side with a groan.

“Hey what are you doing?”

“Just showing you that this bastard isn’t a problem, just do your job and don’t let them get to you.”

The other guard looked at the beat-up man for a moment before stepping to the side to let his co-worker out of the cell. He knew that the other guard had some bad blood with these Valerian knights about something relating to his family member. This man was not the only one trapped here as almost all the cells were filled up to the brim.

“What do you think you are doing? That’s the Knight Commander!”

“Shut your trap, he is no knight anymore, not after what he tried to pull in that duel! ”

While leaving this cell the two guards heard the complaints of the other knights that were apprehended. All of them awaited the nobles to make a deal about their future. Theodore Valerian was still in a higher position so they all expected to be let go.

“Shut up, the Knight Commander just…”

“Just what? He tried to backstab Sir. Wayland and got what’s coming to him. You should watch it too, our Knight Commander might not be so lenient when he hears you taking his side!”

“…”

The imprisoned knights went silent the moment the scary Knight Commander they witnessed battling Emmerson was mentioned. They still didn’t know what to make of the duel they witnessed outside. At first, it seemed that their Commander would come out with an easy victory but then he was quickly turned to minced meat. It was as if this Sir. Wayland had been just playing with him before actually taking it seriously at the end.

“That’s what I thought.”

The loud guard just laughed while leaving the dungeon level with his companion. The other guard remained silent as he didn’t really know what to say.

“Hey, are you sure that you should be talking about Sir Wayland like that? I don’t remember much being known about him. What if he overhears it and we’ll get punished?”

“Don’t worry about it, the more they fear him the easier the job will be for us! Now that we have our own Knight Commander things will change around here!”

“I guess so…”

The two guards straightened out while walking outside the dungeon. At least in their minds, there was a lot of meaning behind getting a proper tier 3 Head Knight into their city. It increased their prestige and set a precedent for the future. It wouldn’t be strange if they acquired more tier 3 personnel and knight regiments to bolster their forces. With them around they would not have to fear for their lives anymore, they finally had a large shield to protect them from any rogue tier 3 class holders.

…

‘Am I responsible for those guards now?’

Roland looked at one particular loud guard antagonizing the new prisoners and throwing his name around as a shield. This he achieved through some golemic eyes that were placed around the dungeon. Previously he outfitted a lot of areas with these runic devices at Arthur’s request. The young noble was fascinated by them as they allowed him to listen in on many interesting conversations just like this one. Thanks to his various runic skills he could of course tap into the network and listen in as well.

‘I hope those idiots won’t start throwing their weight around and get into fights with soldiers from other cities…’

“Wayland, is something wrong?”

“Oh no, it’s nothing, where were we again?”

“Oh, we were just talking about my elder brother and the knight that he sent but more importantly, could you explain another thing to me.”

“What thing?”

“Well… Wayland… who are you really? I didn’t want to ask but now that it has come to this, I think I’m owed an explanation…”

Roland was in Arthur’s office along with Mary and the two other Knights stationed outside. After he defeated Emmerson the news started spreading like a forest fire. Almost everyone now knew that he was a tier 3 class holder and a Head Knight of this estate. While this was a good thing for Arthur as he had gained a powerful ally, for Roland this was not such a good exchange.

First of all, he would be responsible for Arthur’s safety from this point on. This could force him to act as a bodyguard if for whatever reason his new lord decided to leave the city or have a conversation with someone powerful. It kind of tied him to this man and the city even more as he was expected to be his right-hand man.

Luckily they didn’t really sign any contracts about this issue nor was he under some type of chivalrous oath. If things went sour it was still possible for him to get out. The title of a head knight was special so he wasn’t expected to fully follow the chivalric code of conduct. Then if something happened to Arthur under his care, he would just be considered a disgraced knight that allowed his liege to perish. His title would be stripped from him and his good name would be tarnished but this was fine as he did not care about such things.

“…Perhaps you are. If we are going to continue with this you might deserve to know…”

Now that it came to this he needed to have a long conversation with his new lord. He did not intend to be a mindless knight that just performed everything a noble asked of him. The only reason he dueled Emmerson was to have a reason to kill those knights that hurt Elodia and almost killed Agni. He needed to create a boundary for this alliance that perhaps in the future he would abandon.

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“Before that, first I have to ask you, do you actually intend to become the heir to the duke’s title? Because I’m not sure if that’s a feasible dream…”

“I do not desire that title but… due to some circumstances, I need to participate in the succession process.”

Roland nodded his head while staring into Arthur’s eyes. It didn’t seem that the young man was lying and this was probably the case. If he actually thought that he had a chance of coming up on top then Roland would consider him crazy. The only real way for a bastard of becoming the main heir was by having the others perish. Even if the other candidates were highly incompetent their blood just carried this much weight.

“It’s not anything nefarious, is it? Let me make this clear, I will not kill for you…”

“No, it’s nothing like that, It’s quite simple, I just need to win a bet.”

“A bet?”

“Yes, for this I need to amass enough power until a certain date. I’ll probably need to explain a few things to you, my Head Knight. You’ll have to perform a few new duties from now on.”

Arthur nodded while smiling, Roland wanted to press more but he wasn’t really interested in the reasoning behind the noble’s movements. It was enough for him to know that he wasn’t really aiming for the title. This squabble of the sons would probably also continue for a while. The oldest wasn’t even thirty and their father would probably not be giving up his position in the foreseeable future.

There was enough wiggle room to get out of this situation as even though he had been named the Head Knight, his position wasn’t set in stone. It was possible to transfer the title later on to another person through various means and he would cross that bridge when the time came.

“New duties… right about that, I still have a lot of work to do in my workshop, so I’ll have to ask you to transfer most of those duties to those two other knights that are standing outside…”

“I understand, that’s fine but I’ll have to ask for your attendance if something like today happens again.”

“Of course, that’s fine.”

“Now then, Sir Wayland, who are you?